Episode 24 - Sneaking - July 27, 2025

Cast of Characters

Present

Player	Character	Background
John	Keeper	Dreamer of dreams
Todd	Lawrence “Skinny Larry” Simons	Dynamite fanatic, saxophonist, inventor, ladies man
Eric	Father Gerald “Gentleman Jerry” O’Shea	Catholic priest, pugilist
Scott	Ritter Gunter “Stig” von Stiglitz	Wealthy German confronting shell shock

Sleeping it Off

Player	Character	Background
Eli	Dr. Kenneth Filmore	Wealthy doctor and automobile enthusiast
Cyle	Aaron Winters	Occultist, child of occultists, sharpshooter

Journal

From the journal of Lawrence Simons

Monday, February 23, 1925

• We headed back to London with kidnappees in the truck. One of them said something about Henson Manufacturing in Derby.
• Another of them - an Egyptian - was imprisoned because he learned something he shouldn’t - that people were being held the storage area.
• The third prisoner worked at the Penhew Foundation doing basic labor. He found a secret door at the back of a closet, through which was a dusty storage area.
• We all arrived about sundown at New Scotland Yard. Based on the evidence, witnesses, and complaints, Inspector Barrington sent a squad of cops to the island without us. Meanwhile, we plan to go to the Penhew Foundation. Barrington also assigned a pair of cops - Adam and Bill - to escort and assist us.
• When we arrived, we broke into the back doors and took the lift to the basement. We went to the furnace room, which contains - quite unsurprisingly - a furnace and coal.
• There’s a storage room containing a mix of office stuff and museum artifacts. There were some suspicious-looking conduits that led us to a secret door. That door then led to a dark room that smells of candles.
• There was a small area with artwork, chairs, crates, and a bookcase. A tall crate was labeled Ho Fang Imports in Shanghai. Inside is a 300 ound brass statue with snakes bursting forth from under a hat. It was sickening! And the grotesqueness challenged the sanity of all viewers.
• Searching the desk, we found receipts for coal, a truck hire, and a walk-in cast iron safe that was delivered to Henson Manufacturing in Derby! There was also a gun and ammunition.
• We opened a crate, and inside was a figurine of some dragon form with tentacles, carved from green stone.
• There was also a carved box containing a pair of ornate daggers.
• The bookcase containe books in many languages, and some scrolls. We took some of them, including a French book and a copy of the Book of Dzyan (Shambala) in English. We also found yet another copy of Liber Ivonis in Latin, and some books on mundane topics.
• The scrolls were on various topics, such as rituals and cults - the Bloody Tongue and the Black Pharoah. I photographed the scrolls and other stuff. The cops made me promise to send the photos of the scrolls to Scotland Yard.
• The art in this room is very old, apparently from an Egyptian dynasty that was in power from 943 BC to 730 BC. And of course it was all weird and creepy.
• A staircase led up to a trap door in the ceiling. So we went up. It led into a sarcophagos in a store room on the ground floor. From here, there were two doors, one of which leads to a closet.
• Our next stop was Gavigan’s office. There we found a photo of Mizr House, his beach home where evil deeds may be going on this very night. In the office, we also found a floor safe that we could not get open. We searched Gavigan’s desk, and found several clues.

Tuesday, February 24, 1925

• The next day, Stig and Jerry took the statue to be melted down, while I rebooked our ocean passage on the next ship. Now we will leave March 3. This will gives us time to look into a few more things.
• We checked in with Inspector Barrington, and learned that his policemen that he dispatched to Mizr House suffered a horribly unfortunate automobile accident. There were no survivors.
• We took the train to Derby and checked into the Old Bell Hotel for two nights.
• Next stop was Henson Manufacturing. The grounds are four brick buildings behind a high brick wall. I manufactured a hand held metal detector, to help us find the walk-in safe, should its location not be obvious to us. We snuck in that night. There were two night guards. One went down easily, and the other took a little extra effort, which we have in spades.
• Finding the safe was easier than expected. It’s right there in plain sight, but locked.
• What are they making here at Henson Mfg that they need to store materials in a safe? We plan to answer that question shortly.

Gentleman Jerry’s Conjectures and Musings

February 23rd, 1925

It was a wee bit chilly, tearing down the foggy, curvy roads outside of Walton on the Nazzay. Good thing our rescues had their coats, and as for the thug, well, let whatever tentacled thing he worships keep him warm. We stopped for blankets and some food on the run, as sardines without crackers will only take you so far.

We had called Scotland Yard to summon Barrington from his slumber, so we were ushered right in. Our rescues were,

Bebe Batahr - Egyptian, a member of the Pyramid Club, overheard thugs talking about “Henson Manufacturing in Derby” and was imprisoned/kidnapped for hearing this.

Mohammed Alten - Also Egyptian, a musician (drummer) at the Blue Pyramid, witnessed a captive when he descended into the secret area from behind the bar.

Alex Whitson - English, worked at the Penhew Foundation to heft heavy items. Saw Gavigan enter a secret door from his office. Seemed reluctant to go to Scotland Yard. Kind of underhanded, a petty thief/criminal?

The Thug - trussed up.

Barrington told us the truckload of investigators burst into flame and plummeted into the water as it raced up to “Mizr House”. And the rescues would be interviewed but we really hadn’t solved the Egyptian Murders. Why were they all killed? Who killed them?

We had a narrow window, perhaps an eight hour lead on the occupants of the “Mizr House” (though a phone call was a possible concern), so we beat feet to the Penhew Foundation.

We busted open the rear delivery door (I love me trusted crowbar), and took a lift down into the basement. We entered a furnace room, with a coal chute and a furnace burning low. Two inspectors, Adam and Bill, accompanied us.

We entered a storage room, with a mix of office supplies, crates, and furniture in various states of repair. Some museum goods as well. We found a secret door!

It led to a smallish meeting room, with a desk and some artwork, and some crates. One large box addressed to “Honorable Ho Fang”, in Shanghai, held a large, heavy, ancient, brass or bronze statue of a hideous, bulbous, tentacled thing. I don’t know why I laughed, but it struck me funny that it was depicted wearing a straw hat. This levity I think bolstered me from the mental anguish this thing could have caused. A straw hat, of all things !!

The desk held a revolver and a box of ammunition. We took it, and a flat metal case full of records - a ledger of sorts. Bills of lading (iron ingots, copper wire, …) to “Henson Manufacturing” - that name, again !! A truck rental receipt, a record of a ship called the “Ivory Wind” (was it the boat in the photograph ?!) Also we found an Empire Spices business card and the receipt of the installation of a walk-in safe at this Hanson place !! What would a safe of this size be used for ? Raising a Mummy, is my bet !!

A crate addressed to a Mr Randolph held a small but no less grotesque tentacled thing, which sort of looked like a dragon from a certain angle. We took it. We also helped ourselves to an ornate, inlaid sandalwood box, with two silver daggers. Stig took a shine to them, so they went into his pack.

As if this wasn’t enough, a shelf held several books in Russian, English, German, … and some scrolls that seemed to hold rituals. Time to look at all this later in the safety of our hotel room, or on a ship.

Equinox Divisay - a French merchant’s travels, the customs of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Book of Dzyan - English, the words of Shamba’la. Latin Book with that Noir title that we found moldy and incomplete, in the basement with the not-yet-dead guy whose name started with “C” (Not Carlysle!) - Corbitt ? We have an intact copy, in French. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through that copy.

And more !

A Stone Jar with ashes, I bet this is a component for one of the rituals.

The artwork consisted of ancient icons, statues and wall art. All depicted weirdness with a strong Egyptian flair. Kind of reminded me of the art of the painter with the gaunt Lizard thing posing as his (dead) mother. A burning man surrounded by motes of fire. Another vaguely draconic piece.

Proto-Sumarian ? 22nd Dynasty ? A Pharoah Statue from the 3rd Dynasty ! Now THAT’S ancient !

It was about midnight when we found the secret door leading to Gavigan’s office. We climbed up stairs, and actually out of a sarcophagus, to get to the dusty room leading to the back of a closet in his office. Just like the guy we rescued had told us.

February 24th 1925

We grabbed his records and a nice bottle of booze. He had a framed picture of the “Mizr House”, which I took out of the frame to see what was behind it - nothing. Just to cause as much trouble as possible, we hauled the 350 pound brass statue out and to the foundry where it was melted down. Sorry, Ho Fang !! Ha ha !!

Then we grabbed six hours of well-earned sleep. I was still really sore from the fight during the rescue mission at “Mizr House”.

Today is the day we cruise to Kenya, so we exchanged tickets for March 3rd instead. We bought an old steamer trunk, filled it with books and statues and things, and checked it in ahead of time for our voyage. Books and statues are too heavy to lug around.

Says the man with construction tools in his duffel bag.

After telling Barrington where we were headed, off we went, by train, to Derby (North-West of London), and the Henson Manufacturing facility with the strangely huge safe. “Skinny” Larry grabbed a local paper which was a bit dull. There was an article about the crazy painter.

We checked into the Old Belle Hotel, then entered the gate into the facility. We were summarily told to leave, without a good reason for being there, but at least we got a pretty good look at the layout inside the ten foot brick wall. It sported a human-sized gate and one for vehicles.

It also had two small buildings and two larger ones.

My friends couldn’t believe it when later I pulled out me trusty bolt-cutters (that got us into the TNT shed) so I pulled more items out too, to their amazement. You never know when you might need a sledge …

Instead of busting the gate, though, we climbed over the wall, which seemed as if someone had carved handholds into it just for this purpose !! We timed it so that we’d have time to hunker down to take out the guard that passed every half hour or so. I had spent some time surveilling the factory as my watch passed quitting time.

We took him out easily enough, and didn’t even have to shoot him. I took his coat and hat and we entered the building he had come out of.

We entered a room with some tables and tools that seemed very nicely crafted, and a cheerfully burning fireplace.

I stood facing the fire as Larry threw a ball-peen hammer through a window.

I think he enjoyed it.

The second guard charged out from another room, and Larry grabbed his legs as I pummeled him unconscious. We manacled both in separate rooms. No need to leave the first guy shivering outside.

Oh, and the big safe was right here in the room? Now … to find the key … or some dynamite.