The Language at the Threshold

[FrankL]

Harold Matthers

Harold looks at the gun in his hands and considers. "Mr. Agent, if you will not give Isaiah his shotgun, would you loan it to me? You can't wield it and your own gun at the same time. And I am still a trusted consultant."

[Grognardsw]

Four agents stand with the investigators and the cuffed Darrin McCoy. The agent holding Isaiah's shotgun hands it to Harold after his request.

Reginald calls out to Agent Holmes. "I... I... come in... threshold..." answers Holmes, sounding dazed.

Two agents take out flashlights and lead the way into the darkened room. The rays of light dart around, revealing three downed black men, dead from gunshot wounds. There are two dead BOI agents, and a wounded Holmes. He seems dazed. He points toward the east wall. There is an overturned wardrobe, no longer concealing a broken-through passageway in the wall. There are bloody tracks from the basement floor out of and into the passageway. The tracks are marred and not clear due to body drag marks.

Ten feet to the left of the passageway, painted on the wall, is a mural similar in style to that seen in the courtyard of Carcosa's apartment building. Someone's unmoving legs are sticking out from it; the upper half of the body is inside the mural.

The room itself has several tables at the south end, and rows of folding chairs at the north end. In front of the rows of chairs is a lectern. To the left of the lectern is a chalk board, upon which is written "Ph'ch' 'ai oltmuoi ugthaa, tegoth."

[MonkeyWrench]

Darrin stays with the group, continuing to tell them as they walk that they should uncuff him if they want to survive.

[FrankL]

Harold Matthers

Harold checks that the shotgun is loaded. If it is not, he requests shells and loads them.

"Mr. McCoy, while I am inclined to believe you based on things I have seen that defy the mortal mind, our survival and yours may rest on you convincing the agents that you are for us and know something. Please tell us all you think will help."

[MonkeyWrench]

Darrin looks over the man speaking to him, as well as the agents, "I am familiar with the man you all are hunting, Carcosa. I have been hunting him myself, in a different manner then you all of course. I know a few of the tricks he likes to play, such as that wall trick we just passed. I have a firm understanding of his goal here and what it will take to stop it... If we can all work together that is. If we don't you're all as good as dead now."

[SocraticLawyer]

Reginald Wilkins, bookdealer
Reginald approaches Darrin McCoy. "What's down there?" he asks, indicating the passageway.

Reginald will explore the strange room, hoping to find something, some clue that ties in to what he and the others have learned about the cult. He checks out the mural and the legs sticking out of it. He'll also check out the weird writing, hoping that it rings a bell with something he's seen before. Reg makes sure that a BOI agent is in the room with him at all times.

Reg will also briefly check out Agent Holmes. If the agent is wounded, Reg will try First Aid on him.

If needed: First Aid on Holmes (35) [1d100] = 12

[Grognardsw]

The investigators talk with Darrin McCoy, who claims to know of Carcosa and his ways. Reginald asks about the passageway through the broken wall, which appears to have been dug out. Darrin seems willing to help. The BOI agents manage to turn on a few lamps in the room, after the suspended bulb in the center ceiling of the room had been hit.

Reginald Wilkins the book dealer never forgot those skills he learned as a Boy Scout. He checks over the injured Agent Holmes, ordering some clean water, alcohol, and towel from the kitchen. He applies first aid to the cuts and bruises on the BOI man's body.

"Something jumped me in the dark. It's claws, strength... It dragged Henson through the hole in the wall," says Holmes. "We have to go in there."

The BOI agents make a quick check of the room, joined by the investigators. The writing on the chalk board is recognized by Isaiah, Reginald and Harald as the language written in the notebooks of serial murderer and suspected cultist Timothy Carver, as well as in the margin notes of several books the investigators have seen or are in possession of (for example, the Pnakotic Manuscripts, Unaussprechlichen Kulten), and also seen in certain letters of Carcosa.

Darrin McCoy seems to stare at the chalk board for a long time.

The wall mural, to the left of the toppled wardrobe which had concealed the passageway hole in the wall, is drawn with a chalk-like substance. Certain parts are in a more water based red paint. Unless that is... dried blood. It is a 6' wide and 8' tall scene of a cave...

There is a drawn person, in small scale, in the cave. (Each investigator please make a Know. roll vs. 10 on the Resistance Table.)

The legs on the floor sticking out of the mural are real, cut off at the hip, and seem embedded in the wall. It is a disturbing and baffling sight. (Please make San. checks.) Reginald and Harold think it is the legs of the black man they were chasing, as there is blood on one leg, possibly from the gun wound from Reginald. The upper half of the body is inside the mural.

The BOI agents gather flashlights and prepare to go down the dug-out passageway in the east wall. Isaiah looks at his map to see what could lie west beyond the building.

Each investigator please make a Int. check roll vs. 10 on the Resistance Table. Here is how it works. Your Know. is the Active Characteristic.

[SocraticLawyer]

Reginald Wilkins, bookdealer
I do not grok that table, but here is the Know. roll:Know. vs 10 on Resistance table (110?) [1d100] = 56

Sanity check: Sanity check (24) [1d100] = 59

[Fulci]

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man

I have no idea how to roll my KNOW on the Resistance table! It's 60, so it just doesn't fit... maybe I was meant to roll my EDU? Anyways, here's a roll... sorry.
[1d100] = 67

And here's a Sanity check!
Sanity check (65) [1d100] = 26

Isaiah looks at the map.

"This... this just doesn't make sense," he says and turns to Reginald. "Mr. Wilkins, please take a look at this too. We are supposed to be here," he points at B8. "But the passageway to the west just doesn't fit..."

[Grognardsw]

Sorry, I meant to say an Int. check not Know. So if for example you have a 10 Int., which is the Active Characteristic, vs. a 10, your chance is 50%.

On the map, the party went through the east door in B8 into the large B4/B7 area. This is where the combat happened. To the north (B4) are the rows of chairs, lectern, chalkboard. To the south (B7), the tables and chairs. In the center of the east wall of this combined area is the hole with the passageway. Ten feet to the left (north) of the hole is the mural.

[Fulci]

Isaiah Bartlett, wise old man

Thanks for the clarification!
The target number for my Int 14 vs 10 is 70, so I rolled a success.

I'm still not totally clear on the map thing, though.

"In the center of the west wall of this combined area is the hole with the passageway. Ten feet to the left (north) of the hole is the mural."

Is it possible that you mean the east wall? If so, it leads, ehh, to the graveyard...

[Grognardsw]

yes East. I edited the prior posts. And the upper half of the body is inside the mural, the legs outside.

[Fulci]

And I thought that this might be some weird space-time configuration!!

Okay, disregard my last reaction, here's the new one:

Isaiah Bartlett checks the map against the configuration of the basement then turns to Reginald.

"Looks like the passageway leads under the cemetery..."

[FrankL]

Harold Matthers

INT vs. 10 roll:
INT * 5 (80) [1d100] = 36

Sanity check:
Sanity Check (58) [1d100] = 43

Harold is concerned about Darrin, a potential ally. "Mr. McCoy, what do you see in the chalk?"

[Grognardsw]

Reginald shudders at the sight of the legs sticking out of mural and the upper body painted in.(1 Sanity Point loss.) He looks closely at the mural. The writing and pictographs on the cave walls bear some resemblance to those glimpsed in the Pnakotic Manuscripts. The book-dealer occultist would need a copy of the mural to check against the book, or bring the book here.

Isaiah, Harold, and Reginald, from their study of Carcosa's file and its sketch of him based on eyewitness descriptions from the gunfire chase in the apartment courtyard, recognize the small-scale man in the mural as Carcosa!

Harold presses Darrin McCoy again on what he sees.

"Yes, that tunnel could go all the way to the graveyard," mutters BOI Agent Holmes to Isaiah. He gets up, thanks Reginald for the first aid, and dusts himself off. "Men, let's go in there. Shot to kill whatever that thing is in there."

- Reginald San loss [1d2] = 1 Reginald losses a San. point from the sight of the legs sticking out of mural and upper body painted in.
- monkeywrench will hopefully chime in today.

[MonkeyWrench]

Darrin's eyes become more focused as he comes back to reality, looking towards the investigator trying to press him for information. With a smile beginning to form on his face Darrin answers, "Nothing that anyone can do anything about for now... just that our quarry is closer than we'd like to believe." He holds his cuffed hands up, motioning towards them with his eyes.

Sanity: 75?
Sanity Check: [1d100] = 50

[SocraticLawyer]

Reginald Wilkins, bookdealer
As he looks about the room, Reginald is reminded of Baines's final words, in that weird language. He thinks back to Timothy, using the same language. He thinks of the atrocities that Timothy committed, probably within hours of Reginald's last discussion with him. A disturbing thought occurs him.

A wave a fear washes over Reginald, as he turns to look at Darrin McCoy, the gangster who is so fascinated with the writing on the chalkboard....

Timothy had used Carcosa's strange new drug, and murdered six people in a ghoulish fashion. Baines's use of the cult language lends some support to Reginald's suspicion that Baines was responsible for the murder of Agent Smith. Isaiah has already hinted that Baines was a part of the cult, although they'll have to wait until the dust settles here to explore that possibility.

And now this gangster, who claims to have important knowledge, and who seems to be familiar with the cult language, is asking the agents to free him. He is speaking as cryptically as Timothy.

"Agent Holmes, wait a moment," says Reginald to the lead agent, before they head down the passageway. "Do you know whether Mr. McCoy here has any associates that have gone missing recently?"

[Grognardsw]

Agent Holmes answers Reginald: "Not that I know of, but we haven't been following the Danny Walsh gang closely beyond McCoy's association with Carcosa. When this is all done, we need to question McCoy."

Another agent, one who arrested McCoy, speaks up: "We did a quick check of the room we found McCoy in. There were signs of recently burned documents, some incriminating writing on a chalk board, and two headless and handless bodies stuffed in a trunk."

[FrankL]

Harold Matthers

"More cultic murders." His optimistic trust of the gangster deflates, and he feels foolish. "Good question, Reg."

To Darrin. "I think you should tell us, very clearly and without riddles, what we need to know."

[MonkeyWrench]

Darrin looks over the wall once more, his eyes focusing on the picture before he turns to the others, "Alright, you know nothing and are in far over your head. And those dead men the agent found worked for me, I didn't kill them." Once more he motions for the cuffs restraining his hands, "Here's another piece of info, You need all the help you can get."