[COC7e] S12 | Are You My Mummy?

GM: Michael Mirth

Anti-Nemesi
Passing Love Ivanovich from the scenic Steppes
The Less Clever Moriarty from Witch House, Arkham
Disguised Awna Stayzeah from the Grace of Gregori
Fingers in The Face Frankie absolutely not from The Syndicate
Rapier Duckworth from all places Highfalutin

Also (NPCs)
Gregori Rasputin, Doc Holiday, Adrian Stimson, Irene Adler

People at Observatory
Mi-Go?

Spells Openly Known
Gerald - Invisibility
Nik - Unknown
Derek - Invisibility
Anna - Unknown
Frankie – Unknown

Spells Acquired But Not Learned
None decoded yet

***

Diary of Derek Moriarty Entry 12 - May 20, 1927
Location: Providence, Rhode Island

Kill Bancroft. I have a dream that things were bad at the Observatory but Mi-Go were driven off and Ginger made some deal and is gone. Kill Bancroft. I awaken. Kill Bancroft.
We are not in Providence anymore.....

Location: Witch House, Arkham, Massachusetts, USA

Gregori introduces me to Anna (pronounced Awna) and Irene. Nik (Ivanovich), Frankie and Gerald (Duckworth) are also here. I am a little foggy about what's happening. I know that I had decided to acquire a thrown weapon like a lasso and/or pouch of nice rocks. I believe there's something I should ask James or McCavity about the animosity with The Dwarf but I shake my head to loosen things. I hear something about how Gregori rescued Anna and she is now one of us. For some reason I hear a song "Somewhere Out There" and a mouse named Fievel comes to mind and I think it's from fourty years earlier. Anna (Awna) seems to use the term "Our friend," for Greg.

After introductions I blurt out that I'd like to go after Evelyn Bancroft. I feel like something keeps holding me back from this.

We talk a bit about how the Dwarf and Sorceress are working together and laugh at how we seem to always need to risk terrible death to avoid risking terrible death. Terrible insanity being obligatory. We have a drink to Ginger. Anna seems to be wearing Ginger's Ankh. Interesting.

Other tidbits come through in our muddled conversation. Something about a Contact spell Gregori used to send Ginger somewhere? Mi-Go stole the Clock.... That's bad. Baldridge was killed and beheaded in his motorcycle accident. I have an intro note from my grandfather.

We head to Chester's Medieval Reenactment Supply. Gerald is having some financial issues today so I pick up the tab for the two cabs we need. I make the cabbie do some turns and watch to see if we're being followed but don't notice anything. Am I getting paranoid? A wolf, on a beach of bones.

Inside the shop, Anna goes around mysteriously picking up knives and staring at them oddly. Something special about this one. Now that the cobwebs are out of my head I see Anna clearly for the first time. My word, she's a goddess.

I find a nice Confederate sword with scabbard. After the shop we hit up an opium den for a quick hit to take the edge off what comes next. We discuss who should be on guard and look over Adrian and Irene. Adrian seems less useful as just a dabbler in the Occult. Irene is a mathematician. While she is quite pretty I'm not sure I should tell her anything but she seems to deduce things just from looking at me.

I'm worried about the Werewolf out there and we decide sentries must be left over the paintings. Adrian and Irene are chosen as they seem the least useful in the act to come. Nik has a tattoo on his hand. When did that happen?

We wake near the Ghoul warren. Gregori is not with us but Stimson is instead. They must have made a last minute switch. Good 'ol Doc is here as is the rest of the troupe. The plan was centred around Gregori. Whatever. It will still work. We head into the tunnel toward the cemetery of the sorceress. Nik runs back to sit and chat with Pickman. We wait. Then I go to grab him. The talk is about how we're in the Underworld. I get confused because sometimes I'm told this is the Underworld and other times that the Underworld is another layer of the Dreamlands. I interject and find out that the Sorceress is possibly in her very own Dreamland. So perhaps this is a crossroads of Dreamlands?

The Ghoul life sounds good on paper but man they stink. That and the way they look at us like meat.

We get to the cemetery and see a thousand obsidian tombstones. Some have metal bands. Two hundred yards away from our tunnel egress is the tomb.

Tom asks about the Invisibility spell and someone asks about Mummy Dust. I look at a tombstone. Kruger Kannon. Sounds familiar. I give the stone the old hail-and-well-met bow.

Nik thinks I have Mummy Dust but I explain it's in Ulthar with Maven. He backs off and proffers his misgivings about continuing; suggesting we go to Ulthar before tackling this mission.

I leap off and start scouting the graveyard quietly. Looks like no one has been here in a long time. I get close to the mausoleum and see the entrance is a glass door which is currently ajar. I hear some noise and it's Doc. He may be a fighter but stealthy he ain't. Looking around I see Gerald and Anna together while Frankie is slipping into the shadows in another direction away from me. Nik decides to run after me making a big ruckus but Gerald steps up and grabs him so I am not given away. Thank you Gerald.

Like the tombstones, the mausoleum is built from obsidian and has only a single room. Inside is a glass-topped coffin and a shelf bearing skulls and candles. At the head of the coffin is a pedestal with an open book. Huzzah!

Nik again attempts to approach the tomb noisily but this time Anna holds him back. It's seventy-five feet from the tomb to the encircling stones. Frankie watches us from the stone markers.

Okay, here goes nothing. I open the door fully. It screeches and Gerald steps up behind me (stealth now voided). Nik is standing wide to block Anna's view. Adrian steps up beside Gerald. I unsheathe my sword.

I look around at all my comrades. This is the plan. They all understand. I hear Gerald whispering, "Get it. Do it. Grab it now." I gingerly step inside. Nothing happens. Walking up to the coffin the glass top reveals a desiccated body in regal attire. Such silence all around us.

It looks like the glass panels will open from within or without. I look up and see Gerald standing in front of the book, staring but not entranced. He looks up at me and nods toward the book.

Okay, this is why we're here. The book. That's it. Everyone will run no matter what happens. I inhale and let my breath out slowly.

I reach for the book and as my fingers caress the pages, the coffin lid shatters and the hand of the corpse grabs my arm! Through sheer willpower I resist the power of the hand both spiritually and physically, wrestling the book and myself free (01 critical success) however multiple shards of glass cut me deeply (fumble dodging glass).

I flee.

"Derek, you move too quickly, slow down!" Nik hollers while Gerald steps toward the rising corpse, slashing at it as it attempts to hit me with magic. He must have interrupted it's conjuration as I escape the tomb unmolested by magic. As per the plan, we should all be heading for the tunnel now, so I run for it. Gerald has successfully distracted the Sorceress. We did it. Now to escape.

I lift my head and see desiccated bodies rising from the graves identical to the Sorceress except they have hooves instead of feet. Doc appears alongside me with knives flying from his hands, taking out a couple in our way. We can do it. Make a path to the tunnel.

The adrenaline keeps me from feeling anything but the trail of blood I leave behind might make the strongest stomach erupt. I am grievously injured. Luckily it's obvious to all. Help will come and we'll be out of here in no time.

"Nicholas! The spell. Cast it now!" Anna commands.

Nik chants the Dread Curse of Azathoth, stealing power from the Lich [If you haven't read earlier entries, the sorceress, lich, dread corpse, witch from New Orleans, etc. are all the same person]

I'm not sure how we got surrounded but Doc and I are defending the attacks from many zombies. I thought everyone else was right behind me. Where are they? We have to fight through. Doc and I make headway alone, beating back the horde.

Adrian sees Gerald swinging his sword inside the tomb like a madman and slips in to aid him.

Frankie turns from his hiding spot and attacks a random zombie. Hits and misses from me and Doc as we make our way to the tailpipe (tunnel entrance/cemetery exit).

My gaze lifts from my current battle to see Frankie standing his ground against the horde far away from us and the tomb. Anna is attacking one of the... My word... Thousands of dead men walking. There are so many. My attention returns to more immediate concerns as Doc severs off several arms that grabbed him but they continue to hold onto him tightly.

I smoke one to our side while yet another grabs me. I hear Nik chanting a darkly familiar ritual and my leg tingles but I see him fall back as it seems to fail (Withered Limb). {Bleep}ing Dwarf (I always bleep out the Mosquito Buggering for your soft ears).

[Idea Roll] Frankie seems to be watching the tomb while fending off attacks. Anna looks at him knowingly. It seems there is some realization that the Lich does not want to exit the tomb to battle us. Adrian comes running out of the tomb toward Doc and I. Frankie seems momentarily stunned as he looks into the face of the Lich from a distance. Nik is grumbling about his spellwork. Maybe he should join a spelling bee.

I break through the horde along with Adrian and Doc. Surely everyone else is close behind. I feel static in the air as something escapes the tomb toward Nik.

Frankie rushes to the tomb and attempts to close the door however Gerald puts his free hand in the way while slashing at the dread corpse. They resist each other and Frankie capitulates, entering the tomb with Gerald and it slams shut. The zombies all drop to the ground.

Anna aids Nik who has fallen unconscious. She watches in horror as his bones seem to disintegrate. Realizing he needs assistance just to breathe, she massages his chest and starts compressions.

Exasperated I ask Adrian to go and assist Anna. I want to help but this book needs to get out of the cemetary, like in the plan. Doc and I leave making our way deep into the tunnel.

Zack Morris Time Out.... A disembodied voice says "I didn't think that could happen." ...Time in.

Safe in the tunnel wondering where everyone is I flip through the book noting a spell called Dissolve Bones and then I sit and study Oneiro-Dismissal.

Doc and I converse about what to do. On my side, the plan was to grab the book and run back to the Ghoul encampment. I have little idea what happened to the rest of the party. Doc insists we go back and find them and we do, finding Adrian along the way whom was sent to bring us back to the cemetery for some unknown reason. Distract the Lich, grab the book. Run away. What happened?

They're all standing at the tunnel entrance stuck in debate. Apparently the sight of Nik's formless blob of a body caused Gerald some consternation (sanity) and he concentrates on Nik and his internal structure reappears (Dreaming and Luck).

"Why are you all still here?" I ask. "I thought we were all leaving?"

They all agree it's time to leave.... Finally. It's like herding cats.

Just as we're about to enter the tunnel I turn and warn them, "We're good as long as no one has any Lich parts. Mummy wrappings and dust okay, but no body parts. I mean, we don't want her waking form to know where we are. She's dangerous in any state. Remember, she is a powerful sorceress in both the waking world and the Dreamlands."

Frankie pulls his backpack off his shoulder and pulls out her head with her jaw and lips moving with just the sound of dry skin rubbing against bone.

So, that Zack Morris thing. This is what I find out,

{Inside the mausoleum, the Lich throttled Gerald with her two dried up hands. Frankie jumped on her and gained a headlock. Unable to resist he gave her a noogie. She broke free and chanted a teleport spell but with great Luck Frankie interrupted her casting. Gerald drove home a killing blow. Queue disembodied voice. Our plucky swordsman grabbed all the mummy wrappings left from the corpse and moved with the intention of leaving this whole area but Frankie frantically grabbed him, "Don't leave me here. There has to be something else here." They fruitlessly searched the inside of this one room building. When Gerald wasn't looking, Frankie picked up her head and it bit him. He kicked the rest of her corpse into pieces and stuffed the head into his backpack, "Hidden."}

A barrage of "What in Thunderation? You Rantallion! Fopdoodle!" rain down on Frankie. Literally everyone freaks out at him. He makes it clear that he is keeping something of the Lich (calling us all Smellfungus). I make clear that the value of her parts do not outweigh the danger they generate for us.

As we all become exhausted from the whole ordeal, Anna plays peacemaker and notes that she understood the Ghouls will not enter the tunnels which implies things buried there should be safe from their prying hands.

I pull the book out to put an end to all this bickering. I begin chanting the ritual Oneiro-Dismissal. I can feel the drain on me as the Lich is too powerful. Adrian grabs my hand and joins in the chant. I feel his power merge with mine and with a flash her skull becomes dust. I realize that we've just destroyed her dream body permanently. I look at my hands in astonishment. The sheer power Adrian and I just commanded....

We each divy up the mummy dust evenly but Frankie demands that he gets it all. I disagree. We come to a compromise and divy up the dust evenly. Now any one of us can cast Invisibility. Bubastus. I wake up with my portion of the dust and the book. Everyone else follows.

Anna has a big grin on her face along with a little wonderment. We realize this was her first time in the Dreamlands. Gerald and I both tap her on opposite shoulder joyfully. What a trip!

Anna opens up to us and we learn she has Precognition, Psychometry, Predictive Dreaming and Empathy.

Anna asks to read the Book of Eibon and I pass it to her with the group's agreement and some caution.

I read the Sorceress' book into the wee hours of the morning. I share a finding with the group the next day. In the Fungal Forest there are pale blue topped spheres (puffballs) we can eat so that the agents of Gadamon will leaves us alone.

***

Books
Codex - 2 spells to decode
Asteroids - Gate spell, hidden message?
Sorceress - Oneiro Dismissal spell, Call Heart spell, Dissolve Bones spell, Puffball info
Book of Eibon - spells

Bonuses
None

Threshold Rolls (fail to raise)
0 Stealth
0 Hand Gun
+5 Track

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Comments

That was suspenseful! I love the group pic :)