19th Session

I figure that this session started on September 4, 1937, and ended the evening of September 5, 1937. The Thyrsus is due in on September 6 and will dock at the warehouse. It's scheduled to depart after it's loaded up, on the evening of September 7.

The first order of business was a Disguise roll for the disguises folks took up last session. Martin's player spent 5 points and got a total of 10. Folks were fairly well disguised (although I need to remember a single misstep, on the off chance it comes to matter -- I figure there's maybe a 30% chance of that).

Joyce's player asked if she should cross of points of Oral History for last time. Given that the Oral History made it unnecessary to have various Stealth rolls, I agreed that crossing off a point or two would make sense. And, folks had already made a Sense Trouble roll last time, which covered something not actually hostile, which they'd find out about later on.

Checking Out the Hospital

Joyce used her Dilettante ability to make a Contact: Pierre Baldwin, a Red Cross Anglo Canadian working at Hospital Superbissima in Valletta. He was originally British Navy Medical Observer for the Spanish Civil War, where he patched Joyce up, so he knows that Joyce is a woman.

(There was a brief digression here as I described the situation in the Cardiff run of Beyond the Mountains of Madness, where one player's investigator was a woman passing as a man. The player left the campaign early on, so the character, already established as a morphine addict, died of an overdose. Various investigators learned and subsequently covered up either or both of these secrets. Cf. https://web.archive.org/web/20071013023908/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joedredd/beyonmountains as I had a bit of trouble trying to access it outside the wayback machine. NB: SPOILERS for Beyond the Mountains of Madness.)

Dr. Baldwin had been working in the hospital only for a few months, but could tell Joyce a few things, and had no problem doing so, even without the reminder that he owed her (probably for getting him desperately needed medical supplies that he wisely did not ask where they came from) or a not-so-veiled threat to reveal some embarrassing secret of his to the worst possible person.

Dr. Baldwin: Already with the threats?

Montgomery Donovan's name was not unknown in the Hospital Superbissima. Indeed, the entire Donovan Wing of Hospital Superbissima was named in his honor. One particular corridor on the third floor of that wing was locked down every day when Montgomery Donovan came to visit, with his bodyguards stationed at both ends of the corridor.

Who was in that corridor? Well, Montgomery Donovan's son, Montgomery Donovan, Jr., aka Monte, Jr., and perhaps a few others. But, it was clearly Monte, Jr. that Montgomery Donovan was coming to see.

Monte's doctor was Dr. Solazzio, who had joined the hospital staff a year ago, promising to revitalize everything.

Joyce: Has he?

Dr. Baldwin was reserving judgment on that, but thus far, all he'd seen was a lot of sound and noise -- and apparently Dr. Solazzio had a bee in his bonnet about the importance of Vitamin C, as he made sure that various patients got orange juice.

Joyce: Orange juice?

Martin: Wait... Nectar looks like orange juice.

Joyce asked if Dr. Baldwin could find out what Monte's condition was. I noted that this was basically asking the NPC to do a PC's job. Could he do it? Probably, but that would probably be less fun overall.

Joyce asked about getting her into the hospital. Indeed, Dr. Baldwin could get any of them in, as a patient, as a medical colleague, or as a nurse. After some discussion, the group agreed that Lillian had to be the nurse, because she was the only one of them who knew how to read a medical chart.

Well, Martin could probably have copied one without knowing what it meant, but there were certain risks involved, like, oh, sending the Nectar addict into a hospital that they suspected used Nectar to treat patients.

Lillian (to Martin): Of all the crazy people in this little group, you're the least stable.

Joyce: Yeah, but I'm the most beautiful.

Martin raised an eyebrow at that. Joyce retorted that in twenty years, her look would be considered the height of fashion.

Lillian asked about languages. Apparently, Italian was the official language of Malta at this time, although Maltese was also spoken, as was English. I think Spanish and French were far from unheard of, but I also think that Joyce indicated that Lillian should stick to English and should try a bit of a British accent.

Lillian replied in an accent that I think Joyce thought a bit too upper crust, so she shifted to an outrageous Cockney accent, or at least her idea of one.

Martin (cringing): Oh God, that's shrill! Please stop!

Joyce: Well... it's not the -worst- accent I've ever heard.

Lillian did eventually desist, relieved, as apparently she hates doing that accent. She spent a point on Disguise and got a 1 point dedicated pool for having the appropriate nurse's clothing and rolled a 3 for a total of 5, probably enough so long as she didn't draw attention to herself. Dr. Baldwin brought her into the hospital, and if she peeled off at some point, well, he was a busy doctor, right? It wasn't his job to monitor nurses.

Lillian spent 2 on a Stealth roll and rolled 2 for a total of 4. Fortunately, or perhaps merely sensibly, she was timing her trip to the corridor in the Donovan Wing for when Mr. Donovan and his body guards were NOT imminently expected.

She found the ten-year-old Monte in his room, semi-conscious. His chart was a history of a mess of treatments, none of them working, including "N.", which was, nevertheless, a constant part of his treatment. She examined him for extra mouths, intending to say that she was checking for bed sores, if anyone had walked in. No one did, and there were no extra mouths.

The corridor contained three other patients being treated with "N." One was the nine-year-old Alexi, with no next of kin. He came in with bites and scratches. These had long since healed and scarred. But, his treatment was identical to Monte, Jr.'s. In other words, he was being used as a guinea pig to test treatments for Monte.

Lillian's Player: Lillian makes a short prayer to Kali.

GM: What does she say?

Lillian's Player: That's between her and Kali.

Nevertheless, he told me that it was a promise, or perhaps a request, made to Kali (I think in Tibetan?): Someone will die for this.

The text doesn't call for a Stability roll, but under the circumstances, I thought one was warrented. I decided it was non-mythos, which might or might not have been correct, and a 1 point loss. The player blew the roll.

Lillian's Player: I really didn't want to make that roll.

The other two patients in the ward were adults with illnesses that were of the type that an unethical doctor might find interesting to treat with trace amounts of Nectar.

Lillian constructed a mantra with the names of all four patients being mistreated.

Meanwhile, Martin tracked down Mrs. Donovan's death certificate for Joyce. As the book doesn't actually consider this course of action, I speculated that perhaps she didn't have a death certificate. We agreed that it would be more likely that she had a blandly uninformative one. Then, the obvious occurred to me -- Dr. Solazzio had signed the death certificate.

Joyce: Natural causes? She's about, what, 40? No, more like 35!

Lillian rejoined them, ready to switch the Kidnap Montgomery Donovan plan for a Kidnap Two Boys from the Hospital Where They're Being Mistreated plan. But, after some discussion, she agreed that, as Joyce noted, it was off mission, and also, as Martin noted, it would draw attention.

Kidnapping Donovan

Plans were tossed around, including plans for how to interrogate Donovan once they'd caught him. Martin noted that they each seemed to have different ideas for how to do that. He hoped to talk to Donovan himself, telling the man that they could get his wife back for him.

Lillian, I think, just wanted to make sure she wasn't left out.

Lillian (to Joyce): You can't play both good cop and crazy cop.

Joyce explained that she had to be the one to talk to Donovan because of all that they had in common.

Martin: Joyce, you're being very vague.

Joyce: Am I?

Martin: Yes.

Joyce: He and I have stared into the same abyss.

But first, of course, they had to grab the man. Joyce planned to be on a rooftop with a sniper rifle. Lillian planned to do the job of subduing the victim.

Martin: Does this mean I'm the driver?

Lillian: Yes. You're also the guy helping me get him over the wall.

I gathered that this would involve some kind of winch and pulley system. Folks agreed that grabbing Montgomery Donovan when he visited the cemetery with his wife's grave was still the best plan, as that was the one time he had none of his bodyguards right there with him.

Lillian: In the middle of the night, Martin and I sneak over the wall, into the middle of the cemetery.

Martin (with a lack of enthusiasm): Great.

Joyce noted that Lillian and Martin were the only couple she could think of who'd spend the night in a cemetery. Lillian grumbled that this was true. Martin wasn't interested in her (at least, not while he wasn't on Nectar), and she couldn't find any man who wanted to spend the night in a cemetery with her.

Martin: I can't imagine why.

Lillian: Neither can I! I think it would be very romantic.

On further consideration, spending the night turned out to be unnecessary. Montgomery Donovan generally showed up around noon. There was some concern about finding a way to make the cemetery gate lock behind him so that his bodyguards couldn't immediately go inside if they thought something strange was going on.

I noted that Joyce had Mechanical Repair. Surely, she could jury rig the locking mechanism so that it looked normal, opened normally when Montgomery Donovan unlocked it, but then automatically locked behind him without his even realizing it. Joyce spent 3 points and rolled a 3 for a total of 6 points.

Joyce's player also used Oral History to make a network of retired British pensioners living on Malta. They were hardly an army of mercenaries -- Montgomery Donovan had hired the mercenaries to be his bodyguards -- but they were happy to help old Colonel Jacques Hivers with his project of watching for Montgomery Donovan.

GM: After all, the colonel wants a work with him about that yacht!

Joyce also set up a safehouse, and told Martin and Lillian that, after the grab, they were to go to a particular cafe. She would call them there and tell them where the safehouse was, but until then, they wouldn't know and so couldn't compromise it if anything went wrong.

Martin: So, we are going to a cafe with an unconscious man in the back of the truck?

Joyce: With an -unconscious- man in the back of the trunk. That's the key point.

They decided that, while they would use a tow truck which Joyce, ah, liberated from somewhere, I gather, so that it looked like it was towing a car, they'd actually use the car to get to the cafe and safehouse, abandoning the truck.

Martin: We'll need a car with a large boot.

That was simple enough to acquire. Now, it was just a matter of getting to the cemetery well before Donovan did.

Lillian's Player: Lillian is up before dawn.

Martin's Player: Martin sleeps in.

GM: You'll have to be there before noon.

Martin's Player: Fine. I'll... be there by 11.

Folks got into position. Lillian piggybacked on Martin's Stealth roll, as they were both in the cemetery. Joyce, however, was on a roof across the street from the cemetery. Joyce's player rolled a 4 for Stealth, the player realizing this wasn't good enough.

Martin's player pointed out that he has the new Stealth Cthulhu Ctherry. I allowed a retcon, since I offered specific Cthulhu Ctherries specifically to let folks use them. Joyce's player spent one point to be able to piggyback, iirc. Wisely, Martin's player spent five, as he rolled a 1, for a total of 6.

Joyce noticed that Montgomery's bodyguards were armed, trained, ready for trouble -- and eager for trouble. This is not necessarily ideal for their charge -- they're not unlikely to react to a false threat.

(Think of it like an Aspect of Eager for Trouble.)

Lillian came up behind Montgomery Donovan as soon as he was out of sight of his bodyguards. We agreed that the Stealth rolls meant she could just slap the a chloroformed cloth over his face and that her Medicine and Biology skills meant that she could do this with the correct dosage.

Lillian's player noted that she was braced for a struggle. After all, it wasn't as if the man would pass out at once; no doubt he'd struggle to break free.

GM: Actually, he doesn't.

This surprised Lillian, but she wasted no time getting him into position to be hoisted over the wall and into the trunk of the car.

Sir Bruce of Gotham

So, Martin drove a car with Lillian as a passenger and Montgomery Donovan as an unconscious prisioner in the trunk of the car. Joyce followed at a distance on a motorcycle.

I called for a Sense Trouble roll with an unstated Difficulty of 8.

• Joyce's player rolled a 5.
• Martin's player rolled a 5.
• Lillian's player rolled a 9.

So, it was Lillian who spotted a taxi just barely keeping Joyce's motorcycle in sight. The passenger was a man in his 60s, though not one of Joyce / Jacques's pensioner friends.

Lillian got out of the car at the cafe while Martin circled the block. When Joyce called, she alerted her about the mysterious man in the cab, and told Joyce to maneuver things so that the cab would have to slow down enough that Lillian could slip inside.

Joyce agreed and told Lillian where the safehouse was. Lillian told Martin, who started to drive there. Joyce arranged for the cab to get stuck in traffic, and when Lillian jumped in, Joyce headed for the safehouse, driving as she usually does, and therefore arriving before Martin did.

Meanwhile, the passenger in the cab was startled at the new arrival, but quickly assured the driver that all was well. He asked if he and Lillian had met before, but she assured him that they hadn't, although she was quite curious about why he'd been following her friend.

He said that he was there to run interference, if necessary, but it didn't seem necessary, as they apparently had things well in hand. They introduced each other, though Lillian only gave her first name. He was Sir Godfrey Welles.

They adjourned to a cafe, asking the driver to wait. Sir Godfrey explained that he was one of the Knights of Malta. The group had gone underground after Napoleon's treachery, and while some members had taken more public positions after the British liberated Malta, his chapter, and he himself -- who was currently the only member of his chapter -- had always felt that there were advantages in secrecy.

He had been aware of Montgomery Donovan and his cult for quite some time, and he'd noticed Joyce, Lillian, and Martin watching and following Donovan (albeit from enough of a distance that his first good look at Lillian had been when she arrived in his cab). Given that they'd just kidnapped the cult leader, he was now pretty sure that they were on the side of right.

He explained that he had an underground batcave, er, lair, and that she and her friends were welcome to meet him later to see it. And he told her what he knew, or rather, what he was convinced he knew, about Montgomery Donovan, his cult, and his god.

He believed that the Liar was Nyarlathotep. Lillian tried to convince him otherwise, as she is fairly certain it isn't. She was interested in his claim to have a spell that worked to unravel Nyarlathotep's physical manifestation, however.

She did agree that the cults worshiped the Mouths and that the Mouths were an embodiment of the god, and that the god was evil and intended to enslave mankind. Sir Godfrey also believed that Montgomery Donovan's wife was killed by the cult to keep him in line, and that his son was cursed by his god. Lillian agreed with Sir Godfrey that Monte, Jr. was being treated with the cult's drug in an attempt to heal him, and that this was insane.

Sir Godfrey said that the Malta Nectar was shipped out to ports Europe and the Mediterranean.

Sir Godfrey: Who knows how many are addicted already?

Lillian: Too many.

And he believed that the Mouth of Malta was underneath the warehouse.

We're not entirely sure who wound up paying the bill for the meal or taking the waiting cab, given that both Sir Godfrey and Lillian would have insisted on paying and letting the other take the cab. Sir Godfrey promised to await Lillian and whoever else she chose to bring at the cafe at dusk each evening.

Questioning Donovan

Joyce made sure that Donovan was manacled and wearing a hood before he woke up. Once she knew he was conscious, she removed the hood, gave him the key to the manacles, and provided a glass of water to drink.

Donovan's priorities were to find out who had kidnapped him, and if they could protect him, and, more importantly, his son from the cult. Joyce's priority was to get Donovan to tell her everything he knew, and she had no intention of letting him know any more about her and her companions than she had to. As she pointed out, he wasn't in a position to argue, especially as she could get access to his son at any time she wanted. (Well, okay, there might be some issues in practice, but even taking those into account, the situation for Monte, Jr. was far more uncertain than his father wanted.)

She led Donovan to believe that she worked for a different mythos deity than the one he worshiped, at least at first. He answered her questions as best he understood them, at least after she walked out of the room once and let him stew for a while.

He had tripled the Nectar production by sacrificing his wife. This was something folks already suspected, but Joyce wanted to hear Montgomery confirm it. The Nectar flowed to Europe and the Mediterranean.

Joyce asked why the cult was pushing Nectar. It couldn't be about the money, surely? Montgomery didn't quite understand the question. To him, it was obvious that the Nectar was part of the god, horked up by its mouths. The god wanted people partaking of it. It wanted as many people as possible addicted to its effluvium. Really, what more was there to know?

(Samson Trammel might or might not be able to elaborate if one wanted to pay the price of talking to the man. Of course, Trammel's information might be incomplete or compromised by his belief that Nylarathotep is the Liar, encouraged by Nyarlathotep.)

Joyce asked about the yacht. Montgomery started describing its specs until Joyce interrupted him impatiently. What was on the yacht?

Montgomery: Memories.

Joyce: Memories of what?

Montgomery: ...of my wife.

He tried to explain to Joyce, whom he still thought of as a cultist, though not one of his cultists, that he loved his wife very much. After all, if he had not, the sacrifice would not have worked.

At one point, Joyce left the room, after taking obvious precautions. She handed Montgomery the manacles. He wasn't dumb enough to test her patience, so he put them on.

Montgomery: Can I keep the key?

Joyce: No!

She reclaimed it and put the hood back on him. She left, closing the door and glaring at Martin, who'd been simultaneously listening at the door, taking notes, and getting drunk. At some point, Lillian joined the others.

I'm not sure exactly when Montgomery started to figure out that Joyce and the others weren't cultists. I'm sure he started to wonder when Joyce let on that they'd killed Savitree Sirikhan and dealt with the Bangkok Mouth. Maybe it was when Joyce let Martin in to see Montgomery. So, I may be conflating some things.

Whenever he eventually knew for sure that his captors were the enemies of his cult, he was relieved. He wanted them to destroy the cult, although he wasn't sure that was possible. The Mouth under the warehouse was huge, at least 30 feet wide. Joyce admitted that the other Mouths her group had dealt with hadn't been as large.

He didn't know exactly who the Liar was. It doled out information in dribs and drabs, one piece to one cult leader, one piece to another. Samson Trammel had told him that the body of the Liar was on Earth, beneath "some far-off mountain". He didn't know where that was, and didn't realize that his captors knew the real name of the Devouring Mountain. He also didn't know that Savitree Sirikhan had send Luc Fauche and his group to the Devouring Mountain to find the Liar's body, and that the group had returned to report that there was no mythos deity -- or any other kind -- there.

But, Montgomery Donovan did know one thing. Samson Trammel had told him that the Liar's body was "accessible though a crack that opens 'only when the moon is dark and the stars shine down'." While his captors did not see fit to share information with him, it was entirely possible that Luc Fauche's group had arrived at the wrong time, not realizing that there was a particular time it needed to arrive.

But, Montgomery went on to say, he had a spell. That spell would "hide the moon and part the clouds so the crack will flex open". The text of the spell was in his office, in the warehouse.

He remained pessimistic about his captor's odds of getting the spell. There were about fifty people in the warehouse, not counting his own personal guards. This also did not count Diana Hantz, who oversaw the entire thing, or Victor Prescott, the cult's head of security. Montgomery was sure that Diana Hantz would kill him if she knew he were talking to the cult's enemies.

Montgomery said that all he wanted was to get out, with his son. He'd had all that he could take. His son was ill, and he'd tried everything. He even sacrificed his wife, hoping that this would cause the Mouth to heal Monte, Jr. But, Monte, Jr. had only gotten sicker.

Joyce and Martin (and quite possibly Lillian as well) realized that there were some timing inconsistencies in Montgomery Donovan's tale. The Nectar output tripled after his wife's death. A couple of days later, Monte, Jr. got ill. Also, Montgomery had admitted to sacrificing his wife in order to triple the Nectar output of the Mouth of Malta. That didn't really square with his claim that he had sacrificed her in an attempt to heal his son.

But, just then, Montgomery and his captors were pondering a different conundrum. Montgomery had gone to visit his wife's grave at noon. It was now about 2:30 pm. (I'd asked as Montgomery, and Joyce's player answered, and this seemed a reasonable time frame.) That meant that Montgomery Donovan's bodyguards had already noticed he was missing.

Joyce: But, they work for -you-, don't they?

Montgomery confirmed this, but said that they would inform Diana Hantz about his disappearance. Joyce figured that Montgomery could be returned quickly enough for this to look like a false alarm.

Montgomery's captors left him so that they could figure out how they wanted to return him. Somehow, the conversation took a detour to their experiences in Mexico City.

Joyce (to Lillian): Oh, that's where you stole that singer from me.

(Absolutely untrue -- Elena Alcatruz (more of a poet, really, but she did know a Very Useful Song) parsed the whole thing as Lillian trying to keep Elena from stealing Josh from Lillian, and even so, if Josh / Joyce had ever done anything like making a pass at her, especially when Elena found her drunk in the bar, Elena would have been receptive. Sadly, Josh / Joyce told Elena to go away, so Elena just made sure to let Josh's friends know where to find Josh the next day.)

Lillian: No, no -- Mexico City is where -you- stole -me- from -Richard-.

(Also completely untrue, but Elena, genuinely (and understandably) believing that Josh and Lillian were a couple said as much to Richard Cooper, Lillian's former not-quite-a-fiance, and to Lillian's annoyance, Richard believed this.)

Folks decided that Colonel Jacques Hivers would return the missing Montgomery to his bodyguards. But, why had he been missing in the first place?

Martin suggested that perhaps he had kidnapped Montgomery in an attempt to trade the man for the brain fluid he needed for the cylinder containing Jeremiah's brain. He pointed out that this was fairly plausible. He did need brain fluid, and he knew that Luc Fauche was in Malta (or, at least, due in) and had gotten brain fluid before.

So far, not bad. But how had Montgomery Donovan managed to escape from Martin?

Joyce: You got drunk and let your guard down.

Martin: I don't even have to get drunk for that.

They went back to talk to Montgomery. He said that Luc and Alex and Phajol were away in Ethiopia, though he gathered that the first two would be back soon (likely on the freighter Thyrsus). Husain and Daniel were staying at his home in Valletta. He had no idea why Luc and his group wanted Martin, and he found it frustrating that he couldn't use Daniel Lowman for what Daniel was really good at.

In Bangkok, Daniel was the underworld face of the cult, collecting money to bribe the approprriate people, threatening those who needed threatening, and so on. He knew nothing of the religious or mythos aspects of the cult, as Savitree Sirikhan believed, probably correctly, that he'd go mad if he learned the truth.

In Malta, however, there was no underworld trade in Nectar. Montgomery had an agreement with the Maltese authorities: they would look the other way at any irregularities as his warehouse produced and shipped Nectar, and he would keep Nectar off the streets of Malta, which is why Martin and Lillian couldn't find anyone who knew anything about it.

Montgomery wasn't doing Nectar anymore. Oh, he'd done it regularly before, but after his wife died, he didn't want to touch the stuff anymore. He'd heard that Luc had planned to addict Martin to it in Ethiopia and asked if Luc had succeeded.

Martin (not bothering to explain that he'd already been addicted): Yep. I'm an addict.

Montgomery: You can have my supply. I keep it at home, in --

Martin: Don't tell me! I don't want to know!

Montgomery: Oh, right. Sorry.

Montgomery was willing to go along with the kidnapping story. He asked if he could keep Martin, on the grounds that it looked more plausible and less as if he didn't have the situation under control. (He didn't have the situation under control.)

Martin did consider this, as he didn't want to get Montgomery killed, but let himself be talked out of it by Joyce and Lillian.

So, Colonel Jacques Hivers (whom the GM mistakenly called Captain Jacques Hivers, so we decided that Montgomery had made that mistake) called his friends, the British pensioners, and had them contact Montgomery's bodyguards to have them meet the colonel and Montgomery in a small park. There, the colonel effusively returned the missing man. The bodyguards stewed, as there'd been some excitement, and they'd missed it!

It occurs to me now that the bodyguards likely received two somewhat different stories. Assuming Montgomery stuck to the plan, he told them that Martin Locksley had kidnapped him, but he had escaped with the help of the French captain. However, an overeager pensioner might have told them that the colonel wanted a stern word with Mr. Donovan about where Mr. Donovan chose leave the Elegance, his yacht, leaving it in the way in flagrant disregard of correct harbor practices.

If that's the case, I could see Montgomery Donovan going with one (or more) of the following:

• Correcting the first version privately, explaining that that's the lie the captain told the pensionners when trying to help him out
• Agreeing that the pensioners were right, but that the captain's anger at the yacht situation was what led to Mr. Locksley letting his guard down, giving Montgomery the chance to escape
• Letting his bodyguards think that he'd been cornered by the captain about the yacht situation and not mentioning Mr. Locksley.

I think the second option is the most plausible, even if the third is amusing.

Watching Donovan's House

Folks spent some time watching Montgomery Donovan's house after he returned home. This was fairly easy, as the street out front led through a small piazza. Anyone might spend the day there, after all. I'm ending this section here and putting the various bits of infodump in a separate section at the end.

I forget the context of this:

Joyce: I don't mistreat my allies, except for Martin.

Somewhere around here is probably when folks checked their mail.

• Remy Piper's Letter to Martin
• Domenick Bower's Letter to Lillian

Meeting with Sir Godfrey

Then, Lillian and Joyce went to meet Sir Godfrey, while Martin went to do research on Diana Hantz, promising he'd try not to get kidnapped.

Sir Godfrey, of course, assumed that Joyce was a man, but she introduced herself as Joyce Summers, so he had to revise his mental image on the fly. But, while the foundation Joyce had helped set up during the events of Masks of Nyarlathotep had pretty much fallen dormant, and while I don't think Sir Godfrey had never left Malta in his life, he had heard of the foundation and perhaps had corresponded with some of its members. Joyce was clearly fighting the same war he was.

He took them to his secret lair -- er, I mean the hidden shrine of the Knights of Malta. It counts as a safe haven, of course. Martin could probably tell his companions about the architecture of the place if he gets a chance to visit it. It's got a couple of cots, a modest altar, a lot of books, and a wall painted with a fresco showing the Knights of Malta battling inhuman foes. Sir Godfrey explained that this was a depiction of his forebears battling Nyarlathotep.

It wsa clear to both women that the Knights of Malta assumed, often incorrectly, that any supernatural foe they could not otherwise identify was some manifestation of Nyarlathotep. Still, as Joyce noted, that's not an unreasonable position to take.

Sir Godfrey also gave them the book with the spell he had told Lillian about. To quote the text:

-- -- -- The spell is written into a nameless illustrated text from 1498 — a book that describes various encounters with Nyarlathotep over the ages but is so scattered and vague that, aside from the spell, it has little actual Cthulhu Mythos value. According to Sir Godfrey, “This spell unravels the god’s physical manifestations and loosens its grip on the physical realm, undoing the body that it inhabits. Potent, but it takes time and focus to perform. I don’t know what effect it would have on a part of the beast — it may have to be cast on the foul gut of the Thing.” -- -- --

So, it does NOT grant Cthulhu Mythos points. I'm not entirely sure what language it would be in. Maltese? Italian? Middle English? What language did folks speak on Malta in 1498? Fortunately, Joyce's player knew the answer to that one: Latin. Currently, no one speaks / reads Latin in the group, but this is easily fixable.

Casting the ritual to dismiss Nyarlathotep involves beseeching a string of the Outer Gods whom Nyarlathotep serves to bid him travel elsewhere on their unknowable errands, carrying their unpronounceable messages for unknowable purposes.

Lillian's player, pretending to be one of those Outer Gods: Puny mortal! I don't do what you say! Although... come to think of it, Nyarlathotep does work for me, and I do have this errand -- so, hop to it!

The details of the spell will go at the end. Neither Joyce nor Lillian yet know it to cast it, but they do know what it does. Lillian and / or her player wondered whether a spell caster could just substitute some other being's name for Nyarlathotep. As I told the player, folks are absolutely welcome to try this experiment.

Visiting Donovan

Martin's researches didn't turn up anything new. And, as I noted, he knew where there was a huge amount of Nectar to be had. Martin went to Donovan's townhouse and rang the bell. The valet answered it.

Martin: Would you please tell Mr. Donovan that I want some orange juice?

After a few tries, the valet managed to pry Martin's name out of him. He closed the door, then opened it again some time later.

Montgomery was bemused that Martin had come to his townhouse, but wasn't about to question this. And, anyway, he had a lot of Nectar to get rid of. Martin asked him to send a message to Joyce and Lillian so that they'd know that Martin wasn't dead.

Me (via emailed bits of write up with questions in them): HEY, DOES THIS MEAN THAT MONTGOMERY AND WHOEVER HE SENT WITH THE NOTE NOW KNOWS WHERE THE GROUP'S BEEN STAYING?

Joyce's Player (via email): Probably.

Montgomery took Martin to his bedroom, where Martin had figured out that a secret room existed almost before Montgomery opened it by turning the head of one of the two gargoyles in the room, the one on the wall above the bookshelf. This released the latch on the secret door in the bookcase.

The room beyond was narrow, and stacked with case after case of bottled Nectar. The stuff was gathering dust. Montgomery said that the black archival boxes in the back didn't have Nectar. Half of those boxes were empty, but the other half had pornographic photos, both professional and amateur, all exhibitionistic.

As Martin drank Nectar, Montgomery explained that these were his blackmail material, which he'd gathered on various important people in Valletta, just like Samson Trammel did in Los Angeles. But, Montgomery was destroying the photographs, hoping that this would make the cult leave him alone. Martin suggested his host leave before Martin tried to have sex with the man. Martin started to say something else, but only got about halfway through before he realized that Montgomery had already left the secret room, closing the door behind him.

Martin looked through the photos, high on Nectar. Sometime later, there was a knock on the door of the secret room. Martin asked who it was and learned it was Husain Soliman, one of Luc Fauche's group.

Husain: Mr. Locksley? Mr. Donovan said you had some questions for me?

Martin opened the door and handed Husain a bottle of Nectar, figuring there was a good chance that Husain was an addict. He was correct.

Some time later, Husain was explaining that he and his group didn't really want to see Martin and his group again, and that he was pretty sure Martin and Martin's group felt the same. All Luc's group wanted, basically, was

• to survive
• to have a steady sufficient supply of Nectar
• to get the libraries of Samson Trammel and Savitree Sirikhan

If Martin could just hand over the books, Luc's group would go away. Martin's group would never have to see them again. Savitree's library had a folio which she'd stolen from Ramon Echevarria's library, and that's what she'd used to open up the Bangkok Mouth. Husain figured that if Luc's group went away and opened their own Mouth, this would be much better than trying to stop Martin's group from taking down the Malta cult and destroying the Malta Mouth.

Martin was glad to talk to someone sensible. After all, neither of them wanted the mess that would come from a violent clash. But, Martin wanted something too: brain fluid for the cylinder with Jeremiah's brain. He was willing to trade the books for that. Perhaps they could swap out a trunk of books for a trump of brain fluid?

Husain tried to explain that brain fluid was hard to come by, and Mi-Go, well, Luc had found a way to hurt them and make them tell him things like where brain fluid was, but that was messy, and Husain didn't like messy things. Husain was hoping maybe Martin could stay and arrange for books to be delivered. Negotiations stalled there, possibly because each side wisely did not trust the other, possibly because of the Nectar.

Joyce Talks to Martin

Joyce and Lillian returned to their hotel to find a note from Montgomery Donovan saying that Martin had come to his house and wanted him to let them know that he wasn't about to be killed. Martin had been quite insistent on this.

The women exchanged a weary look.

Lillian: Whose turn is it?

Joyce: I'll go.

Lillian: No, whose turn is it to keep the other one from killing him?

Joyce assured Lillian that she had no intention of killing Martin. She was just going talk to him. She went to the townhouse, posing as the colonel. This didn't fool Montgomery, of course, but he was probably just as glad that Joyce was keeping up appearances. He told her that he really would rather Martin stayed. After all, he was well aware that Monte, Jr. was de facto a hostage for his good behavior, and he'd feel more comfortable if he had a hostage of his own. Joyce didn't bother to comment on that. He took her to the master bedroom, unlocking it.

Husain, hearing people coming, retreated into the secret room, a finger on his lips. He closed the door behind him. Joyce came in and closed the door to the bedroom, leaving Montgomery on the outside.

I don't recall everything that was said, but I know that Martin said (and, thus, Husain heard) that he wanted to stay, at least in part because he really didn't want Montgomery Donovan getting killed. At some point, Joyce and Martin left the room, Joyce locking the door behind her, unintentionally (IC -- quite intentionally OOC) de facto locking Husain in. That didn't last long, as Montgomery reclaimed the key when he realized that Martin still wasn't wearing his clothing. He showed Joyce and Martin to the library, where they continued to have a conversation and not allow him to listen to it.

Martin still had one of the photographs. It showed the mayor of Malta.

Martin: The mayor of Malta is corpulent and gross.

Joyce: You're on Nectar. Since when has that ever stopped you?

Martin did try to focus.

Martin: I apologize for my current state, which is naked.

Joyce: It's nothing I haven't seen on multiple occasions.

Martin: And drugged.

Joyce listened wearily as Martin explained that he wanted to trade the books they had with them for brain fluid. After all, they were going to kill all the cultists anyway, right?

She pointed out that handing over the books would probably lead to people winding up dead. What, Martin didn't think they'd have to kill people to open a Mouth? He needed to decide just how much he was willing to pay for Jeremiah's life, and in what coin, since the books were not the only thing on the scale.

She reminded Martin that he'd told her to lead. Well, she was leading. But, he was going off mission. And that meant that she might not be able to help him if he got into trouble, which would make Jeremiah sad.

Not that she was especially surprised, she added. Lillian thought she could just go back to her old life after they were done. Martin was going to abandon everything for Jeremiah, and vice versa. Maybe that was just how it was -- after all, the two of them had someone to love, and Lillian had a life. Joyce really didn't.

Joyce, as she explained, was the only one who had done this before. There was nothing else she could do. She couldn't love. She had no other life. This was what she was going to keep doing, over and over, until she died. She'd lose the rest of the group. Either they'd leave or they'd wind up dead, and she'd survive and probably start a new group.

Joyce: I can probably do without the crazy girl next time around, though.

It was a lovely guilt trip, which Joyce didn't see as a guilt trip, but merely an accurate statement of the situation. And, it reminded me that, for this group, for this run of Eternal Lies, the drama really isn't so much about fighting cultists and unnatural horrors, but about the relationships among some very broken people who just happen to be trying to save the world. And that's good, because, as I've said before, Eternal Lies is a horror story that doesn't always play fair.

Joyce returned to Lillian. I forget exactly what she said, something about how Martin was staying at Donovan's place, throwing it all away, and anyway, she was going to get some sleep now.

Lillian had no intention of letting Joyce just walk away after a statment like that and, I think, eventually got the whole story out of her. Like Martin, Lillian wasn't sure what the problem was with giving books to cultists that the group was planning to kill. Certainly, Lillian seems to have every intention of making sure they all wind up dead.

I forget what else was said, as it was getting late, but I think the conversation ended with Lillian telling Joyce to get some sleep and Joyce saying that that had been what she'd been about to do before Lillian had stopped her.

Wrap Up and Surveying the Field

At this point, Martin's player thought that Martin would go look for the Stranger who served the King in Yellow and just make the agreement to bring back Jeremiah, breaking his promise to have Lillian with him at the time.

Now, it's not that I don't like that idea. Heck, it's not that I don't rather want it to happen. But, it was late, and I didn't want to open that can of worms that session.

If this were a serial television show, ending on something that drastic would have been perfect, but people who compare RPGs to other media often forget to look at the differences, as well as at the similarities, across media. A television show is hopefully plotted out in advance, and the audience and the actors are not primarily the same group.

Some things that ripple are best done after out of character consideration, and in this case, I do want to make sure that all the players are on the same page and cool with that twist of events out of character. If something's going to break, I want to know before it happens.

Also, taking the time between sessions to catch one's breath often results in coming up with other options. As a GM, I prefer running a session every other week. Sooner and it gets a bit tight for me. Much later and there's a risk of a loss of momentum.

In this case, less than an hour after we'd formally wrapped the session, Martin's player realized that there were at least two attractive drastic courses of action Martin might take. Making the deal was one. Another was killing Montgomery Donovan, Husain Soliman, and possibly Daniel Lowman. This would be very drastic for Martin, but it might work, given that it's really the last thing anyone would expect.

And the break between sessions gives me time to take a deep breath and roll with either of these options. This includes looking at practicalities, whether those are "Okay, how close are Montgomery Donovan's bodyguards sticking to him? Under what circumstances is an instant kill reasonable? What sort of bonuses or penalties might come up?" or "I don't think the Stranger, who works for Hastur, can be summoned in the home of Montgomery Donovan, as that's the domain of the Liar. How far would Martin need to get from it? Can he do it in Valletta, which is, after all a city not utterly unlike Carcosa, or, given he can get fairly far away, does he need to be somewhere else?"

And, in the meantime, there's a Mouth to destroy in a warehouse that can be reached by underground tunnels. There are two boys to be rescued from a hospital, and perhaps a few adults as well. There's a freighter coming in to load up with Nectar and sell it throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. There's a spell to be retrieved.

And, their are potential allies. Some are reasonably trustworthy, but very much in the dark, like the British pensioners. Some may know a bit more, like Dr. Baldwin, depending on what folks chose to tell him. Some seem almost too good to be true, like Sir Godfrey Welles. And, then there are Husain Soliman and Montgomery Donovan, whose trustworthiness is perhaps suspect.

Malta Infodumps

Ritual to Dismiss Nyarlathotep

Casting the ritual to dismiss Nyarlathotep involves beseeching a string of the Outer Gods whom Nyarlathotep serves to bid him travel elsewhere on their unknowable errands, carrying their unpronounceable messages for unknowable purposes.

Stability Test Difficulty: 5 (4 with a voluntary 1-point reduction in Sanity rating)

Opposition: The ritual to dismiss Nyarlathotep pits the caster’s Stability against an Intertia pool. (Note to self: Look up / figure out the rules for group casing. No magic stat, but folks can team up on this.)

Cost: Dismissing Nyarlathotep costs 5 Stability or 10 Health damage to the caster or casters.

Time: Casting the ritual takes one minute per Outer God that must be beseeched (one per contest roll the Investigators make).

To cast this requires several minutes of loud chanting and bold rebukes invoking the name of Nyarlathotep. (This spell cannot be cast quietly or stealthily.)

Miscellaneous Bits of Information and Resources

• Savitree Sirikhan sent Luc Fauche and his group to the Devouring Mountain. They came back without having found the Liar's body. You know the mountain's true name, which Donovan does not. But, he told you that the Liar's body is only accessible under certain astronomical conditions, and that's something Savitree, Luc, and the others did not know.
• Montgomery Donovan also has a spell that can bring about the required astronomical conditions. It's in his lair -- er, office, in the warehouse.
• Sir Godfrey Welles gave Joyce and Lillian a book with a spell to send away the incarnation of Nyarlathotep. It's written in Vulgate Latin. What it does was covered elsewhere.
• Montgomery Donovan has blackmail material on Important Folks in Malta.
• Joyce has a network of retired British pensionniers who are happy to help out Colonel Jacques Hivers.
• Joyce also has a contact at the Hospital Superbissima. He can help get folks into the hospital.

Various Locations

Phoenicia Hotel

Unless folks want to have picked a different hotel, let's say that's where you're staying (which Donovan now knows).

Hospital Superbissima

• Dr. Solazzio is experimenting on patients, including Donovan's 10-year-old son, Monte, Jr., 9-year-old Alexi, and a couple of patients. Let's say these are:

• • Mikiel Formosa, a man suffering from chronic pain, sores, and erectile dysfunction
  • Grezzja Bianco, a woman suffering from depression, hysteria, and lethargy

This is not to say that the doctor isn't interested in other patients in the hospital, but these are the four in the Donovan Wing who receive his personal attention.

Batcave -- er, Knights Hospitaller Shrine

Joyce and Lillian have been there and know the following:

• This can be reached from fairly near the Hospital Superbissima.
• It's a safe haven.
• It leads to tunnels that join up with the tunnels that run under the warehouse. These have been booby trapped by the knights ages ago. Sir Godfrey Welles will write down what he knows about these traps, but that's mostly the where, not that what. Also, parts of the ceiling aren't very stable.
• Sir Godfrey Welles is willing to come with people into the tunnels and help out in any attack on or infiltration of the warehouse.
• He's also willing to stay behind, to look after people rescued from the hospital -- whatever you guys need.
• If there's anything that might be obtainable, within reason, but for fairly broad definitions of the term, he can probably put you in touch with people who could help. You'll have to do the buying or supply the knowledge to use what you get or perhaps make the Interpersonal Spend, but between this and Joyce's contacts, there's a lot you can get.

Donovan's Yacht

According to Donovan, it's just got memories of happier times when his wife was alive and his son wasn't sick. So, this guy's paying bribes to keep his memories floating in the harbor, flouting all the accepted conventions of shipping lanes and the like.

Donovan's Warehouse

Joyce spent a night watching it and learned:

• The warehouse is a simple cement-and-corrugated-metal building with few entrances and high, closed windows. Aside from the light pouring out through those dirty windows, there’s little way of seeing what’s happening inside.
• The warehouse is especially active in the evening, starting around 4:30 p.m. and going until midnight or so. Dozens of staff work inside the well lit building while ten or so guards patrol the grounds, rifles in hand. At least two men are posted on the warehouse roof at all times, also with rifles.
• The warehouse is owned by Montgomery Donovan and overseen by Diana Hantz. Martin's research indicates that no business name or other permits are on file. The "colonel"'s talk with he harbormaster made it clear that the harbormaster has taken a bribe so as not to care about that.
• The "colonel" learned from the harbormaster’s office learns that a freighter, the Thyrsus, is due to arrive at the warehouse dock the day after last session ended.about two

days after the start of next session. It's due to stay for about 24 hours before departing for France.

• The roving guards stick to the paths in the gravel surrounding the warehouse. Not one of them deviates from these paths.

In addition, Montgomery Donovan revealed:

• Diana Hantz and Victor Prescott are the folks in charge, apart from himself. They may be suspicious of him and ready to kill him. They sleep in the warehouse.
• There are about fifty people in the warehouse, not counting them or his personal bodyguards.
• His office has the spell to make the flexing crack in the Devouring Mountain open.
• The Mouth of Malta is huge, at least thirty feet across.
• Donovan may not have told folks everything.
• He may have rewritten his version of past events a few times.

Donvan's Townhouse

• The townhouse is in northwest Valetta, on a hill just south of Great Siege Road. It overlooks the waters north of Valetta, where Donovan's yacht is floating. The townhouse is right up against the street.
• At this point, it's probably clear that, aside from windows, the only access from the rear of the house is the private garage, which is underneath the house.
• Martin almost certainly noticed (even if I didn't read the flavor text at the time) that the place was built in the 17th century and renovated in the early 20th century.
• It's made of solid stones and sturdy bricks. There are no windows on the house's right or left sides except for the topmost fourth storey, which stands higher than the neighboring buildings.
• Watching the house from the rear is possible, probably from a rooftop further up the hill. Various Stealth / Shadowing rolls would be required, and at this point, I'm honestly not sure there's reason to do that. But, I could be wrong.
• The building is very carefully scrubbed outside -- clean to an unusual degree.
• The doors to the townhouse are reinforced against blasts, fire, and other means of invasion. There's a state of the art security system. (NB: The authors do not elaborate on what state of the art is for 1937 Valletta.)

• The decorative symbols in the house’s stonework are variations on protective glyphs and wards against the evil eye.

• The gargoyles at the top of the townhouse, one on each corner of the building, are antiques but additions to the house, probably imported from Germany.
• Normally, Donovan leaves here in the morning and returns at some point during the day, the exact timing varying.
• He leaves on foot with 6 to 8 men, but his car, a silver town car with tinted windows, leaves later and picks him up, usually from the hospital or opera house, and takes him to the warehouse.
• There are servants, but at this point, folks haven't learned enough about their patterns. Again, I suspect this may not be necessary, but let me know if folks do decide to spend significant time on that point.

By the end of the session at the latest, Joyce and Martin knew the following:

• Donovan keeps his curtains drawn on all but the fourth storey’s front windows. A roving sentry is stationed around those windows day and night; he peers out with binoculars every half hour or so. I'm not sure Martin would figure this out, but Joyce might well guess that he's checking on the yacht.
• Electricity is a relatively recent addition. It runs in conduits along the walls and ceiling. Let me know if you decide you want to mess with it, and I'll explain what needs to be done from where, what skill set you need, and so on.
• The valet is George Husington. He speaks English (which is what I assume Martin addressed him in), and perhaps other languages.
• Donovan’s papered walls are dotted and streaked here and there with stains. Could be water damage. Could be Nectar. Could be small mouths beginning to form on walls throughout the house.
• Martin would probably appreciate Donovan’s considerable art collection, made up mostly of gray-market artifacts from Egypt and Rome, landscape paintings,and Baroque antiquities from around Malta.
• The library has four gargoyles, one in each corner of the room. No one's had opportunity to look through the library as of the end of last session, but Joyce and Martin would have seen a photograph of Montgomery, his wife Portia, and their son Monte, looking happy aboard their yacht.
• The toilet in Donovan's bathroom is stained and streaked orange from flushing Nectar.
• The master bedroom, aka Donovan's bedroom, has two gargoyles. The fireplace contains flat, black ashes. There's a photographic portrait of Portia Donovan on the mantle.
• Martin knows about the secret room in Donovan's bedroom. Joyce may or may not know there is such a room.

• Martin knows, though Joyce doesn't:
  • How to open the secret room (turn the head of the gargoyle on the wall above the bookshelf)
  • Lots of unconsumed Nectar is inside the secret room
  • So are the blackmail photographs that Montgomery Donovan hasn't yet burned
  • Donovan is burning these photographs, a few at a time
  • Donovan got the idea of keeping blackmail photographs from Samson Trammel, and he may know or guess where Samson keeps his own blackmail material