S066_Off_To_School November 7, 2018 Wednesday 6PM The gathering at the Caruther’s house begins to come to a close. Before the Brooklyn Brigade leave Monia Caruther’s calls for Mary Margret, her youngest daughter. Prompting Margret to say something to the team she reluctantly gives a backhanded apology for placing a curse on Kismet. As she asks for forgiveness she starts to justify her actions because Kismet cost her greatly by not returning her broom to her on Halloween. Monia stops her by sharply calling her name. Mary Margret then says that those truly responsible (her elder sisters) would pay the price for their transgressions. She then produces a small, highly polished, wooden box. Inside the 8 inch by 4 inch container are 10 small vials of brightly colored liquid. Mary Margret says that as a peace offering she is giving the team these potions. Kismet takes them from her as Mary Margret explains that there are 2 doses of 5 potions. They are Potion of Unseen (Invisibility), Potion of Diminution (makes you small), Potion of Titanic Proportions (makes you big), Potion of Gaseous Form (turns you into a gaseous mass with some ability for flight), and Potion of Polymorphself (lets you look like anyone else). Each dose has a duration of 1 hour. Mary Magret asks if this gift makes all things forgiven, Paladin said it was good. Mary Margret then asks to be excused and leaves the room. Winguric says that he pities her sisters when Mary Margret exacts her revenge stating that whatever it will be won’t be lethal or cause permanent harm but will make an eternal impression. Paladin thanks them for their help with the spell that Demon used on them (back at the Saietta fight). Winguric says that it was their pleasure to help. Monia interjects they are all on the same side since Winguric is a lawyer. Monia invites the team to stay for dinner, we’re having entrails, but the group excuses themselves and leaves. After leaving Paladin calls Director Canfield of PRIMUS. He wants to have the hammer of the government to ensure cooperation with Miskatonic University in case they don’t want to help. Canfield, with the possible promise of getting the missing heroes of the Exodus back, eagerly agrees. The team prepares to leave for the University tomorrow. They are taking the RV (with a car in tow). Kismet under her real name of Kaitlynn Jones arranges for a stall at an RV park for a week. She then makes a very generous donation to the university in order to become a University Patron and grease the wheels of access when the arrive. She also does some research on the university itself getting maps of the campus and details on the faculty and staff. She also learns that Miskatonic has the best ancient language program in the country. The university is located in the heart of Arkham Massachusetts, about 250 miles from New York City. While Kismet is looking up the information the official web pages Revenant does a less specific search on the university. He learns that H.P. Lovecraft was a student there and used it as the background for many of his novels. Revenant also learns that every year fans of Lovecraft’s works (and various nut-jobs who believe his works are real) descend on the university. These fans (and others) are treated with respect and courtesy as guests should be. Hearing this Kismet buys the entire works of H.P. Lovecraft for her Kindle so they have it and it is searchable. Revenant starts making arrangements to pick up any first editions or manuscripts that might have additional information contained within them. And with that their preparations are complete. They get some rest and leave the next morning. November 8, 2018 Thursday 8:00AM The group hits the road for the drive to Miskatonic. The drive is uneventful and they check in at the RV park at 12:30. They have lunch at Angelo’s Italian Restaurant (the food is excellent) before heading to the campus. They decide the first stop on their investigation will be the library. After introducing herself as Kaitlynn Jones to Diane Loring, assistant to the library director Henry Armitage, she explains what her mission here is. Ms. Loring’s attitude towards the group becomes of tired tolerance. Loring tells Ms. Jones that the Necronomicon can be bought at any bookstore and is the fictional creation of H.P. Lovecraft but since she is a Patron of the University she will let them into the rare books room. Kaitlynn Jones (Kismet) and Tyler Owens (Revenant) are outfitted with disposable lab coats, hair nets, and plastic gloves to protect the valuable books and ushered into the rare books section. The books carefully placed but few are on the shelves. Diane Loring says that several scholars were in recently and did not return the volumes to their proper place and the library staff has been overwhelmed of late. While Ms. Jones (Kismet) is talking to Ms. Loring Revenant observes (through the use of his interrogation skill) that Loring is, at the very least, withholding information about the subjects they are talking about (Lovecraft, the Necronomicon, and the other books he used as source material and inspiration for his novels). Revenant comes to realize the disorder of the section is an added layer of security to prevent people from being able to find books of the Mythos. Ben Tucker (Paladin) opted to remain in the main library to observe. He sees two people who stand out from the student body and staff. The first is a homeless lady dressed in rags wandering the stacks. She is roughly 35 years of age. He later learns the woman is an alumnus of the university who retains her university credentials despite having lost her mind. Her name is Amanda Worthington. Paladin speaks to her briefly and gives her a $20 bill. He then moves on the second oddity. He is a 50 year old man with a childlike demeanor. He wanders the library returning abandoned books to their proper place on the shelves. The man reacts to Paladin’s presence but does not speak. A student approaches Paladin and tells her that the man is Joe, the Shelver. He is a ‘special person’ who lives in the basement of the library. Letting him live there and given food by the Diane Loring and Doctor Armitage is the compensation Joe gets for his work. The student thinks it is shameful how Joe is being taken advantage of, she thinks it might even be criminal. Paladin gives Joe a $20 dollar bill, just like he did for Amanda, and asks him about a couple of the book titles the team is looking for. Joe takes him by the arm and leads him to a window where he points out a bleak, windowless, two story building devoid of windows. Paladin exits the library and examines the building that Joe pointed out. On one wall in very hard to perceive letters, eroded by the passage of time and the presence of the elements, a sign says Rare Manuscript Bunker, est.1893. He checked the door to see if it was locked, it was, and as he touched the knob his danger sense went into high gear! Paladin returns to be library and informs Kismet and Revenant using the mind link. While Paladin was examining the Rare Manuscript Bunker Kismet ponders the way the Rare Book Section is organized. She goes to the shelves where the books she is looking for are least likely to be theorizing that is where they might be hidden. The section is empty but she uses to her object reading to see when the last time the shelf was populated. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to get a read on it. Tyler (Revenant) exits the rare books room to go to the car to get his costume, he wants his powers to try to get the bottom of this situation. Ms. Jones (Kismet) goes and confronts Diane Loring telling her about what they have realized about the intentional disorganization of the rare books section and accuses her of hiding information about and in the Rare Manuscripts Bunker. Loring denies everything and quickly leaves the room handing Kismet off to another librarian. Kismet tells Revenant about Loring bolting from the room and he turns around and heads back to follow her. Loring goes upstairs to office of Doctor Armitage, the library director. Without knocking she rushes through the door. Revenant resumes his trek to the car to get his costume. Paladin takes a position where he can watch the entrance to the Rare Books Section and Aritage’s office at the same time. With his powers restored Revenant hovers outside Armitage’s window trying to eavesdrop what was being said. He was only able to hear Loring as she was very upset. He couldn’t make out what she was saying only that she was extremely agitated. Based on the pauses in her tirade it was apparent that someone was trying to sooth her. Eventually Loring leaves the office heading downstairs to her glass walled office where she sat glaring at the door to the rare books room. The library closed at 9PM. After the visitors to the library leave the staff remain until 9:30. Doctor Armitage and Diane Loring leave at 10PM. [GM Note – Joe the Shelver and Amanda the homeless lady don’t leave even after the library is empty.] The couple head to a light blue 1957 Studebaker. Revenant follows them. Kismet goes to the Rare Manuscript Bunker and does a object reading on the door. She gets a vision of Doctor Armitage, a large ugly man (6 foot 6), and a large German Shepherd coming to building. Armitage unlocks the door and the three enter. The building is two stories tall but Armitage leads them through a locked door that accesses the basement. Before heading down the stairs Armitage makes a gesture with his hands. The dog stays at the top of the stairs while the men descend into the basement. Armitage pulls a thin book with an ivory cover from his pouch and places it on a table near the east wall. The basement is filled with books, tablets, and clay tablets. With the book secured Armitage and the other guy exit the building taking the dog with them. They vision ends. Kismet and Paladin head back to the RV and wait for Revenant to finish tailing Armitage and Loring. They went to a restaurant in Arkham. Afterwards he drove her home. After dropping her off he went home too. At the RV. The trio scour the university websites and social pages but were unable to discover the identity of the big ugly guy but they did find pictures of the dog. The german shepherd was on the pages of several student, his name is Rhodey the cheerful german shepherd. They can not find pictures of the big ugly guy but in several pictures they will see a large shoe or an enormous hand holding Rhodey’s leash. Kismet and Paladin go to sleep but Revenant decides to stakeout the Rare Manuscript Bunker. At 3PM Revenant spots the big ugly guy and Rhodey approach the Rare Manuscript Bunker. Rhodey sniffs the sign of the building. The dog and ugly follow the trail from the manuscript bunker, to the library, and then the parking lot where Paladin and company parked their care. After that Rhodey looses the trail. Revenant continues to follow them until just before dawn they go into a building, very similar to the rare manuscripts bunker, and seal themselves in for the day. The etched stonework (also barely visible) reads Frances Morgan Resurrected History Museum. Revenant reports back to Paladin and gets some much needed rest. November 9, 2018 Friday After breakfast Kaitlynn Jones (Kismet) goes to see Doctor Henry Armitage at his office at the library. She knocks on his door and is welcomed in. Kaitlynn begins the conversation by repeating that she is doing research down here for the super hero group Brooklyn Brigade and he politely listens. When she hints at the university not being as forthcoming as she thinks they should be he reveals that after her rather significant endowment he did some research on Kaitlynn Jones and discovered her criminal record. That was when Kaitlynn pressed harder describing the ivory bound book that he recently added to the Rare Manuscripts Bunker. She tells him about Demon and the spell they got from the Livre d’Eidon that banished the heroes that were gathered to fight the Brigade and the Saietta family (except one Saietta who operates from the realm of dreams). They think it is the same spell or a similar one that was responsible for the Exodus (circa 6/27/207). The Brooklyn Brigade need access to the secret vault of Mythos lore held by the university to undo the spells and bring (the banished) heroes back. Armitage holds his hand up in a ‘stop’ motion to get her to stop. He took a deep breath and began to explain the situation he was in. The Miskatonic College (predecessor to the university) posthumously by an endowment by Jeremiah Orne. The books that Orne, a sea captain, merchant, and buccaneer, had collected during his career were the foundation of the first Forbidden Library. He says he is willing to let them have access to the Rare Manuscripts Bunker but it would be a mistake. No one who has made use of that cursed library has escaped unscathed. The Silver Key collects the books of the Great Old Ones and stores them here in the hopes that someday they might be used to protect the world. It is only a matter of time until the ‘stars are right’ and the Great Old Ones will return, on that day the Forbidden Library might be our only hope. Kaitlynn brings up Demon and the Livre d’Eidon again. Armitage says that there are no complete volumes of that book in the world. He says that whatever spell they gleaned from it would be a hodgepodge of Mythos lore, their own magical knowledge, and random chance. Examining the Forbidden Library would not, could not, help undo the spell. He suggests finding Demon and getting their book from them. If they get it he further suggests that it is brought here for protection, that or destroy it and any notes and formulas produced from it. The Rare Manuscripts Bunker is magically protected to be invisible and capable of defending itself from the followers of the Great Old Ones and the Mythos. The protection spells were worked a long time ago. The Silver Key consists of scholars who are guardians of knowledge, not magicians. Doctor Amitage says that no one in the Silver Key has studied the contents of the Forbidden Library, the danger is too great. The last two members who did have had their minds shattered. The Silver Key takes care of them, they are Amanda and Joe. Once they were brilliant scholars, not anymore. The group can explore the Forbidden Library at their peril. He asks what languages Kaitlynn knows? The books in the library are written in Arabic, Latin, Greek, Egyptian, some in English, and many others. Some of the texts are not familiar to any of the scholars at the university. Many of books have notes and translations written in the margins. Some of those translations are in English but it is unknown if any of them are complete or even accurate. Kaitlynn relays this information to the rest of the group. Paladin comes in and talks to Armitage to confirm what Kaitlynn told them and to make sure that Armitage is aware that the God Paladin serves is much more powerful than the Great Old Ones and their ilk. Paladin wants to know if ‘standard’ magic might be what was used as opposed to Mythos Magic. Armitage admits he does not know. Mythos Magic is powerful, powerful in the extreme, but non-Great Old One magic might be what Demon used. It the banishing spell that Demon used was fueled by the Great Old Ones then those who were banished are better off dead. Bringing them back to this world after being trapped in the madness inducing realms of the Great Old Ones would be a … mistake. If it wasn’t then there is hope for them. Armitage’s final word of advice are that if Demon used the power of the Mythos to get rid of their enemies the group needs to find them, and kill them all. As they leave Armitage’s office Kismet has an idea. If Demon used the Livre d’Eidon to create there spell many of their researchers likely went mad. The Demon leadership would likely not care and just throw more researchers on the problem. Assuming that is true by looking for up ticks in the cases of mental illness they should be able to find the area where the Demon Nest is located.