MoN 034: Preparations & Reconnaissance

On the 6th, the party made a brief reconnaissance of the old shop next to the Ju-Ju House. The building seemed an excellent place to watch over the suspicious goings on at the Ju-Ju House.

After completing their initial investigation, they repaired to the roof of a nearby tenement to watch the comings and goings at the Ju-Ju House. Most activities at the shop seemed legitimate; a slow trickle of customers visited the place during the day. Silas left the building for lunch, and afterwards, when he returned, a white man—smartly dressed—was seen leaving the shop while tucking what Charles thought to be an envelope stuffed full of cash into his breast pocket. Given the man was also armed, most of the watchers assumed he was a policeman; however, later investigations could not confirm that theory.

After a few hours of watching, the party returned to the hotel to prepare for their night reconnaissance of the abandoned building.

Just before midnight, the group returned and split into two sub-groups. Charles and Jacob returned to the roof to watch over proceedings while Ikil led Dr Dudley and Dr George on the dangerous part of the foray. The trio silently entered the shop and ascertained it was a good place to watch over the adjacent Ju-Ju House. They also determined there was no cellar or attic, but they did manage to stealthily remove a few bricks from the wall adjoining the Ju-Ju House. Doing so helped them to ascertain that the rear of the building was actually Silas’s living quarters—they could hear the old shopkeeper snoring away.

Meanwhile, on the roof, things were not going smoothly. A child came to talk to Jacob and Charles, and the naive antique dealer gave them $1 to go away. Shortly, more children turned up asking for money. Eventually, the harried antique dealer had to wedge the roof door shut to escape the horde of money-grabbing children trying to speak with him.

Jacob had slightly more luck with the tenement’s occupants. While abandoning Charles to the attention of the money-grabbing children, he climbed down a fire escape and got talking with one of the tenement’s occupants, Jed, who was outside having a smoke. While sharing a drink from Jacob’s hipflask, Jed confirmed that strange noises sometimes came from the Ju-Ju House and that on the dark of the moon, sometimes as many as 30 people were seen entering the shop late at night. Jed advised Jacob to stay well away.

Eventually, the group regrouped to determine their next course of action.

Planning

It was decided that some of the group would set up shop in the abandoned building and watch the Ju-Ju House until the next dark of the moon—which was due in a little over two weeks. The weekend was spent gathering supplies and laying plans.

Doings in the Dark

On the night of the 9th, Ikil, Dr Dudley and Dr George moved their many supplies and equipment under cover of darkness into their observation post. This went smoothly, although Charles and Jacob had some trouble (again) with some of the occupants of the tenements; Charles’ generosity has become well known among the children of the place, and he had to barricade the roof door shut to keep all the children away.

Still, by the end of the night, all was in readiness. The three watchers settled down for a long vigil. When Silas closed the Ju-Ju House for lunch, Ikil started to stealthily make a hole in the ceiling of their lair. In this way, he hoped to be able to eventually get into the attic space above the Ju-Ju House…

This post is a session summary for my weekly 7th edition Call of Cthulhu Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign.

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