Despite my pleas, we did not stop Mask of Nyarlathotep to play Horror on the Orient Express as we traveled ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS from Paris to Constantinople (not Istanbul).
To Evelyn’s crushing disappointment, her (gay) fiance Freddy finally managed to get the party that they’d been hoping for sorted out, and she had to LEAVE before she could party with the Bright Young Things. Freddy, Betty, and possibly Margaret* will follow us later, when they’re recovered from their fun.
(*Margaret: a sudden NPC brought on by Evelyn moaning, “I’m sorry, darling, I can’t stay, we have to face an ancient evil,” and Freddy going, “Oh that Margaret, yes, positively decrepit, she must be 38 and is simply dreadful.” LOL)
Evelyn did have the foresight to contact a travel agent to get our travel, hotel, etc, sorted out, which is good, because otherwise the first thing that tried to happen upon our arrival in Egypt probably would have, which is that some hooligans tried to steal our luggage and lead us astray. But whew! We had plans already, and were not led astray!
So we arrived safely in Egypt after about two weeks of travel, during which Beloved Alice proved herself still insatiably curious but dumb, as she read one of the new tomes of Mythos we had acquired. But hey, she didn’t lose any sanity, so…
We are, in fact, staying at an incredibly nice and posh hotel, where Alice is scandalously sharing a room with Teddy EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE NOT MARRIED. Which would have been nice for Alice when she woke up screaming in the night with madness-induced visions, except the screaming in the night turned out to be locked entirely inside her own head and Teddy would not awaken.
Naturally, she didn’t mention this to him. Or anybody else.
For once (and I do mean for once), we actually had a PLAN, because we actually had a NAME and a LOCATION and a REASON to go see somebody with.
We got there and there was a giant exploded holes in the ground, untouched for five years since it happened because it had all too clearly been done by a fire djinn (about which Alice had just been reading) and ain’t nobody messin’ with that shit. So we tried to get information from another shopkeeper, via our translator (provided by the hotel).
Interpreter: Madam, he is trying to overcharge you terribly for the rug.
Evelyn: I’m not buying a rug, my dear, WINK WINK WINK
Interpreter: Ah.
He speaks to the rug seller, who has information about the guy we’re looking for, and his new business location
Evelyn: Wonderful. Have him pack up the rug and send it to our hotel.
Summerset: What? I thought we weren’t buying a rug.
Alice, impatient: She was buying the rug, she was just paying more for it than she needed to because she was also buying information! You really don’t have any social skills, do you?
Summerset: -horrified silence-
Summerset: what has happened to you, Alice?
Alice, horrified: I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me.
DM: months of sanity loss and hypnotization!
Summerset: Where’s Teddy? Teddy would have been nice to me. Teddy would have been as confused as I was!
Evelyn: Teddy would have been excited about the new rug!
Summerset: Teddy WOULD have been excited about the new rug!
Evelyn: Where’s Teddy when you need him?
Alice: FINE, I’ll just LEAVE YOU ALL and YOU can marry Teddy if you like him so much!
Alice: -attempts to stomp off, but is stopped by the group who want to go have lunch-
After lunch we make it to the guy we’re looking for’s new place. He’s badly burned from his original shop’s explosion. Evelyn is charming to him and he attempts to sell her a sword. She says it’s not her thing, but calls Summerset over to admire this sword. (This is not a euphemism.)
Summerset, very cautiously: …are we buying a sword?
Me: -giggles-
He and Summerset bargain over the sword, exchanging insults (but not enough of them!) and Summerset doesn’t buy it. Evelyn continues to be charming, which gets us nowhere. Alice explains we’re looking for the Carlyles, whose expedition was lost years ago. Our poor dude FREAKS OUT, running for the door and bellowing about thieves and marauders and foreigners.
Alice: WAIT! You misunderstand! We’re trying to stop the things that have destroyed your old shop! We’re looking to protect you and your community! We too have had terrible dealings with the monsters and have come away with injuries similar to your own!
Shopkeeper: …we cannot talk here. Meet me later. -vanishes mysteriously- (well, no, but that’s a good exit)
We go for more food and cool drinks (we are all trying very hard not to get heat stroke on the first day of the adventure), and then go to meet the shopkeeper at a mosque, where he gives us an unusual amount of information. Normally we’re really terrible at getting useful info, but this time we nailed it, in part because this dude was super happy to tell us everything he knew in hopes of us making it all go away and never haunt him again.
A significant part of our goal was to find out about a previous adventuring party, the Carlyle Expedition, to whom this shopkeeper had sold a bunch of stuff. Or possibly stolen it from somebody to sell to them, or possibly had it stolen from him–anyway, he told us about the items he’d sold:
• a thing
• another thing
• a crown which exactly matches the description of the crown in Alice’s vision/dream last night
• a fourth thing
Alice: …I’ve seen that crown in a vision.
The party: WHAT VISION, ALICE?
Alice: the one I woke up screaming from last night
The party: yes yes very sad but what about the vision
Well, there wasn’t much to the vision, just a woman and the crown and some other accoutrements, but it’s a LINK. Links are GOOD! Although Teddy is going to be crushed that Alice didn’t turn to him in her moment of need (although tbf she totally tried to).
So armed with all this new info, we wrapped up for the evening, with the DM thanking us for hanging in here on this long campaign (we’re coming up on the year mark next month, I think), and we were all like “omg no are you kidding we’re having such a good time and you have done AMAZING amounts of research for the worldbuilding, we’ve LEARNED tons, it’s been SO COOL!” and spent several minutes like that, praising each other, which was a lovely way to wrap up the evening. :)
BUT OH
He couldn’t stand it and had to give us a spoiler for the upcoming story, wherein we will be meeting (or pursuing, or something!) the Clive Expedition, whose party members include…
…wait for it…
…one Dr Willy Preston (Esquire to be determined).
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
I love reading g all your synopsese(?). So much fun!
I’m so glad poeple are enjoying them!!
Hypnotization — Now there’s a word!
Huzzah for Willy Preston! Perhaps he’s a doctor of jurisprudence?
(Aside: That pic of Charlize. My goodness.)
I cant WAIT to find out what Willy Preston is a doctor of. O.O :D
And lord, yes, that picture of Charlize. I had a much saner one for her before she got all brain-melted, but I thought this one was suitable for her current state. :D