Bell, Book, and Candle

Don't You Remember Me? The Mummy Guy!

Session Five

In which the investigators set out to clear the name of one of their own and end up coming face to face with something not of this world…

  • After being apprehended by Louis Tetlow, Museum Caretaker, the group is shepherded to the museum basement where in a few minutes they are lectured by George Grewe, the Museum Curator. Mr. Grewe blames the Deltas for these hijinks and especially Florian, as a Delta Phi fraternity member. Florian decides to escape to Boston to avoid any unpleasantness of a legal nature, and as he is leaving the basement with Enid, Logan and Gladys he spots a home-made looking publication called “The Black Goat Quarterly.”
  • Enid grabs the journal and reads it, finding an article called “The Sorcerer’s Way” by Douglas Dreber, and other more general articles on channeling and mediumship and theoretical occultism. Most of the articles do not have any author names on them. Douglas’ stands out. Also, an address of 339B Main St. is on the publication.
  • On Dec 22, the group minus Florian go to the address and find a stationery/bookstore called The Biblioporium behind a well-protected green door with a window in the shape of a snowflake. The store is open.
  • The proprietor is Dr. Alfred Granger, a man in his sixties, bald and rotund. He is reading a small book of poetry. Enid asks if there are any books in the store about mummies, and is told no. She later finds a book, On Mummies. Hmmm…Dr. Granger will not show them his printing press. Logan buys a variety of expensive stationary and pen nubs.
  • The group shows Alfred the journal and asks him about it; Enid uses her charm to see the list of subscribers. One name stands out: Douglas Dreber at S. Powdermill Rd, in the French Hill neighborhood.
  • The group goes to the address, and finds no one at home to the knock. Going around the back of the house, they see a 7-foot hole in the base of the house. Bricks and debris have been blown out, suggesting that something has exited rather than entered the lower floor. Enid finds a great large footprint with razor claw indentations and 4 toes leading away from the house.
  • Entering the house, they see the carpeted stairs up to the second floor have dried blood on them. Following this grisly trail, they come across a severed hand and a foot of entrails. Further along, they see the body of an old woman in a floral housecoat, clearly the victim of a savage attack.
  • Logan runs to the bathroom and loses his lunch.
  • Enid and Gladys follow, traveling to the bathroom through a filthy, unkempt apartment. On their way to help Logan, they see the remains of OL’ SQUINTY. Mr. Squinty is missing his feet and ankles.
  • Three jars sit in the dismal kitchenette, one with a sulfur smell, two with dark powder. Gladys takes the jars. On a cork board in the room they see a clip from a gossip magazine—“Kalms the Savage Beast”, a people profile about author Randy Kalms and his move from Hollywood to the country. His wife Mary and their three children are noted. There is a phone number scribbled on the scrap. Logan takes the scrap. There is a mildewed photograph on the coffee table that closely resembles the photo of Mary in the profile piece.
  • Logan calls the number from the apartment and finds that Kalms is at home and that someone had called to warn him of “evil being released” the night previously. Kalms is shaken and in no mood to talk to someone he doesn’t know.
  • On the bed of the apartment is discovered a tome, Children of the Sea and Stars by Michael Scott. The book is opened to a page two-thirds of the way in. Gladys takes the book.
  • Looking at the apartment across the hall, the investigators find mail addressed to Gladys Cooper. Gladys Mayhew recalls that Mrs. Cooper was on heart medication.
  • Logan reverse directories the phone number and finds that the address for Mr. Kalms, et ux. is in Dunderwell, a small hamlet in the mountains. It starts to rain sleety snow.
  • Logan sees a passage circled in the purloined book, and reads it. It is about olibanum (aka frankincense), sulfur, saltpeter and mummy dust used as protection against “dread and unwanted visitations” or DEMONS! This mix is called, among other names “The Dust of Suleiman.”
  • The police are called from a nearby pay phone and notified of the murder, and the mummy.
  • The group goes back to Gladys’ house and regroups emotionally. Enid wants to go to Boston. Logan and Gladys want to break into the stationery store and find out what is going on there. The locks seemed far too great for a simple store. Enid is convinced to stay.
  • The investigators break in, having to smash the little snowflake window to do so. Once inside, they find a hidden doorway to a metal door with a combination lock. Having no idea what the combination might be, and Logan hearing sirens, the three flee the scene.
  • Remembering that the children of the Kalms family may be in danger, and that they are perhaps worthy of saving, they set out in Logan’s Pierce Arrow in what is now a snowstorm. Chains are put on the tires.
  • Going up the little mountain road is a grueling test of nerves. The Pierce Arrow slides off the road. As they are pushing the car back on to the roadway, Enid spies a glint of metal in the nearby bushes. Investigating, they find an older model Ford on its side, bent up with the roof crumpled. Inside the car wreck is the slim, tall body of Douglas Dreber.
  • Enid searches the car and finds a jar of mummy dust, she takes it.
  • Finally the team finds Kalms’ peaceful yet deluxe two-story Art Deco Cabin. Enid knocks on the door, and Kalms opens the door with a shotgun on his shoulder. After some stilted and possibly dangerous conversation, Mary comes to the door. Gladys recognizes her from the photograph in the filthy apartment.
  • Mary lets the investigator/students in. Betty, a 15 year old girl, helps them with their clothes. Mary spills the beans about Douglas Dreber, saying she was married to him, and that he was a professor of English as Miskatonic U.
  • While enjoying a brandy with the Kalms family in the largely windowed sun room, a terrific crash happens when a creature breaks through the glass.
  • The creature, a seven-foot ape-like creature with a flat face, glowing eyes and skin hanging in long folds, slides its claw feet across the parquet flooring, giving the investigators a chance to fight!
  • Logan leaps into action, moving towards the hideous beast and shooting it point-blank in the face with his .38 cal. revolver, dealing significant damage.
  • Enid throws one shot of the Dust of Suleiman at the beast, and it is wounded by the powder. An aura begins to shimmer around the creature, and Enid lashes it yet again with the dust.
  • The creature screams and slowly melts into the wood floor, leaving an unwholesome, greasy stain.
  • Snow blows in through the window as the child Betty asks what happened. Mary says a tree fell and the noise was the tree as it broke.
  • The students tell Mary and Randy Kalms everything they know about Dreber, as the blizzard has trapped them together in the cabin for a few days. Gladys is impressed in a romantic way by Logan’s shooting.
  • Enid and Gladys worry about their parents worrying about them, and on Christmas morning the roads are cleared and they manage to get home. Logan is certain he will not be missed. Logan and Gladys spend Christmas together at the Mayhew cottage.
  • Enid’s Christmas present is a wallet sized photo of her brother.
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