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Cthulhu Case File: The Death of Colonel Archer (Cthulhu)

The Cast

Principal Cast

Player Characters

Non-Player Characters

  • Doctor Geraldine "Gerry" Archer): South-African British from Cape Town. Doctor of Medicine (Epidemiology) and only child of Colonel Archibald Archer, head of the Archer estate of South African plantations and diamond mines.
  • Miss Cassandra Jones: British-Indian-American from New Orleans. Singer for a Chicago Blues band that performs at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge.
  • Father Martin Maxwell: New Jersey priest who performs Colonel Archer's funeral and provides assistance and counselling to the investigators.
  • Doctor David Pearce: Scottish Professor of Anthropology, Geraldine's best friend.

  • Lord Guilderoy Lockhart

  • Miss Marilyn Fox

  • Mr James Slade


  • Dr. Geraldine Archer

  • Miss Cassandra Jones

  • Father Martin Maxwell

  • Dr. David Pearce

Supporting Cast

  • Mr Bernard "Bernie" Matteson: Marilyn's photographer assistant.
  • Miss Suzie Stanton: Illinois-born secretary to Jimmy the Jint. Utterly useless at her job, but young and pretty so Jimmy can't bring himself to fire her.
  • Lady Caroline Lockhart: Guilderoy's wife, actually of higher social status than her husband.
  • Mr Leonard Young: Chicago lawyer for Kirkland & Ellis LLP, who represent the Archer estate's legal concerns in America.
  • Mr Sanka Mbete: South African hunter and wilderness guide. A bear of a man now working as Geraldine's bodyguard and manservant.
  • Mrs Conchita Sanchez: Geraldine's Mexican-American maid and cook. Conchita was actually employed by Geraldine's father to care for Shadow Pond manor, and continues to fulfill this role since Geraldine inherited it.
  • Mr Ivan "Crazy Ivan" Kerensky: A Russian exile who works as Geraldine's personal pilot. Has a pet rat called Lenin.
  • Mr Jaime "Tito" Santos: Peruvian guide hired by the investigators to take them to Machu Picchu's.
  • Toby: Geraldine's overly-energetic, overly-friendly, 6-year-old Boerboel ("Boer dog")


  • Mr Bernard Matteson

  • Miss Suzie Stanton

  • Lady Caroline Lockhart

  • Mr Leonard Young

  • Mr Sanka Mbete


  • Mrs Conchita Sanchez

  • Mr Ivan Kerensky

  • Mr Jaime Santos

  • Toby

The Story

Prelude: The Funeral

In early 1928 Doctor Geraldine Archer received a note from Father Martin Maxwell informing her that Colonel Archer had been afflicted by a strange malady and his health was deteriorating fast. Geraldine flew over to his residence in Chicago but was too late and he died whilst she was en route. Despite her expertise in esoteric diseases, Geraldine was unable to even identify his affliction. She sent a letter to her father's old friend, Lord Fitzherbert Lockhart, informing him of her father's death and inviting him to his funeral, offering him residence at Shadow Pond during his stay. Unbeknownst to Geraldine, Fitzherbert had recently passed away himself, and it was his son and heir Guilderoy who received the letter and chose to travel to Chicago with his wife Caroline in order to represent his father and pay their respects. At the funeral, Geraldine stood stoically as Father Maxwell performed the service, her arm held supportingly by her good friend and Doctor David Pearce, a professor of Anthropology and occasional colleague of her father's, who seemed almost more upset than Geraldine herself. "Jimmy the Jint", a Private Investigator whose life had been saved by Colonel Archer during the Great War, approached to pay his respects. Having been informed by a letter sent by Archer, in which he stated that if this letter had been received then he had been murdered, and imploring him to protect "my child Gerry", Jimmy made the mistake of assuming Gerry was David, and offered his condolences to the wrong person. Fortunately, Geraldine did not take offence, found a little humour in the moment, and thanked him. Jimmy stated that he needed to speak to her at her convenience over grave matters regarding her father. Marilyn Fox , a New York Times reporter who had been contacted previously by Archer, informing her of his desire to meet her to discuss "events of a scandalous nature" of interest to her publication, also expressed her condolences and desire to converse with her. Marilyn also noticed a young woman wearing common clothing in the distance, hiding by a tree attempting to remain unnoticed, although visibly upset - but chose not to mention anything at this point.

Guilderoy then introduced himself to her, informed her of his own father's passing, and offered his condolences. Geraldine remarked that their fathers had been close friends and she hoped they grow as close, and that it was unfortunate that it was such a sad occasion that would result in them meeting again. Guilderoy apologies to her but stated that they had, in fact, never met before this moment. Geraldine simply stated that she was sure they had met a few years earlier but admitted that perhaps in her grief she was misremembering and had simply heard so much of him from his father that she had mistakenly thought they had actually met. She gave her condolences over his death and asked about the nature of it - and it was quickly realised that it appeared both men had died of the same strange malady, although they were on opposite sides of the world and had not come into contact with each other in months, and the sickness was too virulent for them to have affected each other and it incubated so long. Geraldine expressed an interest to discuss things with all present, but stated that this moment was for saying goodbye to her father, and invited them to come to Shadow Pond after the funeral so as to discuss things further.


At Shadow Pond they discussed the circumstances of Archer and Lockhart's deaths and combined with the fact that Archer had something important to tell Marilyn, giving the impression he had "been silenced" before being able to do so, and that he posthumously hired Jimmy to investigate his own murder, anticipated before his death, made it obvious that the death of the two famed adventurers and friends was no natural cause or coincidence. Cryptically, in the letter to Jimmy, Colonel Archer had written "In umbra mos vos reperio verum" - something Jimmy could not translate but Geraldine and the others who spoke Latin easily translated to "In shadow will you find truth", which they took to mean that the Colonel may have left something for them to find at Shadow Pond. They began to investigate Colonel Archer's office and they found a hidden drawer in his table which held an envelope marked simply "CJ" which contained photographs of an unknown woman who Marilyn identified as the woman she had sighted earlier at the funeral, distraught and keeping herself concealed. Leonard Pearce - Colonel (and now Geraldine) Archer's lawyer - commented on the Colonel being "quite the man" for evidently having a lover both so attractive and so much younger than he. When asked why he assumed she was a lover, Leonard stated that he had handled the purchasing of a Chicago apartment for "a Miss Cassandra Jones" and the Colonel had been secretive as to the reasons for the purchase, leaving him very much in the dark as to who it was for other than to who the legal paperwork must address. He stated that Colonel Archer is far from the only wealthy person to have a young lover, and a home they can use for their secret trysts is a very common gift, and discretion was a guarantee of his legal firm. When asked about her identity, he informed them that he knew that she was a singer at a local cabaret club with known affiliations to the Chicago mob.

Act One: Shadow Pond

On the table was a cryptic message about fire written in Afrikaans, one of the languages common in Cape Town where the Archer family resided. This led to the discovery of a hidden staircase behind the fireplace that led down to an underground cavern containing what appeared to be a small, hidden temple to a mysterious godlike entity known as Tsathoggua hidden under Shadow Pond. In this temple was also part of a Latin copy of the Liber Ivonis (translation: The Book of Eibon) written by Caius Phillipus Faber in the 9th century Anno Domini and a letter from Archibald Archer to Geraldine explaining the investigations that he and Fitzherbert Lockhart had shared with Gerard Reynolds, an accomplice who had become corrupted by the dark arts they uncovered. The letter stated that Gerard Reynolds intended to uncover the location of a greater Temple of Tsathoggua and use it to perform a ritual in the Liber Ivonis that would summon a "Great Old One" named Tsathoggua, a god-like creature of immense power, in pursuit of greater magical power. To prevent this, they agreed that Guilderoy would keep the Liber Ivonis to prevent it falling into Reynold's hands, whilst Colonel Archer would attempt to determine the location of the main temple to Tsathoggua and prevent Reynolds from getting any lore there and preventing him from carrying out the summoning ritual detailed in the Liber Ivonis. The letter stated that if this letter was being read, it meant that he was dead and, the letter acknowledged Archer learning of Fitzherbert's death after his old friend sent him his part of the Liber Ivonis - the part with the summoning ritual - to prevent Reynolds getting it, and that Reynolds had certainly murdered them both.

Archer's letter pleaded for Geraldine to prevent Reynolds from getting his hands on the complete Liber Ivonis and gave an indication of the location of the Tsathoggua cult temple, where Archer believed lay further Mythos lore and Reynolds would need to perform the profane ritual. Colonel Archer's letter ended with an apology and plea for Geraldine to stop him.

Following this, Geraldine and Maxwell began working together to translate and study the contents of the Liber Ivonis, whilst Marilyn and Jimmy reached out with their network of contacts for information about the cult of Tsathoggua that Colonel Archer's letter had mentioned and, specifically, any information possible on the faceless antagonist that had murdered both Archer and Lockhart - Gerard Reynolds. However, Geraldine could not get the mystery of this Cassandra Jones out of her mind and, prompted by Marilyn Fox, they decided to go to the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge and confront her about the nature of her relationship with Colonel Archer, convinced that she was a gold digger who had seduced a lonely old man for financial gain.

Act Two: The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge/Cassandra Jones

50%

They arrived at the Green Mill and observed as Cassandra Jones was introduced by the house band as "CJ" and sang a set of Blues songs. When the set ended and CJ went to the bar for a drink, Geraldine and Marilyn approached her and began to interrogate her about Colonel Archer. CJ was not forthcoming and desired for them to leave, leaving to a few unpleasant exchanges, and Marilyn Fox physically assaulting her, demanding answers, which resulted in the house band jumping in to defend CJ and tempers getting higher. Before things could escalate further, however, Cassandra screamed in response to Marilyn's insults about being a whore"He was my father!", to everyone's surprise. Tempers calming, it was quickly determined that during a brief time when Colonel Archer was in New Orleans, he took a lover. This would be a relationship that eventually failed because an immature, adolescent Geraldine learnt about her father having a new love and saw it as him "cheating on her dead mother", and the Colonel was forced to break up with the woman to appease Geraldine. Unbeknownst to the Colonel, his lover was with child but due to the break-up and the self-pride of Cassandra's mother, the Colonel did not learn of the existence of his other daughter until a few months before his death; and only because Cassandra's mother had become terminally ill and she was hoping that the Colonel would help Cassandra. Cassandra herself was unaware of this desire until after the Colonel approached her. They spent as much time as possible getting to know each other and, as she lived in squalor at the time, he indeed purchased an apartment for her to relocate her from New Orleans to Chicago to be close to him, and got her employment at the Green Mill, which he frequented and considered the owner a friend. Geraldine remained uncharacteristically silent throughout, with Marilyn leading most of the questions as to the nature of their relationship and past events. Eventually, Geraldine simply said "I have a sister!" and tearfully hugged CJ (who just froze, unsure how to react or even if she was about to be assaulted again) before apologising for ruining CJs life, admitting that she was "too young to understand my father's feelings and need for companionship at the time - I simply was not mature enough to see past my own grief at my mother's passing to realise how much pain my father himself was in." She realised that the Colonel had hidden CJs existence from her likely fearing a similar reaction to the news and hoped that the two of them might be able to get to know each other.

Soon after, Cassandra revealed that she was a "sensitive", a person with the ability to sense and hear the dead. She claimed this was an ability that ran in her family, including her mother - was and likely a reason why Colonel Archer took interest in Cassandra's mother in the first place. Although they initially scoffed at this, she stated it was this gift that led to her helping the Colonel locate "the temple in the fireplace" because "terrible things happened there, and the dead cry still." Events that would follow in time ultimately proved the veracity of this claim, including her suddenly seeming to realise there was danger just before a group of hired thugs entered the lounge and attacked the investigators. After they managed to drive away the attackers - presumably sent by Reynolds to kill them and take the second half of the Liber Ivonis from them - Geraldine surprised everyone by using an incantation she had learnt from the Liber Ivonis to heal a gunshot wound one of their number had taken, healing in moments what would have taken weeks to heal naturally. They then asked Cassandra to join them at Shadow Pond the next day to help with the investigation into Archer's death and stop Reynolds but she refused. She admitted that she was scared and not keen on dying for a sister she didn't know and for the memory of a man she only knew for half a year or so - much of which he spent travelling and eventually critically ill - stating "I would have liked to get to know him - he was kind to me whilst I knew him... but I barely knew him, and I have little desire to die for a man I barely knew or a sister who's rage left me fatherless and living in squalor my entire life." Despite this, she did actually turn up at Shadow Pond the following day, to Marilyn Fox's approval.

Since their initial meeting, Geraldine and CJ both made concerted efforts to try to become a family - but it would be a long road. Whilst Geraldine may snub the norms of high society, she was nonetheless upper class and born with a silver spoon, and therefore "out of touch with the real world" as Cassandra would put it, always getting everything she wanted and never having the need for anything. Conversely, Cassandra was born and lived amongst the working class her entire life, always struggling to work long hours in thankless jobs, putting up with constant abuse and adversity, to somehow be able to have something to eat and pay the rent for the Gallatin Street dump in New Orleans' lower French Quarter, where she cared for her sick mother. Curiously, despite their rocky start, CJ and Marilyn would quickly become fast friends - possibly closer than CJ ever got with Geraldine, perhaps as they were both strong-willed working women, and there was less emotional baggage between them to overcome.

Act Three: Machu Picchu/Temple of the Sun

Colonel Archer's clues indicated belief of a secret entrance under the Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu that would lead to the cult of Tsathoggua's secret temple "in the shadow of the sun". Feeling short of time and desperate to reach this temple before Reynolds, they employed the services of "Crazy Ivan" - a Russian pilot who served during the Great War and Russian Revolution on behalf of the "white army" and had been forced to flee Russia when the red army was victorious - and travelled on his barely-legal ancient Sirkosky seaplane "Mishka" to the Machupicchu district of the Urubamba Province in Peru where the Temple of the Sun was located.

Temple of the Sun in Machu Picchu

With various assistants and local guides, the investigators arrived at the Temple of the Sun and, aided by CJ's uncanny sense, located the hidden entrance. They traversed a labyrinthine mountain-cavern complex with an oil-based fire-torch light system that surprisingly still operated once they lit up the first fire torch. They noted strange holes in the wall all over the maze, along with various dead bodies wearing clothing from different eras, although they could not figure out the purpose of the strange holes. they ominously thought they may be some form of trap, considering the closeness of skeletal remains to them, but could find no actual mechanism or apparent danger. Just as CJ helped locate the entrance because she could sense it's presence, the further they progressed into the complex the more increasingly terrified CJ became as the voices of the dead turned from whispers into increasingly louder chants, in languages she could not understand but still understood their meaning - "danger - go no further" - at points them coming unfiltered out of CJs mouth as though the dead were using her as a mouthpiece, unnerving the group to the point where two of the local hired hands refused to carry on going further and left.

In their search, they mapped out the areas they discovered which included various rooms typical of what one might expect from secret temples - living areas for priests, storerooms, cells for captives and, eventually, came across a central chamber with an enormous statue of Tsathoggue, and a sacrificial altar by it, which tested their very sanities and caused one of their guides to lose control of his bladder. There were four large lamp-like golden poles, resembling upturned lampshades, each containing what appeared a large pool of oil-like substance. Considering the lighting system already provided lighting to this room, they wondered as to its purpose, perhaps as additional, ceremonial, fire lighting. The room was littered with additional skeletal remains and, on the central table by a well-dressed corpse, was a dusty old tome - the Book of Ebon (or technically, a 19th century English translation of the original Book of Enoch, which was published in 100 AD).

When Geraldine picked up the Book of Enoch (or perhaps it was her simply approaching the alter) the oily substances in began getting active - swirling around and starting to self-pour down the side of the receptacle onto the floor, despite no apparent method of transference, and vicious enough that they began to take a semi-solid, almost gelatinous form. As soon as this began, CJ collapsed to her knees, clutching her head in agony and she screamed loudly in multiple voices speaking German, Spanish, Incan and other tongues. Though the specific messages screamed differed, the voices had a clear overall message - "Death has arrived".

The investigators stood transfixed in horror as the viscous, oily substance took an unsettling, almost human-shaped form with no discernible features. Geraldine's bodyguard, Sanka, a large bear of a man nearly 7 foot in height and nearly as wide, interposed himself between Geraldine and the oily form closest to her seemingly out of protective instinct. Without warning, the creature suddenly attacked - its arms stretching forward as if oily tentacles with spear-like ends that punched through Sanka's mighty body, turned into a form of claw, then ripped back through Sanka's spinal column, tearing his heart out of his chest through his ribcage with effortless efficiency. Sanka's blood splashed all over the investigators' faces and, in the precious seconds it took for his body to realise he was already dead, Sanka slowly turned towards them with a look of stunned disbelief. As the titan collapsed in a bloody heap, the courage of the investigators failed them - and they ran. It was not an orderly retreat, but a disorderly route. They screamed in terror and horror every part of the journey back - even those whose courage had not completely given way to terror and madness nonetheless screamed and fled for their lives. It was then that they learnt the truth about the strange holes they had observed earlier - they were passageways for the oily creatures, temple guardians and servants of Tsathoggua, to quickly traverse the labyrinth. Moving at impossible speeds, the creatures would enter a hole and traverse walls and corridors in seconds, to shoot out of another hole in a flash of oil and blood as their exits tore apart whatever poor bastard was too close to the exit point. Many of them fell on the way out, with some of the local hands even using or pushing each other as human shields to escape. In the end, only Geraldine, CJ, Marilyn, Father Maxwell, Guilderoy, Jimmy and Dr Pearce made it out alive, somehow. The moment they passed the threshold of the Torii-gate like entrance into the temple complex, the creatures just stopped; observing them wordlessly as if waiting for and daring them to re-enter, and CJ fell unconscious - mental exhaustion overcoming her as the voices suddenly went silent (or at least distant enough to no longer overwhelm her). The investigators hurriedly made their way back to Crazy Ivan and his Sirkosky seaplane, and returned to Chicago.

Act Four: Reynolds Revealed

Returning to Shadow Pond, several days passed as the investigators attempted to come to terms with the events at Machu Picchu, and recover from their physical and mental wounds. Father Maxwell, relying on his strong faith, comforted and counselled them all, expressing concern about Geraldine virtually entombing herself in her father's study reading "that vile book of evil" (the Book of Enoch) which he feared was corrupting Geraldine's very soul and should be destroyed. Marilyn began writing her news article about how what began as an investigation into the death of a widely respected man had led to the discovery of a forbidden cult, and grew closer to both CJ and her friend and new photographer Bernard. Knowing how dangerous the situation was, and how worse it would likely become as Reynolds most likely would learn that they had recovered the Book of Enoch, and come for it, Guilderoy convinced his wife Caroline to fly back to London where, unconnected to active events, they believed she would be safe. Father Maxwell offered to take her to the airport, appreciative of something to do to help them, feeling somewhat useless as everyone's faith (even his own) had been shaken by recent events and revelations that they struggled to conform to their religious beliefs and world views.

A couple of days later, when she turned up at her official workplace, Marilyn was passed a telegram that had arrived whilst she was away at Machu Picchu - a response from one of her contacts as to her enquiries regarding Reynolds and his Tsathogguan cult. It simply read. "Gerard Reynolds alias. Real name is Martin Maxwell." Realising with horror that their enemy had been amongst them from the very beginning, Marilyn broke various traffic laws in her haste to return to Shadow Pond to alert her friends. Before she could arrive, however, the strangest thing happened back at Shadow Pond. Geraldine's loyal Boerboel ("Boer dog") Toby, renown for its friendly and passive attitude, suddenly became incredibly aggressive and attacked Conchita, Shadow Pond's maid. The investigators managed to restrain Toby without harming him - realising that this act was uncharacteristic of Toby, and with Marilyn's sudden arrival and the revelation that Father Maxwell was in fact Gerard Reynolds, they feared the worst and rushed to Archer's office where Geraldine and Maxwell were believed to be studying the Mythos tomes. There they found a used syringe on the table but no sign of either Maxwell or Geraldine (it would later be revealed that Maxwell surprise-injected Geraldine with a barbiturate in order to abduct her). They ran out of the building in time to see Maxwell's car (and accompanying vehicles) drive off into the distance - but the tyres on their own vehicles had been slashed, making immediate pursuit impossible.

Several hours later, as all the investigators got together (summoning those who were not at Shadow Pond during Geraldine's abduction) and discussed what their next course of action should be, Guilderoy looked in a mirror and was shocked to see his reflection change before his eyes. A moment later, it was Geraldine's harried reflection staring back at him, instead of his own. Her image lasted only a few brief seconds before reverting to his own, and spoke hurriedly and in whispered volume, as though Geraldine was attempting to prevent the notice of her captors. Geraldine's vision said simply "Machu Picchu. Summoning ritual." Guilderoy revealed this information to the other investigators, none of who were witness to Geraldine's vision but had noticed Guilderoy's alarmed reaction, and CJ came up to him gave him a small pill. She said that Colonel Archer had given it to her before he died, telling her that when the time was right it should be consumed, then added "my father is indicating to me that the time has come, and for you to swallow it." Although they did not know the significance of the pill, Guilderoy put his trust in CJ and swallowed the pill. The world swam around him, and he suddenly found himself in a large office, standing right in front of a very much alive Colonel Archibald Archer.

Act Five: Hello, Archer

Despite it being night-time in Chicago when Guilderoy swallowed the pill, he now found himself in a sun-lit room that he recognised - Colonel Archer's office in the Archer plantation in Cape Town. A place he had frequented with his father various times. Colonel Archer stood before him but Guilderoy immediately realised that, in addition to not being dead, he looked younger than the last time they had met. The Colonel stood over various tomes and laboratory equipment and was holding up in observation a pellet like the one Guilderoy had just swallowed. Momentarily surprised by Guilderoy's appearance, the Colonel quickly regained his composure and, holding up the pellet, stated "as you are here, I assume this pellet worked?" The Colonel explained that the "plutonium pellet" was a form of time-spell that would bring whoever consumed it to this place and time, though "like an elastic band" he would soon be pulled back to his own time. The Colonel stated his assumption that he was now dead, which Guilderoy confirmed, and explained that he feared as much would happen. It was ascertained that this was just prior to the time mentioned in Archer's letter where he and Guilderoy's father decided to take and conceal the Liber Ivonis from Gerard, and the Colonel had began to fear the worst of their friend and companion's state of mind and impossibility of redemption. He said the pill was created to hopefully give him the ability to pre-warn himself of the future and so prepare for the eventual outcomes, as well as hopefully provide the ability to help whoever came back - which the Colonel assumed would be his daughter Gerry - to succeed where they had failed.

At that point the door opened and Geraldine walked in, exclaiming an apology and surprise at Guilderoy's unexpected presence, to which Colonel Archer exclaimed "I do not believe the two of you have ever met? My dear daughter, may I introduce you to Guilderoy Lockhart, Fitzherbert's son" making Guilderoy realise that when he had first met Geraldine at the funeral, Geraldine had in fact been correct when she stated she had already met Guilderoy some years earlier. Geraldine declared her pleasure in finally meeting Fitzherbert's son, who she had heard so much about, and inquired if she should have a room prepared for him, to which the Colonel indicated that, regrettably, Guilderoy would be leaving momentarily. Geraldine bid them well, handed her father some papers, and left the two men alone.

Guilderoy and the Colonel discussed the events of the future, of the discovery of the secret temple in Machu Picchu, and of Geraldine's capture and Reynold's intention to perform the summoning ritual. The Colonel explained that the Liber Ivonis had incantations that would grant control of the oil-like guardians of the temple, which "Father Maxwell" likely directed during their visit to the temple, hoping to kill Guilderoy and the others. He stated that the guardians would be needed as part of the summoning ritual - a bridge between Tsathoggua and our reality - and during the ritual would not be able to act as guardians, giving a glimmer of hope that they may not be the mortal threat they were presently considered to be. Nonetheless, fire would harm them very efficiently and perhaps keep them at bay or provide a form of defence. The Colonel stated that the ritual to summon Tsathoggua gave no control over the deity, stating "if you summon a God, you had better have a gift to appease him, lest you suffer its wrath". Without the offering, however, the Great Old One would feel insulted and return to where it dwells, but not before taking its anger out on the insignificant mortals who dared summon it without showing the proper respect. The Colonel stated his belief that Geraldine was likely still alive so as to serve as a sacrificial offering to Tsathoggua after his summons, as the books stated that Tsathoggua preferred the sacrifice of being fed those of pure heart. To possibly save Geraldine, if not the world, the ritual must be disrupted and Tsathoggua denied the sacrifice offered to him. The Colonel warned, however, that this might result in the Great Old One killing them all but, "it must be done. The price of Reynolds appeasing Tsathoggua and gaining the power he craves is too horrendous to consider."

Before they could go further, Guilderoy was surprised as the office doors re-opened and he stood in stunned surprise as he witnessed his own father, Lord Fitzherbert Lockhart, walking into the room. Fitzherbert had been made away of Guilderoy's presence by Geraldine and came in to greet him, surprised about his presence. Colonel Archer gave them a few moments, in which Firzherbert was surprised by Guilderoy's obvious intense emotions in seeing him, commenting it hadn't been that long since he left London. Fitzherbert then left them, telling them to hurry as lunch was getting cold. The Colonel told Guilderoy "I'll explain it to him later." After a few more moments discussing the ritual of Tsathoggua, Guilderoy found himself back at Shadow Pond, with everyone looking at him as, seemingly to everyone, Guilderoy had swallowed the pill but nothing observable notable had occurred as a result. Guilderoy explained events to the others, and they made plans to rescue Geraldine and disrupt the ritual.

Act Six: The Return to Machu Picchu

Re-employing the services of Crazy Ivan, the investigators travelled with all haste to Peru. Although they attempted to employ guides/protection to accompany them to Machu Picchu, they weren't able to secure services of anyone beyond taking them to the general area considering their last excursion resulted in the non-return of all their guides and aides. As time was against them, the investigators chose to depart immediately without spending additional time attempting to hire local muscle. A decision they hoped they would not later regret.

The journey to the temple was uneventful other than a constant sense of foreboding and concern for Geraldine. The hidden entrance in the Temple of the Sun was unguarded - likely because of a combination of the entrance itself being hidden from those who did not know how to access it, and likely arrogance on Reynold's/Maxwell's part. Having a better awareness of the layout from a map drawn during their last visit, they chose to take the route via the cells and guard area, although they could hear Maxwell's distant chanting in Latin. They guessed, and hoped, that if the ritual had already begun that those areas would be less guarded than the more direct and exposed route to the central chamber. Moving quickly but stealthily, praying that Colonel Archer had been correct that the Temple's fearsome guardians would not be a threat until the end of the ritual, they made their way to the guard/jail area which was surprisingly lowly guarded, with the one guard present easily taken by surprise and subdued. They found some arms in the guard area, as they had hoped, and used them to prepare for what they thought was the oncoming battle against Maxwell, his cultists, and possibly the Tsathogguan guard creatures. They were surprised, however, to find Geraldine in the cell - a little worse for wear but in otherwise good health. The investigators released her from her cell and Geraldine informed them that the ritual had already started and that they needed to hurry to stop it. Guilderoy commented that, according to Colonel Archer, without the sacrifice, the ritual would not be completed and the summoned creature would turn against the summoners - so surely they merely had to escape now that Geraldine was freed. Geraldines's response made Guideroy's blood turn cold - "I was never the sacrifice. The sacrifice is Caroline, your wife." With horror, Guilderoy suddenly recalled that "Maxwell" had been the one to offer to take Caroline to the airport, something he claimed to have done - and the thought had never occurred to Guilderoy, even after the revelation that Maxwell was actually Reynold, that Caroline had been abducted by Reynold instead of being put on a plane to Europe as he'd believed.

The investigators could do little more than rush after Guilderoy who, in a panic, rushed towards the central chamber with little concern for his life. There was no subtlety, nor stealth to their approach. Guilderoy announced his presence entering the room screaming his beloved's name as he fired his revolver at any cultists between them, and the others quickly followed suit. Fortunately, the temple guardians were inactive, standing near the giant statue of Tsathoggua in a wide area that contained an inky darkness that rolled and moved as if alive, and the cultists were momentarily caught by surprise at the ferocity of the attack and slow to react. But, although the guard protection had been light so far, this was a large chamber and there were possibly dozens of cultists present, many of which were either security or otherwise armed, and Caroline was tied to the altar at the most secure point, near the statue. Despite their successful initial assault, the investigators got quickly pinned down behind cover.

Tsathoggua

Even worse, they were too late and the inky darkness between the guardians rolled back to slowly reveal the giant, monstrous form of Tsathoggua itself, so mighty that it made the giant statue seem small in comparison. The human mind was not meant to ever see such horror, and many of the cultists found their minds unable to cope, screaming and running in terror, collapsing into foetal balls, or frozen in place and soiling themselves in terror. Although terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought, the investigators somehow held onto their sanity and took advantage to push forward.

Reynold had completed the ritual, and announced his offering to Tsathoggua as tribute the Lady Caroline, and with a hiss the Old One's snake-like tongue extended, slithering towards Caroline with alarming speed, wrapping itself around Caroline and dragging her screaming towards it's fanged maw. Despite the chaos and threats around him, with singular purpose, Guilderoy reached Caroline, stabbing at Tsathoggua's tongue and shooting at its enormous face with his revolver like a madman. Although the actions caused the Old One to release Caroline, the terrible growl indicated it had released its grip not out of pain, but anger at the insect that dared to confront him. The tongue wrapped itself around Guilderoy's leg and pulled him towards its maw. Despite Guilderoy firing several more rounds, and Caroline grabbing his arm and pulling with all her might, it was futile and the Old One's jaws closed, severing Guilderoy's legs, then continuing to pull him in, devouring him a section at a time, savouring the pleasure of its victim's agony at the slow death by crushing vivisection. As the investigators managed to get to a howling Caroline and pull her back to cover, too late to help Guilderoy, they observed in horror as the Old One regurgitated an oily, bloody mess of viscera and bones which reformed back into the form of Guilderoy, who began screaming once again in fear and horror as the Old One's tongue re-attached itself to him and, once again, dragged him into it's maw to re-enjoy it's meal.

This horrifying process was repeated several times as the Old One seemingly enjoyed toying with Guilderoy's very mortality in such a sadistic, brutal way. It was finally broken, however, as the investigators managed to get Caroline to relative safety and engaged Maxwell and his guards in combat. In the chaos and confusion Dr David Pearce, unbeknownst to the rest of the investigators, obtained the Liber Ivonis which was on the alter by Maxwell, and called out a section of the book - although this was not obvious to anyone until he interposed himself between Tsathoggua and the latest newly- regurgitated/resurrected Guilderoy - and offered himself willingly as sacrifice. By the time the others realised what Dr Pearce was doing (those who noticed his actions initially believed he was attempting to find a way to reverse the ritual), it was too late - as the tongue wrapped itself around Dr Pearce, he looked longingly at Dr Archer and, with a voice full of fear for his impending doom, said that he wished they had been more than friends. Then the Old One pulled him into his maw, devouring him with several slow, sickening crunches. Despite the fear and agony, Dr Pearce did not scream. As the investigators mourned the loss of their friend and managed to reach Guilderoy to pull him away from the Old One, the Old One made a loud hiss and, wordlessly, the oily guardians suddenly lept into action and began attacking the cultists. Moving at tremendous speed and monstrous efficiency, they began eviscerating the cultists in a whirlwind of oil and viscera. The cultists attempted to fight back with guns and knives but it was as though fighting a tsunami by throwing pebbles - none were spared and as Maxwell fought to regain the Liber Ivonis, Jimmy the Jint shot him, wounding him enough to prevent him reaching the book before Marilyn Fox, who took the Liber Ivonis out of his reach. His snarl of rage was promptly cut short by his being dismembered by the oily guardians, and then all went silent.

No cultists remained - all dead and their corpses scattered around the temple. No evidence that any managed to escape could be found. The Old One returned to wherever it came from and its oily servants returned to their resting containers around the alter. Guilderoy and Caroline tearily embraced and the rest of the investigators took a few moments to recollect themselves and come to terms with all they had just witnessed and done.

Epilogue

The Investigators returned to Shadow Pond, grateful to still be alive and having stopped Reynolds - granting Guilderoy and Geraldine some closure in both having achieved justice for their murdered fathers, and for ending their murderer's vile schemes. Using documents found in Maxwell's possessions detailing information about the cultists, Marilyn wrote an article about the hidden cult and its practices, and how the investigators stopped them - although she wisely left out the parts about monsters and summoned Gods, explaining it as a murder-suicide cult ritual gone wrong. The article was a success and led to investigations into the cult's connections, resulting in the arrest of others associated with/aiding the cult, and widespread renown for Marilyn as a journalist.

Geraldine was assigned a new lawyer by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and formally took over possession of the Archer estate, although officially recognising CJ as Colonel Archer's youngest daughter and her next of kin. Geraldine finally allowed herself time to mourn the deaths of her father and Dr Pearce and endeavoured to grow closer to her new sister. Although CJ rejected Geraldine's offer to move into Shadow Pond with her, she nonetheless began spending considerable more time with Geraldine, attempting to build bridges.

Jimmy the Jint got paid, allowing him to pay his secretary and keep his PI business open several more months - and the success of the case (along with Marilyn's article) would result in his business picking up considerably. Guilderoy decided to purchase an estate in Chicago - taking advantage of prestigious manors now up for sale after the deaths and revelations of their owners being cultists (or associated with). A few months later, on October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" hit Wall Street, signalling the beginning of the Great Depression, which led to Guilderoy purchasing or investing in some local businesses, and moving to Chicago permanently with his wife Caroline who, around this time, discovered she was with child.

After a brief mourning period, Geraldine resumed her father's work into investigating the "Cthulhu Mythos". Effectively retiring from her career as an epidemiologist, she began chasing up some of Colonel Archer's leads on the suspected locations of tomes and artefacts, beginning with serious study of the Liber Ivonis and the other Mythos tomes they had obtained from the Cult of Tsathoggua.

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