"Shadows Over..." - The Investigations of Josephine & Gordon

[Grognardsw]

The small crowd stares at the investigators. An uncomfortable silence follows for perhaps ten seconds. Someone coughs.

"We called Jimmy," says a woman whose face is not easy to look at. Her accent is hard to place. "He's the police."



"No need to disturb the good Reverend."

"Where are you all visiting from?"

[makken123Tabs]

I presume that's a genuine photo, if so she's uniquely ugly--I wonder if she was a nice person?

"I'm sorry, Miss Clark, you should not have witnessed this," says Eddie. He places a sympathetic hand upon her shoulder. "Unfortunately in my line of work I am often at the scenes of--er--bodily mayhem."

He addressese the woman: "Arkham. We're here to meet Revd. Hillman, and hopefully join the congregation of St. Jude's. Are you a member?" he adds, "Eddie Sharpe, madam."

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Prm "Sorry about that Miss Clark. Yes as Mr. Sharpe put it we are from Arkham here to join the congregation at St. Jude's. I happen to see this type of stuff a lot in my line of work. But I think we can leave it up to the local authorities Mr. Sharpe."

[FantasyChic]

Josephine Clark fans herself and composes back to her normal self. "Pardon my reaction, but this is the first time I've seen something this...grotesque. But let it be known this is not my first dead body." She looks at the woman, and gives her a warm smile "We are from a neighboring town. We've heard of the church here and visited the good Reverend in hopes of possibly joining. Are you a member?"

[Grognardsw]

The woman nods at Eddie's introduction. "I am Hezebiah Crawley. Yes I am a member of St. Joad's."

Her pronunciation of the namesake saint is similar to Rev. Hillman.

"By the holy waters, have the Good Words lapped upon distant shores in Arkham? You want to join our church?" Her tone is skeptical. "What so moves you?"

The other townsfolk form a half-circle about the investigators.

[makken123Tabs]

"Well, Ms. Crawley, we were mighty impressed by one of the Reverend's sermons," replies Eddie; "our curiosity was piqued, and we wished to find out more--we've been invited to dinner tonight by the good man." He adds to Hezebiah and the crowd in general: "Is Arkham so very far away?"

[Grognardsw]

"Arkham is in-land, dry in spirit, with narrow surface-minded folk," replies Mrs. Crawley to Eddie. "But I suppose some like yourselves can see the light in the water. I'll be at the dinner tonight Mr. Sharpe. I'll look forward to talking with you and your friends then. Why here is Jimmy."

A large, unsightly man


with a limp waddles up to the silent crowd half-circling the investigators. He wears a decrepit police uniform that has seen better days. The silent crowd parts and he walks to the dead body, nodding at Mrs. Crawley and eyeing the out-of-towners.

"Hello Job, we have visitors," says Mrs. Crawley. "And a dead body."

"Hmmph," he grunts back, kneeling down awkwardly to look at the corpse. He bends further putting his face quite near to it, perhaps to look, or is he smelling? "I'll take care of it."

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Pym "Yes well we should get going we'll see you at the supper tonight." the P.I. gets back in his car and awaits the other two.

[makken123Tabs]

"I confess to everything you think about Arkham folk," says Eddie good-humouredly. "I look forward to continuing our conversation at dinner, madam." He nods to Jimmy: "Officer," and retreats to Gordon and their car.

"Mr. Pym, what a motley crew of disgusting mutants!"

[Grognardsw]

"Hello Job, we have visitors," says Mrs. Crawley. "And a dead body."

"Hmmph," he grunts back, kneeling down awkwardly to look at the corpse. He bends further putting his face quite near to it, perhaps to look, or is he smelling? "I'll take care of it."

The investigators bid goodbye to Mrs. Crawley and the police officer and get in Gordon's automobile.

"That was odd," comments Josephine. "I'm not sure who the officer is going to take care of." She laughs nervously.

Gordon pulls out and drives along the Innsmouth streets. They pass a post office that also serves as a modest town library, an Esso market, a dark pub, a gas station, and many run down houses.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Pym circles back to the library "Ah a library that might be a good place to investigate town history and so forth don't you think Mr. Sharpe? Perhaps they have a local news paper we can look through old print outs of."

[Grognardsw]

Gordon pulls in front of the post-office/library. As the investigators get out of the auto, Gordon notices the front left tire is low. He examines the tire and finds a nail in it, which is producing a slow leak.

The post office/library is a modest affair, with the post office counter on the left and what passes for a library on the right.


Besides the postal clerk, the place is empty. To the right side of the buikding are a half-dozen three-foot tall bookcases half-filled with old books; a pile of newspapers on a table; and another table with four chairs. There are old pictures on the wall - scenes of Innsmouth in better days.

Library Use roll please for research.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Pym first works on changing the tire then will go into the library/post office and research. "I'll tend to the tire first then I'll be right in."

I don't have a research skill listed only this ...Library Use (25%) [1d100] = 8

[makken123Tabs]

"Ah a library . . .

Eddie nods his agreement.

"Sure," he replies when Gordon says he will fix the tyre. He goes to take a good look around the library.

[1d100] = 58 (skill 40%)

He says to the postal clerk: "Always this busy, sir?" wondering if the gentleman is as odd-looking as the folk beside the wharf.

[Grognardsw]

Gordon patches the tire on his Ford Model T. When he gets the tire off the rim, he notices there were two nails. That seems beyond coincidence.



Inside the post office/library, Josephine and Eddie examine the meager library. The postal clerk responds to Eddie's question: "Yes sir, we ain't too busy this time of day. Early mornings and end of day sees more folk passing through. Where all you from?"

The library contains mostly puerile literature from the 1890s through the 1910s; a respectable section on ship building and mercantile trade; maps of South Seas regions; and a few local histories. All the books are worn, many written in by children, and a fair amount have wavy pages from getting wet at one point. The "library" is doubtless the worst example of such that the Miskatonic professor and newspaper reporter have ever seen. Especially given the size of the town, even if today the community is in a unfortunate state.

That said, the investigators do uncover some local history to add to what they know about the town.







Frustratingly, pages have been ripped out of the book.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Pym after patching the tire enters the library and walks over to Mr. Sharpe and Ms. Clark and whispers "I think we have over stayed our welcome in this town. There were two nails in my tire I suspect that is a warning saying get the hell out of here."

[FantasyChic]

Josephine Clark's eyes sparkle, "All the more reason to stay here. After all, they punctured your tire. We very well can't leave just yet until that's repaired."

[GreyWolfVT]

Gordon Pym "I did repair it."

[FantasyChic]

"They don't need to know that.

[makken123Tabs]

"We're from Arkham," replies Eddie to the clerk.

To his colleagues: "The nails could mean they want us to stay," this statement of his is nefariously pregnant. "Good work, Mr. Pym; but let's make it known the car is undrivable." he winks.