TOPIC: Tatters of the King

Nice one Mel, I was meaning to ask you what this was.

V


It’s Not Roby
Piper’s phone rings. “It’s not him!” exclaims an excited Dr Highsmith on the other end of the line. He invites the investigators back to St. Agnes. On returning to the asylum, the investigators are ushered directly to Highsmith’s office. There was a mistake. The body in Alexander Roby’s cell had been stabbed, slashed and his face mutilated, but when Grahame Roby arrived at the morgue to identify the deceased he swore it wasn’t his brother. Highsmith too examined the body and concluded it was the body of Thomas Clarke.


Roby and Evans
Alexander Roby and the orderly, Michael Evans, are missing. And for the second time the deranged Lucius Harriwell was the police’ prime suspect for the murder in the adjacent cell. The investigators are invited to search Evans locker at the asylum and his home, a rented cottage in nearby Leominster. The only things of interest are both at the cottage. First, though the cottage was stripped of all personal effects, the morning’s post was behind the door; two letters, one addressed to Michael Evans the other to Montague Edwards. Edwards has been keeping close to Roby all along. Highsmith had revealed that he’d had to speak with Evans about gifting Roby contraband, namely pencils. Roby had been making notes in his book, the Wanderer by the Lake. The second thing of interest at the cottage was the floorboards in the bathroom – saturated with blood, fresh and old.


The Laird of Mullardoch
The trail was cold. The whereabouts of Roby and Edwards (Evans) was unknown. However, Roby it seems had penned a note to Delia informing her he was going to Scotland and she should come. Delia forwarded the note to the investigators. Roby was being take to Edwards house on Loch Mullardoch. An obituary for Lawrence Bacon appeared in the periodical Occult Magazine of 9th December 1928. The obituary made reference to an acquaintance of Bacon’s – Montague Edwards, the Laird of Mullardoch. The obituary was signed Perudabo. The Latin moniker of Alister Crowley, of the Golden Dawn.


Going Somewhere Mr Lister?
On the 10th December, the investigators head north aboard the Flying Scotsman. Changing at Edinburgh for the Inverness train they share a carriage with a Lancastrian named Henry Lister. Lister has a leather necklace and pendant matching the one Piper possesses, having taken it off Bacon. A conversation strikes up in which a nervous Lister admits he’s heading to Mullardoch House to meet other cultists, but he’s not sure what’s to happen. He says something about a city being called down to the loch – but surely this is just a metaphor? He is spooked and tries to leave. Stevenson grapples him and Clancy administers a sedative, enough to render Lister unconscious for a couple of hours. When the investigators alight at Inverness, the insentient Lister is left aboard the train.


Never Trust a Scotsman
A car awaits outside Inverness station. The driver has been paid up for the week to ferry cultists from Inverness to Loch Mullardoch. He’s not taking anybody at this time of night though; it’s dark, it’s been snowing and the journey is upwards of two hours. Piper gives the driver a fiver, an English five pound note he stresses. The driver takes them to the Bonnie Prince Hotel for the night with the promise he’ll be back in the morning to drive them.


The Journey to Loch Mullardoch
Next morning after smoked kippers there’s no sign of transport. The investigators are resigned to hiring a car and driving themselves. King sits behind the wheel, navigating the snow-covered highland roads through stunning, albeit white-over, countryside. At the village of Cannich is the turn off for Loch Mullardoch. The condition of the road deteriorates to a bumpy track leading into forested wilderness.

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If people are interested I might have something to play the last week when Garuda is away.

I picked up the Warhammer Age of Sigmar - Soulbound starter pack recently since there was a humble bundle for it and heard good reviews. I've got an adventure in there designed to learn the system with. No idea if we'd fit it into an evening but i've got some pregens if people want to give it a go? Basically a D6 system.

rhodsey wrote:
I’d love to give it a go mate. I have the full rule book we can use as reference if needed

Following the break in I have managed to retrieve an email from the computer of the curator. In it he discusses the exhibition with a friend. I have had to redact some sensitive information.

Transcript:

Hi there 
Long time no chat old friend. Just a quick email to vent! I assume you have read the papers, seems someone came in just to steal Blossetts sketchbooks, if you can believe it. I know me and you have always been big Blossett fans but honestly didn't think someone would come in and steal his work!! 

That being said, the theft hasnt been the only strange thing to have happened and I am starting to feel as if I am in a hammer horror  . Things that go bump in the night and that sort of thing. Now I am no great lover of ghosts and ghoulies but its fair to say we have lost quite a few staff to the man in the white sheet! Nothing too major that I have seen, just a general sense of unease more than anything. 

It pains me to say that if our monied benefactor

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wasnt so persistent in putting this exhibition on I would have packed up and gone on holiday by now old chum. 

Anyway, keep in touch!



Henry
Henry Aldrich Curator Hepworth Gallery

VI

Part One

11th December 1928

The drive to Mullardoch House
King manages to keep the car on the treacherous track that winds through a landscape of ancient pine forest. There is the sound of splintering wood and a shadow is cast across the car. Clancy fires his revolver through the roof of the car without even looking outside. The shadow passes but further along, just off the road, the caster of the shadow is seen. Now anchored to a large standing stone by its mass of tentacles is a huge pulsating amorphous blob. The investigators drive on.


Mullardoch House
Eventually the investigators reach an unassuming brick building. Mullardoch House is situated on the shore of a great loch. Leaving the car, the investigators walk through the snow towards the house and unexpectedly find themselves standing next to a huge marble arch. Looking back, the car is gone. The landscape all around them is replaced with a remarkable scene of streets, plazas and wonderful architecture.


Ythill
Walking along the streets, they seem to shift and morph as do the surrounding buildings. Laughter and merriment is heard but always some way ahead. A group of revellers are seen, dressed in pastel-coloured tunics and wearing masquerade masks. The sky is resonant of dusk (despite it being only a little after lunchtime last time the investigators checked their watches) and twin suns are setting over a vast lake. A grand palace takes centre stage of the city skyline. Checking pocket watches, the hands sweep backwards and forwards at differing speeds. The flow of time here is incomprehensible.


Gunfire
Reaching an amphitheatre, several shots ring out. Stevenson is grazed by a bullet. A man with a revolver starts to run away. The investigators corner him. He is cultist. His name is Spence. He had fired in panic. He's afraid and confused. He can’t find the way out. He rushes his words – Edwards is calling the King in Yellow (an avatar of Hastur). This is not what Roby intended. Roby knows the way out. Have you seen Roby? He was at the Sculpture Museum, but Spence can’t navigate his way to it. Spence runs away.


Noss
The investigators bump into another group of revellers. Noss, a man wearing a pale cotton tunic and a harlequin style mask introduces himself. His voice has a resonance to it and his words, spoken in English, seem slightly out of synch to his lip movement. It’s wonderful isn’t it! The excitement in the city is tangible. The Stranger has come! Noss disappears into a doorway and remerges moments later with tunics and masks for the investigators. After being asked, Noss is happy to lead the way, through a series of disorientating alleys and courtyards, to the Sculpture Museum.


Alexander Roby
The museum galleries are full of strange and wondrous displays. Soon the investigators come across a relaxed and lucid Alexander Roby. He greets everyone warmly. You learn that Roby is the instrument for calling Ythill to Earth. He considers it idyllic; a paradise. Ythill will stay on Earth for a few days before returning to its own place and time, and Roby intends to leave with it. When he’s told the Stranger is in Ythill and Edwards intends to summon the King in Yellow, Roby is appalled. The presence of the Stranger means Ythill becomes Carcosa, and as Carcosa it won’t be the King in Yellow that's summoned, it will be Hastur himself. Edwards must be stopped. To the palace.

To be continued....