MoN 050: Doings in Derby

For most of the group, the night passed peacefully; Jacob, however, had been struck down with “not a hangover at all”, while Gilbert had not slept well. He didn’t elucidate what had kept him up, but he seemed a little haggard to his new friends.

Talk inevitably turned to Henson Manufacturing. It was Sunday, and the workshop was closed—as were most of the businesses in Derby. The group were keen to get in and out of the northern town as quickly as possible, so they decided to strike while the iron was hot. Resting for much of the day, as dusk fell, they made their way on foot to Henson Manufacturing on the outskirts of town.

Once there, they watched the compound for a few hours and ascertained that at least one guard was on site. The group swung into action once night had fallen, and it was dark. Vincenzo picked the lock on the pedestrian gate, piercing the compound’s outer wall, and the group were inside.

Splitting up, Kirk and Gilbert watched the workshop’s front door while Vincenzo and George slipped around the back. The two found an unlocked and unguarded back door and slipped inside to discover a workshop dedicated to metalwork. Quickly poking about, they found that one of the cupboards off from the main room contained a huge walk-in safe—likely the same one for which they had found the receipt a few weeks ago in the Penhew’s Foundation’s cellar.

The pair were jubilant and quickly got Kirk and Gilbert to join them. A whispered conversation resulted in the group deciding to search the rest of the building—and to “take out” the guards before Vincenzo would open the safe. They found an office and a break room. Two guards sat in the breakroom having a cup of tea. Gilbert tried to sneak up on them but made too much noise. The pair leapt to deal with the intruders, but the fight was brief, brutal and one-sided. Although Kirk received a savage blow to the head with a truncheon, both guards were quickly subdued—in fact, one was killed in the brief fight. Tying up the survivor, the group returned to the safe. Sadly, the safe was so well constructed that Vincenzo could not defeat its lock. None of the tools in the workshop was up to penetrating the safe, so the group settled for destroying the lock (as they had no dynamite to hand). If they couldn’t get into the safe, neither could Gavigan!

The group’s investigation of the office was far more successful. Within, they found blueprints for a machine of incomprehensible design. After puzzling over it for a while, they decided to steal it—and all other relevant blueprints they found in the nearby filing cabinets.

A search of the rest of the compound revealed nothing of note, so the group retired under cover of darkness to their hotel.

Monday, 3rd of May

Exhausted, the group rested the next day and mulled over what they had found. Gilbert again seemed much more tired than his companions. Awoken by the sound of sobbing and creaking in his room, he talked to the receptionist about the strange phenomena. He was informed, in a very matter-of-fact manner, that the sound was probably Mabel—a maid who killed herself in the room a century ago. Gilbert was less than delighted to discover he had been sleeping in a haunted bedroom!

The Tuesday Papers

The Tuesday papers were full of the news of a burglary at Henson Manufacturing that had led to the brutal murder of one of the guards. Given they were obvious newcomers and bound to fall under suspicion sooner or later, the group decided to return to London as quickly as possible. Hopping into Kirk’s tremendously inconspicuous Rolls Royce, they motored south and mulled their next move. It seemed a trip to Misr House might be in order…

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

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