Part 1 - MANSIONS OF MADNESS/Mansion of Madness: Andrew Keetling is Missing

 MANSIONS OF MADNESS/Part 1-Mansion of Madness

Victoria Valencia (Bill) Mob Accountant Sister of 'Eddie Two-Shoes' who was killed in the Masks adventure. She's a plan-Jane using it to her advantage to stay unnoticed and non-threatening.	James (Tony) Student of Egyptology A bookworm apprentice at the London Penhew Foundation. Naive when it comes to real life threats. Except he learned quickly during the Masks adventure!	Khatan Rajar (Criv)   Parapsychologist The deep claw-marks across his face imply he was a failed lion tamer. Or he encountered some dangerous Mithos entity!

September 1925: It’s been near 6 months since James and Dr. Khatan orchestrated the destruction of the rocket created by the Chinese “Bloated Woman” cult in their failed attempt to bring forth Narlyathotep. Finally working their way back to New York to visit Eddie’s sister Victoria to explain her brother’s demise. Except their explanation omits the gory details of the flying snakes biting Eddie in half!

So it’s Victoria asking the two if they are willing to aid her in responding to a dear friend’s request. Sarah Keetling up in Boston telegrammed concern of her brother missing these last 2 weeks.
Andrew was a client of Eddie’s bootlegging, supplying the scotch Sarah so enjoys.

Sarah

Andrew

 

With no car, we take a train then taxi to Sarah’s front door. Expensive district; townhouse; wealth. Except it’s a drab woman answering the door; Sarah herself without makeup, disheveled and obviously distraught. “Thank you for coming. The police were no help; Sergeant Patrick Devlin passed it off as another playboy on a romp.” She described Andrew as a bookworm who liked working at the ‘Boston Museum of Fine Arts’. Ms. DuMort his supervisor. He’s become quite the art connoisseur hanging around with local art students. No, nothing unusual. No enemies. No girlfriends. Just those distasteful paintings he brought home hanging up in his study.

She leads us upstairs unlocking a door to reveal a dark room with the curtains closed. She fumbles for the light switch as we find a desk, bookshelf, couch, and 3 huge paintings each occupying its own wall. James seems to be hitting on Sarah (we'll take that as "distracting" her to ease our investigation) as Khatan approaches each painting while Victoria inspects the bookshelf. As for the paintings: 

 “Dweller in the Void” – humanoid figure suspended in webbing…as Khatan stares, faces seem to appear in the webbing.

Moving on to “Sylvan Night” – a blonde nude sprawled across a black stone with pine trees in the background and a dark swirling mass overhead. Signed by J. Garcetti.

Finally “The Watching” – a coastal mansion with red points of light in all the windows. Mesmerizing as the lights take center stage.

The bookcase is a collection of travel guides and over 20 books of art work. But one book stands out as Victoria notices papers sticking out. A woman’s handwriting, “My darling Andrews…Love JG”. “I thought you said Andrew didn’t have a girlfriend.” A dozen letters spanning the last 2 months that describe their passionate meeting at the Sailor’s Club.

Continuing to the desk, V finds a locked drawer; well, was locked. An account ledger recording payments for European cuisine, various language books (Latin and Italian), and 3 LARGE payments to Josephine Garcetti 2+ weeks ago.

Sarah denies our request to use Andrew’s car still in the garage since none of us have a license. So it’s a taxi ride to the museum. Mistake – James becomes a fountain of trivial knowledge as he pauses before each piece of work on display. Fortunately Khatan pushes on to meet the attractive Ms. DuMort, an exhibit director. “Andrew? Work? He didn’t need the money; this was more a hobby. He helped appraise the art and helped with storage. He was into the classic painters, then Degas, and then that loose woman Garcetti. Ghastly paintings. And to think we offered her employment based on her studies at Boston University. Andrew and I used to have lunch dates. Till that Josephine appeared. She drug him off to some speakeasy called the ‘Sailor’s Club’…awful people…criminals. Josephine? Small, thin, blonde drawing a lot of attention especially with her indecent dress…exposed knees! Harlot.” [I do think a bit of jealousy]

It’s 6pm as we take a taxi ride to the club; except it doesn’t open for another hour. The short walk to the B.U. campus is interrupted when Khatan notices us being followed…a fourth long shadow joins our stroll. A shadowy figure dressed in a fedora and too large trench coat. The Dr slips into an alley to ambush our tail. Maybe the eerie features of the stalker (grey, rubbery skin) thwart the Dr as it steps aside, cackles, turns into a mist then flows down the street drain. This being Victoria’s first exposure to such cult mysteries, she checks her sawed-off shotgun then asks, “OK, what the hell was that? And what really happened to Eddie?”

At the college campus James again becomes a faucet trying to hit it up with the jocks and the girls. No-one remembers an art student named Josephine; they suggest checking with the administration office.

The club is more inviting once we get past the bouncer, “Two drink minimum.” Torn fishing net, ship wheel, nautical décor compliment the club’s name. A black band plays jazz for a small crowd of 3 flappers, a trench coat man, and two mob dressed men sitting in the corner. James orders drinks from Randolph the bartender, demanding the good stuff. “Our shipments have been delayed. Take it or leave it.” Scotch it is as James also orders for the girls (Bobby, Milly, and Jacque) as he joins their table. And that’s when the lone man pays to go into the back room, later returning with the sniffles and wiping his nose before departing.

Between Randolph and the girls we soon learn Andrew and Josephine frequented this place. In fact Josie used to date the owner Zeek before Andy’s appearance. Soon James and the Dr are invited to the back room to meet the owner. Zeek Crater sits at his desk wearing a large brim hat and cape (out of place for this warm weather). It’s as if the man is trying to hide a disfigurement. “Josie, that bitch? She stole from me. My mother’s stone. I don’t care about her but return the stone and I’ll reward you $2500. It’s about 6 inches long; dark stone. Turn it at the right angle and you’d swear it looks like a reclining woman. She ain’t in Boston. Not her apartment; probably fled home to Muskrat Rapids, Pennsylvania.”

Meanwhile, Victoria joins the mob table to talk business, in Italian. Eddie Santoochie explains their presence keeping an eye on a rival gang. “Zeek killed many my friends during the gang wars. But now we try peace, keeping an eye on each other. Us down the street at the Roxy. Yeah, I’ve seen the Josephine you mention. And her friend Andria Pentargen. Both missing. But not before they told stories of Zeek’s wild parties…crazy shit…bites the head off live chickens drizzling blood on a stone, then hopping between the girls like an all-night stud."

It’s 3am when the band finally begins to pack up. So Victoria takes the opportunity to speak with the leader, Zoots. “Yeah, I’ve seen the girl you look for. Fine looking broad. Friend of Zeek…close friend for awhile. Till his European trip shopping for more supplies. Then that police raid the night before his return. Big newspaper article about Black magic crap with cultists. Black magic, right. They were all whities.”

We return to Sarah’s house to sleep, rising late. About the time James strolls in having spent the night with Milly. Off to the newspaper office where we find two articles: 1) Interview with Detective Pat Devlin. Kidnap victim dies in the raid. 12 cultists killed, two captures, and another escaped. 2) Another article days later describing the captured cultists dead from a fire within their cell. Cause/source of fire unknown.

So it’s off to the police station to get an eye-witness account from detective Devlin; a harried looking officer in his mid-forties, a big man with a doughy face and thinning hair. We offer our help to the captain who corrects us, “Only a sergeant, but crack this case and hopefully I get promoted to captain. The raid? A phone call tip about the missing Chinatown girl within one of the Boston parks. Wooded area, bonfire, and chanting when we came upon them. A thin blonde was chanting some crap out of a book while someone else held a ceremonial dagger over the victim. Bullets flying everywhere. The china girl killed in the cross fire. Killed a dozen cultists and captured two. The blonde escaped. We’ve had records on her…Josephine. Moved here a decade ago when she was 17. Our prisoners? Kept claiming to be Sylvan Knights here for the ‘One in the Void’. High on some kinda drug. Don’t know how they started the fire. Scary shit as they just stood there ablaze saying that ‘Void’ shit.”

Surprisingly the detective brings the dagger out of the evidence locker. Serrated on both sides of the blade with a femur bone for a handle. The ball-joint on the end carved into a face.  James and the doctor haven’t a clue, but Victoria suddenly reveals, “That looks Sumarian…Kandarian devil worship.” [How the hell did she know that?! Her brother must have mentioned the dagger involved in Jackson Elias’ murder last year. That got her researching such things.]

James is eager to research the cult and dagger at the Boston Library. And along the way the ghostly man appears, beckoning us his way. “Keetling in the dark. I am his dreams. He wants your help…the One-In-the-Void wants his soul. She loves me. She resists the Dweller but her Will weakens. You must stop her else the Dweller will occupy your world. Hurry! Her Will weakens.” And once again, the form melts into a mist.

It’s 4 hours before the train departs. Time for more research.

At the library we learn the Sylvan cult is described in a book named the “Kingdom of Shadows”. An unholy text written in Latin. The only copy shipped to Miskatonic University along with a 6” stone. Both stolen.

Another trip to the B.U. Art Department admin office. Garcetti was on full scholarship but dropped out a year ago. Her advisor Professor Jones describes her as a disturbed individual. “Kept saying she had to paint what she was told.” He suspected voices in her head; mental illness. Andria? She left for lack of funds.

CONCLUSION: https://rigglew4.blogspot.com/2017/01/entry-2-confronting-josephine-then-zeek.html