TheRPGSite

This will be the thread for my upcoming Cthulhubusters campaign, Cthulhubusters: Crescent City.

As before, the game will be a mix of TSR's Gangbusters and Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu.

Crescent City refers to the new location - my game world version of New Orleans (much in the way the last campaign took place in Lakefront City, the stand-in for Chicago).

It will take place about 9 months or so after that campaign ended (the last campaign took place in Oct-Nov of 1924, this one starts in July 1925).

*** Planning the New Campaign - Rules ***

So, whenever I'm planning a new campaign the first thing I look at is the rules.

It's been many years now since I've ran any campaign using rules straight out of the book. The last one was my 4th edition D&D campaign - which was several campaigns ago (since then I've done D&D Bronze Age, Cthlhubusters, Traveller 2300, and AD&D Al-Qadim along with some one shots with my D&D Classic rules).

I started by taking my Cthulhubusters rules out and reviewing them along with knowing what worked well and what didn't last time. From the beginning, I had two main goals - simplify character creation and change the flavor from Lakefront City-themed to Crescent City-themed.

I started with the latter goal. The big difference between the two is with ethnicity - Crescent City has different ethnic groups. For example, the Assimilated ethnicity isn't the default in the area, French Creole is. I also split out Cajun and Spanish Creole as distinct identities. German and Irish immigrants are bigger than Italians here, and Jews are in very small numbers (and the ones that are tend to be Russian Jews). Haitians are also a large immigrant group. And unlike the Lakefront City region, this area actually has Native Americans (I focused on the Choctaw and the Chitimacha).

The other main impact of the new location is with languages - French is on par with English at this time, with 75% of the city speaking at least some French and 25% speaking only French.

My second goal took a couple of iterations for me to get comfortable. I started with overhauling skills.

One problem we had last time was the skills were spread too thin and people didn't allocate them very well during character creation.

I began by combining skills together to get a smaller skill list. That way one guy could have "Science" and still do other things instead of needing 6 or more different skills related to various sciences. I got the list down to 30 skills: Academics, Accounting, Animal Handling, Artistic Expression, Athletics, Brawl, Concealment, Credit Rating, Cthulhu Mythos, Drive, Firearms, Investigation, Language, Larceny, Library Use, Medicine, Military, Notice, Occult, Outdoorsman, Persuade, Pilot, Politics, Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Science, Streetwise, Subterfuge, Trade Crafts, and Weapons.

To make character creation smoother, I set the defaults to each at 1%, 5%, or 15% instead of the wider variety in the original game (mythos is still 0% though and credit rating varies by occupation).

I then adjusted the rules for purchasing skills. Instead of having to do a lot of math to figure out a pool of percentages and divide them out, I gave "points" and allowed each point to move the skill up the "starting percentage track".

The track has a general description of how skilled the person was along with a starting percentage: Unskilled 1%, Some Exposure 5%, Familiarity 15%, Basic Skills 30%, Skilled Amateur 50%, Trained Professional 65%, Expert Professional 75%, Professional Mastery 85%, One of Best in Country 90%, One of Best in World 95%. The idea here was to make it easier for people to purchase the appropriate skill levels based on their character concept.

The next thing I did was to pare down the list of occupations and adjust the occupation skills to the new list. I had too many last time and many were similar (and after I adjusted the skill list, many were identical). There are still 21 to choose from so I feel the variety is still there.

When I looked everything over, it still felt like the game could be simplified a little more. I decided to trim the list of characteristics and not be so tied to the BRP standards. My goal was that every characteristic actually had a point to exist.

First, I removed APP (I've never used it in game) and SIZ (simplifying down damage bonus and hit points to just use STR and CON, respectively). I also got rid of SAN as a characteristic, but kept starting Sanity Points based on POW. Probably my most controversial removal is INT - it just feels redundant with EDU for me so I have EDU pulling double duty now. I almost got rid of DEX as well since it has a single use (determining initiative), but since it is a rather important use, I ultimately decided to keep it. So, my final list of characteristics is down to STR, EDU, POW, CON, and DEX.


I reviewed my non-character creation rules after that. Most of them were already pretty slim, though I removed some of the combat modifiers that never really come up.

*** Planning the New Campaign - Setting Info for Players ***

The next thing I do when I start a campaign is get the setting down. I start with putting together the document I give to players to describe the setting.

Last time, I had the info spread over a couple of documents so this time I knew I wanted to take my time and do it in one comprehensive document.

I start with a "Welcome to Crescent City" section that gives a brief overview of the city population, climate, and history as of 1925. I like history, so I do a lot of research when I'm planning these campaigns. I know I won't get everything right (it is a fictional city after all), but I want to get things as close to accurate as I can (with my known twists in).

I cover the basics - initial founding, the history of being owned by France and Spain, being part of early America, the Civil War, and it's current period of lawlessness and economic stagnation (unlike much of the rest of the country at this time, business is actually shrinking here because of railroads and highways replacing shipping traffic). I then hit the highlights of the demographic info, industries, media, recreation, etc. Transportation has a unique note about traveling in the bayou.

I have rather large sections on law enforcement and criminal organizations due to the Gangbusters element of the campaign. I go over the various local, parish, state, and federal agencies in the city along with the major Irish, Italian, Cajun, Greek, Black, Haitian, and independent gangs.

Politics gets a pretty big section too. This is very different from Lakefront City, as Louisiana is something like 95% Democrat at the time. The major factions are the RDO conservatives. against the more progressive Democrats. And then there's the KKK, which in this state was actually more focused on moral crimes than immigration at the time (at least, from my research).

Religion is also pretty different this time around, as Roman Catholics are by far the dominant majority. I also add in some information about Voodoo, given the location.

*** Planning the Campaign - Setting Info part 2 ***

The next thing I do is get some maps of the city. My ideal is to get actual maps from the time, as the city changed so much in size between the 1920s and today (with all of the land reclamation projects).

I start with a map of the downtown area I found and start plotting out points of interest. I come up with about 40 of them. One of the bigger challenges is when an old map has something cool on it that I can't find information about, or when things change names over time.

I use the actual Call of Cthulhu New Orleans Guidebook to help, but I find several apparent inaccuracies so I rely on other research as well (one example is their description of Madame Marie Delphine La Laurie as a socialite with popular parties, leaving out that whole "serial killer who murdered slaves and was driven out of the city by an angry mob" thing).

My various descriptions start dropping lots of names for potential NPCs. When I can find the actual historical names (like who was the archbishop at the time), I use them. When I can't I make a name up (often by using pieces of names from current people in the position or people in the position from other time periods).

After that, I also create a neighborhood map of the whole city. I used a ward-based map for Lakefront City, but that doesn't make sense here. New Orleans has wards (which don't mean anything), voting precincts, and neighborhoods. The neighborhoods have the most interesting names / information, so I go with those. The only real problem I have is not all of the neighborhoods have a 1925-era name and while many have a detailed history, not all do, so I have to make some things up. When it comes to the neighborhood descriptions, I'm primarily saying what socio-economic and ethnic groups live there along with any unique feature.

Finally, I found a couple of cool scans of actual Times-Picayune pages from 1925, so I include those as well to ad some flavor (fun fact - apparently an oscillating electric fan was worth its weight in gold then - ads put the costs at between $20-30).

*** Planning the Campaign - Setting up the Website ***

Now that I have some content, my next step is to set up a website for the campaign.

As I've done with the past several, I create a Google site. I use a pretty standard layout every campaign:

* A home page for the landing page.

* A campaign files page to hold the pdfs for the rule book and city guide (along with the character sheet I revised for the new rules).

* A campaign index page to hold a list of all people, places, and things encountered in the campaign (sometimes the players remember to use it to look up details, sometimes not, but I like to provide it regardless).

* A campaign log page to hold the session logs (basically, exactly what I post in these AP threads, just without being broken into scenes and without my session notes). Each session has its own page linked off of the main log page (where I put the session title and a brief synopsis similar to what you'd see for a TV episode on Netflix or whatever).

* A page with the investigator character sheet files and text explaining each character in the campaign (similar to my session-specific cast of characters in these threads).

The two hardest parts about creating the site are picking the color / background layout I want and finding some art for each page. I started with some placeholder art at first then found better stuff later.

For the most part, I use Cthulhu-specific art I find online. For the home page, I took a historical black and white photo of downtown New Orleans then photoshopped in a tentacle reaching out from the side of the photo to grab someone as well as a flying creature standing on one of the building roofs.

*** Planning the Campaign - Fleshing Out the City ***

You may notice I've done a fair amount of work so far yet have nothing close to resembling a plot for any adventuring. That's by design - I like the plots to develop organically as part of my process.

I do think up some initial ideas by this point, but purposely leave them half-baked in my head. Instead of trying to flesh them out first, I instead focus on fleshing out the city.

I like my cities to feel real. And that means a cast of thousands (or at least dozens).

I start by creating my GM Guide document with a chapter on "Personalities of Crescent City". I start by opening my City Guide document and putting down every NPC I mention by name.

Names alone aren't enough, obviously, so I put in ethnicity and age (the way Gangbusters does in its NPC write-ups). I then write a paragraph or two about each - who they are and what they are like.

It's impossible to keep dozens of NPCs separate by names alone, so this time I decide every single NPC needs a photo. If the person is historical, I find one of their real photos. If I'm basing it on a character from another work of fiction, I find a photo of the actor. If I just made up the character, I find a generic photo that seems to be from the 20's.

To keep the tone consistent, I resize them all to be approximately the same size headshots and make them all grayscale. I have to cut and re-paste them all to save as jpeg images to avoid making the document too gargantuan. Yes, this is a ton of work for a bunch of photos only I will ever see, but it will help me keep the NPCs more distinct in play.

As I'm coming up with the already named NPCs, I notice obvious gaps so I start filling those in. I don't just create a NPC for the gang boss, but also his head lieutenant and any important soldiers. I write out some various cops, judges, attorneys, etc. Even long-dead historical figures (e.g., John James Audubon or Gen. Lee) get a paragraph so I can note important details (no photo though since I don't need it).

Then starts wave 2 - I look at pretty much every movie, TV show, comic, animation, or book set in New Orleans or the South in general and start adding in colorful characters to fill things up. I could start listing them all, but it would spoil the surprises later.

Finally, I start outlining my plots a little more. As I do so, I find where I need to add more NPCs.

I currently have over 230 NPCs noted (30 pages of NPC notes) and I know I'll need to add more. One big note - I never create stats for any of these NPCs; I don't see the need. I rarely roll for NPCs in this game, and even when I do I just use my relative skill level charts to estimate their skills based on their background info.

*** Planning the Campaign - Outlining the Plots ***

Now that I have a city to play in, I need some interesting things going on. I want to tailor the adventures to fit in with the characters so I don't get too detailed - I just want some generic ideas and start outlining them.

The first thing I do is start making notes of "secrets" about some of the locations in the city. Some are in the city guide, some are secret locations to be discovered later. These are places where things may happen.

Then I need some plot ideas. The tone of the game requires both crime-related plots and mythos-related plots going on at the same time. I want at least 4-5 of each for the start of the campaign.

Last time, I made the mistake of trying to tie every last plot together into one giant plot web. This time, I want several smaller webs along with a hint here and there about the larger mythos activities (as I've mentioned in my other thread, I want to try to be more X-Files-ish this time around to keep the plot manageable for the players).

As I start outlining, I think of locations that might need to be detailed with maps. I like to get inspired for my locations by visual media. As I've done in the past, a lot of my maps come from board games. I've been using things like Mansions of Madness and Betrayal at the House on the Hill for inspiration, along with the Halls of Horror tiles made specifically for CoC.

Unlike my D&D maps, I try to make my buildings make complete sense for this style of game. And the locations should be places to explore for clues - they should rarely have a "trap" or "monster" inside (though I do use them sparingly).

When it comes to clues, I love to use handouts. I like to use images of old photos (sometimes altered), fake newspaper articles (formatted to look like actual articles), fake letters (which I always use a script-style font for that will invariably drive the players nuts), etc. This time around I've created some fake museum artifact cards as well. For one letter, I even used an online translator to create a version of the letter in a foreign language and then will only give them the English version if they make the language roll (that took a while, so I think that will be a one-time joke).

Note that I'm still working on all these things - my outlines, maps, and clues still need a lot of work to have everything ready to go.

*** Planning the Campaign - Other Stuff ***

Outside of all that, I found a calendar for every month of 1925 so I can be accurate with dates.

I also had to come up with some "gang members" should the PCs want to have their own gang again. That was harder than I thought this time around.

Last time, I started with a joke at Oasis and kept using names of guys in the band. I didn't realize it at the time, but Oasis just happened to have a lot of guys with nicknames in it.

This time, I was crestfallen to realize the gang members were going to be a bit more generic sounding because I just wasn't finding anything inspiring. I did end up picking another band (to be revealed later), but nicknames were few and far between.

*** Planning the Campaign - What's Next ***

So, by this point you are probably wondering when the hell the campaign starts.

Tonight is the character creation session. I insist on doing a separate session as a group to create characters because the nature of the game makes it very challenging to play well if concepts are all over the place. One of the guys can't make it but is pretty flexible so we can have his concept fit what the others come up with.

I've heard suggestions here and there about characters with connections back to Lakefront City. I've already decided there can be a maximum of one character with any relation back to the previous campaign (either by being a PC or NPC in that campaign or a relative of one); I want this to feel like a separate campaign in the same vein, not a sequel trying to rehash past glory.

Once character creation is done, I need a few weeks to finish prepping the campaign plots. I want to make hooks that relate directly to the PCs. I also just need more time in general to flesh things out and have enough to get started with.

So, we'll also begin tonight with one of the other players running a very-loose D&D adventure for a couple of sessions then the Cthulhubusters campaign will start in earnest; probably sometime around late Oct.

This looks like loads of fun.  I mis-spent a great deal of my mis-spent youth on the streets of New Orleans, so I'd be a sucker for this campaign.  Who-dat?!

I'm curious, what are you using from TSR's Gangbusters, other than Lakefront City and (I presume) a campaign centered on the criminal underworld?  Any rules you're adapting?

Look forward to reading your new campaign log. I really enjoyed the first Cthulhubusters.:)

Quote from: King Truffle IV;855353This looks like loads of fun.  I mis-spent a great deal of my mis-spent youth on the streets of New Orleans, so I'd be a sucker for this campaign.  Who-dat?!

I'm curious, what are you using from TSR's Gangbusters, other than Lakefront City and (I presume) a campaign centered on the criminal underworld?  Any rules you're adapting?

Yeah, the Gangbusters influence is really more thematic rather than rules-based.

First and foremost, the idea is the characters start as Gangbuster style characters and then discover there are Mythos-style plots afoot. While not using the Gangbusters rules, per se, I heavily push the "classes" from Gangbusters as the suggested occupations. Cthlhubuster characters aren't rich dilettantes, antiquarians, and archeologists investigating strange things for a hobby - they are pulp detectives, criminals, or reporters who find themselves thrust into an alien world they don't understand.

One big concept (not really a "rule" per se) I use is how ethnicity is so important in the Gangbusters game. In traditional CoC, ethnicity isn't really germane to your character. In Cthulhusters, as in Gangbusters, the setting is nearly tribal about ethnicity - it's not just a minor detail but a defining characteristic about who you are and who your allies are.

Some of the vehicle-related rules from Gangbusters get included as well since they are non-existent in CoC and somewhat light even in Deluxe BRP.

In my original Cthulhubusters campaign (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=23706), I did use the Lakefront City setting and some of the firearm modifier rules. This time around, I have the different setting and scaled back combat modifier rules so that isn't as connected.

I do still incorporate some of the criminal enterprise-related material from Gangbusters (for either the PC or NPC criminals). I go a bit further of course - family-friendly TSR really only wanted you to be involved in bootlegging but narcotics and prostitution are big business.

I think that pretty much covers it.

*** The Characters So Far ***

So, our character creation session on Friday had the first three characters created (still waiting to hear back from the guy who was out of town). It looks like this time will be more of a law enforcement-ish angle, though I must stress it will be far more The Shield than Law & Order as I'm positive everyone will be corrupt.

Here's what we have so far:

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

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

Officer Bruno Eberhardt: A 2nd generation German immigrant and seasoned police officer. He does some work on the side for Le Doux and others to supplement his income.


At first glance, the characters are a bit focused on the physical but that worked out well enough last time. My only other concern is that Hawk (based on the Spenser for Hire character) is a bit too much of an anachronism and I wonder if the player is truly prepared for handling his character properly for the 1920's South (I could see him dead or in jail real quick if he starts being aggressive towards the wrong people).

Our ideas for the other player were to be the partner of either Le Doux or Eberhardt to keep him tied to the action going on (we also jokingly suggested he could play Le Doux's secretary) but there is plenty of room for other concepts if that player has ideas of his own.

*** Prologue - 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.

Special Agent Millard Fox: A White agent of the Bureau of Investigation. He was sent to Crescent City to investigate a stolen car ring but spends most of his time looking into occult incidents.

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.

*** Prologue - Scene 1 (of 17) ***

It was a quiet night on patrol in the central business district of Crescent City for Officer Bruno Eberhardt. As a senior officer, he had the luxury of having one of the new automobiles instead of having to walk a beat. Eberhardt's mind drifts back to his time in the Freikorps of the Weimar Republic before he emigrated and how much easier this job is.

His reverie is broken when the dispatch radio sounds off in the car. The dispatcher, Officer Kissel, sends out a message that Eberhardt is wanted back at the station by Lt. Sawley. He wonders what the section lieutenant might want as he turns the car to head back to the precinct.

Once he arrives, the desk sergeant points him to a back room where he finds Lieutenant Paul Sawley, along with Captain Steven Ramsey (the head of patrol), Major Otha Sandifer (the precinct commander), and a man in a suit he doesn't recognize. Bruno realizes something is up; Capt. Ramsey sometimes acts as shift commander for the night shift but Sandifer is usually never around after hours.

Lt. Sawley acknowledges Eberhardt's arrival. Bruno asks what the problem is. Not quite answering the question, Maj. Sandifer introduces the man in the suit as "Mr. Feldman from the mayor's office".

Sandifer has Eberhardt close the door while Capt. Ramsey explains a sensitive situation has come up and they need an experienced man like him to handle it. Bruno says they can count on him.

The major then turns to Feldman, asking if he is satisfied. Feldman says he is, but wants to be kept up on new developments. Feldman then hands an envelope over to Ramsey then leaves, escorted by Sandifer.

After they leave, Ramsey looks at the envelope contents briefly, then hands it over to Sawley. He tells Eberhardt that he trusts Paul will give him all the info he needs then leaves the room as well.

Once they are all gone, Eberhardt asks his lieutenant what all that was about. Lt. Sawley is a blunt man, saying they've "stepped into a real shit pile this time." Eberhardt muses on the idom as Sawley continues to say it will be his job to wipe the shoe clean, making sure Eberhardt gets the drift of what he's saying.

The lieutenant then asks if Bruno knows of Congressman O'Conner. Eberhardt recognizes the name as James O'Conner, one of the representatives from the Crescent City area; he had to memorize such things for his citizenship test a while back.

Sawley continues on to say the congressman's son, Taylor, was found dead in an alley in the Treme neighborhood a short time ago. The mayor wants to keep the number of people involved in the investigation to a minimum as he doesn't want a scandal.

Eberhardt acknowledges he understands. Sawley goes on to explain that he doesn't know how Eberhardt managed things back in Germany, but here they want things very quiet. According to the lieutenant, Maj. Sandifer doesn't trust the homicide detectives from central not to leak anything to the press so he wants to handle the investigation internally.

Bruno still isn't sure why he was selected until Sawley asks him a question to confirm he's friends with a private eye in town. Eberhardt didn't realize the department knew about his moonlighting for Le Doux but confirms it to the lieutenant.

Sawley explains they want Eberhardt and his friend Le Doux to investigate the case quietly. He hands Eberhardt the envelope, saying it should get the case moving. Bruno sees it contains a couple hundred dollars, in twenties.

The lieutenant goes on to explain that in order to keep the situation quiet, they didn't send the body to the morgue. Instead, they moved it to a nearby motel room safe house where Sandifer's "idiot cousin O'Neill" has it on ice. He advises Eberhardt to check out the body quickly before it rots, as he doesn't trust O'Neill to remember to refresh the ice after it melts.

Sawley says O'Neill should also be able to tell him where the body was found. Eberhardt asks about witnesses, but the lieutenant says only that a bum found it and that O'Neill should be able to give him the whole story. He tells Eberhardt he can offer support if needed, but reminds him again to keep the investigation quiet and not tell anyone else what is going on.

*** Prologue - Scene 2 (of 17) ***

Boudreaux "Boo" Le Doux sits in his office with a cigar and a drink. As has been the case since he opened the office, it was another quiet day with little more than a couple of jobs checking on wives to make sure they weren't enjoying the milkman's company more than they should by some paranoid husbands. It was easy money, but not quite the same as the hardboiled detective cases Le Doux read about in his dime novels that inspired him to close his swamp guide business and make a name for himself as a private dick.

He's just putting out his cigar when there's a knock at the door. He looks up and sees Ofc. Eberhardt. Boo has used Eberhardt for some help with some cases, usually with a wandering daughter job where he had him run off some hooligan the girl would be shacked up, or just to have him drag the girl back home. He's the one to call Eberhardt though, not the other way around, so he knows something is up.

Since his secretary, Madge, is off nights, Le Doux motions Eberhardt inside. Le Doux greets him with his usual Cajun flair. He offers the officer a drink, but Eberhardt declines.

The officer looks around, noting he doesn't see Madge or Le Doux's partner around. Boo explains Chester is off on a cigarette run for his wife but will be back soon.

Eberhardt speaks in hushed tones as he explains there is a problem involving the son of Congressman O'Conner. Boo asks if it is trouble related to women, but the officer says that isn't the issue.

The door to the office opens suddenly as Chester Lee Nibbons comes inside. Eberhardt looks the bookish man over, with his usual pondering about why Le Doux uses him for a partner though he knows Le Doux mentioned something once about Nibbons working off to pay off a debt he owed him.

Le Doux tells Chester that Eberhardt has a problem he needs help with, and encourages the officer to explain. Eberhardt says something about needing to clean up something with O'Conner's son and how he's currently in a bathtub. Boo doesn't quite follow the German's broken English ramblings, saying a bathtub sounds like the right place to get cleaned up.

Eventually, Le Doux gets out of him that the congressman's son is dead and the department wants to keep it quiet. Eberhardt says they need to cover up what happened and investigate. Boo asks Chester what he thinks, but the man says he tries not to think too much as it usually gets him into trouble.

Le Doux says he is always open to helping the police, but his fee is five dollars a day plus expenses. Bruno, thinking of the money in the envelope, says that should be fine. When Boo asks for twenty up front as a retainer, Bruno takes out one of the twenties, careful to make sure Le Doux can't see the envelope.

After saving some of the taxpayer's money for himself, Eberhardt wants to get moving on the investigation. He wants to start with the body at the motel. To keep things less conspicuous they take separate cars.

*** Prologue - Scene 3 (of 17) ***

The Full Moon Motel sits out by the rail yards in the Tulane area, across from Reverend Jimmy Lee Farnsworth's apostolic mission house. As Eberhardt gets out of his car, he can see the reflection of the neon sign reading "Jesus Saves" reflected in a pool of filthy water in the parking lot of the motel.

The motel is small, with only six cabins to it. Ever since this part of the neighborhood became more industrialized, it usually has six vacancies. With the college crowd avoiding the area, it gets some occasional use as a flophouse by Fransworth's failures at rehabilitation. The city uses cabin six as a safe house from time to time to keep snitches alive, figuring no one will look for them there.

Although Le Doux and Nibbins haven't made it there yet, as they are notoriously slow and cautious drivers at times, Eberhardt heads over to cabin six. The large, dumb officer O'Neill answers the door; Eberhardt can see the Irishman is half in the bag already though he suspects the man isn't very smart when he's cold sober either.

Eberhardt greets O'Neill by name, saying the major sent him. O'Neill doesn't seem to follow. When Eberhardt asks to come in, he says he's not supposed to let anyone in. It takes a minute as Bruno carefully explains the major sent him there to come in.

Once inside, he looks around. He can see a couple of bloody blankets in the corner of the bathroom that the body was dragged in with. The body itself is lying in the tub; he appears to be a man in his 30's.

A knock sounds at the door and O'Neill tells Bruno to be quiet, as someone else has apparently shown up. O'Neill then answers it, finding Le Doux and Nibbins at the door. The private investigator tries to explain they are "with Bruno", but O'Neill thinks they have the wrong door and closes it on them.

Le Doux knocks again and O'Neill insists they have the wrong door. It takes Eberhardt a moment to clear up the confusion O'Neill has and he finally lets Boo and Chester inside.

Once inside, Boo distracts O'Neill with a bottle of whiskey (after initially confusing him by calling it "whiskey juice"). He then accompanies Chester and Bruno back to the body.

Le Doux looks over the body. It has a single, mid-caliber bullet wound to the back of the head with no exit wound. He finds Taylor still has his wallet on him.

Carefully, he takes the wallet out of the body's pocket and opens it. There is no money inside, but there is a folded up racing form and a ticket to an upcoming performance of "The Parish Hall Women". Le Doux recognizes the name as a new play designed to call back to the classic minstrel shows of the 1840's; he's confused why Taylor would have a ticket as that play only appeals to people in their 70's or older (though the elderly seem to love it for some reason).

The detective looks over the ticket carefully but finds nothing written on it. He then unfolds the racing form; he can see it is from today and has several races circled and some various amounts written on it along with other notes.

Chester offers to look at the figures on the form. Using his knowledge of accounting, he determines Taylor made several bets, getter larger throughout the day. Overall, the man appears to have lost nearly a grand that day. Chester explains it all to Le Doux, who comments that is probably why he has no money in his wallet.

Le Doux finds nothing else of interest on the body. Chester leans in closer and sniffs the body; he detects a faint odor of sulfur. Le Doux finds that odd, and wonders if it is related to any of the chemical or manufacturing plants in the area and what a dilettante like Taylor might have been doing at one.

Nibbons also tries moving the limbs and mouth of the body to check rigor. He can tell full rigor has not set in yet. He also fails to detect unusual odors from the body's mouth or an unusual coloring of the tongue. Boo and Eberhardt find Chester's investigative methods a bit strange and wonder what he is doing.

Le Doux wonders if they are supposed to get rid of the body, but Eberhardt suggests they are simply supposed to make it less scandalous; such as filling in the hole in the back of his head.  Le Doux decides the best course of action is to take the body to a mortician he knows at the Fisher and Sons funeral home.

The three then realize they'll also want to look at the alley where the body was found. Unfortunately, by this time O'Neill has already started to get pretty drunk and he has a hard time following their questions. Once he gets what they mean, it takes him a while to come up with it, first saying "it is by that place with the good food". Eventually, he comes up with the cross streets.

The three of them wrap the body back up in the blankets and put it in Le Doux's car. O'Neill laments he will need to go back to work now, but Le Doux convinces him he has the night off and should finish the bottle. They leave just as he rushed into the bathroom to vomit into the bathtub full of ice.

*** Prologue - Scene 4 (of 17) ***

Dark clouds in the sky obscure the moonlight, leaving the alley pitch black despite the buildings on either side only being two stories high. Special Agent Millard Fox makes his way in, using his flashlight to see. The old Creole townhouses on either side almost seem to tilt in ominously as if to threaten him.

After searching for a moment, Fox finds what he is looking for – the occult symbol written on the ground. He's satisfied his informants, the Solo Riflemen, came through again. His satisfaction pushes away the thoughts he has lingering about how Special Agent in Charge Bartus will certainly take him to task again for looking into "spooky nonsense" instead of focusing on that car theft ring investigation.

Focused on his task, Millard examines the symbol, noting it appears to be written in blood. Just then, a German voice calls out asking what he is doing. Fox can see there is a uniformed cop with a flashlight on him and another man dressed in a suit behind him.

Fox takes out his Bureau of Investigation ID card to identify himself as a federal agent. He tells the cop he heard there was a murder in the alley.

Eberhardt isn't sure what to think of the strange-looking guy in the dark suit; he hasn't had much interaction with the feds before. Thinking back to what Lt. Sawley told him, he decides to play dumb, saying he doesn't see a body.

Wanting to keep the Solo Rifleman a secret, Millard lies and says he heard about the murder from a fellow agent at the BOI. He notes he also found some blood with a symbol on the ground, which proves conclusively to him that a murder occurred.

Fox goes on to explain the symbol is of the demon, Allatou. He knows in order to find out more details, he'll need to find a copy of the rare book, Tobin's Spirit Guide. Outwardly, he asks the two men if they know anything about the occult but they react like he's a little crazy for even bringing the subject up.

Chester actually knows a couple of the occult book stores in town, but says nothing. Eberhardt tries to end the conversation by wishing him well with his investigation, but the young agent is tenacious. He points out they clearly came to the alley to investigate something themselves.

Eberhardt tries to say he's just patrolling his beat. He tells Fox that investigating the occult may be making him crazy. Fox explains he's seen several people go crazy from occult-related incidents but he's not there yet.

Around this time, another car pulls up to the alley and Boo gets out. Fox asks him who he is. Le Doux gives his name and the two exchange pleasantries and Fox mentions he is a federal agent.

Le Doux wants to know what is going on. Fox says he found the cop investigating the alley and notes that Le Doux is obviously a private investigator. Boo confirms his suspicion.

Fox goes on to explain how he's investigating a murder, which he feels is confirmed by the blood on the ground. Looking over at the blood, Le Doux can see the symbol. He takes out his notebook and quickly creates a sketch of it. Fox follows suit.

Le Doux tells Eberhardt and Nibbins they should look around the alley before they clean it up. When Fox asks about the cleaning, Le Doux (falsely) expresses surprise he is still there.

Everyone searches around the alley, but it is Agent Fox who makes a discovery. He first notices there is no other blood in the alley or any shell casings. He also finds the remains of a smoked, rolled cigarette and an empty matchbook.

Boo asks to see the matchbook. He can see it is from Chez Louisiane. Le Doux recognizes the place as a popular diner nearby on North Robertson Place, a favorite in Treme known for its oyster stew, filet gumbo, and crawfish etouffee. Fox wonders if the man who was murdered was meeting someone in the alley after going to the restaurant.

Confident they have all of the evidence they are going to find, Eberhardt says they should clean the area up and leave. Le Doux notes there is no sign of a struggle and he believes the body was just dumped there.

Fox picks up that one of them is finally admitting there was a body, and points out they confirmed there was a murder there. Le Doux tries to put him off again, but the exchange reminds Eberhardt to ask if Le Doux asked them to take out the bullet (referring to the funeral home).

Le Doux responds he did not, and Eberhardt wants to get the bullet for ballistic analysis. Fox asks who the victim was, assuring Boo he can keep quiet. Le Doux still doesn't tell him any details, but doesn't fight him when he wants to accompany Boo to Chez Louisiane to ask around about the victim.

While the two of them head out, Eberhardt and Nibbins focus on making sure the alley is clean of any sign a crime took place.

*** Prologue - Scene 5 (of 17) ***

The lights from inside Chez Louisiane shine out like a beacon into the night from its large bay windows. With only an hour to go before closing up for the night, Frank Parrish glances around at the few patrons left. He keeps an eye out on which cups of coffee Miss Marie refills and which ones she avoids; he still hasn't learned all of the regulars yet.

Frank thinks back to a year ago, when he was lecturing his English class at Penn State. He remembers the call he got about his father's heart attack. He figures it probably happened on a night just like this; Big Arthur loved keeping the diner open late and chatting with the regulars. Frank felt he was still getting the hang of it.

The door jingles as another patron enters the restaurant; it appears to be a Cajun man in a cheap suit. Frank gregariously welcomes him and invites him to sit wherever he wants. The Cajun man is immediately revealed to be loud and boorish, and likely drunk. He starts loudly asking to see someone named O'Conner. Frank tries to calm the man, but he carries on about being owed a hundred dollars. Parrish has no idea who the Cajun man is asking about and tells him as much.

Frank tries offering the man some gumbo to get him focused on something else, but the man continues to ramble on describing the man (poorly) and insisting this O'Conner person ate at the diner. Frank again says he doesn't recognize the man.

Just then, another man enters the diner; a white guy in a suit, which is unusual to see in the neighborhood after dark. Frank. The man asks Frank if he needs any help, but he tries to be cheerful as he tells him he will take care of him in a minute once he is done with the Cajun man.

Le Doux is starting to wonder if the owner isn't buying his act, or really doesn't know. But he keeps asking, and the man eventually tells him if he sits down he will send "Miss Marie" over to talk to him as she knows all the regulars. The owner then says something about how she won't serve him as he isn't a regular, which Le Doux finds odd but since he wasn't planning on eating anything doesn't bother him.

Fox again asks if there's anything he can do. The man tells him they aren't hiring but asks if he wants to sit down and have some food. As a recent transplant from Washington D.C., Millard hasn't ventured out much beyond the more traditional American restaurants of the Mid-City area so he's eager to try something. He asks for a recommendation, and the man suggests the crawfish etouffee.

Over at the counter, Le Doux is approached by the oldest waitress he's ever seen. He estimates Miss Marie must be well into her eighties. When he asks her about O'Conner, she is very certain he is not one of the regulars as she knows them all and has for many years.

Miss Marie then starts talking about Le Doux having a dark aura around him. Le Doux tries playing it off as the whiskey he's drank, but she tells him there is a darkness out there and he better watch himself.

Fox, overhearing the conversation, asks what she knows about it. Miss Marie insists she is knowledgeable about the "dark spirits" saying they come straight from Satan. She says her family has always been sensitive about such things. She warns Fox he has the dark aura as well, saying the two of them must have come into contact with something evil.

Millard considers showing her the symbol, but decides against it. He asks her a little more about the aura, but she says only they are in danger and asks if they know each other.  Both Fox and Le Doux lie to say they do not. She tells them both to be careful.

Le Doux says he doesn't know about any darkness but if the man he's looking for isn't there, he doesn't want to stay around. He stumbles his way back out of the diner.

Fox, meanwhile, asks about the matchbooks. Miss Marie points out they have a dish full of them for free at the counter by the register. Frank then brings over his crawfish and after inspecting it over, Fox eats it and enjoys it. He leaves a very generous tip.

*** Prologue - Scene 6 (of 17) ***

Under the threat of a mysterious dark aura, everyone meets back up in the alley. The moon breaks through the clouds for a moment, shining down on the faces of Chester and Eberhardt, giving them an almost ghoulish appearance.

Le Doux tells them they didn't know O'Conner at the diner while Fox points out what Miss Marie warned them about. Le Doux asks Fox about the occult symbol, which the agent identifies as being of the demon Allatou. Incredulous, Eberhardt asks if the demon killed the man. Fox somewhat condescendingly tells him no, that the killing was done in the name of the demon by a cultist; possibly as some sort of ritualistic sacrifice.

Boo asks Chester what he thinks. Chester tries to say perhaps the symbol was there a while and has no connection to the murder. Fox is taken aback by the suggestion, pointing out how unlikely it would be of a coincidence for the symbol to be on the ground right where a body was found (in fresh blood no less) without the two being related.

Eberhardt also tries to downplay any suggestion a murder took place. Fox tells them they've already said too much to start denying it now; he even knows the name from Boo carrying on in the restaurant – Taylor O'Conner. Le Doux tells the others they will have little choice but to let Fox join their investigation. They decide to all head over to Fisher and Sons to see about getting the bullet.

A short time later, they all stand around in the back room of the funeral parlor as Nathaniel Fisher uses his tools to extract the bullet from the brain of Taylor O'Conner. The man is a bit grumpy at getting woken up again, saying they should have let him know they needed the bullet when they dropped it off.

Since the others offered no opinion on where in town one might find occult books, he tries asking Fisher. Fisher, busy with the body, mumbles something about getting his dime novels at the druggist.

Fox is a bit squeamish about the work being done on the brain, so Chester takes him aside to give him the location of a book store along with a password for the back room. Unbeknownst to the agent, the Blue Acadian bookstore Nibbins told him about has no occult collections but the secret back room does exist (though it contains the Martanga mob's illegal pornography business).

Fischer then pops out the bullet. Fox takes a look at the slug, but can't identify it (though it appears to be a mid-size bullet of some kind). Eberhardt agrees to drop it off at the crime lab while everyone else agrees to meet back up the next morning.

*** Prologue - Scene 7 (of 17) ***

The sun rises slowly over the city in the morning, casting a dark red pallor along the coastline. Madge Gravois looks at it for a moment as she unlocks the front door to "Le Doux Investigations"; it reminds her of blood.

Flicking on the lights, she starts up the kettle for making the morning coffee. As usual, she will have a half hour before her employer, and second cousin on her mother's side, shows up.

As she pours herself a cup of coffee, the phone rings, startling her; she almost never sees a client call or show up before ten. The soft Southern voice on the other end of the line is a far change from Boudreaux's usual clientele; she figures him for a wealthy man out of the Carolinas based on the accent. He gets to the point quickly and she dutifully takes down the message he has for her cousin.

When Boo does show up a short while later, she gives him the message right away; it was a man from Congressman O'Conner's office, and the congressman wanted him to come over for a meeting by 11:00.

Boo's sort-of partner, Chester, shows up next. He's followed by the German cop, though he arrives out of uniform. They seem to be waiting around until a fourth man shows up, looking somewhat disheveled despite arriving by cab; Madge doesn't recognize him.

Once everyone has arrived, Le Doux explains about the message. Le Doux, Nibbins, and Eberhardt are confused how the congressman knew to call him, though Fox points out they are overlooking the obvious – the police already know Le Doux is the one working the case.

Le Doux has Madge call back over to the congressman's office. A man named Scott Prichard is the congressman's chief aide; he tells Le Doux the congressman is looking for a short amount of his time to get an update on the investigation, and confirms it is fine for the others to accompany Le Doux to the congressman's house. Eberhardt and Fox make noise in the background, causing Le Doux to wonder if he really wants to bring them along.

After the call, Le Doux has Fox straighten up his suit a bit, telling them all they will need to look presentable in order to go to the congressman's house. He also has Madge get Eberhardt some coffee, since the officer has been complaining about wanting some.

Fox tries to be friendly to Madge by offering her a cigarette and a light. The previously disinterested secretary, a somewhat rough looking 30-year old spinster, starts looking the young man over more carefully and smiles.

Madge then asks if Fox wants to hear about her cats; he agrees though doesn't really pay attention. While he is distracted, Le Doux asks Chester more about the occult symbol. Chester admits he knows a place to find a book with information on it after Fox gives him the name of the book.

Fox catches part of the conversation as Madge is rambling on about "Mr. Pibbles". He wonders if they should discuss those elements of the investigation around the secretary, but Le Doux explains she is his cousin and he trusts her completely.

Eberhardt wonders if they should ship the body back to the O'Conner house, but Le Doux notes they better check with the family first. The officer also wonders about researching the sulfur angle.

The agent suggests he should go check out the Blue Acadian, while Chester plans to go to a real rare book store. Eberhardt and Le Doux make their way over to the congressman's house.

*** Prologue - Scene 8 (of 17) ***

Mid-morning in the French Quarter is a busy scramble as people move to and fro. As is usual, the streetcars are packed with middle class workers headed to the business district and lower class workers headed to the industrial areas. The packed masses of pedestrians move through the streets more slowly, being careful to avoid not only the streetcars, but the hustlers, pickpockets, prostitutes, and panhandlers as well.

Luckily for Millard Fox, his job provides him with enough money to take a cab straight to his destination. He's not very impressed as he exits; the sidewalk smells of urine and the storefront is dirty and unkempt.

Inside, books are stacked about everywhere but appear to be cheap or unpopular; the kind of books one might purchase from a warehouse or estate sale. There is a musty smell in the air. The owner behind the counter, identified by a name plaque as Arthur Gage, looks disinterested.

Fox is suspicious he has been given a legitimate lead. Rather than use the password, he simply tells Gage he is looking for a book on the occult for his son as part of a school project. Gage is perplexed by the story, and tells Fox he doesn't have the kind of books he is looking for.

Gage asks if someone sent Fox there, wondering if this is part of a practical joke. He makes a joke to ask about Fox having a daughter, then cuts him short and say he doesn't have the kind of books he's looking for. Fox settles for purchasing a cheap novel to read later.

*** Prologue - Scene 9 (of 17) ***

The warm summer wind blows down the unassuming quiet street in the Seventh Ward. Some children playing run down the street, nearly running into Chester as he makes his way to the quiet rare book store, Gramarye Books.

The old Scottish man behind the counter, Dr. Henry Carstairs, wonders what he wants. Chester explains he is looking for a copy of Tobin's Spirit Guide. Carstairs knows the book, saying the rare volume was published in 1920 by John Horace Tobin of East Hampton; he notes Tobin died shortly after getting it published, leading to its rarity.

Searching his records, Carstairs does find he has a copy in stock. He leads Chester to the back room where he keeps the special archives.

Nibbins opens the book and confirms it appears to be the legitimate article. He flips through quickly to the section where Allatou should be found, but finds that particular page he is looking for is burned out of the book. He notes the pages to either side are not singed.

When Carstairs asks for payment, Chester points out the problem with the book. Carstairs is upset about the damaged book, and begins yelling obscenities. He accuses Chester of causing the damage and being bad luck, and tells him to get out of his store. Chester tries to find out if he knows of any other copy around, but Carstairs says he does not.

Back on the street, Chester thinks of another possible store to try.

*** Prologue - Scene 10 (of 17) ***

Representative James O'Conner's palatial mansion in the garden district shines in the sun, with its white paint giving off an almost divine halo. The lush greenery surrounds it, along with the tall wrought iron fence.

Le Doux takes his car to the gate, where the guard checks his list and admits him. After parking the car, he and Eberhardt walk up the stairs to the columned porch, where he rings the bell. The door is answered by a large Norweigan manservant who gives his name as Claude.

Just inside the door is the entry hall, with a tall master staircase heading to the upper level. To the right, Le Doux notices the large dining room with its grand chandelier and place settings for over a dozen guests. To the left is a baroque parlor in the style of Louis XIV.

Claude, however does not let them into the parlor but takes them down a long hall to the back. Along the way, they pass a younger woman outside the ball room, crying; Le Doux assumes it is a family member.

The butler takes them to a back room where O'Conner's study is located. This room has a more masculine flair, with one wall dedicated to O'Conner's mementos and trophies from the Great War – including not only his old uniform, canteen, and rifle, but also a bayonet, a German pistol, and a spiked Pickelhaube helmet.

After a moment, O'Conner enters. Along with him is a younger blond man and an older middle-aged man. O'Conner is clearly tired, but maintains a cheerful disposition as he greets Le Doux and the others. He points out the younger man as Scott, his chief aide. The older man he identifies as Mr. Medvig, a name Le Doux recognizes as being a major political boss in the state (obviously there for some political reason).

Le Doux gives his condolences. When the congressman asks about their investigation, Boo admits they haven't made much progress yet.

He then asks the congressman if his son was involved in any non-traditional religion, such as Hinduism or Voodoo. Medvig interrupts before O'Conner can respond, saying the question is irrelevant and there should be no questions that insinuate the congressman or his family are involved in anything un-Christian-like.

Eberhardt tries to intervene, saying the information could be valuable. Medvig says they should definitely investigate all leads, but there can't be anything that could harm the congressman's reputation. He assures the men that no questions along those lines will lead to anything valuable.

After another exchange, Medvig starts to get upset and O'Conner has to intervene. He agrees to answer the question, saying his son had troubles but nothing involving anything like that.

Le Doux brings up the symbol on the ground in blood, saying he wants to make sure they know what is going on so they can keep things quiet. Medvig insists the crime was a robbery, saying surely they know someone in town who creates heinous acts like that they could find evidence on. When Eberhardt and Le Doux say they are amenable to a cover-up, Medvig clarifies to say they should do everything in their power to find the real robber.

Boo then brings up the betting sheet. O'Conner admits that sounds like his son, with Medvig reiterating the son had problems. Medvig goes on to suggest that line of investigation is more likely to be fruitful than fancies into the occult. Medvig even offers to use his contacts to help give them information in that direction, saying someone will contact them.

O'Conner thinks the men for their time, asking them to check in with Prichard when they have more information as he needs to head back to Washington for urgent business on a committee bill. Before O'Conner leaves, Le Doux asks about the body and he agrees it should be sent back to the house.

On their way out, Le Doux stops to talk to the crying woman. He gives his name and condolences for her loss. She gives her name as Janet, O'Conner's daughter and Taylor's brother. She says she is lost without him, explaining the two were very close as he was her usual escort when she left the house for various activities. Without him, she wonders if she will ever feel safe again.

Le Doux asks about anything unusual lately with Taylor's behavior, but Janet says he had been the same as always. He then asks about gambling, which she admits he had a problem with. Janet goes on to say he was always asking their father for money, even an argument the night he died about her father cutting him off.

His last question is about voodoo activities, but she assures him they would never have anything to do with those people. Le Doux mentions there was a symbol on the ground near the body, but it is probably coincidence. He isn't sure whether he can trust her or not, but gives her his card in case she needs anything.

As they leave, Millard pulls up. Le Doux asks about his book search, but Fox notes he was clearly given the wrong address.

*** Prologue - Scene 11 (of 17) ***

Chester uses his handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his brow as he rushes to exchange streetcars one last time before reaching his destination in uptown. Situated near Audubon Park, the store he is looking for is a converted section of the old World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. The sign above it reads, Esplanade Books.

Nibbins' skepticism evaporates quickly once he gets inside and sees the large collections of books, including a section of antiques from the 19th and 18th centuries. However, his hope quickly fades when the clerk checks the sales logs and finds they already sold the only copy of the book they had a couple of weeks ago.

The clerk, named Beauregard, explains it was sold to a private collector but he can't give the name out for privacy reasons. Nibbins takes out his wallet and puts down some cash. Beauregard, leaving the sales ledger open, says he just recalled he needed to check some inventory in the back.

After he leaves, Chester looks over the book and identifies the purchaser as a Miss Patricia Walker with an address of an apartment in St. Roch. Glancing through the volume, he can see she's purchased several occult-related books over the last couple of months.

Once he takes down all the notes, Chester leaves to head back to the office.

*** Prologue - Scene 12 (of 17) ***

The Regulator clock ticked off the minutes as Le Doux sat around his office waiting. He didn't like waiting, leading to an unfriendly gaze at the clock through the cloud of smoke in his office as he and the others sat around waiting for Nibbins to get back.

The bell at the door sounded, causing one of the mice hiding in the corner of the office to scuttle away back into the wall. Le Doux looked up and saw three men – a middle-aged German guy with short hair and glasses flanked by two goons, Irish by the look of them. Le Doux could figure out what was coming next.

The man didn't give a name, just calls himself a "concerned citizen for O'Conner." Fox can tell the goons are packing pistols.

Not wasting any time, the man tells them that if they are looking for a certain someone who might be owed money by another particular person, they might find that man by asking around the track for a guy named Bernie, calling it "friendly neighborhood advice". After giving his information, they leave.

Shortly after, Chester comes through the door. Fox immediately lays into him about sending him to the wrong address. Chester plays dumb, asking if he used the password. When Fox says he didn't, Nibbins tries to convince him to go back and try the password.

Le Doux interrupts the arguing back and forth by asking what Chester found. Nibbins explains he found a copy of the book with the page missing. He then traced down a second copy to a woman in St. Roch.

Eberhardt and Fox take notice. Eberhardt believes they should go talk to her. Le Doux fills in Chester on what they heard from the congressman, noting the political boss wants it covered up quickly by focusing on the gambling angle.

They decide to split up again, with Fox and Eberhardt checking in on Patricia Walker after checking in with the crime lab, while Le Doux and Nibbons check on the Bernie lead.

*** Prologue - Scene 13 (of 17) ***

With the new central police headquarters still under construction (and not scheduled to open for at least another year), the temporary headquarters was a run-down old building in a bad part of town. Some of the more dilapidated sections of it were abandoned, with routine rousts required to keep bums from squatting there.

Mid-day, the place was almost acceptable to look at, though various indigents and hopheads still swarmed around the surrounding neighborhood. Eberhardt usually considered his precinct a bit of a dump, but compared to central command it was a palace and he was glad not to have to work out of it.

The crime lab, such as it was, was an understaffed and overcrowded room near the back of the station. While the new building held promise of something more state of the art, the current one looked more Victorian.

The ballistics expert, a man named Kelvin, greets Eberhardt and Fox. He tells them he has completed his report on the bullet. Kelvin goes on to say they had a bit of trouble with the bullet.

Eberhardt is intrigued, asking what the issue is. Kelvin explains they originally assumed it was a .32 ACP cartridge, but the grain weight was wrong. He goes on to explain that in examining it further, they found it was an unusual bullet. Using the Goddard catalogue, he believes it is a European cartridge – a 9mm Parabellum used by a German P08 Luger pistol.

Officer Eberhardt is familiar with the weapon, having carried one in his time during the war. However, he tries to play dumb.

*** Prologue - Scene 14 (of 17) ***

The Fair Grounds racing track is a popular destination with a full parking lot. Hundreds of people sit in the stands waiting for the next race as the horses and jockeys are led out.

The ground is littered with torn betting slips of the unfortunate, like a ticker tape parade of broken dreams. The slight breeze in the air smells of horse dung, which Le Doux finds appropriate.

It doesn't take much asking around to find Bernie the Bookie. The middle-aged, rough-looking Jewish man stands as close to the track as he can, chomping down on a big cigar. Le Doux figures he's not one of the guys who just makes book and takes the money, rather he's a degenerate gambler himself trying to stay afloat.

Le Doux uses the same play he did in Chez Lousiane, to better effect this time. Saying O'Conner owes him a hundred, he asks Bernie if he's seen him. Bernie laughs it off, saying Taylor owes him five large and will get his money first.

After a brief negotiation, Le Doux gets Bernie to agree to give him a finder's fee of 10% if he manages to collect from Taylor. When Boo comments on the amount, Bernie says the guy has had bad luck lately, but he's not too worried about the money since the vig alone will keep his rent paid. Besides, he figures his father is good for it.

Le Doux gets Bernie to confirm he last saw Taylor the previous day. Based on the amount lost, Bernie will come looking for him the next day.

Boo is convinced the bookie didn't kill him, and isn't even aware he's dead. Chester agrees, and the two decide to head back to the office.

*** Prologue - Scene 15 (of 17) ***

The statuary angels watch over the quiet streets of St. Roch. Like every other day, the faithful come on their pilgrimage to ask St. Roch for help with their diseases or deformities – a boy with a club foot, a woman with tuberculosis, and an old man with a glass eye are just some of the visitors that day.

Eberhardt drives past, paying little notice of the penitent. His destination is past the cemetery and chapel, past the dilapidated old market that he believes should just be torn down, and past a few more blocks of homes and parks before reaching the row houses where Patricia Walker is said to reside.

Fox takes the lead, knocking on the downstairs door. The landlady confirms Walker is home in the upstairs apartment, but refuses to let them up without accompanying them as she doesn't let young women staying in her apartments have male visitors without a chaperone.

The three make their way up the outside stairs. When Patricia opens the door, the two are surprised to find her a very attractive young redhead. She reminds Fox a bit of the older redhead he has his eye on back at the office.

Fox greets her and asks if she knows Miss Marie. Walker is confused, asking if he has the right apartment. When he says he is sure that he is, she asks who he is. He answers evasively, causing the landlady to give him a look.

Eberhardt tries to fix the situation by saying he is with the police, though that doesn't comfort the landlady any. Walker suggests she meet them at the coffee shop across the street in a few minutes, obviously not wanting to continue the conversation in front of her landlady.

Shortly after, she meets them at one of the tables out on the patio area. She wants to know what this is about.

Fox shows her the symbol her drew, asking if it means anything to her. She finds it interesting that is what they are there for, expressing surprise that police detectives would be interested in the occult.

Without going into too many details, Fox says it was found at a crime scene. Patricia correctly identifies the symbol as belonging to the demon Allatou. She says there is an active cult in the area.

Patricia goes on to explain she is a demonologist and studies the activities of cultists. She confirms Fox really wants all the details, while Eberhardt excuses himself to get more coffee.

Fox listens to the information she read in Tobin's Spirit Guide. Allatou is a female demon, usually identified with trying to possess a virgin female in order to birth demonic Nephilim. The knowledge is slightly more than he can take, causing him to momentarily lose track of the conversation. He doesn't even notice Patricia's joke that as a modern woman, she is protected from such threats.

When Eberhardt gets back, Fox gives him a brief synopsis of what he learned. Eberhardt finds Walker quite attractive, and starts to get a little lecherous. Disturbed by the attention of the man twice her age, she says she needs to be getting back home. Fox gives her a dollar for her time.

*** Prologue - Scene 16 (of 17) ***

When everyone gets back together at Le Doux's office, they compare notes. Everyone agrees the gambler angle is dead, but Walker's lead about the cult has merit. Fox even muses the cult could be after Janet O'Conner and simply killed Taylor to keep him out of the way.

Eberhardt also explains about the bullet. Le Doux points out they already know where one Luger is located – O'Conner's study. He wants to get a closer look at the gun.

After a long discussion, the four agree the next step is to go see Scott Prichard. Not only do they need to fill him in on the case, but Le Doux wants to use some subterfuge to get him back to the house so they can distract him while one of them checks the gun. After that, Le Doux wants to follow up with Walker to see if he can get any additional info and he also still wants to check on the sulfur lead.

The congressman's local office is an unassuming suite inside one of the buildings in the business district. When they come in, his secretary is on the phone but motions them to wait inside Prichard's office. The door appears to be open but no one is inside.

Le Doux can see Prichard has expensive tastes – it has a fine vase, an oriental rug, and a fancy renaissance-style painting on the wall, a print of some version of the adoration of the magi. Fox can tell this particular version is by Heironymus Bosch.

However, on looking at it closer, Fox and Le Doux can see something is wrong with the painting. The Virgin Mary figure in the painting has scaly pink skin and yellow eyes, while the Baby Jesus being held has hooves and horns on his head.

Just then, the secretary gets off the phone and says she's not sure if Prichard is coming in today because he hasn't shown up yet, noting he didn't even cancel his usual lunch order. Fox starts to worry something is very wrong.

Fox notices the paper bag sitting on the desk. Sniffing, he recognizes the smell from the lunch bag as crawfish etouffee. He asks the secretary and she confirms Prichard always orders his lunch from Chez Louisiane; it's his favorite.

Le Doux starts putting the pieces together, saying they need to rush over to the O'Conner residence right away.

*** Prologue - Scene 17 (of 17) ***

Eberhardt drives the car as fast as they can over to the O'Conner Mansion. As they pull up, they can hear a woman screaming from inside.

Le Doux calls to Chester to head around back while the rest of them head up to the front door. Boo tries breaking it down, but finds it very solid.

Chester heads around the back, heading past the windows of the ball room. He sees several figures in robes standing around Janet O'Conner, who appears to be tied up on the floor. He quickly heads over to the back door.

Fox finally breaks down the front door. Inside the hall, they find a broken vase and the unconscious figure of Claude. He takes out his government-issued .45 and tells the others to prep their guns.

The three head around to the ball room. Fox goes in firing, taking a big chunk out of one of the cultist's heads. Le Doux tells them to stop. Meanwhile, Eberhardt heads back into the study to check it out, searching through the desk.

Chester breaks open the back door. Heading through the kitchen, he quickly makes his way to the ball room. He pulls his gun on them.

The cultists draw large knives and head towards the group. Fox fires off a series of three shots, hitting with the first one. He manages to drop another of the cultists.

Le Doux fires several shots as well, dropping a second man. Chester, however, misses the remaining cultist with his shots.

The remaining cultist charges at Le Doux, but he fights him off. After a brief struggle, Chester finally wrestles the cultist away and pins him down. Pulling back the hood, Chester discovers it is Henry Carstairs, the bookstore owner.

Fox tries to interrogate the man, but before they can get anything out of him he says they will burn for this. His chest begins to glow with an almost fiery glow and smoke starts coming out of every orifice. Le Doux plugs him in the head.

Unmasking the other bodies, they find one of the men is Prichard while the other two are men they don't recognize. All the men appear to have the symbol of Allatou burned into their chests.

Janet is OK and Fox unties her and gives her his jacket. She explains how Prichard and the others came in and knocked out Claude before attempting to perform their bizarre ceremony on her. Fox tells her it will be all right and that her father will be their soon.

And with that, Le Doux is able to close the strangest case of his career so far.

*** Prologue - Session Notes ***

Welcome to the end of the first session of Cthulhubusters - Crescent City. Originally we planned to run a D&D one or two shot before starting the campaign in earnest, but the guy who was going to run that had a fishing trip so I had to put this together quickly.

All I can say is - wow! This session came together in a way few have over the years. It was almost a perfect session of character interaction and puzzle solving, with a little bit of action in the climax. I think this might be the first game I ever had where the PCs got most of the clues right.

I think of this as the two-hour series premiere of the campaign. It was meant to be a big, self-contained story that hinted at things to come without drowning the players in a web of conspiracies that wouldn't be explained until much later (the mistake I've made in the past).

A couple of things right off the bat about the characters:
* Eberhardt switched from a 2nd generation immigrant to a 1st generation one between the character creation and actual play. The player thought he'd get more humor out of having him be an ex-German Empire security specialist (sort of the WWI version of the post-WWII obvious former Nazi joke).

* Chester Lee Nibbons was created by the guy who missed the character creation setup session.

* Special Agent Millard Fox was originally a NPC I created as a joke on the X-Files character, Fox Mulder. However, the Le Doux player's son wanted to join us for a session so I thought he'd be a great character that could slip in from time to time.

Other notes about the session:
* The initial storyline is a bit of a play on Hammett's The Glass Key.

* When I designed the adventure, I thought out what events would (or could) make up the various acts as if I were writing a screenplay as an exercise to organize when clues would show up. I want to stress this is not intended as a railroad, just a structured way for delivering clues absent PC actions.

* The somewhat noir-ish intro paragraphs for most of the scenes were added during the write-up, I can't come up with that stuff on the fly during the adventure.

* I know I probably went overboard with the number of NPCs standing around during some of the conversations, but I wanted to impress the complexity of the political structures.

* Officer Kissel was based (mentally) on Bruce Kirby's character from Car 54 Where Are You? The other cops are random NPCs.

* James O'Conner was a real congressman at the time. Taylor and Janet come from The Glass Key (at least, their names do).

* O'Neill is based largely on the character of the same name from Orange is the New Black, though I made him even dumber.

* Chester's cigarette run was because the player had to leave for a second to feed his cats (he's our Skype player) and we thought suggesting he was buying cigarettes for his wife would be funnier.

* Jimmy Lee Farnsworth is taken from R. Lee Ermey's character in Fletch Lives. We'll see if he actually makes an appearance later.

* The Full Moon Motel is modeled on the Bates Motel with its six cabins.

* The "Parish Hall Women" is my mocking the "Church Basement Ladies", a play which only seems to appeal to old people and annoys the hell out of those of us in our 30s and 40s stuck taking elderly relatives to it. It's purely a joke and nothing to do with the mystery.

* The sulfur had to do with a brimstone connection rather than industrial use. That is one of the clues that never quite got explained during the adventure.

* Fisher and Sons comes from Six Feet Under. In all my prep work, I neglected to think of the need for a funeral home so I used the only thing that came to mind.

* The Solo Riflemen is a play on the Lone Gunmen of the X-Files. As is the reference to "spooky" Millard.

* Tobin's Spirit Guide comes, of course, from Ghostbusters.

* Allatou comes from a demon in Marvel comics; for me, it specifically comes from early issues of the West Coast Avengers (my absolute favorite title).

* Why the PCs became so focused with the idea that Taylor was the one using the matchbook, and not the killer, I'm not sure (particularly after they correctly deduced the body was dumped in the alley, not killed there). This was the biggest investigation miss IMO.

* Chez Louisiane and the characters mentioned there all come from Frank's Place, a brief sitcom from the 80's.

* I was worried they weren't going to investigate the bullet at all at first, which was intended as a major clue.

* The whole idea of a book store with a porn business in back comes from The Big Sleep.

* Scott Prichard is based on Will Patton's character from No Way Out. I realized later he has the same last names as some villains from the original Cthulhubusters campaign, but luckily my players did not notice.

* Carstairs and bit with the missing page in the book comes from the aforementioned West Coast Avengers story (though in that case, they were hunting a different demon and accidentally crossed paths with Allatou).

* The Great War trophies was mentioned as setting fluff to the players, though they correctly realized later it was actually a part of a clue.

* Medvig is another Glass Key character (though there, the character is Madvig).

* Janet's off-hand remark about her brother being her usual escort was another subtle clue the PCs recalled later.

* Esplanade Books is based slightly on a real book store (though I seriously doubt they stock occult tomes).

* Patricia "Patsy" Walker is another Marvel character who was involved in the Allatou story (as Hellcat).

* The guy who gives Le Doux the information about Bernie was based on Frank Haab, a bag man for gangster Alonzo Patterson.

* Bernie the bookie is based heavily on a Dustin Hoffman style character.

* The joke about Fox having his eye on a redhead back at the office is another X-Files in-joke (referring to Gillian Anderson's character).

* The teenager playing Fox completely missed the "modern woman" joke, though everyone else laughed.

* The in-game time to discuss what to do next took 20+ minutes. I nudged them slightly to go see Prichard because the night was getting late and we really needed to finish the session. And as a prologue, I wanted it to be a self-contained story over a single session.

* The altered Heironymus Bosch painting was one of my favorite clues when I was planning the game because it would come across as so ominous.

* Although the game should largely avoid violence, I liked having the action-packed climax.

* Never fear, Allatou and the cult will come up again; this was hardly the only active cell.

Sounds like a good/fun start:)

*** Session 01 - 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.

*** Session 01 - Scene 1 (of 14) ***

A couple of days after the O'Conner case was solved, Boudreaux "Boo" Le Doux and his investigative partner Chester Lee Nibbons sat around their detective agency waiting for new work. So far, the letter they got from the mayor's office had yet to translate to any new work.

Le Doux's cop informant and occasional investigator, Officer Bruno Eberhardt, had received most of the accolades from that case. Along with a commendation from the mayor's office, Eberhardt had gotten his shift changed to the day shift. Le Doux wasn't sure yet how that would affect his usefulness.

For now, all was quiet regarding the cult of Allatou. While they had discovered and eliminated one cell of the cult, the Bureau of Investigator agent and occult specialist, Millard Fox, assured them there would be more. Fox was off stuck on his work looking into an automobile theft ring in the city. Le Doux had Patricia Walker looking into the cult anyway; still not sure he trusted the government agent.

Le Doux was reading the paper, the Crescent City Times-Picayune, while drinking his coffee. He found a few stories of interest.

The first story was in the sports section:

Giants Triumph over Phillies, 16-7

The New York Giants climbed their way up the National League standings yesterday with another solid performance over the Philadelphia Phillies, scoring a total of 16 points to the Phillies' 5.

The game tipped in favor of the Giants in the 3rd inning, when Lewis Robert "Hack" Wilson scored two consecutive home runs, tying Ken Williams' record set in 1922.

Wilson's performance has had ups and downs this season, first hitting the longest home run on record against the Brooklyn Robins then having to be replaced by Irish Meusel after a slump in May.

John McGraw has been under fire since he purchased Wilson's contact for $10,000 two years ago from the Portsmouth Truckers. While Wilson's debut with the Giants was solid, he had a disappointing .233 average in the seven game loss to the Washington Senators by the end of the season. Rumors continue to circulate McGraw may have to send him back to the minors to play for the Toledo Mud Hens if his hitting continues to be inconsistent.

The second was in the business section:

Local Businessman to Reveal New Juice Drink

The Volstead Act may be in full force, but everyone knows the liquor still flows freely in town.

Local businessman Harry Batt, owner of the popular Polynesian-themed Bali Hai restaurant in Lakefront, isn't letting that stop him from trying to appeal to people looking for a new drink without breaking the law.

Batt promises to reveal his new drink, which he has not yet given a name to, this Friday at Bali Hai, though promises it is based on a secret recipe he discovered while on a business trip to the Caribbean as part of a cache of treasure believed to have belonged to Puerto Rican pirate Roberto Cofresi.

Sources inside the restaurant know very little, but did say Batt has been getting in extra shipments of pineapple and coconut.

The third was in the national news section:

Jury Selection Continues for Scopes Trial

Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan continued another day of jury selection today in Dayton, Tennessee for the highly-anticipated trial of John Thomas Scopes, the substitute teacher accused of violated the Butler Act passed back in March.

Scopes is accused of teaching the evolution students using a chapter from George William Hunter's outlawed textbook, Civic Biology.

An enthusiastic supporter of the bill and State Representative John W. Butler, Bryan has noted he wants to see Christian parents on the jury who understand the dangers of corrupting youth.

Bryan is opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and famous defense attorney, Clarence Darrow. Darrow rose to prominence last year in his defense of Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb, the convicted murderers of Robert "Bobby" Franks in Chicago. While Darrow lost the case, his 12-hour summation did spare them the death penalty.

The final story was in the local news section:

Taylor O'Conner Laid to Rest

The private funeral for Taylor O'Conner, 30, was held yesterday at the St. Louis Cathedral followed by a burial in the family mausoleum in St. Roch. O'Conner was the son of local United States Congressman, Representative James O'Conner.

Archbishop John William Shaw himself personally performed the mass, attended by the O'Conner family and their closest friends.

Police Superintendent Thomas Healy broke the news yesterday about Taylor being killed while protecting his sister from a group of outlaw devil worshippers who had broken into their home. Also killed in the attack was O'Conner's local chief of staff, Scott Prichard.

Family spokesman and Democratic leader Paul Medvig spoke of Taylor's heroism and praised the O'Conner family for standing up against the enemies of the good Christian people of Louisiana and America. He called on the passing of laws to eliminate the practice of spiritualism and related heresies such as evolution, mirroring a speech he gave last year to support a local ordinance banning the sale of Oliver Lodge's newly-published book on spiritual evolution, Making of Man.

O'Conner is survived by his father, James, and sister, Janet, both of Crescent City. He is preceded by his mother, Clara.

Le Doux scoffs at the last story, as Medvig's lies to protect O'Conner's image are printed as facts.

*** Session 01 - Scene 2 (of 14) ***

Just after finishing the paper, the office phone rings. Le Doux's secretary and cousin, Madge Gravois, answers it and tells Boo it is someone asking to speak to him.

The French-accented man on the other end of the phone gives his name as Benjamin Devereaux. He says he has received a threat and wants to see Le Doux right away. He mentions being given Le Doux's name by an acquaintance, Mr. O'Conner, and has heard of Le Doux's expertise.

Le Doux is glad to see some business is coming in. He tells Devereaux he usually has clients come to his office, but will make an exception to come to him. He gets the address of the man's house, in a fancy section of the Garden District.

About an hour later, Le Doux and Nibbons arrive at the home. It is a nice, plantation-style mansion with large white columns in front.

Le Doux knocks at the door but no one answers. As he is knocking again, another car pulls up; a fancy car, driven by a chauffeur. The chauffeur exits the car and opens the back door to let out a well-dressed elderly woman.

The woman looks over at Le Doux and Nibbons and asks if she can help them.  Le Doux explains he is there to see Mr. Devereaux on a "private matter". She apologizes that no one was there to greet them at the door, mentioning her husband must be in the back of the house and didn't hear them. She goes on to explain that she and Robertson (indicating the driver) were out shopping and the maid left suddenly a week ago so they've been short staffed (noting good help is hard to find).

Robertson opens the door to let them inside on madam's orders. She gives her name as Violet and tells her manservant to take them back to the study.

Once they get to the room in the back, they spot a body on the floor. Le Doux can see the body is of a well-dressed elderly man, clearly Mr. Devereaux. There is a pool of blood around his head.

Robertson is taken aback by the sight. Le Doux tries to give Robertson orders, but he heads off to call the police.

Le Doux tells Nibbons to check for an assailant still on the property while he examines the body. The body appears to have been killed by a heavy blow to the head. Lying on the ground near the body is a bloody small, black statue of a falcon – likely the murder weapon.

Looking around, Le Doux notices a few other things. The body is missing his right shoe and one of the man's hands is clenched in a fist. Under the desk, Le Doux spots a couple of unused bullets. Le Doux does not spot a gun anywhere.

The area around the body has no footprints but has signs of a struggle. He also notices that in the man's clenched fist are a few strands of blond hair. Le Doux checks through the man's pockets but finds nothing except his wallet and pocket watch.

The body is lying in front of the desk, so Le Doux checks it next. On top of the desk is a small pile of mail with recent postmarks, mostly unopened with a single letter opened and lying on top. Next to the pile is a sharp-looking letter opener.

Le Doux looks at the letter; it is typewritten and unsigned. It reads, "M. Devereaux, Twenty years and 5000 miles cannot keep you from justice. I will have my revenge. Theophile Gautier" The envelope the letter was in has no return address, though it is postmarked in the city from the previous day.

Meanwhile, Nibbons comes back from his search. While he didn't find an intruder, he did find a handkerchief just outside the study with some blood wiped on it; it has the monogrammed initials, "T.G." Out near the main entrance, he also found a wallet lying on the ground that apparently fell out of someone's pocket; it appears to be a cheap leather wallet in near-new condition.

Le Doux examines the wallet to see if there is any identification inside. He finds none, but does find fifteen dollars in mixed bills (which he pockets) and three newspaper clippings from the personal messages section.

They read: "THANKS to Jesus, Mary, and St. Remigius – A.F.", "H.S. – You must find the jade monkey before the next full moon – M.B.", and "M.M. – Remember, everything useful is ugly."

Boo takes notes of everything then has the evidence returned to where it was found while he tells Nibbons about the clues he found. He doesn't want the police to think they are interfering with the investigation.

*** Session 01 - Scene 3 (of 14) ***

Just as Le Doux and Nibbons finish putting everything back in its rightful place, a uniformed officer shows up at the house to secure the crime scene. Le Doux is relieved to find it is Officer Eberhardt.

Eberhardt says he isn't surprised to find Le Doux there. Boo shares the information they found at the scene with him, including how they were called there by Devereaux. Bruno tells Le Doux not to mention the call to the detectives when they arrive.

Le Doux isn't so sure, saying he won't be able to explain his presence otherwise. Bruno is advising them to leave before the detectives get there just as they arrive. Eberhardt sees detectives Miles Dorman and Lester Jackson have been assigned to the case; the two are known as the dumbest, laziest members of the detective squad.

Eberhardt tells Le Doux not to worry, saying the men are idiots. He is proven right immediately, as after only a cursory examination of the crime scene, Dorman and Jackson determine Devereaux was killed by a burglar he surprised. Operating under the assumption it was an immigrant transient, they head out to go "make inquiries", which Eberhardt knows means they will pin the murder on the first poor bastard they come across. He tells the detectives aloud it is a good idea and he will stay to bag the evidence.

Around this time the Devereaux family lawyer, Luke Marshall, arrives. The grieving Violet Devereaux does not believe the detectives will find her husband's real killer and Marshall explains to Le Doux she would like to hire him to investigate. He quotes a fifty dollar upfront fee with ten dollars a day plus expenses, which Marshall agrees to. Le Doux elbows Nibbons and smiles; they have a chance to make real money this time.

Le Doux says they have some questions to start with, and Mrs. Devereaux offers to assist in any way she can. Le Doux wants to search the house while Nibbons asks her questions.

Nibbons starts to establish a timeline, finding out Mrs. Devereaux went shopping around 9:00 that morning and that Benjamin was home and just starting to look at the mail when she left. He asks her about any recent threats or changes in behavior, but she is aware of none. She also doesn't recognize the name, "Theophile Gautier".

After confirming there is no recent altercations the man had with anyone, Nibbons focuses on the finances. Marshall explains he is not an accountant but does handle the family trust. He agrees to let Nibbons inspect the books to look for any irregular transactions.

Pouring through the ledgers, a couple of strange transactions stand out. The first is a series of purchases apparently made to the Blue Acadian Bookstore; Nibbons assumes this is related to the purchase of pornography. He also notices a few transactions over the years to a "Dr. Broncati", who does not appear to be the family physician. He does not find any references to Theophile Gautier.

Meanwhile, Eberhardt has collected the known evidence and doesn't discover anything else around the scene that Le Doux and Nibbons missed. He notes the bullets appear to be from a .45 pistol, but doesn't see a gun anywhere. He also does not locate the missing shoe from the body.

When Le Doux gets back with the others, he asks Mrs. Devereaux if her husband had any guns. She mentions he kept a shotgun for duck hunting, but he never kept a handgun. They do find the shotgun is back in the trophy room, still locked up in its gun case.

Before they leave, Nibbons asks about hobbies Mr. Devereaux had, which Violet says only included being out at the country club. He and Le Doux then leave, followed by Eberhardt who takes the collected evidence with him.

*** Session 01 - Scene 4 (of 14) ***

Officer Eberhardt takes the bullets and statue to see if they can get fingerprints off them. He also wants the crime lab to compare the blood types of the blood on the statue and the handkerchief to confirm they match, along with checking out the hairs.

The lab technician says the other checks will take a day, but he puts the hairs under the microscope immediately to check them. He notes they appear to be cut hair, not pulled out. Eberhardt realizes the hairs were planted at the scene.

Meanwhile, Le Doux and Nibbons get back to the office. As they pull up, Le Doux sees one of his informants, Benjamin "Hawk" Brooks, a Black street tough, waiting outside. Le Doux figures the man is looking for an opportunity to make more money.

The two greet each other. When Hawk asks about business, Le Doux says he might have a murder investigation he could use some help with. He asks Hawk if he ever heard of Theophile Gautier, but the man doesn't recognize the name. Hawk has heard of Devereaux, an old, rich, plantation-owning white family; Hawk isn't exactly sad the man is dead.

Le Doux quickly breaks down what they found so far to Hawk. Hawk wonders if a coin or key was in the shoe; he tries asking Le Doux more about the shoes but the detective didn't pay a lot of attention to them and the two bicker a bit.

Once they are done arguing about the shoe, Le Doux shows him the newspaper clippings. Hawk doesn't find any significance in them.

Hawk is then interested in the servants. Le Doux again fails to see the point, but Hawk points out servants are good for getting information. He's particularly interested about the maid that suddenly quit.

Once he gets all of the details, Hawk heads out to hit the streets and see what he can find. He doesn't get much information about Devereaux outside of public knowledge and can't find anyone who knows Theophile Gautier or knows where the maid ended up.

Hawk decides his next destination is to try and talk to the butler at the Devereaux house. He waits until Robertson is outside cleaning the car to approach him. A tall, well-dressed Englishman, Robertson Thorpe is not thrilled to see Hawk on the grounds of the house and wants to know what he wants.

Hawk explains he works for Le Doux, though Thorpe remains condescending to him – noting how charitable Mr. Le Doux is in hiring them. Hawk asks about the maid, who Thorpe identifies as "Madeline".

Robertson relates he is not familiar with why she left, though notes she had been sick a lot lately so perhaps she left for health reasons. After some prompting, Thorpe tells him Madeline was friendly with the maid next door, Jill Dupay.

Thorpe, however, won't say anything about his employer's activities. Even in death, Robertson believes his employer's confidentiality must not be breached. The two part on chilly terms.

The Haitian maid at the house next door is putting out laundry to dry when Hawk approaches her. He tells her he's looking into the murder next door, which she says she knows nothing about. She warms up a little when he mentions looking for the former maid at the house, whom Jill refers to as "Maddy".

Jill tells Hawk the two became friends and chatted while they worked out in the yard. Jill clearly knows something about why Maddy left, but says she shouldn't say anything to Hawk. He tries pressing her, but she gets nervous about being seen talking to him too long. He gets her to agree to meet up with him later in the day, when her employers send her to the market to pick up eggs. Hawk flirts with her a minute more and then leaves.

*** Session 01 - Scene 5 (of 14) ***

A couple of hours later, everyone meets back at Le Doux's office.

Eberhardt explains what he learned at the crime lab while Nibbons tells the others what he found running down information on Dr. Broncati. He identifies him as Dr. Amenti Broncati, an Italian immigrant with a poor practice in the slums of Marigny.

Hawk then gives his information to Le Doux about what he found out from asking around. Le Doux isn't impressed, feeling Hawk is more focused on hooking up with the Haitian maid than helping with the case.

Le Doux then tells Hawk he'll pay him upfront for the next three days of work. He takes out a single dollar and gives it to him, telling him it ought to buy him some cheap wine. Hawk is not amused at being treated like a bad stereotype but says little.

Still trying to find information on Theophile Gautier, Le Doux asks Eberhardt if he can check the police records to see if they have anything on the name. For Nibbons, Le Doux tells him to check out the Blue Acadian and see what Devereaux was doing there. Le Doux himself is interested in seeing if either the letter or newspaper clippings can lead back to Gautier.

*** Session 01 - Scene 6 (of 14) ***

At the precinct, Eberhardt is having trouble finding what he is looking for. He gets frustrated and starts complaining about how disorganized the files are.

Ms. Kringle, one of the records secretaries, comes over and asks him if he needs any help. He tells her he is looking for Theophile Gautier. Kringle smirks and laughs a little at the name, saying he is one of her favorites but they won't find anything on him in the records.

Eberhardt wants to know why she finds the request funny. She is surprised when she realizes he doesn't know the name. Kringle explains Theophile Gautier was a French playwright and poet from Tarbes, but he died back in 1872.

Unfazed by the revelation, Eberhardt asks her what her favorite play of his was. She gives it as Une Larme du diable. Unable to control his lecherous tendencies towards attractive younger women, he asks her if she wants him to read her some poetry later but she begs off, saying she has to get back to work.

Kringle does want to know why he is investigating a poet. He tells her it is part of an investigation as the name was used in a threatening letter. When she bluntly tells him she doesn't think Gautier would write a letter like that he finally shows some frustration, telling her he knows (now) the letter was a fake.

Eberhardt thinks her for her help, though figures she'll be making fun of him with the rest of the girls later.

*** Session 01 - Scene 7 (of 14) ***

Le Doux starts at the post office. They don't recognize the letter and say it must have been dropped in the deposit slot. They didn't notice anything about mail to Mr. Devereaux and don't recognize the name Theophile Gautier.

Next Le Doux heads to the Times-Picayune newspaper office to speak with one of the editors, Amos Monteverde. He asks about the personal messages and the editor explains they don't track those; anyone can send in a message with a payment and they will print it.

Amos goes on to say the personal ads are one of their more popular features, with the most popular ones being the giving of thanks to a saint. Le Doux gives St. Remigius as a potential, whom Monteverde identifies as being a popular choice.

Le Doux asks for information on St. Remigius. Amos is surprised Le Doux isn't familiar with him. He explains St. Remigius, also known as St. Remy, was the bishop of Reims and apostle of the Franks. In 496, Remy baptized Clovis I, King of the Franks leading the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, a seminal moment of history for the Catholic Church.

Not sure how that is relevant, Le Doux shows the editor the other clippings. Amos identifies the second clipping as a quote from a popular vaudeville comedy act between characters "Monty" and "Homer". The third clipping he recognizes as a quote from the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin by Theophile Gautier; the M.M. in the clipping clearly refers to the character of the same name from the book.

Le Doux asks the man if he knows the name Theophile Gautier. He does, calling him the French playwright. When Le Doux shows surprise the man "also writes plays", Monteverde asks if he is putting on one of the plays and wants to buy an advertisement for it. Getting frustrated, Le Doux says he wants to know if the man they explain he's been dead 50 years. Thoroughly flummoxed, Le Doux takes his leave.

*** Session 01 - Scene 8 (of 14) ***

Nibbons finds Arthur Gage manning his usual spot behind the desk at the Blue Acadian. After exchanging greetings, Nibbons tells Gage he's looking for information.

Gage wants to know what Nibbons is looking for. Nibbons explains he's looking for some information on a particular customer's purchases. When Gage starts to give the company line about discretion, Chester takes out a five dollar bill and puts it on the counter.

Taking the money, Gage says he might remember some vague details. Nibbons says he'll take vague over nothing. The shopkeeper is careful to mention certain clientele, the kind who like Italian food, he can't talk about at all. Nibbons assures him he's looking for information about a citizen.

When Nibbons gives the name Devereaux, Gage is more relaxed. He says the man had a particular interest not entirely uncommon in the area. He tells Nibbons that Devereaux was quite a fan of Josephine Baker. When Nibbons asks how big of a fan, Gage says he "strongly preferred that style of music."

Chester then asks if there were other places Devereaux might have gone for that type of music. Gage, not one hundred percent sure the man is following the metaphor, says his is the only "music shop" he knows of that Devereaux liked to visit though notes he likely "practiced his instrument at home." When Nibbons asks if anyone else ever came in with him, Gage simply says the man "never had a band."

Nibbons asks how often Devereaux came in by Gage's memory gets fuzzy again until a few more dollars leave the investigator's wallet. He then says he felt Devereaux came in whenever he was between maids, but won't say any more. He then tells him to leave before he drives off the other customers.

*** Session 01 - Scene 9 (of 14) ***

Outside of Langenstein's Grocery, Hawk talks with Jill Dupay. He stresses he believes Madeline is in danger and needs to know more information about her. Jill is still reluctant, saying she was told in strict confidence.

After some prying, Jill tells Hawk that Madeline was "in trouble". The last time she saw Maddy, apparently the old man had given her some money and a name to go take care of it.

Hawk also wants to know about visitors to the house on the day Devereaux was killed. She describes a short, balding middle-aged man with glasses wearing a white coat pulling up around 9:30-10:00. She says he didn't stay too long.

Taking notes, Hawk then asks her if Devereaux ever had a gun or kept anything in his shoes, but she doesn't know anything about that.

Brooks wants to know about the servant girls. Dupay explains she only really knew Maddy – there was a different girl when she first started working at her job but she left early and another girl that was there only a short time.

Jill doesn't know what happened to Maddy, saying she never showed back up after the day she left to go to the doctor. Hawk gives her his contact information and tells her to let him know if she finds anything else.

*** Session 01 - Scene 10 (of 14) ***

Later that afternoon, everyone gets back together. Eberhardt and Le Doux quickly bring up Theophile Gautier as being a false lead, as the man is just a dead 19th century playwright.

Nibbons offers up that Devereaux had a thing for Black girls. Eberhardt, not fully catching it, thinks he is talking about Gautier. Le Doux, however, wonders if Devereaux knocked up the maid and sent her away.

Le Doux lists the letter and newspaper clippings as dead end. He does mention the quote about "everything is useful is ugly" by Gautier. Eberhardt notes his mother used to say the same thing to him.

Hawk mentions he found some information, but says Le Doux only paid him to look for information not for the information itself. Le Doux is a bit incredulous at the suggestion. He flips a quarter over to the man. Insulted, Hawk flips it back.

Le Doux tells him if he comes across with good information, he might pay him more if he thinks it's worth it. Hawk tells Le Doux he is too cheap so he'll look into things himself.

Hawk won't let the matter drop. He asks Nibbons how much he paid for his information at Blue Acadian. When Nibbons gives the real amount, Hawk continues to harangue Le Doux about them throwing money around at everyone else but him.

The conversation escalates. At one point, Le Doux tries to set Hawk straight about the ways of the world, reminding him he's Black and earning a lot relative to the others in his community. Eberhardt starts to wonder if he needs to step in, but Le Doux tells him Hawk is OK, just greedy.

Hawk then leaves, intending to find where the doctor's office is located so he can deal with the problem himself. After all, he figures, the Italian doctor is victimizing black women in the neighborhood with his illegal abortions.

Le Doux, Eberhardt, and Nibbons think of what to do next. Le Doux decides he and Eberhardt should check in to the doctor. He wants Nibbons to head over to the library and look up information on Theophile Gautier to see if anything about his death or work ties back to anything.

Before that, Le Doux and Eberhardt head back over to the Devereaux home. Thinking back on the letter, Le Doux knows Paris is approximately 5,000 miles from Crescent City.

Boo asks Mrs. Devereaux if they are recent immigrants, but she explains their families have been in the area for over a hundred years, since the days of New France. When he asks if they've been to Paris, she explains they've been there many times, including various business trips. Unfortunately, the various meetings were with different people so no one in particular stands out.

Meanwhile, at the library, Nibbons discovers Gautier died of heart disease in Neuilly-sur-Seine. As he continues to dig into the French poet fruitlessly, he has an epiphany that this is a waste of time. He realizes they missed the most important clue of all at the crime scene – that all the clues were fake.

Nibbons deduces they are in fact looking for the opposite of the direction the clues are attempting to steer them in – they are looking for someone who is not named Theophile Gautier, who's initials are not "T.G.", who is not a Frenchman, who is not blond, who didn't own a handgun, who wasn't interested in a shoe, who wasn't looking for revenge, and who doesn't collect newspaper clippings. He heads back to Le Doux's office to inform the others.

*** Session 01 - Scene 11 (of 14) ***

Since they have the address, and a car, Le Doux and Eberhardt reach Dr. Broncati's office in Marigny first. They decide to head inside and see what they can get out of him.

Stepping inside, they find themselves in a small waiting room with a few poor clientele. A rather rough-looking nurse with a nametag reading "Edith" asks them what they want.

Still in uniform, Eberhardt says they are there to see the doctor. She goes out into a hall. After a moment, a middle-aged Italian man emerges and asks if he can help them. He has a thick accent, clearly a recent immigrant.

Eberhardt tells him they need to speak in private. He takes them back into the hallway to talk. Eberhardt tries to act tough, pressing him on information about Devereaux. Broncati is more offended than impressed, telling the cop off.

Le Doux tries to play "good cop", attempting to coax some information out of Broncati about why Devereaux was paying him. Broncati remains firm he only gets money from being a good doctor.

With that not working, Le Doux tries to bribe him with a fiver. Broncati is again insulted. He gets calmer when Le Doux gives him another five. The most the doctor says is he was being paid to help keep Devereaux's staff in good health.

Eberhardt tries a different tactic, asking if Broncati has a valid medical license. He calls the cop's bluff, saying everything is in order and showing his degree from the University of Venice.

Broncati starts losing his cool when Eberhardt takes out the cuffs. He tells them to get out of his office.

Le Doux is frustrated; they don't have enough on him to arrest him and can't seem to break him with their interrogation. He briefly contemplates just taking his gun out and shooting the doctor but realizes he would just get arrested and sent to death row.

They leave the hall and Eberhardt tries one more long shot. He thanks the nurse for all the doctor's help and says the doctor told him they could have all the information on Mr. Devereaux. She says she'll have it sent over to the station, but clearly doesn't believe him. Eberhardt takes note of the patients there as they leave.

*** 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" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_ginger).

*** 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.

*** Session 02 - Scene 10 (of 17) ***

The next morning, Le Doux and Nibbons are sitting around the office discussing the case when an attractive young woman comes into the office. She appears to be well dressed, wearing a pearl necklace.

The woman gives her name as Leigh and says her "Uncle John" was murdered last night and she wants to hire Le Doux to investigate. He tells her he'd be happy to help, quoting her a rate of twenty dollars a day plus expenses.

She agrees to the sum right away then explains she wants to hear any developments on the case ahead of the police. She is particularly interested in recovering any property that might have been taken off of her uncle in the robbery (her assumption of why he was killed), as it may have sentimental value for her and the family and she doesn't want the police to lose it in their evidence room.

Leigh gives her uncle's full name as John Taubert and writes down her phone number. When asked, she agrees with Le Doux her last name is Taubert as well. Le Doux can tell she is lying about something.

Le Doux tries asking her more about her uncle, but she suddenly becomes too upset to answer much. She does mention he had some troubles lately and gives the address of the flophouse her uncle was staying at. She deftly avoids giving her own address, saying he just needs to call her and she'll be right over.

*** Session 02 - Scene 11 (of 17) ***

Shortly after she leaves, Eberhardt shows up as Nibbons as heading out to the library.  He gives the lead about the Maple Leaf Room to Le Doux, though notes he still thinks it was a voodoo killing tied to revenge for activities in the Haitian Campaign.

Eberhardt also gives the victim's name to the others. Le Doux says the plot thickens, explaining how Taubert's "niece" showed up earlier to hire them to investigate. He wants Eberhardt to run down the phone number to see where it is assigned. Eberhardt wonders why Le Doux didn't just follow her when she left.

Meanwhile, at the library, Nibbons looks through the archives and eventually finds a reference to John Taubert in a story in the Times-Picayune from March 14, 1920:

Local Soldiers Return Home

Today marks the return of three local U.S. Navy marines fresh from fighting the caco rebels at the Battle of Port-au-Prince.

The docks of Crescent City were filled with family and well-wishers today along with Mayor McShane and a full brass band.

Veteran of the Great War, Sergeant William H. DeHaven of Columbus Street, expressed his gratitude to the mayor and said he was glad to be home.

Corporal John Taubert discussed his satisfaction at the death of rebel leader Benoit Batraville and expressed a desire to find work along the wharf.

The youngest of the three, Private William D. Giradin, expressed his desire for a nice home-cooked meal back at his mother's house in Kenner.

All three men served aboard the U.S.S. Connecticut, in the 15th Company of the 2nd Advanced Base Regiment under the command of two-time Medal of Honor winner, Major Smedley Butler.

Chester, not wanting to pay for an expensive Photostat copy of the article, tears it out and brings it back to show Le Doux. Le Doux notes they have several leads to follow now.

*** Session 02 - Scene 12 (of 17) ***

At the precinct, Eberhardt tries looking through the books for phone assignments but is having troubles. Miss Kringle comes over, noting he seems to be having trouble with the filing system again. Eberhardt agrees, saying he has trouble with the American alphabet and how the system isn't as efficient as a German one.

Kringle runs the phone number for him. She identifies it as a business number, assigned to Bart Maurice & Associates, a well-known local law firm. Eberhardt is familiar with the flamboyant Maurice, who has many ads in papers, radio, and trolley stations.

Eberhardt decides to head over to the courthouse next to see what he can find on the lawyer. But before he can leave, McElroy spots him and starts talking him up.

McElroy asks Eberhardt if he heard how the coroner's office screwed up their case. When Eberhardt asks what he means, McElroy explains they lost the body; apparently they discovered it missing this morning. McElroy can't believe they manage to lose the body before the autopsy on an open and shut junkie case.

With the new development, Eberhardt heads back to Le Doux's office. He explains the body was stolen from the morgue and that the girl is from the law firm. Eberhardt suggests they investigate more into the firm.

Le Doux suggests they split up to spread out the investigation. He assigns Nibbons and Walker to check out the Maple Leaf Room to follow up on Taubert's activity there, while suggesting he and Eberhardt check out the morgue then look for the soldiers.

*** Session 02 - Scene 13 (of 17) ***

In the slums, Hawk tracks down a couple more of the guys who took books but none have the rare book. The only name he is unable to eliminate is Clayton Bigsby, who no one has seen for a few days.

Unable to find any friends or family who have seen Clayton recently, Hawk tries a different track and heads over to the Blue Acadian. He is surprised to find it is a book store and not a pawn shop as he assumed.

When he walks in, the owner, Arthur Gage, behind the counter looks up suspiciously. Calling Hawk "boy", he asks what he wants.

Hawk tries to play it cool, saying he's looking for a special kind of book; something one of his people might have sold there. Gage explains he might have such a book, but says he doesn't sell to Hawk's kind there. He tells Hawk if he's looking to sell something to show it to him, otherwise he should leave.

Sizing up the man, Hawk figures he has a gun behind the counter. He presses a little about seeing any recently-acquired material. When Gage says he'll scare off the regular customers, Hawk notes there isn't anyone else around at the moment.

Hawk makes a vague threat about having a gang of people hang around outside if he won't cooperate. Gage tells him to watch his step, noting the place has friends.

When he starts carrying on about getting the police involved, Gage tells him to meet him in the alley and out of sight, calling him a racial slur in the process.

Hawk heads around to the alley, but keeps an eye out for any trouble. After a couple of minutes, Gage opens the alley door. He shows him the two new books that came in recently, and tells Hawk he'll have to pay double if he wants them.

Glancing at the "books", Hawk sees they are nothing more than loosely-bound collections of pornographic photos.

Hawk tells Gage these aren't the books he's looking for. When he describes what he's looking for, Gage gets annoyed and tells him he wants a different type of book store. He dismisses the whole idea by making another nasty racial remark about the illiteracy rate of Hawk's people, and closes the door on him telling him not to return.

*** Session 02 - Scene 14 (of 17) ***

Later, in Marigny, Chester and Patricia come upon the Maple Leaf Room in the middle of a particularly nasty neighborhood. The dance hall is in very dilapidated condition, though they can still read the sign above the door declaring, "Where Ragtime Never Dies".

The two walk inside. Near the back is a half-Black, half-Cajun man sitting at a booth with a couple of large men standing to either side. He spots Nibbons and Walker, and asks them if they are there for the "Texas Tommy Contest".

Nibbons helpfully says he is not, at which time the man tells him he needs to leave. The man says the only people they allow there are for the Texas Tommy contest. Chester looks around and sees no one, but happily agrees to leave anyway.

As they walk out, Chester muses he'll need to have someone else, like Hawk, do the leg work on the club. But as luck would have it, as soon as he gets to the sidewalk he is called out to by a rather disheveled-looking young bum in the nearby alley.

Chester examines the area, but doesn't spot any danger. He decides to head over. Patricia follows.

The indigent man gives his name as Brian Jacques. He knows Nibbons is looking for something or someone, and offers to help but explains he needs a meal. Chester says he might be able to help.

Once Nibbons pays him a few dollars, he asks Jacques about John Taubert. Jacques recognizes the name as a regular at the club, saying he is often at the nightly dice games that happen at the club. According to Brian, Taubert usually left with the "bag full of tips."

Nibbons doesn't really follow him. Jacques goes on to explain they are the "tips from the game for the boss." Chester realizes Taubert was acting as someone's bag man.

According to Jacques, Taubert never came with anyone and did partake in some of the gambling and smoking the white powder.

Without learning much else of interest, Nibbons is ready to leave but Patricia wants to know more about the boss. After Chester gives more money, he gives the name as Paul Jenks.

Nibbons thinks for a moment then asks if Taubert had any conflicts with anyone recently. Jacques says he was beefing with one of the Haitian gangsters, Little Zo. Nibbons assumes he must be a member of the mysterious Haitian Zobop gang. Jacques says to stay away from those crazy Haitians, as they come after their enemies with machetes.

*** Session 02 - Scene 15 (of 17) ***

Over at the Crescent City Morgue office, Eberhardt and Le Doux speak with Dr. Rafael Alvaro, the parish Coroner.

Dr. Alvaro is rather defensive about the loss, particularly when Eberhardt accuses him of screwing up his case. He tells Eberhardt he can't talk to him like that, as he's been an elected official in the parish for thirty years. Eberhardt suggests it might be time to retire.

The two go at it for a minute or two, with Eberhardt pressing hard on what happened to the body. Alvaro describes it as being "misplaced", saying there must have been a mistake with the paperwork. He says the body should turn up any time now.

The doctor wants Eberhardt to keep the matter quiet, saying if the information got out it wouldn't be good for anyone. Eberhardt signals he's willing to play ball if Alvaro gets more cooperative.

Eberhardt asks if he saw anything, but Alvaro explains he wasn't at the morgue that night as he just works the day shift. He goes on to say he spoke to the staff, but no one knows what happened.

Dr. Alvaro can confirm the body did show up there. He shows Eberhardt the location where the body was supposed to be located. Eberhardt looks it over, but finds nothing of interest. Alvaro says it must have gotten moved, noting many bodies pass through their office in a day.

Le Doux looks around the area for clues, but finds nothing. Eberhardt checks on who filled out the intake form, finding it was Officer Goodhope along with an orderly, Raymond Alexander. Alvaro notes Alexander works the night shift, so they'll have to come back later.

Eberhardt presses the doctor until he agrees to have his secretary, Glenda, give him Alexander's address. The German lech tries to get her to give him her phone number as well, but she slaps him for getting fresh.

One of the younger doctors spots the two of them and comes over. He offers to help, giving his name as Dr. Donnenwirth.

Donnenwirth asks which case they are there for. Eberhardt gives the name of the Taubert case, but he isn't familiar.

The doctor says he overheard they were looking for an orderly's address and asks if there was a problem. Eberhardt says he should talk to his boss, saying Alvaro wanted the matter kept quiet. Donnenwirth says he understands, whispering something about "another body disappearing." Eberhardt makes plans to meet up with him later.

*** Session 02 - Scene 16 (of 17) ***

Le Doux wants to find the other marines next. Since Kenner is far outside the city, he decides they should head for DeHaven first. The two head over to Columbus Street in the Seventh Ward.

Unfortunately, they don't know his actual address. Le Doux thinks they should look around for someone in the neighborhood they can ask.

Eberhardt realizes the obvious – the post office will know where he lives. They decide to look around for a mail man they can ask.

They happen across one fairly quickly. Le Doux is able to get the address of DeHaven's rented room from him without trouble by posing as an "old army friend."

Eberhardt starts the car over to the address. Le Doux tells him to hurry, but things go awry when a boy chases a small ball out into the road. Eberhardt swerves to avoid the boy, but smashes right into a milk truck and crashes his head into the windshield. Le Doux chides him for driving recklessly.

The car is pretty smashed up and won't run any time soon. Luckily, they are only twelve blocks away from DeHaven's place.

As Le Doux looks for some rags to cover up Eberhardt's injury, a large, burly, angry milkman heads over. His nametag identifies him as "Pat Mustard".

Le Doux and Eberhardt try to make a run for it, but Mustard grabs Eberhardt from behind. He yells at Eberhardt, asking him what he did to his milk truck. The detective tries to claim the truck was parked illegally.

Mustard smacks Eberhardt and knocks him down. Eberhardt tells him, "That's it, monkey boy!" Le Doux tries to grab the man, but he effortlessly shakes him off.

The milkman grabs a baseball bat from the cab of his truck. Eberhardt gets up with his gun drawn. Mustard puts up his hands, saying there is no need for that. The two agree to go their separate ways.

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

Eberhardt and Le Doux hobble their way along the twelve blocks until they reach DeHaven's apartment. As they get near the door, a figure bursts out the door wielding a machete.

Le Doux draws his gun and fires a shot into the man. Eberhardt tries the same, but the blood gets in his eyes and his shot goes wide.

The machete swings out slowly, allowing Le Doux to move out of the way. He responds by firing a couple of shots into the man's kneecap.

Eberhardt fires shots of his own into the center mass of the target. He goes down.

Le Doux notices there is no blood coming out from the body, which he finds strange. He takes the machete and tosses it in the nearby hydrangea bushes while they take the body inside.

Once inside, they turn the body over. Eberhardt recognizes it as the corpse of John Taubert. The realization is shocking, but both manage to suppress their natural sense of terror at the idea of a dead man attacking them.

It doesn't get much better when they realize there is another body inside the apartment. They determine it is the hacked up remains of William DeHaven.

Eberhardt looks over the suit on Taubert's body, and notes these are not the clothes the body was in when he was found the first time. Le Doux checks it over, finding laundry marks for Lee's Laundry, a nearby Chinese laundromat.

They know it won't be long before cops start showing up. Le Doux says they can't leave anyway, since they've been seen around. They do a quick search around the apartment, but find no more clues. Le Doux notes they still have quite a lot to check up on when they get done here.

*** Session 02 - Session Notes ***

This session was a return to more normalcy, a lot closer to the prologue session. We made a couple of adjustments - the players had a conversation about how the Hawk and Eberhardt players need to be more helpful in the investigations, so that made a difference. I also made sure the next plot was a bit less chaotic in nature (though it still has a fair amount of complexity).

Patricia Walker turned into a PC this time, played by the daughter of the Hawk player. I would call that the biggest downside of the session - she clearly isn't interested in the game and it really dragged things down. We tried to engage her in the game several times, I'm guessing its just not her cup of tea - if I had a teenage daughter I wouldn't drag her to my RPG night so I completely understand.

Misc notes about the session:
* The voodoo-based murder is an early idea I had, and more than a little inspired by the Lincoln and Child novel, Cemetery Dance.

* The idea of a voodoo-based revenge from a Haitian man who felt wronged by the U.S. occupation of Haiti is something I developed nearly 20 years ago and played out in a different adventure during my college days.

* Eberhardt getting promoted to detective is all about getting him a little more independent. I figured I could only have a patrol officer stumble into a crime so many times.

* Once again, I used the opening newspaper article thing to kick off the session to get them wondering what might be relevant later. This time, the Le Doux player insisted the others read the stories as well (though that got a little awkward, as the Hawk player turned out to be not as literate as we had assumed; as the rest of us are well-educated professionals, we're not used to people who have a hard time reading aloud).

* The first story is clearly about Mt. Rushmore. As usual, I like including historical stuff to establish the times as well as provide interesting historical tidbits.

* The second story will likely come into play later. It is heavily based on the setup for a plot from a four-issue storyline in the Avengers West Coast comic (circa the early 90s).

* The Broncati story (with its intentionally over-the-top headline) hints at some of the plot the PCs missed by arresting him. Careful readers may spot one of the names in the story as being significant; more on that later.

* The last story is about Hitler publishing Mein Kampf. For some reason the story - a bombastic man who was considered a political laughing stock by the establishment and yet shortly after manipulated his way to a position of high power on a wave of the white working class whipped into xenophobia - seems oddly relevant these days...

* I brought Patricia Walker back as a PC because I thought it would be the easiest character to integrate and she had valuable skills. Not to mention a bunch of spells the character had access to but the player never bothered to use in the investigation.

* I also wanted to keep the PCs on notice that the Cult of Allatou story is far from over.

* The Committee is another comic book thing, though I'm just using the name.

* The loose occult text is most definitely a consequence from Hawk's actions last time.

* Detectives McElroy and La Fleur are named after the joke in How I Met Your Mother (where they are given as the Canadian equivalent to the Lethal Weapon movies).

* Kerns' story actually had more details if the PCs would have followed up more on him, but they didn't.

* Kern's comment about the body is taken from the famous dialog in Night of the Living Dead. It's meant to be foreshadowing the fact Taubert will return as a zombie (though none of the players caught that).

* I liked the Eberhardt player injecting his own pop culture reference with the drunken sailor song line.

* All of the details about the Haitian Campaign are taken from history. I think not too many people realize just how much trouble the U.S. Banana Wars caused in Central America.

* The voodoo stuff is meant to set a tone. I'm not sure I'm using any of it accurately (not that it matters, as the bad guy is clearly perverting the religion anyway).

* Miss Cleo is taken straight from the phony actress who did all those Psychic Friends Network commercials on TV in the 90s. The PCs didn't investigate her further, but if they did they would have discovered she was really an actress / scam artist from Detroit.

* The "candle ceremony" part is taken from the episode of The Shield where Dutch confronts the fake medium.

* Marie Laveau was, of course, a real person. Lucien Celine is not, but is based on Paul Winfield's character of the same name in the film, The Serpent and the Rainbow.

* Nibbons tries to pick the lock at the library because the players edged him on to see if anything funny would happen.

* Bear Brown is a play on the Huggy Bear character from Starsky and Hutch. Mainly I'm using it to poke fun at the fact the player based his character on Hawk from Spencer for Hire.

* The Maple Leaf Room is named after the Maple Leaf Rag, a famous ragtime.

* The mysterious Leigh is someone I thought the PCs would follow up more on but they are taking that one slow. It was obvious she wasn't who she said she was.

* Bart Maurice is an homage to popular lawyer Morris Bart from New Orleans.

* Clayton Bigsby is named after the character from the Chapelle Show. Careful readers may have caught some of the foreshadowing with where that story may lead.

* Since Hawk wasn't paying much attention, he completely missed the Blue Acadian was the mob's porn store. He nearly got himself killed.

* "Where Ragtime Never Dies" is a play on the joke about "Where Disco Never Dies" (from Airplane! and others); since by this time, Jazz has replaced Ragtime.

* The Texas Tommy is indeed a real dance, though clearly it is being used as a codeword. Again, I'm not sure how much of that the Nibbons player caught.

* Brian Jacques is not, as my players assumed, named after the Redwall author; I'd never heard of him or Redwall. Instead, I was using it as a play on the name of musician Brian Jack from the band, Child's Play.

* Once again, I'm not sure Nibbons fully understood the whole "Taubert was a bag man for some crime syndicate" thing, even after I have Jacques pretty much say it.

* Paul Jenks is based on the character from the TV show, NCIS New Orleans.

* Little Zo is based on a real Haitian gang member.

* The disappearing bodies from the morgue will certainly come up again later (in the way you might expect).

* The Le Doux and Eberhardt players originally didn't know how they were going to find DeHaven's house; the rest of us had to keep hinting to them for ideas.

* The car crash occurred because the Le Doux player egged on the Eberhardt player to drive there fast so he'd have to make a Drive check. He figured something funny was bound to happen (and it did).

* The angry milkman is inspired by the character of the same name from the TV show, Father Ted.

* Lee's Laundry is based on a real New Orleans family laundry.

*** Session 03 - 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.

*** Session 03 - Scene 1 (of 8) ***

Le Doux and Eberhardt work to get their stories straight before the cops show up. Le Doux suggests they stay as close to the truth as possible – they were hired by someone to look into Taubert and who might have his possessions, which led them to De Haven's row house where they were attacked by an armed man and forced to defend themselves.

They just finish putting their story together when a car shows up. The officers outside tell them to come out with their hands up. They comply.

As they exit, Eberhardt sees that the officers are Jim Reed and Pete Malloy from his precinct. Malloy recognizes Bruno and greets him, saying there was a report of gunfire. Eberhardt confirms firing his weapon and says he was attacked.

Bruno shows the two uniformed cops into the house where they can see the bodies. Reed heads over to the phone to call back into the precinct while Malloy asks Eberhardt about what happened. He takes down the notes as Eberhardt explains how Taubert attacked him with his machete.

Malloy also takes down Le Doux's statement as he explains who he is and how he was hired to find the personal possessions of a man that led them to De Haven's house. He says when they got there, they heard yelling from inside and then the "maniac" came out and attacked them. Le Doux and Eberhardt play dumb as to the ID of the attacker.

Reed suggests that since Eberhardt is a homicide detective, it must be his case. He tells him not to worry though, as McElroy and Le Fleur are headed over and they can help figure out this mess. Eberhardt (falsely) expresses his pleasure at the help while convincing the two they are free to leave.

There isn't much time between the time Malloy and Reed leave to the time McElroy and Le Fleur show up. McElroy congratulates Eberhardt on picking up another case already, but stops short as he realizes the body on the floor is Taubert. Eberhardt tries to play dumb, but Le Fleur confirms the body is definitely Taubert's.

Eberhardt acts very confused as McElroy argues with him about whether he shot a corpse or if the man was actually alive and attacked them. He bends down to check the body, saying he's definitely dead now.

Le Fleur investigates the body of De Haven as he asks what they are doing there. Le Doux repeats his story. When Le Fleur presses him on who hired them, he explains it was a relative of Taubert's. Le Fleur digs into the story a little, wanting to know how the investigation brought them to De Haven's. Le Doux explains it away as them being old marine buddies.

McElroy spots a framed photo sitting up on the nearby credenza, saying this must be them. He tosses it over to Eberhardt. The picture shows a group of Haitian cacos being captured by a squad of marines. Eberhardt takes it out of the frame and examines the back of it. The writing says, "Capturing the last of Batroville's bastards outside Port-o-Prince" and is dated January 16, 1920. He gives it over to Le Doux to check as well.

As Le Doux looks over the photo, finding little of interest except De Haven's bad spelling of Port-au-Prince, McElroy gives his theory of what happened. According to the detective, Taubert must have been knocked out by the head wound he received the other day, combined with overdosing on the China White. He then probably woke up in the morgue and wandered off back to De Haven's, where the two hopheads got in a fight over money or dope and Taubert ended up killing De Haven.

Le Fleur seems more circumspect about what may have happened but McElroy is convinced he is right. He's overjoyed at the idea their case is even more cleanly closed now, as Taubert clearly killed De Haven and Eberhardt killed Taubert, so there's no other killer on the loose.

Eberhardt offers to handle the paperwork on the killing and wait around for the morgue truck. McElroy gladly passes off the duty to him then heads out with Le Fleur.

*** Session 03 - Scene 2 (of 8) ***

While waiting around for the morgue wagon to show up, Le Doux calls over to his office and has Madge put Nibbons on the phone. Boo tells his fellow detective to come pick them up at the address of De Haven's apartment, as they are currently stuck without a car.

Nibbons doesn't take long to get there. Walking inside, he immediately sees the carnage and has to sit down in one of the chairs in the parlor for a minute to collect his thoughts.

Le Doux explains about how he and Eberhardt came to arrive there and what happened with Taubert's body. Eberhardt makes sure to include the part about his wrecked car and the "crazy milkman" that tried to assault him.

Nibbons tries his hand at examining the body, noting he sees a fine white powder mixed in with Taubert's hair. Eberhardt takes a sample into an envelope for later analysis.

Chester then goes on to explain what he and Patricia uncovered at the Maple Leaf Room, noting both Little Zo (a Haitian gang member with a beef against Taubert) and Paul Jenks (an organized crime figure who Taubert was apparently the bag man for) are possible leads. He also explains how Walker decided not to accompany him and instead resume her search on The Committee.

The three spend some time discussing what to do next. Le Doux counts out the immediate leads as he sees them that moment – there's the Haitian Zobop gang and Little Zo, the apparent crime boss Paul Jenks, the suit marks that lead back to Lee's Laundry, and the mysterious "Leigh" who hired him to investigate Taubert in the first place.

Eventually, the group settles on focusing on Leigh for the moment. Since Taubert apparently returned from the dead, Le Doux wants to know what's going on and how she is involved. He calls her from the house phone, saying he has her uncle's possessions. She tries to say she will send a "courier", but Le Doux insists on meeting her, personally, at the house and asks her to bring the money. She eventually agrees, saying she will be there in an hour.

Once he is off the phone, Le Doux, Nibbons, and Eberhardt scheme together on a plan while the morgue truck arrives and hauls off the remains. After some discussion, they decide Le Doux will stay in the house while Eberhardt keeps an eye out from Nibbons' car and Nibbons watches from across the street. Given the conversation on the phone, Boo is anticipating Leigh may bring some muscle.

*** Session 03 - Scene 3 (of 8) ***

Around the scheduled time, Chester watches as a car comes down the street. It appears to be driven by Leigh, which he finds odd. He looks around for any other cars coming with her, but fails to notice the other car that goes into the alley.

From Nibbons' car, Eberhardt keeps an eye out in the rear view mirror. He sees Leigh get out of the car and approach the house. She knocks then heads inside.

Once she is out of sight, Eberhardt exits the car and heads over to Leigh's car. He first glances to make sure no one is hiding inside, then checks the lock. Finding the door unlocked, he opens it and begins searching. Inside the glove box, he finds the vehicle registration papers for the car; they are in the name of a Mr. Shaun Sullivan.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Le Doux greets Leigh from a chair he positioned to face the door. She asks him about her uncle's property but Boo tells her he needs some questions answered first. While the two talk, Le Doux never hears the back door in the kitchen open, nor the two goons advance into the parlor behind him. What he does hear is the hammer of a revolver being pulled back from right behind his head.

A rough-sounding voice behind Le Doux instructs him to hand over the money. Le Doux says he doesn't know what they are talking about, while looking at Leigh. The man behind him tells Le Doux, "you said you had Taubert's money", clearly growing more agitated.

Leigh is clearly concerned by the turn of events. Looking very scared, she says something about how this is not what she agreed to and runs out the front door.

The two gunmen stay behind Le Doux, not allowing him to see them. He tries talking his way out of the situation, stalling for time until Eberhardt and Nibbons come in to help. But he manages to upset the men, and everything goes black as he is struck in the back of the head with the butt of the revolver.

Back outside, Eberhardt intercepts Leigh before she can get to her car. Whipping out his identification, he tells her she is wanted downtown for questioning. She begins to get frantic and Nibbons comes over to assist getting her into the back of his car. As they do so, Nibbons notices a car pull out of the nearby alley very fast and speed off, but thinks nothing of it.

After getting Leigh into the car and thinking for a minute, Nibbons wonders what is taking his boss so long to come out of the house. He tells Eberhardt he'll go check on Boo.

When he opens the door, Nibbons notices the overturned chair in the parlor. Looking around, he also spots some marks on the kitchen floor as if from shoes being dragged along it and the back door isn't fully closed. Outside, fresh tire tracks show where a vehicle quickly left. Putting two and two together, Chester realizes someone has kidnapped his boss.

*** Session 03 - Scene 4 (of 8) ***

With the car from the alley long gone and no real leads on who might have taken Le Doux or where they might have gone, Eberhardt and Nibbons proceed to take Leigh back to the precinct so he can book her and file a missing person report on Le Doux.

The duty sergeant, Finny Lahti, is a bit skeptical that Eberhardt has any real crime to charge Leigh with and notes Le Doux can't be declared missing until he is gone for 24 hours. He agrees to hold the woman temporarily, but warns Bruno he is unlikely to sway the magistrate to actually get her charged with anything.

While being processed by the duty sergeant, Leigh gives her full legal name as Gail Leigh Roberts. She demands a call to her lawyer.

In one of the holding rooms, Eberhardt tries interrogating Leigh but she refuses to answer any questions until her lawyer gets there. It doesn't take long before a man shows up. He shows his identification and bar credentials, identifying him as Shaun Sullivan, an attorney for Bart Maurice & Associates.

Sullivan shuts down any questioning Eberhardt has and knows he has the upper hand legally. He agrees to answer a couple of questions personally, saying Leigh borrow his car for official business for the firm.

Eberhardt agrees, having little choice since he doesn't have enough to charge Leigh or Shaun, and attempting to do so would bring a costly legal battle with Bart Maurice himself.

Shaun goes on to explain Leigh hired Le Doux while acting as the agent of a client of his who wished to remain anonymous. Sullivan refuses to identify his client, citing attorney-client privilege. He assures Eberhardt he has no idea what happened to Le Doux or how Taubert "came back from the dead", and his only interest is in trying to find any personal belongings Taubert had when he was killed in the robbery.

With no other option, Eberhardt releases Leigh and she and Sullivan leave. He and Nibbons decide in the absence of any other leads, he'll head over to the morgue and talk with Dr. Donnenwirth.

*** Session 03 - Scene 5 (of 8) ***

Le Doux wakes to find himself with a splitting headache while tied down to a chair someone in an empty warehouse. Three men stand in front of him, two larger muscle types along with a slighter third man who appears to be Cajun.

The Cajun man tells Le Doux he is happy he is awake now. Le Doux voices his guess the man is Paul Jenks. Jenks congratulates him on his detective work.

Jenks then tells Le Doux he wants "my money". Le Doux doesn't know what he's talking about at first, although he eventually surmises Jenks is referring to the bag of money Taubert would have had on him from the Maple Leaf Room the night he was killed.

Le Doux is able to convince Jenks he doesn't actually have the money. He mentions the possible lead about Little Zo and the Zobop gang, suggesting they might have it. Jenks agrees it is a possibility.

Jenks is also concerned about any connections Le Doux has to the Italians. Le Doux isn't sure what he is referring to, but Jenks explains the Black man Le Doux employs (using a racial slur to refer to Hawk) caused some trouble at the Blue Acadian. Jenks notes Le Doux's partner also recently went to the Blue Acadian, so he wants to make sure Le Doux isn't planning to start up any trouble with the Martranga family. Le Doux tells him he doesn't know anything about Hawk's recent activities and has no intention of messing with the Italians. This seems to mollify Jenks for the moment.

The gangster then makes Le Doux an offer – he will spare Le Doux's life as a favor. In return for that favor, he wants Le Doux to investigate the Zobop gang and determine if Little Zo did indeed take his money. As an added incentive, Jenks notes he is willing to give Le Doux 5% of the money as a finder's fee should he be able to recover the funds. Given it is an offer he can't really refuse, Le Doux agrees to the deal.

Jenks tells Le Doux he has a start for his investigation. According to Jenks, a garage in Treme called "Djauto's Garage" is owned by a man who has a cousin in the Zobop gang. He suggests Le Doux start there.

As he is being untied from the chair, Le Doux makes some remarks against Jenks' goons indicating he wants a chance to square things with them for smacking him in the head. Jenks tells him such actions would be counterproductive to their new partnership. He also mentions they will need to blindfold Le Doux on his way out.

*** Session 03 - Scene 6 (of 8) ***

Over at the morgue, Eberhardt and Nibbons find Dr. Donnenwirth. Donnenwirth greets Eberhardt, saying what a strange set of circumstances this is.

Eberhardt asks for clarification, and Donnenwirth explains about how Taubert's body came back with gunshots and according to the drivers who brought him in, he wasn't actually dead before. He notes that never happened with the other bodies.

When Eberhardt asks for more information about that, Donnenwirth lowers his voice and takes him to a more remote area in the building. He explains the Parish Coroner, Dr. Alvaro, doesn't want it talked about.

According to Donnenwirth, several bodies have disappeared previously. He isn't able to give Bruno an exact number as Alvaro tries to keep things quiet, but estimates there have been at least eight or nine.

Eberhardt is able to determine the bodies all disappeared during the night, at least as far as Donnenwirth knows. Other than the fact all the bodies were men, there was little in common with them demographically and no apparent connections between the dead men.

Donnenwirth also says the same staff were not on duty for any of the disappearances, noting Dr. Alvaro already investigated that. The doctor goes on to explain Alvaro is conducting his own clandestine investigation to try and get the body theft stopped before the knowledge goes public.

Eberhardt wonders how the bodies manage to get out, but Donnenwirth isn't sure. Bruno asks the doctor to re-examine the autopsy records for the bodies that had them before disappearing to see if there was anything strange with them; in particular, he's interested in anything foreign found in or on the bodies.

Donnenwirth agrees to quietly do some research and get back to him. Eberhardt also gives him the envelope of the white powder they found on Taubert and asks him to do some chemical analysis on it.

Before leaving, Eberhardt takes down the names of the other bodies that disappeared. He and Nibbons decide to head back to the office.

*** Session 03 - Scene 7 (of 8) ***

As Eberhardt and Nibbons walk up to the front door of Le Doux's office, a car swings by on the street. It slows down slightly as Le Doux is thrown out of it then it speeds off again.

The two rush over to Le Doux who takes off his blindfold as he picks himself up off the pavement. Eberhardt asks him what happened. Le Doux responds he went out for a drink with a couple of friends.

Eberhardt is clearly confused. Le Doux begins to mock him sarcastically, noting how strange it was one of his friends showed up unexpectedly at the house; the house Eberhardt and Nibbons were supposed to be watching to keep an eye out for any muscle.

Bruno helpfully offers he took care of that by arresting the woman. Nibbons offers he had the front of the house covered.

Le Doux explains how Jenks' goons came through the back and were asking him about wanting the money Taubert had on him when he died the first time.

Eberhardt surmises it is a net positive, as Le Doux got to meet Jenks and therefore they can cross that item off of their to-do list.

Le Doux notes "now we owe Jenks a favor". Eberhardt isn't so sure the favor applies to all of them, but Le Doux explains the "we" applies to "me and the guys who let me get captured by Jenks."

Eberhardt blames Le Doux for having so many enemies, saying he can only do some much when the man constantly has enemies coming after him.

Not wanting to argue, Le Doux explains what the favor actually is and how they need to investigate Little Zo. Le Doux figures it really isn't that big of a favor, as they were planning to do it anyway. Eberhardt wishes Hawk was around to help, but Le Doux is convinced he's probably off getting himself into trouble again so they can't afford to wait until he shows back up.

Le Doux also says how Jenks was concerned about Hawk ruffling feathers at the Blue Acadian, the Italian mob's porno shop. He confirms with Nibbons that he didn't send Hawk there the way he tried messing with Agent Fox. Neither Eberhardt nor Nibbons know why Hawk would have gone there.

Eberhardt then fills Le Doux in about the arrest of Leigh and what they found out about Shaun Sullivan. Bruno notes they may need Hawk's skills to either break into the law office or nab Sullivan if they want to learn more about the client, though Eberhardt believes Sullivan probably has access to bodyguards.

Le Doux figures Leigh doesn't know much, but Sullivan does. He wonders aloud how Jenks found out where he was so quickly and why he thought Le Doux had the money. Eberhardt wonders if Jenks was following up on Taubert, while Nibbons suggests Sullivan's client is actually Jenks himself. Le Doux finds the whole matter rather strange.

Turning back to the Haitian investigation, Le Doux mentions Djauto's Garage as a lead mentioned by Jenks. None of the men have heard about it, and Nibbons offers to do some research on it. Eberhardt suggests he also look into Bart Maurice & Associates while he's at it.

Le Doux notes the law firm is a rather large firm. He wonders if it could be involved in The Committee Walker spoke of. He does, however, concede the Allatou cult and the voodoo are not actually connected as Allatou is supposed to be a demon of some kind.

The mention of voodoo reminds Eberhardt they also still need to track down the follower of Marie Laveau, the man named Lucien Celine that Miss Marie mentioned. Le Doux notes they still have a lot of leads to track down.

*** Session 03 - Scene 8 (of 8) ***

Nibbons starts by heading over to the library. Le Doux decides to rest because of his head injury, while Eberhardt makes a call into the station to have them check on Lucien Celine.

Miss Kringle is unable to find any records on Lucien. Nibbons has no better luck at the library checking on Djauto's Garage, and can't recall the other thing he was going to research so he heads over to the Chamber of Commerce building to ask around about Djauto's and see if there are any affiliated businesses.

At the Chamber of Commerce, the businessmen there take one look at Nibbons and decide he isn't respectable enough to talk with. They quickly give him the bum's rush.

His last hope is to head over to the Parish Courthouse to see if he can find any legal papers on the business. Again, he has no luck and heads back to Le Doux's empty-handed.

Having exhausted the research angle, when Nibbons gets back to the office he suggests to the others that one of them head over to Djauto's to perform some reconnaissance. Hawk would be Nibbons' first choice, but he still hasn't shown back up.

Le Doux agrees they need to go there, suggesting they pose as a customer. With Eberhardt's car in the police motor pool for repairs, Le Doux asks to borrow Nibbons' car. He then engineers an accident to rip the door off of the car, giving him a reason to go to the garage.

With the car ready to go, Le Doux tells Nibbons to head over to the garage and he and Eberhardt will follow in Le Doux's car.

They head over to Treme and it doesn't take long before they spot the garage – a small, one-stall service station. Nibbons pulls up and is greeted by a Haitian man in coveralls wearing a bow tie. He smiles broadly and happily greets Chester, giving his name as Emmanuel Djauto. Chester thinks quickly and recalls the name of an alderman from Lakefront City who was in the paper for going missing last year; he gives that name to Djauto as his own.

Djauto tells Nibbons he can fix the door right up. Chester makes small talk, trying to get what he can out of the man. He asks if Emmanuel works there or owns the shop, and he says he owns it. Nibbons then asks how long he's owned the shop, and Djauto says it has been open for a little over a year. The mechanic also mentions something about his cousin lending him the money to get it started.

Nibbons knows the cousin is likely the one they are looking for that is connected to the Zobop. He asks about any other businesses the cousin may own, suggesting he is a businessman himself. Djauto explains his cousin is not a businessman but likes to help out family. He then changes the subject back to the car, though Nibbons does note he gives the name of "Wendell" for the cousin.

Emmanuel determines he can get the door fixed by the next day. Looking around, Nibbons tries to see anything lying around that could help their investigation. But there is little sitting around in the garage area, and the notes that are there appear to be half-literate notes about car repairs.

Needing more time to look around, Nibbons tells Djauto he needs to wait around in the office for a minute to sit down and relax while waiting for his ride to get there. Emmanuel happily says that is not a problem, even turning on the radio for him.

Inside the office, Nibbons makes sure it is safe then starts looking around. He's able to pop open the lock on the desk drawer, discovering some business papers and bills inside. According to the documents, the lease on the building is being paid by someone named Wendell Poole.

Nibbons takes down Poole's name and address information from the papers. After not discovering anything else of interest, he leaves and meets back up with Eberhardt and Le Doux at Le Doux's car after confirming he just needs to drop by the next day to pick up the car (as Djauto is too poor to afford a phone in his shop).

Inside Le Doux's car, Nibbons breaks down what he found out about Poole. Eberhardt is impressed, saying this is the most useful information he has ever got (while thinking it is almost the only information he has ever got them).

Le Doux takes the opportunity to make another sardonic comment about how he wishes Nibbons would have found the information about the guys who came and hit him in the head. Nibbons jokes that at least he kept the front of the house safe and helped take care of Leigh.

Nibbons offers to research Wendell Poole. They are all hesitant to get too much closer to the Haitians until they have Hawk available to back them up.

Eberhardt notes they also still need to follow up on Lucien Celine and Lee's Laundry. Le Doux thinks they should hit the laundry first, since it will be easiest, so they drive off to head there next.

*** Session 03 - Session Notes ***

The third official session was leaner and meaner, and a lot closer to how the old Cthluhubusters campaign went.

The session was a little short because the Nibbons player was running late and we ended slightly early because we were at a good stopping point and I was getting tired.

The write-up is a little leaner than normal due to the shorter session, the fact the players spent an awful lot of time out of game trying to decide what to do next, and the fact my audio recording software on my tablet crashed so half of scene 1 and scenes 2-5 are written up from memory.

The game also ran smoother without Hawk (who tends to cause complications) and Walker (who didn't do much last time but we kept trying to engage her). In theory they were out this week because the Walker player was sick, but I don't know if they'll be back or not. Obviously she doesn't enjoy the game and it seems silly he would use his visitation time to take her to the game if she isn't having fun.

In other news, we may have Agent Fox back soon. He's been bugging his dad (Le Doux) to let him join the game again.

As far as the actual session plot goes, the PCs did a great job of hunting down some leads and starting to introduce more of the organized crime angles of the campaign.

Other notes from the session:
* Officers Reed and Malloy are, obviously, taken from the TV series, Adam 12. I didn't actually name them during the session.

* I think the dialogue between McElroy/Le Fleur and Le Doux/Eberhardt is fairly abbreviated in the writeup. That was right around the time my recorder crashed (which I didn't notice for another hour or more). The main points of the conversation are still there, but I lost a lot of the color.

* Le Doux spent quite a lot of time looking for clues in the photo I handed out. There are no other clues hidden in it, it was just to reinforce what they already knew (they were marines and fought the Haitians).

* The time taken out of game to decide to follow up on the Leigh angle first took at least 20 minutes. There is much disagreement among the players whether the organized crime angle or the Haitian looking for revenge with voodoo angle is the correct one.

* When recounting the things they needed to follow up on, the players seem to have forgotten at least one or two other leads from the previous session. I refused to help them by listing the possibilities, telling them ahead of this session they should re-read the write-up from the previous session. If I give them a list then they will start to make assumptions about what is and isn't a real clue based on what I think to include or not include, which is something I don't want to do.

* The scene with Leigh and Jenks' goons was definitely the high point of the session. The PCs correctly assume something bad will happen but fail to come up with a plan that accounts for what ends up happening. It was very much a callback to how they operated in the first Cthulhubusters campaign.

* I probably have a lot more women actually driving cars than would have been the case in the 1920s. It is a necessary anachronism to help move the story along so I claim dramatic license.

* The Eberhardt player was real proud of his arrest right up until it became obvious he had no leverage to interrogate her with since there was no evidence she committed a crime. I had Sullivan provide minimal cooperation just to avoid things going off kilter.

* Jenks talking with Le Doux is another conversation I wish I would have had recorded. Luckily the Le Doux player mentions later in the game (when the recorder was back on) what he talked about or I would definitely have missed some key pieces trying to do it completely from memory.

* Djauto's Garage is an in-joke. There is a local car dealership near my house named D J Auto. In a play off of the movie, Django Unchained, every time we drive by it I insist to my girlfriend it is a French business named Djauto (this partially works because of how the sign looks). It's one of my many obnoxious, corny running gags but its one of the ones that drives her nuts the most.

* I found it hilarious that the Nibbons player, who usually pays the least amount of attention to the plots, was the one to put two and two together that Jenks hired Sullivan. The Le Doux player seems to think there is more to it than that, but I think he's forgetting that the whole point was it began looking like a simple robbery so Jenks figured having Le Doux recover the money for Taubert's "niece" would be the easiest and quietest way.

* When they are talking about clues, there was a long section where the Eberhardt player (speaking in character) starts theorizing the committee, the milkman, and the voodoo zombis are all part of a larger Jewish conspiracy. It was meant as a joke about Eberhardt being a proto-Nazi so I didn't include it in the notes.

* Le Doux insisting they wreck Nibbons' car (instead of his own) to go undercover at Djauto's was very much in character and a fairly funny moment.

* Wendell Poole was another name from the real life Haitian gang I read a story about.

* The players are very nervous about heading to the laundry, as they still associate zombis with crime boss / Chinese sorcerer Chiang Li Ching in the previous campaign. Their characters, of course, do not.

*** Session 04 - Cast of Characters ***

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

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.

Special Agent Millard Fox: A White agent of the Bureau of Investigation. He was sent to Crescent City to investigate a stolen car ring but spends most of his time looking into occult incidents.

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.

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

*** Session 04 - Scene 1 (of 11) ***

Special Agent Millard Fox's investigation was coming to a close. After spending a couple of weeks running down leads, he traced the stolen car ring to a Black criminal gang ran by Charles "King" Powers.  Tonight would be his raid on their warehouse in the industrial Higgins district.

To affect the arrest, accompanying Fox are several officers from the 3rd Precinct over on Hill Street. Major Gary Marchese, head of that precinct, gave Fox a small command of patrol officers – Sgt. Phillip Esterhaus, Officer J.D. La Rue, Officer Andrew Renko, and Officer Joseph Coffey.

A block away from the warehouse, Fox begins forming the plans with the others. At first he wants to send in La Rue by himself with Renko as backup while he and the others wait outside. Neither La Rue nor Renko like the sound of that plan.

Renko suggests instead he send two of them to go in the back door while Fox and the others go in the front. He asks for clarification from Fox about how deadly of force they should use; the BOI agent says he wants Powers taken alive but doesn't care about the rest.

Fox still wants to hold back himself and use the expendable locals to do the heavy lifting. He tells Esterhaus to go in with Renko while he, La Rue, and Coffey stay out front for a minute and then head in once they hear gunfire.

Sgt. Esterhaus and Renko start heading around the back. Given the race of the criminals, the two decide they will just go in shooting and whoever dies, dies.

Renko finds a window around the back. Looking in, he spots Powers with some muscle standing around him and a few other guys working on the cars. The muscle appears to be a mix of Powers' own men and a trio of Haitians.

Esterhaus breaks open the door, and the two of them fire as they move behind cover. A couple of the muscle go down as Powers yells, "Sweet Christmas, it's the cops!"

Back outside, Fox has La Rue and Coffey continue to hold back. He wants to make sure all of the criminals reveal themselves before they head in.

Inside the warehouse, a couple of Powers' men return fire. One of them scores a hit on Renko; he slides down to the floor after he gets behind cover, the chest wound bleeding heavily. He fires wildly from behind the packing crate, hitting one of the men back.

Esterhaus focuses on Powers. He lands a shot straight into Powers' kneecap. It explodes with the shot, and the crime boss falls to the ground yelling about how much it hurts.

Outside, Fox sends in La Rue and Coffey, following behind them a short distance. As the men maneuver through the labyrinth of crates, La Rue spots one of Powers' men trying to run away.

La Rue decides to try and tackle him but the man throws him off. Fox spots him escaping and shoots the man in the leg, causing him to go down.

Meanwhile, Esterhaus tries to check on Renko but Renko tells him to ignore him and finish the job. By now, the others have their hands up.

Esterhaus walks over to Powers and asks him to verify he is indeed Powers. When Powers asks why he wants to know, Esterhaus kicks him in the head, knocking him out.

Fox spots Renko and tries to stop the flow of blood, but it is no use. By the time the ambulance arrives, Renko has bled out along with a couple of the suspects.

*** Session 04 - Scene 2 (of 11) ***

After everyone else hauls off the suspects and the dead bodies, Millard stays behind to catalogue the stolen cars.

He notices one of the cars is a rather fancy car, likely a company car. He opens up the door and notices a faint odor of sulfur inside. Fox thinks, "Not this again" as he realizes there may be a connection back to the cult of Allatou.

Fox also spots a flier on the floor of the car. It appears to be from a local burlesque theatre, Dolly's Theatre, advertising a show for "Marie Pickforde" (obviously a stage name play on the name of Hollywood ingénue Mary Pickford). There are some hand-scribbled notes on the side, saying "next committee meeting – midnight" with a date from a couple of days from now.

Since the show on the advertisement is a couple of weeks ago, Fox decides it isn't important. He takes out his lighter and burns it, as those shows are an affront to his strict Baptist upbringing. After he does so, he wonders if it may have included clues to the Allatou cult after all so he tries to write down what he can remember just in case.

Fox then opens the glove compartment, finding the registration papers. The car is registered to a local garment company, the Tatterdemalion Garment Company. Though not from the area, Millard does recognize the name from their somewhat comical radio ads, including the slogans "Don't dress like a hobo – try our bargain-priced clothes!" and "With our new line of affordable sharkskin suits, you'll never be mistaken for a rail tramp again!"

Once he's taken down all the information, Fox notifies the local police to take the cars to the impound lot and see if they can locate the owners. He takes one more quick look around the warehouse for anything he missed, but finds nothing.

Fox knows he should probably follow up on either the theatre or the garment company. He decides to check in with the detective he worked on the last Allatou case with, Boudreaux Le Doux.

*** Session 04 - Scene 3 (of 11) ***

The next day when Fox arrives at Le Doux's office, he finds only a pretty young redheaded woman there. Recognizing Patricia Walker, he greets her.

Fox asks where Le Doux is at, but Walker doesn't know. She explains how she was off trying to research a new cell of the cult of Allatou called The Committee.

Just then, Hawk comes through the door. Assuming Hawk is one of Le Doux's ne'er do well clients, Fox tries to get him to leave by telling him Le Doux isn't in the office and he'll have to come back later.

Hawk takes an instant disliking to the stuffy man in a suit, correctly assuming he is some kind of cop. He isn't impressed when Fox explains he's part of the BOI. They quickly discuss how none of them know where Le Doux or Nibbons are.

Fox sizes Hawk up as an older street kid turned thug. He wants to know why Hawk deals with Le Doux. Hawk, for his part, sizes up Fox as not being wise to the jive. The two trade some barbs, but Walker is unimpressed.

When Fox mentions his part in a recent raid in an effort to sound tough, Hawk realizes he was the one being talked about on the streets who took down King Powers. This upsets Hawk; he used to work for Powers until the two had a falling out and became enemies. Hawk wants revenge on Powers himself and doesn't like the idea of a white cop taking his nemesis down.

Hawk threatens to leave, saying he doesn't like cops but Fox wants to find where Le Doux went. He spots some notes on Boo's desk, with a few leads crossed out and one for Lee's Laundry still left open.

Fox asks Hawk where Lee's Laundry is. Hawk lies and gives him a fake address of "Fifth and Main", thinking of the Christman Dry Goods Company building in Joplin, Missouri, where his cousin Franklin works as a shoe shiner.

Internally, Hawk knows exactly where the Chinese laundry is in Treme. He also knows it pays up protection money to the Tsung Tong gang. But all he tells Fox is that he'll wait at the office while they go check out the laundry. Since Walker is from Long Island and not a local, she doesn't recognize the address and agrees to accompany Fox.

After Fox and Walker leave, Hawk heads over to the streetcar stop to catch a ride over to Treme.

*** Session 04 - Scene 4 (of 11) ***

At Lee's Laundry, Le Doux, Eberhardt, and Nibbons are already at the shop where the owner, Mr. Quong Lee, explains he is able to get shirts so clean using an ancient Chinese secret. Le Doux is somewhat skeptical of the claim.

Turning the conversation to the topic at hand, Le Doux asks if he's cleaned any suits lately.  Lee quotes him a price of three dollars, saying he will do a good job.

Le Doux explains he's not there to drop off a suit, but is looking for a customer named John Taubert. Lee doesn't recognize the name.

Eberhardt asks about any Haitian customers. Lee confirms he does. Bruno, being a stylish German man, recalls the tailor of the suit found on Taubert's body. Lee knows which specific suit he is referring to.

Giving the Chinese man a story about trying to locate the owner, Eberhardt finds Mr. Lee to be less than a pushover. The laundryman insists on them dropping off the suit for him to give back to the customer.

Le Doux takes out twenty dollars, suggesting it might help him remember the name of the owner. Lee takes the money and gives the customer's name as "Jean Baptiste". Le Doux knows that is essentially the Haitian equivalent of "John Smith" and likely an alias, so he gets an address. It appears to be an apartment in the Central City neighborhood.

They thank Mr. Lee as they leave, with Le Doux telling the man to watch out for zombis. Neither Lee nor Eberhardt understand what he is getting at.

*** Session 04 - Scene 5 (of 11) ***

As they exit the laundry, Eberhardt catches sight of Hawk exiting a streetcar across the street. He sarcastically remarks how happy he is Hawk has shown up.

Le Doux greets Hawk, who starts telling him about a cop after him. There is much confusion as Hawk insists the man is with "The Void" (having misheard Fox because of his peculiar way of pronouncing "The BOI").

When Le Doux tries to piece together what Hawk is trying to tell him, Hawk explains he sent the guy to "Fifth and Main". Eberhardt asks what is at that address, not recognizing it. Hawk says he doesn't know but it seemed like a quick way to get the guy out of his way.

Hawk seems concerned the cop is after Le Doux, but Le Doux and the others are mostly just confused. Hawk also explains the cop he is talking about was involved with a shootout with a gang Hawk knows the previous night.

Le Doux still doesn't understand why Hawk is there. Hawk tries to talk about the laundry being connected to the Chinese gang, but Le Doux remains a bit confused since he's there working the investigation on the suit, not any kind of crime angle.

Hawk is starting to think Le Doux and the others are a bunch of Jeffs, definitely not hep to the truth he is laying down. But, he agrees to accompany them back to the detective office.

*** Session 04 - Scene 6 (of 11) ***

When they arrive back at the office, Le Doux and the others spot Fox and Walker waiting outside in Fox's car.

Eberhardt moves in to greet the attractive Miss Walker, but Fox is hot about Hawk leading him on a wild goose chase (saying he "pulled a Chester on him").

Millard starts making comments about using his pistol on the man. Le Doux tries to keep things calm while Eberhardt asks if he was sent to the Blue Acadian again.

Hawk asks if Le Doux knows the guy. He explains he does, and how Fox works for the BOI. Hawk wants to know what he wants, but Le Doux is busy yelling at Hawk for wasting everyone's time by sending Fox off to Fifth and Main.

Fox tells Le Doux he completed his stolen car investigation, though he downplays his responsibility for the gunfire that ensued.

Le Doux invites Fox in for coffee. Once inside, Fox explains how he found a strange note referring to a committee meeting in one of the fancy cars of King Powers. Eberhardt asks to see the note, causing Fox to become a bit embarrassed about his earlier rash action.

Hawk takes a different angle, saying King Powers wouldn't own a fancy car; he asks who the owner is. Fox ignores the question and instead tries to answer Le Doux and Eberhardt's questions about what kind of meeting the note described.

Fox's notes and memory aren't as good as he hoped, and he can't recall all of the details he learned though he does recall the meeting was at Dolly's Theatre. Eberhardt isn't sure there is anything there worth looking into, so Hawk suggests they get down to the details quickly by interrogating Powers.

While initially reluctant, Fox ultimately agrees to take Eberhardt with him to question Powers though he is quite frank with Le Doux about not liking him employing a man like Hawk.

Le Doux continues to press Fox for details about the meeting because he doesn't understand why the agent wants it investigated. Realizing he left out some details, Fox explains about the sulfur smell.

Walker finally takes some notice of the conversation. She says it could be related to the cult, noting that a sulfur smell is associated with brimstone, which is associated with demonic activity. She notes it sounds like it could be related to the cell of the cult of Allatou she is looking into, The Committee.

At the mention of The Committee, Fox realizes he also forgot that the meeting referenced said it was a "committee meeting". Le Doux is happy to see some of the pieces of the puzzle starting to come together.

 Le Doux asks about who owns the car. Fox doesn't recall immediately, so he says he'll check the notes at the police station.

While Fox and Eberhardt head over to the 3rd Precinct, Le Doux asks Hawk what he knows about Paul Jenks. Hawk explains Jenks is one of the captains for Big Daddy, the Cajun crime boss who controls much of the town.

Le Doux explains how Taubert was a bag man for Jenks and his discussion with Jenks about the missing money from Taubert and the favor to investigate Little Zo. Uncharacteristically, Hawk has not heard about Little Zo as he tries to stay away from the Haitians.

*** Session 04 - Scene 7 (of 11) ***

On the way over to the station, Eberhardt fills in Fox about the investigations they've done while he was off investigating the stolen car ring.

When they arrive, Fox checks the police reports on the cars. He tells Eberhardt about the car being registered to the Tatterdemalion Garment Company. The German makes a note that the suit worn by Taubert was not produced by that company.

Fox then has them bring King Powers into the interrogation room. He looks pretty beat up, with his shot knee and bruised face.

When they walk in, Powers asks what they want. Fox warns Powers that Eberhardt is pretty upset about Powers killing his friends.

Fox tries to say Powers is the only survivor from the attack, but he says he saw a couple of the Haitian boys in lockup so he knows he's not the only one.

Fox says regardless of who is left alive, Eberhardt is mad and they have some questions for him. Powers asks why he should answer. Fox says he has nothing to lose and Eberhardt won't have trouble loosening his tongue.

Powers laughs, saying if they want to scare him they should bring in their wives. Eberhardt proudly declares he is a bachelor as Fox whispers something to him.

Eberhardt suddenly kicks Powers in his bad knee. As he yells out in pain, Fox tells him that now they have his attention, he needs to answer the question. Eberhardt reminds Fox they haven't actually asked him anything yet. Powers calls Fox a "Crazy cracker!"

Fox starts asking him about where they found the fancy car. Powers mocks him, asking if he thinks the boys took inventory reports and saying it could have been jacked anywhere in the city.

With the interrogation faltering, Fox looks to Eberhardt for help. Eberhardt isn't used to interrogations yet, so he isn't sure what to ask. Powers asks, "Do you two idiots have any other questions for me?"

Fox asks him about the flier in the fancy car. Powers mocks him, saying he was only interested in the cars themselves not pieces of paper inside them.

When asked about The Committee, Powers says he's from the streets and doesn't know about any committees. Eberhardt asks him if he is sure, and Powers mocks him by asking if he thinks they have board meetings in the alleys.

Eberhardt says that is not what he's talking about, but Powers exasperatedly says he doesn't know what either of them are talking about. Fox can tell the man clearly has no idea what they are talking about.

Taking a different angle, Eberhardt asks about who they work for and who they are selling the cars to. Powers explains his cousin in Philly is always looking for new cars so they get shipped up to him to sell. Powers proudly says he is the boss around here, though he partners with the Haitians for muscle.

Eberhardt tries to dig into the Haitian connection more, but Powers refuses to discuss it, saying the Haitians are stone cold killers. Fox stomps on his bad knee.

Powers yells out in pain again, asking what he is doing. Eberhardt says Fox is a wild card. King reluctantly agrees to talk, but says they have to keep his name out of it. Eberhardt sardonically remarks Fox is likely to forget his name by the time they leave the precinct anyway.

King goes on to explain the Haitian crew he works with is under "Big Mike", though Powers notes his real name is Michel something. According to the gang boss, the Haitians hang out at a jazz club in Treme called the Custer Street House.

Satisfied they've gotten all they can out of Powers, Fox thanks him for his time. Eberhardt sarcastically calls the interrogation a "rousing success."

*** Session 04 - Scene 8 (of 11) ***

Fox wants to look into the Haitians more. Eberhardt suggests they check on the ones already in lockup at the precinct.

Checking in with the desk sergeant, Fox discovers one of the men, Francoeur Pierre, is still at the hospital but two others, Jean Sterling and Wendell Poole, are available to talk to. Eberhardt recognizes the name of Wendell Poole as being Djauto's cousin and suggests they start with him.

When they enter, Eberhardt greets Wendell by name. Peering back at him, the Haitian asks who he is. Eberhardt describes himself as a "friend of a friend", saying they have a mutual friend in his cousin Emmanuel.

Wendell wants to know how Eberhardt knows Djauto, but Bruno says it is beside the point. He tells him he can get him out of trouble in exchange for some information. Poole wants to know what kind of information he is looking for.

Eberhardt asks him where Taubert's money is. Wendell says he does not have that fool's money. Eberhardt says the money was on Taubert when he was killed, but according to Poole, "If we wanted Taubert dead, you'd know it."

Pressing on, Eberhardt says he did want Taubert dead, referring to the Haitian Campaign. Wendell explains they only wanted the club, the Maple Leaf Room, as it was a profitable business and could help his cousin expand the garage.

Eberhardt asks again about the Haitian Campaign, but Poole doesn't understand why he would care about that. Eberhardt says many of his kinsmen were killed in the campaign but Poole simply says they will kill all the whites in time but the campaign specifically is no concern of his.

Bringing up the voodoo aspect of the killing, Eberhardt suggests a link between the voodoo and the Zobop. Poole says he has nothing to do with that, and voodoo killings are part of "black magic" that he stays away from.

Eberhardt starts to become convinced the man wasn't involved after all. Poole warns Eberhardt he better honor his deal to let him go, and to leave his cousin alone, or else he and his machete will come calling.

Bruno carefully notes he does still need to pick up a car at Djauto's. Fox isn't as intimidated, saying the man is in no position to make threats. Poole calmly states he is always in a position to make threats.

Eberhardt wants to make inroads with the Haitians that could prove useful later. He tells Poole to make sure Big Mike knows who got him released, carefully giving his name. Poole guarantees he will remember.

Just to be safe, Eberhardt gets Poole released as well as Jean Sterling; he wants some credit with the gang later. Fox isn't too happy about potential cop killers being freed, but Eberhardt notes they still have the boss, King Powers, in custody.

*** Session 04 - Scene 9 (of 11) ***

At Le Doux's office, Fox and Eberhardt brief the others. Patricia is feeling tired and decides to head back to her apartment.

Fox wants to know more about the voodoo symbols at the crime scene for Taubert's first death. Eberhardt explains what they found, showing him the drawings.

Hawk works with the others to break down everything they know so far.

They know there are two occult activities going on they are aware of – the cult of Allatou and the voodoo killings.
The cult is a demon-worshipping cult; they already took down one cell but there is at least one more active cell in the city (if not more).

The cell they know about is called The Committee, composed of high-ranking businessmen.

The car found at the warehouse raid appears to be tied to the cult because of the brimstone smell. Notes on the flier inside the car suggest it is related to The Committee, along with a note about a meeting tomorrow at midnight. The note was on a flier for Dolly's Theatre, the location they assume the meeting is at. The car itself is registered to the Tatterdemalion Garment Company.

The car theft ring included some members of the Haitian Zobop, under their captain Big Mike. The Zobop were also suspects in the robbery and killing of Taubert, though Eberhardt discovered that was a false lead.

Taubert worked as a bag man for Paul Jenks operating out of the Maple Leaf Room, a front for a gambling den. Jenks is a captain for Big Daddy, the boss of the local Cajun crime syndicate.

Taubert's death appears to be voodoo-related and connected to a Haitian, but not the Haitian Zobop gang. When he was killed the second time, the suit traced back to a laundry controlled by the Chinese tong (though that appears to be incidental). The suit was traced from there back to a Haitian calling himself "Jean Baptiste" with an address in Central City.

DeHaven was killed by zombi Taubert. DeHaven along with Taubert and another man named Giradin (who they have not investigated yet) were all marines who served in the Haitian Campaign and involved in the battle that led to the death of the Haitian Caco rebel leader, Benoit Batraville.

To track down the voodoo information, they know they need to find a man named Lucien Celine, a descendant of the followers of Marie Laveau; but so far, they haven't had a chance to track him down.

Zombi Taubert appeared after his body disappeared from the morgue. Several bodies disappeared from the morgue lately, and the coroner, Dr. Alvaro, has been conducting a quiet investigation into it.

The zombi body of Taubert also contained a white powder found in his hair. Eberhardt dropped off a sample of it to Dr. Donnenwith at the morgue to analyze.

Fox wants to go to the meeting mentioned on the flier, but Hawk warns him against it saying that would be a quick way to get killed. Fox clarifies he meant he wants to recon it, not actually try to attend.

The biggest question is whether or not The Committee is related to the cult of Allatou activities or if it is a separate line of investigation. Le Doux concludes they are likely separate events, though both related to occult activities. He wants to stay focused on the Taubert killing for now and worry about the Allatou cult tomorrow.

Hawk suggests they follow up on the morgue leads first. Eberhardt agrees – they want to follow up with Donnenwirth on the white powder, steal the investigation report of Dr. Alvaro, and check to see if any of the recent dead bodies at the morgue (such as from the warehouse shootout) will go missing.

They decide to have Eberhardt check in on Donnenwirth at the morgue. Hawk wants to go stakeout the morgue, and invites Nibbons along with him. Le Doux decides to go investigate the apartment of Jean Baptiste along with Special Agent Fox.

*** Session 04 - Scene 10 (of 11) ***

When Eberhardt arrives at the morgue, he finds Dr. Donnenwirth doing the autopsy on Taubert. Donnenwith puts aside a hacksaw he was using on the skull and takes up a hammer and chisel.

Donnenwirth greets Eberhardt when he sees him. Eberhardt jokes it should be easier the second time around, but the doctor reminds him they didn't have a chance to do an autopsy the first time.

The doctor explains he had some interesting results analyzing the powder they dropped off. According to Donnenwirth, the powder is a mixture of several plant types, but largely Datura stramonium. When Eberhardt doesn't follow what he's saying, the doctor explains that is the scientific name for a plant called Jimson Weed, a plant of the nightshade family used as a painkiller. He also notes it has hallucinogenic properties.

Just as Donnenwirth finishes his explanation, he cracks open the skull with the chisel. As it pops open, a creature emerges. It appears to be a bluish, red-veined jellyfish-like mass of tentacles. Eberhardt is stunned as it sinks its tentacles into Donnenwirth's body, draining him of blood. After the doctor falls over, dead, it quickly crawls across the floor and enters one of the building vents.

Still in shock, Eberhardt sinks to the floor and wets himself as everything goes dark.

*** Session 04 - Scene 11 (of 11) ***

Across town, Le Doux and Fox locate the apartment Jean Baptiste gave as an address. Fox starts knocking on the door, carrying on far longer than most people.

No one answers the door but a door from downstairs opens and an old lady starts yelling about all the racket. Le Doux says they are there looking for the person in the apartment, who the old lady identifies as "Mr. Fearing". Le Doux notes to himself that Fearing is not a Haitian name.

Le Doux says they are there with the Department of Health and Safety. The lady says she doesn't know what that is but sounds important. She wants to know if it is related to the smells coming from the apartment lately, which she believes is a rat dead in the walls.

The lady explains she is the landlady and can let them in if they need to check on Fearing. She unlocks it and calls out for him. When no one answers, she says she doesn't think he's been around in a few days as she hasn't seen him. She notes she has seen someone she believes to be his "Negro servant".

Le Doux asks if the servant is a Haitian, but the old lady says she can't tell "those people" apart. He's fairly sure, however, this is the man is the one who picked up the suit from the laundry. Something else about the name Fearing sounds vaguely familiar, but Le Doux can't place it.

They enter the apartment to look around. Both try smelling for decay, but don't detect anything.

In the kitchen, Le Doux finds a piece of paper on the kitchen table with some names and addresses on it. The names are Taubert, DeHaven, and Giradin; he explains to Fox that they are the names and addresses of the men involved in the Haitian campaign.

Fox decides to check out the bedroom. He finds a diary hidden under the bed; there appears to be a photo in the middle of it.

The special agent ignores it for the moment to smell around more until he's sure he can smell the faint odor of decay. Le Doux believes the diary is more important so he asks Fox about it.

Le Doux starts by pulling out the photo. It appears to be two Haitian caco soldiers standing in front of some other cacos.  On the back there are three lines of handwriting in Haitian Creole. Le Doux translates it to "Benoit & Me", "The Brothers Batraville", and "Honchi – September 23, 1919".

The date and location puts the photo right before the Battle of Port-au-Prince. Le Doux isn't sure whether or not the photo suggests it is of Benoit Batraville and his brother.

Le Doux then looks at the page in the diary where the photo was found. It, too, is written in Creole but Le Doux is able to translate and reads it aloud to Fox.

It reads:

"January 14, 1919.

This evening Benoit is readying the troops for tomorrow's battle. To guarantee our victory, he has found a houngan named Bouak from a nearby village to perform the ritual prayer of Bois Caiman. But the houngan had only an albino pig to offer for sacrifice, and I fear something went wrong.

Lightning formed in the sky and the clouds began to swirl. I saw the head of a great beast emerge from a rift in the air. It was terrifying and exciting all at the same time. The creature was misshapen and appeared to defy all laws of nature; no true description of it can be given. The old man called it, "The Floating Horror."

I could hear the voice of the beast in my head, though its mouth did not move. It promised to give us an unending army of the dead in exchange for our souls. Benoit refused, and called on the houngan to dispel the beast back to its own dimension.

My brother was probably right to refuse such an infernal offer, but I can't help but admire the power the houngan wielded. I made sure to record down his ritual should I ever need to use it myself.

J.B."

Both men are deeply affected by the writing as they try to comprehend how it can be real and what it means. Le Doux realizes the diary of is of Benoit Batraville's brother who is apparently out for revenge against his killers. And in his revenge, he appears to be using the power of the Floating Horror to exact it...

*** Session 04 - Session Notes ***

Well, another session, another ride on the roller coaster. Last session went well, so naturally this session ends up being half a disaster. Sigh.

This was the first session where we tried to have all the players join at once. To say it was a bit problematic was an understatement.

The Walker player is being dragged to the game by her dad and clearly isn't interested. She actively resisted playing this time, barely even paid attention to anything going on, and then spent the last hour or so of the session complaining to her dad until he took her home. I loathe having to deal with player issues - especially family issues - but this isn't working so I'll have to say something. It's very disruptive to the game plus it seems like just bad parenting (it seems to me dragging your teenage daughter to your game night on your custody weekend would be a poor choice for everyone).

Then there was the Agent Fox player. He was very good in the prologue adventure, so it was a bit of a shock when his ADD kicked into high gear this session and he couldn't really follow anything going on.

And finally, the poor Nibbons player. Being the Skype player, I think he was overwhelmed with the larger group and everything going on. He literally talked for 30 seconds the entire game and that was pretty much entirely OOG commentary. From reading the notes, one could easily mistake him for being absent that session.

I think the lesson here is - in an investigative game like this, five players is pretty much the maximum and we'll need to work on what to do about the reluctant player.

Other notes from the session:
* The car theft bust took a lot of session time because of a number of disagreements and because we were having technical issues connecting the Nibbons player.

* I wanted to start with the car theft bust as a way to organically integrate the Fox character back in. I thought I had a pretty good plan with a couple of obvious-enough clues that would lead to things that could be followed up on.

What I didn't count on was the kid playing Fox to be overwhelmed with trying to orchestrate a simple police raid and somehow totally forget the clues almost immediately after learning them. So my plan turned into a bit of a fiasco.

* King Powers was Hawk's ex-gang leader / nemesis on Spencer for Hire so I thought it would be fun to include him as the villain for the car theft bust.

* The cops are all named after characters on Hill Street Blues (along with the direct homage for the precinct location).

* As I've done in past games, I left the other players play out the NPC cops for this scene to keep people engaged while allowing for side plots to play out. Esterhaus was played by the Le Doux player, La Rue by the Eberhardt player, Renko by the Hawk player, and Coffey by the Nibbons player.

* Powers using the Haitians for muscle was another potential way to get Fox connected back to the others. Unfortunately, that caused more confusion than anything.

* I had Powers use "Sweet Christmas!" several times in dialog. It's from Luke Cage's early characterizations in the Marvel comics. I don't know if that's something anyone in real life ever said (I assumed Marvel didn't want to use real jive talk to keep things kid-friendlier), but I always found it absurdly stupid and therefore funny. And since we're playing up that angle of Hawk's character, I thought it would be funny to include it.

* The Fox player seemed to forget his character is supposed to want to investigate the occult this session.

* I don't know how common company cars were in the 20's, nor how many executives a garment company would have, but I wanted a way to point in the direction of the cultist without giving away exactly who it was.

* The burlesque flier was a bit confusing for the Fox player, as he had no idea what a burlesque show was.

* I don't know if burlesque dancers of the day took on misspelled versions of Hollywood starlet names like some sort of modern stripper or porn star might do, but it seemed like the thing to do. I picked Mary Pickford because of the irony of her getting famous by playing younger roles (particularly at this point in time).

* There was no real reason the Fox player burned the flier, he was just being stupid. There was also some misunderstandings about the flier - he thought the note was on a separate piece of paper and he thought the flier was on the floor of the warehouse instead of the car.

* The name of the Tatterdemalion Garment Company is intentionally ironic, but it is also a reference to something else that will be more apparent later.

* I enjoyed my over-the-top fake slogans for the garment company. The players found them less humorous than I did though.

* In the actual game, the Fox player forget all of the clues in the warehouse immediately and only went to Le Doux's office to say goodbye to Le Doux before he left town (assuming he was going to be reassigned with his theft case closed).

* I made a rather mortifying faux pas when Fox arrives at Le Doux's office. As in the write-up, I flat out said that he found a pretty young redhead there, as I was describing the character, Patricia Walker. Of course, the 14 year old girl playing the character is also red-headed so that was awkward as I tried to explain I meant the character not her.

* The use of jive talk in the write-up around Hawk's character is more about me mocking the way he plays the character like a 70's Blaxploitation hero.

* I don't know if the notes on Le Doux's desk regarding the laundry made sense, but I feel it is better to claim dramatic license to keep the game moving.

* Hawk just made up "Fifth and Main". I added the details about the building in Joplin and his cousin in the write-up to give it more depth.

* Hawk instantly disliking Fox and sending him on a wild goose chase really pissed off the Le Doux player as it created a lot of disruption in the game for no benefit (hence the character argument later).

* The Hawk player seemed to misunderstand the laundry paying protection money to the tong with being a tong front - which is why he so urgently chased down Le Doux.

* There were a lot of jokes about the stereotypical Chinese Laundry made OOC as we started that scene. One I made was the reference to the old Calgon commercial, so I put it in the write-up.

* I don't know what the real equivalent of John Smith for Haitians is, but Jean Baptiste sounds close enough. Awkwardly, I have another NPC already planned for a future investigation that was named Jean Baptiste - I'm debating whether or not to change the name to avoid confusion.

* The whole "Void" vs. "BOI" thing is because the Fox player doesn't pronounce it B-O-I, he pronounces it "boi" which I find hilarious since I don't think he gets the connotation there.

* When Fox tries to tell the other players about the warehouse, he somehow jumbled the facts to think King Powers owned the car and was the one going to the committee meeting. It took the Hawk and Le Doux players a lot of leading questions to get him to understand what he really discovered.

* All of the Walker dialog in the scene was said by me during the game. The Walker player was busy texting friends or whatever teens do on their phones these days.

* Big Daddy, the Cajun crime boss, is pretty much taken directly from The Simpsons.

* The Fox player really didn't realize he was having Powers beaten in the interrogation before actually asking him a question.

* The interrogation scene played out exactly like most interrogations have in the past - the players get so worked up about wanting to interrogate someone that when the time comes, they aren't actually sure what to ask causing the person to mock them. The previous Cthulhubusters campaign had even more hilarious attempts at this, particularly the two different failed attempts with Dr. Krasnik.

* Eberhardt's comment about Fox forgetting Powers' name as soon as the interrogation was over was an in-character mocking, but there were other OOC jokes about him having a goldfish memory that night.

* There's a real life Haitian gang called Custer Street; I used it as inspiration for the jazz house that is the central base for Big Mike's crew.

* Initially, my thought was Wendell Poole might get them in contact with Little Zo, but the players were already getting so confused I figured I might as well have him reveal the Haitian gang didn't kill Taubert.

* Eberhardt getting the Haitians released is a rather large stretch, but since the city is supposed to be corrupt and they weren't the boss, I allowed it.

* The breakdown of the various plots and open threads was actually given by me. The players were starting to get too confused with multiple occult and multiple gang activities going on and started relating things that weren't actually related. I wanted to re-center them since the characters wouldn't have nearly as hard of a time keeping up with all the plots over six weeks of sessions that only represented a few days in game time.

* I was happy someone went to Donnenwirth as I had the tentacle-creature attack planned out. My intent was to keep things strange and unworldly - I don't want them thinking they know exactly what is going on.

* The white powder and datura stramonium is taken from The Serpent and the Rainbow.

* The mythos creature emerging from the head is a sort of spawn of the floating horror (my own creation).

* Eberhardt lost 9 SAN on that check, resulting in a pretty bad failure.

* At the apartment, I kept waiting for Le Doux and Fox to ask for Fearing's first name but they didn't. I'll get that in first thing next session - the name isn't important per se but it does have a link back to something. Also, the name is based on a character in the book, Cemetery Dance.

* The landlady's casual racism is something I pepper in here and there in the game. I want it to feel like the 20's, but not show up so much that it becomes either a parody or can be misinterpreted to be promoting racism. In this case, I had her be particularly racist as to explain why she didn't think it odd a black man was staying in the apartment (because she just assumed he was some kind of servant).


* Fox completely ignored the diary and photo. I guess he needs "CLUE" to be in flashing lights.

* Le Doux wasn't sure if the photo meant it was of the owner and his brother, Benoit Batraville; or if it meant it was taken of the owner and the two brothers. Luckily the diary entry was clearer.

* I used another real photo taken during the Haitian occupation as a hand-out for this.

* The diary entry was handed to the players completely in internet-translated lines of French (gibberish, I'm sure).  Once they got over the initial shock, I gave them the English version. I like to make sure all the little details are as right as I can on these things - for the French version it used the European date style (14 January, 1919) at the top of the entry but the English translation used the American date style (January 14, 1919).

* I wanted to give an explanation for how the brother gained the power to return the dead as well as the mythos connection. I used the historical tie to Bois Caiman as well, but was careful to point out that something went wrong and what the Batraville brother is using is not true voodoo but something else entirely.

* Batraville's (non-historical) brother is actually named Jean. Note that his initials are the same as his alias.

* The idea of a Haitian man seeking revenge on someone in New Orleans. for the death of his brother during the Haitian Campaign is something I've used in CoC before - back in the late 90s during a college campaign. In that game, the players were a funeral home director, a drunk riverboat captain, a mobster, and a mob assassin. The assassin skipped town, the riverboat captain went insane after seeing some serpent men, and the mobster and the funeral director ended up killing off the cult and the creature they conjured up by lighting the oil fields they were worshipping in on fire.

*** Session 05 - Cast of Characters ***

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

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

 Special Agent Millard Fox: A White agent of the Bureau of Investigation. He was sent to Crescent City to investigate a stolen car ring but spends most of his time looking into occult incidents.

 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.

*** Session 05 - Scene 1 (of 14) ***

Outside the morgue, Hawk and Nibbons start wondering why Eberhardt hasn't left the building yet. It has been a couple of hours and most of the other employees have already left.

Hawk tells Nibbons to keep the lookout while he goes in for a closer look. He finds the side door to the building locked so he heads over to a nearby window. Looking inside, he can see a lit hallway but no one around.

Jimmying the lock, Hawk lets himself in the window. He looks around for any directory signs and finds the one pointing towards "Pathology".

Hawk heads through a set of double doors into another hallway. The second hallway doesn't have any lights on and is dimly lit by the light outside and from the other hall.

As he heads towards the doors to the pathology area, he steps in something that almost causes him to slip. Looking down, he sees a mass of bubbly, blood-colored liquid on the floor. It appears to be in the rough shape of a person with the clothes of the night watchmen. The sight of what is apparently the melted remains of the night watchman doesn't faze Hawk, though he certainly finds it odd.

Hawk wants to check for a wallet but is smart enough to know he doesn't want to get any of the ooze on his skin. He decides to head over to pathology first and come back for the wallet later.

Getting up to the door, he listens carefully. Beyond, he can hear the sound of a slight mumbling as well as a smell of urine.

Peeking inside, Hawk sees the lights are still on inside the pathology room. On a nearby exam table is a body in the process of being autopsied. Next to the table is another pile of ooze, this time with medical scrubs in the middle suggesting it is the remains of a doctor. Over along the wall he spots Eberhardt, whose eyes are closed but he is mumbling faintly and appears to be sitting in a pool of his own urine. He also notices the vent on the wall near Eberhardt has been broken into in a strange way.

Hawk can tell something very strange is going on. He keeps an eye on the vent to make sure nothing comes back out while walking carefully over to Eberhardt. He starts to shake the man to try and rouse him.

After a moment, Eberhardt starts to come to. He asks what happened and where he is. Hawk wants to ask him about the corpse, but Bruno is still in a bit of a fugue state and doesn't seem to know who Hawk is or what is going on.

Hawk gets some water for Eberhardt then goes to the back door. He motions Nibbons over and explains to Chester they have problems – two men inside appear to have been turned to ooze and Eberhardt is out of it.

Nibbons accompanies Hawk inside. Hawk has Nibbons take a look at Eberhardt while he finds a pair of heavy rubber gloves and carefully looks through the clothes in the ooze for wallets. He does not find anything in the doctor's remains, but the guard has a wallet with his ID (naming him as Rufus DeMint) and thirty dollars in cash along with his security badge. Hawk cleans everything off in one of the sinks carefully before putting it in his own pocket.

Hawk then looks around for the doctor's locker. He finds it with the Dr. Donnenwirth's suit hanging up and his wallet with his ID, state medical card, the keys to his car, and around fifty dollars in cash.

With that done, the thief looks around for other things he might be able to pawn. He finds a laundry bag and starts collecting some of the microscopes and surgical tools.

Meanwhile, Nibbons notices Eberhardt is sitting in his own waste. He tries asking him what's going on while Eberhardt rambles on in German and English suggesting he believes his is back on the battlefield of the Great War.

Hawk tells Nibbons to get Eberhardt out of his clothes and into the shower. Taking Donnenwirth's suit, they get him redressed in the clean clothes. They put his soaked clothes in another laundry bag to take with them so they don't leave any evidence.

Before they leave, they want to look around for any notes that might help understand what is going on. Hawk finds Donnenwirth's autopsy notes on Taubert near the body, but doesn't see anything else sitting around. He suggests Nibbons check the filing cabinets to see if they can find Dr. Alvaro's notes on his investigation into the missing bodies.

While Nibbons is looking through the notes, Hawk finds a phone and calls over to Le Doux's office. Madge answers and explains Boo hasn't returned yet from his last outing. Hawk wants her to pass along a message but she explains she'll leave a note as she's headed out the door for the day.

After hanging up the phone, Hawk hears the night janitor arrive. He quickly moves to block the door to the pathology room.

When the janitor, Ted Johnson, asks what is going on, Hawk explains the doctor doesn't want to be disturbed. Ted asks who the hell Hawk is, and Brooks explains himself by flashing the medical card and saying he is the doc's new assistant.

Ted is illiterate, but notes the card looks right. Hawk says there could be something contagious inside so he should stay out of the room for a while.

When Ted asks about the mess out in the hallway, Hawk feigns ignorance and suggests he clean it up. Ted is clearly unhappy and the two Black men commiserate on their burdens of working for the White man.

Once the janitor leaves to mop up the remains of Rufus DeMint, Hawk tells Nibbons to get Eberhardt up and they need to head out the back.

Outside, Hawk gives Nibbons a cut of the money he found inside. He loads up the stolen equipment into the doctor's car and tells Nibbons he'll meet him back at Le Doux's, as he has his own ride.

Hawk then sells the equipment at the pawn shop and luckily avoids getting pulled over for the cops for driving while Black on his way to the chop shop. By the end of the day, he ends up clearing over four hundred dollars.

*** Session 05 - Scene 2 (of 14) ***

Over at Fearing's apartment, Fox and Le Doux decide they need to quickly get to Giradin before Batraville does. They take the notes, diary, and photo from the apartment then speed over to Giradin's address.

Across town at Giradin's apartment building, they discover he lives up on the second floor. The two men ready their weapons and head up the stairs quickly.

Fox listens at the door but doesn't hear anything inside. Le Doux knocks on the door, but gets no answer.

A moment later, the apartment door next to Giradin's opens and a neighbor sets out the canisters for the milk man. He sees Le Doux and Fox and asks if they are looking for Giradin. When they say they are, he explains Giradin just left a little while ago for his night shift over at the plant.

Le Doux asks the neighbor where the plant is, feigning having forgotten its address. The neighbor helpfully responds that Giradin works at the Oldham Chemical Company plant and gives the location.

After thanking the man, Le Doux waits for him to go back inside his apartment then tells Fox to go look for Giradin at the plant then bring him back. Le Doux intends to stay behind to pick the lock and wait inside.

Unfortunately, Le Doux's bad luck leads to him breaking off the pick in the lock, jamming it. He sighs and waits outside for Fox to return.

Meanwhile, Fox races across town towards the plant. On the way, he cuts off a man in a white pickup. The man in the pickup gets very upset, tailgating Fox all the way and flashing his lights at him.

Fox tries to pull over to apologize. The man parks his truck in a way to block Fox's car in and gets out. He starts running towards Fox's car, with an apparent intent to harm him.

The agent knows he doesn't have time for this and doesn't want to engage the man, so he gets back in his car and throws it into reverse then spins it around to drive away. He gets away, but only after the man gets a good kick in, denting in one of the doors.

*** Session 05 - Scene 3 (of 14) ***

Fox pulls up to the gate at the Oldham Chemical Company. The guard at the guardhouse asks for ID, but when Fox shows his BOI badge, he lets him in. He asks if he wants to see the owner, but Fox explains he's there looking for William Giradin.

The guard consults his clipboard then says Giradin works in the lead arsenate processing area. He points Fox over to the correct entry door from the parking lot and tells him to be sure to grab one of the gas masks hanging just inside the door as the fumes are quite strong.

Before heading inside, Fox asks the guard if any strange people have been around looking for Giradin. The guard is confused, asking if there should have been. Fox says no but tells him to keep an eye out.

Fox then heads inside and puts on a gas mask. He asks the foreman about Giradin, who calls him over.

The two try to communicate, but it is hard to hear inside the factory, particularly when they are both wearing gas masks. Outside, Fox tries to explain how Giradin's friends in the marines have been killed as part of a revenge for the Haitian Campaign.

As a very confused Giradin tries to make sense of it all, Fox notices two zombis hacking apart the guard back over at the gate. He tells Giradin the killers are there for him and they need to leave.

Fox gets Giradin into the car then draws his weapon. He fires off a shot that hits the chest of one of the zombis. The two continue to advance on him.

He gets inside the car then backs the car over the zombis. He runs them both over, but the action damages his tires.

Fox knows they won't get very far so he tells Giradin to get out and they can make a run for it. Behind them, the zombis stand back up.

People start to come out of the plant to get out. Fox tries to tell everyone to get back inside as there are killers out there with machetes.

Thinking fast, Fox knows the nearest precinct is the 3rd Precinct, but it is up the hill a way. He tries to signal a car to stop to help them, but an old lady isn't paying much attention and grazes Fox with her car, knocking him to the ground.

The zombis get close to Fox but he rolls out of the way and gets back to his feet. The creatures advance on Giradin, but he manages to fight them off.

Fox walks up to one of them and shoots it in the head with his gun, causing it to drop. The other one tries to attack Giradin, but manages to get the machete caught in the old lady's car instead.

After dispatching the second zombie, Fox notices the old woman has passed out in her car. Fox tells a confused and shocked Giradin they need to get to the precinct for safety.

Fox tries moving the old woman into the back seat of her car, intending to borrow it. By this time, a small crowd has formed around the area.

An old man in a suit rushes over to talk to Fox. He asks what is going on and Fox explains about the men attacking. The man, who turns out to be plant owner Millard Oldham, shakes his head at the state of the world today and notes he is glad to be selling off his company to the Pentex Chemical Company and is retiring.

Oldham is uncertain he trusts Fox and calls the cops. Fox waits around for them to arrive to explain things.

The cops who show up are officers La Rue and Coffey. They see Fox has gotten himself in another bloody mess and ask what is going on. La Rue wants to know if it is related to the stolen car ring and Fox tries to say it is.

Coffey checks over the bodies. He notes the bodies are in pretty bad shape. Checking the bodies, he finds one has no identification but the other is apparently named Colin Fearing. He asks Fox if he knows who the men were, but he only recognizes the name of Fearing.

Fox tries to fast talk the cops into thinking that Giradin is a federal witness who needs protection. He also tries to get them to dispose of the bodies rather than take them to the morgue, but they insist the bodies will need to be handled through the normal channels.

La Rue explains how old man Oldham is upset and Fox will need to come back to the station to fill out some paperwork. Fox agrees, and he and Giradin are taken back to the station while paramedics look after the old woman and the body wagon takes away the zombi bodies.

*** Session 05 - Scene 4 (of 14) ***

Back across town, Le Doux has waited a couple of hours for Fox but he has never returned. With no cars easily obtainable in the working-class neighborhood, he decides to take the streetcar back to his office.

Meanwhile, Hawk, Nibbons, and Eberhardt have already arrived there. Hawk can see the note Madge left and knows Le Doux hasn't been back yet.

Hawk finds a hidden bottle of whiskey in the office and gives it to Eberhardt to help restore his senses.

A short time later, Le Doux shows up looking quite tired. Hawk tells him some strange things have been going down they need to talk about.

Le Doux notices Eberhardt acting strange and asks about it. Hawk explains about what they found at the morgue, describing the bodies as gooey ooze, or "gooze" and that Eberhardt is "in the funk." He leaves out the part about robbing the morgue and Donnenwirth's car.

Thinking Hawk has been drinking, he tries asking Nibbons what happened. Chester confirms Hawk's story is mostly true, talking about Eberhardt pissing his pants.

Le Doux looks at Eberhardt and is very confused by his new suit. Eberhardt tries saying he is a doctor now.

Giving up on trying to make sense of it, he asks if they have seen Fox. He explains about finding the apartment rented by Fearing, the smells at the apartment, and the lists with the names on it.

At the mention of the name Fearing, Eberhardt's interest perks up. He recalls a Colin Fearing was one of the names on the list from Dr. Donnenwirth of bodies that recently disappeared from the morgue.

Le Doux says the whole situation is messed up, though Hawk notes that he doesn't really know what messed up until he's seen those "gooze bodies."

Eberhardt tries to explain more about the morgue, but gets some of the events jumbled as he talks about Hawk taking a shower with him. Hawk says the boy is confused and tries to clarify what happened there to Le Doux.

Le Doux tries to get Eberhardt to recall what happened. The German notes there was some sort of creature that went into the vent. Hawk confirms the vent in the room was messed up.

Just then the phone rings. Le Doux picks up the phone and finds Fox on the other end. He sardonically notes to Fox he took the streetcar back to the office since he never showed back up.

Fox starts to explain about his car getting wrecked in the attack by "the Haitians." Le Doux wants to know about Giradin. Fox says he is alive and at the precinct with him.

Le Doux is confused why they are at the precinct. Fox tries to say the cops showed up before they could leave. It takes some time for Le Doux to figure out Fox is talking about a couple of zombis (created by the Haitian) and not actual Haitians.

He presses Fox to use his BOI credentials to get Giradin out of the precinct and come back to the office. Fox insists he needs to stay to do his paperwork. Le Doux tries telling him they will lock him up if he starts filing paperwork about zombis but Fox just hangs up on him.

*** Session 05 - Scene 5 (of 14) ***

At the precinct, Fox goes to try and take Giradin out of protective custody. When he goes to do so, he's approached by Sgt. Esterhaus who tells Fox his boss, Special Agent in Charge Bartus, is looking for him. Esterhaus has instructions to escort Fox back over to the Federal Building.

Esterhaus has Coffery and La Rue drive Fox to the Federal Building downtown. Before he gets out of the car, Fox makes sure to instruct the men to keep Giradin under heavy guard.

The office of Special Agent in Charge Michael Bartus is on the upper floor of the Federal Building where the rest of the Treasury Department officials are located. Fox is a little apprehensive about the meeting – Bartus is a very by the book man who is only concerned with automobile thefts, smuggling at the ports, and the KKK; he has very little patience for Fox's side investigations into the occult.

Bartus immediately yells at Fox to start telling him what is going on. He knows the car theft ring was busted because he saw the paperwork about that, but clearly isn't thrilled about the shootings at the Oldham Chemical plant.

Fox tries saying he was investigating something for a friend. Bartus is incensed he would be performing an investigation outside of BOI jurisdiction. Fox makes a sarcastic comment asking if Bartus is actually that surprised.

Bartus tells Fox he needs to follow protocol and the important thing is following procedure. He goes on to say how Director J. Edgar Hoover will never stand for this type of subordination and that he'd better start shaping up.

Fox argues his case that the man was in immediate danger from a gang. Bartus is upset until Fox reveals it is the Haitians. Thinking quickly, Fox convinces Bartus that Giradin is a witness in the car theft ring without actually saying that.

Bartus becomes much more amenable since this falls under the jurisdiction of their open investigation. He instructs Fox to finish filling out his paperwork and he will have a U.S. Marshal place Giradin in the federal witness protective custody program in the morning.

*** Session 05 - Scene 6 (of 14) ***

Back at Le Doux's office, the detective has the operator connect him back to the switchboard at the 3rd Precinct. He tells them he is looking for Special Agent Fox.

After a moment, the receptionist comes back on explains Fox left to go to the Federal Building to talk to the special agent in charge there.

Le Doux tries getting info on Giradin but the receptionist won't cooperate without federal authorization. Le Doux attempts to convince the man he is working with the BOI, but is unsuccessful in making any headway.

A couple of minutes later Fox enters the office, having checked out a new car from the Federal Building. Le Doux asks him what happened.

Fox starts explaining what happened – he went to the chemical plant, found Giradin, and while he was talking to the man two zombis started attacking the guard.

Hawk interrupts to ask how he knew they were zombis. Fox explains their general appearance and lack of any blood flowing when he shot them.

Le Doux still refuses to completely believe in magic and zombis (though admits what is going on is very odd), but listens to the story. Fox goes on to explain one of the men was Colin Fearing, the man who lived at the apartment Batraville was staying at.

Focusing on the present, Le Doux is concerned about Giradin. He doesn't believe he'll be safe at the police precinct. He tells Nibbons to go with Fox to retrieve Giradin.

Hawk suggest Nibbons use Dr. Donnenwirth's ID as part of their excuse to get Giradin. Le Doux is nervous about using a stolen ID at the police precinct and suggests Fox should have plenty authority to get the man out of custody himself. Hawk isn't too happy they don't like his suggestion.

While they go to the precinct, Hawk wants to ask around the neighborhood about Lucien Celine. He also still wants to find Clayton Bigsby and the occult book he took from Dr. Broncati's apartment.

Hawk notes Patricia Walker hasn't been back yet and was also researching the book. He suggests Le Doux and Eberhardt go check in with her (noting a Black man showing up to a white woman's apartment after dark will get him shot).

Eberhardt suggests Hawk check in with the Zobop at the Custer Street House to see if they have a line on Celine, as he is also likely Haitian. Le Doux is glad to see Eberhardt is starting to come out of his fugue state.

*** Session 05 - Scene 7 (of 14) ***

Le Doux takes his car and drives Eberhardt back to his apartment to change before they go looking for Patricia. Eberhardt likes Donnenwirth's suit but Le Doux notes it is too high of quality to be inconspicuous and he doesn't want to attract attention.

On their drive over to Walker's apartment, Eberhardt says he remembers a little more – it sounds crazy, but he thinks he saw Taubert's brain jumping out of his head at the morgue. Le Doux agrees that it sounds crazy.

When they get to the apartment, they take the outside stairs up to her door. There are no lights on so Le Doux readies his weapon just in case.

Knocking on the door, Le Doux gets no response. He notices the door has been forced open recently. He also detects a faint odor of sulfur. Eberhardt recognizes the smell as well.

Le Doux gets his flashlight out and uses that arm to brace his gun arm, saying he saw it in a film. When he opens the door, he immediately spots the dead form of Walker in the middle of the floor.

He checks the body and finds it is already cold, probably dead a couple of hours. Walker has been stripped naked, and the symbol of Allatou is carved into her chest.

Eberhardt looks around, making sure no one else is around. Le Doux spots a pile of ashes near her bookshelf. It appears a combination of her notes and occult tomes have been burned.

They know Walker must have been getting close to something to get herself killed. The place doesn't looked tossed, so the cult must have gone straight after whatever they were looking for.

Carefully searching everywhere, Eberhardt finds a hidden piece of paper with three names on it. The names appear to only be last names – Grimes, Paffenroth, and Roland.

He shows the paper to Le Doux. Something at the back of Le Doux's mind is bothering him about the names, but he can't figure out what.

*** Session 05 - Scene 8 (of 14) ***

Meanwhile, at the police station, Fox talks with Sgt. Esterhaus about releasing Giradin back to him. Esterhaus assumes Nibbons is the U.S. Marshal, which Fox confirms but not very well.

Esterhaus gives Fox a look that suggests he doesn't completely believe him. He tells him he needs to talk to Lt. Hunter first.

Fox waits until Esterhaus is out of sight then heads over to the lock-up. He tells the guard he's there to move Giradin.

Taking Giradin out of the building at a brisk pace, Fox manages to elude Esterhaus and Hunter and get back to his car.

Giradin is confused, wanting to know what is going on. Fox explains the local cops have no idea how to protect him so he is taking him back to somewhere safe.

*** Session 05 - Scene 9 (of 14) ***

In the Black neighborhoods of Treme, Hawk asks around about Lucien Celine. He comes across an old acquaintance from the streets, Eugene "Malice" Thornton. Hawk knows Eugene and his brother Terrance "Pusher" Thornton still run a stick-up gang in the area.

After exchanging greetings, Eugene asks if he's heard about the crazy things going on. Hawk assumes he is talking about the zombis or voodoo but Malice has no idea what he's talking about; he's referring to the "hooded bastards" and the hanging.

Hawk gets Eugene to clarify he's referring to the Klu Klux Klan. According to Eugene, the klan is active again the area (after having been largely driven out a couple of years ago) and hung one of the Thornton Brothers' crew's boys, Jerome.

Malice goes on to say the new klan showed up a week or so ago. They apparently have a new leader, though Eugene doesn't know the name of the man.

He invites Hawk to attend a "neighborhood meeting" over at the jazz club he and his brother operate, the Eclipse Lounge. Malice says his brother Terrance has a plan and wants to get all the muscle from the neighborhood together. Hawk agrees something must be done and says he will show up later at 10:00, the time Eugene gives for the start of the meeting.

Hawk then asks Malice about the name, Lucien Celine. Malice identifies Lucien as a local (unlicensed) doctor; apparently his sister Dorthea was sick the other week and went to Celine's "free clinic" he operates out of his house. Hawk says he's always looking for a good doctor so he gets the address from Malice (who also notes the doctor works late, so he should still be up).

*** Session 05 - Scene 10 (of 14) ***

Fox and Nibbons arrive back at Le Doux's office with Giradin around the time Hawk does. He starts telling them about Lucien Celine, though Fox tries to signal him to not talk in front of the stranger.

Hawk pays no attention and continues on about the klan attack and his meeting with the brothers later, saying he wonders if it is related to their other problems. Fox isn't really concerned with that; he just wants to make sure Giradin is guarded at all times.

Le Doux and Eberhardt arrive soon after and Hawk gives them the lowdown on Lucien Celine. Le Doux is confused that Celine is a doctor, though Eberhardt suggests he could be a witch doctor.

Once Hawk finishes explaining (again) about the klan and the meeting at the Eclipse Lounge, Le Doux informs everyone about finding Patricia Walker dead. Agent Fox is particularly concerned about what happened since the murder was cult related.

Hawk is worried about Walker returning as a zombi. Le Doux still thinks the whole thing about zombis is ridiculous while Fox notes the Batraville problem is separate from the Cult of Allatou problem.

Le Doux notices Giradin and introduces himself. Giradin is very confused – in his short time with them he's heard all kinds of things about Haitians, zombis, someone named Patricia Walker, something called Allatou, and the klan.

To keep things simple, Le Doux tries to keep Giradin focused on Batraville's revenge plot. Giradin is surprised anyone would come after him years later, but does confirm his unit killed Benoit Batraville but his brother Jean Batraville escaped.

Le Doux also briefly tries to explain the zombis by talking about John Taubert. Giradin admits he had heard stories of such things when he was in Haiti, and knows the locals believe the power of voodoo at the ceremony in Bois Caiman in 1791 is what allowed them to overthrow the Spaniards.

As for Taubert, Le Doux isn't sure about him being a zombi though admits it took several shots to take him down and he didn't appear to bleed. Giradin explains he heard Taubert fell on hard times after leaving the Marines and was into white dragon. He suggests perhaps Taubert couldn't feel the pain because of being hopped up on opium.

Le Doux isn't so sure, since Taubert killed De Haven. He points out to Giradin the list they found had three names on it and Giradin is the only one still alive.

Giradin isn't so sure about keeping him at the detective's office, suggesting it might be more effective if they hunt down Jean Batraville instead. Le Doux agrees, but says he doesn't know where Batraville might be and don't want to split up.

Fox suggests Hawk should still go to his meeting. Hawk sarcastically thanks "Massah Fox" for letting him go attend his meeting then quickly leaves.

*** Session 05 - Scene 11 (of 14) ***

After Hawk leaves, Le Doux suggests that rather than waiting around the office they should find Lucien Celine. Fox suggests at least two of them stay at the office with Giradin, who makes it clear he isn't heading out into the dark with zombis out there.

Nibbons volunteers to go with Eberhardt to find Celine while Le Doux and Fox stay behind to guard Giradin. Le Doux gives his sawed-off shotgun to Giradin so he can protect himself.

Giradin suggests they should have kept the "tough looking Negro" back at the office for protection, but Le Doux explains Hawk isn't easy to control and can be uppity. Giradin mentions his mother saying they used to have that same problem with the ones on their farm. He does say they are good workers though, lamenting they can't be as "edjumacated" as White folk.

Meanwhile, Eberhardt and Nibbons make their way over to the address Hawk got from Malice. A middle-aged Haitian man answers the door. Eberhardt asks if he is "Lucien Celine, the doctor". Celine, nervous about white men in suits at his door at night, clarifies he is not a doctor but someone knowledgeable in natural remedies.

Celine goes on to say he doesn't usually have white men as clientele. Eberhardt says someone's life is at stake and they need his expertise.

After Eberhardt assures the man they are not there for anything violent, Lucien lets them in. Bruno explains they got his name from Miss Marie. Celine notes they have good food at Chez Louisianne.

When Eberhardt asks about voodoo, Celine admits he is a practitioner but refers to it as Vodun. He says he is what the White man might call a "witch doctor".

Bruno tells Lucien he needs to know about the ritual of Bois Caiman and refers to the Floating Horror. Celine is somewhat taken aback; he explains that is not Vodun, but an evil perversion of his people's beliefs akin to witchcraft.

As he gets more details from Eberhardt, Lucien explains they will need to perform the ritual in reverse at the location the ritual was first performed at in the city. Only then, he says, can the link be closed between the spirit world and the physical world.

Eberhardt gets Celine to commit to helping reverse the magic if they find the location. Lucien asks if they have any idea.

When Eberhardt mentions the Jimson Weed, Lucien recognizes it as an ingredient in "zombi powder". He says the zombis often have traces on their bodies of the ground their bodies were laying on when they were risen. He suggests Eberhardt check their clothes for evidence of the type of soil they were created at. Bruno talks about the suit one was wearing, but Lucien says he should check the shoes.

Eberhardt notes the recent attack at the chemical factory might be their best lead. Celine agrees that they would be the most likely lead.

Once they discover the location, Celine notes he can perform the ritual but cannot be interrupted once he starts without causing terrible consequences. He tells Eberhardt that they will need to keep the zombis away from him, as well as the witch raising the dead.

Lucien asks if they want him to come with them now, but Eberhardt says they will need to find the location first. After telling Celine they will be back once they find it, the two head back to Le Doux's office.

*** Session 05 - Scene 12 (of 14) ***

When Eberhardt and Nibbons get back to the office, Bruno explains to Le Doux and Fox what they discussed. Le Doux doesn't understand why they didn't just have Lucien come along with them.

After some discussion, they decide to go back and pick up Lucien to see if he can help them examine the zombis at the morgue.

Fox wants to know what to do about Giradin. Giradin refuses to leave the office, even after Le Doux lays out for him the odds.

When they get back to Celine's house, he is a bit surprised to see them again. He doesn't really understand why they want him to examine the bodies since they are the detectives, but Eberhardt admits they aren't really competent in these matters. Saying he is not much of a detective, Celine agrees to accompany them.

*** Session 05 - Scene 13 (of 14) ***

Over at the Eclipse Lounge, Hawk finds a sizable crowd of a dozen or so people have shown up. Eugene starts passing around some lead pipes and Saturday night specials to the boys as Terrance approaches the stage. Hawk helps himself to one of the guns, always happy to have an extra one.

He asks if they are all with him. Hawk says he is, but wants to know who the man controlling the klan is. Terrance figures the klan is Protestant, which in this area means Baptist, so he proposes they go burn down the First Baptist Church on St. Charles Ave and Delachaise in Central City.

Hawk isn't so sure about Pusher's deduction, noting they need to be sure to find the right leader of the klan as it will wither and die with its head cut off, just like a snake. And he definitely doesn't want to get the "wrong Whitey" stirred up.

Before the conversation gets much further, the door bursts open and another group of men enter the club. Hawk recognizes them as belonging to the Thornton Brother's rivals, the Dorsey-Graham gang.

Christopher "Baby Gangster" Dorsey himself appears to be leading the mob, along with his chief muscle Dwayne "Little Wayne" Carter, Jr. They appear to have mistaken the meeting as a prelude to making a move on their turf.

The room quickly erupts into chaos as everyone begins arguing. It doesn't take long before bullets start flying.

Hawk makes a run for the door, firing along the way with the cheap gun he got from Eugene. He lands a shot into Tab "Young Turk" Virgil, Jr. on his way out. Another of Dorsey's men, Terius "Juvenile" Gray, fires at Hawk but misses.

Once outside, Hawk makes sure he isn't followed before heading back to Le Doux's.

*** Session 05 - Scene 14 (of 14) ***

Trying to fit everyone into Fox's car proves challenging, so Le Doux drives back to his office to grab his car as well before they head over to the morgue.

They find Hawk back at the office and explain their plan. Hawk greets Lucien and takes him aside to talk for a moment. Lucien asks Hawk if the others can be trusted.  Hawk says they can, but they are not real believers. Lucien explains they will soon see the true power of voodoo, he guarantees.

Hawk tries to give Lucien a gun to protect himself, but the doctor does not use such things. Hawk instead gives the gun he used at the Eclipse Lounge to Fox, wanting to get the murder weapon out of his possession and with someone else's prints. Fox takes the gun, not realizing Hawk's intentions.

Le Doux, Eberhardt, and Nibbons take Le Doux's car. Fox takes Hawk and Lucien in his. On the drive over to the morgue, Fox notices the gun is too cheap to be usable so he tosses it out the window. Hawk, sitting in the back seat with Lucien, makes a note of where he tossed it in case he can go back for it later.

Once they get to the morgue, Le Doux suggests Fox and Eberhardt use their credentials to get inside. Eberhardt talks the guard into helping them. He has the guard point them towards the bodies of Collin Fearing and the John Doe he came in with.

Of course, once the drawers are opened on the large ice box holding the nude bodies, Eberhardt realizes his mistake. Fox asks the guard where the men's clothes are, with Eberahardt clarifying they need to see the personal effects.

Eberhardt decides to examine the bodies since they are already there. He does notice the zombi powder on their heads.

Fox takes a moment to examine the vent. He can tell something burst into it, but also notices the metal is burned or melted somewhat, as if by a powerful acid. Fox tries to ask the guard if they have anything that can block acid but as he simply works for the security agency, he's not really sure what the agent is getting at. After a confusing exchange, he agrees to take down a note from Fox for Dr. Alvarez about something that prevents acid and getting the vents checked out.

Forgetting for a moment to hold his tongue, Fox starts asking Eberhardt about the creature coming out of Taubert's head, but stops when the guard asks him what he is talking about. Changing the subject, he has the guard retrieve the personal effects from the property room.

When the guard comes back all he has are some clothes. Eberhardt and Fox check the shoes, which are quite muddy. Fox examines them closely, finding remnants of several things mixed in with the soil – yaupon holly berries, oak leaves, and rose petals. Thinking for a moment, he realizes there is only one place in the area he knows that has all three of those things around, the Botanical Gardens at City Park...

*** Session 14 - Session Notes part 1 ***

This session ran much smoother without the Walker player there. She isn't gone for good, though (sigh). I'll digress a moment to explain the situation.

I tried suggesting to her dad over email that perhaps she didn't wasn't interested in this particular game and asked if she'd rather just tag along with him to hang out instead. I framed it along the lines of "hope she doesn't feel like she has to actually play in the game just to come along with you". It sounded a lot better than what I was really thinking, which was "clearly you are forcing your daughter to play and it's a real pain in everyone's ass so knock it off".

He seemed to half take the hint, but still seems in denial. He claims she likes coming to the sessions (well evidenced by her complete apathy and expressed distaste up until now) and basically said the problem is we gave her too central of a role. His solution is to give her a less prominent role where she isn't relied on for anything; his idea was to make her another black guy who could be additional muscle. That's the last thing the group needs, so I'm going to make her his teenage half-sister that his mother is making him look after instead.

To finish off this line of discussion, he claims it's "good for her" to come to the games because she "needs to get more comfortable around people she doesn't know". While this seems to me to be a weak rationalization to explain why he uses his custody night to drag his daughter to his personal activity (she does not seem very introverted to me - just a teenager who couldn't give a hoot less about talking to adults when there's friends to text with), I have seen this expressed by gamer parents before and have always thought it to be rather specious reasoning. I may be nearing 40, but I still remember being younger and more introverted; and the last thing I would want is a parent throwing me in the social deep end - I think it is far better to let kids develop social skills at their own pace as they feel comfortable. But, since I have no kids of my own I know better than to suggest parenting advice to people.

In any event, expect her to show back up at some point though my goal will be to have her character be in the background and do absolutely nothing.

However, if her dad tries to force her to interact more, or if she throws another tantrum about leaving the session early, I'm afraid I'll have to be more frank with her dad about the problem which is not something I'm thrilled about since there are many ways that conversation could go bad.

*** Session 05 - Session Notes part 2 ***

Overall, I found this session to be a mixed bag. The players seemed to feel it was one of the more productive / positive sessions while I felt it dragged a bit in places. But the plot did advance and they did manage to do a few things so it was a good session and did set up a few things for the future.

Misc notes about the session:
* The bodies turning to ooze was something I thought would be very creepy and express how dangerous and mysterious the tentacle monster was.

* I don't think I mentioned it last time - I envision the tentacle monster as something of a cross between a Cthuluian horror and those alien creatures from the movie Dark City. They use their tentacles to eat living creatures by draining their blood then breaking down the rest of their body with a secreted acid.

* The dead security guard only has a name because I thought Hawk was looking for an ID when he grabbed the wallet, not loose cash. The name doesn't mean anything; I had that Iris DeMint song from The Leftovers stuck in my head so I threw out a male equivalent as the name.

* Hawk deciding to rob the morgue instead of just help Eberhardt was a surprise. The Le Doux player was particularly frustrated by that as he knows it will have consequences later.

* Hawk was smart to get the gloves, the ooze might have caused acid burns to his hands.

* I liked that they thought to give Eberhardt a shower and change him into the doctor's clothes.

* I'm not sure what the players think they will find in Dr. Alvaro's notes. Him investigating the missing bodies wasn't intended to convey he had any real information; quite the opposite actually.

* Hawk being seen by the janitor will definitely cause problems later.

* The janitor is named after a janitor character in a Blaxploitation horror film called Tales From the Quadead Zone. Unlike in the movie, I'm not planning to have him murder his twin, dress him up like a clown, and hide him under his house (although that would be the right level of strange for this campaign...)

* I keep telling the Hawk player that there is no need to track money, but he insists on keeping close track of the cash he makes from his stolen goods.

* I was glad the PCs finally decided to go help Giradin. I probably should have killed him off by now since they waited so long but left him alive so the plot wouldn't completely implode.

* I'm not sure why the Le Doux player wanted to pick the lock at Giradin's apartment so bad; there would be no clues inside and it would only make him more likely to get attacked by zombis. It was hilarious when he rolled a particularly bad fail and jammed the lock.

* Fox's encounter with the man in the white pickup is actually based on something that happened to the Le Doux player (Fox's dad) the previous week. The real life version was much more insane - the Le Doux player didn't cut the guy off as far as he knew; the whole thing started on a tightly-packed freeway and the guy followed him for over 15 miles before he tried to get away from him by exiting.

Side note - reporting this sort of thing to the police (at least around here) is pointless because apparently the police are too lazy to actually investigate this sort of thing even when you have the guy's license plate (I mean, its only some psycho following someone for 20 minutes and trying to assault or kill them). Although I own no guns myself, I can see how situations like this lead people to think cops are useless to protect you and feel they need to own a gun to protect themselves.

* I did some research to discover lead arsenate was the type of pest control chemical they would be using at the time. Again, I like to add historical color whenever I can.

* When Fox tried to talk to the guy inside the chemical plant, I covered my mouth when I talked to make everything muffled.

* Hilariously, bad luck caused Fox's car to get damaged when he backed over the zombis. More bad luck got him clipped by the old lady's car.

* Fox was going to steal the old lady's car (on urging from the OOC chatter of the other players) but being a kid he immediately caved in to authority when old man Oldham (yes, the name was a pun) and the cops showed up.

* Careful readers may have caught the mention of Pentex. Yes, that will come up again later as I have re-imagined the company for the Mythos milieu.

* Le Doux was really upset Fox took Giradin back to the police station instead of coming back for him. He really didn't want to take the streetcar back to his office (we actually called it a bus in session, but a streetcar would have been the more likely transport).

* I think the Fox player was confused by the zombis vs. Haitians thing. I tried explaining the zombis were dead white guys.

* I'm not really sure why Le Doux didn't trust the protective custody at the police station; he would have been perfectly safe there (although I could have done an Assault on Precinct 13 type of thing I suppose).

* It took a lot of hints in the conversation between Bartus and Fox before the player figured out he just needed to stretch the truth and imply Giradin was related to the car thefts to get Bartus to back off.

* Le Doux is probably laying on the "I don't believe in zombis or magic" thing a bit much, considering what he's seen. But he's going for the "Scully from X-Files" route.

* I dropped the hint about Patricia Walker to try and get them to check out her apartment. It worked.

* Since the Walker player wasn't going to play her anymore, and it provided a way to escalate the Allatou plot, I killed off the character rather than return her to being a NPC.

* Careful readers may spot that one of the names they found in Walker's apartment already came up. And people who have read certain comics may recognize the names and their connection as well, which was my inspiration for The Committee (though I'm merging two different groups / concepts there).

* Lt. Hunter at the 3rd Precinct is another character from Hill Street Blues.

* Hawk's friends the Thornton Brothers are named after the musicians, as are the rival gang members he encounters later. It all started when I was trying to put Lil Wayne into the game since he's from New Orleans and then it just spiraled from there. Hip hop / rap stars make for great gangster character names because they all have nicknames.

* I wanted to start introducing the klan resurgence plot. It's something else I'd planned from the beginning (and had used in a slightly different form back in my college campaign in the 90's) and it gives Hawk more side plot to chew on.

* The Eclipse Lounge is named after the hip hop group Clipse that Gene and Terrance Thornton originally formed in Virginia Beach.

* Lucien Celine in The Serpent and the Rainbow was a doctor, so I made the character in the game one too (an unlicensed one anyway).

* I have to keep mentioning the Cult of Allatou plot is separate from the Haitian Zombi plot because the players keep conflating the two. It's very challenging having the game play out in ways outside of "monster of the week" when they get confused by multiple plotlines so easily.

* You'll notice I found ways to slip in Fearing and Batraville's first names this sessions. It's too difficult not being able to use the full names but at the same time I want them to be revealed in a semi-realistic way.

* Hawk didn't actually use the words "Massah Fox" in game, but changed his language to suggest it while sarcastically thanking him for letting him go to his own meeting. I put it in the session notes as shorthand.

* Giradin is intended to be "cluelessly racist" as opposed to the more "hostile racist" Fearing's landlady was last session. His background is a hayseed type from a local farm so I thought that seemed more appropriate.

* Again, I had Lucien stress that what Batraville is doing is not voodoo. Not only to be more politically correct, but because I want Batraville's magic to be recognized as being evil and even more mysterious.

* The exposition around Lucien telling them to check the zombi bodies for clues was an attempt to reinforce the need for investigation as well as move the plot along. Far too often the players get a clue and rush to the next person to talk to / place to go without stopping to really think through all possible investigation methods.

* Clearly the First Baptist Church is not the real headquarters of the klan; I wanted to show all kinds of groups can go after easy scapegoats. The church is real and was located at those cross streets at that time. At this time, the pastor was the famous Dr. R.G. Lee (author of the famous Pay Day Someday sermon).

* The shootout at the club was an idea I had about how petty rivalries cloud the larger groups from getting to the root of problems. Hence, the PCs will have to handle it themselves. Though, Hawk has not seen the last of the gangs by any means.

* Eberhardt made a luck roll when they opened the coolers for the morgue bodies to avoid having a tentacle monster spring out. Side note - I have no idea how a 1920's morgue worked so I basically envisioned a modern morgue cooler just with large amount of ice used to keep the bodies cold.

* I claim dramatic license for the large amounts of identifiable debris on the shoes of the zombis.

* I used the botanical gardens for two reasons - first, it was an easy way to point the PCs towards a specific location. And second, I love the juxtaposition of something that couldn't be more peaceful / serene with a dark ritual that could destroy the world.

* Originally I had hoped we'd get to the gardens and play out the climax of this plotline that night, but it took too long to get there. Hopefully next session won't end up with a long denouement.

*** Session 06 - Cast of Characters ***

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

Detective Bruno Eberhardt: A 1st generation German immigrant and seasoned police officer recently made homicide detective. 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.

And introducing...

Pamela "Foxy" Brown: Hawk's fourteen year-old half-sister who tends to get into trouble on the streets.

*** Session 06 - Scene 1 (of 5) ***

With the location of Jean Batraville known, everyone gets back into the cars and heads out. To split up the firepower in the group, Fox, Nibbons, and Celine take Fox's car while Le Doux, Hawk, and Eberhardt take Le Doux's (though he has Eberhardt drive).

Unfortunately, no one notices as the tentacle creatures come out from the morgue and attach themselves to the undersides of the cars. It isn't until they've driven a few blocks that Eberhardt notices Fox's car isn't driving behind them anymore. Just as he says something, the creature melts through the roof of the car, landing in the back seat.

Eberhardt slams on the brakes and tries to pull the car over to the side of the street. It fishtails, and jumps the curb, slamming his side of the car into the brick wall of an empty building.

As everyone recovers themselves after the crash, they look around for the strange translucent creature. They don't spot it immediately and quickly exit the car.

Looking around, Hawk sees where the creature melted through the car's roof. Eberhardt walks around the car to check for it. Hawk bends over to look under the car, his pistol at the ready.

The creature moves too fast for Hawk to react, jumping straight at his face. He steps back quickly to avoid the strange tentacles and fires, but in his haste he misses the shot. The creature grabs onto Hawk and he tries desperately to keep it and its blood-sucking tentacles away from his face.

Le Doux looks around for anything he can use as a club. Finding a nearby piece of wood on the ground, he swings at the creature. He scores a hit as powerful as Rogers Hornsby, knocking the creature off of Hawk and fracturing Hawk's jaw in the process.

The creature starts scuttling towards a nearby sewer grate. Eberhardt shoots at it with his service revolver, hitting it just as it reaches the grate. It lets out an unearthly squeal, then falls into the sewer. He can't quite be sure if he killed it or not.

*** Session 06 - Scene 2 (of 5) ***

Le Doux checks on Hawk who is still a bit stunned from his injury but managing to stay conscious. A few of his teeth lie on the ground. Hawk tries to mumble something to Le Doux along the lines of, "I told you the voodoo shit is real" but is difficult to understand. The detective makes a mental note that Hawk being unable to speak is something of an improvement in their fortunes.

Eberhardt tries to get Le Doux to admit what he saw, but the Cajun insists it was some type of large water spider. As Le Doux and Eberhardt argue, Hawk mumbles excitedly and points, showing them Fox's car wrecked into a utility pole a block and a half back.

The three go over to investigate. They spot Fox and Nibbons in the front seat, both appear to be unconscious. There are cracks in the windshield glass and blood, suggesting both may have been injured in the crash.

Le Doux looks in the back seat to check on Lucien. He finds only the doctor's clothes in a pile of bloody ooze. His heart sinks as he realizes the doctor has been killed.

The detective prods at the ooze with his piece of wood; it begins to smoke as if being burned. He checks to see how the creature got in and sees a hole in the back window where it appeared to have broken through the glass.

Eberhardt has no luck in waking Nibbons or Fox, they appear to be in comas due to their injuries. Le Doux says they need to get the men to a hospital.

Figuring Le Doux's car is the most likely to run again, he has Hawk try to get it running. But a hose has cracked in the manifold and it won't run. They then focus their attention on Fox's car. It takes some time, but Hawk eventually gets the engine to turn over by having Eberhardt and Le Doux help push start it.

But rather than head off to the hospital, Hawk garbles out his suggestion to shoot Fox and Nibbons in the head as they could be zombis now. Le Doux tries to explain that isn't how that works, noting the lack of Jimson Weed powder.

Before they head out to Charity Hospital, Le Doux checks over Fox's car very carefully to see if the "big spider" is still in it. He spots a hole in the bottom of the car, suggesting the creature already left. Being careful to step back very far from the car, he gets down to the ground and looks underneath. Everything appears clear.

Le Doux and Eberhardt move the unconscious bodies of Fox and Nibbons into the back seat. But Hawk insists the men could still be zombis and refuses to sit with them.  After some argument, Le Doux decides they will have to come back for Hawk after and they drive off without him.

*** Session 06 - Scene 3 (of 5) ***

Le Doux and Eberhardt drop off Fox and Nibbons at the hospital. After they explain the men were injured in a car accident, they wait for an initial diagnosis. Le Doux catches some talk between the doctors that it doesn't look good, but all they tell him is that both men suffered severe concussions and are in comas but they don't know when, or if, the men will recover.

The two then head back to pick up Hawk. Though he still needs to see a doctor, the time spent resting has allowed the swelling in his jaw to go down, allowing him to talk again.

With their numbers depleted, Le Doux wants to recruit more help. Hawk directs Eberhardt to drive him over to a speakeasy in Treme where his cousin, Raymond "Ray-Ray" Brooks, sometimes hangs out called Tommy Clown's (named after popular local street performer, Thomas Johnson).

When Hawk walks in, he doesn't see Ray-Ray but does immediately spot his younger half-sister, Pamela "Foxy" Brown, over in a corner booth with some men. Hawk knows this means trouble.

After Hawk's father Franklin died in an agricultural accident when he was younger, his mother Coffey remarried a factory worker named Lincoln Brown and had Foxy. Last Sunday, when he went to church with his mother and stepfather, she mentioned Foxy had been getting into trouble lately and she asked Hawk to keep an eye on her when possible. Coffey was so worried about Foxy ending up working for the mob's "modeling agency" she didn't even notice her rival, Hattie Mae Pierce, was wearing a new crown.

Knowing the fourteen-year-old Foxy shouldn't even be in the bar, much less hanging out with some toughs who appear be twenty or older, he pulls her out of the booth and tells her she needs to come with him.

Hawk tries to recruit some of the locals to come help him, claiming a White man hit him with a board and they need to go down to the Botanical Gardens to shoot his ass. The men in the bar find his story unbelievable, or at least not worth their time, and promptly ignore him.

Heading over to bartender Walter Millsap, Hawk asks about Ray-Ray but Walter says his cousin hasn't been around for a couple of days. He does get Walter to sell him the pump-action shotgun he keeps behind the bar for twenty dollars. He tells Foxy they'll need her shooting skills as well.

Le Doux is nonplussed to find Hawk exiting the bar with only a shotgun and a fourteen year old girl. He ponders the idea of going to other bars and offering men large amounts of money, but quickly realizes he'd be much more likely to get robbed or murdered for his money rather than finding anyone who would be of help fighting a Haitian witch and his zombi minions. Hawk jokes he could just start yelling racial epithets until a crowd of angry men with weapons starts following him.

*** Session 06 - Scene 4 (of 5) ***

The group makes their way over to the Botanical Gardens. As expected, the main gate is locked. Le Doux picks the lock and opens the gate, and Eberhardt drives the car very slowly along the pedestrian path.

After examining the directory map, Eberhardt heads in the direction of the rose garden where they believe the ritual is taking place. It is in the far corner of the gardens, and some distance along the path.

Le Doux and Eberhardt discuss the plan for a long time, arguing with Hawk over strategy. They ultimately decide Le Doux will follow on foot behind the car while Eberhardt drives. Foxy and Hawk will shoot from the car to divert the zombis while Le Doux performs the ritual. Hawk isn't so sure he trusts the plan but eventually decides to go along with it.

As they near the area where the ritual is suspected, Eberhardt spots a fire off in that direction. He stops the car to look as the path is beginning to curve away from that area anyway. He motions over in the direction for Le Doux while Foxy and Hawk roll down the rear windows to get their weapons ready.

Le Doux heads down the small incline towards the direction of the light, keeping behind the bushes and the trees so he can sneak around. Back up on the path, Eberhardt turns his attention back to the path, and notices a large group of zombis waiting up ahead.

Hawk gets out of the car and fires with the shotgun while Eberhardt honks the horn to draw them closer. His first shot goes wide. Luckily, Foxy's shot out the window with a pistol proves better, though only grazes the head of the zombi.

Eberhardt slams on the gas as they get closer, plowing through them. Two get crushed under the car while two move attach themselves to the car. They smash at the car's windshields, trying to get at Eberhardt with their machetes.

Hawk fires another shot at the remaining zombis, but the shell jams. He's forced to use the weapon as a club to fend off one of the zombis.

Back at the car, Foxy fires her pistol at the zombi attached to the passenger's side. She hits it in the head and it drops off. Meanwhile, Eberhardt misses a curve in the path and smashes the car into a tree. It crushes the zombi to death, but also badly damages the car.

Down near the fire, Le Doux spots four zombis surrounding a Haitian man in dark robes chanting a ritual. He circumnavigates the area quietly, looking for an opportunity to strike at Batraville.

Over on the path, Hawk tosses the shotgun and blows the head off of the zombi with his pistol. Eberhardt and Foxy clear off the last two from the path as they all head towards the ritual area to confront the remaining zombis.

Batraville continues his ritual and the sky begins changing strange colors. The zombis start to move away to attack Hawk and the others.

Hawk, Eberhardt, and Foxy start firing at the zombis, taking them down in turn. Eberhardt takes a bad hit from one of the machetes, starts bleeding heavily but is nothing compared to the wounds he took in the trenches during the Great War.

Le Doux takes the opportunity to make a run for Batraville. He almost makes it on time, but isn't quite able to reach him before he speaks more of the ritual.

Le Doux and Hawk notice the sky changes again with flashes of lightning. Up in the sky appears to be an enormous, misshapen mass of polyps, tentacles, mouths with razor-sharp teeth, and other various appendages and masses that defy any categorization. The god-like being of the Floating Horror appears to be half in and half out of this world, forming and un-forming with the stars in the sky.

The effect is far too much for the fragile minds of Hawk and Le Doux and they are temporarily stunned. Le Doux then flies into a wild rage, completing his run up to Jean Batraville and blowing his head off with his pistol.

Screaming like a banshee as he realizes the demon creature in the sky is still materializing, Le Doux takes out the diary and begins performing the reverse ritual while Eberhardt and the others finish off the last of the zombis.

Le Doux begins the chant, but stumbles over the words. The being in the sky becomes more solid, and one of its tentacles begins reaching out towards him. He frantically continues to try, wishing Nibbons or Fox was there since they understand the occult better.

Luckily, his continued attempts work and he is able to complete the spell in time. The entity in the sky melts away into the cosmos, returned to its native plane of being. But the attempt has drained Le Doux completely, and he falls into a deep coma.

*** Session 06 - Scene 5 (of 5) ***

Once it is all over, the zombis melt into pools of ooze. A somewhat deranged Hawk starts looking through the body finding only a pouch of the white zombi powder.

While Eberhardt tends to Le Doux, Hawk finds the back maintenance gate that Batraville gained entrance to the park through.

Hawk grabs Le Doux and they venture out the back gate onto the gravel road behind. Off in the bushes of the adjoining bayou, Hawk spots an old, run-down car. Inside the car are the keys.

Eberhardt drives Le Doux to the hospital after dropping off Hawk and Foxy back in their neighborhood. He tells the doctor they were attacked by a man who stole their car. He files a similar report with the police to cover their tracks.

It will take some time for everyone to recover, but Eberhardt is relieved the threat of Jean Batraville is over.

*** Session 06 - Session Notes ***

Just in before the holidays, this session was quite short compared to most of them. We knew ahead of time the Fox player wasn't going to be able to make it (and won't for a while) but we were waiting around quite a while before we found out the Nibbons player was working late and couldn't make it. Then there was the fact the Le Doux player was still recovering from some medical stuff. And of course, there wasn't much that really could occur before the natural end of the plotline / session.

Was it a fun session? Eh, there were some laughs but on the whole I'd still call it another "down" slope for me.

Being down a couple of players made the others skittish of taking on the bad guy. So then they went down the "let's just hire cannon fodder NPCs" route, not really taking the hints I was dropping that it wouldn't work. This has come up in other campaigns before; for me, this is a non-starter. I'm never, ever going to allow the PCs to "win" a scenario in this game or any other by hiring clueless NPCs to use as cannon fodder. I don't play that way - in fact even the idea of trying it pisses me off as a pet peeve. To me, the basic concept defeats the entire point of RPGs as well as destroying nearly every fictional genre convention; it's one thing to have a game where professional soldiers are hired, paid the proper wages, and know they are going into battle but this is something else entirely.

Anyway, that aside the session was still not great. The Hawk player's disinterested daughter was back. I gave her a character that isn't good at nearly anything and won't be relied on for anything. I was nice enough to let her shoot OK given the circumstances. I'm still not sure this is going to work for me long term.

Then there were the usual complaints about the gunfire. The Hawk player is one of those guys who thinks they are an expert on all kinds of things and always complains about how the game's chances of success for things don't match his personal beliefs.

Lately, its been guns. The other session it was him complaining the .25 pistol low damage because "assassins use it". Then last session he tried telling the Fox player he couldn't have a pump action shotgun because they weren't around yet. This session he was whining because he felt the shotgun he had should have been incredibly accurate at 100 feet because of the spread. It gets kind of old.

In any event, at least we wrapped up the Batraville story so we can move on to something else next session.

Other notes about the session:
* I added the tentacle creature attack at the start of the session to give something else to do before the big finale, as I already knew the session would be short. I also needed an excuse to have Nibbons and Fox out of the picture.

* Killing off Celine was always planned. I was never going to let the PCs get away with letting a NPC do all the heavy lifting (you may call it railroading, I prefer to call it dramatic license for maintaining genre conventions).

* We had far, far too much fun with a stick puppet toy the Eberhardt player brought to represent the squid monster (that he got for his kid from Toys R Us (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=23950426&cp=&parentPage=search)).

* Hawk probably shouldn't have recovered his ability to talk so quickly in the session, but trying to keep him mumbling the whole session wasn't really feasible.

* Hawk's cousin didn't have a name in the session. I chose Ray-Ray because I had recently watched the (terrible) movie A Haunted House on cable and that's what the character's gangster cousin was named.

* When I did a search for Ray-Ray, I found out the name was most associated with some boy band guy from a band called Mindless Behavior that I've never heard of (not my style of music). Reading that, I came up with the idea for Tommy Clown's and Thomas Johnson (for music artist Tommy the Clown) as well as Walter Millsap (he's Mindless Behavior's producer or something).

* Pamela "Foxy" Brown is named after Pam Grier / the movie character Foxy Brown. Again, I'm mocking the Hawk player's Blaxploitation approach.

* Similarly, his mother is named after Pam Grier's other famous movie, Coffey.

* I later realized I'd given his father and other cousin both the name of Franklin (Avery Brook's middle name). Outside the session, the explanation was that his grandfather was Franklin Sr. and both his father and cousin were named after him.

* The half-joke about Hawk's mother not wanting Foxy to end up a prostitute (along with her hanging out with way-too old of guys at the bar) is more of a joke about the fact his daughter is playing the character so I'm mocking his real-life concerns about her dating boys.

* The joke about Hattie Mae Pierce is simply a joke reference to Big Momma's House combined with the typical joke about ladies being rivals at church.

* The actual discussion over the plan at the rose garden took 20 minutes or more as the Hawk and Le Doux player's couldn't agree on a tactic.

* Le Doux made a roll to move quietly but failed his athletics roll to run quickly. The result of that roll was the Floating Horror actually appearing in the sky because the ritual was further along.

This was followed up by a really bad time for Le Doux and Hawk to make their notice rolls, as they then lost a ton of sanity by looking up at the creature.

* After seeing the Floating Horror and casting the spell, Le Doux lost double-digits worth of sanity. Both he and Hawk will be gaining some mental disorders next time because of their heavy SAN losses this session.

* I didn't originally plan for Batraville to have a car, but I threw them a bone at the end. If they would have checked the glove box, it would have been registered to Colin Fearing.

*** Session 07 - 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.

*** Session 07 - Scene 1 (of 15) ***

The weeks after the Batraville case is closed pass slowly. With everyone injured, there is no one available to look into The Committee or its assumed meeting the following night.

Eberhardt recovers from his injuries the quickest, but finds himself deluged in work after several unsolved homicides in the area stacked up while he was away from the precinct. Detective McElroy briefs him on the open cases.

The first is the unsolved disappearance and possible murders of a doctor from the morgue, Dr. Stephen Donnenwirth, along with security guard Rufus DeMint. According to janitor Ted Johnson, he cleaned up a couple of possible "blood-like messes" at the morgue the night they disappeared – one in a hallway and another later in the pathology room.

Detective Le Fleur notes they do have a good lead in the case – Johnson reported seeing a strange Black man there that night who claimed to be working for the doctor. McElroy shows a sketch made from the victim's description. Eberhardt stays quiet, but notes to himself the drawing looks remarkably like Hawk as McElroy gives his theory that the Black man was the one snatching bodies from the morgue at night.

The detective assumes the man must have been caught by the security guard or doctor and trouble ensued. He states the suspect probably killed both men and left with the bodies. Le Fleur notes he won't get very far – the suspect stole the doctor's car on the way out and they have an APB out on it so it's only a matter of time before they catch up with him.

The second case is about a young woman named Patricia Walker who was found dead and mutilated in her apartment. According to a neighbor, two men in suits were seen entering her apartment shortly before the body was found. Le Fleur also believes they will be able to close this case, just as soon as they can bring in suspects for the witness to identify. Eberhardt once again says nothing as he realizes the two men seen were himself and Le Doux.

The third case involves a shootout in Treme at a jazz club called the Eclipse Lounge that left several men wounded and one man killed, Tab "Young Turk" Virgil, Jr. Since the case only involves Black gang members in the poor section of town, McElroy says they don't need to put much effort into solving that one.

Finally, a Haitian immigrant named Jean Batraville was discovered dead at the Botanical Gardens. At the scene was a wrecked stolen car, several sets of clothing around the grounds, and several spots where blood was found. Le Fleur wonders if it is also related to the gang warfare escalating in the city.

*** Session 07 - Scene 2 (of 15) ***

Le Doux comes out of his coma the next day, but his insane ramblings cause him to get locked up in the local asylum for a week of observation by Dr. Essex before being released. When he gets back, he finds Nibbons has recovered but Fox is still in the hospital recovering. He asks Madge about Hawk, but she says he hasn't been around.

Still convalescing, he sits around the office with Nibbons, reading a newspaper.

The first article he finds interesting concerns a story on the front page about a local real estate developer. It reads:

Castle Construction Halted

Bruce Gardener, head of the Gardener and Associates land development company, announced today that construction was "indefinitely postponed" on construction of the Fisherman's Castle resort in the Irish Bayou area.

Gardner's radical design of a castle-like fishing resort gained great attention and a split decision from the public when it was announced two years ago. The project is currently around half done, with its scheduled completion date originally set for next spring's fishing season.

In his press release, Gardener cited vandalism and theft at the site as well as labor difficulties as the causes of construction delays and rising costs associated with the project.

Henry Boland, head of Local 100 of the Bricklayer, Masons, and Plasterers International Union of America (BMPIU) has been involved with several disputes with the land developer and vehemently denies any labor issues are at the cause of the work stoppage, outside of Gardner not providing a "secure working environment".

The other article from the front page he finds interesting is:

Coolidge Promises Tax Reform

Continuing a theme from his inaugural speech earlier this year, President Coolidge announced today his plans for tax reform.

Citing recent economic studies, the President talked of the need to tighten the belt of America and focus on only those taxes necessary to fund the essential duties needed.

Coolidge's plan, as detailed by Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, focuses on several key points – keeping wages up by further restricting immigration, adding protective tariffs on foreign imports, and most prominently, reducing the tax and regulatory burdens on businesses so they can grow and add more and better paying jobs.

Noticeably absent from his budget proposals were anything to help the agricultural industry. Senate Minority Leader Charles McNary of Oregon and Congressman Gilbert Haugen of Iowa are rumored to be working together on a joint congressional farm bill to cover this gap.

Seeking some lighter news, he also checks out the entertainment section:

Gold Rush a Hit

This week marks the release of the new Chaplin film, The Gold Rush, sure to be another in Chaplin's long line of hits.

The story concerns Chaplin as the Lone Prospector, a clownish figure in a dead serious story of prospectors seeks fame and fortune in the Klondike.

Chaplin inhabits the character with streaks of tenaciousness and tenderness, a thoughtful and original take that could eclipse The Kid and Shoulder Arms as his more popular films.

The icy cold of the frozen Northern tundra is shown in all its glory and danger. Women are advised to be careful of fainting while watching the film due to its graphic sense of danger.

Finally, there is another story on page 5 following up on a different local crime:

Police Still Investigating Museum Break-In

The break-in and theft of several historical artifacts from the Louisiana State Historical Museum four weeks ago is still under investigation with few leads.

Detective Sergeant Charlie Burdette, head of the Property Crimes Division, has given a statement that the case is still under active investigation. According to Burdette, all local pawn shops have been checked and alerted along with local art dealers.

William Darden, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Museums, has described the stolen items as Indian artifacts from several different cultures along with a satchel once owned by Henri de Tonti. Darden has stated the items all have so little in common he is unsure why they were stolen.

As he finishes reading the paper, Madge starts bugging Le Doux about the bills piling up. His cousin reminds him his last job (the Batraville investigation) didn't actually pay anything and he's been out for a while. But, she has a plan.

Earlier when she got in, Madge also saw the article about the problems at the construction site. One of her good friends, Mary Murray, happens to be Bruce Gardener's secretary so she made a call and got an appointment set up with Gardener.

Le Doux is a little taken back by Madge's forwardness, but decides they should go to the meeting with Gardener. Nibbons agrees, saying he needs to make some money so he can pay Le Doux back.

Even though Eberhardt is a homicide detective and not in property crimes, Le Doux calls him at the station to see if he can get any additional information. He tells Eberhardt he knows it isn't his area of specialty, but that he's investigating the crime at the construction site and needs him to dig up some details on Bruce Gardener.

Eberhardt tells Le Doux he is very busy "cleaning up many of your messes." He tells the private detective the police are looking for a Black man who possibly killed a doctor, sardonically asking him if he heard about it. He then mentions the dead woman in the apartment where two men were seen entering the apartment, asking him if he remembers that either.

Le Doux says he doesn't remember anything about that, not wanting to say anything over the phone. Eberhardt doesn't let up, mentioning the shootout at the jazz club and saying he probably doesn't remember that either. Le Doux keeps calm, saying he doesn't but that it would really help if Eberhardt could look up information on the Gardener case.

The detective is clearly unhappy. He tells Le Doux to go investigate and kill some people and then he'll end up assigned to the case anyway, suggesting that's how Le Doux usually operates. Le Doux just says he'll get back to him, hanging the phone up.

*** Session 07 - Scene 3 (of 15) ***

After taking a streetcar over to Djauto's Garage to pick up Nibbons' car, Le Doux suggests he should drive it as he is the better driver. They head over to Gardener and Associates in the Central Business District.

Along the way, Le Doux thinks about what he knows. He's heard Gardener's name mentioned before as a major developer in the area. And Gardener and his wife, Patricia, are often seen in the society pages. He wonders if Gardener could be one of the members of The Committee.

When they arrive, they are shown up to the top floor that houses Gardener's office. His secretary, Mary, announces their arrival and they are shown in to the office. Gardener appears to be a middle aged man, well-dressed and groomed, tall with a mustache.

He greets Le Doux and Boo introduces Nibbons as his associate. Gardener doesn't seem very excited to see them and says they may as well get down to business. He explains that through his secretary, he's heard Le Doux is familiar in investing uncommon, even unnatural crimes.

Le Doux says he is very interested in those things. Gardener clarifies he is not a believer in the sort of "weirdo psychics and witch doctors" type of things, but he is having a strange problem at his construction site and needs someone to look at it. Le Doux says it sounds like the sort of things he and Chester investigate all the time.

Gardener asks is Le Doux is familiar with Fisherman's Castle, his latest construction project. He points their attention to a couple of impressionist paintings of the artist's proposal for the building on the walls of his office. Le Doux, finding them an exorbitant waste of resources, simply says they are very nice.

The executive then starts telling his story of what's been happening. He says it all started about three weeks ago, when one of the workers claimed to have seen something odd near the site at night. Then, the site started to become vandalized at night. Shortly after, Gardener reluctantly explains, a "strange track" was found at the site that spooked the workers.

Le Doux agrees it all sounds very strange. He asks what kind of track was found. Gardener says it was human-sized but not of a man and explains he has a picture of it that he will show in a minute but he'd better tell him the whole story first.

Continuing on, Gardener says it culminated in an apparent attack on one of the men working security at night, and now he can't get anyone at all to work on the site. There's been subsequent looting at the site of tools and supplies but none of the workers will go near it because of "the monster."

Le Doux wants to know more about the monster. Gardener says the attacked man got a photo of the creature right before it attacked him, making things worse. He tells Le Doux if he isn't able to figure out what is going on soon, he'll be forced to shut down the project so he really needs his help.

Gardener shows Le Doux and Nibbons the photos of the creature and the cast of the footprint they found. The picture of the monster is grainy, but shows a man-sized lizard man, complete with tail, strolling along the bayou at night. Nibbons nearly chuckles at the spectacle, believing it looks like a man in a rubber suit; but Le Doux is intrigued.

Both men recall a story from decades past in occult lore about "The Lizard Man of the Irish Bayou." They don't recall any of the details beyond something being reported in the local news and it becoming a local legend.

Gardener believes the whole thing is a hoax, possibly perpetrated by Boss Boland as part of ongoing labor pay disputes he's had with the union. Le Doux, however, is convinced it is real saying many strange things have been going on in the area. Gardener scoffs at the suggestion, saying Crescent City is a modern city of industry and this is the 20th century now. Le Doux warns him there are things that have existed since time immemorial.

Le Doux continues, forcefully saying someone needs to put a stop to this. He tells Gardener they will take the case for free, shocking Nibbons. Gardener can't believe the man believes in all this, but says he'll be happy to have Mary cancel the check they were going to give him. Saying he is busy and needs to get back to work, Gardener has them shown out but tells Le Doux to keep him informed on developments in the case.

*** Session 07 - Scene 4 (of 15) ***

Out in the car, Nibbons asks Le Doux why they are working for free. He tells Chester they are clearly dealing with a creature beyond nature and need to put a stop to it.

Nibbons agrees (if not very sincerely), but asks how they will pay the bills. Le Doux says this case is much more important than that – it is about the fate of mankind. The two continue to argue about the merits of paying bills versus saving the world for a minute or two.

Believing the matter to be urgent, Le Doux speeds across town to the 1st Precinct to see Eberhardt. Unfortunately, he speeds along too fast and has to swerve to avoid a child in the road. The car ends up crashing into a fire hydrant, bending one of the wheels.

Nibbons complains about having another bill to pay as Le Doux apologizes. But he stresses it is still of paramount importance to get to the precinct and get Eberhardt on the case.

The remainder of the drive is a lot slower with the bent wheel. Because he continues to drive it, the car becomes more damaged along the way. By the time they reach the station, it is smoking.

They head inside to see Eberhardt. Spotting him at his desk, Le Doux immediately starts loudly talking about how "It is happening again!" Eberhardt sighs, asking what it is this time. Le Doux, still talking loudly, excitedly says "It isn't zombies this time, it's a lizard man!"

Not wanting Le Doux to attract any more attention, Eberhardt quickly shuffles him and Nibbons off to an interrogation room. He tells the man he can't just show up at the precinct yelling these sort of things.

Le Doux ignores the detective and tells Nibbons to show him the pictures. Eberhardt is unimpressed, saying it looks like a man in a lizard suit. Le Doux gets upset, asking how much the man has to see in order to recognize the forces of evil.

Eberhardt continues to mock Le Doux, saying he believes he already saw the lizard man at the cinema last week and suggests they attend the new Chaplin film instead. But Le Doux remains steadfast, saying that lizard man attacked someone and is probably one of thousands coming out of the bayou.

Realizing he isn't getting anywhere, Eberhardt asks if the report was made to the police, saying he might be able to help then. Le Doux says he isn't sure, saying Eberhardt is the police so he'll need to check on it.

Le Doux then asks Eberhardt for the information on the Gardener case he asked for. Eberhardt, lying, says he's been too busy and hasn't had a chance to look for it yet. Le Doux grabs the detective by the shoulders, yelling "For the love of God, man!"

Eberhardt agrees to go see what he can find out. He asks Ms. Kringle to pull the file on the Gardener case. There isn't much in the file, except notes on vandalism at the sight and some stolen tools. The vandalism seems to be restricted to gouges made in the building and large scratches along the vehicles.

As he's examining the file, the head of property crimes, Lt. C.L. Magnus, comes over. Magnus wants to know what Eberhardt is doing with one of his cases. Eberhardt tries to say he heard there was a homicide at the site. Magnus says there was no homicide, just some damage and stolen equipment but Eberhardt says someone was attacked. Magnus says no attack was reported but Eberhardt brushes him off.

Heading back to the others, Eberhardt sees there is no attack reported in the file. When he enters the room, he sees Le Doux standing in the corner making strange gestures in the air. Eberhardt tries to talk to him but Boo insists he stay quiet until he is finished.

Once Le Doux is done with his bizarre ritual, Eberhardt continues saying there isn't much in the file and nothing to really go on but explains what is listed. Le Doux instantly concludes the scratches are "claw marks."

Eberhardt is dismissive, saying no forensic work was done on them at the site and that construction work could easily cause gouges by sloppy workmen. Le Doux tell him another possible source of gouges – saying it could be the work of an army of lizard creatures.

Saying he supposes it could be possible, Eberhardt notes there have been no report of army lizards, armed lizards, or lizard armies – nothing of the sort. He says he's not sure what Le Doux is hoping to learn, again pointing out there was no report of any attack.

Le Doux tell Nibbons he doesn't like the way this case smells. Clearly seeing the man is disturbed by the case, Eberhardt offers to accompany them out to the construction site at the Irish Bayou to look around for any evidence of an attack; but is careful to point out if he can't prove an assault took place, he can't help them.

The private investigator agrees, telling Eberhardt he'll have to be the one to drive as Nibbons' car has suffered some damage. Eberhardt notes his police vehicle has been recently repaired so they can take it, though is surprised Nibbons' car is already damaged again.

*** Session 07 - Scene 5 (of 15) ***

It takes a couple of hours to drive out to the remote area of the Irish Bayou. Le Doux spends an inordinate amount of time staring at the clouds and frowning. Eberhardt teases him about being scared of rain, but Le Doux simply says it is nothing and continues to stare.

When they reach the site, they can see the half-finished castle and the abandoned construction site. Everyone gets out and splits up to look around.

Le Doux focuses on looking for tracks. He finds something on the group that very well could be a track in the mud that looks similar to the one in the picture of the plaster cast. He takes out his notepad and begins sketching it.

Nibbons checks the building. He can see where some of the framing has been broke and there are gouges in some of the plaster and concrete. He calls it out to the others.

Eberhardt looks for any sign of a struggle, but doesn't necessarily see anything. He's unimpressed by Nibbons and Le Doux's findings as well – believing the damage could be construction-related and that the "footprint" could be anything.

Le Doux, however, believes the gouges are clearly claw-like marks. He demonstrates a few times to Nibbons, who still isn't sure if they are claw marks or tool marks. Boo tries to search the area for a lizard scale or other physical evidence, but finds nothing.

The investigator then turns his attention to the nearby trees of the bayou. He believes the track could have come from there, and tells the others they need to check it out. Le Doux tells the others to follow, which they do but slowly.

After a short while, Le Doux spots something off in the distance behind the trees. It appears humanoid and he can hear it making noise.

In response, Le Doux holds up his hands to signal the others and begins drawing symbols in the air. Neither Nibbons nor Eberhardt have any idea what he is trying to convey.

Le Doux then runs off further into the woods. Eberhardt can tell he is running towards something, but isn't sure. He asks Nibbons, but Chester has no idea either.

As he crashes through some of the trees and underbrush, Le Doux finds himself face to face with an older Indian man in a suit, taking some notes on a notepad. He is startled by Le Doux's sudden appearance.

The man asks Le Doux who he is. Le Doux responds by pulling his gun on him. The Indian puts his hands up and tells Le Doux he has no money.

Boo tells the old man, suggesting that may not be what he really is, to stay where he is. He asks who the man is. The Indian gives his name as Kendi Battice.

Kendi explains he works for the Louisiana State History Museum and is working in the area to locate any artifacts of the tribes. Le Doux is suspicious, asking if it is a tribe of lizard men he is after.

The older man is confused by the question. He says he is looking for Quinipissa pottery fragments, not lizard men. Le Doux has never heard of the Quinipissa, but assumes they are some kind of Indian tribe.

Kendi finds the suggestion of "lizard men" to be very strange. Le Doux insists the strange part is that Kendi is out in this location where a lizard man has been spotted. The man insists he is often out in the bayous, but Le Doux states the lizard men are as well.

The Indian ponders the idea of lizard men more. He asks Le Doux if he doesn't, in fact, mean snake men. Le Doux is intrigued and asks for more information. Kendi explains many of the tribes have snake-related mythologies.

Kendi goes on to talk about his own tribe's belief of a type of snake called the "wyrm" – an evil spirit that corrupted all life.

Le Doux shows the picture of the lizard man to Kendi. He laughs at the idea, saying perhaps he should bring that back to the museum.

Boo presses on, asking if this is the snake man he spoke of. Kendi says he was just speaking of his tribal mythology and they had no pictures.

Kendi muses on the idea some more, saying it is an interesting coincidence that the recent museum theft concerned artifacts related to snake mythologies of various Indian tribes.

Le Doux wants more information about the burglaries, but Kendi explains he knows little about it. He suggests Le Doux talk to the professor there, Dr. Beckmeyer.

Battice explains Dr. Beckmeyer is the anthropologist in charge of Indian studies there and that he is the professor's assistant. Kendi goes on to say the professor often sends him out to the bayou in search of Indian artifacts.

Le Doux wants to know what Kendi has found so far, as he saw him writing in his journal. The Indian explains he has found nothing yet, simply making notes that he didn't find anything in this search grid.

Boo asks again if he's seen any snake men, but Battice says he has not. He also asks Kendi if he's seen any tracks, but the Indian explains he was not looking for any – just pottery remains. Le Doux says he should be checking for tracks as well.

Le Doux then stops talking to Kendi and starts staring off into the sky as Eberhardt and Nibbons arrive. Eberhardt sardonically notes the "lizard man" Le Doux found looks very fierce. Le Doux does not answer, continuing to stare into the sky.

Eberhardt continues the ribbing, telling him to watch out for "that big pencil he has." Le Doux comes out of his stupor and is confused what the detective is talking about. Kendi says he believes the man is referring to him.

Le Doux introduces Kendi to the others, though struggles with his name. Eberhardt gives his name and rank with the police, saying he is sorry Le Doux bothered the man.

When Kendi tells his story to Eberhardt, Bruno immediately makes the connection with the museum theft. Kendi tells Eberhardt about the coincidence with the snake men. Eberhardt simply wishes the man good luck with the criminal investigation of the theft, saying Lt. Magnus is on the case and is a real piece of work.

Le Doux looks up at the sky again, then forcefully tells the others they need to be going. Sighing, Eberhardt agrees it is time to leave, saying he wasted half a day on this. Nibbons agrees to keep an eye out per Le Doux's instructions.

Kendi gently suggests to Eberhardt that his friend may need some rest. Eberhardt says that is not all he needs, saying they will try to get him some help. Before they leave, Eberhardt tells Kendi to call him should he see anything suspicious out there.

Le Doux rushes back to the car first and begins making sketches of the clouds in the sky. Eberhardt catches sight of what he is doing, and suggests the cloud appears to be more like an elephant than a lizard man so if he is done they can get going. An alarmed Le Doux shakes his head.

*** Session 07 - Scene 6 (of 15) ***

Driving back, Le Doux insists they need to get to the museum. Eberhardt says there is nothing at the museum but Nibbons says it will be easier just to go along with him.

A couple of hours later, they reach the museum. Eberhardt sadly notes he can't wait to see what his lieutenant thinks of his report for the day's activities.

For his part, Le Doux wonders where Hawk is, thinking they could use his help against the lizard men. Eberhardt says if Hawk has any sense, he'll be in Arkansas by now since he's associated with at least three crimes and the police have a sketch of him. Bruno goes on to say that even though "they all look alike", the sketch very much looks like "Mr. Hawk."

Le Doux then gets out and heads into the museum with the others following. Eberhardt complains about being stuck paying for their entrance fees as Le Doux talks to one of the curators about talking to Dr. Beckmeyer. He gives his name as "Dr. Jones" and introduces Nibbons and Eberhardt as "Mr. Round" and "Mr. Sallah".

The curator steps away for a minute then comes back to escort to an office with "Dr. Harold Beckmeyer" on the door. Inside is a balding, middle-aged man looking at some pottery with a magnifying glass. As the others enter he looks up from his work. He greets "Dr. Jones" and apologizes, saying he must have forgotten their appointment.

When Beckmeyer asks what the appointment was about, as he doesn't recall, Le Doux slaps down the photograph of the lizard man. The professor asks what that is, to which Le Doux responds, "Exactly!"

Beckmeyer takes his magnifying glass and looks over the photograph carefully. He says the photo doesn't look fake, though notes he is not a biologist, much less a cryptozoologist, but some of the proportions of the creature seem off. Eberhardt agrees something is off in the photo – the fact it shows a lizard man.

Putting the photo down, the professor says this sort of thing is a bit out of his area as he is an anthropologist. Le Doux mentions talking with Kendi (though it takes him a moment to get his name right) and that recent thefts in the museum involved snake people.

Harry clarifies there were three stolen artifacts along with a satchel. He calls them rather innocuous Indian artifacts, none particularly rare or valuable outside the Quinipissa pottery. Beckmeyer seems doubly confused about the theft of the satchel, but does say the satchel was originally found with a letter from the Cavelier expedition; luckily, the letter itself is still safe in the museum archives.

Le Doux asks for a list of everything taken. Beckmeyer says he can do better, handing Le Doux the museum cards. He asks Le Doux if he'd also like to see the letter. When Le Doux responds in the affirmative, Beckmeyer has one of the secretaries go make a photostatic copy of the translated version of the letter.

*** Session 07 - Scene 7 (of 15) ***

Starting with the letter, Le Doux reads it out to Nibbons and Eberhardt:

April 9, 1682

Monsieur Le Moyne,

I write to you as a kindred spirit of exploration and a friend of Governor General de Courcelle, a mutual friend of my expedition leader, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.

Today will be a day known in history, as we claim this fertile valley as territory of New France at the mouth of the great Colbert River. We name it La Louisiane, in honor of the king. One day soon, the great M. de Fer will produce the map of our expanded kingdom.

But I digress, for that information has already been sent to the Governor and you have no doubt already heard it by the time you receive this letter.

I write to you about a most interesting tribe we discovered along the west bank of the Colbert. They were a small group, living in a village with an allied tribe I believe to be the Akoroa described by M. Marquette. According to M. La Salle, they are called the Kinipissa.

The Akoroa seem afraid of their allies and the "bad medicine" they practice, but appear to be subservient to them in order for protection against the Bayogoula, whom they are at war with.

Many strange things we have seen on our journeys, but this is perhaps most odd. These Kinipissa peoples appear to worship a dark spirit of the swamps, which they call "Yig".

Outnumbered and ill-prepared for conflict, we avoided upsetting the Kinipissa about this deity, but tried to get what information we could from the Akoroa.

Not much was forthcoming, but we were able to ascertain Yig is some sort of serpent god. Given the large number of snakes and alagartos, that is not surprising. And as you yourself know, the serpent is a common mythological symbol among these savage tribes.

We also observed the medicine man of the Kinipissa wears white paint on his head in the shape of a crescent moon; we believe this to be the symbol of the entity.

Before I reveal my full tale, I want to assure you it is not the ravings of a madman. While the events that follow left me with a sinking feeling in my soul, I remain rational and alert and fully in control of my faculties.

One night, I and one of our men happened to sneak upon one of the ceremonies being performed in the deep swamps. We heard strange chanting by the shaman and saw a headless female figure rising from the depths of the swamp. In the pale light of torches, the body's skin shined with scales instead of skin.

Frozen with fright, we could do nothing but watch as one of the women in the crowd produced a baby. I believe it was taken from an Akoroa woman, as there was one nearby crying, and appeared to be restrained by a pair of Kinipissa guards.

The man I was with nearly yelled out when what happened next occurred. I had to put my hand quickly over his mouth, and confess I considered slitting his throat with my knife to avoid being discovered.

What happened was a large snake head emerged out of the "neck" of the female form. I nearly fouled my breeches when I saw the head whip down quickly and open its wide jaws. Before I realized what was happening, it had swallowed the child whole. I could see it writhing inside the neck as it went down into the creature's gullet.

Apparently satisfied by this dark sacrifice, the creature sank back down into the abyss and the ceremony ended. The tribesman quickly left the area, leaving behind the grieving mother crying at the edge of the water.

The two of us stood still for many hours before I felt it safe to return to our camp. As soon as we did, I informed M. La Salle it was time to leave. Unfortunately, the man I was with did not recover from the experience. He became a rambling imbecile and when he tried to flee, La Salle had him shot as a deserter.

I send you this information as I know in the coming years you or one of your sons will likely send an expedition through these lands. Beware the followers of Yig, for they are a dark and savage people with strange magiks. It is my intention that once we reach Fort Saint Louis and a full garrison arrives, we will hunt down every last one of these people and cleanse them from the Earth.

Yours in the glory of God and King Louis,

Henri de Tonti

*** Session 07 - Scene 8 (of 15) ***

All three men find the letter very disturbing, chilling them to their very core. It takes them a moment to recover. Eberhardt shakes it off with a joke, noting the part about a rambling imbecile seems very familiar. But Le Doux is more affected, rambling off some incoherent things for a moment.

Eberhardt shakes him out of his strange reverie by asking about the artifacts. Le Doux reads off the cards. The first reads:

American Indian               
16th century

Exhibit: Artifacts of the Great Plains Tribes

Fertility Totem

Material: Carved Bone (likely buffalo)

Measurement: 1½'

Remarks: Hopi fertility totem from late 16th to century. Engravings show a carving of a figure known as the "Snake Girl" in Hopi mythology.

Provenance: Given as a gift to Antonio de Expejo's expedition in 1583. Verified by diary entry of de Espejo and later kept as part of a collection of artifacts in Santa Fe.

On loan from Edgar L. Hewitt, Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe

The second reads:

American Indian               
12th – 14th century

Exhibit: Artifacts of the Great Plains Tribes

Engraved Plate

Material: Copper

Measurement: 9" x 6"

Remarks: Mississippian engraved copper plate from the 12th to 14th century. Believed to be Hopwell in design. Unlike most copper plates from Mississippian culture, this shows a snake-headed figure instead of an avian theme.

Provenance: Discovered by Archaeologist Digby Sothers at the Cahokia Mounts in St. Clair County, Illinois.

On loan from Sir Archibald Beatty, Lakefront City Museum of Natural History in Lakefront City

The third reads:

American Indian               
17th century

Exhibit: Artifacts of the Great Plains Tribes

Painted Pottery Bowl

Material: Ceramic

Measurement: 5" diameter

Remarks: A small bowl believed to have been used by the Quinipissa tribe in religious ceremonies. The painting on the side shows a snake devouring a man.

Provenance: Discovered along the Mississippi River bank by Auguste Garcon in 1821 and sold to Douglas Turnball.

On loan from the Turnball Family Trust, Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville

*** Session 07 - Scene 9 (of 15) ***

A well-learned man, Nibbons recalls his knowledge of history about the things discussed in the letter and the artifacts. He knows the Quinipissa tribe was discovered in 1682 by Rene-Robert Cavelier. He also recalls Cavelier was later killed by Sieur Duhaunt in a dispute over buffalo meat, and his expedition dissolved before it ever returned to the Fort Saint Louis in Texas that Tonti referred to (as opposed to the other Fort Saint Louis La Salle founded in Illinois), and so the particular Quinipissa Indians the letter referred to were never wiped out.

Beckmeyer is glad to meet a fellow anthropologist. He notes that, of course, all the Quinipissa and their allies were massacred by the Bayougoula in 1700 and are considered extinct (with the Bayogoula themselves largely killed off by smallpox by 1721). Beckmeyer allows that could be incorrect if one believes Albert Gatschet's theory they were actually a Muskogean tribe variant, but notes that study was not consistent with Nicolas de Fer's map and notions about the tribe.

Le Doux asks Beckmeyer what tribe Kendi is of. He responds, somewhat confused, that the man is Choctaw.

The investigator presses on for any more details on the theft and what is going on. Beckmeyer asks what his interest is. Le Doux says he is writing a paper, saying he is an anthropologist among his other fields of study.

Beckmeyer is still confused about the connection to the photograph, but Le Doux says that matter is confidential. He thanks the professor, who says he is glad to have been of help.

As they start to leave, Beckmeyer returns his attention to his work. Le Doux lets out a cough, asking if the professor could get him a glass of water before he goes. When he leaves to get it, Le Doux starts rifling through the materials on his desk, looking for any type of key.

Le Doux then motions to Nibbons to block the door and Chester complies. Le Doux then looks through the drawers of the desk, finding a key to a filing cabinet. He takes it and signals Nibbons to clear the door.

When Beckmeyer comes back in, Le Doux drinks down the water and thanks him and they leave.

Outside, Eberhardt chides Le Doux for causing him to be present at yet another crime scene. Le Doux ignores the comment and asks the others where they think they should go next. Eberhardt says he needs to return to the station before he loses his job and suggests Le Doux needs to go to bed, or the hospital, before he loses his mind.

Le Doux tells Eberhardt he knows he couldn't have not noticed the patterns. Eberhardt agrees the objects were all snake-related (and on loan from other collections), but says Le Doux is either hunting snakes or lizards and asks him which it is. Le Doux simply nods and winks.

Eberhardt sighs and remarks that with Le Doux's latest obsessions, he's just as inclined to believe he is the one stealing the "snake things."

Once they reach the police station, Le Doux remembers Nibbons' car is still damaged; he says they'll need to take it back to Djauto's and suggests Nibbons "put it on his tab."

*** Session 07 - Scene 10 (of 15) ***

Djauto is surprised to see Nibbons back so soon. He promises he can get the wheel fixed in a day or two for five dollars. Le Doux offers him double money to guarantee the work in a day. For that kind of money, Djauto even offers Nibbons the use of the "loaner", a bicycle.

Since the bicycle won't fit the two of them, they decline and decide to take a cab back to the office. Le Doux's original plan is to try and get away without paying, but he and Nibbons recall the cabs are ran by the mob and decide to just use the last of their free cash to pay the fare.

When he gets inside, Madge asks Le Doux if that new case is bringing in money yet. He responds they are doing it for free. Madge continues that the bills are piling up and they need cash.

Le Doux says they have things more important than bills to worry about. He shows her the photo of the lizard man. She says she doesn't get it, asking what the gag is. Le Doux explains that is a picture of "what they need to stop."

Madge confirms Le Doux is serious then lets the matter drop. He asks after Hawk, but she hasn't seen him. She says he should keep Hawk away, as the place is classier without him around.

Le Doux and Nibbons talk about what to do next. Nibbons wants to check the library archives for the old story they remembered so he leaves to do that.

After Nibbons leaves, Le Doux spends time sketching clouds and arranging the sketches. At one point, he overhears Madge making a phone call to her mother talking about him. His cousin clearly believes Le Doux has gone crazy. But he ignores the call, focusing on his sketches.

*** Session 07 - Scene 11 (of 15) ***

At the library, it doesn't take very long before Nibbons finds the article. It is from an issue of the Times-Picayune paper, dated June 29, 1889.

The article reads:

Creature Reported in Bayou

Local warehouse worker Christian David, 17, reported an unusual sighting last Thursday at 2 a.m. while walking from his job in Eastport to his home in the Crescent Bayou area.

According to David, while he stopped to deal with a rock in his boot, he heard a thumping noise behind him. Turning around, he saw a lizard-like creature coming at him, "I looked back and saw something running across the field towards me. It was about 25 yards away and I saw red eyes glowing. I ran as fast as I could but the thing grabbed at me. I could see him from the neck down – the three big fingers, long black nails and green rough skin. It was strong and angry. I sped up and swerved to shake the creature off my trail."

Christian's father, seeing his son's shirt torn and scratches down his back, reported the incident to the Crescent Sheriff's Office a couple of days later. According to Sheriff's Deputy Liston Truesdale, no additional evidence has been found of any unusual animal activity and the consensus of the department is the Cajun boy was likely drunk and had an encounter with an alligator.

Nibbons records down the information then spends some time looking around for some other articles or other information at the library. He doesn't find anything, but his searching does attract the attention of one of the librarians. She asks if he can help.

When he explains what he's researching, the librarian tells Nibbons she doesn't believe there is anything else on that particular local myth. She does mention the odd coincidence of two people looking into that story lately, as another man was looking for that article three weeks ago or so.

Nibbons asks who else was interested in the story. She doesn't recall the name, but says the man was a businessman type and gives a description. Chester recognizes the description as being of Bruce Gardener. He thanks her for her help and heads back to the office.

*** Session 07 - Scene 12 (of 15) ***

Over at the police station, Eberhardt pulls the file for the museum theft. He wonders if there is anything in it he can tie back to the Gardener case.

Looking over the files, he sees the museum theft was pulled by a professional burglar who picked the locks and used a glass cutter. According to the follow-up reports, the detective assigned to the case, Detective Pellerin, has not found anyone trying to pawn the goods yet so the motive of the theft is still questionable.

He reads through the rest of the notes carefully, but doesn't really find anything more than what Dr. Beckmeyer already gave them. With nothing else to go on, he decides to check in with Lt. Magnus.

Magnus is less than pleased to see Eberhardt with another of his squad's files. He reminds Eberhardt he already told him to stay out of his files.

Eberhardt takes the comment in stride, saying he knows they don't always see eye to eye and he's still getting used to the way American precincts are centered around people's feelings, but in his German homeland the officers would be frank with each other, saying Magnus would be known as an "arschloch" but they should just agree to work together.

The lieutenant isn't sure what arschloch means, but says he'll take Eberhardt outside if he calls him it again. Eberhardt tries to drop the matter, saying he believes the museum theft could be tied in to a murder case he is investigating.

Magnus wants to know what the museum break-in has to do with a homicide. Eberhardt says he isn't sure yet, but there are many snakes and lizards running around, "if you know what I mean." Magnus does not.

Still, the detective decides to talk through the basics of the case with Eberhardt. They believe it was a job for hire with a professional cat burglar taking the goods. Bruno asks if the professional thief was local, but Magnus says they can't be sure.

Magnus still wants to know what this has to do with the murder. Eberhardt starts to ask what murder he is talking about, then remembers that was his cover story. He pivots and talks about finding a man from the museum at the murder site.

Eberhardt goes on to name Kendi. Magnus agrees it is suspect as Kendi is an "Injun" and he's "never trusted those people" and wondering why they can't stay on their own lands. Eberhardt mocks the lieutenant by agreeing with him, pointing out how they should be happy with the small amount of land they get as the white people clearly need more space to spread out.

The discussion continues as Eberhardt talks about his conversation with Kendi and Magnus adds commentary based on ignorant, crude stereotypes that don't even apply to the tribes of this region. The lieutenant follows it up with more racist comments about how at least they don't have the problems with Gypsies and Jews like they do in Europe as Eberhardt tries to get him to drop the subject.

Eventually, Eberhardt gets Magnus to agree to let him know about any developments in the museum case. The lieutenant, however, does want to look at the homicide file for the case Eberhardt has been talking about so he can make notes about the relation of the cases. Eberhardt promises to have his squad's secretary, Ms. Kringle, get those over to him.

Eberhardt then goes over to see Ms. Kringle. Rather than have her send anything to Magnus, he has her call Bruce Gardener.

When he is connected to the developer's office, he gets to talk to Gardener after dealing with the receptionist. Eberhardt explains he is looking into the problem at Fisherman's Castle.

Gardener is confused, believing a Detective Seelau is looking into the case. As Eberhardt tries to explain, Gardener tells him it doesn't matter. In fact, Gardener wants him to go ahead and close the police case, saying he has a private investigator handling the matter who he's confident will get to the bottom of things.

Eberhardt says he'll be happy to close the case, but needs additional information on the worker who was attacked. Gardener gives the name as Ben Hansen. Eberhardt thanks him for his time, and Gardener concludes the call with congeniality but is still quite insistent Eberhardt go ahead and close the case.

*** Session 07 - Scene 13 (of 15) ***

When Nibbons arrives back at the office, he finds Le Doux hard at work with his cloud sketches. Ignoring the insanity, he tells Le Doux what he found.

Boo isn't sure what to think of it, questioning why Gardener didn't tell him about his research at the library. As he is mulling it over, Eberhardt shows up.

Le Doux asks Eberhardt what he found out about the snake men. Eberhardt explains he found nothing, but does say he talked to Gardener who told him to close the case because he hired Le Doux. He also gives Le Doux the name of Ben Hansen.

Feeling there is still more to uncover, Le Doux feels they need to talk to Hansen next. He also wants to head back out to the bayou at night to look for the lizard man. Eberhardt points out they may also want to talk to Boss Boland at the union hall.

To get through the discussions quickly, Le Doux decides he should go talk to Hansen while Eberhardt and Nibbons go speak with Boland.

As Eberhardt and Nibbons take off to see Boland, they have a brief conversation about Le Doux. Eberhardt notes Le Doux has become a bit too deep into his occult investigations lately. Nibbons agrees the man is becoming "unhinged" and they need to keep a closer eye on him.

When they get to the union hall, they quickly find Henry Boland. Boland doesn't seem particularly happy to see them but Eberhardt explains he is a police detective looking into the Fisherman's Castle case.

Boland goes on to say he will talk to them as long as the conversation stays off the record and they don't bother any other union men about the case. According to Boland, the incident has already caused enough trouble and he doesn't need any more. He further says he doesn't need people associating the union with a belief in a fantastical lizard man.

Eberhardt agrees and asks if it is not a lizard man, what the dispute is. Boland says it is not a safe work environment  - missing tools, damage to equipment, and one the men was attacked (though he believes it was likely by an alligator).

Boland explains the whole thing started a few weeks ago when a truck driver, Jim Wilson, was dropping off a load of supplies at night. As he approached the bridge over the swamp leading to the construction site, Wilson claimed he saw some kind of humanoid form, possibly with a tail, run out into the road, across the bridge, and go down into the swamp and disappear.

A couple of days later, vandalism starting showing up at the construction site at night. The next morning, they found gouges in the cement-work and scratches along the sides of the construction equipment.

A few days after that, some strange tracks were discovered in the morning. One of the guys, Justin Cox, took a plaster cast of the best of the tracks along with a photo of it, but Gardener insisted on keeping that.

After the tracks started, people stopped showing up on the work site, finding work elsewhere. Even the night security guys quit, leading to a bunch of supplies getting stolen. The last straw was when one of them, Ben Hansen, claimed to have been chased by the creature that night and got a photo of the lizard man with his camera (which, again, was turned over to Gardener). After that, everyone stayed away.

Eberhardt asks Boland's theory on what is going on. Boland believes the lizard man is a practical joke of some kind, but believes the damage at the site is probably caused by Gardener as an excuse not to pay the men.

It is clear no love is lost between the men, but Eberhardt digs in further why Boland distrusts Gardener. He claims not to understand the minds of the rich, saying the resort idea is dumb anyway (a fishing resort out on the bayou) and doesn't get why people would throw their money away on something so stupid.

Boland seems intent to solve the matter in court, saying they have the upper hand since a developer like Gardener will need their work again sooner or later. Eberhardt thanks him for his time, and he and Nibbons head back to the office.

*** Session 07 - Scene 14 (of 15) ***

Le Doux doesn't take long to track down Ben Hansen's address but finds him not at home. Hansen's wife directs him to a nearby speakeasy where he's been spending his time while out of work.

Finding the place, Le Doux poses as a customer at the bar to remain inconspicuous. Recognizing Hansen from a photo at the man's apartment, he sits a fair distance away from him at the bar but still close enough the man will be able to hear him.

Le Doux calls over to the bartender for some whiskey. He talks loudly about having a tough day (and a strange day). He starts talking about something going down at the bayou.

This gains Hansen's attention. He starts asking Le Doux about what he is talking about. Le Doux claims his uncle was attacked at night by something.

Hansen stops Le Doux from going into details and motions for them to go out to the alley. There, Le Doux tells a story about his fictitious uncle, a union plumber named John Jones. Hansen explains he is a mason working out on the bayou and how he saw a lizard man.

According to Hansen, he was working security at night when he saw the creature and took a picture. It then began running after him and he barely got away. Le Doux carefully tries to confirm it was indeed a lizard man and not a snake man.

Le Doux gets a few more details but learns nothing much more than he already did. He tries luring Hansen out there to help him look for the creature, but the mason steadfastly refuses even despite an offer of $50 (though Le Doux can't produce the cash up front).

Hansen does offer to help by giving Le Doux some rope and a flashlight. Le Doux briefly considers trying to abduct the man, but since he doesn't have a car and there are too many people around, he decides to drop the matter and just take the equipment.

*** Session 07 - Scene 15 (of 15) ***

Once everyone is done, they meet back at the office and exchange information. Le Doux notes all the stories have the creature showing up at night and regularly so they need to go out there.

Eberhardt disagrees, not wanting to risk going out into the swamp in the middle of the night. He's also concerned Le Doux will end up killing some guy in a lizard suit but he insists if it is a fake Eberhardt can just arrest the person and close the case.

Le Doux pretends to go along with him and asks for a ride home for himself and Nibbons. But when they get into the car, he pulls a gun on Eberhardt and forces him to drive back out to the construction site. He apologizes, but insists the matter is too important not to deal with immediately.

When they get there, Le Doux has him turn off the car and everyone get out to investigate. Eberhardt tries to say he should stay by the car in case they need a quick getaway, but Le Doux isn't fooled about what kind of getaway he has planned.

Once out, Le Doux believes they should split up. He doesn't want the creature to know they are there so he refuses to use the flashlight. Instead, they attempt to make their way in the dark with only a partial moon to guide them.

Over by the castle, they can see a little better because of the moonlight reflecting off of the water. Eberhardt believes he sees something over by the castle. He and Le Doux head over to the castle, each approaching from a different side – Eberhardt with his night stick and Le Doux with his shotgun.

Meanwhile, Nibbons stays back to keep an eye out on the bayou. Unfortunately, he fails to notice the pair of red eyes approaching him in the dark until they are a couple of feet away. It lets out a loud growl.

With no time to draw his gun and fire, Nibbons makes a run for it. As he does so, he yells out to the others that he found something.

In the dark, the creature starts gaining on him. Eberhardt and Le Doux begin running back towards him. But Le Doux falls in the dark, causing his shotgun to go off.

Eberhardt can't see the others or anything else in the dark. He decides to head back towards the car.

Nibbons runs randomly off into the bayou. Luckily for him, the creature doesn't seem to be able to reach him.

Le Doux picks himself up off the ground and hears Nibbons continuing to yell in the trees. He rushes towards them, yelling out to Eberhardt but the detective ignores him and gets into the car, starting it up and turning on the lights. Enraged that Eberhardt is trying to leave them, Le Doux starts running towards the car.

Back in the bayou, Nibbons manages to get himself lost in the marshes. He doesn't see the lizard man around but isn't sure where he is either.

Stopping for a moment to listen, he hears a nearby thumping sound; as if someone is pounding on wood. He decides to draw his revolver and head towards it.

Over at the car, Le Doux starts to pull the door open to yell at Eberhardt as Eberhardt slams on the gas. He manages to get Le Doux off, but slams the back of his car into a tree in the swamp.

Recovering from the crash, Eberhardt spots a set of red eyes in the swamp, coming towards him. He decides to stay in the car for protection.

Le Doux spots the eyes and hears the creature growl. He starts reloading his shotgun while yelling for help (in an attempt to lure the creature over).

Back in the swamp, Nibbons finds an old wooden shack nearby. The door appears to be padlocked and there is a lantern on a hook next to the door. He can hear the pounding coming from inside, along with the muffled yells of someone that sounds suspiciously like "Help me!"

After attempting to just knock on the door, Nibbons uses his gun to shoot off the lock. On the ground appears to be the form of a man bound and gagged.

Back at the car, the creature yells some more and advances slowly but seems to be keeping a distance from Le Doux. After a bit, it appears to be moving away. Le Doux starts running towards it.

In the cabin, Nibbons lights the lantern and discovers the bound and gagged man is Kendi. He also sees the inside of the cabin is filled with the stolen tools and supplies from the work site along with a work area containing some man-sized molds with rubber, paraffin, adhesives, and paint. The mold look suspiciously like the shape of the lizard man.

He frees the Indian, who explains he was hit from behind and captured when he discovered this shack out in the bayou while searching for pottery.

Some distance away, Le Doux gets close enough to the lizard man to tackle him. To his surprise, he finds the lizard is very rubbery feeling. Pinning the man, he pulls off the lizard man mask, revealing it to be Bruce Gardener.

Gardener explains the construction project had too many cost overruns to ever be profitable. He had insurance on the site, but could only collect if there was an act of God or other major disruption. Apparently, Gardener only hired Le Doux as a patsy believing him to be an idiot kook who would confirm the existence of the creature. Angrily, Gardener states, "And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you pesky investigators!"

Le Doux tells Gardener he is going away for a long time, but suggests he might be amenable to a bribe. That all goes away when Nibbons shows up with Kendi as Le Doux is willing to gloss over insurance fraud but not a kidnapping (and besides, they'd have to kill Kendi to make it work).

Taking Kendi's car back to the city, Eberhardt puts Gardener in jail and writes up the incident, closing the case.

*** Session 07 - Session Notes ***

Let's start with the obvious - yes, this is indeed a Scooby-Doo style mystery. I didn't have a specific one in mind, though it comes closest to the episode "Go Away Ghost Ship".

I've always wanted to do a Cthulhu adventure where it turned out what was really going on was insurance fraud. My original idea years ago involved a large steam ship (along the lines of the Titanic).

The other reason I threw this is was to add something to lighten the mood after several straight sessions of hunting down the zombi priest.

Finally, there is the hilarious aspect that recent mental issues developed by Le Doux now have him believing everything occult is true - so even though everyone else hinted around the lizard man was fake, he bought into it heart and soul.

The players bought in as well. They keep expecting me to have the monster form of Alderman Biggins from the first campaign to show up. He may yet, but not today...

It was a fun session. I was surprised how close to the standard Scooby Doo formula the session ended up fitting.

I do believe a good deal of why this session worked was the Hawk player not being able to make it; I'm not sure his style would have gone along with the adventure nearly as well.

Other notes from the session:
* Everyone lost so much HP and SAN last time, there's no way the session could begin the next day so I threw in the two week time forward. This did cause them to miss the window with the Committee meeting (which they didn't like) but they just were in no shape to go there.

* The opening scene with Eberhardt is there to remind the PCs that he has a job to do and that their mayhem across the city isn't exactly unnoticed (this isn't Charming, CA after all; people here still notice dead bodies). Hawk's actions in particular have him vulnerable at the moment.

* I originally thought about playing out Le Doux's time in the asylum and discussions with Dr. Essex to advance other plots. But I knew we'd get too side-tracked and thought it would be better to present that information later (perhaps in a follow-up visit).

* As before, I gave Le Doux some more of my fake newspaper articles. Again, writing these is perhaps my favorite part of prepping for the games.

* Bruce Gardener (and his wife) come straight from the film, Poltergeist III, where he was played by Tom Skerirtt. His later line about "weirdo psychics and witch doctors" is a line in the film.

* The Irish Bayou Castle is a real thing (though built in the 80's). I thought it was far too funny / strange not to use for a Scooby-Doo style mystery. When the PCs meet with Gardener, I showed them actual pictures of it as the artist's interpretation (but used Paint to transform them to look like impressionist paintings).

* The story on Coolidge's tax reform ideas is another of my true stories to set the tone of the times as well as meant as a joke in political irony.

* The Gold Rush review joke about women being advised is actually taken from something I read in an actual review of the Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

* The museum story is clearly there to set them up to go to the museum later since I had a lot of material for that. Careful readers may note that Gardener is not the one who broke into the museum, so there may still be something to those artifacts, Yig, and the serpent people.

* I had Madge get Le Doux the job to remind them they do need money. Making it even funnier when crazy Le Doux later offers to do the job for free.

* The Eberhardt player did a great job of having his character genuinely annoyed with Le Doux for all of the crazy things that happened over the last few sessions.

* Gardener was a crooked land developer, but I never intended to have him connected to The Committee. Still, it was interesting the players thought of the connection.

* For the lizard man photos, I used the ones from the story in Bishopville, South Carolina. When I saw that story online, I knew I just had to use that photo in a session; it was just too hokey. The old newspaper story is also based on that particular lizard man myth.

* The Le Doux player was hilariously over the top when expressing his belief in the lizard men. We had to stop to laugh at points.

* Lt. C.L. Magus was named in the write-up after the fact. It's the name of the villain from the above-mentioned Scooby-Doo episode.

* Careful readers may note I use a lot of different detective names for property crimes. Let's just assume its a large division and not that I kept forgetting the names I already stated.

* Kendi and Harry Beckmeyer are both named after characters in a film I won't name here yet because it might give away a plot point for an upcoming adventure.

* The Quinipissa were a real tribe. I debated the merits of using a real people's name for occult activities, but since they went extinct I felt it would be safe. I used a fake tribe (the Hopwell) last time. My goal isn't to denigrate Native Americans (of which are part of my own ancestry) but since my adventures don't take place in New England, one of the only ways to have things have happened hundreds of years ago is to invoke the "strange heathen cults" sort of stereotype. Next time I'll have to use the "strange inbred group of pioneers" stereotype.

* Kendi is out in the bayou as a red herring suspect. He's also there to impart plot information that may become more relevant later (the snake men, the concept of the wyrm) and to hint the PCs should investigate the museum theft.

* Le Doux's fake names at the museum are clearly an Indiana Jones joke.

* Beckmeyer made a point about being an anthropologist and not a biologist to remind the PCs they can't come to him about any old "science" thing.

* I knew if I talked up the letter with Beckmeyer, the PCs would want to read it. Naturally it conveys knowledge of the Cthulhu mythos which caused more SAN loss.

* I tried to make the de Tonti letter as historically accurate as possible. As usual, I gave the PCs a printed out copy in a script font. I threw a lot of historical details in there to set the stage (including using the older style name of the tribe and alligators).

* The horrific story of Yig and the Indian cultists is meant to inspire fear for if and when anything contemporary around Yig shows up.

* The museum artifact cards were also printed out to look like actual cards. I wasn't sure what a real museum card looked like, so I did some research online to get a feel for them.

* I made a rather obvious error in my museum cards - the Hopi are not a Great Plains tribe. I had decided on the exhibit name before I researched tribes with snake-related beliefs. However, I believe I can claim dramatic license here since the museums of the 1920's may well have been not as exact about such things.

* While many of the names listed were real people, Digby Sothers is not (it's inspired by the fictitious writer of Branded on The Big Lebowski, Archie Digby Sellers). And Sir Archibald comes from the Lakefront City campaign. The reference to the Hopwell and the Cahokia Mounds only further convinced the Le Doux player the lizard man was Biggins.

* The details from Nibbons and Beckmeyer's conversation are more historical facts used as exposition. I added more details in this write-up than we discussed in session.

* I'm not sure why Le Doux wanted a key or what he thought Beckmeyer had. I'm not even sure if it was part of him playing out the mental illness or if he actually had a plan.

* Djauto having a bicycle as a loaner is just a joke to add insult to injury for the PCs always losing cars.

* The librarian giving the clue to Nibbons was to establish how Gardener came up with the idea for his scam. I wanted it to not come completely out of left field.

* Eberhardt's conversation with Magnus is clearly meant to establish the man as another racist jerk. I'm also making a point about how that sort of casual racism leads to really bad things. That said, I do worry about the "Chappelle Show/All In the Family effect" - at what point does my mocking racism go over the line into seeming like it is promoting it. I'll try to avoid going back to that well again for the next NPCs they encounter.

* If I was writing a story, the Ben Hansen scene is the only one I'd really consider editing out. It doesn't provide anything new and is largely pointless. I tried to make it have any meaning by giving Le Doux the rope and flashlight, though he ultimately didn't use them.

* Also note that again Le Doux is looking for cannon fodder. I'm still not going to let that work.

*  The final scene played out perfect - with a chase scene of sorts and stumbling into the truth. We joked about how Le Doux just as easily could have killed Gardener making the story far darker.

*** Session 08 - 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.

Pamela "Foxy" Brown: Hawk's fourteen year-old half-sister who tends to get into trouble on the streets.

*** Session 08 - Scene 1 (of 12) ***

Le Doux and Nibbons sit around the office in the morning, reading the paper as usual. Le Doux is immediately intrigued by the cover story:

Old Woman Mutilated in Bizarre Killing – Has the Axeman Returned?

Widow Marilyn Livingston was the victim late last night in a bizarre murder.

According to police, the pensioner's kitchen door appeared to be hacked open, possibly using an axe or machete-type weapon. The same weapon appeared to be used to kill the victim, as sources inside the coroner's office has alluded to Livingston as being dismembered in the attack.

People on the streets are already speculating if this could be the return of "The Axeman", the notorious serial killer and purported jazz enthusiast whose last killing occurred six years ago.

The office of Police Superintendent Thomas Healy has called for people to remain calm and says there is no evidence to suggest the Axeman has returned.

The mention of an axe or machete-like weapon reminds Le Doux of the zombi killings. He wonders if they should investigate the crime further.

Moving on to a lighter piece of news in the entertainment section, he reads:

Hollywood Star Vacations in Crescent City

Hot off of filming four features back to back, Hollywood star Lon Chaney is in town for some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

Chaney and his wife, fellow actress Hazel Hastings, are staying at the one of the intimate European suites at the Lafayette Hotel.

The Chaney's have been spotted at several local hot spots, including black tie dinners at Antoine's and dancing at the Magic Noire night club. Below is a picture of Lon dancing with last year's queen of Mardis Gras, Miss Anne Veleroux.

Chaney also took time to speak with some fans. When asked about his predilection for playing grotesque but sympathetic characters, Chaney quoted his recent Movie magazine interview saying, "I wanted to remind people that the lowest types of humanity may have within them the capacity for supreme self-sacrifice."

Chaney's latest film, Tower of Lies, opens in two weeks and is expected to be another big success following his previous hit, The Phantom of the Opera.
The business section also has some interesting news:

Pentex Chemicals Expands Oil Operations

Around two dozen spectators, including Mayor Behrman, were in attendance today as Pentex Chemicals began drilling operations with its latest oil rig out in the Segnette bayou area.

Pentex executive Robert Jenkins gave a short speech, saying, "As we begin our latest oil operation, we continue to take Crescent City into the future. The days of polluted air from coal plants are over – giving us a bright, clean future of oil."

Mayor Behrman also gave a few words, stating his support for local industry and modernization of the city, highlighting the increased use of motor cars and how oil will help fuel them as well as Superintendent Healy's proposed fleet of armored motorcycles.

Nibbons recalls Pentex Chemicals was the company buying out old man Oldham's pesticide company. Le Doux wonders how he can get ahold of one of the armored motorcycles.

Finally, Le Doux chuckles at a story in the crime section on winning the war on alcohol:

Jackson Claims Success in War on Booze

District Commissioner of the Prohibition Unit active in Crescent City, Orenthal Darius Jackson (commonly known as "O.D."), gave another statement yesterday at Lafayette Square, touting the success of increased patrols by the U.S. Coast Guard in preventing alcohol and illicit narcotics from being imported through the Crescent City docks.

With the city cut off from its larger outside suppliers, Jackson said the next step is to crack down on local producers of moonshine and beer. According to Jackson, "Our cause is just and progress is being made. I ask for the good citizens of Crescent City to hold out just a little longer and by next year, we should be well on our way to getting this city dry again and restoring it as a place for honest and decent people to live!"

As with past speeches, this drew a large number of boos from the crowd. Local grocer Tomas Rousse was charged with attempted assault for handing out rotten vegetables to members in the crowd to throw at Jackson.

*** Session 08 - Scene 2 (of 12) ***

Just as Le Doux and Nibbons finish reviewing the paper, a middle-aged couple shows up. After talking with Madge for a moment, the secretary comes over to tell him the couple wants to speak to him; she believes it could be a case to get them some money.

Le Doux has Madge show the couple into his office so he and Nibbons can speak to them. They give their names as Donald and Elaine Martin. They appear to be relatively well off but not from the area; their accents give them away as northerners. The man appears to be a very straight-laced, businessman type.

When Le Doux asks how he can help, the husband does all the talking. He says it is about his son, Donald Junior, or "Donny". According to the man, Donny was a student at Tulane. The family is concerned because they haven't heard from him in a couple of months.

Donald says they talked to the Dean of Students, but Donny apparently filed for a leave of absence in the middle of the semester and left school. Since they haven't heard from him, they have no idea where he's gone.

Le Doux is surprised they took this long to notice. But Donald explains they thought their son was busy with school, and only heard from him by letter once a month anyway. Donald goes on to say they filed a missing person's case with the police, but since Donny is technically an adult and filed the leave of absence, they aren't looking too hard for him.

Getting some more background information, Le Doux finds out the Martins are from Akron, Ohio (with Donald an accountant working at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company) and that Donny chose Tulane because of a scholarship and the school's high reputation. He also gets a somewhat recent photo of the boy and the names of a couple of his friends – "Ken" and "William"; Donald admits he doesn't know the boys' last names.

Le Doux also digs in to Donny's religious beliefs, secretly suspecting an occult connection. Mr. Martin describes the family as devout Midwesterners; specifically, they are Presbyterian. Le Doux asks specifically about any connections to cults, but Donald insists his son would not have anything to do with anything like that, nor has he heard about such things going on at Tulane. Le Doux says many strange things are going on in the area, but Donald suggests nothing so out of the ordinary occurs in Akron.

Donald hopes Le Doux will be able to find his son, explaining he spoke to some local councilmen about finding the boy and was referred to the investigator by Congressman O'Conner's office (which somewhat surprises Le Doux, though he admits to have done some work for O'Conner in the past). Le Doux feels he will be able to track the boy down, quoting the Martins a rate of fifty dollars a day plus expenses. Mr. Martin gives his number at a nearby hotel so Le Doux can update him on the case.

*** Session 08 - Scene 3 (of 12) ***

After Madge shows the couple out, Le Doux asks Nibbons what he thinks about the case. Le Doux is naturally suspicious of the whole affair. Nibbons rattles off the possibilities – Donny could have gotten into some trouble with the wrong crowd, could have been having trouble with school, possibly developed a drinking problem with campus parties, etc.

Nibbons says regardless of what happened, at least it will bring in some money. Le Doux is pleased about the money, but still says the hairs on the back of his neck are up and insists there is something strange about this case. Le Doux decides the first thing to do is have Nibbons check with the local police precincts and hospitals.

While Nibbons is on the phone, Hawk and his sister, Foxy, show up at the office. Le Doux greets Hawk and has another cup of coffee. He knows better than to ask what Hawk has been up to.

Back in the office, Nibbons quickly gets through his calls. None of the hospitals have any John Does with that description and the only thing the police have on the boy is the missing person's report.

His next call is over to the college, where he speaks with Dean of Students, Jay Davidson. Dean Davidson has little information beyond what he already told the Martins about Donny's leave of absence. Nibbons asks about Donny's academic performance or other problems at school. The dean explains Donny was doing well in his classes and had no disciplinary reports from his dorm.

Dean Davidson goes on to explain when he spoke to Donny about his leave of absence, the youth only said he needed "time to find himself." The dean says he's often heard that excuse over the years from students who take a leave of absence but never come back. He also says he did have Donny talk to the school alienist, Dr. George Wagner, before he left. Nibbons takes down the notes and thanks the dean for his time.

This time, Nibbons calls over to speak with the dorm mother at the dorm Donny was living at. She gives Nibbons the same basic information about when Donny left and knows nothing more about why he left. Nibbons asks if a girl might have been involved, but the dorm mother insists she never heard about anything so scandalous and quotes Nibbons the rules about no women being allowed in the dorms except in the common room with an adult chaperone present unless they are family.

Nibbons then asks about Donny's friends or roommates in the dorm. She gives the name of his roommate as Kenneth Worthington III and a couple of friends as William Beebe and Alvin Barrilleaux. Nibbons isn't familiar with Beebe, but recognizes Worthington as the son of powerful investment banker Rodney Worthington and Alvin Barrilleaux as the son of Deacon Ernest Barrilleaux, Deacon of the Eucharist at the St. Louis Cathedral. Nibbons then calls the three boys and sets up separate meetings with each of them for later in the afternoon when they are out of class.

After Nibbons relates all the information back to Le Doux and Hawk, Le Doux has the two talk amongst themselves while he heads back into his office to call Eberhardt.

*** Session 08 - Scene 4 (of 12) ***

Detective Eberhardt is having another lousy day at the precinct. With all of his cases still open, the homicide commander, Lt. Al Giaradello, is putting pressure on him to close at least one of them by the end of the week because McElroy and Le Fleur are busy on the "Axeman?" killing.

Eberhardt knows the possible Axeman killing is going to be a hot item. He's heard McElroy complaining that their only lead so far is a witness saying he saw a "hairy handed gentleman" in the area shortly before the body was found.

Just then, his day gets even better by the phone ringing and it being another call from Le Doux. He asks what Le Doux wants now.

Le Doux tells him there is someone down at the office he may want to talk to, calling him a "flightless bird" and saying Hawk finally surfaced. Eberhardt mentions the pressure he has to close his cases. Sardonically, Eberhardt notes fortunately for him he is a master detective and has already solved them all. He continues his mocking by telling Le Doux that unfortunately, Le Doux and his friends are the perpetrators in every one of the cases.

Used to the German's acerbic wit, Le Doux largely ignores the commentary and reiterates he thought Eberhardt would want to come down and talk with Hawk since he is specifically identified in at least one of the crimes. Eberhardt agrees he'll come down.

By the time Eberhardt arrives, everyone in the office is sitting around having an early lunch of fried chicken and beer. Eberhardt can't resist making a crack about the good company Le Doux is keeping.

Eberhardt tells Hawk they have a problem with several incidents the police are investigating. He starts by explaining about the missing doctor and security guard at the morgue, and the witness sketch of the unidentified Black man seen there who is believed to have stolen the doctor's car. He goes on to update Hawk on the other cases around Patricia Walker and Jean Batraville.

Le Doux expresses his confidence Eberhardt's "master detective skills" can keep them out of prison. Eberhardt suggests he may need to sacrifice Hawk, which Hawk is not at all pleased with. Hawk promises to take them all down with him, promising he can have witnesses placing him in a club. Eberhardt suggests perhaps they could place him in the Eclipse Club during the shooting of Tab Virgil, Jr.

The two continue back and forth for a bit. Hawk makes a comments about he can find fifty guys that look just like him in the line-up, giving Le Doux an idea on how they can pin the morgue crime on another man. Hawk likes the idea and wants to use someone already dead to keep things simple. After a moment, he realizes the easiest would be to use Young Turk as their patsy.

Eberhardt isn't so sure, but does know the club shooting can be easily ignored. He and Hawk discuss some more, thinking they might be able to pin more than one of the cases on Virgil. He does insist they get some kind of real evidence.

Hawk tells Eberhardt that's his problem, but Eberhardt points out the best evidence he has so far is the sketch hanging up in the police station that looks just like Hawk. Hawk gets Eberhardt to reveal the sketch was given by Ted Johnson, the janitor at the morgue. Hawk believes the man can be persuaded to give a "revised sketch."

Le Doux asks Hawk if he can find Johnson. Hawk is fairly confident he can. Le Doux suggests taking care of the problem as Hawk is useless to him if he's on the run from the law, but Eberhardt notes they don't want to kill the man as that would just cause more problems.

Hawk clarifies he will just talk to the man, but warns Le Doux against threatening him. Le Doux argues with Hawk for a bit about which of them committed what kind of crimes.

Eberhardt leaves it to Hawk to clear his own name; the detective wants to focus on digging more into The Committee so he can clear his own name in the Walker murder before he and Le Doux are identified by the witnesses.

Hawk tells Eberhardt he'll need a picture of Virgil. Le Doux suggests they need to make the original sketch disappear, but Eberhardt is concerned that might be easiest to do after he gets the "new" sketch.

Le Doux suggests Hawk may have some contacts who can draw to avoid using the police sketch artist. Hawk recalls a couple of guys down at the bar trying to get his sister to "model" for their drawings, but isn't so sure he wants to use them. Eberhardt jokes that someone at the Blue Acadian might be able to do it as well.

Hawk's plan is to take the photo to Ted and get him to revise his statement. Le Doux thinks that plan is likely to backfire but after several minutes of arguing against it, eventually relents. Hawk does improve his plan a bit, using a backstory that Ted was afraid to give the real ID since Virgil was a gangster. Eberhardt likes the plan because it doesn't involve him at all.

*** Session 08 - Scene 5 (of 12) ***

Hawk heads off to find Ted Johnson. Since he's the night janitor at the morgue, he wants to catch him before he goes to work.

Meanwhile, Le Doux talks to the others on what to do next. Nibbons reminds him he already set up appointments with the boys at Tulane so he'll be busy with that. Le Doux believes the other thing they need to take care of is clearing themselves in the Walker investigation.

Eberhardt notes that Walker was presumably killed for getting too close to The Committee. He believes they should continue that investigation with the leads they already have – Dolly's Theatre (where the meeting was presumably held), the Tatterdemalion Garment Company (where the car was registered to), and the three names on the piece of paper found hidden inside her apartment (Grimes, Paffenroth, and Roland).

After a long period of contemplation, Le Doux decides he and Nibbons should go to the college to talk to Donny's friends while Eberhardt tries to run down the leads on The Committee by looking at the Crescent Parish Courthouse and Crescent City Chamber of Commerce.

When they arrive, they first speak to Kenneth Worthington, Donny's former roommate, in one of the private study rooms of the dorm. Though a youth, Kenneth has the attitude of "old money" and speaks down to the detectives in a haughty attitude when he greets him.

Nibbons does the talking, saying they want to ask a few questions. He starts by confirming Donny left when he did. Kenneth refers to Donny as a "good-enough chap, at least for a scholarship student."

Chester tries to dig into the reasons for Donny leaving, but Kenneth isn't sure. He says Donny didn't spend as much time around the dorms lately. Nibbons asks if Martin was spending time with his girlfriend. Kenneth assumes he must be talking about "that townie girl" and says he supposes that's what Donny was up to.

Nibbons digs more into the girl angle – asking what he knows about her. Kenneth says the girl was low class looking but doesn't know much about her specifically.

Le Doux asks for a description. Kenneth says the girl was brown-haired and looked to be a "Bohemian type." Nibbons confirms she wasn't a college student and Le Doux confirms he doesn't know the girl's name.

Nibbons asks about a picture of Donny. Kenneth says he has one of when they were on the rowing team. He wants to know what Chester wants the photo for but Nibbons gives a vague answer about looking for anything changing.

While Chester starts asking questions about Donny's possible interests outside of the rowing team, including any fraternity involvement, Le Doux starts rooting around in a nearby trashcan. Worthington says Donny preferred to go out into the city to do things.

Worthington goes on to say Donny met the girl at the cinema, or as he calls it "the theater that is not the thinking man's theatre." Nibbons continues to ask semi-relevant questions while Le Doux dumps the trash can out on the floor.

Clearly taken aback, Kenneth asks Nibbons what "his man" is doing. Not missing a beat, Nibbons says he is looking for different kinds of information, noting "we have our different ways." Kenneth suggests Nibbons be more careful who he employs as Le Doux is "befouling our institutional carpet."

Nibbons returns to the cinema, asking if Kenneth ever went with Donny. The callow youth scoffs at the idea, saying he avoids the cinema and is more of a Shakespeare and Marlowe man. He goes on to say he attended a grand production of Mozart's The Magic Flute the other night, calling it divine.

Chester changes the subject again to ask Kenneth what year he is in. Kenneth responds he is a senior, and discusses his plans to continue on to law school as his father has already assured him a place in a firm. Kenneth suggests within the next few years, he will quickly rise to a judgeship. Nibbons simply wishes him good luck.

Nibbons asks Le Doux if he has any questions. The investigator holds up a finger, saying nothing, then returns to rooting through the trash. Kenneth says he has other things to attend to, telling Nibbons if he needs anything further to give him a message.

*** Session 08 - Scene 6 (of 12) ***

William "Will" Beebe is a much more pleasant fellow, with a bit of street dialect suggesting he is new money from humbler beginnings.

Nibbons again explains their purpose. Beebe notes Donny started acting "real squirrely" a couple of months ago. He goes on to say it all started when Donny kept reading "that book" instead of the "more interesting" things he used to be into – like pulp magazines.

As Beebe comments again about him always reading the book, Le Doux's interest perks up. He asks which book Donny was reading. Beebe takes a moment to recall, saying it was the one about camping in the woods. Eventually he gives the title as Walden, which Le Doux recognizes as being the 1854 novel by Henry David Thoreau.

Will says he figures it was "that dame" who got him into it. Nibbons asks who the girl was as Beebe describes her as "kind of trashy" and suggests she was part Cajun. Le Doux tries to ignore the slight and asks if he knows the girl's name.

Beebe gives the name of Donny's girlfriend as "something funny", and tries to recall the exact name. He offers suggestions of "Jerba" or "Jorba." Le Doux mockingly suggests "Gerbil."

Le Doux starts asking about Beebe ever seeing any mud on Donny's shoes. Beebe says Donny preferred city places, like going to restaurants and night clubs.

Nibbons confirms the story about him meeting the girl at the cinema and treads over some of the same ground he did with Worthington. He also asks about academics but Beebe says he got a bit more "outdoorsy" towards the end.

Le Doux wonders if Donny spent time in the bayou. Beebe isn't sure. Le Doux tries asking him if he's spent any time in the bayou, but Beebe has no idea why he would or what Le Doux is trying to get at. Le Doux looks closely at Beebe's shoes.

Beebe complains to Nibbons about Le Doux staring at his shoes, but Chester simply says not to worry about it. Instead, he gets Beebe to confirm Donny did not say where he was going when he left. Le Doux confirms he took his copy of Walden with him.

Le Doux then asks Beebe about getting in to see Donny's room. Beebe helps them convince the dorm mother to let them in.

On the way up, Le Doux asks Beebe about the name of the cinema where Donny met the girl. He gives it as The Orpheum.

The room is empty on one side (where Donny used to be) and the other appears to have Worthington's things on it.

They search the room but find nothing. Le Doux looks through Worthington's stuff as well, finding his clothes to be quite nice. He decides he likes the pattern of a newer pair of Worthington's silk Argyle socks so he takes the pair.

*** Session 08 - Scene 7 (of 12) ***

Alvin Barrilleaux is the most subdued of the students, quiet and polite. Le Doux gives his name for once, though uses the alias "John Bunyan."

As with the others, Nibbons begins his usual explanation for why they are there. When he asks Alvin if he knows where Donny went, the youth says he believes Donny "succumbed to temptation" with the girl and ran off with her.

Unfortunately, Barrilleaux is no better at remembering the girl's name than the others. He knows it was something strange and suggests "Jeroah" or "Jebira" as options. He calls her strange.

Nibbons tries to dig in more to the girl, but Alvin knows little about her. He does recall she and Donny went out in the city to several different places. In a rather bizarre incident, he recalls her getting dragged out of a jazz club by three nuns. Otherwise, he names a couple of Donny's favorite haunts – drinks at the Bali Hai club or having dinner at Lee Ho Fook's Choy Suey House.

According to Alvin, other than spending more time outdoors Donny didn't act too strangely except he seemed clearer and more confident about whatever new path he was on. Alvin mentions when Donny left, he wished him well in his new endeavors though Donny didn't say what he was going to go do.

Le Doux asks more about the girl and how she was strange. Alvin says it was something about the way she carried herself and talked; he believed she was from the bayou. Le Doux is quite concerned at the mention of the bayou. He said she didn't seem too comfortable with crowds and things. Le Doux asks about mud on her shoes but Alvin didn't notice anything about that.

Just then, Le Doux grabs Alvin by the arm and starts asking him very intensely if he's noticed the patterns in the clouds. Alvin looks to Nibbons for help. Nibbons stays out of it so he tells Le Doux he has not. Le Doux very carefully instructs him to pay attention to the clouds. Nibbons, ignoring the whole strange matter completely, thanks Barrilleaux for his time and says they'll be in touch.

*** Session 08 - Scene 8 (of 12) ***

It doesn't take Hawk too long to track down Johnson's address. He decides to approach the house himself, leaving Foxy behind as a lookout.

Ted answers the door in a half-groggy state, Hawk's knocking clearly having woken him up. When he recognizes Hawk, he immediately starts to panic. Hawk tries to calm the man down, telling him he just needs to talk.

Johnson is clearly scared, noting he is just a janitor with six kids to feed. Hawk explains he just needs help on a problem, and notes it can be mutually beneficial to both of them.

Hawk begins by explaining bad things were going down at the morgue. Ted says he knows, as the police have been after him about it. Hawk goes on to explain the strange happenings there are related to voodoo, which Ted says he is familiar with through what his grandmother told him as a boy.

According to Johnson, his grandmother was a great believer in the power of voodoo, and even went to Miss Cleo every day before her recent death to help her play the numbers. He notes she never did win though.

Hawk bonds with the man explaining his aunt did the same. Changing the subject back to the morgue, he explains he is part of an investigation into evil voodoo activities going on there. Ted is horrified to think that the place he works is under a voodoo curse, saying he wants nothing to do with anything like that.

Ted rambles on about his deceased brother Fred, who crossed a "voodoo witch" once and was found dead, in the crawlspace under his house, wearing a clown suit. Hawk isn't sure what to think, but agrees that was a very bad situation. Ted notes his brother was scared of clowns, too.

Trying to stay on point, Hawk asks what Ted told the police. The janitor explains about the sketch. Hawk tells the man he understands he thought he was doing the right thing, but the white cops don't understand about the voodoo.

Ted gets focused on the voodoo again, asking if Hawk talked to Miss Cleo. He explains they did, along with others. Continuing on, Hawk says he understands the fear of the voodoo – noting he, himself, can't stand the idea of zombis and feels all the bodies should be burned so they can't come back. Ted says he thought he could hear one of the bodies at the morgue trying to talk to him once.

Hawk tries talking about the creature came out of the bodies, but Ted doesn't quite follow. He asks if it is like when the bodies pass gas after they die. Hawk says it is much worse, talking about the vent. Ted mentions he had to fix that vent.

The conversation ambles on slowly, with Hawk trying to convince the man to help him out so he can stop the voodoo, while Ted ponders the idea of zombi clowns coming after them. Hawk does agree clowns are disquieting, noting it's a strange "White people thing" and why there aren't many Black clowns. Ted agrees, saying that's why it was so strange they found his brother that way – it nearly turned Fred's wife white.

Hawk then gets the conversation back to getting Ted to finger the gang member. Ted is concerned about being in conflict with a gang, but Hawk assures him he has his back. As Hawk is trying to explain how Eberahardt will contact him to identify a man in the photo, Ted rambles on about wanting his own street name, suggesting he could be called "Eagle."

Hawk agrees to call the man Eagle and explains the plan to identify the photo as the guy at the morgue. He also gives Eagle a hundred dollars and suggests there could be more since "a lot of things may come down your morgue way" that they could use his help with. Eagle agrees, saying he's on it – as long as it doesn't involve any clowns.

Hawk brags about how he makes money on the side while working for Le Doux despite Le Doux always paying him terrible wages. He gives Ted a business card of Le Doux's. Since Ted can't read very well, Hawk explains the number and tells him just to call asking for "Doo Doo", figuring that is close enough to Le Doux's name. Eagle is happy at the prospect of making money, as he likes to play the numbers. Hawk notes he'd rather spend the money on alcohol.

Ted then bids Hawk goodbye, saying he needs to get back to sleep. Apparently, his youngest son William (who he's nicknamed "Buckwheat") has been keeping him up at night.

*** Session 08 - Scene 9 (of 12) ***

Le Doux and Nibbons make it back to the office before anyone else. Madge tells her cousin he has a visitor in his office and points out it's just for him. He has Nibbons wait behind.

When Le Doux enters, he finds Dr. Nathaniel Essex, from the asylum, sitting in one of the chairs. The man's slicked-back black hair and pale skin give Le Doux the creeps. He realizes he forgot about his follow-up visit.

Dr. Essex greets Le Doux in his quiet, cold voice. He asks how he's been doing. Le Doux does his best to greet the man while hiding the socks he stole from the dorm along with his notepad full of sketches of clouds he made on the drive back to the office.

Le Doux insists everything is going fine and there is nothing interesting going on with him. Dr. Essex asks some questions to see how he is adapting to normal life after his "incident." Le Doux continues to say everything is fine.

The doctor's eyes narrow as he explains he's been talking to Madge. According to Essex, she expressed some concerns about how he is doing. Le Doux tries to say she is a nervous girl who worries too much.

Essex doesn't seem to be fully convinced. He asks Le Doux if he's experienced anything out of the ordinary. Le Doux says everything is very ordinary. The doctor reminds him if he encounters any more hallucinations of monsters or illusions in the sky, he will need to inform him right away.

Le Doux tries to laugh off the suggestion then asks the doctor if he can help him back to his car. Essex then stops to ask one more question – specifically asking if he's seen any monsters in the bayou. At the mention of the bayou, Le Doux feels compelled to stare at the man's shoes though he attempts not to.

Dr. Essex asks if anything is wrong. Le Doux insists it is nothing; he says Essex should be getting back to the asylum as he's surely busy. Essex tells him he'll plan to stop by again in a couple of days, just to be sure.

Just before he leaves, he reminds Le Doux again to let him know if he experiences anything again, saying they can always give him more treatments.

*** Session 08 - Scene 10 (of 12) ***

Detective Eberhardt spends his afternoon looking up information at the courthouse and the chamber of commerce but doesn't make much headway. He finds no information on the names Roland or Grimes, but believes "Paffenroth" refers to Arnold Paffenroth, the owner of the Tatterdemalion Garment Company.

He heads back to Le Doux's office, where he finds Hawk and Nibbons waiting out with Madge. Hawk mumbles something about Foxy sleeping outside in the back of the car. After a moment, Le Doux emerges from his office and escorts out his alienist, Dr. Essex.

Le Doux then calls all of them into his office and they all exchange information. Hawk tells Eberhardt about Ted Johnson (warning them not to bring up the subject of clowns with the man), Eberhardt talks about what he found, and Nibbons relates the information about the students.

At one point, Le Doux picks an argument with Hawk when he mentions the "strange things" going on around them. Hawk insists that zombis count as strange while Le Doux insists he has no idea what he's talking about. Le Doux then goes to mumble in the corner. Eberhardt ignores Le Doux for the moment and coordinates the plan with Hawk.

When Eberhardt starts talking about Paffenroth, Le Doux seems to come out of his stupor again. He starts saying they need to get into the garment company building that night, insisting it happen after dark. Eberhardt isn't so sure that is a good idea.

The group then argues for a bit whether it makes more sense to go investigate the bayou or the garment company first, or split up (and if so, who goes where).

Hawk doesn't quite understand what Le Doux is expecting to find at the garment company. Le Doux wonders if the socks he has were made there. Inspecting them, he finds they do not.

Getting no answer from Le Doux, he tries his luck with Eberhardt. The detective reminds him of the connection to Walker's murder, but Hawk is still skeptical any evidence will be inside the garment company itself.

Eberhardt believes the garment company building very well could be where the cult might meet. Hawk disagrees, saying they should tail the man for a few days first. Le Doux likes the idea of Hawk following Paffenroth as long as he does it that night. Eberhardt still wants to break in to check out the office.

Hawk agrees to do the tailing work if the others follow up on the Donny Martin leads – saying they should check at the theater, club, and chop suey restaurant. He also wants Eberhardt to check in on Ted Johnson to get him clear of the charges.

*** Session 08 - Scene 11 (of 12) ***

Eberhardt takes off to go back to the precinct and deal with Ted Johnson. Le Doux and Nibbons head out to follow the trail on Donny.

They begin by heading over to the Orpheum and speaking with the ticket girl, a blonde flapper named Doris. She recognizes Donny from the photo as one of the college guys who frequents the place, but says he hasn't been around in a couple of months.

Le Doux asks about Donny's girlfriend. Doris recalls seeing him with a girl a couple of times but didn't pay much attention to her. She isn't able to give much more information.

Next, they head over to Lee Ho Fook's. The gruff host, a man named Liu, sees them to a table and tells them the special today is the ginger scallion lobster.

Le Doux hangs the argyle socks out of his breast pocket like a handkerchief but the host doesn't pay it any attention and hands them their tea cups.

Nibbons asks the man about a friend of theirs stopping by recently, showing the picture of Donny. Liu stutters a bit as he says he has not seen the man. Nibbons is pretty sure the man is lying, and notices one of the waitresses in the back appears to look nervous.

Le Doux orders the chop suey while Nibbons takes the lobster special. When he walks away, Nibbons tells Le Doux the man is lying. Le Doux follows the man into the back.

Following Liu into the kitchen, Le Doux confronts him. Liu tells him he is not allowed in there, as they use an "ancient Chinese secret" to cook with. Le Doux wonders if it is the same ingredient used at the dry cleaners.

Le Doux shows Liu the gun in the shoulder holster under his jacket. He tells them they need to speak out in the alley and he wouldn't want any accidents. Liu curses at him in Chinese but leads him out the back door, saying Kei Wong will hear of this.

Once in the alley, Le Doux tells the man he knows he's lying and will tell him what he knows or Le Doux will kill him. Liu asks him if he gives him the information, will he leave. Le Doux suggests he will if the information pans out.

Liu explains the boy used to be a frequent customer then stopped coming for a while. Then, two nights ago, he came in again and ate a large bowl of beef chow mein.

Le Doux wants to know why he wouldn't just tell him that before. Liu says that Kei Wong does not like trouble – which includes Whites coming in and asking questions.

After a few more threats, Le Doux becomes convinced Liu has told him everything he knows. Liu insults him for taking so long to understand such a simple piece of information, then tells him he needs to leave before Kei Wong comes back and finds out about this.

Le Doux wants to know who Kei Wong is. Liu explains he is the owner of the restaurant. Le Doux, a little slow on the uptake, still doesn't understand what the big deal is. Liu tries to insinuate more, saying how Wong is out dealing with "social club business" but Le Doux still isn't catching what he's saying.

Instead, Boo shows him the socks and asks him if he understands about the patterns. Liu insults him a bit more then tells him to leave.

Le Doux tries talking about Kei Wong more, but Liu says only that Kei Wong will come looking for him if he wants him. Le Doux gives Hawk's name and address as a contact, finally getting the hint that the restaurant is controlled by the Tong.

Before he leaves, Le Doux tries to talk to the waitress who looked nervous earlier, misinterpreting her being nervous about trouble at the restaurant for having some kind of extra information. She tries telling him she doesn't know the boy but he continues to press her. Liu starts yelling at Le Doux to leave as he promised. After they leave, Le Doux tells Nibbons he should stake out the restaurant later that night and follow the waitress.

*** Session 08 - Scene 12 (of 12) ***

Their next stop is over at the Bali Hai juice bar. The bartender greets them and asks what they'll have. Le Doux slaps down the picture of Donny with five dollars and says they are there for information.

The bartender, Ed, recognizes Donny from the picture. According to Ed, he was a real regular for a while then dropped out of sight for a couple of months. He was, however, there the other night.

Le Doux asks if he was alone or with his girlfriend, prompting Ed for the name. Ed identifies her as "Jerboa", but says Donny was by himself when he came in. Apparently, Donny came by to try out Batt's new drink, the Coco Anana (a mix of pineapple juice and coconut milk).

Ed goes on to say Donny didn't look too good, like he hadn't been sleeping. He mentions Donny's hair, however, looked perfect as always and he was wearing some interesting clothes (noting he'd like to meet Donny's tailor).

Le Doux asks if Donny said anything about the bayou. Ed says Donny didn't talk much, just wanted to try the drink. Le Doux tries one of them himself; he finds it tasty, though notes to himself it would be better with rum.

Asking after Jerboa, Le Doux wonders if Ed knows where she lives. He says he never learned much about her, calling the girl a little strange. He does recall her wearing a strange necklace – something Indian-like, a necklace made out of porcupine quills dyed blue. But he doesn't know anything about any Indian tribes so he can't say for sure.

Nibbons confirms Jerboa only ever came in with Donny and that the two of them never hung out with anyone else. Le Doux also asks if Donny said where he was staying, but the bartender has no idea.

As Le Doux is thanking Ed and preparing to leave, a newsboy using a crutch comes in to deliver the afternoon edition of the paper. Le Doux notices the headline on the first page and immediately reads it:

Another Mutilation Death

A second victim of a mutilation-style murder has turned up, according to sources within the Crescent City Police Department.

The office of Police Superintendent Thomas Healy has not confirmed the latest attack through official channels, but high-placed sources indicate an ongoing investigation into a series of street attacks near Kent and Mayfair Streets has escalated into a killing.

The coroner's office was able to confirm one murder victim from that Central City neighborhood, a garbage man named Jim Wachtel. The official cause of death is listed as asphyxiation, but a hospital worker who saw the body described the attack as, "the lungs were ripped out."

Without more information it is impossible to say if this is related to the recent robbery-homicide of Marilyn Livingston or if it is related to the Axeman murders of 1919. One thing is certain – our editorial board is advising all citizens to be extremely cautious at night, particularly in the area of Central City.

*** Session 08 - Session Notes ***

My favorite part of this session was that it took the Le Doux player all the way until the mention of Lee Ho Fook's to notice I'd peppered things with references to Warren Zevon's song, Werewolves of London (one of his favorite songs). The other players, oddly, were not overly familiar with the song even after we explained it.

That took me quite a lot of planning to get just right, so I was really happy the way it played out. Do werewolves actually factor into this plot? Well, wait and see what happens next session but I will note that the song isn't the only reference - Dr. George Wagner is from The Howling, and Donny, Jerboa, the three nuns, and the previously named Harry Beckmeyer are all from The Howling III: The Marsupials.

I thought the session was a great mix of adding a new case, but still having several events going on related to past sessions. There's more to come next time, too. I have a feeling events will soon spiral out of control for the PCs, much like the last Cthulhubusters game.

Reading the notes back, the strangest thing about this session is how much was dominated by the Le Doux and Nibbons characters. We didn't really notice it during the session, but Hawk and Eberhardt really only took on a prominent role for a scene or two. And Foxy, well, as I mentioned before she doesn't really want to play so she always ends up lying on the floor on her phone or sleeping.

Other notes:

* The Axeman was a real serial killer from New Orleans. He himself may yet show up in the campaign (I have a half-baked idea forming around him and the witch school from the story used on American Horror Story: Coven). Is he really the killer in these killings? Wait and see.

* The Lon Chaney story is there for two jokes. One - it was the only conceivable way I could get that line from the song worked in. Two - the reference to Tower of Lies, a film that apparently bombed and was so unremarkable its hard to even find any information on it.

* Pentex still has a bigger role to play in the campaign. But that story is also there to mention the fleet of armored motorcycles (a real thing - talk about cool) and to crack the joke about how the new energy source always seems cleaner than the last one.

* The O.D. Jackson story is there to make the O.J. Simpson reference joke and as a reminder that prohibition is still a thing going on (since most of this campaign hasn't touched on it yet).

* During the game, I just said Martin was a businessman type from Akron. I had no idea what Akron was famous for (tires) until I looked it up later to flesh out the notes.

* I've been meaning to throw in a case referencing O'Conner again for a while but this was the first real opportunity.

* I wanted a missing college student case because I always love the idea of starting out with something fairly normal then slowly revealing the occult stuff going on behind the scenes.

* Le Doux immediately being suspicious about the case was the subject of many out of game jokes. The Hawk player particularly mocked the Nibbons and Le Doux players for not realizing it would be related to a girl as their first idea since it was so obvious (to him) that's the direction of the story.

I think I mentioned before - the Hawk player and I have both watched a lot of cop / mystery shows. The other players, not so much. So whenever I pull out common tropes, Hawk gets quite a lot of laughs mocking the others for not doing the obvious thing.

* I had the dean reference the "time to find myself" excuse because its a cliché excuse that has existed since kids started going to college and one still used today.

* Note the PCs never actually questioned Dr. Wagner, which I thought was funny.

* Nibbons being a very active participant in the session was a good change. Sadly, the man is not the best detective and ended up asking the same repetitive and irrelevant questions to almost everyone he talked to. The challenge for me was to not discourage him from talking with people, but make it clear he was already got whatever info on that subject he was going to get.

* Kenneth Worthington III is a take on the name from Angel in the X-Men. I wanted something snooty sounding.

* William Beebe is actually the son of a guy who is involved in organized crime. Hence, he was more "street" than the others. However, a couple of bad rolls resulted in the PCs missing that info.

* Lt. Al Giradello takes his name from Yaphet Kotto's character in Homicide: Life on the Street. Obviously the NPC in this game is a completely different character.

* Eberhardt's conversation with Le Doux was truly hilarious the way he delivered the lines about solving the crimes.

* It took them forever to decide on the particulars of the plan to get Ted Johnson to revise his statement. I thought they overlooked easier ways to handle it. The Le Doux player openly mocked the plan of Hawk himself talking to Johnson, nearly laughing himself unconscious.

* The Hawk player didn't really catch my joke at first about the guys wanting his sister to model for them until Eberhardt made his joke.

* Strictly speaking, we actually played out the Johnson / Hawk scene first, but in the writeup I thought it flowed better to do the Le Doux / Nibbons interrogations with the students first.

* Since they were interviewing them separately (which I wasn't expecting) I decided to give the boys very different personalities to make the scenes more interesting. Worthington is clearly a pretentious snob and was the most fun to play.

* At the time, I wasn't sure if the "Bohemian" reference was an anachronism or not, but I wasn't sure what else would have fit for the time. Looking it up later, I think it still works OK.

* The Hawk player mistook Worthington being a theatre snob for being gay. That's not what I was going for there.

* Beebe was the next most fun to play. I gave him a bit of a "Joisey" accent because even though it wasn't correct, it got the correct feel of the character across.

* Hawk, our less educated player, caused a bit of an awkward moment when he made it clear he had no idea what Walden was or who Henry David Thoreau was.

* Hawk also seemed very confused about the name of the theater, The Orpheum. I don't think he knows about either the history of the theater chain nor the connection to Orpheus.

* When Le Doux went looking for "something with a pattern" I had him find the argyle socks because I thought it would be funny since argyle was very much in fashion after WWI (though I'm not sure they came in silk).

* I made Alvin Barrileaux more subdued in personality to have some contrast with the others. And as the son of a deacon, I wanted him to be more pious.

* Despite the oddity of the three nuns story, the PCs never followed up on it (another thing the Hawk player mocked them for later).

* Ted Johnson's conversation is very scattered because he's intended to be a very superstitious man.

* The story about his brother Fred is taken mostly from the film Tales from the Quadead Zone, where the two characters (and the clown suit) are from. The story in the film makes even less sense.

* I had Ted insist on a cool street name since Hawk wants him to be an informant. I thought it would be funny to mock Hawk's name by having him insist on being "Eagle".

* Buckwheat is clearly a reference to the Little Rascals character. It is an anachronism but I claim dramatic license.

* Dr. Essex showing up was meant to unnerve Le Doux, which worked wonderfully. The creepy alienist has more of a part to play later.

* I agreed with Hawk - I have no idea what they thought they would find by breaking into the garment company at night. We made an aside joke about Le Doux needing to hire Angela Lansbury to help him out with his investigations.

* I'm not sure why Le Doux felt the need to be so aggressive at Lee Ho Fook's. That will certainly come back to haunt him. He really seemed to miss the obvious - no one there wants an investigation because they are tied into the Chinese mob. They don't actually have any more information on Donny.

* Notice my pina colada joke finally pays off when they visit the Bali Hai.

* Jerboa's necklace is meant to be a big clue. We'll see if the PCs follow up on it next time.

* The newsboy in the game was unremarkable. I added the reference to Crutchy from Newsies in the writeup to add more color.

* The late edition article is just there to finish out the song references.

*** Session 09 - 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.

Special Agent Millard Fox: A White agent of the Bureau of Investigation. He was sent to Crescent City to investigate a stolen car ring but spends most of his time looking into occult incidents.

Pamela "Foxy" Brown: Hawk's fourteen year-old half-sister who tends to get into trouble on the streets.

*** Session 09 - Scene 1 (of 10) ***

Detective Bruno Eberhardt is working at his desk when he gets a phone call from a nurse at Charity Hospital. She informs him the patient he dropped off, Agent Millard Fox, has awoken from his coma. He tells the nurse he will be down there right away.

While Eberhardt makes his way down, Fox gets used to being conscious again. The last thing he recalls before waking up in the hospital is a squid-like creature attacking him and crashing the car. He still remembers the witch doctor yelling out in pain, "Ooh! Eee! Ooh! Ahh! Ahh!" as he was being devoured by the monster.

In addition, Fox also remembers a strange dream he had while in the coma – he was somewhere else he couldn't identify in a large stone building. From his point of view, he must have been twenty feet tall. He recalls something about looking through a giant book but nothing more.

He briefly talks to the nurse emptying his colostomy bag before she goes to get one of the doctors to examine him. After the usual tests, he looks around his room for any evidence he's had any visitors. The only thing he finds is a bouquet of flowers from the red-headed secretary at the office he has his eye on – Diana Culley.

By this time, Eberhardt arrives. Fox discreetly asks him how everything went with the Haitian case. Eberhardt assures him they got it all wrapped up.

Fox starts getting dressed, not wanting to spend any more time at the hospital. The doctor reluctantly agrees to discharge him, noting he probably should spend another week there to recuperate. But Fox wants to get back on the job, and asks Eberhardt to drive him down to the Federal Building so he can check in with Special Agent in Charge Bartus.

*** Session 09 - Scene 2 (of 10) ***

Across town, Boudreaux Le Doux and Chester Lee Nibbons consult on where to go next in their investigation. Leaving aside what they learned about Jerboa and her necklace from the bartender, they decide to focus on following up on the nun angle.

Since the Roman Catholic Church is the only one in the area that has nuns who wear habits, they decide to start there. Le Doux knows they could either be from the convent at St. Roch or assigned to one of the local churches.

Ultimately, they decide to start looking at the churches nearest to the movie theater (both forgetting that it was a jazz club the nuns were sighted at and not the theater). When they arrive, Le Doux tells the priest he is looking for Jerboa. The priest has no idea what the man is talking about, but Le Doux says only she was associated with the nuns.

The priest then has them speak with Sister Margaret Ignatius, the mother superior of the parish. Le Doux explains to the nun he is working on a missing person case and that the young man's female friend was seen with a group of nuns. He gives Jerboa's name and description, but Sister Ignatius tells him she is not familiar with the name.

She asks Le Doux what brought him to her church. He explains about the theater, but she tells him the nuns would not be going to the theater or even going in to grab someone. Le Doux says he isn't sure about the particulars, believing she may be a novitiate. Sister Ignatius tells him he will need to speak with Father Pallas in the archdiocese records office at the St. Louis Cathedral to find out if any of the churches have someone named Jerboa as a nun.

Le Doux thanks the sister then he and Nibbons head over to the offices of the archdiocese at the cathedral. Eventually, they are greeted by Father Dominic Pallas. Le Doux again gives his story and asks if Pallas can help. Pallas is happy to assist, saying he doesn't get many visitors.

Father Pallas notes Jerboa is a very strange name. Le Doux says he believes her family is from out in the bayou. Pallas says they don't get many girls entering the church from the bayou, but checks over his records.

Unfortunately, Pallas is not able to locate anyone with that name being affiliated with the church. Le Doux then asks if he has heard of anything about someone named Donny Martin but that doesn't sound familiar to Pallas either.

Taking a chance, Le Doux explains about the nuns taking Jerboa away. Pallas finds the situation strange, but expresses his belief that the "nuns" could have just been women in Mardi Gras costumes, saying such things are easy enough to come by.

Le Doux goes to leave then stops suddenly. He asks Pallas if he's ever spent time in the bayou then examines his shoes for a while. He starts pestering the man with his cloud drawings until he turns to Nibbons and asks if everything is all right. Nibbons again simply states it is all part of their process, noting they have some cutting edge techniques. The priest doesn't quite buy the explanation and leaves, saying he has work to get back to.

Having exhausted their leads with the church, Le Doux now believes they were not real nuns. He believes, like the lizard man, it could just be people in costumes.

*** Session 09 - Scene 3 (of 10) ***

When Fox arrives at the Bureau of Investigation, he is shown into Bartus' office while Eberhardt stays behind in the lobby. The agent in charge is surprised to see Fox out of his coma.

Fox says he has quite a story for him, to which Bartus responds he was hoping to get a full report about what happened.

The agent starts to talk about how he was investigating the Haitian angle of the car theft ring. Fox goes on to explain how he uncovered one of the Haitians was a murderer.

Bartus has little patience for Fox's story, which starts to get very rambling as Fox mixes up elements of the story while he tries to recall what really happened and what he already told his boss. The whole thing makes little sense and Bartus eventually stops him, telling him to just write up a report on what happened. He doesn't seem terribly concerned about the murders or Jean Baptiste, as it is all a local matter.

After Bartus tells him to take a couple of days off and write up his report before he gets a new assignment, Fox heads back out to Eberhardt. The police detective asks how it went. Fox says they were both confused. Eberhardt dryly wonders how that could have happened.

The two then decide to head over to Le Doux's office to see how the Martin investigation is going, with Eberhardt hoping Le Doux can babysit the federal agent instead.

*** Session 09 - Scene 4 (of 10) ***

At Le Doux's office, Eberhardt and Fox find Le Doux has not returned yet, but Benjamin "Hawk" Brooks and his fourteen year old sister, Pamela "Foxy" Brown are still there. Hawk greets them in their usual style. Fox expresses his surprise to Hawk that he is still alive.

Hawk tells Fox he'll get to him in a minute. He then turns his attention to Eberhardt, asking if he's clear. The detective indicates he's resolved the Johnson matter.

With that out of the way, Hawk turns back to Fox. He starts interrogating him about his coma, wanting to make very sure Fox never lost his heartbeat, stopped breathing, or otherwise died while in the hospital.

Since Fox and Hawk mix like oil and water, the situation quickly spirals out of control. Fox starts making threatening glances towards his gun while Hawk continues to assail him with questions about whether or not he stopped breathing at all.

Fox draws his gun, but that doesn't stop Hawk's harangue. Fox tells Hawk it is his last warning, but Hawk is clearly not intimidated by the agent.

As they continue to yell at each other, Eberhardt decides it is a good time to leave to go get some coffee. Madge decides to come along.

Fox points the gun at Hawk. Hawk responds by throwing a punch, but Fox moves out of the way. He tries to counter by pistol whipping Hawk in the back of the head but Hawk avoids the blow.

Angry, Hawk storms out the front door. He heads over to the jalopy he uses for a car and grabs a bottle of gasoline from the trunk.

After a moment, Fox decides he needs to be more intimidating. He decides he wants to head over to a clothing store to get himself a black trench coat. He is met in the doorway by Hawk, holding the jar of gasoline in his hand.

Hawk asks him one more time if he died. Fox gives a resounding no then pushes Hawk aside and leaves. Hawk decides to accept his answer and puts the jar back in the car.

When Eberhardt gets back, he notices Fox has left. He asks Hawk what happened, wondering if the man killed him. Hawk says he left, but says the man is not right in the head. He further says something about Fox needing to stay away from his sister, which confuses Foxy as much as it does Eberhardt.

Eberhardt then asks after Le Doux and Nibbons. Hawk says they haven't been back yet. Eberhardt notes the day has been lasting forever, feeling like it's been two weeks of activity already. He then confirms Hawk is planning to tail Paffenroth tonight.

*** Session 09 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

Meanwhile, Le Doux and Nibbons scour the city looking for a constume store that might have sold three nun outfits. But being the city of Mardi Gras, they quickly discover it is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Out of luck, they head back to the office where they find Hawk, Foxy, Eberhardt, Madge, and a recently returned Fox wearing a new black trench coat. Le Doux greets Fox, who says he's tired and needs to rest on the couch.

After exchanging some banter, Le Doux tells Hawk to head out and get into position to tail Paffenroth. Eberhardt decides to mess with Le Doux by pointing out the "clouds" in his coffee from the cream.

Le Doux stares intently, nearly wetting himself. Eberhardt says he was just joking and asks Nibbons what Le Doux is doing. A long drip of drool falls from Le Doux's mouth into the coffee. Eberhardt hands it to him so he can sketch it out.

While Hawk and Foxy head out to the Tatterdemalion Garment Company and Fox sleeps, Eberhardt and Nibbons wait for Le Doux to complete his sketches to find out what he wants to do next.

Things take another turn when a man walks through the door, saying he is there to see a "Mr. Le Doux". Le Doux asks how he can help. The man says he has a message from Mr. Jenks, saying he wants a meeting tonight regarding the missing asset he was searching for.

Le Doux barely recalls he made the deal with Jenks to find Taubert's missing money. Internally, he notes he never did follow up with the man after discovering the Haitians didn't have it. Outwardly, he calmly tells the man to come with him into his office.

Once inside, Le Doux shuts the door and says he'll need more details. The man says Jenks wants the money and Le Doux's time is running out so Jenks wants to see him. Thinking fast, Le Doux says the money is in his wall safe behind the picture of the Robert E. Lee Steamboat on his wall.

Le Doux tries to lure the man over to the safe so he can get behind him, but the man is wary. When Le Doux tries insisting, the man draws his gun from inside his jacket.

Moving quickly, Le Doux moves in to try and kick the man in the groin. The man is faster, shooting Le Doux in the gut. The Cajun falls to the ground in a pool of blood.

The sound of the shot is enough to wake Agent Fox up. He quickly draws his gun and heads over to Le Doux's office along with Eberhardt, just as the door opens. Eberhardt dives out of the way to avoid the man's gunshot.

Fox and the man then exchange gunfire for a minute as Madge gets behind her desk and Nibbons stares off blankly into space in the corner. Fox gets hit with one of the shots and goes down. The man starts running out of the building.

Eberhardt decides against trying to stop the man. Instead, he tries yelling after the man that he is willing to meet with Jenks but the man doesn't listen.

Madge calls for an ambulance while Eberhardt tries to stop Le Doux from bleeding out. As he tries to stop the flow of blood, he tries telling Le Doux he's seen worse in the trenches. But he doesn't have much luck, verbally blaming the "differences of American anatomy."

When all hope appears to be lost, Nibbons blankly walks over, as if in a trance, and pushes Eberhardt aside as he is complaining about being unable to dig the bullet out with the letter opener. Nibbons quickly stops the wound.

Once he's done, Nibbons makes strange faces for a moment as if trying to figure out how to speak. Eventually he gets out a very stilted, "Designation...Le Doux...should...survive..." Eberhardt tells Madge they will need an ambulance for Nibbons as well, as he appears to be going into shock.

Nibbons then gets up and moves over to Le Doux's filing cabinet. He appears to start looking through Le Doux's various files and papers. Eberhardt tries asking what he is doing, but Nibbons does not respond.

*** Session 09 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

A couple of minutes later, the ambulance arrives. The medics aren't sure Le Doux will make it, mentioning even if he survives he might suffer some brain damage.

After it leaves, Madge gets on the phone to find an all-night cleaning service. Nibbons appears to have finished looking for whatever he was looking for and starts wandering out the door without saying a word.

Eberhardt decides not to stop the man, figuring the more prudent course of action is to get in touch with Big Daddy before they are all murdered. Using his criminal contacts, he does indeed attract the attention of the Cajun crime lord, but in a way that ends up with him grabbed and tied up with a bag over his head.

After being driven to an undisclosed location in the trunk of a car, he is walked up some stairs and placed in a chair. When the bag is removed from his head, he finds himself in some kind of office – face to face with an obese Cajun man wearing a white suit with a white hat sitting behind the desk in front of him.

Big Daddy greets Eberhardt with his flamboyant style. He tells Eberhardt he has caused big trouble for him. Eberhardt says this is not the meeting he was asking for. Big Daddy tells Eberhardt he is lucky he is getting a meeting at all.

The crime boss wants to know why Eberhardt's companions attacked his men. He seems particularly upset about Le Doux, a fellow Cajun, crossing him. Eberhardt tries to explain he doesn't know exactly what happened, but that Le Doux has been having problems lately.

Big Daddy tells Eberhardt he is rather suspicious, as Le Doux's group seems to keep showing up involved with "rival business interests." The man names them off – their activities at the Martanga mob's Blue Acadian Bookstore, the work they did for Medvig (who has connections to the Patterson mob), their work done at Djauto's Garage (owned by the Haitian Zobop), and their visits to Lee's Laundry and Lee Ho Fook's (both controlled by the Tsung Tong). He wants to know if they are trying to play everyone against each other and asks if they are making a move on Big Daddy.

Eberhardt calls himself a soldier of fortune, going where the opportunities take him. Big Daddy thinks for a moment and says he may have an opportunity for him. He gives the detective two opportunities – one to work for him, or the other to be an ingredient in his gumbo. When Eberhardt asks, Big Daddy clarifies it is a food dish.

Not wanting to be cooked in a stew, Eberhardt says he'll be happy to help find Taubert's money, negotiating for that to make them even. Big Daddy tells him he'll consider it the first step in affirming their friendship.

Eberhardt gets the implication, but grits his teeth and says only that he likes friends. Big Daddy asks if the Haitians do indeed have his money. Eberhardt reluctantly lies and says they do but are hiding it well.

Behind him, Eberhardt hears another voice ask, "How do we know we can trust him, Pop?" Eberhardt does not recognize the voice, but assumes it is one of Big Daddy's sons. Big Daddy confirms it soon, calling him his son Dante.

Big Daddy tells Eberhardt he has an idea on how Eberhardt can prove himself useful now, to give him a little more time to find the money. He goes on to explain how he's having some problems with the City Planning Commission.

Explaining the situation, Big Daddy talks about how the Greek gangster, Manolis Apostolou, is in control of the commission through his son, Hector. He wants Eberhardt to send a message through Apostolou's nephew, Harry, through an accident at his business, the Golden Mace Garage.

Eberhardt agrees it is a good plan. Big Daddy tells him to take care of it tonight, and they can meet again tomorrow as good friends.

Dante unties Eberhardt and leads him down the back stairs of the restaurant. As he lets Eberhardt out the back door, he tells him not to screw up.

Eberhardt finds himself in a back alley in the French Quarter. Apparently he has just exited the fancy restaurant, Broussard's.

*** Session 09 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

Over in the Central Business District, Hawk and Foxy are staking out the Tatterdamelion Garment Company using a pair of binoculars Hawk borrowed from Le Doux's office.

At quitting time, everyone starts to leave. Hawk spots the fancy car pull around to pick up Paffenroth. They try to follow him, but Hawk loses the car in traffic. Deciding not to try and race his car through rush hour traffic, he heads back to Le Doux's office.

Meanwhile, over at Charity Hospital, Fox is recovering from the shot that grazed him. Luckily he isn't injured too much though Fox is rather upset that his new trench coat is ruined. The doctors try to hold him at the hospital, but he insists on being released again. He also tries, unsuccessfully, to have them release Le Doux's personal effects to him.

Fox then calls over to Eberhardt at the police precinct. He tells the detective he needs picked up at the hospital. Eberhardt tells him he will be over in a little bit but needs to make a call first.

Eberhardt then calls over to Le Doux's office and asks if Hawk is there. As it happens, Hawk just showed back up so she gives him the phone.

When Hawk gets on the phone, Eberhardt tries to explain they have a couple of issues. Hawk, being his usual dramatic self, immediately launches into a tirade about the office shooting. Eberhardt eventually explains Le Doux ran his mouth too much and got himself shot.

Eberhardt explains their first problem is the Cajun gang wanting to murder them all, but he's planning to take care of that. He says the second problem is Agent Fox, who needs picked up at the hospital.

Hawk doesn't want to pick up Fox, but Eberhardt says it is either that or having to go kill Harry Apostolou. Hawk agrees picking up Fox is the safer option, though decides he'll just skip that once he's off the phone. Instead, he warns Madge to leave the office as it is not safe.

Once Madge is gone, Hawk and Foxy search the place for any money or other valuables they can steal. He spots the safe behind Le Doux's desk, but neither he nor Foxy can crack it. In fact, Foxy manages to damage it enough that it won't open easily anymore.

Hawk looks around, but can't find anything except Madge's stock of petty cash. He decides not to bother with that and doesn't want to steal anything to pawn in case Le Doux catches on.

Eventually, after debating trying to involve himself with the Big Daddy situation, Hawk decides he may as well go to the hospital. He doesn't trust Eberhardt or Fox, but he has some loyalty to Le Doux so he wants to check on him.

*** Session 09 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

Back over at the hospital, Fox is wondering if Eberhardt will actually come get him. While he is waiting in the lobby, he spots Nibbons entering the building. He calls after the man, but Nibbons ignores him and proceeds towards Le Doux's room in the intensive care unit.

Fox follows Nibbons into Le Doux's room. Nibbons takes out a strange apparatus from under his jacket – some sort of machine made from makeshift parts. He places it up next to Le Doux's head and starts operating it.

Terrified of what might be happening, Fox calls out for help. He then tries to get the object out of Nibbons' hand, but Nibbons effortlessly shoves him away.

Nibbons appears to finish whatever he is doing moments later. He steps back then comes out of his stupor, looking around confusedly. He asks what is going on, the last thing he remembers is being in Le Doux's office when a shot rang out.

When Nibbons asks what is going on, Fox says he was using the machine on Le Doux. Nibbons says he doesn't even know how he got there. A doctor and orderly rush into the room to check on Le Doux.

Around this time, Le Doux's eyes pop open. He doesn't feel great, but can tell he is still alive. He sees Nibbons and Fox arguing in the room, with a nearby doctor and orderly looking confused.

The doctor asks Agent Fox if Nibbons still needs to be removed. Fox says he should go just to be safe. As the orderly escorts Nibbons out, Fox takes custody of the strange machine.

Fox then asks Le Doux how he is feeling. Le Doux seems very confused, not recognizing his own name. He insists his name is Bunyon.

With Le Doux spouting gibberish, Fox tells the doctor Le Doux will need to be transferred to the asylum once he heals up. Fox then leaves.

Outside, Hawk is pulling up to the parking lot as Nibbons is walking out of the building. He asks Nibbons what is going on. Nibbons says he has no idea.

Hawk then tells Nibbons about the shooting and Eberhardt mentioning it was related to Big Daddy. Nibbons repeats how he went blank once he heard the shot then found himself standing over Le Doux with the strange machine.

Nervous, Hawk asks Nibbons if he died. Nibbons says he did not. Hawk looks over him carefully and decides to believe him.

Hawk asks what Nibbons is doing outside. He explains Fox wanted him to leave just as Fox walks out of the building.

Not wanting the agent involved, Hawk draws Nibbons away so they can talk privately. Fox follows so Hawk asks why he had Nibbons kicked out.

Fox explains about the device and how Le Doux appears to believe he is someone named Bunyon now. Hawk is more concerned about whether or not Le Doux ever died before the machine was used on him.

The two argue for a few minutes about what Nibbons did to Le Doux and whether or not Fox was justified in kicking him out. Hawk then decides to go in to the hospital and check on Le Doux.

All three men head back into the hospital, where Le Doux has already been caught trying to escape out a window. The orderlies strap him down to a bed for his own safety as the three walk into the room.

Fox demands to know what is going on. The doctor explains about what happened and they believe he is correct; they will call over to Dr. Essex to have Le Doux committed.

Hawk tries to pretend he is a police detective, but no one buys a Black detective. The doctor simply says, "I don't think so, Leroy."

With Le Doux a hopeless case, Fox wants to go visit Eberhardt at the police precinct. Hawk, however, wants nothing to do with the agent believing he will get them all killed. He decides to go find Eberhardt at the Golden Mace Garage instead.

When they can't find him at the precinct, Fox decides he and Nibbons should continue talking to costume stores.

*** Session 09 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

Back at the precinct, Eberhardt plans out what he is going to do at the Golden Mace Garage. He decides he needs some kind of disguise.

He briefly considers using his old police uniform, but since that could still identify him he heads into the evidence locker to look for something he can use. He finds a few Mardi Gras costumes he can borrow – spotting a cowboy outfit, a soldier uniform, an Indian chief costume, or the clothes of a construction worker. He decides the construction worker disguise will be the least conspicuous.

Before leaving the precinct, Eberhardt tries to get a car out of impound to use. Unfortunately, the clerk won't release anything to him without a signed order from his sergeant.

Heading back home, Eberhardt changes into the construction worker outfit and takes a streetcar over to the Greektown neighborhood of the Lower Garden District where the Golden Mace Garage is located, hoping he can pass for a Greek construction worker.

By the time Eberhardt gets there, Hawk and Foxy have already arrived in the neighborhood and are staking out the street corners near the garage. Despite his disguise, Hawk spots Eberhardt and heads over to talk to him.

Eberhardt spots Hawk and waits for the man to approach him. Hawk asks him what the plan is. Eberhardt admits he doesn't have much of one as his original plan involved bringing a car in to the garage.

Hawk gets clarification on what they need to do. Eberhardt explains they need to rough up Apostolou, briefly mentioning the connection to the planning commission. Hawk clarifies they don't really need to kill him, but need to make sure the message is received or else Big Daddy will kill them.

Once again, Hawk decides trying to get some cheap muscle would be easier than doing the work themselves. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any luck and returns a couple of hours later empty handed.

Luckily, the light in Apostolou's office is still on so he must be working late. Eberhardt decides they will need to do it themselves. Hawk gets some face masks for them out of his car and they head in, leaving Foxy to stay as lookout.

Picking the lock at the door, Hawk lets them in to the downstairs garage area. Eberhardt tells him to wait behind while he heads up the stairs. Hawk doesn't completely listen, following behind at a distance.

When he gets to the top, Eberhardt realizes Harry isn't alone. From the office, he can hear that Harry is "entertaining" his secretary.

Eberhardt busts in the door, his gun drawn. Caught with his pants down (as it were), Harry is clearly angry. Eberhardt uses a bad American accent to disguise his voice and explains to Apostolou that he'll need to do him a favor to avoid Harry's wife finding out about his affair.

Harry goes for a baseball bat behind his desk but Eberhardt gets the drop on him with his gun. He talks the man down, though he's clearly still angry. Harry grumbles out, "What do you want, macho man?"

Still using his bad accent, Eberhardt explains about the planning commission vote and the need to have Hector change his mind. Despite a tense exchange, Harry ultimately agrees to the deal though his eyes make it clear he wants to kill Eberhardt. He tells him to leave and never come back and he'll get the vote changed.

Hawk is nearly at the room when Eberhardt comes back out. He tells him the message has been delivered and they decide to leave. As they head downstairs, Eberhardt notices Foxy loading some of the high-end tools in the garage into the back of Hawk's car.

*** Session 09 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

As they drive off, Hawk catches Eberhardt out about what happened in the hospital. On their way back to Eberhardt's house, they spot Nibbons and Fox coming out of a costume shop.

Hawk decides to pull over and talk to Nibbons. He asks him if they found anything, saying he thought Le Doux already exhausted that lead. Nibbons agrees they haven't managed to find anything so far.

Asked if he wants to come back with them instead of staying with Fox, Nibbons declines saying he'll stay with Fox.

Nibbons and Fox head back to Le Doux's office while Hawk and Eberhardt head off to the hospital. They head into the service entrance and find the laundry room where Hawk dresses up like a janitor and a doctor's outfit for Eberhardt. He also gives the doctor's ID he took from the morgue to Eberhardt so he can pose as a physician.

Hawk heads into the hallway and starts mopping the floor, keeping a lookout. He signals over to Eberhardt when the coast is clear.

Eberhardt goes in to free Le Doux. Le Doux asks Eberhardt why he is dressed up that way and the detective explains they are there to smuggle him out.

Using the medical credentials, Eberhardt convinces the charge nurse to release Le Doux to him as he claims to be there to take Le Doux back to the asylum. He then calls over to the janitor to help him take the patient out.

The three then make their way out of the hospital, with Le Doux asking if Hawk has seen Bunyon. Hawk says he's waiting out in the car. They make their escape and head back to Le Doux's office. By the time they get there, Fox and Nibbons have already returned.

*** Session 09 - Session Notes ***

Well, this session was a real train wreck - no other way to describe it. Things really went off the rails and the result is these notes which I'm assuming don't make a ton of sense to anyone who wasn't there.

I knew it was a bad omen when out of nowhere my internet connection was dead for some reason at the start of the session. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had trouble with my CenturyLink DSL service over the last decade - two times were not related to the DSL itself (one time the phone line was knocked out by a storm, the other time the modem died) and only one other time did I have any ISP disruptions of service. Still, it caused nearly an hour to be lost between messing around with Skype, rebooting the router a few times, gaining and losing connection, etc.

Now, I wouldn't say we had a bad time during the session. In fact, at one point everyone was laughing so hard we essentially stopped for five minutes to catch our breaths.

The danger, as I see it, is in the campaign becoming too goofy and falling apart like the Al-Qadim game did. I'll have to have a chat with the players ahead of next session to make sure that doesn't happen.

Here are the contributing factors as I see it:
1. The rest of the group relies far, far too much on the Le Doux player to lead them. So when he starts to flake out (since his character is down to about 20 SAN and has multiple disorders already), they really don't know what to do.

2. Trying to have Hawk (who isn't always cooperative of a player), Fox (who is a goofy, hyperactive teenage boy), and Nibbons (who is trying to play over a Skype connection) all play in the same game just doesn't work. We seem to do fine when there are up to two higher maintenance players; having three degenerates quickly into chaos.

3. The players are doing that thing where they decide to be antagonist towards each other instead of cooperative, which almost always leads to disaster.

I can help the players fix #3 by pointing it out. #1 is kind of on them (they already know they are aware of it). #2 is going to be the thorniest one since we have to either kick someone out or figure out how to make them be less high maintenance.

In any event, on to the miscellaneous session notes:
* I claim dramatic license for Fox (and later Le Doux) being able to get out of the hospital so quick. Yes, of course he should have been stuck there for much longer but how fun would that be.

* The joke about the witch doctor referencing the Chipmunks song was an off the cuff joke I made during the game when Eberhardt referred to Celine as the witch doctor.

* Readers of H.P. Lovecraft will know where I'm heading with both Fox's coma dream and Nibbons' strange altered state. More on that to come, but the basic idea is that because so many strange things are going on in the area someone has taken notice...

* The Diana Culley joke is a reference to the X-Files character, Dana Scully. The funniest part is that the Le Doux player (who is the big X-Files fan) missed the joke while the Eberhardt player (who like me finds the show somewhat overrated) caught it. It was even funnier because we were literally talking about the new X-Files series OOC a few minutes before that.

* It's not that the nun angle can't lead the PCs back to Jerboa, but there was a much more unique/less vague clue they totally ignored. Maybe next time.

* There was something of an OOC conversation about who else might have nuns. We ultimately decided there probably weren't a lot of Greek Orthodox nuns in the area (and we were pretty sure there isn't such a thing in the Southern Baptist or Apostolic churches of the south) so we stuck with just Catholic being in the area. Not sure how accurate that really is, though.

* Father Pallas, the head of the church records and archives, may well play into the story again later in a different plotline. I've had him planned out for a while.

* Fox's report to Bartus made no sense at all as the player was mixing up all kinds of pieces of the plot lines (and inventing entirely new ones). I decided to take pity on him since it had been a while since he's played.

* Yes, Hawk was totally going to set Fox on fire with the gasoline because he believed he might be a zombie.

* Eberhardt's joke about it feeling like two weeks is in reference to the last time we played. Whenever a single game day stretches across multiple sessions, the players have a hard time remembering what game day it is supposed to be.

* I have no idea when black trench coats became a thing. I assume one could purchase one in the 20's but if not, I didn't think it was worth arguing over.

* Le Doux's wall safe is behind a painting based on the steamboat from the song, "Waiting on the Robert E. Lee". We didn't actually name the painting in the session, but I thought it sounded appropriate for the write-up.

* I'd been meaning to bring back the Jenks / Taubert money plotline for a while now, but this was the first real opportunity.

* No one understood why Le Doux didn't just go to the meet with Jenks. That decision (combined with bad die rolls) nearly got everyone killed.

* Eberhardt did make the smart decision to try and stop the flow of blood with Big Daddy sooner rather than later.

* Big Daddy is based on The Simpsons character from the joke about the Chief Wiggam spin-off. His son, Dante, and last name of Broussard are taken from NCIS: New Orleans.

* I had Big Daddy point out all of their organized crime connections to ensure the players didn't forget. Also, they were probably less aware of all of them even at the time (such as Medvig's connection to Alonzo Patterson).

* The Apostolou family is taken from the American version of the TV miniseries, The Slap (granted, they weren't gangsters in the TV show).

* I find the PC's inept investigation into The Committee hilarious, since they know for a fact three names and two places involved but still can't seem to come up with a decent plan.

* Hawk trying to rob Le Doux, then going to see him in the hospital out of concern for his well-being, was especially hilarious because the Hawk player didn't really get the hypocrisy.

* Nibbons' magical machine fixed Le Doux's brain damage, though I'm not sure anyone quite caught that since it didn't fix his insanity.

* To be honest, everyone was too busy cracking jokes about Nibbons "sticking it in Le Doux" after one of the player's unfortunate phrasings about what happened.

* The doctor calling Hawk "Leroy" was going to be a play on the opening to Sir Mix-a-Lot's song, "One Time's Got No Case" (a song oddly as relevant now as it was in the 90s). If Hawk would have corrected him, he would have called him "Jerome" next like the cop in the song intro.

* The joke about Eberhardt's disguise options and The Village People was the highlight of the night as we carried on for five minutes making jokes about his various options.

* Harry Apostolou will most certainly be planning to track down Eberhardt and the others to kill them. This was not the easy success the players think it was. And since Hawk will be fencing those stolen tools from the shop...

* This session has a whole lot of convenient "characters bumping into each other". It's terribly unrealistic, but I kept trying to get them to get back together and work as a team in order to keep the campaign from ripping apart. As I said above, apparently I'll just have to flat-out explain it to them. Splitting up is all well and good, of course, it's just the working at cross purposes (especially as badly as they do it) that doesn't really work.

* Note that by the end of this session, the PCs are under the thumb of one gang (the Cajuns), have a shaky peace treaty with another (the Haitians), and have fairly hostile relations with two others (the Greeks and the Chinese). Assuming the PCs don't kill each other, this should get interesting...

*** Session 10 - Cast of Characters ***

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.

Pamela "Foxy" Brown: Hawk's fourteen year-old half-sister who tends to get into trouble on the streets.

*** Session 10 - Scene 1 (of 7) ***

The next two days pass somewhat uneventfully as Le Doux and Fox need time off to care for their injuries. Le Doux finds the time allows him to heal mentally as well, recovering some semblance of his former sanity despite his knowledge of the things he has seen that science cannot explain. His partner, Nibbons, has found the time less settling, as he has started to have dreams about being in a strange stone structure where he appears to be very tall from his perspective; but no more details can be recalled.

On the third day, he decides to return to work. While Eberhardt is out on duty with the police department, he and Nibbons start planning what to do next about the Donny Martin case (and finding Jerboa) along with some of their other open investigations – the missing Taubert money, the Apostolu favor, the death of Patricia Walker, finding out more about The Committee, Nibbons' strange behavior, the new Axeman(?) murders, and the mysterious break-in at the Louisiana State History museum, just to name a few. Of course, the Martin case is the only one that is a paying job.

Outside, Hawk and Foxy are making their way towards the office. Hawk, too, has been pondering the open cases they have – along with his personal interests around finding Clayton Bigsby, the KKK activity, and the Dorsey-Graham / Thornton Brothers gang war, among others. But for the past few days, he has spent his time loading up his arsenal of flammable materials and incendiary devices in his car to protect against any more zombi outbreaks.

Since they have ran into so much trouble lately, Hawk's intuition is up. He decides to look around the area before getting too close to the office, looking for anyone who doesn't belong. He quickly spots someone in a car across the street keeping tabs on the office. It appears to be a White, working-class looking type.

Hawk heads into the office and lets Le Doux know about the guy checking out his office. Le Doux peeks through the window and spots the man Hawk is talking about; he realizes it is the man who works for Jenks who shot him.

When Le Doux mentions the guy shot him, Hawk (not having been present for the shooting a couple of days ago) asks about the particulars, asking if Le Doux had something to do with the guy's wife. Le Doux tells Hawk he is a crude man, and explains the shooter is a criminal in the employ of Big Daddy.

Hawk wants to know what Le Doux wants to do about the guy. When Le Doux suggests they simply go outside and talk to the man, Hawk immediately argues against it saying Le Doux will get shot again and the guy will drive off. Instead, Hawk's plan is to create a distraction while Foxy uses an ice pick to take out his tire.

Le Doux, finding Hawk's reaction to be overly dramatic, blithely suggests he could just stick a banana in the car's tailpipe. Nibbons smirks at the reference, recalling how a two-bit conman named Foley unsuccessfully tried that trick on him and Le Doux months ago when they were working the Maitland case. Hawk, unfamiliar with the banana incident, thinks it sounds like a good idea but says he has no bananas today.

The two argue over the situation for a few minutes. Hawk is convinced the man will shoot Le Doux and drive off, so they need to disable his car. Le Doux believes the man is probably there for some business related to Big Daddy and damaging the man's car will likely increase the odds of them getting shot, not reduce them. Eventually, the two agree to just have Hawk use his car to box the man in so he can't get away quickly.

Hawk tries making it look like the car is having engine trouble and just stops when he gets it into position. His act isn't very convincing, but he gets out anyway and tries to pretend he is fixing the car while the man yells from his car for Hawk to move.

From the office, Le Doux and Nibbons watch to make sure Hawk isn't going to get shot right away. Once it looks like a shootout won't immediately happen, they head towards the door.

As they get over, the man is yelling at Hawk to push the car away from his, calling Hawk "boy". Le Doux tries to make it look like they are coming over to help Hawk push the car, but the man isn't fooled. He slips his hand inside his jacket, not grabbing a gun yet but Hawk can tell he is keeping his options open. In response, Hawk maneuvers his hand towards his own gun.

The man asks Le Doux if this is his stupid plan, asking what he is trying to pull. Le Doux plays dumb so the man tells him to just move the car.

Le Doux asks the man what he is doing there. He says he is there to keep an eye on things, suggesting Le Doux should have already figured it out. Le Doux said he wasn't sure, since the man shot him last time. The man responds about Le Doux trying to kick him first, but Le Doux counters it was hardly a proportional response. The man just laughs, saying Le Doux was clearly planning to hit him in the back of the head if he would have gone for the safe ploy.

The banter continues, with Le Doux saying he didn't like the guy's attitude. The man is confused, saying he was just there to get Le Doux to a meet with Jenks. Le Doux agrees he may be a little hot tempered, but at least he didn't shoot anyone.

The man grumbles about how isn't sure why Jenks bothers with them, but says he's there to keep an eye on things until Le Doux and his companions come up with the Taubert money. Le Doux says he understands "his boys" already did a job for Big Daddy. The man claims ignorance on what Le Doux is talking about, but says if something like that took place all it did was buy them another week of time to come up with the money.

Feeling he has made as much progress as he can in the conversation, Le Doux drops the matter and focuses on pushing the car. Hawk laughs off the attempt, saying that obviously the man knows what they were doing so he just gets back in the car and drives it off.

*** Session 10 - Scene 2 (of 7) ***

With Jenk's man still keeping an eye on them, the investigators head back into the office to discuss what to do next. They decide finding Taubert's money is going to have to take precedence over the Martin case.

Hawk wants a review of the Taubert case status, not remembering it very well since it was weeks ago. Le Doux has Nibbons get the case notes back out so they can get a fresh look at the particulars.

Summarizing the notes, Le Doux goes over how John Taubert was a bag man for Jenks (one of Big Daddy's lieutenants) who worked the Maple Leaf Room – a rundown old ragtime dance club that fronts an illegal gambling operation. The night Taubert was killed, he was supposed to be carrying a bag of money from that night's takings that disappeared.

Le Doux recalls the investigation into the missing money didn't get very far. Nibbons and Patricia Walker tries the Maple Leaf Room, but were quickly thrown out. The one lead they had was about a beef Taubert was having with Little Zo, a rival Haitian gang member of the Zobop. However, the investigation later revealed it was Batraville who killed Taubert and the Zobop was not involved (though Batraville did not appear to have taken the money either).

After going through the details, Le Doux decides the most logical thing is to start over at the Maple Leaf Room and see if they focus on where they money may have gone this time. The only other option he thinks of would be Taubert's home, but he isn't sure where that is (though he does recall the girl Leigh from the Bart Maurice & Associates law firm who posed as Taubert's niece). Nibbons agrees the Maple Leaf Room would be the best place to start.

Taking Nibbons' often-repaired car, they head over to the slums of Marigny. Hawk wants to try heading in by himself first so he has them drop him off a little distance away. After a few minutes, they'll plan to come in themselves. They discuss the details of the plan, with Hawk planning to pose as a gambler. Le Doux, recalling Nibbons' experience last time, says whatever he does, if anyone asks him if he is there for a dance contest he should say yes.

Hawk heads inside, finding the place mostly empty except for a half-Black, half-Cajun man sitting in a back booth with a couple of large Black men standing next to him. He realizes perhaps the gambling activity may not start this early in the day.

The man in the booth calls over to Hawk, asking who he is. Hawk recognizes the man as Cecil Johnson, the club owner who runs the gambling ring. He gives his name to Cecil, who then asks him if he is there for the Texas Tommy contest. Forgetting Le Doux's instructions, Hawk says he is not there for that and just wants to roll some bones.

Johnson tells Hawk he must be in the wrong place. Hawk continues to ask about gambling, so Cecil tells his men, who he calls Leroy and Jerome, to escort Hawk out. Hawk tries to talk to the two large men about gambling and name drops Taubert while mentally assessing if he can take them both on or not. Leroy tells him it is best he leave, saying they aren't going to ask him again. Hawk decides he had better not try to fight them.

As Hawk is being shoved out, Le Doux and Nibbons are heading in. Cecil wants to know who they are. Le Doux says they are there for the Texas Tommy contest. Recognizing the first part of the pass phrase, Cecil lets them in while Hawk leaves.

Cecil then asks the second part of the code, asking who sent them. Le Doux says it was John Taubert. Johnson says two people mentioning Taubert right after each other is suspicious, noting Hawk also mentioned his name.

Le Doux makes a comment about that being strange and says something about Taubert not liking Black people, using a colorful epithet. Cecil tells him to watch his mouth while he is in the club, noting they have him and Nibbons outnumbered.

Ignoring Cecil's threat, Le Doux starts rambling about him and Taubert being in the Marines together. As he does so, Cecil squints as he looks at Nibbons. He asks if he's seen him around here before. Nibbons tries to say he has a lot of business in the area, but Johnson recognizes him as a man he previously threw out. He tells his men to get the two of them out of the club.

Le Doux tries talking him out of it, say he has a lot of money to gamble with. Johnson hints they might take his money on his way out, then explains dropping Johnny's name around isn't going to do much good since he died weeks ago. Le Doux tries to act surprised, but Johnson says he's pretty sure Le Doux already knew Taubert was dead.

Cecil wants to know what Le Doux's game is. Le Doux continues with his charade, saying he is a close friend of Taubert. Johnson says he can't be too close if he didn't know he was dead.

The two exchange more words until Le Doux drops his previous cover story and starts to talk frankly about the missing money. Johnson then realizes who Le Doux is, saying he knows he is "that idiot detective."

Cecil goes on to say that Jenks mentioned Le Doux (though Johnson recalls his name as "Le Duh") and figures Le Doux is asking about Taubert to try and find the money. He wonders why he didn't just ask him straight out. Le Doux tries to say it has something to do with Jenks not knowing who to trust and insinuates Cecil was one of the few who knew he had the money.

Johnson scoffs at Le Doux's bluff, saying everyone knew Taubert took Big Daddy's take of the game every night. Cecil dismisses the idea of anyone at the game targeting Taubert, since he was "killed by some nut with a machete" and found by "that drunk sailor."

Le Doux continues with his belief someone at the game could have taken the money. Cecil notes more money passes through the club on any given day than was taken in the game. Le Doux tries to get the exact amount of money Taubert was carrying out of Cecil, but he won't say. Le Doux then tries name dropping Big Daddy, but Johnson insists he has a closer working relationship to Big Daddy than Le Doux does.

Taking a different tract, Le Doux decides to ask some questions. But Cecil doesn't give him much to go on; according to him, nothing unusual happened that night, Taubert wasn't acting funny, and he doesn't really know much about what route Taubert liked to take to deliver the money to Jenks.

Finally, Le Doux asks about where Taubert lived. Cecil says he doesn't know but could find out. However, he notes the place would likely have been cleaned out and rented to someone else by now. Hitting a dead end, Le Doux decides it is time to leave.

*** Session 10 - Scene 3 (of 7) ***

Outside the club, Hawk looks for alternate ways to get information. He decides to talk to a bum he spots living in the nearby alley. The man gives his name as Brian Jacques.

Hawk asks Jacques about Taubert. Jacques mentions a man and a pretty lady previously asked about Taubert weeks ago, but Hawk ascertains he is talking about Nibbons and Patricia Walker.

Despite this, Hawk asks Jacques about Taubert anyway. He focuses more on other people around Taubert, specifically looking for anyone flush with cash after the killing. Unfortunately, Jacques doesn't know a whole lot other than what he already told Nibbons. Hawk gives him a couple of bucks anyway.

Hawk is finishing up as Le Doux and Nibbons exit the club. They find Hawk has had no better luck getting information. Le Doux wonders if the trail is too cold to pick up. Hawk suggests the only remaining plan may be to beg Big Daddy for more time.

They decide to head back to Le Doux's office.  When they get there, Le Doux sees Jenk's man is still in the car observing the office. He decides to get in the car with the man and talk to him.

Since they are getting friendlier, the man gives his name as Allan Deveneux. Allan asks if Le Doux found the money. Le Doux says he has not, but needs to talk to Big Daddy. Deveneux suggests he can get a meet with Jenks, but probably not Big Daddy himself.

Allan asks why he needs to talk to Big Daddy. Le Doux admits he's having no luck finding the money and wants to plead his case. Deveneux doesn't think coming up short with Big Daddy is the way to go, saying he may as well shoot Le Doux again now.

Taking pity on Le Doux, Allan asks to hear out what Le Doux knows. Boo says he knows Taubert left with the money, only had problems with the Haitians (who he's already ruled out), and was murdered and the money disappeared.

Allan asks if they ever found out who killed Taubert. Le Doux very carefully explains Taubert's career in the Marines and being killed for revenge by Batraville for his brother's death (making sure to leave out anything about zombis or the other occult aspects of the case).

Deveneux asks if Batraville's brother could have taken the money, but Le Doux says he has been ruled out as a suspect and was only interested in revenge. Thinking the situation over, Allan suggests if the killer didn't take the money and the money wasn't there when the police came, someone who came across the body must have taken it.

When he asks Le Doux who found the body, the detective explains it was a drunken sailor named George Kerns. Allan asks him what a drunk sailor who came across a dead body with a big bag of money might do before calling the cops.

Le Doux initially believes they already ruled out Kerns as well, then realizes that although he and Eberhardt started to discuss looking into Kerns more, they abandoned that aspect of the investigation once the evidence indicated the Haitians were involved and never actually asked him about the money. He sarcastically notes Allan should have been a detective. Allan tells him this should make them even for their previous incident.

With a new lead to follow, Le Doux heads back into his office and looks up the notes Nibbons took on the information Eberhardt gave him about Kerns and where the body was discovered on Gallatin Street. Hawk suggests they check the harbor to see if they can find Kerns that way. Le Doux says it is possible, noting Kerns worked on a commercial ship of some kind.

Le Doux and Nibbons decide to go talk to the harbormaster to see if they can get any information on Kerns or his ship. Hawk, meanwhile, knows the nearest speakeasy in the Gallatin area is Mae Kennedy's place over on Thalia Street. He decides to go check that out.

Nibbons takes the lead on talking to the harbormaster, a half-deaf crusty old man named William Criterion. He asks the man about a "George Hurtz" until Le Doux corrects him on the last name.

Criterion takes out his giant ledger book and reviews the crew manifests. He identifies Kerns' last ship as being a commercial liner named Whitestarr. Le Doux tries asking if Kerns is still on the ship, but Criterion explains he'll need to talk to the ship's captain about that. He identifies the location of the ship as pier 66, scheduled to leave again in another day.

When they head over, Le Doux spots a man doing maintenance work on the ship's deck. He calls out to him, but Nibbons can't really make out the man's response. He motions for the man to come closer, but quickly realizes he doesn't understand louder Portuguese either.

Le Doux yells out Kerns' name to the man. He disappears and another man comes out. This man speaks in clipped English, giving his name as Alexander Orbison, the captain of the ship.

Orbison asks what they want with Kerns and quickly explains the man suddenly quit on him suddenly the other week. The captain still seems upset about the incident, grumbling it following a night where Kerns and a few of the other men were out late getting drunk in the city.

Le Doux asks if they have an address for Kerns. Orbison says he does not, since Kerns quickly packed up his things and left so suddenly. He notes the man certainly won't be getting a letter of reference in the future.

Nibbons tries to see if Kerns had any trouble. Orbison says he was mostly a drunkard who liked his women. He notes Kerns had a particular favorite haunt in the city, but says he doesn't know where it is. He notes that anyone asking around about Kerns to the crew they suddenly forget how to speak English, such as the Portuguese man Le Doux talked to before whom Orbison identifies as "Cisco".

Orbison asks what they want with Kerns and Le Doux gives him a story about having some property to return to the man. Orbison notes it is not often someone is looking for one of his sailors to return property. Le Doux thanks the captain for his time.

Once the captain leaves, Le Doux approaches Cisco. He waves the man over, only to have him speak more Portuguese at him. Le Doux waves some money at him and Cisco puts out his hand.

Le Doux explains to Cisco that if he talks, Le Doux will pay. Cisco, in broken English, asks what Le Doux wants him to talk about. Le Doux says they need to find Kerns. Cisco identifies Kerns as being with "Senorita Kennedy." After getting five dollars, Le Doux tries to get more out of the man but only gets the name of the street, "Thalia" at the cost of another five dollars. Le Doux knows that is near Gallatin Street, where the body was found.

*** Session 10 - Scene 4 (of 7) ***

Meanwhile, over on Thalia Street, Hawk rings the doorbell of Mae Kennedy's house. A younger woman answers. Hawk tells the woman he wants to get straight to the point, saying he is looking for a man. Mae says this isn't that kind of place.

Hawk clarifies what he means and Mae says she keeps a quiet place. She invites Hawk inside to avoid rousing the suspicions of the neighbors.

The atmosphere inside is very social, with several men and women entertaining themselves. Mae heads Hawk over to a bar area, where she mixes him a drink she calls a "rose chipmunk." Hawk tries to watch her mix the drink closely, but can't be certain she mixed the drink without slipping him a Mickey so just to be safe, he only pretends to sip at it.

Hawk explains he is there looking for George Kerns. Mae mentions a lot of men pass through her place. Hawk tries to warn her that if Kerns isn't found, her business could be in danger from other men looking for Kerns.

Mae acts coy, saying Hawk is scaring her with all the talk of dangerous men. She notes he is a strapping man who could protect her. He says he can if she tells him where George Kerns is.

Kennedy says Kerns isn't there now, but will likely show up later. She flashes her eyelashes as she suggests they wait for him, upstairs. Hawk somewhat falls for the flattery, but tries to keep on task by continuing to talk about how important it is to get the situation resolved.

Mae then says she just remembered Kerns left something upstairs and asks if Hawk wants to see it. He says he does, so she leads him up to one of the bedrooms.

She tells him Kerns left something in the drawer of the night stand next to the bed and suggests Hawk retrieve it. Assuming she is trying to pull one over on him, he has her get it instead why he waits in the doorway.

As she opens the drawer, he readies his gun in case she's going for a gun in the drawer. She turns back towards Hawk with her hand still in the drawer, saying that isn't very nice. He responds how she isn't being very nice either trying to set him up while he's trying to help her.

Hawk then says she's in real trouble, mentioning Big Daddy's name. Mae's mocking confidence immediately shatters as she asks what this has to do with Big Daddy. Hawk explains Kerns has something Big Daddy wants, and Big Daddy will kill anyone he has to in order to get it back.

Mae is obviously shaken, saying no one said anything about Big Daddy being involved. Hawk assures her he is. She then looks just behind Hawk saying, "George, don't!"

Hawk has just enough time to move out of the way to avoid Kerns tackling him from behind. He gets ready to go at Hawk again when Mae tells him to stop, as Hawk is there about Big Daddy.

Kerns asks who Big Daddy is. Hawk explains Big Daddy is a crime boss while Mae tells Kerns to be quiet as "people are talking". George starts to catch on, suggesting it was Big Daddy's money.

Hawk points out he never said anything about money so obviously he knows what Hawk is talking about. Mae assures him they didn't know it was Big Daddy's money and they never would have taken it if they knew.

Saying Big Daddy shot a man for just not getting the money back quick enough (a colorful reinterpretation of Le Doux's incident), Hawk says he doesn't know how much they may have already spent but suggests they get together whatever they can to give back to the man.

Mae says she'll go get the money right away, but Hawk is sure to have them both move slowly in front of them as they goes to retrieve it from her safe. When they get there, he has her very slowly get the money out. She hands him most of the money in the safe.

Hawk takes the money while Mae pleads for their lives, saying they will make it up to Big Daddy any way they need. She then suggests to Hawk she has ways of being grateful if he could leave their names out of it. Hawk is hoping she'll slip him some money, but she makes it clear she's referring to slipping him something else so he takes a raincheck on it.

*** Session 10 - Scene 5 (of 7) ***

By the time Nibbons and Le Doux arrive at the Kennedy house on Thalia Street, they can already see Hawk coming out of it. They walk over to him, and Le Doux notices he has something bulky under his clothes.

Le Doux asks Hawk what he has. Hawk has them go back to the car to talk, not wanting to discuss it in the street.

Once there, he explains he has the money and how Kennedy and Kerns took the money but didn't know it belonged to Big Daddy. He also explains how they want to keep their names out of it if possible. Hawk suggests they do so as long as all the money is there.

Hawk hands over the money and they head back to the office. Le Doux immediately takes it over to Deveneux. Hawk wants them all to go but Le Doux insists on doing it himself.

When he gets in, Allan asks if he had any more luck. Le Doux says he has, and produces the money. Deveneux checks it out and says it looks like the right amount. He then says they should go see Jenks.

Hawk and Nibbons head over to Hawk's jalopy. Nibbons gets in the back so Hawk looks like his driver. They follow behind for a while, but Deveneux loses him.

Devenuex takes Le Doux to an outbuilding in a trucking company complex. Inside, they meet with Jenks. Le Doux recognizes the inside of the building as the one he met Jenks in last time.

Jenks tells Le Doux it is good to see him again and asks if he has his money. Le Doux hands it over and Jenks verifies it is all there. He congratulates Le Doux, saying he'll live another week.

Le Doux asks if their business is not concluded. Jenks says once someone is "friends" with Big Daddy, they stay that way. But he tells Le Doux not to worry, Big Daddy will contact him when he wants to talk. Le Doux sarcastically asks how he knew that was the case. Jenks says it is because he is a smart guy, noting that's how he found the money.

Before he leaves, Le Doux says he'd appreciate it if Deveneux weren't parked outside his door any more. Jenks says now that they have the money back, they don't need to.

For his own act of keeping things on good terms, Le Doux tells Jenks about Kerns and Kennedy in case Big Daddy wants to know. Jenks notes Kennedy is a small time operator but thanks him for the info.

Jenks asks Le Doux how business is going. Le Doux takes a shot and mentions his case about the missing Donny Martin and the mysterious Jerboa. Jenks hasn't heard of either, saying Jerboa is a strange name for a dame.

Le Doux says he has had a lot of strange cases lately. He says the name is probably from someone who lives down in the bayou. He then asks Jenks if he's ever spent a lot of time at the bayou. While Jenks is saying he tries to avoid it, Le Doux checks out his shoes; they are fancy wingtips.

Deveneux moves in to escort Le Doux out. Le Doux tells Jenks if they need anything, they know where to find him. Jenks agrees they do know, saying its good he understands that.

As Le Doux is leaving, Jenks calls out one last thing – telling Le Doux to tell his "German friend" that "the Greek" came through on the zoning variance. Le Doux muses that Apostolou must have had a sudden change of heart, saying city politics are difficult to predict.

*** Session 10 - Scene 6 (of 7) ***

Le Doux shows back at the office sometime later in the cab Deveneux called him. When he gets inside, Hawk wants to know how much they got paid for recovering the money. Le Doux reminds him the payment was getting to live.

Hawk asks him what the next case is. Le Doux says they need to pick back up on the Martin case, since it's the only one paying them.

Le Doux starts going through what they know – Martin disappeared, he had a girl named Jerboa, she was dragged off one time by nuns or someone dressed similarly, wore a porcupine necklace of some type, and probably came from the bayou. Hawk notes there are a lot of bayous around. Le Doux also recalls the Orpheum, Lee Ho Fook's, and the Bali Hai as Martin's favorite haunts. He agrees the Bali Hai and the bayou seem like the two strongest leads.

Hawk suggests they look at a map of the city and plot out the locations Martin went. The closest bayou to all of them is the Lakeview Bayou area adjacent to City Park, though it is not a large area and not known for anyone living inside it.

Le Doux suggests they split up. He wants to keep an eye on the Bali Hai while Hawk and Nibbons check out the Lakeview area. They drive over to the Bali Hai and Hawk and Nibbons take a trolley back down to Lakeview while Le Doux stays watching over the juice bar in his car.

The Lakeview area is in the process of being reclaimed with new bungalow homes being put up on the edges. The surrounding neighborhoods aren't too interesting, but the large cemeteries in Navarre give Hawk an idea he tells Nibbons they should start there.

Hawk and Nibbons go to the first cemetery they come across, St. Patrick's Cemetery #2. According to the plaque at the gates, it is a Catholic cemetery established in 1841 for the victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic.

They talk to the caretaker, a man named Holt, about looking for a crypt for the family name of Jerboa. Holt can't locate any records of a family with that name, and suggests it is likely some kind of Christian name.

Hawk asks if he's ever heard the name before, hoping perhaps she was named after an ancestor. Unfortunately, Holt isn't familiar with it in any of the St. Patrick cemeteries.

Holt asks if the family is around here. Hawk briefly explains about Donny Martin and the strange girl. Holt asks why Hawk thinks the girl is from around here. Hawk gives his theory on thinking the girl lived within walking distance of the locations she and Martin visited. Holt, however, suggests it could be one of the more remote bayous, such as the Irish Bayou or the Segnette Bayou, since there are a lot of people who live out in those.

Hawk recalls the porcupine necklace. Holt says that sounds like some kind of Indian thing. Nibbons agrees that's what they think. Holt says he wouldn't know anything about that; they'd have to talk to someone who knows about that sort of thing. Hawk asks if he knows anyone who might, but Holt just says he's "never been one for your books and such."

Nibbons, however, recalls they do know someone – Dr. Harry Beckmeyer, the anthropologist specializing in Indian studies over at the Louisiana State History Museum. He suggests they go there.

*** Session 10 - Scene 7 (of 7) ***

Nibbons and Hawk make their way over to the museum via trolley cars and ask to speak with Dr. Beckmeyer. When the secretary asks for a name, Nibbons forgets Le Doux used a false name last time and gives his actual name.

After a minute, they are shown back to see the doctor. He greets Nibbons as "Mr. Round" and assumes Hawk is "Mr. Nibbons", who must be Mr. Round's assistant. Hawk and Nibbons decide to roll with it.

Nibbons explains they are looking for some information. Beckmeyer is intrigued, asking if "Dr. Jones" had any success in his investigation into the snake men myths. Nibbons, only vaguely recalling the particulars of their previous cover story during the lizard man case, decides to be conservative and just say "yes" to avoid saying the wrong thing.

Beckmeyer asks what he can help them with today. Nibbons says they are looking for some people. Beckmeyer notes that as an anthropologist and archeologist, he isn't typically asked about that. He asks what sort of people Nibbons is looking for.

Nibbons struggles to explain what he looking for in a way that would make sense without revealing what they are up to. He mentions Jerboa's name. Beckmeyer is confused why Nibbons is asking him about that.

Hawk tries to salvage the situation by half-explaining he works for a private investigator and the reason they wanted to talk to Beckmeyer was about a strange necklace they heard about the girl wearing. Nibbons describes the dyed blue porcupine needles.

Beckmeyer thinks that sounds familiar. Looking through his notes, he finds that the necklace was likely something created by the Atakapa tribe.

He asks Hawk and Nibbons if they are familiar with the Atakapa tribe. They admit they are not. Beckmeyer explains the Atakapas were a tribe known for ritual cannibalism and rivals to the Choctaw people in the Gulf Coast area. According to the doctor, they were documented by Alexandre De Batz in 1735, but little was written about them after the 1760's. Beckmeyer also notes they were largely decimated by epidemics and the tribe dissolved by the early 19th century.

The doctor gets more animated as he continues to read through his notes. According to his previous research, there is a local legend regarding a porcupine quill necklace. He asks Nibbons if he is familiar with the Bowles clan. Nibbons says he is not.

Beckmeyer goes on to explain the Bowles clan first arrived in the Segnette Bayou area in 1762, one of the first Acadian settlers in the area. Apparently they were known for being recluses and largely trading only with the Atakapa tribe in the area. He says most of the discussion among locals about the family concerned the belief they have been in-breeding for the past hundred and fifty years. He notes he doesn't know anything about the current family – they'd have to head out to the bayou and ask around.

Getting back to the subject of the necklace, it was apparently traded to the Bowles sometime before the tribe died off. According to the stories, one of the family was bitten by a rabid wolf and the necklace was given to the family as the Atakapas said it had healing magic in it that was able to save the man's life. Beckmeyer surmises the necklace was likely passed down through generations and Jerboa is one of the Bowles clan.

Hawk notes this means they need to head down to Segnette and look for the Bowles clan. Beckmeyer agrees that is the most likely scenario, saying if they get a chance to ask the Bowles, he'd love to have the necklace at the museum for a short while so he could study and document it properly. Hawk isn't so sure they'd be receptive to that but says he'll do what he can.

His imagination going wild, Hawk muses about being concerned about a werewolf legend and going on about how you hear about things like werewolves and zombis. Beckmeyer points out he didn't actually ention anything about a werewolf, however it is true the werewolf legends of France (called the loup garou) are believed to originate with bites from rabid wolves.

Dr. Beckmeyer continues on about werewolf legends, saying the loup garou stories were often tied back to stories of cannibalism and witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries. He goes on to mention the various treatises written from 1595 to 1615, the trial of Giles Garner in Dole in 1573, the Anjou sightings of 1598, and the Bordeaux conviction in 1603. He also mentions famous Saint-Claude judge Henry Boguet and how he wrote a couple of occult books on witchcraft that mentioned werewolves in 1602 and 1619.

Hawk, however, is more interested in zombis. Beckmeyer is less familiar with those, but identifies them as "Haitian mythology" and powders that could bring the dead back to life. His theory is the "zombi dust" is merely something like curare mixed with hallucinogens that simply cause victims to believe they died and have risen under a spell.

Nibbons doesn't want the case getting too off track so he suggests they proceed with investigating the Bowles clan to find Jerboa and Donny Martin. They thank the doctor and take their leave.

*** Interlude: The Shape of Things to Come - Part 1 ***

Lakefront City, IL
December 15, 1925

It is a busy day at the law offices of Kirkland & Tharrington, with people busily moving up and down the halls. In the corner office, attorney Morgan S. Tharrington works with his client to prepare the various papers required for the large real estate transaction. One of the secretaries, Joan, sticks her head in to let him know that the other party and his counsel have arrived. He tells Joan to show them in.

When they walk in, Morgan is surprised to see the corporation has a female as a lead attorney. She introduces herself as Claire Maddox and her client representative as Curtiss Jackson, Vice President of Acquisitions. Tharrington completes the introductions by giving the names of himself and his client.

Everyone sits down at a small conference table in the office to get the papers signed. Tharrington notes the final selling price Jackson has offered is most generous. He responds he likes to make sure the deal is sealed quickly on new acquisitions, noting the company has several operations it is anxious to get moving on. Maddox shoots him a look to remind him not to say too much until everything is signed.

It doesn't take long for the paperwork to be completed, the check handed over, and everyone to shake hands on a deal well done. Just as she is leaving, the seller stops to ask Jackson if he really thinks there could be oil on her father's island. Jackson responds, "No, Ms. Hill, we think we will find something even more valuable..."

*** Session 10 & Interlude Part 1 - Session Notes ***

I meant to put the interlude before the session 10 notes but forgot. It was originally an email I sent out to the group prior to this session to generate some excitement (they have been theorizing about a connection between this campaign and the Lakefront City campaign for some time).

After last session's disastrous results, I sent out an email suggesting that another session like that would threaten the campaign falling apart. I tried not to come across too forceful - saying there wasn't any activity that shouldn't be done at all but they need to tone down some of the more outlandish aspects. Specifically, I suggested thinking before they come up with too zany of a scheme that could get them killed, making sure they keep the rivalries between the PCs to the point where they will still talk to each other/actually work together, and be sure to remember the NPCs are often at least street smart. I also pointed out that trying to hire NPCs to do the dirty work most likely won't work out well for them.

It went over pretty well. The Eberhardt player kind of piggybacked on it with his own comments that were a little more specific and pointed about the kind of things he didn't like in the game. Outside of email, the Le Doux player and I came to the conclusion it probably wasn't going to work having both his son (who plays Fox) and the Hawk player in the game so we won't make more of an effort to include him.

It resulted in this session, which went really well and things seem to be back on track. They solved one case and got a good distance into the other. It is a bit shorter than normal, as we had some technical difficulties early on (Windows 10 updating whenever the hell it feels like it, like when you are in the middle of a Skype session, is a major pain in the ass), the Eberhardt player had to skip to take care of his sick kids, and the Nibbons player was half-asleep most of the session (strictly speaking, he wasn't actually present for the last half of the last scene as he fell asleep while on Skype).

Other notes about the interlude / session:
* Kirkland & Tharrington is partially named after the Chicago law firm, Tharrington Smith.

* Claire Maddox comes from the second season of the TV show, Damages.

* Curtiss Jackson comes from the Captain America comics (Power Broker, Inc.) and is not a 50 Cent reference; though I suppose it works both ways.

* Clearly the intent of the interlude is to suggest Valarie Hill is selling her father's island, where all of the cult activity happened, to a nefarious corporation that somehow knows something went on there.

* I had the session take place a couple of days later to give Le Doux at least nominal time to heal from his injury. Also, it helps explain away Fox and Eberhardt's absences.

* Nibbons is clearly having the same sort of dreams Fox had. What's the connection? Stay tuned for future developments.

* The list of open loose ends is actually from an email I sent prior to this session to remind the group of all the things currently in play. They often have a hard time remembering more than one plotline at a time.

* Hawk's idea of load his car up with materials for burning zombis will no doubt cause some kind of explosion in the future.

* I didn't originally plan to have someone watching Le Doux's office, but since Hawk brought it up...

* Le Doux thought Hawk's car ideas were absurd, hence the Beverly Hills Cop joke (I fleshed it out a bit more in the write-up along with Hawk's joke referencing the Silver & Cohn novelty song).

* No one remembered anything about the Taubert case because out of game, that was several months ago. We kept having to look things up in the session notes.

* The Hawk player didn't really understand the difference between a full time casino and a night club that has an illegal gambling racket at night.

* Le Doux finally figured out the Texas Tommy Contest reference was part of a passcode, though didn't get he'd need to use the name of the Maple Leaf Rag singer (Scott Joplin) to get by. To be fair, that would be impossible to just guess.

* I kept mentioning the drunk sailor to remind the PCs they never looked into him. In the end, I had to have the NPC suggest it just to keep the story moving (and had to remind the PCs they never did actually investigate him).

* Neither Cecil Jackson nor Allan Deveneux actually mentioned their names during the session. I had previously come up with Jackson's name but didn't have those notes with me during the session (I didn't expect them to ever go back to the Maple Leaf Room). And I never intended to give a name to the random thug who shot Le Doux, but it got to be too complicated in the write-up to keep calling him "the man". Deveneux is named after a character in the film, No Mercy.

* Similarly, William Criterion was also unnamed. His name is something of a joke as he is named after the New Orleans Harbor Master Criterium bike race.

* Nibbons getting Kerns' name wrong was a classic Biggins moment.

* During the session, I called the ship the White Star (more of a Titanic reference) but when I did the write-up I thought naming it after the band Whitestarr would be better and used the names of the band members Alex Orbison and Cisco Adler to pad out my NPC names.

* The part about the men not speaking English to investigators was taken straight from the similar plot from season 2 of The Wire.

* Mae Kennedy was a real female bootlegger in New Orleans, famously arrested after she offered prohibition agents alcohol when they showed up at her door.

* The "rose chipmunk" is a joke referring to the drink, pink squirrel (not invented until the 1960s).

* Mae was most definitely trying to slip Hawk a Mickey. She was also going to shoot him with a  derringer in the night stand drawer.

* Her line about "people are talking" was inspired by a scene during a season 5 episode of The Sopranos.

* Hawk's plan to find Jerboa wasn't a bad one, it just isn't where her family was located. Again, for all his faults the Hawk player is the only one who seems overly familiar with crime fiction. So, I decided to use the cemetery caretaker to try and point him in the right direction.

* The necklace was another one of those things I mentioned a lot to hopefully prod the PCs to investigate that line. That one did eventually work.

* Holt's line about never being one for books is taken from a funny line I always liked in an episode of the TV show, Roseanne.

* It's kind of funny how often the other PCs try to have Nibbons do the interrogations with people. Since they know how bad he is at it, they see it as a form of comic relief.

* In my original plans, the Atakapa tribe was a bit more involved in occult activity. But as I mentioned before, I felt I already tapped that well dry so I switched it up a bit to focus on the inbred Bowles clan.

* Originally, I didn't anticipate anything about werewolves coming up; it was a bit of a random comment from the Hawk player. But since I knew it would come up at some point, I already had plenty of details to lay on them (again, all of it is true - including Boguet's books).

*** Interlude: The Shape of Things to Come - Timeline Clarification ***

A quick note about the timeline - part 1 of the Interlude incorrectly listed the date as December of 1925. That should have been December of 1924. The next interlude is meant to take place a couple of days later, not a year later; I didn't want to confuse anyone.

To further clarify, the interlude is intended to be a flashback of events that took place after the previous Cthulhubusters campaign in Lakefront City (which ended in November of 1924) and before the current Cthulhubusters campaign in Crescent City (which started in early July of 1925 and is up to late August in the current session).

*** Interlude - The Shape of Things to Come - Part 2 ***

Lake Michigan, IL
December 16, 1924

It is a quiet night on the cold lake with little moonlight shining down on the water. A small boat moves quietly to shore, carrying four men. All are wearing their old uniforms from the Great War and carrying Browning Assault Rifles.

The commander of the men is Charles L. Delazny Jr., who attained the rank of sergeant while fighting the Huns in Blanc Mont Ridge. He gestures to the pilot, Melvin Potter, to quietly glide the boat into the docks. As they approach, the sign posts near the docks read, "Danger – No Trespassing" and "Access Prohibited by the L.C.P.D."

Potter maneuvers the boat up against the docks and loosely ties in. Delazny deploys the other men, with Leopold Stryke taking point and Peter Van Zante taking the rear. Leaving Potter in the boat, they quickly head up the hill to the burnt remains of the old lake house that used to stand there.

Stryke checks out the remains of the car and house while Van Zante moves up to whisper to Delazny. He asks what happened there as it looks like a bomb of some kind went off. His commander reminds him they aren't being paid to know that. He follows up by reminding him to stay quiet and keep an eye out for hostiles.

A scream yells out from Stryke's position. Van Zante and Delazny move up to investigate, only to find Stryke's leg being chewed on by a child-sized creature with a bulbous head, glowing yellow eyes, sharp teeth, webbed hands with claws, and tentacles coming out of its back. Before Delazny can stop him, Van Zante opens fire on the strange humanoid, tearing it to pieces.

Delazny chides Van Zante for giving away their position. He has him bandage up Stryke's wound while he keeps watch.

Stryke indicates he can make it back to the boat but will be useless out in the field. Delazny tells him he can pilot the boat and to send Potter up. Van Zante asks Delazny why they won't just retreat. The commander tells him they still have a job to do, reminding him the doctor wants at least one live specimen...

*** Session 11 - Cast of Characters ***

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

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.

*** Session 11 - Scene 1 (of 11) ***

Eberhardt suddenly finds himself in front of Le Doux's office, unaware of how he got there. In fact, the last thing he recalls he was heading into his service training class. He notices he has changed clothes from his training uniform back into his normal civilian clothes. The effect is very unsettling.

He decides to go ahead and head inside, finding Le Doux and Madge sitting around the office having their morning coffee. In his confused state, he asks Le Doux for the date. Le Doux tells him it is Tuesday the 25th. Eberhardt finds that very disconcerting – for he believes it is still Monday the 24th. Le Doux shows him the paper confirming the date – with headlines in the sports section about Mickey Walker fighting William "Sailor" Friedman to a no-decision in Lakefront City and Helen Willis Moody winning the 39th U.S. Women's National Championship against Kathleen McKane.

Eberhardt asks if Le Doux saw him the previous day. He tells him he hasn't seen him in a couple of days and asks the man if he's been drinking. Bruno says it is always a possibility but he has been known to do so, but Le Doux notes he does not look disheveled. Boo asks about the last thing he remembers and the two agree he should probably not ask around about it at the station.

While Le Doux checks out his shoes, Eberhardt asks him about Nibbons. Le Doux says he must be running late. But he says Eberhardt is just in time since he has a lead on Jerboa they can track down. Eberhardt says they need to find the Taubert money first but Boo explains he and Hawk took care of that yesterday.

He goes on to explain how the drunk sailor, who Eberhardt let go, had the money all along and they did all the work while he was away. Eberhardt takes offense to Le Doux's criticism, saying not everyone can live in Le Doux's fairy tale world where no one has a job and can run off on all kinds of wild goose chases. Eberhardt offers to assist in the Jerboa lead, but wants his fee. Le Doux agrees, but wants Eberhardt to drive his car.

Le Doux has Madge try to call Nibbons but she gets no answer. Boo tells Eberhardt they can't wait around all day as they need to get out to the Segnette Bayou for that lead on Jerboa. Eberhardt asks about Hawk, but Le Doux explains Hawk already left him a message that morning that he had to take the day off to help his sister dry out from another of her benders on her favorite bourdon, Wild Duck. Eberhardt notes Le Doux is running low on friends these days.

*** Session 11 - Scene 2 (of 11) ***

Before heading over to the ferry, they stop by a hardware store for a couple of flashlights, a shovel, and a length of rope. They manage to make the 10:30 ferry across the Mississippi and are shortly on their way through rural Jefferson Parish.

The drive doesn't take too long and is quite scenic as they pass by the old plantation lands and through the small towns of Harvey and Merrero. They eventually reach the rural outskirts of the bayou area, with little around except for the road leading to the small town of Westwego where the Pentex Chemical Company's oil refinery is located.

As they near the edge of the bayou area, they spot a sign for a nearby campground called Audrey's. They decide to head in to see if they can find some information on the Bowles clan.

The campground appears to have a series of six or so small cabins along with a main building. As they pull in to park, they both notice there aren't any campers around so much as several scantily-clad women. Eberhardt tells Le Doux he likes this campground. Le Doux says they will need to get to know Audrey better, though he's pretty sure the "campground" is really a front for a hillbilly-style brothel.

Le Doux parks the car and they start to approach one of the girls; the one Le Doux feels is the most attractive. As he starts walking that way, a couple of large men come out of the main building – a White man and a Mexican. The White man asks if they can help them.

When Le Doux explains he wants to ask the girl some questions, the man tells Le Doux he can ask her anything he likes for twenty dollars. Le Doux feels the amount is a little steep, but the man explains that includes the "scenic cabin fee." Le Doux asks if the cabin is private. The man explains it is unless he wants the "extra company" option, which will cost another fifteen dollars.

Le Doux agrees to pay the twenty. He tells the girl, who he calls Darlene, to show Le Doux to "Cabin A". As for Eberhardt, the man notes he'll have to pay too if he wants to go to the cabin as well. Eberhardt, not wanting to be that intimately acquainted with Le Doux, declines. The man says they can show him back to the bar to wait.

Eberhardt follows the two men back to the bar while Le Doux heads back to the cabin with Darlene. She starts undressing and asks what he likes. He tells her, "the works" and proceeds to sodomize her in every depraved way imaginable.

*** Session 11 - Scene 3 (of 11) ***

Meanwhile, back at the main building, Eberhardt orders a beer from the rough-looking, bearded bartender named Wade. He wants a warm German beer, but the best the bartender can offer is one that has been sitting out a while.

Eberhardt tries making conversation about Audrey. Wade tells him there hasn't been an Audrey there in years. Leaning in, he says in a quieter voice that it would be best not to go asking around about who the owner is.

Taking a different track, he says he'd like to find some information on someone who lives in the area. Wade says he might remember something, hinting he wants some money. Eberhardt throws him a few dollars and mentions the name of Jerboa. Wade isn't familiar with the name.

Bruno then uses the family name Le Doux told him about, asking about the Bowles family. Across the room, the man who met them in the parking lot seems to perk up. He and the Mexican get up from their table, asking if Eberhardt is connected to the Bowles family. Eberhardt can tell the Mexican is moving his hand towards the machete he has on his belt.

Eberhardt tries to get the men to calm down. The man tells Eberhardt they don't take kindly to the Bowles family around there. Eberhardt says he doesn't take kindly to them either, saying he believes they kidnapped a friend of his. This calms the men down considerably.

The man tells Eberhardt the Bowles family is causing some problems for them as well. Eberhardt says perhaps they can help each other. The man goes on to explain that due to the increased security in the city, they've had to look into alternate routes for the goods his friend Elvis (apparently the name of the Mexican) brings up from the "South country."

Eberhardt asks what the Bowles have to do with it. The man explains they don't seem to like their boat coming through their land. Eberhardt notes that makes sense, since they live out in the remote bayou area.

The man says they need to pass that way since there are less eyes out on the bayou. Eberhardt sympathizes, saying he can understand them wanting to stay out of the sight of the police. The man quickly notes he didn't say anything about the police; he describes himself as a businessman just needing a way to ship "all-natural Mexican goods" without any "naval entanglements".

Eberhardt tries to feel out how he can help. The man explains someone needs to deliver the message to the Bowles to stay out of their way. He tells Eberhardt if he can deliver the message, he and his friend (meaning Le Doux) can get coupons for five years' worth of free visits to the campground.

Bruno agrees, but says he will need to be pointed in the right direction. The man says his brother Danny can help draw him a map. He calls into the back to get Danny to come out. While he does so, he explains the clan lives in a large cabin near the river, just after a bridge along one of the paths. He says the cabin has a name they've given it, "Flow"; the man believes it refers to the water nearby.

Eberhardt tries to get an idea on how many people live there. The man says he isn't sure, noting they are ignorant folk not like them. The only one he's had a run in with is the patriarch of the family, a man named Thylo. He warns Eberhardt to be careful, saying the Bowles are not as hospitable as him.

*** Session 11 - Scene 4 (of 11) ***

Back in the cabin, Le Doux is relaxing while Darlene is lighting a cigarette. He tells her that it was an interesting experience. Darlene complains she is so sore won't be able to use the outhouse right for a week.

Le Doux turns the conversation away from the prostitute's possible prolapse and back towards his real purpose for being there – looking for the Bowles clan. Darlene says she's heard Dilly talking about them. Le Doux asks who Dilly is and the whore explains he is the man who met them outside.

Boo asks if the Bowles are friends of Dilly. Darlene says no, that Dilly is looking to mess Bowles up for interfering with Elvis' shipments of "that funny Mexican tobacco."

After clarifying Darlene herself has no knowledge of the Bowles, he heads over to the main building after promising to visit her again. Inside, he finds Eberhardt talking with Dilly, Elvis, and Danny at a table.

Eberhardt looks up at Le Doux, commenting he looks rather sweaty. He asks what they have been doing to him. Le Doux responds "good things" and blissfully says it is the best twenty dollars he's spent in years. Eberhardt jokes that stands to reason, since usually he spends his money on Hawk and Nibbons.

Le Doux starts to talk to Dilly about the Bowles and Dilly explains he's already worked out a good deal with Eberhardt about that. After Le Doux is caught up, he asks for some explosives he could use to send the message. Dilly has Wade grab them a couple of sticks out the back.

Since the Bowles house is just off of the river, Le Doux says he'd rather not come in on the path but wants to borrow their pirogue. Dilly is reluctant, since they already lost one of them to Thylo. Eventually, Le Doux convinces him to let him borrow their remaining boat with a hundred dollar deposit.

Le Doux doesn't want to head in during the day when Thylo is likely to spot them. They decide to take the risk and head in at night.

*** Session 11 - Scene 5 (of 11) ***

As night falls, Le Doux and Eberhardt head into the bayou in their pirogue.  As a former riverboat guide of the bayou, Le Doux pilots the boat.

Heading further in, the trees and clouds start to crowd out most of the moonlight. They can also smell the strong scent of chemicals in the water. Le Doux figures it is from the Pentex plant upstream in Westwego.

Unfortunately, the darkness prevents Le Doux from seeing the low-lying bridge over the water until they are right up to it. With little time to react, he is hit in the head and falls overboard. He does manage to keep ahold of the oar, though.

Eberhardt gets enough time to duck as the boat passes under the bridge. He tries to hand paddle the boat towards Le Doux but falls in just as Le Doux gets to the boat. Le Doux uses the oar to get Eberhardt out of the water before any alligators find him.

By the time they are both back in the boat, Le Doux realizes they are already passing by the cabin. He takes the boat over to the nearest shore, beaching it under a large, ominous dead tree. Looking at the tree, Le Doux spots four large claw marks on it at man height.

They leave their tools and the dynamite back in the boat and start heading towards the house. From here, Le Doux can see the house is not a small cabin but a rather large one. He also spots a well ahead; he tells Eberhardt to ready his service revolver while he checks it out. Eberhardt complains about it probably being water-logged but Le Doux insists it will still be useful for intimidation.

Le Doux grabs his sawed-off shotgun from the boat along with the flashlights. He hands one to Eberhardt while using the other to shine down in the well, careful not to let any light show outside the well. He finds nothing more than a normal well filled with regular water inside.

The two make their way towards the house, keeping their flashlights off. The house does appear to have some form of lights inside – likely kerosene lamps – but the curtains appear to be drawn. The front porch is just ahead, but Le Doux believes they should circumnavigate the cabin before heading inside. They split up, each heading around a different side.

*** Session 11 - Scene 6 (of 11) ***

Le Doux takes the West side. He is surprised the cabin extends back much further than he thought, and appears to be irregularly-shaped. Along the way, he listens at one of the windows but hears nothing inside.

As he nears the back, he notices the slopes in this area, eventually leading up to a large mound. Le Doux notices some of the dirt appears to be more recently disturbed. He prods at it a bit with his foot, but realizes he will need to go back to the boat for the shovel to find anything. He takes note of it for later.

Meanwhile, Eberhardt sneaks around the East side. As he heads back, he spots one up ahead with the curtains open. He listens carefully to make sure it sounds quiet inside the house before popping his head up to look inside.

From what he can make out, it appears to be a kitchen with a lamp dimly lit on the counter. Peering inside for a moment, he can see it is quite grimy inside. And even with the window closed, he can tell there is a putrid smell coming from inside. He opens the window and finds the smell is much stronger – he believes it is the smell of rotting meat.

Eberhardt pulls himself into the kitchen over the washbasin, hitting some pots and pans as he does so. The loud noises alert Le Doux in the back and he heads over to investigate. He passes by the back porch and sees that it has a path leading away from it into the trees.

Le Doux looks into the trees but doesn't spot any light that way. He decides to head back to the source of the noise, finding the open window with Eberhardt inside, pulling himself up from the grimy kitchen floor.

Inside, Eberhardt traces the smell back to the icebox, where he finds misshapen chunks of rotting meat inside. He isn't sure what they are, but notes they must be from a larger animal and appear to be more ripped out of the animal than cut by a butcher.

Eberhardt then opens the pantry door in the kitchen, finding nothing but an empty larder with signs of mice inside. From the window, Le Doux tries to get his attention without making any noise and directs him by pointing towards the direction of the front porch.

There is only one other door in the kitchen, leading in the opposite direction of the front of the cabin. Eberhardt decides to listen at it then exit through it, realizing the way back to the front door may be more round-about than he hopes.

The kitchen exits into a dusty old dining room. It has a small buffet on the side and Eberhardt checks it to find a beeswax candle. He lights it to give him some light in the dark room. The dining room has two doors in it, one heading towards the front of the house and one towards the back. Eberhardt takes the one towards the front.

That door leads into some kind of entry hall. It has a large rug and a couple of chairs. Outside of several photos along the walls in the room, Eberhardt sees nothing out of the ordinary.

Eberhardt proceeds to check both of the doors exiting this room, hearing nothing beyond in either of them. He tries the door he believes heads into the front porch, only to discover it leads into a master bedroom inside with a large bed, armoire, and a desk.

Confused by the irregular shape of the house, Eberhardt opens one of the windows to get his bearings. He can see the well outside, placing him just west of the front porch. He heads back to the entry hall and through the other door.

The room beyond is lit by a lit fire in the fireplace with an old hunting rifle above it. It appears to be a large trophy room, with the heads of various animal adorning the walls. Looking around, Eberhardt realizes a couple of the trophies on the walls are preserved human heads, terrifying him.

Erbhardt runs over and grabs the rifle. He inspects it and finds it is an old .35 Winchester in working order, though unloaded. He slings it over his shoulder and looks around the room for any shells, trying to avoid looking at the human heads on the walls again.

Finding nothing, he opens the door to the front porch. It contains some old and broken furniture and leaves along the walls, blown in by the wind. A large sign over the front door reads "FLOW."

*** Session 11 - Scene 7 (of 11) ***

Eberhardt lets Le Doux inside the porch. Le Doux checks out the sign over the door carefully, finding it odd but not realizing why. Behind the two men, in a reflection in the glass, the sign reads "WOLF."

Le Doux does, however, manage to find some other strange carvings on the wall near the sign. He isn't sure what they are but knows they must be occult in nature. He shows them to Eberhardt, who also finds them disturbing.

Eberhardt recalls back on the Lizard Man case, after he talked to Kendi, when he was looking more into the "wyrm" Kendi mentioned. He identifies one of the symbols as that of the wyrm.

Le Doux finds the development disturbing. Eberhardt notes he shouldn't go inside the trophy room as there is something in there that could really bother him.

The two continue to talk about what to do next. Le Doux grabs the rope and dynamite from the pirogue. He hands one of the sticks to Eberhardt, who is careful to keep it away from the candle.

Both men put the sticks inside their belts to keep their hands free. Le Doux muses to himself that Darlene already thought he had a stick of dynamite in his pants earlier, chuckling to himself at the thought that an explosion certainly went off then.

Eberhardt wants to continue to search the house to look for rifle ammunition. Le Doux still wants to check out the mound in back. They decide to split up.

*** Session 11 - Scene 8 (of 11) ***

Eberhardt checks over the bedroom, finding the armoire to contain nothing but a collection of musty clothes. Over on the desk, he finds a sketch pad. Flipping through, he sees several pictures of nature drawings before coming across a particularly disturbing page.

After recovering from his initial shock, Eberhardt looks at the page in more detail. The top of the page appears to show some dots connected with lines – possibly a constellation of some kind. Next to it is written "Has Star?"

Another piece of writing next to it reads, "The Follower of the Seven Sisters" with something else below it written in Arabic. It has an arrow pointing to one of the larger dots.

Below the constellation drawing is a dot surrounded by three curved lines. A note below it identifies it as the "Yellow Sign."

The bottom of the page shows three drawings – apparently variations on some sort of fantastical flying monster that a note identifies as a "Byakhee."

Eberhardt checks under the bed. Finding it empty, he crawls under to hide.

Meanwhile, outside, Le Doux grabs the shovel and heads back to the mound. He starts digging, quickly uncovering a large pile of skeletal remains. His mind becomes further unhinged as he examines the bones and sees they are human and appear to have been chewed on.

Le Doux finds the teeth marks appear to be more animal in nature. Panicking, he starts running back towards the front of the house and runs inside, still carrying the shovel. He moves through the trophy room so fast he doesn't notice the heads.

Seeing the footprints in the dust, he heads into the bedroom. Inside, Eberhardt hears someone come into the room; the person sounds crazy and dangerous. He considers attacking the person but holds back long enough for Le Doux to call out for Eberhardt.

Eberhardt answers from under the bed. Le Doux asks what he is doing there but the German is unable to come up with a satisfactory lie so admits he was scared. Le Doux starts talking about finding the bones, which Eberhardt is not surprised about since he already found the likely heads.

Le Doux wants to get out of there quickly. He is in such a hurry he heads out the wrong door, heading into a back hall behind the bedroom. It follows around a corner.

Eberhardt follows slowly behind Le Doux, keeping a lookout. At the end of the hall, Le Doux opens one of the two door to find an indoor outhouse. He then opens the other door, finding another bedroom.

Le Doux spots a book and an open magazine on the bed. The book is a copy of The Lost Valley and Other Strange Stories by Algernon Blackwood. He starts flipping through it while handling the magazine over to Eberhardt.

The magazine is the March 1924 issue of Weird Tales. The cover shows a picture of Houdini and advertises the main story as "The Spirit Fakers of Hermannstadt", a true account written by Houdini. Despite the cover's promise of it being the most miraculous true story ever written, Eberhardt doubts it is worth the twenty-five cent cover price.

The magazine is open to a letters page. Glancing through it, Eberhardt notices one of the letters is from a Donny Martin of Crescent City. It reads, "Popular authors do not and apparently cannot appreciate the fact that true art is obtainable only by rejecting normality and conventionality in toto, and approaching a theme purged utterly of any usual or preconceived point of view... Take a werewolf story, for instance — whoever wrote a story from the point of view of the wolf, and sympathizing strongly with the devil to whom he has sold himself?"

Le Doux, for his part, finds one of the stories in the book is ear-marked, "The Wendigo." Skimming it, he sees it is a story about a hunting party in Canada stalked by an evil beast that takes the form of a man.

Finding nothing else in the book, Le Doux is ready to move on. He opens the only other door in the room, finding a large storage closet with all kinds of boxes and things in it. Eberhardt digs around and finds a box of ammunition for his rifle. They decide to make their way back to the rear of the house.

*** Session 11 - Scene 9 (of 11) ***

The two men make their way back to the other door in the dining room. Still hearing nothing and no one in the house, they open the door finding a small hall leading to the back porch. The west wall has a large set of shelves along one side.

Le Doux spots some semi-circle scratch marks along the floor next to the shelves. It appears as if the shelves might move. Feeling around, he finds a latch. He tells Eberhardt to ready the rifle and opens the hidden door. It swings opens to reveal a dark hallway beyond.

Flipping on the flashlight, Le Doux heads in. He's convinced it is the way out but Eberhardt isn't so sure. The hallway leads a short distance before ending in another door.

Le Doux opens that door to discover the room beyond appears to be a root cellar, possibly located under the elevated area outside. In the center of the room is a crude table with dried blood on it in the symbol of a dot with three lines coming out from it (similar to the Yellow Sign drawing Eberhardt discovered). The table is surrounded by lit candles, half burned down.

Finding nothing else in the room and unable to get Eberhardt to come investigate, Le Doux decides to leave. He goes out to tell Eberhardt about what he found, believing the symbol he saw was similar to the one near the door that was not the sign of the wyrm.

While Le Doux tries to convince him to go check it out, Eberhardt decides on a different course of action. He lights his stick of dynamite and throws it down the hall. The two have a chance to run out the back porch just as the explosion goes off, throwing them to the ground.

*** Session 11 - Scene 10 (of 11) ***

As Eberhardt and Le Doux pick themselves up off the ground, they spot a group of people coming up from the path behind the house. The man in the lead appears to be middle-aged bald man, while behind him are three younger women wearing dark robes that partially obscure their faces. Le Doux guesses this must be Thylo.

Thylo calls out to the two, asking what they are doing there. Eberhardt readies his rifle while Le Doux lights a stick of dynamite and tries throwing it at him. Unfortunately, the throw goes wide and the man seems to shrug off the incidental exposure to the explosion.

Enraged, Thylo's eyes narrow and he grits his teeth. Eberhardt and Le Doux watch in horror as Thylo's face begins to elongate, his fingers lengthen, and his body hair grows thick. Within seconds, he is transformed into a wolf-man.

The werewolf charges at Le Doux, raking him with his claws. The already-wounded Le Doux is quickly weakened by the blow.

Eberhardt sees the girls, Thylo's daughters, are also turning into werewolves. He fires the Winchester at one of them, dropping her.

Le Doux feels the situation is becoming dire. He begins chanting, calling out the spell to call Nyarlathotep. He hopes the Floating Horror will eat the werewolves.

As he does so, the two female werewolves grab Eberhardt from either side, sinking their teeth into him. He yells out in pain. He drops the rifle and fires his .38 special into one of them, hitting her in the stomach.

The sky begins to change colors. Eberhardt looks up to see the Floating Horror starting to appear. The werewolves stop their attack, mesmerized by the sight. They change back into their human forms.

Thylo asks Le Doux what he is doing. Le Doux responds by firing his sawed-off shotgun straight into his face. He falls to the ground, with a big chunk of his head missing.

Eberhardt fires another shot into the woman he already wounded, downing her. As he moves to fire at the remaining one, a voice calls out telling him to wait. Another young woman emerges from the trees, wearing a porcupine quill necklace. Eberhardt surmises this must be Jerboa.

Le Doux tells Jerboa she needs to call off her sister. She turns to the remaining standing girl and tells her to stop, calling her by the name Bahloo. The first sister Eberhardt shot is also starting to get up, and Jerboa tells her to hold back as well, calling her by the name Yara.

Jerboa then asks Le Doux how he knows her name and what he wants with her. He says they are looking for Donny Martin.

Just then, Thylo stands back up. Le Doux sees the man's face is starting to regenerate before his eyes. It is a very disturbing image.

Thylo says something about Donny being too weak to accept the gift the wolf gave him. Jerboa argues the point with him, saying Donny is just confused.

Largely ignoring the exchange, Le Doux threatens to bring back the Floating Horror if they don't tell him where to find Donny Martin. Jerboa says he is in the city, running wild. According to her, the "transformation didn't go well."

Le Doux is confused what she means. Jerboa explains Donny wanted to be one of them. Le Doux tries to ask how that works. Jerboa questions if that is really important at the moment, but Le Doux is concerned about viral transference for Eberhardt.

Jerboa says it is not that simple; a ritual needs to be involved. Le Doux equates it to his calling of "his friend" (referring to Nyarlathotep.)

The girl goes on to explain it started hundreds of years ago when her family first settled the land. A wolf transformed by the power of the wyrm bit one of her ancestors. He survived through help from the p Indians the family traded with; eventually, they learned how to use the power of the wyrm to transform themselves.

As for Donny, Jerboa says he truly feels the "call of the wild", but the transformation was imperfect in him and he can't control his shifts. As a result, his mind has been muddled and he's running wild in the city, killing people for food.

Le Doux asks why they aren't helping him. Thylo says it is not their problem as Jerboa looks downcast.

Eberhardt asks about the nuns. Jerboa explains he must be referring to her sisters – Bahloo, Yara, and Goolah (who is now recovered from her injuries as well). She goes on to say they wear the dark robes to conceal their more bestial appearance, as they have neither the experience controlling it their father has, nor do they have her necklace.

Jerboa says she has been looking for Donny in the city and believes she knows where he is hiding out. She wants to help, but isn't sure what she can do.

Le Doux tells Thylo that Donny is all of their problem now and they need to help him. Thylo carefully grabs a dagger from his belt; it has a silver blade. He tells Le Doux the only way to help Donny is to plunge the dagger into Donny's heart.

Thinking, Le Doux asks if silver bullets would work. Thylo isn't sure, having never done that. Le Doux wants more details, but Thylo can only say something about its chemical properties affecting their condition.

When Le Doux asks if the dagger will cure Donny, Thylo coldly says he will not survive. He is less than sympathetic about it, believing Donny is no better than a wild beast now. Eberhardt agrees Donny's parents won't want him back in his current state.

Le Doux asks Thylo if there is any way to reverse the process. He says he knows of no way, but Jerboa insists with Le Doux's magical abilities he should be able to find a way.

In the meantime, Eberhardt tries to strike the deal with Thylo about leaving the people from Audrey's alone. Thylo tells Eberhardt he'll kill him if he ever returns and should keep everyone away. Le Doux threatens to use his magic again, but Thylo threatens to tear his throat out.

Since Thylo's ultimate goal is to just be left alone, Eberhardt eventually succeeds in negotiating a way to keep the groups out of each other's ways in exchange for taking care of Donny; not that Thylo cares for the boy, but he knows his daughter wishes to mate with him. Le Doux agrees to cure Donny if they can, or kill him if they can't.

After Le Doux fails to convince Thylo his cabin exploded from a "natural gas leak" and giving him his rifle back, they start to get going. Jerboa agrees to go with them to help them find Donny.

As they head out, Le Doux asks her why she uses the necklace to maintain her humanity. Jerboa explains she's always been more at home in the city, liking the conveniences of modern technologies like the movies where she met Donny.

*** Session 11 - Scene 11 (of 11) ***

When they get back to Audrey's, they return the boat and explain to Dilly they have solved his problems. He seems pleased, saying they'll have their "store credit." The two use the credit to get a couple of cabins for the night, but are too beat up to take advantage to use any company (though one of the girls, Lola, tries to entice Eberhardt). Jerboa, for her part, stays out of sight in the woods until morning.

When morning comes, they take the ferry back to the city and head to Le Doux's office. The men change clothes and start forming a plan on what to do next.

Eberhardt asks Jerboa about where she thinks Donny is located. She says she believes he is staying at the House of Refuge and working at the Work House during the day but goes roaming at night.

Le Doux knows those are part of the Apostolic Church of Crescent City, ran by the bombastic evangelical minister, Reverend Jimmy Lee Farnsworth. Le Doux knows Farnsworth has a bad reputation among the wealthier Creole families in town for convincing some of their elderly relatives to help fund his church instead of leaving it for inheritance.

Jerboa is anxious to get going, but Le Doux says he will need to heal up first. Jerboa assists by applying a folk remedy to his wounds – it burns, but does appear to help them heal a little.

Le Doux also wants to wait to see if he can get Hawk and Nibbons on the case with him, feeling they'll need all the help they can get to take care of a wild werewolf. But he has a plan – they'll get some more silver in case they need to kill him.

Eberhardt plans to get some shackles from the prison to keep him contained once they get him. Le Doux suggests chaining Donny to his safe. When he looks at the safe, he notices it has damage from someone trying to crack it. After confirming with Madge no one has been in his office, he has an idea who tried to break into his safe.

As for Donny, Le Doux knows they'll need a different kind of help to save him. Thinking about it, he believes Kendi can help.

The three split up – with Jerboa going to bring Donny back, Eberhardt to go get the chains, and Le Doux to head to the museum to find Kendi...

*** Session 11 and Interlude 2 - Session Notes ***

So, this session two of the players couldn't make it, putting us down to two. Two investigators makes for a very small game indeed, though we managed to make it work. I'd still say the ideal for a CoC-style game is three players - that seems to work best, though two and four can work (five is too many, in my opinion).

In any event, the Donny Martin plot moved along nicely. I had the FLOW cabin mapped out months ago as one of the first plots I came up with for the campaign. Next session may end the Donny Martin plot of the campaign, but some related material is just beginning.

Random notes about the session / interlude:
* I wanted the mercenary team descending on the lake house island to feel somewhat like a modern special forces type mission. In my head I was picturing something between Tom Clancy and the marines from Aliens.

* The monster they killed was indeed Niven from the previous campaign (who was badly wounded, but never killed, in the final session).

* More to come on the mysterious company they work for, the doctor they mentioned, and the terrible plot being hatched there (and how it relates to the current campaign) in the next interlude...

* Clearly Eberhardt was recently taken over by the Great Race the same way Nibbons and Fox previously were. I originally had some material ready to expand on that for Nibbons, but he missed the session.

* This is the first time I really thought about the exact date the campaign takes place in. Using the Scopes jury story from at the start of the campaign, I estimate it starts somewhere in the first week of July and went through the exercise of approximating the dates for each session. I came up with Aug 25th as the current date from that.

* Since I didn't have that date during the session, we just talked in general that Eberhardt thought it was the previous day. I added the actual date (and the newspaper material about the sports news) in the notes to add color.

* During the session, the joke was that Hawk's sister was "being cured off the Wild Turkey" (from the line in Christmas Vacation). Since Wild Turkey wasn't invented yet, the notes change it to the fictional Wild Duck.

* There were quite a few OOC jokes around the trip to the hardware store since that led to murder and mayhem in the Lakefront City campaign.

* I'm not 100% sure how rural Jefferson Parish and the areas I mentioned actually were in 1925 (though I do know you had to use a ferry to get there because the bridge wasn't built yet). I claim dramatic license.

* Clearly I'm foreshadowing some future plot material for Pentex by mentioning it a couple of times. But my players (who may never have played a WOD game and aren't familiar with Pentex or the Wyrm) may not get the foreshadowing (so far they haven't indicated any interest).

* Audrey's, and all of the male characters there, are taken from the TV show, Justified. I just used random names for the females because I didn't think to look any of those up ahead of time (the Crowe family plot has been on my list for awhile but wasn't originally linked to the Bowles plot).

* The "scenic cabin fee" is a play on the joke in the original Vacation film.

* Le Doux's encounter with the prostitute took me by surprise. I was expecting the typical "I'm just here to ask some questions" type of thing from him. Instead, he responded with "the works". The description of their activities comes from the joke that he stressed he wanted to perform well and I joked he'd have to roll Athletics; since he has a poor score in that, he countered that he'd do her "real nasty" so he could use his (higher) Crime skill score.

* The Eberhardt player was at a loss when he got to the bar, unsure what liquor Germans drank (which caused us to mock him with Octoberfest jokes).

* As a joke, Dilly tended to call them the "Bowels" family when I spoke as him.

* Clearly Dilly and Elvis are trafficking marijuana. That may figure into more of the crime plots in the future.

* The "naval entanglements" line was delivered as a play on the scene in Star Wars.

* Darlene's joke about not being able to use the outhouse was a play on the joke in Bad Santa.

* I couldn't think of the name of the pirogue during the session so we just called it a "Cajun flat boat". There were comments about wanting a fan boat, but I reminded them this wasn't the Everglades. Still, the game version of the bayou is far more swampy than the real place.

* The dead tree was there because I used pictures of the map tiles from the Mansions of Madness board game (specifically, the call of the wild expansion) to create my map of the area (in my notes at least; we don't use minis in this game at all). The players got real freaked out about what might happen with it (suspecting something ala Poltergeist).

* The four claw marks on the tree was a joke referring back to an old D&D session with my former gaming group where one of the players insisted a mark couldn't be from a werewolf because it had the wrong number of claws (which would have made sense except I just threw out a number without thinking when he asked, which was obvious to everyone else).

* The well, similarly, was just there to give some atmosphere but they thought for sure tentacles were going to come out of it.

* The "cabin" of the Bowles clan is quite large (it is effectively a small swamp mansion).

* Why were there lamps inside the cabin along with a fire in the fireplace? Because I didn't want it obvious no one was inside (originally I expected them to investigate during the day so I had to improvise).

* The chunk of meat in the icebox was just meant to be something disgusting; it had no real story to it (other than the obvious - it was ripped out by werewolf claws not cut out with knives). I intended for it to be deer meat, not human.

* The candles were beeswax so as to not suggest how long they had been lit.

* The human head trophies were old - something from past generations. The PCs never inspected them closely so that never came out. There was a whole story about how the clan gave up cannibalism a long time ago.

* I joked about a trap going off when the rifle was removed (as in Resident Evil, etc.)

* The name of the cabin, FLOW, as well as the first names of the clan (along with Kendi and Dr. Beckmeyer) all come from The Howling III: The Marsupials.

* The PCs never did get the FLOW puzzle. They knew it was a puzzle, but were looking for missing letters instead of recognizing it was "wolf" backwards. Hence, in the write-up, they miss seeing it in the glass.

* The symbols around the door were for the wyrm and the black spiral dancers (that one the PCs didn't recognize). Granted, in the game I wasn't going to call it the black spiral dancers per se.

* The papers of Donny Martin that Eberhardt found (which were printed handouts for the PCs) show he discovered a lot about the deeper truths. "Has Star?" refers to Hastur and "The Follower of the Seven Sisters" refers to Hastur's home planet of Aldebaran (called The Follower) and its close relationship to the constellation of Pleiades (the Seven Sisters). How that fits into the story along with the byakhee and the Bowles clan's condition remains to be revealed (after all, the PCs haven't even puzzled out that much).

* Eberhardt went under the bed because the player figured by then he'd lost so much sanity he just wanted to hide. The house is designed to be a sanity drain - both PCs ended up losing 7 points each by the end of the session.

* I had picture handouts of the book and magazine for the PCs to add color (though the picture of the book was from a couple of decades later, it still looked old enough).

* The Algernon Blackwood story was chosen because it was the kind of fiction that inspired Lovecraft's works and because the wendigo myth is often used in conjunction with werewolf myths.

* I chose that particular issue of Weird Tales because I was able to find the image of it online. It's also a magazine Lovecraft's stories were published in.

* Donny's letter is an actual letter Lovecraft himself wrote to Weird Tales, which inspired H. Warner Munn to write his various Tales of the Werewolf Clan stories.

* The room with the altar of the yellow sign was the "transformation chamber" where the ritual to grant a clan member the power of the werewolf was performed.

* Eberhardt blowing up the ritual room was done somewhat as a tongue in cheek response to the Le Doux player trying to coax him inside to see the yellow sign in the hopes he would lose more sanity (for OOC humor purposes).

* Le Doux actually gained the knowledge of Nyarlathotep back when he read the diary of Jean Batraville (it's also when he learned the spell). He'd been looking for a time to use it for a while.

* Jerboa shows up in the nick of time because the PCs had no way to really kill the werewolves. Again, I underestimated the PCs willingness to immediately engage the family in combat instead of trying to talk to them first (of course, since they already blew up part of their house...)

* I had Jerboa give out big chunks of exposition in order to keep the story moving since the PCs weren't thinking of asking questions by then.

* I think I mentioned before - Jimmy Lee Farnsworth is from Fletch Lives. I hope to use him for humor value next session.

* I originally envisioned the end of the Donny Martin story to be more An American Werewolf in London, but going the occult route to try and save him with a spell (that will cost them yet more sanity) works too.

* As a side note - Le Doux is down to 14 SAN while Eberhardt still has 27. They'll both be gaining new derangements after this session. By comparison, Hawk still has 35 (though is terrified of zombis now) and Nibbons still has 55 (by far the most sane member of the group).

*** Interlude - The Shape of Things to Come - Part 3 ***

 Whiting, IN
 January 1, 1925

 On a snowy New Year's Day, Max Grant drives the car up to the gates of the Whiting Refinery. He notes since he was last here they replaced the refinery sign indicating the new ownership.

 The plant is closed for the holiday, but a guard remains at the gate. After Max's boss presents his credentials, the guard opens the gate and they drive inside.

 The car drives past the main refinery buildings and over to the business offices. He parks the car and opens the door for his boss, Curtiss Jackson. Jackson heads inside alone, leaving Grant to wait in the car.

 Inside, Jackson finds Delazny is already waiting for him outside his office. Before he can talk to the man, his secretary informs him Richard Deacon has been calling again. He tells her he'll take care of it personally and motions Delazny inside.

 Jackson asks Delazny how Stryke is doing. Delazny sarcastically notes he's doing better than Van Zante, then clarifies the doctor is still trying to treat him.

 Delazny then gives a report on how things are going – one of the subjects they brought back is dead but there are several still alive the doctor believes have promise. He says it is a good thing the subjects were all already declared dead so no relatives will be looking for them.

 The mercenary then wants to know what Deacon's call was about. Jackson explains the man has decided the previous payment he received from them was insufficient. He tells Delazny he may need him to take care of that for him.

 Before he leaves, Delazny tells Jackson why he stopped by in the first place – he's heard back from his old army contact, Captain Robert "Buzz" Baxter. Delazny says Baxter is interested in the doctor's research, and apparently it will tie in with the work already being done by his own team at the Institute for Supernormality Research, but they will need to relocate...

*** Session 12 - Cast of Characters ***

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

 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.

 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.

*** Session 12 - Scene 1 (of 12) ***

Nibbons wakes up in a cold sweat. He recalls having another of those strange dreams, but doesn't remember anything about it.

Getting up, Chester showers and gets himself ready to head in to see Le Doux. After yesterday's successful gambling ventures, particularly on his Helen Moody bet, he has enough to pay back the Cajun a portion of the money he owes him.

Across town, Hawk is also cleaning up from the previous night. After using some turkey grease, he managed to get Foxy off of the Wild Duck. Once his place is clean of all the vomit, he heads over to see Le Doux – leaving her to rest. He's cautious on the way over, still worried about anyone coming after him.

Nibbons and Hawk arrive at the office around the same time, but find only Madge there. She tells them Le Doux and Eberhardt went out on errands but will be back soon, so they decide to wait.

*** Session 12 - Scene 2 (of 12) ***

At the Louisiana State History Museum, Le Doux uses the public restroom to use the bar of soap and steel brush he purchased at the grocers on the way over to wash himself thoroughly. Ever since he returned from the bayou, he has felt dirty and is worried about germs being everywhere.

When he finishes, he steps over to one of the attendants and asks to speak with Kendi Battice, giving his name and saying the two are friends. After a moment, she retrieves the older Choctaw man. He is surprised to see Le Doux again, vaguely recognizing him, and asks what he can do for him.

Le Doux asks if they can have a private word in his office. Kendi explains he does not have his own office as he works in the anthropology office with Dr. Beckmeyer. Le Doux asks if Beckmeyer is in today and Kendi says he is. Thinking a moment, Le Doux decides that could be a good thing as perhaps Dr. Beckmeyer's knowledge could also be useful in helping with his matter.

Dr. Beckmeyer looks up from his desk when the two men enter the office. He greets Le Doux by the name "Dr. Jones", which causes Kendi to give him a look. Le Doux responds with a wink to Kendi.

Le Doux tells Beckmeyer he has some strange questions to ask him about. He starts by reminding the doctor about the lizard man investigation in the Irish Bayou where he met Kendi. Beating around the bush a bit, Le Doux makes vague comments about having some strange experiences lately.

Stopping in the middle of the conversation, Le Doux gets distracted by a spot of dirt on the floor. Beckmeyer asks if everything is OK, shaking him out of his fixation.

Getting back to the issue at hand, he says his latest case has some similarities to the lizard man case. He begins by explaining about looking for a missing young man who believes he may be a werewolf.

Dr. Beckmeyer says he is somewhat familiar with what Le Doux is talking about, since Mr. Round and Mr. Nibbons visited him the other day to ask about that necklace. He recalls Mr. Nibbons asking about werewolves.

Le Doux goes on to explain they have not found Martin yet, but have located Jerboa Bowles. He goes on to explain the Bowles family appears to be actual werewolves. Harry expresses his interest in the possibility, calling it fascinating. Le Doux says it is also dangerous.

Boudreaux stumbles on, saying the Bowles family appears to be (at least relatively) peaceful, but Martin decided to go through the ritual to become a werewolf him and is running amok in the city.

Beckmeyer isn't as interested in Donny Martin as he is the rituals that turned him into a werewolf. He asks Le Doux for information, saying he'd like to study them. Le Doux admits he has no notes on that ritual.

However, Le Doux does have the silver dagger they gave him. He explains the Bowles patriarch gave it to him in order to stop Donny. Le Doux starts explaining about the recent murders and the connection to Martin, but Beckmeyer isn't really listening; he does, however, want to get a better look at the knife.

Le Doux lets Beckmeyer take a look at it. He examines it with his magnifying glass, taking notes. He identifies it as a French roundel, likely 17th century in origin, with a silver blade.

The detective isn't really that interested in the dagger itself. He tells Beckmeyer they need to find a way to help Donny or the only other way to stop him is by thrusting it into his heart.

Beckmeyer finds the suggestion ghastly, but Kendi says death is the only option for one who has the taint of the wyrm. Le Doux notes he's talking about wolves not worms, which causes Kendi to mutter something in Choctaw under his breathe.

Wanting more information about the wyrm, Le Doux feigns ignorance and asks Beckmeyer what Kendi is talking about. Harry explains the wyrm is the belief of Kendi's tribe in an evil, corrupting spirit that warps nature. He goes on to tell Le Doux he has written several papers on the subject and asks if he'd like to see them. Le Doux says he is very interested in that.

Beckmeyer goes on to remind Le Doux how the artifacts he asked about on his previous visit, the ones stolen in the break-in, were related to the wyrm concept; they were all Indian artifacts related to snake myths.

Le Doux asks how that is related to wolves. Beckmeyer isn't sure. He does note wolf worship is another common animal totem among various Indian tribes but not the ones with the snake artifacts. Le Doux nods along, recalling the lizard men. Beckmeyer corrects him that the tribes actually believed in snake men, not lizard men; but he posits that if snake men, or lizard men, could exist then so could wolf men.

Insisting such a thing is indeed possible, Le Doux says he knows the wolf men exist because he saw them change form directly in front of him. Beckmeyer finds the prospect fascinating and wants to head out to talk to them himself. Kendi mumbles something else.

Le Doux warns Beckmeyer against such an expedition, saying he could end up disemboweled. He explains that during his visit (with "Mr. Sallah") he shot one of the clan at point blank range with a shotgun and saw the man heal the wound before his eyes. He says they are very dangerous individuals.

Far from dissuading Le Doux, Beckmeyer is more convinced than ever he needs to meet the Bowles clan and indicates he plans to leave right away.

Le Doux tries to gain control of the conversation again, saying they have Jerboa and need his help with Donnie. Beckmeyer is confused, asking Le Doux how he can help. Le Doux explains he believes they can avoid using the knife on the boy if they can come up with a counter-ritual that could make Donny human again.

Beckmeyer says he has no direct knowledge of such a thing, but recalls his last conversation with Mr. Nibbons about the legends of the loup garou and how Henry Bouget wrote a book on the subject. He suggests to Le Doux he track down a copy of Bouget's seminal study on witchcraft and sorcery, Discours execrable des Sorciers (The Excrable Speech of Sorcerers), written in 1602. If anything has a way to reverse the spell, Beckmeyer suggests, it will be that book; though he admits he does not have a copy and does not know where to get one, suggesting Le Doux find a rare book collector.

Le Doux says he believes he knows how he might locate a copy, thinking of Nibbons. He asks if Beckmeyer wants to talk to Jerboa, but the anthropologist says he'd rather observe the family "in the field" first to get a look at their natural habitat. The doctor continues on about the paper he intends to write.

As a last ditch attempt to save the man's life, Le Doux gives him directions to Audrey's campground and says he can start by talking to one of the girls, Darlene, there about the clan. Beckmeyer finds the name familiar, saying he recalls one of his uncles and his friends often stayed there when they were out on one of their fishing trips.

Le Doux informs him to use the name of "Mr. Le Doux" when asking to use some of his "store credit" there. Beckmeyer asks who Mr. Le Doux is, causing Kendi to shake his head and mutter behind his back. Le Doux, for his part, says it is a sort of code name. Beckmeyer tells "Dr. Jones" his practice of archeology is interesting and much more exciting than he's been led to believe about the subject.

*** Session 12 - Scene 3 (of 12) ***

Over at the Parish Prison, Eberhardt is talking to Deputy Arnold Stephens about getting some manacles for transporting a prisoner. While the deputy is getting the chains, a patrol officer dropping off a prisoner spots Eberhardt.

Eberhardt recognizes the officer as one of the men he used to work with when he was still a patrolman, Officer Frank Mahen. Mahen tells Eberhardt Lt. Giaradello has been looking for him and wants to see him right away.

Mahen offers to drive Eberhardt back to the precinct. Eberhardt explains he's waiting on something. When Stephens shows back up with the chains, Mahen asks what those are for. Eberhardt says they are for a prisoner he needs to transport. Mahen is surprised, saying he thought being a fancy homicide detective and all, Eberhardt would have more interesting things to do.

Eberhardt says the prisoner is a dangerous murderer and he can't trust anyone else to handle him. Mahen asks who the prisoner is. Eberhardt gives the name of Donny Martin. Mahen says the name doesn't make him sound dangerous, but Eberhardt insists he is a murderer of nuns at the mission. Mahen hasn't heard of any such murders, but assumes Bruno knows what he is talking about.

When Eberhardt gets back to the precinct, he finds Giaradello waiting with his partners, Det. McElroy and Det. Le Fleur. The lieutenant comments on Eberhardt finally being back in the office.

Eberhardt asks what he can help with. Giaradello explains the copycat Axeman murder case is starting to heat up and he needs to pull him into it. He goes on to say that since Eberhardt was last in the office, there have been a couple more attacks.

McElroy lists off the recent attacks – one outside the Slaughtered Lamb restaurant, and another on a trolley car that left six people injured or killed. Giaradello says they have to stop the attacks right away.

Eberhardt asks for more information on the attacks. Le Fleur, in his soft voice, explains the attacker appears to use some sort of knife, as all the victims have had multiple, long lacerations as wounds. Given the symmetry of the marks, Le Fleur suspects the attacker could be using an unusual weapon similar to a Hindu bagh naka.

Le Fleur goes on to say they have a suspect; they believe it is one of the indigent men working at the Work House and staying at the House of Refuge Apostolic Mission, going by the name David Kessler though Le Fleur suspects that could be a pseudonym. Eberhardt doesn't recognize the name but clearly they have found Donny Martin.

Eberhardt asks if they need his help investigating crime scenes. Giaradello explains they already have other men on that – they need Eberhardt's help with a plan to capture the man that night. According to Giaradello, the Chief of Detectives himself, Inspector Villiers, will be personally overseeing the arrest operation. He goes on to say Superintendent Healy has authorized the use of the browning assault rifles for the operation.

Giaradello directs Eberhardt's attention to the map of the city on a nearby table. He explains Eberhardt will be part of a team with McElroy and Le Fleur watching the mission. McElroy says since the attacks take place at night, they assume Kessler sneaks out of the mission then to go into the city.

Once Kessler leaves the mission, Giaradello explains, patrol units will strategically flush Kessler into the red light district near the old Piccadilly Nickelodeon Theater. The plan is to trap the suspect in the dead end alley behind the theater where there is no possibility for bystanders to get hurt during the arrest, noting the use of deadly force is authorized. Eberhardt realizes the real purpose of the operation is the police have no intention of letting Martin leave that alley alive and he is to be part of the firing squad executing the man.

Eberhardt asks if there will be a full moon that night. Le Fleur, finding the question odd, says as a matter of fact there is. Thinking of the danger of trying to take on the werewolf under a full moon, believing that will be the height of his power, Eberhardt says he thinks they should wait at least a week.

Giaradello rebuffs the suggestion, saying the inspector will never stand for it and they can't risk the man committing more murders. He says they need to take the criminal down now.

Eberhardt switches tactics, saying they should then go after the man now in the daylight. But Giaradello is concerned other people could get in the way, leading to complications. He also doesn't want to tip their hand to Kessler; if he realizes they are on to him, he could get away and disappear again. The safest method, the lieutenant believes, is to follow Villiers' plan to trap the suspect.

Admitting defeat, Eberhardt says he has some investigations to complete that day but will be back for the operation. He tries to get one of the rifles early, but Giaradello says they will be handed out when they put the plan into action. The lieutenant firmly reminds Eberhardt to be back there at 1700 hours for the full briefing.

*** Session 12 - Scene 4 (of 12) ***

When Le Doux arrives back at the office, he finds Nibbons and Hawk waiting. Eberhardt shows up a minute later, but says he needs to use Le Doux's washroom. He heads in, carrying a small paper bag.

Le Doux immediately starts yelling at Nibbons, asking him where he's been. Nibbons explains about the gambling and having the weird dream again. Le Doux is upset, but less so when Nibbons hands over the roll of cash.

He takes the two into his back office and catches them up on the Martin investigation. Hawk feels emboldened, saying Le Doux must finally believe in the zombies now. Le Doux clarifies he was talking about werewolves, but Hawk insists if one exists then so must the other.

Around this time, Eberhardt emerges from the bathroom. He has shaved off his trademark mustache along with all the hair on his head (even his eyebrows) and along his arms. Le Doux can see several cuts over the man's body where he must have slipped with the straight razor.

Eberhardt acts as if everything is perfectly normal, asking what he missed. Hawk sarcastically suggests a spot in the back. Nibbons asks if he's been in a fight.

Le Doux, however, is horrified as he realizes the man shaved his body in Le Doux's bathroom. Thinking of all the blood and hair all over the room makes him queasy. He rushes over to Madge, telling her to get out the cleaning supplies.

While Eberhardt says Le Doux's drain might be a bit clogged, Le Doux is telling Madge the room needs to be cleaned right away. She asks if she should use the bleach or the ammonia, or mix them to get the room real clean. He tells her to get both, but not to mix them. He then tells Eberhardt he needs to be the one to clean the room and insists he cover up all his wounds to not get blood anywhere else.

As they wait on Eberhardt's scrubbing, Hawk wants to know how to stop the werewolves. He asks if any knives will stop him, or if it is just the silver one. Le Doux says it has to be silver, but he's keeping the Bowles dagger for himself. Nibbons agrees it has to be silver, but notes according to legend they can also keep the werewolves at bay with aconitum lycoctonum, or wolfsbane.

From the bathroom, Eberhardt chimes in that he doesn't believe the legends are true and suggests Le Doux get rid of the dagger before someone gets hurt with it. He agrees, wrapping up the dagger and putting it inside his belt.

Hawk wants some other form of silver they can use for weapons, not wanting Le Doux to be the only one able to defend himself. Le Doux recalls he does have his deceased mother's silver place setting that he never uses. He heads upstairs to dig it out of storage.

When he brings it back down, Eberhardt is finished with the bathroom. They all look at the silver and Hawk suggests he has some friends who are machinists who could grind down the knife blade into something useful as weapons. Eberhardt would rather they get rid of all of that.

Le Doux thinks silver bullets could be more useful than silver knives. Hawk likes the sound of that but Eberhardt gets increasingly concerned, saying Le Doux is not a good shot and they could hurt someone.

Nibbons wonders if they should get some wolfsbane. Eberhardt says it is only an old wives' tale.

Eberhardt tries to turn the conversation back to Donny Martin, explaining about what he found out at the police station. Le Doux says they'll need to act first then, since Eberhardt not showing up would be suspicious.

Hawk suggests they could simply phone in a false tip to lead the police away from the location. Le Doux doesn't agree the police are likely to fall for that. The two argue for some time over the viability of the plan, but Le Doux remains convinced the best thing to do is get Donny during the day.

Backing down, Hawk agrees to Le Doux's plan but notes they won't have time to get the silver bullets made so they'll have to rely on the knives. He thinks he can get them done quickly, and wants to get them attached to small poles so they'll have more reach.

Le Doux then asks Eberhardt about the shackles. The German takes them out of the car to show Le Doux. They decide to tie the shackles to the radiator and get Donny back to the office. Le Doux wants to slip Donny a mickey (using one of the coco anana drinks he likes) then tie him up.

Eberhardt is concerned about what happens next; he says they can't just kill Donny then, as "they are still people."

Hawk, meanwhile, is more concerned the werewolf would have the strength to rip the radiator out of the piping, saying he had a drunk uncle do that once. Le Doux tells Hawk if his uncle is that strong, he should come over and help them deal with the werewolf, but Hawk insists his uncle won't truck with any werewolves.

Le Doux also tells the others they need to find the book by Henry Bouget. Hawk thinks back to the night he saw in Dr. Broncati's office, but recalls that book was Italian, not French, and was named La Sostanza Alternativa. Le Doux suggests Nibbons look into that since he is the most knowledgeable about the occult.

Nibbons believes he'll need to go back to Esplanade Books store and see if they have a copy. Le Doux says they should all split up again – Nibbons can get the book, Hawk can get the knives sharpened, and he can procure the horse tranquilizer.

Eberhardt offers to stay behind and prepare the office to capture Donny. Le Doux tells him to make sure Jerboa brings back Donny. Hawk is still nervous about Jerboa, since she is also a werewolf. Le Doux says it is a "very light case" of lycanthropy and insists they have nothing to worry about there.

Hawk isn't so sure he believes in light cases, but Le Doux tells him to just worry about getting the silverware sharpened. Eberhardt still insists they should just get rid of all that dangerous silver.

*** Session 12 - Scene 5 (of 12) ***

Nibbons makes his way across town to Esplanade Books. He finds the owner, Lawrence Beauregard, working the counter as usual.

When Nibbons gives Beauregard the name of the book he is looking for, Discours execrable des Sorciers, the man shakes his head as he looks through his records. He tells Nibbons it is as he feared, he does not have a copy of that particular book.

Chester asks Lawrence if he knows where he might find a copy. According to Beauregard, he believes Gramyre Books had a copy, though notes of course that book store has been closed since Henry Carstairs died. He asks Nibbons if he remembers reading about the story with Carstairs' involvement in the cult who attacked Congressman O'Conner's daughter. Nibbons dryly remarks he remembers something about that, recalling that Eberhardt and the police got all of the credit.

Nibbons wonders how he might get a copy of one of the books from Gramyre, asking if there is a way to find who owns it now so he can buy it from them. Beauregard says he expects the book was sold off at auction with the rest of the store. He mentions he tried to buy the collection himself, but was outbid by Maximillian Coleridge, the local shipping magnate.

Beauregard goes on to say how surprised he was that Coleridge was interested in the books since he never expected a major businessman like that to have any connection with rare books; he finds it very strange.

Nibbons asks if Coleridge himself has ever come to Esplanade Books. Beauregard says he has not, and of course didn't even see him at the auction as Coleridge used a subordinate from his company as a proxy.

Given that Carstairs and the store were connected with the first Allatou cult cell, and Coleridge is a businessman who is connected to them, Nibbons suspects the man may be a new lead on the activities of the second cell of the cult, the cabal of businessmen known as The Committee. But he says nothing of this to Beauregard, instead asking what Coleridge did with the books.

According to Beauregard, at least some of the store's contents have already been loaded up into trucks and taken over to one of Coleridge's warehouses. Whether or not the book is still at the book store or in the warehouse, Lawrence can't say.

Nibbons asks to see his phone book and looks up the addresses of the Coleridge Shipping Company business office in the business district and the warehouse location (which the phone book identifies as being over on Roman Street in the Tulane area). He decides to head over to Gramyre Books first.

*** Session 12 - Scene 6 (of 12) ***

Hawk takes the silverware over to Mid-City where his friend and neighbor, Earl Roberts, works at the machinist's shop on South White Street servicing Bell & Gossett systems. He shows Earl the silverware and explains how he needs them grinded down to a sharp point.

Earl asks if Hawk really wants all eight knives made into shivs. He confirms he does, despite Earl's warning that silver will dull real fast. Earl is also cautious about where Hawk got all this silver, but Hawk just says the same place he gets all his stuff. Earl says he is surprised Hawk didn't just pawn it.

Hawk also wants the forks and spoons melted down to create silver bullets by hollowing out lead shot and pouring the molten silver inside. Earl isn't so sure about that – the boss might not notice some extra grinder work but discreetly melting the silver down could take a while. He confides in Earl that his boss is looking for a werewolf, which doesn't faze the superstitious machinist.

Earl notes it will also be a challenge to get a guy who can make the bullets, as the Thornton / Dorsey-Graham war is still taking place in the streets and driving up demand. He's also concerned about it throwing off the weight, but Hawk insists he will only be using them at point blank range.

Hawk asks Earl if he knows of any pawn shops with any kind of silver blades, like a silver machete. Earl doesn't believe he's ever heard of a silver machete, but does note one of the older Creole families may have one of those "Calvary swords" from the War of Northern Aggression in their collections that could be silver. Hawk thinks it is a good idea, though isn't sure where he'd find a collector.

Once he's done talking with Earl, Hawk wants to hunt down one of the voodoo queens. He finds the nearest one, Rue Pauls.

Rue greets Hawk and asks what she can help with. He tells her many strange things have been going on, which she agrees she has also sensed.

Hawk explains to Rue about the werewolf, which he isn't sure is real or not but wants to make sure he is protected. Rue tells him he needs silver, which he explains he already has. She also suggests he stay away, which he also agrees is a good idea.

Before he leaves, Rue tells him to hold on for a minute as she wants to toss the bones on him. She casts out her chicken bones, taking a minute to augur their message.

Rue warns Hawk he has more than werewolves after him, as she sees dark clouds gathering around him and his companions. She tells him the white man he works for is like a magnet for the dark clouds, telling him to be careful.

Hawk thanks her for her time, paying her the fee. He tells her she may want to warn others in the community to be on the alert for the werewolves so they can fight back. She agrees they will need to "work it".

*** Session 12 - Scene 7 (of 12) ***

In a different section of town, Nibbons arrives at Gramyre Books. He can't get a look inside from the front, as all the curtains inside appear to be closed so he decides to head around to the back.

As Nibbons makes his way into the alley, he spots the rear entrance to the store. He notices the back door isn't properly secured, so he'll be able to slip inside easily.

After take a quick look around to make sure no one will notice, he makes his way inside. He starts looking around, but the place has been largely emptied but there are a few boxes still sitting around.

Nibbons starts looking at the books in the box when he hears a couple of people talking around the corner. He quietly peers his head around the corner, only to spot a couple of men wearing Klan outfits.

The first Klansman appears to be consulting a small piece of paper in his hand while they look through a box of books. He mentions something to the other one about not being able to find anything by the author listed on the paper.

The second Klansman commiserates, saying something about how they will never become full-fledged Klan members if they can't find the book they are looking for.

Nibbons readies his pistol as he continues to observe the men. He looks around carefully and confirms the two men are the only ones there. Rather than confront the men, he decides to keep his distance.

The men appear to be finishing up their search and start making their way back to where Nibbons is hiding. Chester carefully sneaks his way back out the door.

When the men come out, he acts like a customer of the book store (being careful to keep his pistol readied in his pocket). He asks the men if the book store is still open.

The Klansmen seem more confused than tricked by his subterfuge. They warn him to leave. He backs off, making sure to notice they do not have any books with them.

Nibbons pretends to leave but hides at the end of the corner. He watches the two men leave and waits a minute before heading back inside the store.

Once back inside, Chester looks through the books in the boxes himself, but none of the remaining books in the store appear to be occult-related. Instead, they seem to be the more "normal" books the store carried (such as various Creole cookbooks). He decides to leave and head over to the warehouse.

*** Session 12 - Scene 8 (of 12) ***

Back at the office, Eberhardt gets the chains around the radiator and heads to the hardware store to get some wood, hammer, and nails to board up the office windows and ready some reinforcements on the sides of the doors they can prevent a werewolf from getting out.

Once he's done, he calls Madge over to lock him up. She does so, and he makes sure to swallow the key. With Eberhardt at her mercy, the lonely spinster decides to take advantage of him. She is surprised to find him shaved all over, but he insists that is how they do it in Germany.

While that is going on, Le Doux is blissfully unaware as it takes him some time trying to find a specialty grocer that carries Coconut Milk and Pineapple Juice.

He then goes to a shady veterinarian, Gerard Marks, who he knows can get him some horse tranquilizer pills. Marks doesn't ask many questions, which Le Doux expects since he's fairly sure Marks supplies the same thing to Bernie the Bookie to fix some of the races at the Fair Grounds Race Course.

Once he's done with that, Le Doux connects with Roscoe Sweeney, a two-bit fixer. He buys a set of standard handcuffs off of him.

When he makes his way back to the office, Le Doux spots Madge smoking a cigarette outside, which he finds a little strange. She makes an odd comment to her cousin about him having the most interesting friends.

Le Doux isn't sure what to make of that so he asks if Jerboa is back. When she explains the girl hasn't returned yet, he asks who else is back. Madge tells him it is just the "big, strong German man". He's pretty sure he's starting to get an idea of what happened while he was out.

Inside, Le Doux finds a horrifying site – not only is Eberhardt naked and chained to his radiator (and completely hairless everywhere on his body), he is pretty sure bacteria-filled bodily fluids have been spread all over his office in some kind of freaky sex act involving the German and his cousin.

After taking a minute to stash the horse tranquilizer and hand cuffs in his closet hiding place, he asks Eberhardt what he is doing. The German says no one needs to worry now as he has made sure they will all stay safe.

Le Doux keeps asking Eberhardt what he is doing. Eberhardt says he doesn't want to hurt anyone like Donny Martin, so he chained himself up and swallowed the key. He assures Le Doux "it will pass in a day or two".

Terrified by that imagery, Le Doux is stunned almost speechless while Eberhardt insists this is the best way to handle the situation.

Le Doux has to take a moment to collect his thoughts. He tries lying to Eberhardt and agreeing he is turning into a werewolf but says he can use his magic to cure him. Eberhardt doesn't believe him, saying to use it on Donny first. He also knows Nibbons hasn't returned with the book yet.

Eberhardt starts freaking out so Le Doux backs down a little. Boo does the next thing he can think of, telling Madge to go out and buy a large amount of laxative.

Madge leaves for the pharmacy, with Le Doux waiting behind still trying to figure out what to do next. He's a little uncertain which of Nibbons, Madge, or Hawk he'll be able to convince to "dig" for the key.

In the meantime, Le Doux finds a towel from upstairs and carefully wraps Eberhardt up in it so he doesn't have to see him anymore. As he does so, he wonders if he could just go out and find another key.

*** Session 12 - Scene 9 (of 12) ***

When Hawk walks back into the office, he finds Le Doux wrapping a towel around the naked Eberhardt who is chained to the radiator. He cracks some jokes, asking the men if they have a special kind of relationship then asks what is going on.

Le Doux explains Eberhardt was bit by one of the werewolves the other day and seems to be convinced he is turning into one. That makes sense to Hawk. From his chains, Eberhardt pleads with Hawk to not let Le Doux free him as he wants to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone.

Hawk notes the plan was to put Donny in the chains, not Eberhardt. Le Doux tells him the German has swallowed the key. Hawk suggests just gutting the man but Le Doux explains he wants to go out and look for another key.

As they discuss the key, Hawk points out the shackles use a normal handcuff key and asks if Eberhardt has a pair of handcuffs on him. Le Doux says he wasn't carrying his police equipment, but recalls he has a handcuff key of his own.

Le Doux grabs the key but doesn't want to unlock Eberhardt himself as it would get close to the man's unclothed body. But Hawk refuses, so Le Doux gets the mop and cleans up the entire area around Eberhardt.

As he is doing so, Eberhardt warns him not to touch the mop and "Madge already tried that". Noticing the end of the mop handle may be dirty, he washes it and his hands vigorously.

After everything is clean, Hawk holds a silver blade to Eberhardt's throat while Le Doux unchains him. Once he is out, Le Doux forces him to get dressed while he scrubs down the chains and radiator while telling Eberhardt he will use the ritual on him once Nibbons is back. Eberhardt says it better work or he will chain himself up again.

Hawk is concerned they won't have enough chains for everyone, but Le Doux is convinced they will be able to use the ritual to cure everyone. Hawk warns Eberhardt he will shank him if he starts turning into a werewolf.

In the meantime, Hawk gives Le Doux one of his silver mini-spears made from the knives. He offers one to Eberhardt as well, but the German tells him to just keep them away.

Hawk tries to get Eberhardt to touch the silver knife to prove whether he is a werewolf or not, but Eberhardt isn't having any of it.

Le Doux has a better idea, he wants to drug Eberhardt with some horse tranquilizer to test it out. Eberhardt is concerned if he is unconscious, Madge may do even crazier things to him.

Eventually, Hawk convinces him it is safer to take the drugs. Le Doux ends up mixing it a bit strong, causing him to immediately fall unconscious. They put him on the couch to rest.

Hawk tries touching Eberhardt with one of the knives but it doesn't seem to burn him. Le Doux starts marking him up with arcane symbols in preparation for the ritual.

While they wait for Nibbons to get back, Le Doux makes a show of trying to open his safe in front of Hawk and being surprised it won't open. Hawk is very nonchalant about the whole thing. The two banter back and forth about it a bit for quite a while, with Le Doux hinting he knows Hawk tried to break into it and Hawk acting blissfully unaware.

Hawk even tries reminding Le Doux about not being paid in a while, but Le Doux insists he can't pay him because the safe is broke. Hawk offers to get that fixed for him, smiling as he says he has friends who know about safes.

Dropping the matter for the moment, Le Doux starts to get anxious that Jerboa and Donny haven't shown back up yet. He wants Hawk to go out and find him.

Hawk isn't so sure, noting he hasn't met Donny or Jerboa yet. He thinks they may have a negative reaction to him.

Le Doux assures him it will be fine. He gives Hawk a description of Jerboa and gives him the picture of Donny. Le Doux feels confident everything will go fine since Hawk has the picture to show Jerboa he is working with Le Doux.

Hawk eventually agrees to go. He leaves just as Madge is coming back with the laxatives.

Le Doux takes his cousin aside to try and prepare her for the activity that night, saying she may see some strange things but should keep an open mind. She responds she has a very open mind, even having some interesting ideas about what to do with the laxatives.

*** Session 12 - Scene 10 (of 12) ***

Hawk makes his way over to the mission. As he gets near, he can tell there are cops swarming the place, clearly lying in wait for Donny.

Playing it cool, he approaches one of the men clearly working for the apostolic church. The man asks him if he is in need of help, and Hawk says he is.

The man gives his name as Bobby-Lee Schwartz II and says they are all God's children there. He wants to take Hawk to hear the reverend's word but Hawk insists he's there looking for Donny and Jerboa.

Bobby-Lee doesn't recognize Donny's name and says they don't allow women there. Hawk shows him the picture of Donny, which Bobby-Lee identifies as David Kessler.

Hawk insists Donny sometimes goes by "his mother's maiden name" which confuses the man. He asks Hawk how he knows Kessler. Hawk explains he met him dancing at the club.

Bobby-Lee is clearly upset at the idea of Donny attending a jazz club, saying dancing isn't allowed there as it is sinful and he starts carrying on about the godlessness of jazz and rag-time music and how they are straight from the devil.

Hawk tries to say he was trying to get Donny off of the dancing and Satan's grip. He claims to like gospel music himself, stating the first few words of Amazing Grace. Bobby-Lee agrees there is nothing quite like a good Negro spiritual.

Bobby-Lee says he hasn't seen Donny that day, but invites Hawk to stay to listen to Reverend Farnsworth. Hawk tries saying he doesn't have time, but Bobby-Lee insists there is always time to listen to the word of Jesus.

Hawk continues to try and get out of having to hear the sermon. He lies and says he needs to hurry and find Donny as Donny's mother is sick. Bobby-Lee explains Reverend Farnsworth has the healing touch and can cast the demons of disease out of the woman. Taking the opening, Hawk says he'll go get the mother right away then, and leaves before Bobby-Lee can impede him any further.

*** Session 12 - Scene 11 (of 12) ***

Hawk heads back to the office, telling Le Doux the cops have the place too well covered. He also suggests Donny will likely spot the cops and run off.

Le Doux tells Hawk he needs him to help him with the ritual. Hawk tells him he would, but he knows Nibbons isn't back with the book yet. Le Doux insinuates he knows more than is in the book.

Hawk asks where else Donny might be. Le Doux suggests they might have tried to catch a matinee showing at the Orpheum.

Heading out again, Hawk goes to the Orpheum while Le Doux continues to wait and wonder if Nibbons is off gambling again.

When he gets to the theater, Hawk asks the ticket girl about Donny, showing her the picture. She confirms he and a young woman bought tickets to the matinee of The Gold Rush and are inside watching it now.

Hawk chats up the girl for a minute. She talks about how The Gold Rush has been a big hit and how much she like Chaplin; particularly his mustache, which she feels will be a very popular style for years to come.

Using the cover story of being a house servant, Hawk tries to say he needs to go retrieve Donny for his mother. She won't let Hawk in without a ticket, but agrees to relay a message.

Hawk tells her to relay a message to the girl with Donny that "Dr. Le Doux" needs her to bring Donny back home right away. He says he'll wait while she gives his "master's" message.

Not being an idiot, Hawk looks around the theater at the back door. Sure enough, Donny and Jerboa exit through it a minute later. Donny seems to be in a hurry and not listening to Jerboa, who is trying to get him to stop.

Hawk runs over to stop him, tackling the boy. Hawk tries to pin him, but Donny escapes. He makes another run for it, getting just outside the alley before Hawk can tackle him again.

This time, Hawk manages to pin him down. He tries telling Donny he isn't there to hurt him, he's trying to help him.

Donny wants to know what's going on. Hawk explains he works for Le Doux and that the mission is being staked out by the cops, who are looking for him. He wants to take Donny back to Le Doux's office. Jerboa urges Donny to listen.

Jerboa asks Hawk to confirm he works for Le Doux, saying she didn't know he had a servant. She goes on to say she's never been around "you people" all that much, since they had no servants out in the bayou though does recall her grand pappy saying something about how Hawk's people were so much trouble they should have just picked the damn cotton themselves.

Hawk agrees everyone might have been happier that way, but that's neither here nor there and they need to get Donny back to the office. Jerboa explains she has not had a chance to fully explain the situation to Donny and that he wanted them to see a movie together first.

As Hawk is trying to explain they need to get moving quickly, his luck runs out as Officer O'Doul, a local beat cop, spots him on top of Donny. Mistaking Hawk for a robber, O'Doul immediately runs over and yells at Hawk to stop in the name of the law.

Hawk allows Donny to get up and tries to tell some lie about helping Donny understand how to protect himself as O'Doul starts pummeling him with his nightstick.

Donny and Jerboa take off, with Hawk calling after them to head to the place (referring to Le Doux's office). Meanwhile, O'Doul continues to beat Hawk, calling him "boy", and telling him he needs to learn his place.

Hawk apologizes enough that O'Doul stops hitting him. But when the cop tries to put the cuffs on and arrest him, Hawk resists.

O'Doul goes for his gun, but Hawk gets the drop on him and knocks the gun out of his hand. The gun goes off, but misses Hawk. Hawk tries to explain Donny is the killer being looked for, but the man isn't listening.

When the officer goes to hit him with his nightstick again, Hawk punches him. Unfortunately, by now a crowd of White people has formed to watch and is getting angry.

One of the men yells a racial epithet about Hawk hitting a policemen and incites the crowd to action. Hawk makes a run for it, barely managing to lose the angry mob by running through the alleys. Once he loses them, he makes his way back towards the office.

When he gets there, Le Doux mixes him a drink, ostensibly to help him with the pain of his wounds but really as part of a plot to get revenge on Hawk by feeding him the laxative. Hawk, however, refuses the drink as he doesn't trust having anything with a werewolf in the room (referring to Eberhardt). Le Doux agrees to let him just bleed then.

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

By the time Nibbons arrives at the warehouse, it is late in the afternoon. He decides to try going in through the front door.

A security guard near the door spots Nibbons and stops him, asking for his name and what he's there for. Nibbons gives his name and explains he is looking for a particular book that was purchased by Mr. Coleridge and he'd like to see him to discuss the book.

The security guard goes inside for a minute then returns. He tells Nibbons that Mr. Coleridge is not seeing anyone today. Nibbons tries to explain he doesn't necessarily want to see the man, but wants to purchase the book. The guard repeats he isn't seeing anyone and suggests Chester move along.

Nibbons doesn't take no for an answer and asks about stopping by a different day. The guard makes it clear Coleridge has no intention of talking with him by saying he'll be busy that day.

Thanking the guard, Nibbons sneaks his way around to the back of the warehouse. He finds a side window that is open and stops to listen. He doesn't hear anyone inside.

Not wanting to try and climb through the window since it is still broad daylight, he makes his way to the back. The large main door to the canal is open.

Nibbons sneaks his way inside and looks for some coveralls he can change into, but finds nothing. He does see three men a fair distance away in the warehouse, in suits, talking. One of the men is older, appearing to be in his 50's. The other two appear younger, in their 30's, and share enough characteristics they appear to be related.

As Nibbons is looking around, he sees the three men are walking while talking and getting closer to his position. He hides to avoid being detected.

As they walk by, Nibbons is able to catch some of their conversation. The older man concerned about someone showing up at the warehouse "right before the plan goes into motion", which Chester interprets to be talking about him.

The younger men tell him there is nothing to worry about and they should discuss it with the rest of the group tomorrow night at their meeting. Chester picks up on something odd – the way the brothers speak, one of them starts a sentence and the other one seems to finish it.

From the unusual speech pattern, Nibbons deduces they are likely Percy and Barton Grimes, a pair of brothers known for running some kind of prostitution operation. He's never ran across them in person before, but has some knowledge of their reputation; they are known for their dour demeanors and brutal responses to anyone on their turf, giving them the nickname, "The Brothers Grimm".

The Grimes brothers then take their leave, telling the other man (presumably Coleridge) they will see him tomorrow at midnight. Coleridge then heads off himself, talking to one of the security guards as the warehouse begins shutting down for the day.

With no one around, Nibbons begins looking around for the book. But he doesn't get much time before he notices the guards have released the night guard dogs.

Nibbons makes a run for the back door but doesn't get there in time. One of the dogs reaches him and bites down on his leg.

Trying to fight off the dog to get away, Nibbons doesn't have much luck. The other dogs and security guards spot him and start heading his way.

Nibbons tries his best, but the dogs jump on him and knock him down. As they bite into him, he tries crawling towards the canal to escape but before he can, one of the guards reaches him. He sees the guard get ready to smack him in the head with the butt of his rifle before everything goes black...

*** Session 12 and Interlude 3 - Session Notes ***

This session was a lot of fun, if somewhat disjointed. The PCs came up with a pretty good plan and coming in to the session, I thought we'd easily finish out the Donny Martin plotline this time. But, a couple of bad decisions and a lot of bad rolls later, and now there are all kinds of complications.The good news is - these kind of complications can still move the story forward.

The only real problem with the session came 3/4ths of the way in when the Nibbons player received word a relative had died and had to be away for a while talking to relatives about the funeral. Not that the game is the important thing in this scenario, but it did leave us wondering if he'd be coming back and how much further we wanted to go that night.

The session notes read more cohesively than the actual game because I rearranged scenes (and pieces of scenes) to make them a little more linear. During the game, we bounced around a lot more between the four players since they were split up for the session.

Other random notes:

* Interlude 3 finally introduces a new location; the primary purpose is to show the reach of the corporation.

* The fact that the corporation has just bought out an oil refinery is a hint to which company it is (which I thought was obvious by this point, but I don't think the players have caught on yet).

* Colonel Buzz Baxter is another character taken from Marvel comics (and in fact, the first husband of Patsy Walker). More on him later as well as the aforementioned doctor (also a Marvel character).

* Clearly, the relocation plan mentioned is to move the secret experiments to the Crescent City area. The players certainly caught on to that one.

* Nibbons had a chance to remember details from his dream, but failed. Given his situation now, that will likely come up next session.

* I didn't want to play the "PC was mysteriously taken control of" card again so quickly, so I though Nibbons off gambling made the most sense. The idea that he won money on the women's tennis match mentioned last session, rather than the boxing match, was a slight bit of irony.

* The comment about Hawk using the turkey grease for his sister's alcoholism is a reference back to some dialogue from an episode in season 4 of The Wire.

* Yes, Le Doux now has Hollywood-style OCD as his new derangement. Given his obsession with the bayou, I thought it had the most humor potential.

* It wasn't until Le Doux was at the museum that I (or anyone else) realized none of the group had ever talked with Kendi and Beckmeyer at the same time, or that they always used their real names with Kendi and aliases with Beckmeyer.

* Beckmeyer being fascinated by the werewolves is a part of his personality taken from his namesake in The Howling III.

* In the game, we only ever called the silver dagger a dagger. In the writeup, I specified it as a roundel to give it more character.

* I purposely had Beckmeyer repeat a lot about previous conversations as exposition to remind the players about things (since they tend to forgot plot elements quickly).

* The Bouget book is a real occult book, though it won't have any spells in it (since Bouget was more about identifying witches to execute).

* The joke about Beckmeyer's uncle and fishing trips at Audrey's is a reference to the fact that a lot of men's fishing trips (and hunting trips) over the years have used as an opportunity to engage in all kinds of activities they can't do when around the family.

* The joke about Dr. Jones and his strange practice of archeology is of course another Indiana Jones reference.

* Officer Mahen is named after a real New Orleans cop who was killed by a suspect in the 20's.

* The Slaughtered Lamb restaurant and the trolley attack are homages to An American Werewolf in London, as is Inspect Villiers, David Kessler, and the Piccadilly theater.

* Eberhardt's new derangement is obviously that he believes he is turning into a werewolf. Not only was this the most appropriate derangement based on what happened to him, but I knew it would lead to both hilarity and major complications in their investigations. The funny thing is that it took the other players quite a long time to figure out. After another of Eberhardt's comments about getting rid of the silver, the Le Doux player was making an OOC joke about "What's wrong with you, Eberhardt? Do you think you are turning into a werewolf or something?" Then stopped and said "Oooh. Ooh, you do think that don't you?" when he realized that was his new derangement.

* I was surprised the PCs did not entertain the idea of using wolfsbane for even a second. They quickly dismissed that option out of hand and forgot all about it.

* The part where Hawk and Le Doux argue over how to handle the police watching Donny included all kinds of mocking of each other's plans but it didn't really go anywhere so I didn't detail it out in the notes.

* Originally, I didn't have any plans with plots regarding the book and thought they'd just grab it from the store and we'd move on. But right before the session, I had some inspiration about how to tie it back to some other open plot lines. I was also worried the main climax would occur too quickly so it could be used to stretch out the story.

* I laid it on pretty thick to suggest Maximillian Coleridge was a member of The Committee. The other players got it, but I'm not sure if the Nibbons player did.

* I don't know if Black people in the south in the 20's could get a job like a machinist, but it was Hawk's idea and I figured why not. I gave Earl a name and a lot more background in the write-up (during the session, we just called him "Hawk's friend, the machinist").

* The "Calvary sword" joke is for all the people who confuse cavalry with Calvary. We also heavily mocked the Hawk player at the idea of a silver machete being a thing, but I thought a silver sabre could certainly be possible.

* Since we're in the South (and it hasn't been that long since the Civil War at this time), I had the NPC use the term "War of Northern Aggression". But I confess, I'm not sure if it really fits this NPC / location / time period so I'll claim dramatic license.

* Rue Pauls is clearly named after RuPaul (and includes part of the line from her famous song). It was a lazy joke because Hawk said he wanted to find a "voodoo queen".

* Rue's warning about the dark clouds being drawn to Le Doux is something that may be explained more later. There is a reason why Le Doux and his associates find themselves in so many occult activities going on in the area.

* The couple of klan guys at the store was a connection back to the KKK plot the PCs have abandoned for now (and did again when Nibbons let them go). They were not, as the PCs believed, looking for the same book as Nibbons. They have a different purpose entirely. Oh, and the reason they were wearing the outfits was it was intended to be part of an initiation ritual (they kind of allude to that in what was overheard, but there was a lot more explanation Nibbons didn't get).

* Eberhardt and Madge's liaison was something of a running gag (about her being a repressed cat lady) that got out of hand. It ended up being far zanier than I intended. The Le Doux player was a little annoyed that the Eberhardt player went so nuts since the last time things went bad he blamed the Le Doux player for playing his character too crazy.

* Gerard Marks is an homage to an actual criminal.

* Roscoe Sweeney is named after the guy from Daredevil. He didn't have a name during the session but since the Le Doux player is a fan I added it in the writeup.

* Le Doux and Hawk's banter about the safe is another time where they went back and forth for quite some time but I didn't write the whole thing up.

* Hawk's concern about going to retrieve Donny proved to be very prescient.

* Bobby-Lee Schwartz II is one of the aliases Chevy Chase's character uses in Fletch Lives (again, where Reverend Farnsworth also comes from).

* Jazz and Rag-Time music really were the sources of moral panics, but I was also playing up a bit the fact that all older generations always think the younger generation's music is the one that suddenly turned immoral.

* Bobby-Lee's comment about the spiritual is an homage to Slim Pickens' character in Blazing Saddles. These NPCs are intended to be parodies of holy roller types.

* I had the film be "The Gold Rush" since it already came up in that newspaper article earlier in the campaign.

* Clearly the Chaplin mustache joke is a joke about Hitler. During the game, the Hawk player joked "I know someone who already took it".

* Hawk very much played up his "servant" role when talking to the ticket girl.

* Jerboa is clearly intended to show her ignorance of Black people. Her line about the cotton is taken from Bill Paxton's racist comment in The Last Supper.

* Officer O'Doul is named after the non-alcoholic beer, because I needed a name. He's clearly there to add a complication, but was also something of a commentary on police / Black Lives Matter issues. Him and the angry mob chasing after Hawk were also to teach Hawk a lesson about how given his race, trying to play the tough guy card isn't always the safest bet.

* Le Doux was really upset Hawk didn't drink the laxative. He still wants revenge for trying to rob his safe.

* Percy and Barton Grimes, Coleridge, and the rest of The Committee are all taken from Marvel's Night Shift.

* I have a bit of a geographical error with the warehouse - I originally set it in one location in the city (next to the water) then later moved it to another location (where there isn't necessarily any water). So I inadvertently added an extra canal to the city.

* Nibbons made about 8 bad rolls in a row (all with things he had 60+% in), leading to his final predicament. What happens next will be a very interesting part of next session.

*** Interlude - The Shape of Things to Come - Part 4 ***

Westwego, LA
March 10, 1925

In the back of the oil refinery compound sits a small, unassuming building. The only door leading in and out of the build is heavily-fortified, with a sign reading "Pentex Chemical Research Division – Authorized Personnel Only".  Two guards stand outside, armed with Thompson submachine guns.

Inside the building is a small, dimly-lit conference room with five men sitting around it. On one side sits Curtiss Jackson next to the plant's executive director, Robert Jenkins. The other side contains Captain Baxter, the Army liaison officer, along with the head of the Institute for Supernormality Research, Dr. John Herd. At the head of the table is the dour Chairman Lorenzo Keel.

As usual, Chairman Keel looks frustrated. The door opens as a seventh man, Dr. Karl Malus, heads inside. Baxter makes a comment about him being late but Jackson tries to keep things calm by suggesting they begin with the current status report.

Dr. Herd gives the signal to one of the guards in the room to start up the projector. Everyone watches the screen as images of the first cycle of tests are displayed. The test subject shows remarkable strength and resilience but quickly grows uncontrollable. As it attacks its handlers, the nearby guards are forced to put it down.

As the reel finishes and the projector is shut off, Jenkins comments that obviously there is still a great deal of improvement. Keel makes a sardonic comment about that being an understatement.

Capt. Baxter is concerned about the timeline, saying General Haywerth is anxious to get a viable test subject, repeating the General's often-said comment about being ready to fight the next war. Dr. Herd repeats his belief that a canine-based host strain could be more malleable, noting the research on the local family with the exposure to the wolf variant. Baxter suggests an actual dog would be better for maintaining discipline. Dr. Malus narrows his eyes in thought but says nothing.

Keel wants to know about the research on the aquatic strain, reminding everyone about the potential benefit for the Navy as well. Jackson notes that because they prioritized the Army research when they moved operations down here they've had the aquatic research on hold but do still have the live specimen in cold storage. Keel insists on getting a timeline set for that project.

After the meeting is over, Jackson and Malus head down the elevator to the underground lab. There they find Dr. Ignatz Goldman, Malus' assistant, hard at work on the reptile strain. When he stops to greet the two, Malus takes him aside and tells him to switch to canine. Whispering quietly, he suggests the man use one of the German Shepherds from the kennel; for the test subject, he suggests Goldman clandestinely use Capt. Baxter.

Malus goes back over to Jackson and the two walk and talk as they head back to the cold storage area. Malus says he believes Dr. Goldman can continue the canine research while he starts on the aquatic specimen. Jackson voices his approval.

In front of the men sits a large tube filled with dark liquid; a vaguely humanoid shape can be seen inside. Next to the tube is a piece of paper with information about the test subject. The top of page reads, "Aquatic Variant Test Subject – Biggins, Jethro"...

*** Session 13 - Scene 1 (of 12) ***

Bruno Eberhardt finds himself standing in a large stone room. It appears to be very tall, and he feels himself like he is much taller than normal; perhaps as much as twenty feet. He feels different, not quite like himself, and his thinking is a bit cloudy. In front of him is a large metal bookshelf filled with books made of strange materials.

Just then, a creature emerges into the room. It appears to be a twenty-something foot tall creature, looking like a rugarose cone-shaped body with several tentacles coming out of it. Several of the tentacles appear to be claw-like appendages with one of them containing eye stalks. It moves along the stone floor by sliding across. Eberhardt's mind is filled with horror as he realizes his own body appears to be the same as the visage in front of him.

Eberhardt goes to talk to the creature, but realizes he doesn't have a mouth. However, in trying to talk he "thinks" at the creature and it appears to "hear" him. He asks the creature where this place is.

The creature explains Eberhardt is in what it calls, "the waiting area" while they temporarily borrow his body to take care of something. It assures Eberhardt not to worry, for he won't remember any of this.

Bruno wants to know who is borrowing his body. The creature says it is one of his kind. Eberhardt the creature who it is. When the creature explains its name would be unpronounceable by humans, the German clarifies he was not asking the creature's name.

The creature explains he is a member of the Great Race – beings who existed at the end of time who mastered the arts of space and time. When they foresaw their own deaths, the creature continues, they moved through time to new hosts. He tells Eberhardt the forms they inhabit now that he sees before him are actually millions of years in what Eberhardt would consider the "past", using the bodies of these creatures as their vessels.

Eberhardt sarcastically notes his honor in them currently using his body. The creature explains they transfer to temporary hosts at times as part of their work.

In this specific case, the creature explains, there is a specific set of events unfolding in Eberhardt's timeline in his location that occur around him and his companions. The creature goes on to say the events all occur around the one Eberhardt knows by the designation, "Le Doux".

According to the creature, Le Doux is what his people call a "nexus being", which the creature explains as "a rare being who exists in all known realities." It asks Eberhardt how well versed he is on the mechanics of multi-dimensional realities.

Eberhardt has no idea what the creature is talking about, so it leads him over to a window in the room to show him what he means. The creature calls it a "window of all realities" and waves one of his tentacles across it. Images begin forming in the window.

The first shows a version of Le Doux working as a scientist in a lab. The creature explains he is seeing Auburn, MS, where the Le Doux in this dimension is an assistant to Robert Hutchings Goddard, helping him with the launch of humanity's first liquid-fueled rocket.

The scene then shifts to Dover, NJ. The Le Doux in this reality is a U.S. Navy shore patrol officer at the Picatinny Arsenal, guarding a building marked Lake Denmark Naval Ammunition Storage Depot. A thunderstorm roars overhead, and a bolt of lightning comes from the sky, hitting the building. A gigantic explosion occurs. The creature explains to Eberhardt the Le Doux in this reality was killed along with two dozen others as more than 600,000 tons of explosives detonated when the depot was hit, blasting debris over 20 miles.

A new scene emerges in the window, this one showing Le Doux as a gangster in Lakefront City working for the notorious Yiddie Neumark. Along with a car full of other men, they drive by the Hawthorne Hotel with guns blazing, in an attempt to assassinate rival mob boss Al Tolino during his lunch in the ground floor restaurant.

Eberhardt is terrified of what he has seen. He asks the creature if they mean to do humanity harm. The creature says no, they are simply "that which endures", working as observers. He tells Eberhardt that humanity's destiny to destroy itself.

The creature waves across the window again, this time showing scenes Eberhardt recognizes from the Great War. The creature tells him things will get worse, and the scene shifts to somewhere in a desert. A loud warning siren of some kind rings out, followed by a blinding flash of light. As Eberhardt regains his sight, he sees a gigantic, mushroom-shaped cloud form that destroys everything in its path. The sheer destructive power of it all causes him to become quite disconcerted.

*** Session 13 - Scene 2 (of 12) ***

Back at Le Doux's detective agency, he and Hawk argue over what to do next about the Donny Martin problem. Behind them, Eberhardt suddenly bolts up from the couch.

The two men stop talking and notice Eberhardt move slowly but deliberately into Le Doux's office. They don't try to stop him, as he appears to be in some sort of trance, perhaps sleep-walking.

Eberhardt goes over to Le Doux's desk and grabs a pen and begins writing on a piece of paper there. The pen strokes are fast and inelegant, written almost like a child would.

Le Doux looks at the paper. There are several words scratched on it in various directions. He can make them all out as "Tell Le Doux", "Theatre", "Nibbons", "Danger", and "Committee". As he reads them out to Hawk, Eberhardt suddenly comes to.

Eberhardt is surprised to find himself standing over Le Doux's desk, for the last thing he recalls is the strange dream he had about talking to the cone-shaped creature. Looking down at the strange writing, he asks what that is.

Hawk tells Eberhardt he should know since he wrote it, but the German has no idea what the man is talking about.

Eberhardt reads over what is written on the paper, but insists he doesn't know what it is and it isn't in his handwriting. Le Doux suggests perhaps he was sleepwalking and Eberhardt says he must have given him too much of the drug as he had a strange dream with a monster and Le Doux was some kind of "nexus being". He offers to draw the creature for Le Doux but the detective demurs.

Le Doux is, however, interested in what a "nexus being" is. Eberhardt says it means he was in Lakefront City, and Massachusetts, and a lot of other places right now. Le Doux insists he's never been to those places. Eberhardt tells Le Doux he saw him there, but Le Doux notes he's been asleep on the couch the whole time.

Hawk, meanwhile, is more concerned about the werewolf situation. He is concerned Eberhardt's strange thoughts could be evidence of his turning into a werewolf. Le Doux tries to say he cast a spell on Eberhardt to make the werewolf curse go away, but Eberhardt doesn't believe him since Nibbons isn't back with the book yet.

Le Doux and Hawk try to convince Eberhardt he is not going to turn into a werewolf now, but he is concerned he may yet turn into either a werewolf or that other creature he saw once the moon is out.

Attempting to change the subject, Le Doux notes Eberhardt is already late for the police operation. He asks if they should get him there, but Eberhardt feels the damage is done and he may as well stay away from the police for a while. Hawk also notes Donny won't be at the police raid since he already warned him when he saw him outside the Orpheum, though does offer to beat Eberhardt's ass to give him an excuse while he couldn't make it.

Le Doux tries to get as much detail out of Hawk he can, but Hawk is agitated about the beating he received from the police and rambles on about how his cousin Rodney was never the same after a beating he got from police years ago.

With no leads on Donny, attention turns back to the missing Nibbons. Eberhardt notes the paper has "theatre" written on it. They ask Hawk, but Hawk did not see Nibbons at the movie theater with Donny and Jerboa. Instead, they decide to start by going where Nibbons was last known to be heading – Esplanade Books. They decide to take Hawk's car over.

*** Session 13 - Scene 3 (of 12) ***

Eberhardt races Hawk's car across town, dodging through the rush hour traffic, as they barely make it in time to the book store as it is being locked up for the night.

Catching Lawrence Beauregard outside as he secures the lock, Le Doux explains to the man they are looking for his associate, Chester Nibbons.

Beauregard recalls the visit from Nibbons earlier that day, saying he was looking for a copy of a book by Henry Bouget but he didn't have the book in stock.

Le Doux asks if Beauregard directed Nibbons to anywhere else he could find the book. Lawrence explains about Gramarye Books and the auction sale to businessman Maximillian Coleridge. Le Doux recognizes the name as the head of a local shipping company with a reputation among those in the know as a smuggler. He comments on the oddity of a businessman buying up the book, which Lawrence agrees with, saying some people have strange interests.

Beauregard suggests he believes Nibbons was headed to Gramarye Books first. Le Doux thanks him for his help.

Heading back to the others, Le Doux tells them Nibbons must have tried to go after the book himself and clearly ran into trouble. Hawk sarcastically notes that was what he was sent to do. They decide to go to the bookstore to look for him; if nothing else, Eberhardt notes, they may find someone who saw him.

When they arrive at Gramarye Books, they find the bookstore closed and the shades drawn. Le Doux has Eberhardt park the car around the corner and wait behind the wheel while he and Hawk go in the alley entrance to investigate the bookstore.

Approaching the door, Le Doux can see it is still cracked open and was not properly shut the last time someone passed through. He draws his pistol and flashlight, and motions for Hawk to open the door.

Hawk walks up to the door and listens carefully. It's quiet inside, so he heads in. The back room is dark, but around the corner in the main part of the shop there does appear to be a light on.

Whispering to Le Doux, Hawk explains about the light. He puts away his flashlight and makes his way towards the front of the store along with Hawk.

Back in the car, Eberhardt catches a glimpse out of the corner of his eye. He wasn't paying close enough attention to what it was, but suspects he just saw two figures move into alley.

Since he can't see into the alley from his location, Eberhardt creeps the car up. But by the time he gets there, he doesn't see anyone in the alley.

Meanwhile, back inside the bookstore, Hawk and Le Doux are looking around the main store area. They see the lamp on the sales counter turned on and the few boxes lying around with books. Le Doux looks around carefully for anyone in the room, but doesn't see anyone. He does, however, hear the click of the gun cocking from behind him.

Behind them, the men hear a Black man yell for them to stick 'em up. Hawk recognizes the voice as belonging to one of the Thornton Brothers' men, Nathaniel "Family" Johnson.

After Hawk greets Johnson, the man greets him back. Hawk and Le Doux put their hands down and turn around to see Johnson and another of Thornton's crew, Pharrell Williams, standing there.

Johnson explains they followed them in the store because they thought they were another couple of Kl Klux Klan members. Hawk asks why, and Johnson explains they caught a couple of them in the area coming out of this store; he says they even had the gall to wear their Klan outfits around town in broad daylight.

Hawk asks about the men. Johnson explains he has a few more of the crew holding them down in Marigny, at the old Neptune's Fish warehouse. He says they have been alert over the past few weeks as a lot of the younger Black boys living on the streets have started disappearing.

Le Doux makes a motion to Hawk and says, "Nibbons?" Hawk takes the hint and asks Johnson if they saw a different man around this store. Johnson says they didn't see a man who wasn't in the Klan.

Hawk also asks if any of the crew went through the store and ransacked it, noting he and Le Doux are there looking for a particular book. Johnson suggests he and Hawk head back to Neptune's so they can talk to the men they captured. He says Le Doux will have to stay, which Hawk agrees is a good idea.

Le Doux agrees to stay behind and dig through the store to find anything hidden there, either as a clue to find Nibbons or to get more information on the book.

Hawk leaves with Nathaniel and Pharrell. On their way out, they walk past Eberhardt and Hawk gives him the lowdown.

*** Session 13 - Scene 4 (of 12) ***

Le Doux begins searching the books in the store, but finds nothing but cookbooks and other standard material in the boxes. He then moves over to the sales counter.

Digging around the counter, Le Doux finds a hidden compartment. He opens it to reveal a couple of pieces of paper.

One of the pieces is merely some symbols of the Cult of Allatou. The other shows a drawing with three organizations linked together on it, marked "Us", "The Committee", and "The Society". Le Doux notes in his detective pad about The Society, as it appears to be a third cell of the cult they haven't heard about yet.

Le Doux holds the paper up to the light of the lamp of the desk. He is able to make out the watermark on the paper and some indentations indicating the paper came from the Office of Congressmen James O'Conner. Le Doux realizes the paper must have been written by Scott Pritchard, O'Conner's aide who turned out to be the leader of the first cult cell they encountered.

While he finds the information about the cult interesting, it doesn't really help him find the book or Nibbons so Le Doux continues searching. He finds a trap door hidden under a small carpet behind the desk.

Le Doux bends down to listen at the trap door. It sounds extremely quiet down there except for perhaps the skittering of a rat.

Readying his gun, Le Doux opens the trap door. Immediately, he is overwhelmed by the odor of sulfur. He wraps a cloth around his face to help with the smell and heads down the stairs.

*** Session 13 - Scene 5 (of 12) ***

Across town, Hawk arrives at the Neptune warehouse. The abandoned fish warehouse is largely empty except for Johnson's three men – Charles "Chad" Hugo, Melvin "Magoo" Barcliff, and Timothy "Timberland" Mosley – and their captors who are tied up and sitting on old crates.

Hawk can see Mosley (whom he calls "Mose") has been working the two men over pretty good. He asks Mose if he has gotten anything from them.

Mose explains the two men have given up their names – Doyle Roberts and Ryan Chaney. He also says they have admitted to being "klukies", new recruits for the Klan. So far, Mose hasn't been able to get them to say anything else but suggests Hawk might be even more persuasive.

Hawk starts by asking the men if they've had a good day. Roberts tries to yell some racial epithets at Hawk as a response, though his swollen face makes it hard for him to have the full intended effect.

After confirming with Roberts he won't answer some simple questions, Hawk proceeds to break one of the man's fingers. The man is in obvious pain but not persuaded, and tells Hawk where he can stick his questions (indicating a location on Hawk's mother).

Not amused, Hawk takes out his knife and cuts off one of the man's fingers. He tells the man it is only a matter of time before he gets him to talk, saying there are a lot of things he can cut off a man.

Roberts still won't talk, saying he'll never talk. Hawk changes over to Chaney, breaking one of his fingers.

Chaney isn't made of as stern of stuff as his companion and starts crying, agreeing to talk. Hawk asks him what he was doing in the store, and Chaney explains they had an initiation task to get into the Klan by finding a book by a particular author.

Hawk asks which book. Chaney explains the book itself didn't matter, but it has to be by the author.

When asked who sent them, Chaney explains his uncle Curtis (who recruited them) gave them the assignment. Since they aren't full members yet, they don't really know who any of the other members are.

Hawk wants Curtis Chaney's address and place of employment. It takes a little more convincing, but he gets it out of Ryan that Curtis works for a lawyer Hamilton "Ham" Johnson. Hawk doesn't recognize the name.

As Hawk asks Chaney for more information, Roberts tells Chaney to shut up and stop talking. Hawk shoves him over on the ground and instructs Mose to take care of him. Mosley stomps the man until he loses consciousness.

Turning his attention back to Chaney, Hawk asks if he saw anyone else in the store. Eventually, he gets out of the man that the two of them encountered Nibbons but they chased him off from the store.

Chaney has little information about Nibbons or the rest of the Klan. Since he's a new recruit, he doesn't actually know how many members are but he does know they are rapidly recruiting under their new leader.

Hawk asks about the new leader's name but Chaney doesn't know; he's only heard him referred to as "The Hangman". Chaney does say the leader is the one who wanted them to find the book.

Finding the whole thing odd, Hawk leads Mose back to the other side of the room. They agree the two White boys should come up missing. Hawk suggests cutting them up into pieces and putting them in the water. Mose notes he's been doing this just as long and knows how to make a body disappear.

Mosely then asks Hawk if he wants the slip of paper they found in one of the men's wallets that contains the name of the author they were looking for. As he hands it over, Mosely tells Hawk they didn't find anything else in the wallet, in a way that suggests the Thornton boys aren't interested in splitting the cash they found with him.

Looking at the slip of paper, Hawk is surprised to find the name is Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Hawk is surprised to find it is not the name of Henry Bouget, so clearly the men were looking for a different book than Nibbons after all. In fact, Hawk recognizes it as the name of the author of the book he saw at Broncati's residence – La Sostanza Alternativa.

Hawk tells Mosely and Johnson to get ahold of him if there's any other trouble. They all agree the Klan will need to be dealt with soon.

Johnson tells Hawk that speaking of trouble, he was supposed to pass along a word to him that T.J. Parker (Hawk's fence) had been looking for him; something about a guy asking around about some stuff Hawk pawned. Hawk thanks him for the message and makes a note to follow up with T.J. later, but isn't too concerned about whatever that is about at the moment.

*** Session 13 - Scene 6 (of 12) ***

When Nibbons comes to, his head hurts from the gun blow. He finds himself bound and gagged, lying on the floor in a small, dark room.

He maneuvers himself around to listen at the floor to see if he can hear anything. He can tell the area below him has music and a crowd cheering; if he had to guess, it is some kind of show involving live dancers.

Moving like an inchworm, Nibbons gets over to the door and listens. He doesn't hear anything different outside the door than he heard at the floor.

Pushing himself back up against the wall, Nibbons tries to get himself up to a standing position. As he does so, he can tell he is in some kind of utility closet. As he tries to stand, he knocks over some things off the shelf, making noise.

The door suddenly opens and a large, bodyguard type man enters. He smacks Nibbons in the head, causing everything to go black again.

*** Session 13 - Scene 7 (of 12) ***

Le Doux makes his way carefully down the rickety wooden stairs of the basement. Although he is very careful stepping down the stairs, he is unprepared for the clawed hand from under the stairs that grabs his leg.

Falling down the stairs, Le Doux loses hold of his gun and flashlight. As the flashlight hits the ground, the light goes out, leaving Le Doux with only the dim light coming down from the stairway above.

Out in the darkness, Le Doux spots a pair of shining red eyes coming towards him. He gropes around in the blackness looking for his gun. Finding it, he rolls over and fires the gun at whatever the red eyes belong to. He may or may not have hit his target, but either way it keeps coming towards him.

A claw-like hand reaches out and grabs Le Doux's gun. Grabbing it, the gun heats up and Le Doux is forced to let go as the weapon melts.

Le Doux responds by kicking the unseen creature in the face. His foot connects, but the creature appears to be very solid but it does give a slight grunt.

Although he probably has enough time to run up the stairs, Le Doux rolls away further into the dark and grasps around for another weapon. As he does so, the handgun ammunition explodes, turning the gun into a grenade. Some of the shrapnel hits Le Doux in the leg.

Le Doux finds a section of lead pipe on the ground. He rushes over and smashes it over the head of the presumed demon. The creature is clearly wounded, so he continues to bash it until he is sure it is dead. The experience leaves him feeling he has regained a small sliver of his composure, though he is covered in a sulfuric-smelling blood.

Dirty and smelly, Le Doux scrambles out of the basement and goes to shut the trap door. As he does so, he notices there is some sort of occult symbol on the back of it but has no idea what it is.

Out in the car, Eberhardt sees Le Doux emerge from the bookstore but without the gun and flashlight he went in with. Instead, he's carrying a lead pipe and is covered in some sort of strange blood.

Eberhardt asks him what happened. Le Doux says he found a "basement thing" that attacked him. He rambles about red eyes. When Eberhardt asks if it was a rat, Le Doux suggests it would have to be a big rat.

Le Doux then looks through the trunk of Hawk's car to find something to clean himself off with; the filth of the basement is starting to give him the shakes. When they open it up, they find the large amount of flammable materials Hawk has stored there.

Using one of the kerosene-soaked rags, Le Doux manages to clean most of the blood and dirt off of himself though now smells like kerosene. He then tells Eberhardt they need to empty all of the materials out of the car, and has an idea of what to do with them – take care of that disgusting basement.

Dumping all of the flammable materials into the basement, Le Doux lights up the blow torch from the trunk and tosses it in. The bookstore immediately begins filling with smoke. When he gets back to the car, he tells Eberhardt they'll need to get moving.

*** Session 13 - Scene 8 (of 12) ***

Eberhardt speeds out of the alley just as Hawk is walking back in. He narrowly manages to avoid hitting him.

Hawk sees the smoke pouring out of the store. He heads over to the car and sarcastically asks Eberhardt if they need to get out of there. Eberhardt starts to explain about Le Doux going crazy and torching the store but Hawk says they can discuss it on the way.

Eberhardt tries to explain what Le Doux did. Le Doux rambles on about needing a shower and the red eyes. Hawk surmises from his kerosene smell that Le Doux used the materials from his trunk.

The three begin arguing over what was in the basement. Hawk is initially supportive of Le Doux, thinking he burned a zombi in the basement. But when Le Doux disputes that, he accuses him of burning a little old homeless lady to death. Eberhardt insists because of the red eyes, Le Doux likely killed Donny Martin. Le Doux believes it is related to the Floating Horror.

The three men argue about the thing in the basement for some time, until Le Doux changes the subject to ask Hawk what happened with the Klan members.

Hawk gives the names of the two men to Le Doux – Roberts and Chaney, and how Chaney got connected to it through his uncle who works for a lawyer named Ham Johnson.

Le Doux recognizes the name as being Hamilton "Ham" Johnson, a lawyer originally from St. Louis now working in Baton Rouge as a political boss for the racist Regular Democratic Organization (RDO) conservative political organization of the Democrat party. Hawk notes this makes perfect sense, since the RDO Democrats have gone out of their way to protect the Klan from the Republican reformers.

Hawk goes on to explain how the Klan is actively recruiting a lot of new members. Le Doux is interested why they were in the book store and wearing their Klan outfits. Hawk explains they were looking for a book by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Le Doux recognizes the name as that of the Italian Renaissance nobleman and philosopher who wrote 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy, and magic along with other books and is known as a major figure of Renaissance humanism and the Hermetic Reformation. He also recognizes him as the author of La Sostanza Alternativa, the book Patricia Walker was looking for that she said came from Dr. Broncati's office. Eberhardt sarcastically says this is exactly what they needed, something else to tie them to that woman's death.

Hawk points out the obvious – that the Klan was there looking for a different book than Nibbons was. Le Doux believes it is very strange the semi-literate Klan was looking for a book at all, much less an obscure occult text. He also doesn't understand why they were wearing the outfits though Eberhardt believes the answer is obvious – it was part of their hazing as initiates.

Continuing on, Hawk explains the new leader of the Klan is someone known as The Hangman who is the one who wants the book. Le Doux finds it very odd, given the Klan at least purports to be a zealous Protestant Christian organization. Hawk offers his belief that Klan has always worked for the Devil.

Eberhardt cracks a joke about how Le Doux should have seen some of the things he did as part of his service in the Christian German army. Le Doux retorts he's seen some of the things Eberhardt did in his office, thinking of the unpleasant incident with his cousin.

Hawk refers to the two men he interrogated as not being very bright and explains how he and the others let the men go after talking with them. Le Doux is surprised at Hawk being so merciful and compliments him.

Eberhardt is more concerned about Le Doux burning down the bookstore, as he was sitting in the car in broad daylight while everything was going on. Le Doux believes he has nothing to worry about as who would recognize him. Hawk tries to sell Eberhardt on some scheme where Eberhardt would try to say he's infiltrated the Klan, but the German man suggests it would be better if he just didn't show up at work for a while (since he is likely going to be fired anyway).

*** Session 13 - Scene 9 (of 12) ***

Once they get back to the office, Le Doux goes to take his shower while Eberhardt decides he will call on Madge again. Hawk checks on his car and find his flammables stash empty, so he heads out to resupply.

When Le Doux finishes his shower and comes downstairs, he finds Madge sitting on his desk pulling up her bloomers while Eberhardt is wiping his face. He realizes he just missed walking in on them in a compromising position again.

Eberhardt tries to change the subject by talking about forming a group of German immigrants to help them, perhaps under a common ideology where they would all shave their heads; he muses about needing some kind of mystical symbol of good luck to unite them behind, like the Hindu symbol for luck popularized in Germany by Alfred Rosenberg.

Le Doux gives Eberhardt a look as Hawk walks back into the office building and Madge lights up a cigarette from behind her desk, a very satisfied look on her face. Le Doux asks Hawk about why he has so many flammable materials in his car. Hawk mocks Le Doux for not figuring it out since he is a detective, then goes on to suggest it is needed to burn the zombis and other creatures.

Seeing Le Doux is skeptical, Hawk says he expects to run into all kinds of things by hanging out with Le Doux. He goes on to explain about Madame Rue and the warning about Le Doux being a magnet for the dark clouds.

The talk of clouds gets Le Doux thinking. He tries to put together the puzzle pieces of everything going on along with Eberhardt's dream about him being a nexus being. But he can't quite make sense of it all – and thinking about it all makes him feel small and alone in the universe. For the next hour, Le Doux sits in quiet contemplation of it all.

By the time Le Doux is done drawing more cloud sketches, it begins to get dark out. Just then, Jerboa shows up at the office. Eberhardt looks at her closely, but notices she still does not possess any wolfen traits.

Le Doux snaps out of his reverie and asks Jerboa where Donny is. She explains she tried to get him to come, but Donny is confused and irrational. She says he's been rambling on about stars and someone named Hastur. Le Doux is saddened there is another piece of the universal puzzle he does not understand.

To ensure everyone is safe, Le Doux takes a pen from his desk and insists on marking everyone with "protection symbols", starting with making a mark on Hawk's head.

Eberhardt ignores Le Doux and asks Jerboa if Donny happened to go to the basement of a bookstore. She is confused, asking why he would do that.

Jerboa explains Donny is paranoid and wants to stay out in the wild. Apparently, his ramblings have also discussed "the Byakhee coming from the stars" which she doesn't understand. Eberhardt isn't sure exactly what that means, but he's pretty sure it is related to the sketches he saw in the notebook found at Flow.

Hawk asks Jerboa about Nibbons and the bookstore he went to. He mentions the name of Maximillian Coleridge. Jerboa has no idea what he's talking about, and confused why he is asking her.

Jerboa starts to get agitated about getting everyone to go help Donny. She mentions he is hiding out at the Old Spanish Fort. Everyone knows that is just outside Bayou St. John near City Park, but recall little else about the fort.

Hawk insists before they go out and deal with Donny, they need to find Nibbons. Hawk suggests perhaps he's at the theatre since that is what Eberhardt wrote on the paper. Eberhardt asks Jerboa, but she says they only saw Hawk there.

Just then, Le Doux has an inspiration as he looks into the clouds. He doesn't think it is the Orpheum that Eberhardt was referring to, but the theatre associated with The Committee – the burlesque theatre, Dolly's.

Le Doux tells the others Nibbons is at Dolly's. He promises Jerboa they will help her with Donny but first need her to help them rescue Nibbons from the cult at the burlesque theatre. When she asks how, he says they may need her special talents.

Hawk believes she could go undercover as a dancer, but Jerboa isn't so sure. Le Doux says they really only need her to wait and help them out if needed by turning into her other form.

*** Session 13 - Scene 10 (of 12) ***

They decide to take Eberhardt's car this time. He speeds across town to the theatre, but they stop on the way to pick up Foxy to add some additional help on Hawk's insistence.

Once they get to the theatre, Le Doux has Eberhardt circle the building to look for the back entrance. Since Hawk can't go in the club, Le Doux sends Foxy and Jerboa in the front as customers for the bar inside the club. He instructs Jerboa to transform if anything strange starts to happen. Foxy is very confused by the whole conversation.

Meanwhile, Le Doux directs the others to the back entrance. Hawk suggests they use the fire escape to sneak in the upper story instead.

Le Doux has Hawk wait as wheelman in the car while he and Eberhardt head up the fire escape ladder. Le Doux, in the lead, manages to make a lot of noise on the ladder.

As he reaches the upstairs window, one of the bouncers in the club looks out and comes face to face with him. The man goes for his gun, but Le Doux quickly acts to deflect the shot. It goes off in his ear, causing him some hearing loss.

Knocking the gun away causes Le Doux to lose his balance on the ladder. He falls backwards, landing on the pavement. Eberhardt looks down to see Le Doux's unconscious body with a pool of blood coming from the back of his head.

Eberhardt quickly hops down and maneuvers himself to a location where it will be difficult to shoot him. Hawk watches everything occur from the car, not wanting to get involved in a firefight.

Back inside the club, Nibbons starts to regain consciousness as he hears gunshots coming from outside the room he is in. He manages to work himself up to standing again. He then moves himself over to the door and listens. Outside the door, he can hear a couple of men yelling.

Looking around, Nibbons finds a sharp part of the metal shelf he can try and cut the ropes binding him with.

Outside, Hawk sees the man in the window go back inside. He rushes out to help Eberhardt get Le Doux back to the car before the man (and his presumed reinforcements) can get down to them.

Inside, Foxy waits for a good opening and sneaks over to a back stairway. After a couple of guys run out from there, she heads up.

At the top of the stairs, she hears some noise behind one of the doors. She opens it, finding Nibbons inside. Foxy helps him get untied and guides him downstairs before anyone can spot them.

Back outside, Hawk saunters away to act as a random pedestrian (while looking for a car he can steal) as Eberhardt shoves Le Doux's bloody body inside the car. He draws his gun as he sees three men emerge from the back door of the club. Eberhardt rushes over to the car and drives off as gunshots ring out after him.

Nibbons and Foxy emerge into the main part of the club. Nibbons tells Foxy to get him out of there. Jerboa spots them and follows as they head out the front door.

Meanwhile, down the block, Eberhardt stops the car for a minute to try and stabilize Le Doux. He can't stop the bleeding, so he takes off again.

Unfortunately, Eberhardt's fast driving gets him into an accident on the way to the hospital and it is some time before Le Doux can get treated. He manages to live, but the incident will likely cause him some permanent brain damage.

Back at the club, Nibbons and Foxy make a run for it while Jerboa transforms into a werewolf and begins attacking the men. Nibbons takes the transformation in stride, but Foxy is stunned into a catatonic state.

Down the street, Hawk hotwires a car and gets inside. He pulls up to allow Nibbons and Eberhardt inside, though becomes momentarily stunned at the sight of the werewolf. They then drive off back to Le Doux's office, leaving Jerboa to fight the men.

*** Session 13 - Scene 11 (of 12) ***

After escaping Dolly's, Hawk takes the car over to Robert "Mouse" Anthony's auto shop, who handles all of Hawk's chop shop business. Mouse is surprised to see Hawk again so soon.

Mouse offers Hawk a hundred for the car. Hawk agrees, but also wants a taxi ride back to the office. The mechanic asks about Foxy, noticing her blank appearance.

Hawk tells Mouse that Foxy is on the Wild Duck again, saying she is seeing things like werewolves. Mouse muses that reminds him of the stories his grandmother told him about blood-sucking vampires on the plantations. Hawk assumes this was a folktale metaphor for the plantation owners.

Mouse then asks who the White boy is. Hawk says it is another guy who works for Le Doux. Mouse says he is surprised Hawk still works for the man since he is notorious for only offering Hawk a dollar for three days' worth of work. He suggests Hawk get even with Le Doux by robbing his safe, noting all those detective types have one in the office.

Hawk says he may look into that. Mouse asks where Le Doux is and Hawk explains his absence as having jumped off a building. Mouse just shakes his head, mumbling something about White people problems.

*** Session 13 - Scene 12 (of 12) ***

Hawk has the cab drop Foxy back off at home with his mother and he and Nibbons head over to Le Doux's office. Shortly after, Eberhardt calls the office and asks Madge to call him a cab (as his car was destroyed in the accident) but Hawk offers to go pick him up.

On the drive back, Eberhardt explains Le Doux had to have emergency surgery, but should recover although with some minor brain damage. Hawk isn't so sure there will be able to tell the difference.

Hawk catches Eberhardt up on what happened. He's not sure what happened to Jerboa, and knows they still need to deal with Donny, but no one wants to head out in the middle of the night to the Old Spanish Fort. Eberhardt in particular thinks they should just drop the case.

Just then, Hawk remembers Eberhardt himself might be turning into a werewolf. He pulls the car over and runs off.

Eberhardt takes control of the car and drives back to the office himself. Nibbons looks him over, but can't tell if he is changing or not. Just to be safe, Eberhardt chains himself back up again as Hawk makes it back to the office.

Since Le Doux will be out of action for a couple of days, the three men try to decide what to do next. Nibbons explains about his search for the book and trouble at the warehouse. Eberhardt suggests he go find the book, but Nibbons believes he'll need help next time.

Nibbons suggests they will need the spare gun in Le Doux's safe, which Hawk believes may also contain an anti-werewolf formula of some kind, so Hawk spends some time breaking it completely open. Once it is open, Nibbons takes the gun while Hawk divides up the money inside between the two of them in order to "keep it safe". As he does so, Madge points out she's owed a hundred in back wages so he pays her.

Inside the safe, Hawk also finds Le Doux's gold cufflinks (which Nibbons puts on Eberhardt's suit) and his deceased mother's gold locket (which Hawk, being a respectable criminal, refuses to steal).

With more time to contemplate, Hawk starts to come up with a new plan to keep Le Doux from getting too angry. He heads over to T.J.'s to see if he can get a replacement safe.

When he shows up at the pawn shop, he calls out but no one answers. Hawk heads into the back room, finding T.J. on the floor with his head bashed in from a heavy blunt object such as a baseball bat.

Hawk quickly searches for any of T.J.'s money, finding his stash. He also grabs a safe to take with him, though it isn't quite the same model as Le Doux had.

When he gets back to the office, Hawk sets the combination of the safe to match Le Doux's old one. He then puts the money he took from Le Doux back inside, now that he has T.J.'s money. Nibbons also agrees to put his money back in, but keeps the gun.

Hawk and Nibbons then wait to see if Eberhardt will change or not...

*** Interlude #4 and Session 13 - Session Notes ***

This was an interesting session in that the PCs started to get more of the pieces of the puzzle of things going on around them, but then found none of the pieces fit exactly how they expected.

Here's the strange thing - I originally planned to make this campaign more "monster of the week" style and avoid my usual penchant for overly byzantine plots. But clearly I failed since we are back to the same "several large conspiracies going on that the players (much less the PCs) can't make sense of" problem. It's an unfortunate side effect from my tendency to fill even straight-forward plots with color, foreshadowing, and subplots, and the fact the players all have terrible memories. But everyone is having fun, despite the fact they rarely understand what they are doing (and given we are representing both noire and horror tropes in the campaign, it probably fits anyway).

Various notes from the session:
* I sent a joke version of interlude #4 to my players on April Fool's Day. I won't go into the specifics because of the current political climate, but the gist of it was a scene where a president from the future (one of the candidates  hated IRL by one of the players) had a time machine to go back in time to 1925 and save the world. To add insult to injury, I had that player themselves as part of the story in the future, looking on with nothing but joy and admiration for that person (which again, in real life they hate). The last laugh was still mine, since the player didn't even get that it was a joke.

* The real interlude was sent out to my players on the following Monday. Since Pentex has only kind-of, sort-of shown up in game so far, it could still be a little bit before that ends up coming into play. But clearly there is a large plot afoot to create super soldiers of some kind.

* Characters in the interlude come from all over - Jackson, Baxter, Malus, Haywerth, and Goldman are all from the Marvel comics. Herd is more of a reference to the character John from the original 80's V. And Chairman Keel is from the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.

* The biggest point of the interlude was to give a way to bring back Biggins, since his fate was never fully given in the original campaign (and they've been bugging me about bringing him back ever since).

* Eberhardt's dream recalling his interactions with the Great Race was something that I originally planned for either Fox or Nibbons, but they always made their SAN rolls (and thus, could not remember their dream).

* I used the typical joke about the alien's name being unpronounceable by humans because I didn't want to make up a name. And also because it keeps things more mysterious and alien.

* A lot of the conversation in the dream is pure exposition to give a reason why so many different Mythos things are going on at once.

* The whole "nexus being" thing comes from an old Avengers West Coast plotline about the Scarlet Witch. I'm using it here for Le Doux as a bit of a joke - it's a metaphor for how the rest of the group always relies on that player to take the lead.

* The alternate realities all show things that really did happen around that time (I believe they are all from 1926 - so in Le Doux's near future).

* The "that which endures" line comes from a slightly different Avengers West Coast plot. The whole bit about mankind's destiny to destroy itself is an overused cliché found in about every other science fiction work ever made; here I was using the film The Abyss in my head as inspiration overall, though the scene showing the atomic test blast is taken straight from the TV show, Carnivale.

* Eberhardt writing out the words on the paper included a handout to the PCs. It was supposed to look like the kind of thing a medium does when transcribing stuff from spirits. In fact, my original idea was that the spirits told Madame Rue and she brought the paper to them but then I decided it was better to go with the possessed Eberhardt route since that would allow me to have him wake up as well. I knew the PCs needed some clue as to where Nibbons was.

* It never occurred to me the PCs would confuse the clue about the theatre since it is clearly in reference to The Committee. That said, I also never understood why they never wanted to investigate there (instead of thinking about the garment company). This is one of those things that makes the game more complicated - the PCs interpret clues in ways I often find bizarre and missing the obvious. In the end, I had Le Doux make an idea roll to give him a hint about it.

* Hawk's story about his cousin is clearly a reference to Rodney King.

* Having the Thornton Brothers crew show back up served several purposes - I needed a way to redirect the PCs, I needed a way to bring back the Klan info that Nibbons missed last session, and I wanted to remind Hawk about his open plot lines (as well as foreshadow a couple of new ones). All of the gangsters are named after rappers again, as I did previously.

* I didn't originally plan for Le Doux to find anything at all at Gramarye Books, but since he went to the effort to search around, I gave another foreshadowed clue about the third Allatou cult cell (something I've been saving for a while). More on The Society later.

* Similarly, I allowed Le Doux to find a basement. I imagined the cult had a demon trapped in the basement, since that is very much in-genre for horror (with the later scenes down there very much inspired by Evil Dead II).

* I think I mentioned before, but the "klukies" thing is a joke from Fletch Lives.

* Hawk had to make a few rolls to see how much torture he had to inflict to get the men to talk. I was curious to see how far he'd take it.

* Ham Johnson is also from Fletch Lives. He's not the head of the Klan but could lead the PCs to him (assuming they remember to follow up on this later).

* I didn't actually give the author's name of the occult book before, though it was always in my notes. I wanted to remind the PCs that plot is still outstanding (and make clear it is now connected to the Klan plot).

* The thing about Hawk's fence wanting to see him was more foreshadowing. I thought that was obvious when Hawk found him dead later, but I'm not sure the player connected the comments about someone asking questions about him with the killing.

* Originally, the room Nibbons was in was going to be much larger. But when he asked for actual dimensions, I threw out something too small without thinking, so I retconned it to be a utility closet when he regained consciousness again later.

* Le Doux actually gained a point of sanity from his demon encounter since he never actually saw the creature and killed it (or at least, believed he did).

* The Le Doux player remained very confused about why the Klan guys were wearing their outfits. The other players caught on right away that it was a hazing thing.

* The Le Doux player made the Hawk player roll to see if he believed his story about letting the men go or not.

* Everyone but the Eberhardt player kept thinking it would be a good idea if he went back to work. The Eberhardt player was the only one who caught on that not only would he definitely get fired, but there was a good chance he'd get committed if he did that.

* The alluded scene with Eberhardt and Madge is a joke on the scene from one of the early episodes of Six Feet Under.

* Eberhardt's joke about forming a skinhead gang was in response to several half-IC/half-OOC jokes about his shaved body.

* Le Doux wanted to use his Cthulhu Mythos to try and piece things together. I judged that to be a great way to drive yourself further insane (he didn't lose any SAN, but did have a temporary breakdown).

* The Byakhee plot that Donny alludes to is far, far from over and is tied in to much of what is going on.

* I had some cool background info ready on the Old Spanish Fort that implied some deeper connections to things, but because of a failed roll, it never came up.

* The rescue attempt on Nibbons was classic - the group gets half a plan put together, rushes off, then realizes too late they didn't really plan things out after the first step.

* We let Foxy show back up so she could make a few rolls between instagrams or whatever it is kids do these days on their phones for hours.

* If you think I'm going to let Le Doux use Jerboa as a tank to get out of problems with no future consequences, you haven't been paying attention to how I run games. :)

* Mouse's tale about the vampires on the plantation is more foreshadowing. The joke about his "White people problems" comment was more me mocking the way Hawk has his character talk.

* Everyone robbing Le Doux's safe was the highlight of the session from a humor aspect since it annoyed the player so much that his companions would rob him every time he ends up in the hospital.

So did the campaign die out? Miss reading about it. Good stuff!

Quote from: Ronin;900823So did the campaign die out? Miss reading about it. Good stuff!

The campaign is still active. I have a couple of problems going on here.

First thing - I somehow neglected to post the updates for session 14 here (which we had on 4/22). I'll get that posted up right away.

The second part is the 5/6 session got canceled somewhat last minute after a couple of people couldn't make it, and then I was out of town at a business conference for our 5/20 session. So, our next session is this Friday which everyone should be able to make it to. Because it's been so long, I had to type up a quick summary of open plotlines for the players.

*** Session 14 - Cast of Characters ***

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

 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.

 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.

*** Session 14 - Scene 1 (of 10) ***

Boudreaux Le Doux finds himself in the large stone room, feeling very tall. Looking at his body, he can tell he is some sort of giant cone-shaped creature with tentacle appendages. It is very disturbing.

A similar-looking creature enters the room. Le Doux considers attacking the creature in some way, but a voice in his head tells him not to fear. The creature goes on to tell Le Doux everything will be fine, as he is there in their city of Pnakotus.

Le Doux is confused, asking why he has tentacles. The creature explains his mind is temporarily inhabiting this form. When Le Doux asks where the body’s normal mind is, it tells him that mind is temporarily in Le Doux’s body.

Confused, Le Doux asks what they are doing with his body. The creature tells him they are not doing anything, as Le Doux’s body is dying. It tells him his brain will not recover from the injury he suffered in the fall.

Le Doux wonders if he is in some sort of afterlife. He asks if this is heaven. The creature responds that it is not, it is Pnakotus.

The creature tells Le Doux they are millions of years in his past. Le Doux asks about the dinosaurs, which the creature dismisses as being out there but not a concern. It is concerned about some type of creatures called the “flying polyps”, which it says will rise and overtake them soon in this timeline, forcing them to move their minds out of this race and into the future.

Le Doux asks what the cone-shaped creatures are. The voice explains they are the dominant race of this time in Earth’s history. When the creature confirms they took over the bodies of this race, Le Doux asks what happened to the original minds in the bodies.

When the creature explains those minds are “gone”, Le Doux becomes concerned. The creature tells him morality is not a factor; his people are the Great Race of Yith, who lived until the end of time itself.

Le Doux believes these creatures are dangerous and begins looking around for something to use as a weapon. Still reading his thoughts, the creature asks him what he thinks he is going to do. Le Doux backs down.

The creature tells Le Doux not to worry, as it is actually there to help him. Le Doux is skeptical, wondering if it is the same help given to the cone-shaped race. The creature tells him they still have a need for him.

Not liking the sound of that, Le Doux asks what they want him for. It says he is part of a broader plan, but doesn’t go into details.

The creature does identify Le Doux as an agent of Nyarlathotep and says his position puts him against Hastur’s minions. Le Doux recalls the name was one Jerboa mentioned Donny was talking about but doesn’t really follow, asking who Hastur is. The creature tells him it does not matter.

Continuing on, the creature says something will happen soon in his timeline that they wish to alter. It says the incident involves the followers of Yig. Le Doux recognizes the name as the serpent god of the Quinipissa tribe mentioned in the de Tonti letter.

The creature explains that normally altering the timeline is problematic because of the possibility it would causes something it calls a “cascading paradox timequake”. Le Doux doesn’t follow at all, but it sounds bad to him.

It tells Le Doux that they have a way around that because of him being a nexus being. Le Doux asks if it is referring to humanity in general or him personally. The creature clarifies it is talking about him personally, calling him “designation Le Doux”.

Le Doux recalls Eberhardt saying something about this before and asks for clarification on what a “nexus being” is. The creature gives him the same explanation it previously gave Eberhardt – that Le Doux is native to all known realities. Le Doux doesn’t really follow but the creature says humans have not yet discovered the science behind multi-dimensional realities.

The creature tells him the important thing to understand is that alternates of him exist out in different realities. Le Doux asks what they are doing, so it takes him to the window of all realities and shows him some of the same visions it showed Eberhardt.

Le Doux asks what is happening with the rocket. The creature explains that Le Doux is part of the first liquid fuel rocket launch.

The creature says the important one to focus on is the one at the naval ammunition depot, as that Le Doux is about to die. The creature then explains its plan – they can transfer Le Doux’s mind into the alternate Le Doux’s body and move the other Le Doux’s mind into his body. Then, switching the bodies, the Le Doux who was going to die anyway will be killed while Le Doux will live on in the new body.

Le Doux has a hard time following all of this but gets the point. He asks it what it wants in return, asking what he needs to do against Yig. The creature explains merely keeping Le Doux alive longer should alter the timeline in their favor. Le Doux notes he is a bit of a pawn in the game, but the creature says he should simply think of it as an arrangement that is mutually beneficial, with Le Doux’s benefit being able to stay alive.

Mulling it over, Le Doux asks what could happen if a timequake did occur. The creature describes the possibility being “a disruption that could imperil the entire fabric of reality”, and instructs him not to deviate from the plan. Le Doux considers if that would eliminate the Yith as a threat, but it reminds him the entire universe could be destroyed.

Le Doux wants to make sure the creatures are not planning to take over humans the same way they did the cone-shaped creatures. The creature says it is unnecessary, calling his race merely “watchers out of time”. Le Doux notes that taking bodies when they need them is hardly simply watching, but the creature insists they only “borrow” the bodies.

The creature tells Le Doux to walk through a door in the room. He decides to shamble over to it, keeping an eye on the other creature.

As soon as Le Doux opens the door, everything goes black for a moment and he finds himself no longer in the cone body but in a vast sea of whiteness. Looking at himself, he appears to be in a translucent form of his own body now.

Suddenly, a train appears out of nowhere. The side of it reads, “Cross-Time Central Railroad”. Inside the train engine is the cone-shaped creature, wearing an engineer’s hat on its eye-stalk tentacle. It tells him “all aboard”.

Le Doux notes he does not have a ticket. The creature tells him it is not necessarily, saying none of this is actually real and simply how his detached astral mind is interpreting what is happening to him. It goes on to say they sent the image of the train to his mind to give him a familiar reference point.

Climbing aboard, Le Doux finds the train quickly takes him through space and time to the munitions warehouse. The creature tells him they are at his destination.

Le Doux gets out of the train and finds everything frozen, as if time has stopped. In the sky, he can see the bolt of lightning getting ready to hit the building. And standing nearby is his doppelganger, guarding the building. Le Doux notices the body has some differences from his own – a shorter haircut, a slightly different build, a scar on the face, a mustache, and a tattoo of a heart on his shoulder that reads, “Mom”.

The creature tells Le Doux to enter the body. He finds his astral form easily merges into it. Following the plan, he moves his physical form back to the train, heads to the hospital, changes clothes with the body there, then loads the body back on the train. The creature tells him it will take care of the rest.

*** Session 14 - Scene 2 (of 10) ***

As soon as the train disappears, time starts up again. The whole thing is very disorienting to Le Doux and it takes him a moment to recover.

Just as he is getting his bearings, a nurse walks in. Temporarily insane, Le Doux believes he is "Bob Le Doux", the Lakefront City-based brother of Boo. He tells the nurse he is there looking for his brother. Seeing the patient is missing, the nurse rushes out to find a doctor.

Le Doux slowly wanders out of the hospital and takes a streetcar back over to his brother's office.

Back at the office, Hawk stops himself from nodding off as he watches Eberhardt. The man has not changed into a werewolf so he feels reasonably safe.

Nearby, Nibbons snores loudly from the couch where he passed out during the night after raiding Le Doux's hidden stash of whiskey bottles.

Seeing it is light out now, Eberhardt tells Hawk to unchain him. Hawk asks where the key is. Eberhardt directs him to Madge's desk where she left the key last night, though calls it "the cone" as subconsciously he is obsessed with the cone-shaped creature from his "dream". Hawk doesn't really notice his slip in language and goes to get it.

Hawk grabs some matches and cigarettes from the desk as well and lights one up. He asks Eberhardt if he is a werewolf but the German notes he hasn't changed into anything yet.

To be safe, Hawk burns him with the cigarette. Eberhardt yells out in pain, asking why he burned him with the cone. Still not really noticing the strange word substitution, Hawk tells him it was a test to see if he'd change.

Just then, the door opens and Le Doux steps in. He sees Hawk burning Eberhardt with the cigarette and grabs a paperweight near the door and throws it at the man.

Hawk turns around to see Le Doux but is confused by his appearance. Eberhardt asks him what is up with the cone over his lips.

Le Doux tells them he is not who they think he is, saying he is Boo's brother, Bob Le Doux, and explains his non-Cajun accent as being from Lakefront City.

Hawk asks what happened to Boo. Le Doux says he went to the hospital to visit his brother, but apparently he wasn't there. Hawk doesn't see any good in that, noting they are Boo's partners.

Eberhardt finds "Bob Le Doux" to be very familiar. He recognizes him as the Le Doux from the window of realities. Le Doux tries saying he is the identical twin brother of Boo, so he must be confused.

Le Doux asks if Eberhardt is OK or if he's been drinking. He also wants to know why the man was chained up, but Hawk simply mumbles something about him and the secretary.

When Le Doux starts asking questions, Hawk shuts him down quickly by pointing out if he's just Le Doux's brother then he doesn't have any right to start interrogating them.

Le Doux says he just came to the office to see if his brother was there. Hawk says Le Doux was at the hospital, while Eberhardt notes he's pretty sure he saw "Bob" explode.

Hawk decides since Boo is dead or missing, he may as well grab the money back out of the safe. He goes into Le Doux's office and pockets the cash, still leaving the locket.

Le Doux follows Hawk into the room and asks what he's up to. Hawk explains he's Le Doux's partner and this is his money. Le Doux notes he isn't so sure his brother had a Black partner.

Hawk once again tells Bob he has no business saying anything about anything since he's not involved. He then begins heckling the man about whether or not Le Doux is dead and suggests Bob head back to the hospital.

Eberhardt, meanwhile, tries to rouse the drunken Nibbons but has no luck. He tells the others Nibbons may be out for a while. Bob, who seems to recognize Nibbons as "Chet" also tries to wake him.

Hawk and Eberhardt clearly don't trust Bob, but he finds them strange as well. Bob insists his cousin Madge called him to come and help. The three continue to argue for a while about where Le Doux may or may not be and who should be the one looking for him. Hawk tells Bob he doesn't know about all the zombis and werewolves so he should go back to Kansas or whatever.

After some time is spent with Hawk arguing Le Doux went to the hospital because of a werewolf and Bob reacting incredulously, it becomes clear to Hawk the discussion isn't going anywhere so he tells Eberhardt they need to talk outside.

*** Session 14 - Scene 3 (of 10) ***

On the sidewalk, Hawk suggests to Eberhardt they head off to the hospital as Bob’s story doesn’t make any sense. Eberhardt isn’t so sure about leaving the crazy man with Nibbons, but Hawk feels Bob is likely Le Doux’s brother since they look alike.

Eberhardt starts rambling about the many Le Douxs he saw in his dreams. Hawk wonders if Nibbons gave him any of the whiskey. He insists they go to the hospital, since without Le Doux they have no one to keep the investigation going.

Just as they are about to head off to the hospital, a police car pulls up. The driver of the car, Officer Fred Lee, spots Eberhardt and calls out to him.

Eberhardt tries to avoid facial contact and ignores the call. The two uniformed men get out and approach, with Hawk whispering to Eberhardt to play sick as he pretends to be escorting him inside.

Lee asks if everything is OK. Eberhardt says he has been in the hospital, saying it caused all his hair to fall out.

The officer explains they are there to escort him back to the Major. He says he cannot go back to the cone because he is sick.

Lee notices the strange substitution of words and asks what he is talking about. For his part, Eberhardt seems incapable of noticing it and argues that he never said any such thing.

Hawk tries to run interference, saying Eberhardt is running a fever and how he needs to get in from the sun (according to what his Granny always said). The officer makes it clear Hawk’s presence is not appreciated, saying “Boy, if I was talkin’ to you, you’d know it!”

Not wanting another confrontation with the police, Hawk backs off. Eberhardt also decides he has no choice and agrees to let them take him back to the station.

When Eberhardt arrives at the precinct, he is spotted by his supervisor, Lt. Giaradello. He asks Eberhardt what happened to him.

Eberhardt tries saying it was shaved off because of his fever illness. Giaradello asks if that is why he wasn’t at the stakeout last night. Eberhardt says he was, but Giaradello isn’t convinced by the sick act and tells Bruno he suspects he’s been goldbricking.

The lieutenant takes him in to see Maj. Sandifer. After sitting in the waiting area for a minute, the major calls him in.

Sandifer is in no mood to be trifled with, demanding an explanation and noting the Chief of Detectives, Inspector Villiers, noticed his absence.

Eberhardt tries to explain, but uses the cone word again. The two begin to argue, and Sandifer starts to get suspicious.

The major bemoans his lot in life, already busy dealing with crank calls of reports of a wolf attacking people out near Bayou St. John. Eberhardt is a little too quick and forceful asserting that he is not a wolf.

Sandifer tells Eberhardt his behavior is very suspect – his case closures are down, he’s mysteriously absent too often, and he spends far too much time with that private investigator, Boudreaux Le Doux. Eberhardt asks if Sandifer knows where Le Doux is as the man is missing.

The major attempts to ask about Le Doux, but Eberhardt uses “cone” again and the conversation gets thrown off track.

Otha tells Bruno he was going to ask for his gun and badge, but instead he’ll do that and send him over to the hospital to have a nice chat with some people. Eberhardt notes that will be helpful since he needs to check the hospital for information on the missing Le Doux anyway.

Eberhardt hands over his gun and badge and waits around. Sandifer takes them and leaves him in the office to make some calls.

Sometime later, a couple of men in white coats show up and tell him they are taking him on a nice drive over to the hospital so he can find Le Doux and the cones. They assure him Dr. Essex will take good care of him.

Eberhardt starts to understand he’s headed to the asylum. He asks if Le Doux is there. Playing along, the orderly agrees Le Doux is waiting there with something important to talk to him about.

When Eberhardt asks if they are taking him to see Dr. Essex, the orderly says of course they are not. He describes it as taking Eberhardt on a nice, relaxing vacation but Eberhardt is starting to get nervous.

As they escort him outside, he sees the men are leading him to the asylum wagon. Eberhardt insists he isn’t going in there. When the orderly offers a choice between the easy way and the hard way, Eberhardt takes the hard way and tries to fight them.

The men attempt to get a straight-jacket on Eberhardt but he manages to fight them off. He makes a run for it, but they catch up to him and tackle him to the ground.

Eberhardt elbows one of the men in the face, giving him a chance to get up and start running again. But in his haste, he runs right into a baby stroller. The men quickly catch and restrain him.

*** Session 14 - Scene 4 (of 10) ***

With Eberhardt out of the picture for the moment, Hawk heads off for the hospital. Le Doux notices them both leave.

Still half in his fugue state, he wanders in to his bathroom and shaves off his mustache and uses some scissors to alter his hair. He also covers up the tattoo.

Le Doux then goes into his office and opens the safe, which he recognizes as being new. He sees everything but his mother's locket is gone. Le Doux thinks about the missing items from the safe. In a brief mental flash, he recalls seeing Eberhardt wearing them.

He then heads over to Nibbons. Needing cash, Le Doux rifles through the man's wallet. This is enough to rouse the investigator, but Le Doux quickly pistol whips him with the gun he finds on him and knocks Nibbons unconscious again.

Taking off Nibbons' pants, Le Doux places the pants in the safe. He also makes sure to set the combination to something new.

Just as he closes the safe, Le Doux hears someone enter the outside door. Peering from behind his office door, he sees Madge come in and start making coffee.

Le Doux sneaks around to the residence and exits out the back door. Once outside, stands still for a minute trying to think of what to do next. Recalling something about Donny being at the Old Spanish Fort, he grab's Nibbons' car and drives off.

*** Session 14 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

When Hawk reaches the hospital, he inquires after Le Doux. A doctor mistakes him for a servant of the family and tells him his “master” has gone missing.

Hawk plays it up, attempting to sound much dumber than usual. The doctor responds by getting increasingly condescending and simple in his explanations. Hawk gets out of him that Le Doux survived surgery and was expected to recover but now they don’t know where he is.

The doctor asks if there is a member of the family he could talk to. Hawk mentions the brother who just showed up. The doctor tells Hawk to let the brother know to come and talk to him. Thanking Hawk, the doctor calls him “boy” and flips him a penny. Hawk thanks him graciously.

Hawk is fairly sure Le Doux must have died, possibly risen again as a zombi and wandered off. He also believes it is possible Bob is simply the zombi version of Le Doux.

Wanting to continue the investigation, Hawk decides his next step will be to check in with Donny Martin’s parents. Since he doesn’t have their contact information, he heads back to the office.

When he arrives, he finds Madge on the couch next to Nibbons. She quickly throws a blanket over the top of him, saying he looked cold. Hawk suspects the lonely cat lady was up to her tricks again.

Hawk asks if she saw Le Doux’s brother. Madge gets confused, noting her cousin was an only child and did not have a brother. This further convinces Hawk that Bob must be a zombi; he describes Bob’s appearance to Madge but she doesn’t know anyone who looks like that.

Madge wonders if it was her cousin playing a joke or perhaps part of some undercover disguise, calling him the “undercover brother”. Hawk doesn’t know, but the whole thing concerns him greatly.

Hawk has Madge give him the contact info on Donny Martin’s parents. As she gives it to him, she tells him there is something in the paper he’ll find interesting.

Taking out the paper, Madge tells Hawk she had a surprise when she was glancing through the obituaries. One clearly shows a picture of Jerboa, which Madge recognized. But the accompanying section in the paper talks about a funeral for someone named “Ella Tau”.

Hawk makes a note that the funeral is scheduled for that afternoon at the Krupp Funeral Home. He agrees with Madge the picture certainly looks like Jerboa, wondering if she uses an alias.

*** Session 14 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

At the Crescent City Asylum, Eberhardt is brought down to the basement rooms where Dr. Nathaniel Essex performs his treatments. The doctor greets him by name, with Eberhardt finding the man's pale appearance and calm voice disturbing.

Eberhardt complains about the restraints, but Essex says they are there for his own protection. He tells Eberhardt he's heard he's been acting strange lately.

Dr. Essex begins asking Eberhardt some questions about how he is doing. Eberhardt says "cone" in his response, leading to Essex digging in to the subconscious obsession with cones and wondering if there is anything to do with his father.

The doctor then dims the lights in the room and takes out a pocket watch, telling him to focus his eyes on it as he moves it back and forth. Eberhardt is confused at first, but as soon as Essex can finally get him to stop talking he gets sleepy. When the doctor snaps his fingers, Eberhardt enters a hyper suggestive state.

Dr. Essex proceeds with asking Eberhardt about the cones. Eberhardt explains as best he can about the cone creatures he saw in the interdimensional portal. The doctor does not seem alarmed by the revelation, and instead tries to get more information about of Eberhardt about it.

Eberhardt talks about everything he can remember about the cone creatures. Essex takes meticulous notes as he does so.

Essex then asks Eberhardt if he knows anything about Hastur, but Eberhardt doesn't recognize that name. He does recognize the word, "Byakhee", as saying he found out about them from the werewolves.

The doctor is very interested in the werewolves. He gets Eberhardt to reveal their approximate location and other information about them. Essex is also interested when Eberhardt reveals he saw the yellow sign, a symbol of Hastur, on the altar there.

Essex asks what other creatures Bruno may have encountered. When Eberhardt mentions the zombis, the doctor digs into more details about that.

Once he has all the details, Essex asks Bruno about Le Doux. Eberhardt rambles on about missing Le Doux and the duplicate Le Doux from the portal.

Essex then asks about the case with Dr. Broncati, noting he is one of his other patients. He wants to know if Eberhardt saw the creature that Broncati fed the remains of the aborted fetuses and dead mothers. Eberhardt has no idea what the man is talking about, to which the doctor simply responds "curiouser and curiouser..."

The doctor asks what else Eberhardt can tell him about creatures he's seen. Eberhardt mentions the Floating Horror. Essex asks if he is referring to Nyarlathotep. Eberhardt says he didn't talk to the creature. He does, however, give more details about the Botanical Gardens and how Le Doux has since mentioned being able to summon the creature.

Dr. Essex continues to take his notes and says that it is all very interesting indeed. The topic of discussion is the demon Allatou. Eberhardt gives him information on the cult, including the active cell of The Committee.

Once they are done, Dr. Essex tells Eberhardt he will snap his fingers and he will awaken with no memory of their discussion. After he does so, he tells Bruno there has been a mistake and he is perfectly sane. He signs a release for the man and lets him go. When he calls in the orderlies, they give the doctor a look (particularly when Eberhardt mentions cones again), but Essex waves them off.

After he leaves, the doctor ruminates on the most enlightening and productive discussion he had.

*** Session 14 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

Eberhardt decides to take a streetcar back to Le Doux’s office. He’s getting off just as Hawk is pulling away to go see the Martins.

Hawk spots him and heads over to pick him up. Eberhard tells him he took care of everything, stressing there were no problems.

For his part, Hawk tells Eberhardt about Madge saying Le Doux has no brother. He also tells him about his trip to the hospital. Eberhardt agrees Le Doux may have died and turned into a zombi.

Hawk insists if Bob is zombi Le Doux, they must burn him. Eberhardt agrees he is making some sense.

As they drive, Hawk also tells Eberhardt about the paper with the funeral information for Jerboa. When Hawk tells Bruno about the name being used, he notices “Ella Tau” sounds awfully close to “Allatou”. Hawk agrees it could be.

Hawk wonders if they should go to the funeral to see who’s there. Eberhardt wonders if she was killed by the Cult of Allatou after they left her back at Dolly’s.

The two get sidetracked for a minute talking about cones when Eberhardt uses the word again. Hawk eventually gets the conversation back to his current plan, to visit the Martins and see if they can get more money out of them to continue the investigation with. Eberhardt isn’t so sure shaking down the parents is the best plan.

Eberhardt would rather track down the “zombi Le Doux” as well as find who is attending the Ella Tau funeral, as he suspects members of the cult may be there. Hawk says they should head there first but wants to grab Foxy first. Eberhardt also suggests they see if Nibbons is awake yet.

Meanwhile, Le Doux takes the .25 pistol and the money he took from Nibbons and heads to a gun store. He haggles with the shop owner to trade the gun and the money for a .45 pistol. The gun seller is reluctant, believing the small hold-out pistol to be stolen; but eventually Le Doux convinces him to make the trade in exchange for all of his cash. He also agrees to keep the sale quiet in exchange for Le Doux’s offer to send him more business.

As Le Doux heads out to the Old Spanish Fort, he stops at a stoplight only to find Hawk pulling up beside him.

Le Doux tries to act like he doesn’t see them but Hawk isn’t buying it. He points him out to Eberhardt.

As Le Doux pulls away, Hawk follows the car out to the Old Spanish Fort. It doesn’t take long before they reach the Lakeshore area. Hawk notes it would be a good location to burn him.

Nibbons wakes up just as they pass by the sign. He is disoriented for a moment, sitting in the back seat of the car with Foxy. He also notices he is wearing a pair of Le Doux’s golf pants for some reason (as he was still unconscious when the others dressed him and loaded him into the car). He also feels slightly sick from his hangover and notices a lump on his head.

He asks the others what they are doing, and they give him a brief rundown. Nibbons notes the Old Spanish Fort, or Fort St. Jean, was erected by the French in 1701 at the entrance of the Bayou St. John. He explains to the others the site was built on top of a large shell midden created by the Pre-Columbian Marksville culture (which died out in 400 AD).

But the really interesting thing, Nibbons tells them, was how the Marksville Indians were connected to the Hopwells. According to folklore, Nibbons continues, the Marksville Indians worshiped an amorphous entity that lived in the bayou and required human sacrifices. Nibbons believes this trip does not bode well…

*** Session 14 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

When Le Doux reaches his destination, he immediately gets out of the car. Hawk pulls up shortly after, with jokes being made about Nibbons and Foxy being the back seat together.

Le Doux stops around to listen to what they are doing, and he and Nibbons exchange some banter. Hawk tries saying this is "Bob Le Doux", but Le Doux corrects him, saying he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Eberhardt tells Nibbons they believe he is a zombi. Le Doux gives him the stink eye, asking what he is talking about.

Bruno starts to explain about the brother and Madge saying he didn't have a brother. Eberhardt's explanation starts to get jumbled when he begins mentioning cones, so Hawk steps in to say they aren't fooled by him shaving and the scar still identifies him as the man calling himself Bob Le Doux.

Le Doux believes all of them are insane, saying he just got out of the hospital and doesn't know what they are talking about. Hawk mocks him, saying he clearly didn't have the brain surgery the doctor told him about. Le Doux tells him he didn't need any surgery, and the scar on his face is from Eberhardt crashing the car.

Hawk asks about the werewolves. Le Doux says that is why he is there, to take care of Donny Martin.

Eberhardt suggests some kind of test to see if Le Doux is really a zombi or not, such as cutting off a finger to see if he feels any pain.

Le Doux ignores him and talks about how perhaps Jerboa will be out here too. Eberhardt notes she is already dead.

Hawk agrees, saying Le Doux is dead and Le Doux doesn't even know her real name. He explains how she was in the paper, dead, under her name Ella Tau.

Le Doux points out that is clearly a reference to Allatou and asks what they managed to do while he was in the hospital. Eberhardt voices his belief that The Committee must have killed Jerboa.

The arguments continue on back and forth, with Le Doux insisting Hawk is talking nonsense and that Nibbons must be drunk. He also doesn't understand why Nibbons is wearing his golf pants or why Eberhardt is wearing his cufflinks.

Dismissing them all as crazy, Le Doux takes out the silver dagger and heads into the ruins of the fort.

The others hang back – Hawk believes this area could be very dangerous based on what Nibbons said about it. He readies his pistol and gives his backup pistol to Foxy while Nibbons grabs the tire iron. Hawk and Foxy grab a couple of the silver butter knives as well, but Eberhardt begs off, still afraid he may be a werewolf.

Hawk then cracks open the trunk and starts preparing some Molotov cocktails with Eberhardt. He still thinks Bob is a zombi and is prepared to deal with him. Nibbons decides to go catch up with Le Doux.

Meanwhile, Le Doux continues into the foliage surrounding the old fort walls. He spots a wolf-like creature crossing the path up ahead, heading further into the bayou. Le Doux draws his gun and has both the gun and the dagger at the ready as he heads in behind it.

Le Doux creeps forward into the swampy bayou. Behind him, Nibbons catches up.

Nibbons asks his boss what's up. He tells him he spotted Donny Martin up ahead in his werewolf form. He asks Nibbons if he has any silver, but he says he does not.

Le Doux asks Nibbons what the others are talking about. Nibbons says he doesn't know, he's not even sure how he got in the back of the car.

While they are chatting loudly, the werewolf manages to circle around and pounce on Le Doux. Le Doux steps out of the way in time to avoid its claws.

Le Doux fends off its bite, able to hold it at bay with his silver dagger. He tries communicating with the beast, but it is clear Donny is too far gone.

When the creature moves in again, Le Doux stabs it. Although the wound is not deep, the creature howls in pain from the burning of the silver.

Nibbons moves in and cracks the creature in the head with the tire iron. It responds by biting him in the arm. It bleeds badly and Nibbons tries to bandage it with his coat.

Le Doux stabs the creature again with the knife, right in the chest, while pleading for him to stop. The wound appears to be very bad. The werewolf makes a run for it, heading off into the bayou.

As it does so, Le Doux uses his gun to hit the creature in the head. The heavy bullet takes out a chunk of the creature's skull.

Le Doux heads over and repeatedly plunges the dagger into the creature's heart until he is sure it is dead.

*** Session 14 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

When the werewolf dies, the body transforms back into the human form of Donny Martin. Le Doux finds it all very unsettling and is stunned for a moment.

Nibbons watches it all from many yards back. As he does so, the others approach behind him. He points to the body, saying the wolf just turned human. Eberhardt wonders if “zombi Le Doux” killed a man.

They all head over to investigate. As they do so, they see something out in the bayou, creeping towards Le Doux and the body. It is the most horrifying thing any of them have ever seen – an amorphous blob of a creature. In it, they can see pieces of humans it has devoured: pulsating brains, beating hearts, tiny eyes and arms from the aborted partially-formed fetuses Dr. Broncati fed it, the pieces of the chopped up mothers who died during the procedures, as well as the pieces of the more recently-missing Black street children.

All three of them are shocked into a near-catatonic state. Eberhardt and Nibbons both foul their pants.

Hawk recovers the quickest. He throws one Molotov cocktail at the spawn creature and tosses another down at Donny’s body.

The creature lets out an unworldly scream and retreats back into the swamp. Just after it is gone from sight, Le Doux starts to come around.

Le Doux jumps back quickly from the flames. He looks around at them and asks what they are doing with all of the Molotov cocktails.

Eberhardt tries to explain about the creature they saw, but ends up just mumbling about cones. Hawk gets very excited as he tries to tell the story, but doesn’t make a lot more sense as he rambles on as well.

Le Doux says he doesn’t know what they are talking about as he saw no creature. He believes they are all insane.

Hawk throws the remaining cocktails into the bayou, grabs Foxy, and runs back to the car. From the bayou, Le Doux can hear the car pull away.

Le Doux grabs the remaining cocktails out of Eberhardt’s hands to burn the body beyond recognition.

When Nibbons becomes responsive, Le Doux asks him what happened. He’s able to relate something half-sensible about the creature. Le Doux wonders how he could have missed it, but Nibbons explains he wasn’t conscious at the time.

Le Doux tells Nibbons his plan – once Donny flames out, they’ll shove the remains into the swamp so they won’t be found. While they wait around, Le Doux continues to berate Nibbons for losing his gun, getting drunk, stealing his pants, etc.

Around the time the fire goes out on the body, the spawn creature re-appears. Le Doux sees it for the first time, shocking him back into a catatonic state. A tentacle comes out from the blob, burning him like acid as it touches him.

Eberhardt makes a run for it, heading back towards the fort. Nibbons grabs Le Doux and does the same.

They all manage to make it back to the car. But Le Doux won’t let them inside without losing their pants and cleaning themselves first.

The two men start to do so, and just then a family of tourists spot them. The parents tell their children to cover their eyes.

Le Doux wonders how to best resolve the situation, but since it is a large Mormon family visiting from Utah he decides to talk his way out of it. He tells them the two are his “idiot brothers” who had accidents.

After the Mormons head off in a different direction, Eberhardt and Nibbons get themselves clean and get in the car. As they drive out, they pass a patrol car coming in.

*** Session 14 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

Driving back to the office, Le Doux asks for more information about Jerboa. Eberhardt tries to explain, but his use of "cone" continues to get in the way.

Le Doux decides they'll need to go back to the office first. Once there, Le Doux has Madge take the men into the bathroom to clean them off. While she takes care of the others, Le Doux gets them a couple of his spare pairs of pants and gives them some coffee since he thinks they are still drunk (or perhaps high on horse tranquilizers).

Meanwhile, in a different part of town, Hawk uses the money from Le Doux's safe to buy some new pistols since clearly the others are in need. He smiles at his good deed for the day.

When he's done with that, Hawk resupplies his car with flammables then heads back to the office.

As he arrives, Hawk sees Eberhardt and Nibbons have new pairs of pants on and Madge has smoked half a pack of cigarettes.

Le Doux points out the newspaper story on Ella Tau to Nibbons, saying he believes it refers to the Cult of Allatou. Eberhardt points out he already said that, but Le Doux dismisses him as being drunk.

The four of them discuss what the story means for a while. Le Doux believes they should still go to the funeral home, but believes it is a set-up by the cult to trap them.

To that end, Le Doux believes Chester should go undercover at the funeral to scope it out. As he relates his plan, Hawk hands out guns. Le Doux wonders where he got the money for that, but Hawk still believes he is "Bob" so he won't answer.

Using his detective disguise kit, Le Doux applies a fake mustache to Nibbons along with his gray wig. He also gives him a "hobo coat" and applies bushy eyebrows. The effect makes Nibbons look like a cross between Mark Twain and William Howard Taft, who is down on his luck.

Le Doux tells Nibbons to use a fake name and act confused, saying he is there for the funeral of his cousin named Ralph. He wants Nibbons to take notes on who is there and see what is going on.

Hawk isn't so sure about the plan, saying Nibbons should come up with his own cover story that is more believable.

They then drive over to the funeral home, with Hawk insisting on taking his own car. Le Doux drops off Nibbons a couple of blocks away so he can approach on foot.

After they drop off Nibbons, Le Doux drives past the Krupp Funeral Home, slowly. It is a large, old mansion clearly in a state of disrepair.

When Nibbons arrives, he is greeted by a tall, gaunt, older-looking gentleman. Nibbons identifies himself as a friend of the deceased there to pay his respects.

The funeral director asks Nibbons to sign the guest registry. He does so using the unusual alias "Gorn Clinker". The director gives his name as Roderick Krupp, the owner of the funeral home.

Krupp escorts Nibbons inside to the chapel. The inside of the building looks like a normal funeral home. In the chapel he spots an urn up by the podium.

Nibbons looks around at the few people attending the funeral. He recognizes two of them are the Grimes brothers from the warehouse.

Krupp tells Nibbons the service will begin shortly, but Nibbons asks for a bathroom. He quickly heads inside, but is distraught to find it is a simple water closet with no window to escape from.

Looking in the mirror, Nibbons gets nervous he may get spotted. He makes sure his disguise is still believable and keeps his pistol ready before heading back in to the chapel.

Outside, Le Doux looks for a place to park but notices someone watching them from an upper window in the funeral home with binoculars. He believes the man has spotted them.

Le Doux drives around the corner and motions Hawk's car over. When Hawk comes over, Le Doux tells him John Taubert is watching them and the place is full of zombis. However, the plan doesn't go as planned as Hawk floors the accelerator and drives off, leaving Le Doux and Eberhardt wondering what to do next...

*** Session 14 - Session Notes (originally typed up on 4/26) ***

This session was slightly shorter than normal but had a lot going on. In the end, it was a real mix of stuff that didn't go anywhere and some productive advancement on several of the outstanding plotlines. Overall, everyone was happy with the session even if it did devolve into several circular conversations at points.

 Two of the bigger developments - Le Doux getting a new body and Eberhardt's subconscious compulsion to substitute the word "cone", were last-minute ideas I had the day or so before the session.

 Le Doux's new body was an attempt to get around him being stuck in the hospital while critical plots played out. Since I had already introduced the whole "nexus being" thing, I thought I would put it to good use. It also gave me a chance to give his new body a higher CON / hit points to make him a little less fragile, at the cost of more sanity via body horror.

 Eberhardt gained a new derangement last time so that was a matter of deciding what made the most sense. I thought the word substitution thing would be great for adding conflict and comic relief without hampering him too much. Of course, almost everyone is getting a new derangement next session after all the SAN loss this time around...

 Other notes about the session:
 * Like before, I used the Great Race to add some exposition and give some context to everything going on. But in the great tradition of this sort of thing, I brought up more new questions than I answered.

 * Last session, the doctor clearly said Le Doux was going to survive. I had him repeat that this session. The question is, was the cone creature telling the truth to Le Doux or was he lying to further a different agenda.

 * The "is this heaven" line is a frequent joke of people here in Iowa due to the whole Field of Dreams thing (which you can still visit, BTW).

 * Clearly, the Crescent City area has factions of Yig, Hastur, and Nyarlathotep all involved in activities, not to mention Allatou and the Great Race. Oddly enough, Cthulhu himself hasn't been a factor. At least, not yet...

 * The "cascading paradox timequake" thing is intended to sound like Star Trek style techno-jargon. The idea was for the cone creature to make it sound impressive rather than any kind of scientific accuracy.

 * There was some initial confusion during the scene as the player thought his character wouldn't be familiar with "rockets". I had to remind him the concept of a liquid-fueled rocket was new, but not rockets themselves per se.

 * The "watchers out of time" comment is a direct homage to August Derleth's story / collection. Unlike many Lovecraft fans, I don't have a particular issue with Derleth's stories and found the stories in The Watchers Out of Time to be perfectly fine reading (nothing great mind you, but certainly not worth the rapid anti-fandom I've seen online).

 * Le Doux in the white area with the train is intended to be very Matrix-y.

 * The "Cross-Time Central Railroad" comes from a Fantastic Four storyline from the 90's by Tom DeFalco. I thought it would be appropriate enough here.

 * Le Doux's new body is intentionally very different to emphasize the body horror. The mom tattoo, however, is pure humor.

 * The player himself invented the whole "alternate Bob personality" thing. Personally, I thought it was more disruptive than it was worth but it did lead to a lot of humorous banter.

 * Nibbons is unconscious for the first 2/3rds of session because he's our Skype player and his power was out for a while so he joined late.

 * Hawk re-stealing the money from the safe was classic. It becomes something of a brick joke when he uses it to buy the others guns (as a favor) later. The best part is the player doesn't get the humor/irony.

 * Officer Fred Lee is something of a play on "Officer Friendly". His dismissive line to Hawk is taken from The Wire (with a very different context there).

 * Eberhardt getting fired was inevitable at this point, so I had the cops show up to get that Band-Aid ripped off. Him getting sent to the asylum seemed the natural conclusion of his behavior.

 * Le Doux stealing Nibbons' pants made no sense, but was a great setup for later when I used dramatic license to tell them they could only find a pair of Le Doux's golf pants for him.

 * Hawk's conversation with the doctor got pretty bad - it was like a minstrel show skit by the end. I didn't write up the whole thing because the intent was to mock the doctor's racism and I didn't want that to get lost. It's my usual problem with interactions with Hawk - trying to convey the systematic racism of the times without veering into that territory where people can't tell the difference between celebrating something and satirizing it.

 * I've probably gone overboard with Madge as well. What started as a cheap gag using the old "librarian is secretly a dominatrix" trope has gotten increasingly disturbing.

 * The "undercover brother" comment was the result of a series of OOC jokes mixed with in-character dialogue. It's meant as an homage to the Eddie Griffin movie.

 * The "Ella Tau" thing was hilarious because it was intended to be very, very obvious to the players that it is The Committee setting a trap for them; something Hawk missed completely and even Eberhardt didn't totally get.

 * I liked Eberhardt going to the asylum because it gave me a chance to re-introduce Dr. Essex, who clearly knows a lot about what is going on and has plans of his own. I originally meant to give him more time back after the Broncati case but the campaign went in a different direction so I didn't get to use it.

 * Nibbons' information on the Old Spanish Fort and the Marksville tribe was originally intended to be learned back when they first heard about the Old Spanish Fort from Jerboa. But a couple of missed rolls at the time didn't lead to them getting that background.

 * Anyone who's actually been to the Old Spanish Fort in New Orleans will probably realize my description of it bares little resemblance (though it is much closer to other old Spanish forts in the south). That's one of the reasons I don't use the actual city names - I want my game cities to be different and more atmospheric (just like Gotham isn't really Brooklyn or whatever).

 * Donny Martin was a lost cause by this point, even if the PCs had recovered the book (which they still haven't).

 * The creature in the bayou was a Spawn of Abhoth. It was being fed by Broncati and the Hangman from the KKK (though the PCs haven't figured that out yet).

 * The horrific description of the spawn was my initial inspiration for the campaign, based on all the talk in the Republican primaries by Carly Fiorina about the whole Planned Parenthood thing. This isn't intended as a political comment on abortion one way or the other, merely that the discussion inspired me to create a truly horrific monster.

 * The family spotting Eberhardt and Nibbons changing was comic relief. I already had a vision in my mind of the full extended family from the HBO show Big Love, but the Le Doux player believed I only made it a large Mormon family so he couldn't just kill them to sacrifice to the Floating Horror.

 * Le Doux has Nibbons go undercover because the player is terrible at it and thinks it will be funny. This is also why the disguise ends up so outlandish.

 * Roderick Krupp is another Marvel comics-inspired members of The Committee.

 * There is an urn at the funeral because the cover story is Jerboa was cremated, though Nibbons never asked about that. The implication should be that perhaps Jerboa isn't really dead after all...

 * Le Doux really wanted to trick Hawk into blowing up the funeral home with the various Committee members inside, but the Hawk player interpreted his character's reaction much differently (since his belief is Hawk is very superstitious and scared of anything supernatural).

So, there's session 14. Not sure what happened - I posted them to RPG.NET and I always post to both sites at the same time (oddly, I also just noticed I somehow skipped scene 2 when I posted there. Sigh)

Again, since it's been so long, here's what I sent my players about open plotlines (with the note I may have inadvertently left out some things):

The Story So Far...


The Cult of Allatou

The first cell of the Cult of Allatou was discovered during the investigation into the death of Taylor O'Conner. It was led by Scott Prichard, who wanted to use Congressman O'Conner's daughter to bring Allatou back into the flesh. It also included the owner of Gramarye Books, Henry Carstairs. All members of this cult cell were killed by the investigators.

Demonologist Patricia Walker later informed the group of the existence of a second cell of the cult in the area, a cabal of businessmen known as The Committee. Walker is later apparently killed by The Committee, leaving behind the clues of "Grimes, Paffenroth and Roland".

Independently, Fox's investigation into the cult turned up connections to the Tatterdemalion Garment Company (owned by Arnold Paffenroth) and Dolly's Theatre (owned by Percy and Barton Grimes). Fox uncovers a date and time of a meeting by The Committee, but the group fails to follow up because of the Donny Martin investigation.

Nibbons later traces the sale of Gramarye Books' stock of occult tomes back to shipping magnate Maximillian Coleridge. He also discovers Carstairs had a note on a third cell of the cult in the city they have no knowledge of, called The Society. When he goes to investigate Coleridge, Nibbons learns he is another member of the cell but is captured by the cult himself in the process.

Le Doux later discovered and killed some kind of demon being held in the basement of Gramarye Books.

The group subsequently rescues Nibbons from Dolly's Theatre but Jerboa goes missing in the ensuing fight. A later ad for a funeral at the Krupp Funeral Home with her picture and the fake name "Ella Tau" suggests The Committee is attempting to set a trap. Nibbons goes undercover straight into the trap, using the name Gorn Clinker.

 

Dr. Broncati / Missing Occult Tome

Dr. Amenti Broncati was an abortionist who the investigators arrested for the death of Benjamin Devereaux.

He is currently incarcerated in the Crescent City Asylum under the care of Dr. Nathaniel Essex. Dr. Essex appears to have some interest in occult matters himself, but this is not a fact known to the group.

He claims to have worshipped a "demon" that lived in the swamps of Bayou St. John, and "fed" the demon in the swamps with the remains of the fetuses and any mothers who died in the procedure. A later trip into the bayou by the investigators to look for Donny Martin seems to have confirmed the existence of this creature.

When Hawk was robbing Broncati's house after his arrest, he discovered an occult tome but did not take it. The occult tome was later revealed to have been taken by a Black man named Clayton Bigsby, who has since mysteriously disappeared. However, recent interactions with the Klan suggest the mysterious new head of the local Klan, The Hangman, may be in possession of the book (see also, Gangland Connections, below, for more info on the Klan)

 

Jean Batraville / Zombis / The Floating Horror

Jean Batraville was a voodoo cultist worshipping the entity Nyarlathotep, which he called The Floating Horror. He used his powers to raise zombis from the dead to take revenge for the death of his brother during the Second Caco War in Haiti. The group later killed Batraville, but Le Doux kept his occult notes for himself.

 

Donny Martin / Werewolves

Donny Martin was a missing college student who was later revealed to be transforming into a werewolf. He was tied to several murders in the city, at first believed to be linked to the serial killer, The Axeman, who mysteriously stopped killing several years ago. Le Doux was forced to kill Martin, and burned his body in Bayou St. John.

During the investigation, Le Doux learned of a clan of werewolves, the Bowles Clan, living in the remote Segnette Bayou.

While investigating the Bowles' home, the group discovered notes about creatures called the Byakhee and an entity later identified as Hastur. These concepts may or may not be tied into the Indian belief in an evil entity known as the Wyrm.

One of the clan, Jerboa, went missing and is presumed dead in connection to activities with the Cult of Allatou (see above).

 

Gangland Connections

Congressman O'Conner's political boss, Paul Medvig, has ties to Alonzo Patterson. Patterson's men tried to get Le Doux to implicate Matranga associate Bernie the Bookie, but Le Doux didn't really go along with it.

The group has had several indirect interactions with the Matranga family via their pornography operation at the Blue Acadian Bookstore.

One of the men Batraville killed was a bag man for Big Daddy. The group investigated a possible connection between the death and the local Haitian Zobop gang under "Big Mike" Louis, but eliminated them as suspects. Eberhardt later pulled in some favors for the gang to keep the peace.

In exchange for Big Daddy not killing them, Eberhardt and Hawk participated in a muscle job against Harry Apostolou, nephew of Greek crime boss Manolis Apostolou.

Hawk has friends with the Thornton Brothers gang. The gang is currently at war with the Dorsey-Graham gang.

Eberhardt and Le Doux helped the Crowe gang (who run narcotics and prostitution operations in the bayou) negotiate a peace with Thylo Bowles in exchange for a lifetime pass at their prostitution campground.

The missing money for Big Daddy was traced back to small-time bootlegger Mae Kennedy. Le Doux passed along the information to Big Daddy after giving back the money.

The group has had a couple of run-ins with the local Chinese syndicate, the Tsung Tong. The head of the tong, Kei Wong, may or may not be after Hawk after Le Doux's comments to the manager of Lee Ho Fook's.

The Klu Klux Klan has been very active in the area under their new leader, The Hangman. A couple of lynchings have occurred, along with the disappearance of many Black street kids. The Klan also is identified with looking for occult books (see Cult of Allatou, above). Not much is known about the Klan, other than a connection to lawyer Ham Johnson.

Hawk was told by Thornton's men that pawnshop owner T.J. Parker was looking for him because some guy was asking around about Hawk. Hawk later found T.J. dead in his shop, his head bashed in by a baseball bat.

 

Crimes Under Investigation

Eberhardt and Le Doux were spotted (but not identified) by a witness at the murder scene of Patricia Walker. They are still wanted for questioning.

Hawk was under investigation for a couple of deaths at the coroner's office, but Eberhardt later initiated a cover-up to hide those crimes using janitor Ted Johnson.

 

Other Occult Stuff

Le Doux once read a newspaper article about a missing film star, Jason Roland, who disappeared under strange circumstances. A previous attempt to complete the last film he was working on was plagued with problems (including the crew believing the set was haunted). The film is set to try filming again in Crescent City soon.

Le Doux investigated a case of a "Lizard Man" that turned out to be insurance fraud. But during the course of the investigation, learned someone had robbed the history museum of artifacts related to snake men worshipped by Indians. The snake god was later revealed to be known as Yig.

Ted Johnson claimed his brother died mysteriously after crossing a voodoo witch, and was found dead in the crawlspace under his house wearing a clown suit.

Unbeknownst to the group, the Pentex Chemical Company is involved in experiments with the Army to create super soldiers for the next great war. They appear to be using a mix of approaches related to both the Cult of Yig and the remains of the creatures from Lakefront City.

Several members of the group (Eberhardt, Nibbons, and Le Doux) have all been possessed by the minds of The Great Race of Yith – creatures who live beyond space and time. Both Eberhardt and Le Doux remember their "dreams" of interacting with the creatures in a prehistoric civilization where they inhabited the bodies of cone-shaped creatures. The creatures later helped Le Doux change bodies with one of his alternate dimension selves. The creatures mentioned the "flying polyps" as being a threat to them in their current timeline.

Mouse Anthony once told a tale about vampire plantation owners to Hawk.

*** Session 15 - Cast of Characters ***

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

 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.

 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.

*** Session 15 - Scene 1 (of 10) ***

Le Doux tells Eberhardt that Nibbons is likely stuck in the funeral home with the cult, and they need to get him out. Eberhardt dryly notes Nibbons is often stuck in things.

Boo suggests they head in through the front. Eberhardt says that is a good idea.

Driving the car down the block a little to make a U-turn, Le Doux catches the brief site of someone in brown robes entering the funeral home as he turns the car around.

Not sure what to make of the man, Le Doux squeals around a turn quickly. He tells Eberhardt to brace himself as he accelerates the car to top speed.

Meanwhile, inside the Krupp Funeral Home, Nibbons emerges from the bathroom and barely stops himself from stepping into a pool of blood on the floor in the hall. Next to it is the body of Roderick Krupp with a head wound.

Standing over Krupp is a monk. Next to the monk, the chapel doors have been closed and some kind of medieval mace-looking object is jammed into the door to brace it shut. Nibbons can hear pounding from the other side.

He then notices the can of gasoline next to the monk, the floor is covered in gas, and the monk is holding a lighter. Nibbons can tell the man has the eyes of a fervent zealot full of righteousness. The monk says, “pati non patieris vivere” as he drops the lighter.

Chester has no idea what the monk said, but can tell the man is ready to matyr himself and knows he needs to get out before the fire spreads too far. He tries to run past the man but the monk tackles him as he passes by. Nibbons and the monk both become engulfed in flames.

Outside, Le Doux attempts his plan to swerve the car around and drive it through the front of the funeral home. Unfortunately, he oversteers and smashes the car straight into one of the large oak trees out front. Eberhardt is thrown out of the car and on to the softer ground, while Le Doux’s chest is crushed by the steering wheel.

Back inside the inferno, Nibbons attempts to shoot the monk in his head with his pistol as they roll around on the flaming floor. But the pain from the burns causes him to miss his shot.

As all hope seems lost, the nearby door from the basement of the funeral home opens. An orange demon-looking creature with a long tail emerges. The monk lets Nibbons go as he charges at the demon.

Nibbons takes the opportunity to run out the door and onto the lawn, rolling around to put out the flames on himself. He manages to smother the flames, but can tell he is badly burned.

Eberhardt comes to on the ground. He sees the smoke pouring out of the building and hears the screams of the people trapped inside. Seeing Nibbons and the second-degree burns covering the man’s body, he rushes over to pick him up and get him away from the building.

They don’t get far before the fire hits the gas lines in the walls of the building from the old gaslights. As the building explodes, Eberhardt throws them to the ground to avoid getting hit by shrapnel.

The burning remains of the funeral home are now eerily quiet and neighbors have started to come out to watch. Eberhardt looks over at the car, but can tell it has been totaled and Le Doux badly injured. He calls out for someone in the crowd to call for a cone.

Nibbons manages to look up at the car. He yells about what they’ve done to his car, but then heads over to check on Le Doux.

Shambling over, Nibbons looks at Le Doux. His lungs are clearly being crushed by his ribs being rammed into his chest by the steering wheel. Because of his bad burns, Nibbons is not able to do anything so he calls over Eberhardt. Eberhardt manages to pull Le Doux out and get him breathing again.

By the time Hawk shows back up at the scene with Foxy (whom he went to retrieve), he sees there is nothing left of the funeral home except a pile of smoldering ashes being hosed down by a fire truck, and Le Doux and Nibbons being loaded into an ambulance.

Hawk has Foxy snuff out the Molotav cocktails they were coming to throw then calls over to Eberhardt to get in the car. Saying he doesn’t need to be told twice, Eberhardt gets inside and Hawk speeds away from the scene.

*** Session 15 - Scene 2 (of 10) ***

In the car, Hawk asks Bruno how the other two are doing. He says they are not good, as he's seen better looking men back in the trenches.

Deciding they should lay low, they head back to Le Doux's office. They find Madge there, who asks after her cousin. Hawk tells her Boo was in a car accident, and she rushes down to the hospital to check on him.

After Madge is gone, Hawk decides to take the opportunity to look all through the office and Le Doux's apartment. He's still confused about the whole Boo vs. Bob thing, and wants to find any sort of proof the other brother exists as he still believes Le Doux is really Bob. However, he cannot find any photos or other records of Bob.

While Hawk ransacks Le Doux's house, Eberhardt tries to patch himself up. Still feeling battered and bruised, he asks Hawk for help. Hawk grabs a bottle of his granny's homemade "Thunderbird" wine from the cabinet in Le Doux's office where he keeps it. It doesn't make Eberhardt feel much better, but does get him drunk quickly.

In the meantime, Hawk explores the various possibilities about Le Doux, wondering if perhaps Bob is a reincarnated version of Boo. Eberhardt doesn't think so, and finds the possibility of multiple Le Douxs running around to be terrifying.

Eberhardt believes they need to phone a friend for some help to figure things out. He calls over to the BOI office to talk to Special Agent Millard Fox, but discovers Fox is out on assignment in the Houston office. He has them send a telegram to Fox, telling him to get back for an urgent cone.

Hawk wants to check in on Le Doux and Nibbons, but doesn't really want to go into the hospital himself. So, he drives Foxy over and has her make the inquiries. She is less than thrilled at playing messenger, but tells him the doctors expect both men to recover, though they are still currently in the intensive care unit.

The next priority for Hawk is getting a second car. Since the others have destroyed all the cars they owned, he takes Eberhardt over to Mouse Anthony's to find a cheap car to purchase (though makes him wait in the car).

Mouse and Hawk greet each other with the usual flair. Hawk explains he needs a new car, something a bit more high end than his jalopy. Mouse offers a newer wood-paneled car as a possibility.

Hawk is concerned about the car being seen, but Mouse says it originally came from Arkansas. Hawk agrees that might be far enough. Mouse also insists he has all of the usual "legitimate papers" for it.

Mouse quotes a price of 800 dollars, but Hawk only wants to pay half that. In return, he agrees to supply a couple of "trade-ins" to be delivered later. Anthony decides Hawk's credit is good enough so he agrees to the deal.

As he takes the money, Mouse asks if Hawk ever got with T.J. to find out what the whole thing about the guy asking around about him was. Hawk tells him T.J. is dead.

Mouse asks who killed T.J. Hawk says he isn't sure. Mouse wonders if it has anything to do with the current war going on between the Dorsey-Graham gang and the Thornton Brothers gang.

Hawk isn't sure who the killer is, but isn't particularly concerned about it. Mouse still thinks it's odd, as T.J. didn't really have any enemies and wasn't really part of any gang.

As Mouse hands him over the keys, Hawk asks if he's heard about anything strange going on lately. Mouse asks what's gone on lately that hasn't been strange, noting there has been a lot of activity in the city lately.

Hawk agrees, noting he heard about a funeral home burning down just today. Mouse asks about it, but finding out it occurred in a White neighborhood, says it sounds like White people with White problems that has nothing to do with him.

Agreeing, Hawk cautions Mouse to watch his back as a lot of crazy White folk are running around the city. Mouse says he already knows that, with most of them being in the Klan. He notes another man was found lynched last night.

Mouse discusses how dangerous it is now. Hawk, pulling back his jacket to reveal his gun, says that is why he doesn't leave the house without it.

Once the two men say their goodbyes, Hawk heads back to his car and hands over the keys to the new one to Eberhardt and the two head back to Le Doux's office.

*** Session 15 - Scene 3 (of 10) ***

Since they have no idea what happened at the Krupp Funeral Home, Eberhardt isn’t sure whether to believe The Committee was killed or not. He decides the best way to check is to call around to some of the likely members.

He starts with Arnold Paffenroth, calling over to the Tatterdamelion Garment Company. When the receptionist answers, he asks for Paffenroth and the call is transferred. When someone answers, Eberhardt gives his name as “Mr. Le Doux” and says he wants to talk to Paffenroth.

Eberhardt goes on to say there was a funeral he believes the man was supposed to attend today. The man on the line notes Eberhardt doesn’t sound as French as his name. Eberhardt suggests the man isn’t Paffenroth either.

The man who may or may not be Paffenroth asks what he wants. Eberhardt says he is simply trying to find out where the “real Mr. Paffenroth” is. The man insists he is the real Mr. Paffenroth.

Eberhardt presses his bluff, asking who the man who went into the funeral home who looked like Paffenroth was. The man calls him out on it, saying he clearly doesn’t know as much as he is pretending to.

Before hanging up on Eberhardt, the man tells him not to worry; he’ll have someone look into him and get back to him later. Eberhardt calls over to Hawk that he may want to be prepared to keep a lookout at the window for some company.

Hawk would prefer to leave the office instead. Eberhardt wants to make a few more calls first, so Hawk takes Foxy and has the two of them move the cars away from the office and keep a lookout from more of a distance.

Next, Eberhardt calls over to the Coleridge Shipping Company. The receptionist there says it will take a moment, as Mr. Coleridge is out on the warehouse floor.

After a minute, a gruff sounding man gets on the line. Eberhardt confirms the man is Coleridge. When asked his name, Eberhardt gives it as “Detective Le Doux”.

Coleridge asks the detective what he can help with. Eberhardt says he is looking for a book, but realizes in the moment he can’t recall the name of the book Nibbons was trying to find.

Keeping up the charade, Eberhardt claims to be a rare book collector and says he heard Coleridge had a large collection. Coleridge is confused why a detective would be a rare book collector. Eberhardt insists he has clients who help him track down rare books.

Coleridge is skeptical of Eberhardt’s story. Eberhardt tries to follow up with more lies, but starts substituting the word “cone” again, causing more confusion.

Starting to lose his patience, Coleridge says he is a busy man and demands Eberhardt get to the point. Eberhardt explains he is looking for a particular book; and although he can’t remember the name, he know it was one of the ones he bought from Gramarye Books.

Coleridge says he purchased the entire store and doesn’t have time to deal with this. He suggests Eberhardt make an inquiry with the business office, though says it in a way that suggests he has no intention of helping him.

After thanking Coleridge for his time and hanging up, Eberhardt is convinced none of The Committee were in the funeral home when it burned down and decides against trying to call the Grimes brothers.

*** Session 15 - Scene 4 (of 10) ***

Before leaving the office, Eberhardt decides to leave a warning note for Madge to tell her to stay away. Just as he finishes, he hears the outer door open and turns around to find Harry Apostolou carrying a baseball bat.

Eberhardt is confused how Apostolou found him. He doesn’t realize Apostolou has been looking for revenge for days. How the man tracked down the stolen tools from his shop to T.J.’s pawn shop. How he tortured T.J. until he gave up information on Hawk then beat the man to death with his baseball bat. How he’s been watching the group for some time now, waiting for an opportunity to get one alone so he can find out which of them accompanied Hawk to his shop.

Wanting to stop the man, Eberhardt goes for his gun. But Hawk, having kept a lookout, steps in behind the man before Eberhardt can spin around. He tries to shoot Apostolou in the back of the knee, but aims too high and shoots him through the lower back.

Apostolou collapses on the ground, gurgling in pain. With no choice now, Eberhardt finishes him off with a shot to the head.

Given the neighbors undoubtedly heard the shots and will be reporting them to the police, the two get in the cars. Hawk and Foxy decide to lay low at his place, while Eberhardt heads out of town to use his free pass at Audrey’s.

*** Session 15 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

After a day of depravity at the brothel, Eberhardt decides to head back into the Segnette Bayou and talk to the Bowles at Flow.

He carefully makes his way to the cabin, greeted by Thylo at the edge of their property. Thylo immediately asks about Donny. Eberhardt doesn't really explain, saying they couldn't save him so they had to feed him to the "baby monster".

Thylo wants to know what Eberhardt means. He explains the creature was a monster made of parts of babies, so clearly it was a "baby monster".

The patriarch isn't interested in the creature, but wants to know if Donny was killed by the knife. Since Eberhardt didn't actually see Le Doux plunge it into him and he was overwhelmed by the gelatinous monster, he can't say for sure. Eberhardt says the last few days have been very traumatizing, and suggests Le Doux may have used the cone but he doesn't remember.

Thylo ignores the cone comment and asks where the dagger is. Eberhardt says it is likely in the swamp then.

Not pleased, Thylo then growls to ask about his daughter. Eberhardt explains that is what he came to talk about, as he was hoping she may have returned home.

Eberhardt goes on to say he has not seen her since she turned into a werewolf outside the club. Thylo wants more details, so Bruno quickly recants the tale of going to the club to save Nibbons and how it was Le Doux's plan to have her turn to a werewolf.

Thylo grabs Eberhardt by the shoulders and slams him up against the outside of the cabin. His eyes glow red as he asks Eberhardt if he lost his daughter.

Ebehardt tries to talk to the man, but Thylo isn't listening. He growls out that Eberhardt has until the next moon to find and bring back his daughter to him, or he will feast on his insides.

At the mention of the moon, Eberhardt starts rambling about his own possible werewolf condition. Thylo ignores him, saying he will either find the girl or Thylo will come and find him. He reminds Eberhardt the next full moon is in twelve days, then warns him to leave. He also tells him if he comes again without his daughter, he will be a dead man.

*** Session 15 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

The next day, Eberhardt meets back up with Hawk to check in on Nibbons and Le Doux in the hospital. They are still recovering (with Le Doux still in a coma), and the doctor says they won’t be released for another week.

Eberhardt also talks to Hawk about his encounter with Thylo. Hawk thinks about the last time they saw Jerboa, fighting the hired goons at Dolly’s when they took off.

Hawk wonders if perhaps she got picked up by the police. Eberhardt notes he doesn’t really have any contacts in the force anymore since he was fired and sent to the asylum.

The next thought Hawk has is to head over to Dolly’s and keep an eye out for someone they can ask (preferably, a janitor or other service worker there). But when they get there, they notice a large “Closed” sign across the front of the building suggesting the club has shut down.

Hawk waits around for a random Black person to walk by he can chat with. Eberhardt feels the time could be more productive looking at the library for any crime stories about the club or Jerboa, so he heads there.

Eventually, Hawk’s patience is rewarded by a well-dressed Black man walking by. His suit and bow tie make Hawk a little wary, but he decides to ask him anyway.

Hawk spins some story about his “master’s girl” getting into a fight in the club. The other man, speaking with perfect elocution, says he heard something about a disturbance here a few nights back. Whatever happened the police were never called and the person causing the disturbance was taken back inside the club. After that, the man explains, club has been closed for a couple of days; he knows nothing else about anything going on.

When Hawk asks about the owners of the club, the man says he has no idea about them either. Hawk thanks the man for his time.

Hawk decides he will wait around for another Black man to approach, but a police car comes by. Hawk tries to casually drive off, but the police siren goes off, pulling him over.

The officer walks up to the car, makes disparaging comments about him driving a car, and tells Hawk he fits the description of an unidentified Negro male robbery suspect in the area.

Hawk tries to talk his way out of it, saying how he knows they all look alike. The cop continues harassing Hawk by making comments about his poor appearance.

The officer wants to take Hawk back to the station for questioning, but Hawk pulls out all the stops on his charm, saying his master Le Doux needs him to deliver some clothes for him to the hospital. He goes on to explain about Le Doux being a detective and being in a fire.

Not sure what to make of the story, the cop asks what he is doing in the area. Hawk says he was picking up the clothes from the house.

The cop says perhaps Hawk isn’t the man he’s looking for. He gives his theory that boys with money don’t need to be out stealing, and asks Hawk if he has any money. Picking up that the cop is looking for a bribe, Hawk offers that he has $40.

The officer tells him by coincidence that is the cost for the extra fee for Negros who drive. He offers to take care of that right here for Hawk so he won’t need to fill out any paperwork. Hawk thanks the man, noting as a Black man he can’t read.

After bribing the corrupt and racist cop, he heads over to the library to find Eberhardt. Looking around (with the librarian following him to make sure he doesn’t steal any books), Hawk spots Eberhardt looking through the newspaper archives.

Eberhardt explains he has not found any stories about a police report on Jerboa or Dolly’s. Hawk notes that is consistent with what he heard as well.

Hawk suggests their next move is to keep watch over the club. Eberhardt is confused because the place is closed, but Hawk notes just because it is closed doesn’t mean people aren’t coming in and out of it. Ultimately, they decide to check in on Nibbons to see if he is recovered enough to talk about what happened at the funeral home.

*** Session 15 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

When they show up at the hospital, Nibbons asks where they've been as he's been bored stuck in the hospital. Eberhardt, looking at the massive bandages and scarring, tells the man the burns do not look so good. Hawk explains they didn't visit before now because they knew he was in intensive care.

Hawk then asks what Nibbons remembers from what happened. Eberhardt is also anxious to know what occurred at the funeral home.

Nibbons briefly runs through seeing the Grimes brothers in the chapel, heading to the bathroom, and then coming out to discover the crazy monk. They have Nibbons clarify about the Grimes brothers, and Nibbons relates he is fairly sure they died in the fire.

Hawk finds the monk incident to be very peculiar and tries to get more information so they can trace him back to where he came from. Nibbons doesn't recall much about the man's appearance other than wearing the brown robe.

Eberhardt tells Nibbons they need to find Jerboa and the last time they saw her she was fighting with the men at the Grimes brothers' club and was likely taken back inside. Nibbons wonders if she perished in the funeral home fire or has really been dead the whole time, but Eberhardt wants to hold out hope she hasn't (for his own sake).

He is still discouraged the people who may know where Jerboa is have likely been killed. Nibbons asks if anything was left of the funeral home, but Eberhardt says the cone was burned to the ground. Nibbons is temporarily confused, not remembering any cone.

Nibbons tells Eberhardt that's all he recalls and asks him what he saw there. Eberhardt notes he saw the tree and the ground and that was about it.

They check in with the doctor to see when Nibbons can be released, but he'll be there at least another four days. As for Le Doux, it will be a week or more since he is still in his coma.

Eberhardt says the first thing they need to do is find Jerboa so Thylo doesn't kill them in another ten days. Hawk wonders if they shouldn't just plan to kill the werewolves.

Hawk isn't sure what to do next, but Eberhardt suggests the plan to watch the club, or break into it and look around, is probably the best option.

*** Session 15 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

Eberhardt and Hawk decide to head back over to the club. Hawk tries making a call first back to Le Doux’s office first to see if Madge discovered the body of Harry Apostolou, but no one answers.

Once they arrive at the club, they take positions to stake the place out. Hawk wants to wait until at least 2:00 in the morning before they make their move, just to be sure no one will show up first.

When no one does, they make their way to the alley fire escape again. As before, they make some noise heading up but this time no one pops their head out with a gun.

Listening quietly at the window, Eberhardt hears nothing. He opens the window and carefully climbs inside.

There are clearly no lights on inside the building and it is very quiet. Hawk carefully cracks the door to the room they entered. The hallway beyond is very dark.

Carefully using his flashlight, Eberhardt shines it around and sees the hall is empty. He sees a couple of other doors in the hall along with the stairs leading downstairs.

Hawk opens one of the doors to find a utility closet. They move to the other door and find it to be an office.

Heading inside, the two begin searching the office. They find nothing of interest but do notice the office does have another door inside it leading to another room.

When Hawk goes to open that door, he finds it locked. Using his lockpicks, he jimmies the lock open.

The room beyond is painted black and red, with a large table in the center of the room with the symbol of Allatou on it. A faint scent of sulfur hangs in the air. Along the back wall is a large wardrobe cabinet.

Along the side of the table, on the floor, are remains of some ropes. Nearby are three dead bodies – two men in suits who look like they could have been bouncers at the club, and a woman who is dressed provocatively in a silver dress. She is a young woman with an exotic appearance and platinum-silver hair.

On the woman’s forehead is some kind of card. And on the wall over the bodies, something appears to be written in blood, “Non concupisces non adorarent dæmonia”. Looking at the bodies, they can tell all three were stabbed to death by a large, bladed weapon – as if run through by a sword.

Hawk asks him what it means as he rifles through the dead men’s wallets. Eberhardt notes his Latin is rusty, but it has something to do with demons.

Hawk also takes a look at the card while he is looking over the bodies. Eberhardt, a Lutheran, appears to be one of those strange prayer cards the Catholics use.

Eberhardt can’t identify the saint on it – it appears to be a man with a knife in his head (though he notes the Catholics have a lot of saints). He notices the back of the card does not actually have a prayer on it. Below the picture on the front of the card is written “Credo in Unum Deum”, which he recognizes as the opening lines of the Nicene Creed.

The two then head over to the cabinet and look through it. Inside are a set of black robes and skull masks along with black candles and other occult parephanelia.

Hawk spots a hidden drawer inside the cabinet, which is locked. He picks the lock and discovers inside is a scroll and a book. The book is Discours execrable des Sorciers by Henry Bouget – the one Nibbons was looking for before. Eberhardt notes it won’t help them with Donny Martin now but could be useful later. Neither man wants to examine the scroll for fear of what it may contain, but do take it with them. Hawk suggests they don’t read the book either, just give both to Nibbons.

Hawk wants to leave but Eberhardt wants to make sure Jerboa isn’t here. He believes they should head down to the basement, but Hawk notes they always find trouble when they go there.

Eberhardt is able to convince Hawk to at least check out the main floor. Since that is a large, open floor stage they can see everything from the stairs and determine no one is there. Eberhardt also notices the building doesn’t have a basement since that part of town is too low-lying.

As they leave, Hawk tells Eberhardt to go on ahead as he wants to do something first. He heads back into the meeting room and uses the black robes to start a fire. By the time he leaves, smoke is already pouring out of the building. Eberhardt sighs as Hawk insists a monster inside must have set the building on fire.

*** Session 10 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

The two drive by Le Doux's office but see it is still closed, with some crime tape across it. Eberhardt also notices someone appears to have painted a yellow cross on the door. They decide not to stop since clearly someone has marked them for something and decide to lie low for a week until their companions get out of the hospital.

Nibbons is discharged a few days later. He tries to go by the office but sees it has been sealed by the police and has the yellow cross painted on the door. Chester identifies the symbol as one used by the Holy Inquisition to mark the Cathar heretics as a badge of shame. He figures someone who doesn't like Le Doux must have put it there. He decides to head back to his apartment to rest up until Le Doux is out.

A few days after that, Le Doux comes out of his coma and heads home. He ignores the police tape and the yellow cross. He also largely ignores the chalk outline of the body and related bloodsplattering inside. Believing his recent setbacks are the result of angering Nyranthlotep by not properly worshipping the entity, he knows now what he must do.

Boo retrieves his silver knife and horse tranquilizers. He uses the phone to call Madge and tells her he needs to see her right away. Since the office is a mess, he insists on seeing her.

Madge is surprised, since he always claimed to be allergic to her cats. He tells her he is feeling much better now. On the way over, he picks up a thermos of coffee and puts the tranquilizer pills in it.

When he arrives, they chat for a bit. She tells him he is looking much better and is happy to see him. Madge also suggests they all go for a night out soon, which he says sounds great.

He hands her the coffee and talks about how the business isn't doing so well lately. It doesn't take long before she falls unconscious from the mickey he slipped her.

Le Doux takes her body back to the bedroom and begins the ritual sacrifice to Nyrlanthotep. As the blood flows, he realizes he made a mistake by not doing this earlier. He now believes he will need to make at least one sacrifice a day to the dark god to appease him.

To cover up the crime scene, he starts a fire in the apartment building. As he leaves, he can see people trying to escape the flames. A child jumps out of an upstairs window, leading to his head crushed on the pavement when he hits. The scene causes Le Doux to lose what sanity he has left. He heads off into the darkness of the alley, hopelessly insane with ideas of bringing forth Nyranthlotep to the world...

*** Session 15 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

Meanwhile, Eberhardt, Nibbons, and Hawk all meet up at Nibbons’ apartment. None of them have been able to get ahold of Le Doux or Madge and aren’t sure what to do next.

Eberhardt tries to give Nibbons a quick recap of what has gone on, focusing largely on the threat from Thylo. Nibbons recalls the recent newspaper story he heard about the local firemen demanding a raise from the string of arsons in the city.

Hawk offers the possibility of using the book. Nibbons knows the book will be useless on helping against Thylo, but agrees with Hawk the book could be used to cure Eberhardt if he really is infected. However, it will take a couple of weeks of study, which they don’t have time for since the moon is in two days (unless he wants to try to cast it without properly learning it first, which is too risky).

Hawk notes he has the silver bullets from the machine shop now, though refuses to help Eberhardt set up a trap for the werewolves (but is more than happy to let Eberhardt use the bullets on his own). Nibbons notes they should be able to hold the werewolves at bay with wolfsbane, but it could be hard to find. Hawk thinks about getting a cage to hold the beasts, though obviously that would be even harder to obtain.

Not sure how successful the plan is, Eberhardt wonders if they shouldn’t continue to try and find Jerboa. He knows she could have been taken by one of the other members of the cult (since the Grimes brothers are dead) or perhaps is somewhere else.

He starts by showing the prayer card to Nibbons. Despite being a good Catholic, he can’t place the saint on the card. Hawk suggests they should go to a priest to see if he knows more. Nibbons suggests he and Eberhardt go see Father Pallas at the archdiocese records office.

Before they head out, Hawk asks Nibbons if he should also look at the scroll. When he unrolls it, he sees it is a charter for The Committee, pledging their allegiance and eternal souls to Allatou. The scroll is signed in blood by all the members – Percy Grimes, Barton Grimes, Shiva Asgari, Arnold Paffenroth, Joseph Saint, Jacob Russell, Sybil Dvorak, Roderick Krupp, Brian Nocenti, and Maximillian Coleridge. There is a larger signature at the bottom, in the same handwriting as the rest of the document, is the name of Jason Roland.

Of the names, they know the Grimes brothers are dead while Paffenroth and Coleridge appear to be alive. Roland sounds familiar, but other than recalling it was one of the names on Patricia Walker’s list they can’t recall where else they may have heard it before.

Eberhardt notes Sybil Dvorak is the name of a wealthy Czech socialite he’s seen in the society pages of the newspaper. None of the other names sound familiar. Hawk points out the name Shiva Asgari sounds Persian, which he believes could have been the dead dancer back at Dolly’s.

An argument breaks out between Eberhardt and Hawk over the implication of the deaths – Hawk believes the situation is clearly a war between The Committee and some other group the monk belonged to. Eberhardt isn’t so sure, wondering if the deaths were part of some ritual sacrifice.

With no definitive conclusion, Eberhardt and Nibbons head over to the cathedral to talk to Father Pallas. He greets Nibbons happily, saying it is good to have company again.

Nibbons shows him the prayer card and asks him about the saint. He identifies it as a lesser known saint, St. Peter of Verona; also known as St. Peter Martyr. Pallas goes on to explain St. Peter was a 13th century Italian Catholic priest and Dominican friar. He served the Holy Inquisition in Lombardy, where he was killed by an assassin, Carino Pietro Balsamo, of the Milanese Cathar heretics in 1252. The father also notes the assassin later repented and renounced heresy, eventually beatified himself as St. Acerinus.

Father Pallas asks where he got the card, noting it is unusual. Eberhardt says he got it from a friend, and was interested since there was no prayer on it.

The archives priest suggests they go talk to Father Peter Vernon, the headmaster as St. Francis Xavier. According to Pallas, the priest was an orphan who named himself after St. Peter and is something of an expert on him. Pallas notes Vernon is a staunch Dominican and has been involved with the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office.

Eberhardt agrees they should talk to him. Pallas notes he can find him at the school, or with his religious studies group. When Eberhardt asks about the study group, Pallas recalls the name is something rather flowery – they call themselves “The Society of St. Peter Martyr”.

Nibbons immediately picks up on the name, realizing they are The Society – the last cell of the Allatou cult…

*** Session 15 - Session Notes ***

This session was a mixed bag at its best moments, and kind of a hot mess the rest of the time.

The Le Doux player was having one of his "I'll behave like a reckless jackass" nights, so was immediately taken out of action, along with Nibbons who took forever to decide what to do about the monk and then botched several rolls in a row.

Then you had Eberhardt and Hawk completely unable to follow the trail of clues I was leaving. They seemed completely lost without Le Doux to lead them, though refused to just wait around until he and Nibbons got out of the hospital.

So, basically, two players sat around essentially out of the action for half the game, while the other two were frustrated and confused by the plot. And now Le Doux is completely insane and a NPC, so we'll need to try and integrate a new character while keeping the game from falling apart. Now I'm a bit frustrated and discouraged; there's no way I can run a game that can easily accommodate random reckless behavior, nor can I have much of a mystery if the PCs won't even bother to look at the clues.

Other notes from the session:
* Originally I didn't have much of a plan for what happened next with The Committee. But I knew I needed some incident to more the plot forward since the PCs are so lousy at investigating them (seriously, I can't believe no one ever followed up on any of the clues about them). So, I thought I'd have the monk show up so I could start to kick off The Society's part in the plot.

* I'm using a fair amount of dramatic license for the timing of things. Le Doux probably should have crashed his car far sooner in the chain of events.

* "Pati non patieris vivere" (very) roughly translates to "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Not that the PCs ever followed up on that.

* The orange demon from the basement is actually part of the story behind The Committee. It may or may not get explained later.

* The funeral home has a basement because I constantly forget that N.O. doesn't actually have basements. I guess my fictional Crescent City has a higher altitude in some parts of town.

* The house explodes because we all thought that would be cooler (when Eberhardt grabbed Nibbons, he specifically mentioned the pose being the "grab the guy and run away from the explosion" movie trope).

* Eberhardt lingered over saving Le Doux; the player was mad at the Le Doux player for acting stupid.

* Hawk returned because the player changed his mind again. He's also taking a rather creative bent on his insanity, now insisting his character is scared of dead bodies but not necessarily zombis. It doesn't make any sense to the rest of us.

* I'm not sure what Hawk was intending to find at Le Doux's, particularly since the player knows what happened.

* Everyone was confused why Eberhardt was trying to call Fox. I would have let him make the random phone call just to see the Fox player ad lib that, but he was in Houston (hence, Fox was as well).

* In another strange moment, no one was quite sure why Hawk didn't want to go to the hospital himself since he goes there all the time. I think part of it is the player trying to get his daughter (who plays Foxy) to interact in the game more, but she clearly dislikes doing so, so it always gets awkward.

* Mouse dropped the line about T.J. because I was still trying to convince Hawk that was a source of imminent threat. He never did catch on.

* Eberhardt calling around to The Committee members was a good idea, and him quitting before trying the Grimes Brothers (a couple of the only members actually at the funeral) was funny irony. He was also using Le Doux's name with everyone as another passive-aggressive response to Le Doux's decision with the car.

* Harry Apostolou has been waiting for someone to be in the office alone. His intent was to beat the information out of whoever was in there about who was with Hawk when he was being blackmailed. His death will not go unanswered.

* Eberhardt's idea to see Thylo wasn't terrible either, but the way he handled it, it didn't end well. I thought giving him the days to find Jerboa would spur him to follow up on that plot (not sure why the PCs didn't find a werewolf disappearing in the city to be worth looking into more). Unfortunately, as the rest of the session showed, that idea kind of backfired.

* I pretty much had to flat out tell them to go look for Jerboa at Dolly's, and then they don't even try to go inside when they find it closed.

* Hawk following it up with his insipid plan about "wait for a Black guy to walk by" was another moment of his unintentional/ignorant racism that had the rest of us with head in hands. The first guy that walks by is clearly highly educated and middle class; that was just me mocking him.

* Since Hawk was staking out a building in broad daylight, I thought it was time he experienced some profiling. I was surprised he actually backed down for once.

* I thought they did very well breaking into the club, but once inside they ignored practically every clue they found (particularly the rope, which had they examined it they would have found wolf fur on). I think they expected to just find Jerboa there and when they didn't see her didn't seem to get that the clues would point to who took Jerboa (worse, they interpreted the clues incorrectly and for the longest time thought The Committee did the killings).

* "Non concupisces non adorent daemonia" is another of my Google translate phrases. It roughly equates to "Thou shalt not lust nor worship demons", a reference to the dancer that was killed.

* Eberhardt isn't Catholic but the player running him is. I thought he'd get more into the whole Catholic angle, but I was clearly wrong as he didn't engage with it at all.

* I don't think they had crime tape per say in the 20's, but I claim dramatic license.

* After all the Catholic-related clues at the funeral home and Dolly's and Le Doux's office, I thought for sure they would have started to piece together it had something to do with the Inquisition and they should go follow those clues up. Again, I completely miscalculated here.

* By this point, the Le Doux player felt his character was rapidly coming to an end so he wanted to go out by doing the blood sacrifice he'd been planning for months (he wanted to use it with Hawk, but ended up settling for Madge).

* Madge's talk about them all going out soon had to do with a plot where she takes them out to a club then reveals she apparently won a contest she forgot about - which then brings in the Chinese Tong who were behind the whole scheme. I was even going to wait to reveal it until after they got some drinks so I could have something of a Temple of Doom opening scene moment. Oh well.

* Le Doux lost the remainder of his sanity this session and became a NPC. Expect him to show back up as a major villain now that he'll become a serial killer attempting to bring forth Nyranthlotep.

* The newspaper story about the firemen wanting a raise was my joke at the recent string of arsons by the group.

* I thought it was ironic Hawk had been bugging me about the silver bullets for weeks, and now is reluctant to put himself into a situation to use them.

* I pretty much led them by the nose again back to Father Pallas.

* I find it funny they never recall the Jason Roland connection, despite me bringing it up all the time.

* Father Vernon, The Society of St. Peter Martyr, and related material is taken from the John Saul novel, Punish the Sinners (though what they are up to in this game will be inspired by a different one of his books).

* Note that the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office is what the office of the Inquisition was called at the time the game took place.

* The Society is indeed a cult with activities around Allatou, but not the way the other two are (as they clearly have ties to the Inquisition as well). What the PCs seemed to miss was that The Society is at war with The Committee. More on all that to come.

*** Session 16 - 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.

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.


And introducing...

Frank Callahan: An Irish ex-priest looking to take down The Society.

*** Session 16 - Scene 1 (of 7) ***

After leaving their discussion with Father Pallas, Eberhardt and Nibbons head back to the car and inform Hawk what they found out about The Society of St. Peter Martyr. They quickly recap what they know: 1) The Society is a faction of the Cult of Allatou, 2) They appear to be in some sort of interfaith war with The Committee and may have killed some of their members, 3) They are most likely responsible for the monk who attacked Nibbons and burned down the funeral home which killed the Grimes brothers and Roderick Krupp, 4) They most likely took Jerboa who was being held captive by The Committee when they killed Shiva Asgara and the couple of guards at Dolly’s Theatre, 5) The Society is led by Father Peter Vernon, 6) Father Vernon is the headmaster at the St. Francis Xavier School for Boys, 7) They need to get Jerboa back in two days or Thylo will come after Eberhardt, 8) They may or may not be wanted by the police for the death of Harry Apostolou (not to mention the Apostolou crime family), 9) Someone marked Le Doux’s office with the yellow Cathar cross of atonement, and 10) They have had no success contacting Le Doux or Madge lately so who knows where they are.

Based on Father Pallas’ explanation, Eberhardt believes it is likely The Society holds their meetings at night at the school. He also surmises they probably don’t move Jerboa around much so they should head over to the school during the day to scout the area out and see if they can locate her while there are non-cult members around. Since the school is out of session for the summer, there won’t be too many people around so they should be able to look around without being noticed if they are careful.

Hawk suggests they head to a thrift shop to get some clothing for disguises so they can pose as construction workers. They head to a nearby neighborhood shop called “Secondhand Clothes, Secondhand Rose” and pick up some outfits.

They then drive Eberhardt’s woody car down to the school. Unfortunately, there are no construction sites near the school.

Hawk wants to get a closer look at the cars in the lot so they pull into the parking lot near the other cars.  Stopping the car and getting out, Eberhardt sees one of the cars has the clergy placard inside on the seat. As he’s looking, he sees a man standing near the parking lot who appears to be trying to look in the windows of the school.

Since the man is acting strangely, they decide someone should go up and talk to him. Because of Hawk’s ethnicity and Eberhardt’s accent, they feel Nibbons would be the most convincing. He agrees to a plan to approach the man under the guise of looking for the man in charge of their construction project they are there to meet.

Nibbons walks over to the man, asking him if he is the guy they are “supposed to meet about the job.” The man looks nervously at Nibbons and then at the others. He tells Nibbons he is not the man and has no idea what he is talking about. Chester can tell the man is Irish by his thick brogue.

Chester tries to clarify he is not connected to the construction project, and the man starts to get agitated. Nibbons asks him out of curiosity what he is there for. The man looks very nervous as he looks over the men and their clothes that don’t fit quite right and their clean skin.

Without warning, the man swings a punch at Nibbons. He ducks the blow easily and counters with a punch straight to the man’s jaw that drops him to the ground.

Seeing what’s happening, Hawk and Eberhardt run over and get between the men. Hawk asks him what is going on and why he tried to hit Nibbons.

The man starts yelling that they won’t take him and he knows what they are up to. Eberhardt wonders if the man is insane.

Hawk asks the man if he is with the police. The man says he is not but he knows what they are up to and they are going down. Hawk tells him they have no idea what he is talking about and are trying to find their friend.

The man looks them over again. He tells them he knows they aren’t what they say they are, but perhaps they aren’t with the people he’s looking into either. Eberhardt asks Nibbons what he told the man. Chester repeats the construction lie.

Hawk isn’t interested in keeping up the charade. He asks the man if the place isn’t what it seems to be. The man asks what they know. Hawk says they aren’t sure, to which the man says they shouldn’t be here then since it is not a safe place.

Wanting more information, Hawk wants to know why the man is there. He says he isn’t sure he should discuss it with them. Hawk notes there are a lot of strange things going on in the city and perhaps they could aid each other if they are willing to share information.

The man starts to get impatient with Hawk’s questioning, asking the others who the Black man is and why he is talking to him. Eberhardt says he works for them.

Eberhardt exchanges introductions with the man, who gives his name as Frank Callahan. He offers his hand; when Eberhardt takes it, he uses it to pull himself off the ground.

Callahan tells the others he knows more than they do about what is going on at the school and they should leave. He asks what they are doing, which Eberhardt re-explains they are looking for a friend. Callahan tells him he’ll find no friends there.

As Eberhardt stumbles trying to explain, Callahan asks Nibbons who he is. Nibbons says he is a simple construction worker which causes Callahan to ask Eberhardt if he isn’t very bright.

Eberhardt explains they believe there is a woman being held captive inside the school they need to free. Callahan asks who she is, noting the people inside are not likely to hold prisoners. Eberhardt says he probably wouldn’t believe the story if he told him.

Callahan says he could tell him some things about the school he might not believe. But he notes it isn’t safe to be talking here, so they should head to somewhere else to discuss it. Eberhardt responds something about a cone, which causes Callahan to exclaim the Black man must be the brains of the operation since no one else makes any sense.