Episode 8 - Denial Ain't Just Some River in Egypt - September 8, 2024

Cast of Characters

Player	Character	Background
John	Keeper
Todd	Lawrence Simons	Inventor and jazz musician
Eric	Father Gerald O’Shea	Priest, former bare-knuckles boxer
Scott	Ritter Gunter von Stiglitz	Former German POW

Not Present

Player	Character	Background
Cyle	Aaron Winters	Occultist
Tom	Oxford “Ox” Sykes	Chemist and well-to-do ne’er-do-well

Reminders about Jackson Elias

What you know about your friend Jackson Elias:

You remember Jackson Elias as an African-American man of medium height and build. He has a feisty, friendly air about him. As an orphan in Stratford, Connecticut, he learned to make his own way early in life. He has no living relatives, and no permanent address.

You like him, and value his friendship, even though months and sometimes years separate one meeting from the next. You’d be upset and probably crave vengeance if anything happened to your friend. The world is a better place for having Jackson Elias in it.

Elias speaks several languages fluently and is constantly traveling. He is social, enjoys an occasional drink, and smokes a pipe. A tough, stable, and punctual man, Elias is unafraid of brawls or officials.

He is mostly self-educated. Once a skeptic, Elias began to question his stance after the events he witnessed in the mountains of Peru, although in most cases he has failed to find proof of supernatural powers, magic, or dark gods. His well-researched works always seem to reflect first-hand experience. Possibly his greatest flaw is that he’s secretive, and never discusses a project until he has a final draft in hand.

His writings characterize and analyze death cults. His best-known book is Sons of Death, exposing modern-day Thuggee cults in India. All of his books illustrate how cults manipulate the fears of their followers. Insanity and feelings of inadequacy characterize death cultists; feelings for which they compensate by slaughtering innocents to make themselves feel powerful or chosen. Cults draw the weak-minded, though cult leaders are usually clever and manipulative. When fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.

Elias’ published works include:

• Skulls Along the River (1910)-exposes headhunter cults in the Amazon basin.
• Masters of the Black Arts (1912)-surveys supposed sorcerous cults throughout history.
• The Way of Terror (1913)- analyzes systematization of fear through cult organization; warmly reviewed by George Sorel.
• The Smoking Heart (1915)-first half discusses historical Mayan death cults, the second half concerns present-day Central American death cults.
• Sons of Death (1918)-modern-day Thuggees; Elias infiltrated the cult and wrote a book about it.
• Witch Cults of England (1920)-summarizes covens in nine English counties; interviews practicing English witches; Rebecca West thought some of the material trivial and overworked.
• The Black Power (1921)-expands upon The Way of Terror and includes some material on Asian and African death cults; includes interviews with several anonymous cult leaders.
• The Hungry Dead (1923)-exposes the modern-day survival of a Peruvian and Bolivian death cult from the time of the conquistadors. It omits many of the weirder details that those who accompanied Elias on his researches may remember, presenting the cult of the kharisiri as a purely human evil.

All of these books are published by Prospero House of New York City, and were edited by owner/editor Jonah Kensington. Kensington is a good friend of Jackson Elias and someone you may have previously met.

News Stories

Here is some old news, backstory, and clues relevant to the next adventure.

Old Message from Jackson Elias

HAVE INFORMATION CONCERNING CARLYLE EXPEDITION STOP NEED RELIABLE INVESTIGATIVE TEAM STOP MEET JANUARY 15 NEW YORK STOP JACKSON ELIAS

Telegram

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, April 4th, 1919

BIG APPLE DATELINE

ROGER CARLYLE the playboy whom everybody knows - or knows about - is quietly leaving New Yawk tomorrow to check out the tombs of Egypt! You’ve seen the cuties ROGER has found in the nightspots. Who can doubt he’ll dig up someone - er, something - equally fabulous from the Egyptian sands?

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, April 5th, 1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION EMBARKS FOR LONDON

Led by the fabulously wealthy playboy Roger Carlyle, the Carlyle Expedition departed this morning for Southampton aboard the British steamship Imperial Standard

Contrary to earlier reports, the expedition will perform researches in London under the auspices of the Penhew Foundation before continuing to Egypt next month.

Readers may recall the enormous party which Mr. Carlyle, now 24, gave at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel upon reaching his majority. Since then, scandals and indelicate behavior have become Carlyle’s trademark, but he has never become tarnished in the eyes of Manhattanites.

Members of the expedition have been reluctant to reveal their purpose in Egypt.

OTHER EXPEDITION MEMBERS

Renowned Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew is assistant leader of the team, and in charge of excavations.

Dr. Robert Huston, a fashionable “Freudian” psychologist, accompanies the expedition to pursue parallel researches into ancient pictographs.

Miss Hypatia Masters, linked in the past to Carlyle, will act as photographer and archivist. Mr. Jack Brady, intimate to Mr. Carlyle, accompanies the group as general factotum.

Additional members may be secured while in London.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, July 4th, 1919

CARLYLE DEPARTS EGYPT

CAIRO (AP)–Sir Aubrey Penhew, temporary spokesman for the Carlyle Expedition, indicated Thursday that the leaders are taking ship to East Africa for a “well-earned rest.”

Sir Aubrey debunked rumors that the expedition had discovered clues to the legendary wealth of the lost mines of King Solomon, maintaining that the party was going on safari “in respite from our sandy labors.”

Roger Carlyle, wealthy New York leader of the expedition, was unavailable for comment, still suffering from his recent sunstroke.

Discussing that unfortunate incident, local experts declared Egypt entire too hot for Anglo-Saxons at this time of year, and suggested that the young American had not been well served by his democratic enthusiasm, rumored to have led him to personally wield pick and shovel.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, July 31st, 1919

IMPORTANT VISITORS

MOMBASA (Reuters)– Leading members of an American archaeological expedition arrived here on holiday from digs in Egypts Nile Valley.

Our Undersecretary, Mr. Royston Whittingdon, held a welcoming dinner for them at Collingswood House, where the wit of Sir Aubrey Penhew, expedition co-leader, was much in evidence. Accompanying Sir Aubrey are the youthful financier Roger Carlyle and medical doctor Rober Huston, as well as socialite Miss Hypatia Masters.

The party leaves inland today, for Nairoby and hunting.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, October 15th, 1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION FEARED LOST

MOMBASA (Reuters)–Uplands police representatives today asked for public assistance concerning the possible disappearance of the Carlyle Expedition. No word of the party has been received in nearly two months.

The group includes wealthy playboy Roger Carlyle and four other American citizens, as well as Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew of the United Kingdom.

The expedition left Nairobi on August 3rd, ostensibly on safari, but rumor insisted that they actually were after legendary Biblical treasures. Carlyle and his party reportedly intended to explore portions of the Great Rift Valley, to the northwest of Nairobi.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, March 11th, 1920

ERICA CARLYLE ARRIVES IN AFRICA

MOMBASA (Reuters)–In response to clues, Miss Erica Carlyle, sister to the American leader of the lost Carlyle Expedition, arrived in port today aboard the Egyptian vessel Fount of Life.

Several Kikuyu-villager reports recently have been received concerning the putative massacre of unnamed whites near the Aberdare Forest.

Miss Carlyle declared her intention to find her brother, regardless of the effort needed. She brought with her the nucleus of a large expedition.

Detailing agents to coordinate supply and other activites with Colony representives, Miss Carlyle and the remainder of her party depart for Nairobi tomorrow.

Her companion, Mrs. Victoria Post, indirectly emphasized Miss Carlyle’s purposefulness by recounting the rigors of the voyage.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, May 24th, 1920

CARLYLE MASSACRE CONFIRMED

NAIROBI (Reuters)– The massacre of the long-missing Carlyle Expedition was confirmed today by district police representitives.

Roger Carlyle, New York’s rollicking playboy, is counted among the dead.

Authorities blame hostile Nandi tribesmen for the shocking murders. Remains fo at least two dozen expedition members and bearers are thought found in a remote region of the Aberdare Forest.

Erica Carlyle, Roger Carlyle’s sister and apparent heiress to the Carlyle family fortune, led the dangerous search for her brother and his party. She credited Kikuyu tribesmen for the discovery, although police actually found the site.

Among other expedition members believed lost are Sir Aubrey Penhew, noted Egyptologist; New York socialite Hypatia Masters, and Dr. Robert Huston. Many bearers also are reported dead.

New York Pillar article

From the New York Pillar/Riposte, June 19th, 1920

MURDERERS HANGED

NAIROBI (Reuters)–Five Nandi tribesmen, convicted ringleaders of the vicious Carlyle Expedition massacre, were executed this morning after a short, expertly-conducted trial.

To the end, the tribesmen steadfastly refused to reveal why they had slaughtered Mr. Carlyle and his companions. Mr. Harvis, acting for the Colony, cleverly implied throughout the trial that the massacre was racial in motivation, and that the fair-skinned victims were subject to the most savage treatment, preventing all but the most preliminary identification of the remains.

Miss Erica Carlyle, defeated in her efforts to rescue her brother, left several weeks ago, but is surely comforted now by the triumph of justice.

New York Pillar article

Journals

Thursday January 15, 1925

From the journal of Lawrence Simons

It’s been years since any of us saw Jackson Elias in person, but he has summoned us to a meeting in New York City. On a snowy winter day, we arrived at room 410, rapped on the door, and got no response. A hotel maid let us in, which is where we witnessed three goons standing over Jackson’s corpse. The killed him with a knife, and we got let ‘em have it.

When all was said and done, we had one live and one dead goon to hand over to the police. Lt. Martin Pool was the beat cop we met. He said this was the 9th such murder, and we got handed off to Pool’s superior, Captain Robson, a man who looks too well dressed to be a civil servant.

Our friend Jackson’s funeral was scheduled for January 17 at Cypress Hills. Having already booked rooms for a stay in NYC, we returned there to regroup, before setting out in search of clues. Some shorthand notes:

• we have an appointment for the 18th at Sing Sing prison to meet Hilton Adams
• Adams was arrested and convicted for the last murder, but we think he was framed
• so does Rebecca Shosenberg, reporter with the New York Times
• the dates of the previous string of murders were one lunar month apart, but this latest one - Jackson’s - doesn’t fit
• we talked to Captain Robson, and started to get the impression he’s not New York’s finest

I took an immediate liking to Miss Shosenberg, and asked her to join me for a night on the town. We went to a club later that evening. But first there was more clue gathering:

• Emerson Imports
• agent for Mombasan exporter Ahja Singh
• Ju Ju House at 1 Ransom Court is run by Silas N’Kwame, an elderly Mombasan

From the journal of Gentleman Jerry

Five years have elapsed since our excursion to Peru. Jackson ELias reached out to me via telegram to meet him at the Chelsea Hotel, Room 401. The group got together and headed over. No one answered as we knocked, so we suppressed the urge to break down the door, and instead asked the maid, a dozen rooms down, to check in on our friend.

We happened upon three men standing over the bloody body of our friend, lying on the bed. Each man wore a leather headband from which hung a piece of red ribbon or cloth. One cleared the open window, to the fourth floor fire escape and started descending. The second felt the fury of my uppercut, while the third crumpled, shot by one of our pistols - I don’t know whose. The maid ran screaming down the hallway, I was hoping she had the sense to call the police..

A second murderer leapt through the window, leaving a crimson trail. I jumped through the window but didn’t quite clear its width, and stumbled out onto the icy latticework. I heard another shot behind me - my friends sure are trigger-happy.

The first fellow was down at about the second floor, preparing to slide down the ladder. I saw a black Hudson Roadster waiting in the snowy alley - the getaway vehicle ! I judged that I could catch the straggler, so I dashed down a few steps and launched myself at his fleeing form.

Luck was on my side, or maybe it was my Guardian Angel, as I landed heavily on the man and pinned him down, then proceeded to ram his head against the steel platform. I took a shot at the car’s tire with my service revolver, but doubt I even hit the vehicle, at the odd angle and such.

I was surprised that the car sped down the length of the alley, and ended up sliding and skidding and up on its side. The guy running for it just passed it by and made good his escape. I heard sirens nearby - sometimes the cops are on top of things.

I trussed up my unconscious buddy and hauled him back to room 401. My pals had already collected Jackson’s stuff. Including a Shanghai Matchbook, Photo of a Chinese Junk, Letter from a Harvard Professor, a Business card from Penhew something or other, a card from Emmerson Imports something or other, and a sort of playbook describing a two hour lecture that had already happened. What a bunch of unrelated clues.

Lt Martin Poole told us this was the ninth such murder, my friends telling me of an odd carving in our poor friend’s forehead, like two quarter moons facing each other with some dots in between. Gruesome stuff.

Stig called Miskatonic University and tried unsuccessfully to contact the speaker, an Anthony Cowles, I think he was a guest from Sydney or something. I think that’s in Australia. Anyway, he couldn’t get through to him.

Lt Poole told us about a man captured in an alleyway in Harlem holding a bloody Bowie knife over murder victim number eight, one Hilton Adams - currently in Sing Sing awaiting an up close ‘n personal meeting with ‘Ol Sparky. A Bowie Knife? The guys that offed our pal Jackson carried out the brutality with these machetes called “Pangas”.

Poole referred us to the Harlem Precinct, where we met Captain Robbson. One of my buds thought he was dressed a little sharp for a Captain - I don’t know. Fashion ain’t my thing. Was he on the take?

Robbson verified something I already knew, since I had gone to the library and talked a helpful librarian into helping me collect the other eight newspapers with the other deaths reported. Didn’t hurt that she was a fetching lass - oh, my oaths! Anyway, seven of the eight were clustered in one part of Harlem, one was a bit outside but still in Harlem, and Jackson died well outside of the borough. What else? The black Hudson had been stolen, the driver and the guy I had landed on top of were in custody, and no, we couldn’t have one of the headband things.

The smarter among us told me that Robbson just wanted this whole Hilton Adams thing to be buttoned up neatly.

Of course we bought the day’s paper with the article of Jackson’s death. We decided to hunt down his agent, Jonah Kensngton, in New York City, at the “Prospero House”. Oh, Jackson Elias would be buried on Sunday, January the 18th, 2PM. Not really though, ‘cause the ground was frozen. Back to the article - it was penned by Rebecca Shosenburg. We stopped in at the Newspaper’s main office, her desk was remarkably neat and orderly. She opened up when we told her we thought Hilton Adams was “set up”. All eight murders had occurred during a New Moon, over about a two year period. Adams was in prison for over a year, now.

Oh, there was a Total Eclipse coming up on the 25th, in about a week.

Now we found out that Jackson Elias’ lawyer was named Carlton Ramsey, and there would be a reading of the will after the funeral. We were in it.

I had thumbed through the two books on African folklore I had checked out from the library, it only hinted at an African Cult in Nairobi.

The Newspaper gal (Rebecca) said she would set up a meeting with Millie Adams, Hilton’s wife. Maybe she could fill in some piece of this puzzle. To further cement our fledgling relationship, we promised her the right of first refusal on anything we discovered that was article-worthy and needed a byline.

The one card from Emerson Imports Facility pointed to Arthur Emerson, with connections to Mombasa (I really need a map of Africa). I took a smoke on the corner while the prettier among us talked to this import guy. I heard second-hand that Silas Kwamay runs a place called Ju-Ju House at 1 Ransom Ct New York City and … um … dealt with an Exporter named Aja Singh, Was Aja Singh Arthur Emerson’s contact? Don’t know.

We were to meet Millie at the Black Playhouse, the Lafayette Theatre.

A letter from Elias had hinted one of the Carlysle Party (in Africa, of course) had survived, after all. We had read somewhere that everyone had been hacked up real good, whites and blacks.

Skinny Larry had taken a shine to Rebecca, the Newspaper gal, so when he met her for dinner, I bought Stig a steak dinner at an inconspicuous corner table, just in case anyone started any trouble. Because we attract that sorta thing.

Friday January 16, 1925

Jackson Elias’ Death

From the journal of Lawrence Simons

We made arrangements to meet Millie Adams, the wife of Hilton Adams, at the Lafayette Theater tomorrow.

We also visited Jackson Elias’ publisher, and got all his notes.

Also learned Carleton Ramsey is Elias’ lawyer. There’s some talk about Elias having a will, and maybe we’re in it.