Episode 16 - London Calling - February 9, 2025

Cast of Characters

Present

Player	Character	Background
John	Keeper	Bringer of torment and delights
Todd	Lawrence “Skinny Larry” Simons	Inventor, saxophonist, and engineer
Eric	Father Gerald “Gentleman Jerry” O’Shea	Catholic priest, former bare-knuckles boxer
Eli	Dr. Kenneth Filmore	Wealthy medical doctor and neurosurgeon
Cyle	Aaron Winters	Occultist
Scott	Ritter Gunter “Stig” von Stiglitz	Former German POW

Journal

From the journal of Lawrence Simons

Thursday February 5, 1925

After a journey of nine days by ocean liner, we arrived in Southampton on a Thursday. The voyage was mostly uneventful. I tried and failed to find someone acquainted with the laws of England to advise me in ways to legally carry a firearm, but didn’t find any legal loopholes. Jerry decided to do some boxing and invited all comers to join him in a makeshift ring below-decks. I lost track of how many poor suckers tried and failed to best him. Some of my cohorts read our newly-acquired books, which I’ve taken to calling “The Carlyle Collection”.

Before leaving New York, we gathered up some basic clues that may help direct us in the United Kingdon.

• First is the business card for “The Penhew Foundation”, giving an address and the name of “Edward Gavigan”, the directory of the foundation. This was found with Jackson Elias’ effects after his murder.
• Second, Mr. Kensington, the publisher, gave us contact details for Mickey Mahoney. He is the editor of a tabloid called The Scoop. Jackson had some dealings with him when he were in London shortly before his death.
• Third, we learned that Jackson had also met with Inspector James Barrington of Scotland Yard.

Carlton Ramsey, our lawyer and de-facto patron, reminded us before we left that firearms in the UK is a tricky business. They’re not generally allowed at all, especially not for foreigners. However, strangely, a shotgun is not legally considered a firearm; instead, it is a hunting piece, and fully legal. So we packed our guns in the false compartment of the steamer trunk I bought before leaving.

Last time I was in England, I was briefly passing through under orders of the Unites States Army. But the Great War was years ago at this point, so I refreshed my memory on their unusual money system. The big bill is the Pound Sterling, which divides up into 20 shillings, or 240 pennies, 12 pennies making 1 shilling. There are roughly 5 US dollars to 1 pound.

Anyhow, as I was saying, the journey took a little over a week, and once we arrived we took a train to London and checked into the Hotel Cavendish. We had reserved rooms by telegram before leaving New York.

The first couple of days we spent learning the neighborhood and doing some sightseeing. London after the war is much more pleasant than it was during the war.

Sunday February 8, 1925

On the first Sunday after we arrived, we visited Mr. Mahoney of The Scoop. Surprisingly, he was in his office on a Sunday, as was his colorful secretary Sarah. The man must be Irish and smokes cigars. He gets along well with Gentleman Jerry, and talks funny the same way. He told us Jackson had been here only one month ago. That was a surprise to me. Doing the math, so to speak, that means after their meeting Jackson had immediately left London, traveled to New York, and checked into the hotel the morning we witnessed his death ritual. This was a strong indication that whatever Jackson ran into here in England spooked him a great deal.

Office of The Scoop

While visiting the offices of The Scoop we learned about another publication that Mr. Mahoney offers, called The Danger Protocols. I bought a copy. It seems to be something like The Farmer’s Almanac except instead of having information related to crops, it has information related to dealing with supernatural spirits - lots of folk tales.

Mahoney was in good spirits and it was easy to convince him to join us at the local public house for a beer.

Here are three relevant excerpts from The Scoop. I have a feeling they will all come in handy.

Police Baffled

Shocking Canvases Craze]

The Egyptian Murders

After finishing a few beers, we then visited the New Scotland Yard, and were fortunate to meet Inspector Barrington. He’s a tall, dark man with a very professional manner. We spoke with him a little about what the locals are calling “The Egyptian Murders”. They are called that because 17 of the 19 people who were merdered were Egyptian nationals. It’s weird there are so many Egyptians in London, but even weirder that this murderer seems to have it out for them in particular.

Inspector Barrington mentioned something about the “Brotherhood of the Black Pharoah”. He also name-dropped Edward Gavigan, the director of the Penhew Foundation, whose business card Jackson had and we brought with us. One of these days, we intend to visit Mr. Gavigan in person. Inspector Barrington, initially very helpful and chatty, clammed up once the conversation hit a certain point. He refused to share any more information with us, and said he was not allowed to give us the names of any of the victims of The Egyptian Murders. So, we said goodbye and took our leave. Perhaps we can find more relevant information at the London Library, which holds a subscription to the London Times.

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, we decided to pay a call to the home of Miles Shipley. He is the young painter mentioned in the “Shocking Canvases Craze” article we have clipped out. He lives with his mother, who is also his business manager, it seems. Miles is a truly gifted - but touched - artist; it’s probably best he has someone helping look after him. Mrs. Shipley has kind eyes, but Miles is quite eccentric. They were kind enough to show us the paintings he has available for sale currently. Looking them over, I felt a strong unease, and worried for a moment about a return of the uncontrollable feelings of fear I had when reading in the car that day.

The Art of Miles Shipley

All of Miles’ paintings are grotesque, but one in particular caught our attention. It includes details he couldn’t possibly know that are relevant to our now-international quest. The picture includes a mountain scene that we assume is Kenya, and cultists that appear to us like the Cult of the Bloody Tonque. How is it possible that Miles knows anything about the bloody tongue headdresses? We even have one in our possession, but didn’t think to bring it out on the town with us.

I decided I would like to have a print of the painting that we could take with us on our upcoming journeys to Egypt and Kenya. So I made an arrangement with Mrs. Shipley to take good quality photographs of all Miles’ current paintings so that I can have large prints developed that will fit in my valise. In return, I promised to make prints for Mrs. Shipley and Stig will pay them 100 pounds sterling. Stig expressed some interest in buying the original of the “Bloody Tongue” paintings and having it shipped to one of his homes. At 300 pounds, I can’t afford it, but Stig easily could. No matter, though, because I think if I were to hang this nightmarish painting in my Philadelphia apartment, I would scare away all future visitors, musicians and ladies alike.

We said goodbye to the Shipleys, and I promised to return the next day with my photography equipment.

Gentleman Jerry’s Conjectures and Musings

I picked up a pair of handcuffs with keys, and some maps of England and London, Egypt and Cairo, and Kenya and Nairobi. At least I’ll recognize landmarks and rivers and the like. I cut out the middle of an old Bible (Forgive me, Father in Heaven!) to hide my Pistol.

I also picked up translation dictionaries for Arabic, French and Latin. It is tiresome, being the stupid one of the group.

Jonas Kensington provided two contacts in Great Britain:

• Mickey Mahooney, of the Tabloid called “The Scoop”
• James Barrington, Inspector of Scotland Yard.

The trip would take about nine days, and we booked passage on the Canard Shipping Lines.

One night, I happened upon a bare-knuckles contest and bested three stalwart opponents. The coin I won was as sweet as the drinks I just couldn’t say “no” to. T’would be rude, after all!

I met a man that spoke English and French, and I convinced him to pass some time with me translating one of the books. He got pretty spooked and we didn’t make it even halfway.

• Dark Sects - completed
• Life as a God - completed
• The French Book (Libre something) - half read. Maybe Aaron will read the rest to me.

Thursday, February 5th - We debarked at South Hampton. We made our way to the Hotel Cavendish up in London. Took some time to sightsee and get our land legs back.

Sunday, February 8th - We visited Mahooney, a red-headed, grubby man with a smelly cigar. I must get one today. He ran down what he knew - recent stories in the paper, his recollections of the doomed Carlysle Expedition, the Penhew foundation and ties to Cairo.

His secretary Sarah obviously held the place together, producing old papers for our perusal.

We took him to a pub, and I managed to win my first game of darts against Kenny. Me and Mickey went at the bottle a little too hard, and I paid for it the next morning.

Onward to the “New” Scotland Yard (I didn’t ask what was wrong with the “Old” one). Barrington was a tall, dark-complected man who oozed professionalism.

• The Eqyptian Murders - 19 murders over three years, 17 of Egyptian descent (Emissaries? Attaches?). Ritual killings.
• Penhew Foundation - experts in Egyptology (Edward Gavigan)
• The Library of London offered Newspapers and a reduced (visitor’s) Membership. Well worth it!
• Miles Shipley - a crazy local artist, 6 Holbien Mews (former stables)

It was the early evening, but we went to Shipley’s and met his mother, a white-haired woman. We saw his painting collection and decided to purchase one (Kenny’s taste in art is every bit as macabre as mine). We’d return on the morrow to take pictures and see if we couldn’t find any North American buyers for these works of art.