The investigators return to London after gathering clues in Oxford and learning of the tragedy that befell Professor Ragnarsson’s expedition to the North Sea. While they try to hunt down the professor’s murderer and make sense of what he left behind, they find that something far stranger is happening here—and they are all in grave danger.
(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, mentions of sexism and racism, drowning, possible mind control, discussion of WWI and loss of loved ones.)
Freydis and the Runic Text
The first time one or more investigators return to the police station after going to Oxford, the professor’s only daughter Freydis will be waiting. She came here from Reykjavik to arrange for her father’s funeral. She will occupy her time with packing up her father’s things, so if the investigators need to find her later, she may be at his apartment. If she decides to investigate, she will first go to the Cross and Coin.
Freydis Emundrsdóttr, the professor’s next of kin [1]
Freydis is tall, red-headed, and exhausted from three straight days of travel. She is in her late twenties and speaks with a slight accent. She was her father’s assistant growing up, particularly after her mother’s death, but she found academia boring and stifling and moved back to Iceland when she got married.
Her outlook is that this is the time for doing, and she can grieve later. This is especially true when she learns her father’s death was a murder—she will be horrified and want to take a more active role in the investigation. She will be annoyed and less helpful to investigators who seem to be wasting time, such as by asking irrelevant personal questions or having her repeat the statements she already gave to the police. If things start taking too long, she may take matters into her own hands and do some investigating herself.
Facts and Clues:
- Freydis believed her father to be in excellent health, both physically and mentally, and says he was well-liked and well-respected.
- She has not spoken to her father in quite some time. He was going to arrange to visit her, her husband, and their infant daughter (who is now nearly two) after the expedition, but that visit never happened and she did not hear from him after that.
- She believed her father disapproved of her marriage and relocation, and will be surprised to see her wedding photo (which she mailed to him but he never acknowledged receiving) among his things.
- She has spoken to a solicitor and is inheriting only a few hundred pounds (much of which was going to be used to pay the private investigators). The rest of her father’s assets (and books) are going to the university. She is also responsible for taking care of his belongings and arranging the funeral.
- She is unfamiliar with Ragnarsson’s last project, and knows nothing about the island or what was found there, but she has some helpful academic skills if the investigators need her to help.
- She can passably read the Old English passage, and she recognizes the strange alphabet from the hotel room as Elder Futhark, but she will tell you the text is nonsense.
- Another clue Freydis can provide that may help the investigators decode the text is that Futhark is so named because the first six letters are:
In Ragnarsson’s encoded text, these symbols stand in for the first six letters of the English alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F.
Between Freydis’s information, the fragments from Ragnarsson’s office, and talking to Professor Dietrich, the investigators should have enough to decode the runic text (handout 1-1).
Solution:
“On the feast day of Mary Magdalene in the year of Our Lord 795, a party of Northmen descended upon us like wolves in the night. The heathens slew Brother Conn and Brother Faendelach and plundered all the gold from the altar and the scriptorium. And I the unworthy Brother Bran begged the Northmen to spare us with the promise of greater riches to the north at the hollow island. They departed with their plunder and they will not return. I fear I have done the unforgivable and I pray God might have mercy on our humble souls and on the souls of the heathens.”
The Cross and Coin
The note found with Ragnarsson’s body invited the professor to a meeting at the Cross and Coin, a pub in central London, and was signed simply “N.” (A burnt fragment from the professor’s office mentions a “Nigel.”)
Poorly lit even in the middle of the day, this establishment tries very hard for an air of mystery and gravitas. The windows are abstract stained glass, and the tables are heavy dark wood. Rumors say that you can get drinks with exotic and/or not strictly legal ingredients, but the bartender won’t sell the secret menu to strangers or law enforcement. It is a gathering place for artists and intellectual types, or those who want very much to be seen as artistic and intellectual.
People one may find at the Cross and Coin:
- Will Grey, the bartender
- Nigel Blackthorne, local oddity
- Samuel the dishwasher
- Anna, a waitress
- Eli Rosenfeld, a student
- James Birch, another student
- I also had Kurt’s ex, Charles, here on occasion, to increase the drama factor.
William Grey, bartender at the Cross and Coin
Facts and Clues:
- Will can tell you that the “N” in the note is almost definitely Nigel Blackthorne. Blackthorne and Ragnarsson occasionally met here, but the two did not seem friendly—unless they were the sort of friends to argue all the time, which wouldn’t be unusual for the Cross and Coin.
- He can also mention Nigel’s preoccupation with “fish people,” and his fixation on the admittedly fishlike dishwasher, Samuel.
Nigel Blackthorne, gentleman occultist
Nigel believes that the professor was under a curse, probably picked up from his failed expedition to the North Sea. He wanted to discuss this curse with Ragnarsson before the latter fled to France, and sent him a note asking for a meeting. Being Nigel, he believes that the island Ragnarsson visited was an ancient outpost of fish people, and they are the ones responsible for the curse. Ragnarsson, of course, thought this was preposterous. Though he claims to have been Ragnarsson’s friend, Nigel is truly more interested in the possibility of a curse than he is sad over the tragic death. If told about the cause of death (the mysterious drowning), he will be morbidly excited and consider his fish people theory confirmed.
Consumed by his research, Nigel is quite mad. He manages to keep his paranoia under control most of the time, but if the investigators are antagonistic to him or refuse to play along with him at least a little, he will start to believe that they are withholding information from him and possibly conspiring with the fish people. He will be especially eager to talk to Freydis, as soon as he learns she is in town.
Facts and Clues:
- Nigel knows that three people died on Ragnarsson’s expedition, at least two of which were mysterious murders. Nigel blames the fish people, but he will encourage the investigators to speak to Professor Burton, the archaeology department head, and look at the records on file if they haven’t yet done so.
- Ragnarsson told Nigel that he had taken two artifacts from the island. One was stolen, and the other he sent away for safekeeping. He did not tell Nigel what these objects were.
- Nigel is convinced that the professor still had at least one artifact, and since he believes Ragnarsson died from a curse, considers this theory confirmed. The fact that no artifacts were in Ragnarsson’s possession at the time of his death, and they were not in his home or office, does not dissuade Nigel from his theory.
- The manner in which the professor died does sound like ocean magic, after all. If this is mentioned to him, Nigel will be eager to show the investigators his collection of occult texts at his flat.
- If Nigel learns that Freydis is in London, he will try to find her, believing that her father sent her one of these objects.
- Ragnarsson seemed to have his wits about him, but he was growing frantic and overwhelmed and feared for his life. He was planning to leave for France before he died.
- Nigel never saw any of the people Ragnarsson claimed were following him, and figured they were a figment of curse-induced paranoia.
- Nigel cannot decrypt the encoded page, nor does he have any idea about “green grows the lily.” The only thing from the crime scene he recognizes is his own note.
- The burnt fragment from the wastepaper basket that references his name likely contains part of the sentence “I must reject Nigel’s theory,” as Ragnarsson insisted that fish people were entirely mythical and the deaths on the island occurred by mundane means.
- Nigel was first introduced to the idea of fish people (Deep Ones) by a book collector, Sebastian Milton, and he has not given up on the idea since then.
- He mentioned Ragnarsson and the artifacts to this collector some time ago.
- The night of the murder, Nigel was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and spent the night in jail. Antony St. John, the arresting officer, can corroborate this.
- Nigel is familiar with the name Westmont, and recognizes it when Eloise (or another investigator associated with the name) introduces herself. He says it’s an old name, steeped in magick (you can hear the “k” on the end), and one he hasn’t heard for a long time. He will offer little information, preferring to be mysterious about it. [2]
If the investigators show interest in Nigel’s theories, he can invite them back into his flat. If the investigators antagonize him, they can possibly break in.
Nigel’s Flat
Nigel does not live in the ancestral Blackthorne home, but rather pays for an expensive apartment in London, not far from the Cross and Coin.
The entry is lavish, with a thick carpet and artifacts on pedestals—a Greek bust, an Egyptian tablet—and opens into a living room similarly decorated. Nigel spends little time here, as he entertains few guests. A portrait of an ancestor adorns a living-room wall. The kitchen is similarly unused, as Nigel normally eats out. A door at the far end of the living room leads to the bedroom, which does see some use: the tall, enormous bed is unmade and there are clothes on the floor. Through the bedroom is a bathroom and a study.
All of Nigel’s work is in the study. The walls are lined with bookshelves, the tomes expressing a wide range of occult thought. Some titles include The Golden Bough (p. 236), The Emerald Tablet (p. 234), and The Key of Solomon (p. 236), and he has copies of the Middle English Cthaat Aquadingen (p. 227) and True Magick (p. 234).
There is a heavy oak desk with some alchemical devices—glass boilers and vials—and some notes on spellcasting. A Mythos, Occult, Latin, or other roll can reveal that he was trying to cast a spell called “The All-Seeing Eye” (Mirror of Tarkhun Atep, p. 261). His copy of the Cthaat Aquadingen contains a spell called “Spiritus Abyssi” (a poorly translated “Breath of the Deep,” p. 247), if the investigators are willing to risk reading it. Nigel can direct the investigators to it if they told him the cause of the professor’s death and he feels they are trustworthy.
If the investigators are in here with Nigel’s permission, he will show off his collection. He will mention the collector who sold him the books again, calling Milton a wise man who is one of the few to realize the influence that fish people have on the human world. He may shift into thinking the investigators are trying to steal his secrets—a social roll can be used to calm him down. If that fails and he becomes more paranoid, he may become hostile and attack, but he isn’t a trained fighter and must be pushed very far in order to become violent.
Addresses from the Scene
The investigators can go about following up on these names any way they like. The information they can find is as follows:
Jasmine Indrani, 138A Roseberry, London
The address is a ladies’ home. Jasmine no longer lives there; she left about nine months ago, saying she was moving to Edinburgh, and did not provide a forwarding address.
Robert Campbell [no address]
This person is untraceable due to the lack of an address.
Charles Howard, 10 Wharfdale, London
This person was a boatman hired for the expedition. He drowned about a month ago; it was assumed his death was accidental.
Caleb Thomas, 24 St. Michael’s St., Oxford
Caleb was the student murdered on the island.
Peter Brown, 54 Castle St., Salisbury
Peter was the laborer murdered on the island.
Cullen O’Mara, 72 Saint Augustine St., Dublin
Investigators will have to access Irish records to find Cullen, using a combination of Library Use, Credit Rating, and social checks at the Keeper’s discretion (or the investigators can have Emilia make an attempt for them). This address is listed as St. Brigid’s House, owned by Cullen’s sister, Ciannait Malone, and by all accounts he still lives there.
Gareth Jones [no address]
Gareth was killed on the island, crushed by the land vehicle when its brakes failed.
Eske McIvor [no address]
This person is untraceable due to the lack of an address.
The Blight
If the investigators do not have someone among their number who has been working on the blight, they can go to the botany department of the University of London to speak to an NPC researcher. It is not necessary that the investigators delve into the blight at this time.
Facts and Clues:
- The blight was first brought to the department’s attention when a rural farmer brought a number of samples for “those brains at the University” to look at.
- It generally appears in isolated cases, but quickly spreads throughout surrounding vegetation. Generally, removing all affected plants will stop it from spreading to other plants, though no one has been able to stop or reverse the blight once it affects a plant.
- They has so far been unable to isolate a cause, such as a parasite or something in the soil.
- The blight first manifests with a blackening inside the heart of the plant—stalks and roots in particular, but seed-pods and other generative organs also show dramatic signs. The blackness spreads throughout the plant, visible in the veins and capillaries. Once the plant is completely consumed, it begins to dry out and crumble into ashy, gray dust.
- The specimens have been few and far between, as it is not the growing season; it is unusual that something like this is appearing and spreading while the weather is still so cold (though the ground never freezes in southern England).
- Professor Ragnarsson had been in contact with the head researcher, requesting information about the blight, but he did not explain why.
Interim Events
Depending on how long the investigators take to gather clues and follow up on them, NPCs will start doing things on their own. The Keeper should use some or all of these events as needed to impede the players and complicate their investigation.
Freydis Emundrsdóttr tries to find out what happened on her own, and runs into Nigel. Nigel will present his case (that the professor died because of a curse picked up on the island), and Freydis will ask for a more rational explanation. Nigel will also demand Freydis show him the artifacts he believes her father sent her; she does not have them, but he knows Ragnarsson sent something away for safekeeping. Their argument can get heated.
Nigel Blackthorne, gentleman occultist
Winston Pembroke, Jr. arrests Nigel Blackthorne for the murder of Professor Ragnarsson. He will overlook Nigel’s protests that the latter was in holding at the time of the murder, and spin a story about a delusional madman who committed a murder, possibly unwittingly, in order to support his stories about fish people. Winston will also grab the Cthaat Aquadingen from Nigel’s study and place it in evidence. If Nigel is not released within a day or so, Antony will show up at Scotland Yard and protest that Nigel could not have committed the murder.
Winston Pembroke, Jr., Scotland Yard inspector
The only son of Commissioner Pembroke, Winston Jr. was given the job of detective in order to teach him some personal and civic responsibility, which he has largely not learned. He is mostly known for a handful of simple but showy cases, a tendency toward nationalism, and banging his secretaries. He hates having to have a job, but as long as he’s got it, he wants to get a lot of attention and admiration for it. Though he was pleased that the player character(s) employed by Scotland Yard were seemingly relegated to tagging corpses recently, as the investigation becomes more complex, he will feel the need to undermine the investigators and/or take over the case.
Facts and Clues:
- Winston Jr. knows very little about what is going on, but he eventually learns enough to single out Nigel Blackthorne and arrest him.
- Antony St. John, a London police officer, arrested Blackthorne for being drunk and disorderly the night of the murder, and Blackthorne spent the night in jail. Winston Jr. has deliberately overlooked this alibi.
- He may be able to get more information out of Blackthorne than the investigators could, but he will consider Blackthorne delusional and to be making up stories to justify his crimes.
- Winston has read exactly one book on sensationalist psychology/alienism.
Antony St. John, beat cop and fencer
Sebastian Milton, owner of Milton’s Rare Books, learns of Nigel’s arrest and puts on a show of being concerned. He claims some responsibility for Nigel’s crimes—he only told him some stories about Deep Ones and never expected him to take it this far. He will offer to help the investigation in any way he can. He may come to the precinct himself, or the investigators may see or learn of some officers going to speak with him at the book shop, or they may follow the leads to the shop themselves.
Milton’s Bookstore
Milton’s Rare Books is on London’s South Bank. The ground floor of Milton’s house was converted to a shop, and he lives upstairs. He sells rare and collectible volumes in the front room, and those with an interest in the occult may, if their money is good and their demeanor trustworthy, be taken in the back to see the rarest items. He has a picture of his son Oliver, a young man in a British Army uniform, prominently displayed on the mantle. There is a main front door, and a smaller door in the back that leads to a small square of pavement leading to the alley behind.
Sebastian Milton, rare book collector
Milton is a middle-aged man of average build. He laughs off all the Paradise Lost references one could make—he has heard them all before. He has been in the rare book business for years, he says, and he is delighted to share his collection with book lovers in London.
Milton cast the spell that killed Professor Ragnarsson. He is very skilled at keeping his demeanor neutral, but Psychology checks can reveal that he is hiding something. He killed Ragnarsson for knowing too much, on order from his mysterious higher-ups, and his primary goal is to keep the cult and its activities a secret.
After the death of his son in the war, the cult took advantage of Milton’s grieving nihilism to indoctrinate him into their point of view. They believe war is the way of the world, and destruction is natural and inevitable. The Great War was necessary to instigate the destructive cycles that will bring about the new world—the grey, dead world foreshadowed by the blight—that is the true purpose of human development and progress. Any and all sacrifices are necessary for the creation of the new world, and all other means and outcomes of human progress are diversions that distract from the inevitable. The cult believes that they too will die and crumble to ash like the rest of life on Earth, but they believe this outcome is a desirable one. Anyone affected by the blight is fortunate to be able to go through the change earlier than the rest of the world, and those chosen to bear monstrous, blighted children are especially blessed. Milton has convinced himself that his son’s death was both necessary for the start of the new world and that it was meaningless as all human life is meaningless.
Facts and Clues:
- Milton knows Nigel quite well, and describes him as overeager but bright.
- He was the first to mention the “fish people” to Nigel (though Milton describes them by their proper name of Deep Ones), and will insist that they are just legends and he has no idea why Nigel is so preoccupied.
- If Nigel has been arrested and remains in custody, Milton will also talk at length about how he had no idea Nigel would take it so far as to murder someone, and he feels partially responsible. This is his effort to draw attention away from himself.
- He is willing to talk more about Deep Ones and their cults in the South Pacific and New England. This is another attempt to lead you away from real clues.
- Milton has been casting Mental Suggestion on Hale each time he comes to purchase a book.
- A stack of four books on the front desk has an order slip with Professor Hale’s name on it. Milton plans to cast the spell again when Hale comes to pick them up.
- You can ask him about Ragnarsson’s notes, but he will say he does not recognize it. Mentions of “green grows the lily” and especially the “hollow island” will make him nervous—Psychology check.
- He will talk about his son and seem remarkably calm about his death. “Lost in the war,” he says flatly, “like so many others.”
- There is a hidden door under the rug in the back room. It will be a hard Spot Hidden to see its outline through the rug, a Listen roll to hear the creak as an investigator walks over it, or another roll at the Keeper’s discretion.
The secret room under the back room is an unfinished chamber barely tall enough to stand in, roughly ten feet square. There is a small table and chair in one corner. On the table are two books, the Latin De Vermis Mysteriis (p. 228) and True Magick (p. 234), and some notes (Occult, Mythos, or Latin roll to recognize the spell Breath of the Deep, or recognizing it from the book in Nigel’s library). There is also a letter stolen from Ragnarsson’s apartment (Handout 1-6) and a set of instructions (Handout 1-7). The investigators can search it with a warrant, or break in later.
Professor—
I received your message and am keeping the package safe for now, but I worry it is not as far from danger as you hoped. I have seen some unusual occurrences here, and if your theory is correct, it may explain what is happening. I will be careful; please stay safe and contact me again soon.
—Jasmine
501 Main Street, Oxmoor
esteemed mr. MILTON
EQOSCORHTNLTNSETOAIEHERRTBRTNS
TITOMNHINTDNMHOOXENTRTKHITNRSN
HNIWUDESGOEAOINRMCTHCHFESOPAIE
NSNOIWEISNIITDPOWOEAROTTEIANRX
AEKOFTHDEAMHESEORCUEOOMIMGPOAX
MUNTHUEIHEIECIRTONNSFBOEIEEIET
Paul’s Books, Oxford
Westmont Estate, OxmoorVignoy Estate, Rouen
The instructions are encoded with a columnar transposition cipher. If the investigators are having trouble, here are some hints:
- Notice that “Milton” is in all caps in the heading, while things that would normally be capitalized are not.
- Notice that the number of characters in each row is the same.
- Notice that there are six rows, and there are six letters in the word “Milton.”
Solution:
“The man in question knows too much. Find out where he is hiding the stone and eliminate him. Once this is done report to Oxmoor. We can continue the search for the book from there. It is time to begin preparations in earnest.”
The Keeper may also replace the encoded handout with this one, which presents the instructions in plain text, in the interest of time.
If confronted with the evidence from the secret room, Milton will become hostile, saying that he killed the professor because it was necessary. He could not let Ragnarsson stop all the progress that has already been made. He will try, in a mad, desperate way, to convince the investigators that he was right—they all saw the devastation of the Great War, some more closely than others. Humans, he will argue, are not worth saving; human life is meaningless, they will only destroy each other, and the world needs to be purified. He will attack, using any nearby implements as weapons, and he might try to use a spell. Breath of the Deep and Mental Suggestion are likely choices, as is Implant Fear (p. 259). After two rounds, he will be joined by three other cultists. They are recognizable from Ragnarsson’s descriptions (and Ernest’s encounter in Session Zero): one has a wooden leg, one has a bristly mustache, and the last has bright red hair. The investigators will be unable to use social rolls to convince any of the cultists (including Milton) to stand down or surrender, as they are fanatically devoted to their cause.
If the investigators do not end up finding the secret room or confronting Milton, the cult will continue their mission to eliminate anyone in London who could find out about their dealings and thwart them, beginning with the researcher working on the plant blight at London College and working their way through the investigators. They will attempt to catch their targets alone, and either Milton will cast a spell (Breath of the Deep, or Mental Suggestion to get the target to kill or injure themselves) or the other cultists will attempt to murder them. Investigators can trail the attackers back to Milton’s Rare Books, identify Milton himself, or find some sort of instructions or itinerary on the cultists, at the Keeper’s discretion.
Conclusion
The investigators should have found the murderer, learned of the existence of the cult, and found where the professor sent his artifact: to his former assistant, Jasmine Indrani, who now lives in the tiny village of Oxmoor. The cult is also headed that way, in search of something hidden at the Westmont estate. They should tie up any loose ends in London, arrange their transportation, and get better prepared. When they are ready to travel to Oxmoor, Chapter Two will begin.
- Freydis will need to be informed of the outcome, and the body needs to be released so she can arrange for the funeral. The investigators can see to this personally, or have someone from the police department do it.
- Nigel will need to be set free and the charges against him dropped.
- Free of the mental suggestion spell, Hale will return to his life as usual.
- The archaeology department will try to cover Ragnarsson’s classes, and begin the search for a new professor.
- Will and Samuel will chalk the goings-on up to the eccentricity of intellectual types and continue on as they were.
- Any cultists who escape the final confrontation will flee to Oxmoor to be encountered again later.
Forward to Chapter Two (Part One)
Her name is an old-fashioned, pagan one. It comes from the Vinlandr Saga.
We will learn more about the Westmonts in Chapter Two.
Space Whales Press 
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