ENTRY 5: THE WARNINGS
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Nearly everyone was there this past week- Jonathan, Jim, Elizabeth, and (later
on) Katya experienced all to follow, with Adrian off doing some random British
thing. Later on, they were joined by a new member of the party...

We start on Monday, 26 January. Jim had a break in his fever, so Elizabeth and
Jonathan went to collect him from the hospital. As they were leaving, they
noticed that 2 negro gentlemen watched them. Jim and Jonathan decided to attempt
to pursue these gentelmen, to no avail. News of Beatrice's death was splashed
all over the papers; the public really wanted to hear about the 'Harlem House of
Horrors'. Elizabeth shared the stories of bad dreams she and Katya had been
having since the incident in the JooJoo house; Jonathan and Jim convinced
Elizabeth that the best thing to do was to get to Africa and help the Maasai
(sp?) tribe fight the Cult of the Bloody Tongue. They pursued funding options,
to no avail. Just then, as if god himself were smiling upon them, they were paid
a visit by none other than Alistair Masters, Beatrice's brother (and his money).
Alistair, outraged that the police were doing nothing to explain the death of
his sister, informed the trio that he wanted to help them get to the bottom of
this, and would fund anything they wanted to do. (Provided he could come along,
of course.) With an offer like that, how could they refuse....

Elizabeth, Jim, and Jonathan attempted to persuade Alistair that he should not
come along because of the dangers involved; Alistair won this argument and they
filled him in on the story so far. That evening, Elizabeth had a shockingly
bad dream, in which her pinky was bitten off, and heard Mama Mguana's voice
pulling her out of the dream and telling her she was safe. When she woke up,
her lizard leg was gone, and her pinky finger was in fact bitten, though still
attached. While relating this to her friends (who wisely spent the night in her
apartment, figuring that there is safety in numbers), Jim noticed that the
apartment was being watched. He and Jonathan decided to try and capture the
shadowers (one white, one negro, both male), but failed after some interesting
attempts (including trying to slice the tires of one's car in front of a cop).

Later that morning (which is now Tuesday, 27 January), Alistair went to the
police station and discovered that Poole had been fired, though it was termed as
'taking a leave of absence'. He talked to detective Simms, who took over the
case. He discovered that they won't release Beatrice's body for at least a few
days, and that the police think they have killed the leader of the cult that
killed Beatrice. Alistair convinced Simms to let him talk to the remaining 3
prisoners (these were the gentlemen apprehended at the Joojoo house that were
*not* shot). Their names are Thomas Parsons, Lawrence Morgan, and Robert Morris.
Alistair quickly discovered that they are not members of the cult at all, but
claim (believably) to have been simply customers, shopping.

Somehow sensing that detective Simms hadn't yet been bothered enough, Jim and
Elizabeth also decided to go to the police station. Elizabeth got Simms to
put some cops near her house, watching it. Jim got his guns back.

Lunchtime, Tuesday 27 January: Katya woke up, realized her lizard leg is gone
as well, and everyone got generally freaked out enough to warrant another
visit to Mama Mguana. Elizabeth, Katya, and Jonathan visited her, while Alistair
and Jim tried to figure out what happened to Poole.

There was no waiting to see Mama Mguana this time, and she once again proved a
useful source of information. She told Elizabeth that the people giving her
dreams must be close to her to pose a threat. The gang told Mama Mguana that
they would like to help the Maasai, and asked how they can protect themselves
against the evil dreams. She closed her eyes and stopped breathing for 20
minutes, woke up, and informed the group that she had just spoken with her
teacher in Africa. She said that Maganga was the source of the bad dreams, and
that he could be found at Fat Isabel's. He is the high priest of the Cult of
the Bloody Tongue here in the city, and that if the group took his bowl (made
of copper from above) from him, the dreams would stop. She warned that he was
a strong magician, stronger than herself, and that this was not perhaps the way
to solve the problem. She said that the group had killed their Chicota, so they
were taking the group seriously now. If Elizabeth, Katya, and friends wanted
to help the Maasai, she said, they should travel to places where the Maasai
were not already, and bring information about the cult back to Africa. She said
that the 'city of smoke, cities in China' were good places to go, and then
bade our friends good bye.

As for Alistair and Jim, they managed after much arguing to make it to Poole's
apartment, where they found Poole predictably drunk off of his ass. He was
belligerent, and Jim and Alistair noticed that while his wife was there, the
children were gone. Alistair wisely got Poole worked up and thinking about the
pit, and Poole let out what he saw in the pit- a 'thing of heads'. Among the
heads he saw were those of some of his men, who disappeared working on the case around 2 years ago. Jim convinced Poole, with the help of Alistair, who is very
persuasive, that he should help the gang. Jim then told Poole that the gang is
going after the cult, and Poole laughed at him. Jim strongly suggested that
Alistair should go elsewhere for a little while, so Alstair talked to Poole's
wife. He noticed that she was covered in bruises, and tactfully asked if Poole
had been beating her. Poole's wife told Alistair that the case against the
cult has been going on for years now, and that Poole, while not usually a wife-
beater, did hit her last night after being roused from a nightmare, telling her
that she had 'said something wrong'. She confessed that the kids are at
grandma's, and that she doesn't know what she's going to do about Poole.

Back in the kitched, Jim asked Poole what the heads said to him. Poole got very
upset and told Jim that they told him the were 'hungry'. At about this time,
Alistair came back into the kitchen and gracefully demanded of Poole why he
had been beating his wife, with predictable results. After things died down,
Poole confessed that he had been fired as the 'fall guy' for the 10 men who
didn't come out of the Joojoo house well. He begged to help the gang with
their quest. Continuing the trend of the conversation, Alistair and Jim told
Poole that he must come with them to Africa to stamp out the cult. Poole and his
wife had another fight, but Alistair made it all better by giving Poole's wife a
lot of money. They left Poole's place.

Back at Elizabeth's house, which is home base for now, Elizabeth learned that
Poole also had bad dreams, and shot him full of morphine to take away
the dreams and their associated pain. (Yea, morphine!)

Elizabeth planned to do the same herself once her friends returned from their
jaunt to Fat Isabel's, where they  gained information about their opponent.
At Under the Table, they learned from Jorgana (their friend the bartender) that
Fat Isabel's is a very good fried food restaurant in Harlem. It's on 39th and
6th, a section of Harlem where people live and work. Realizing they would
stand out like sore thumbs, Katya and Jonathan disguised themselves for
the mission. Jim stayed nearby in the car while they cased the restaurant.

Fat Isabel's is indeed a friendly, fried food place. They saw Fat Isabel
herself through the windows. There is a clothing store on one side, an alley
on the other, and apartments above. Katya and Jim decided to explore the alley-
it was full of garbage and rats, but (surprisingly) no people. It led to a
small courtyard in back of the restaurant, where there is a kitchen entrance.

Splitting up (Jonathan front, Katya back), they waited until the restaurant
closed for the night. At almost 11, the last two (Fat Isabel and a very skinny
guy) left, and they picked the locks and entered. They looked *extremely*
thoroughly, and discovered something very strange.....

It's a RESTAURANT!

Back at Elizabeth's, Elizabeth and Katya shot themselves full of morphine and
slept blissfully.

The next morning, Poole woke up, freaked out, went home, and discovered his wife
was missing.

And that's where we leave our stalwart band of adventurers- the morning of
Wednesday, 28 January, 1925.
 
 

Before heading around the globe, there are still the following leads that can
be pursued in the States (I think this is comprehensive, but if I've left
anything out, please tell me):

- The marxist lover of Hypatia Masters, Raoul Pennair
- The Priestess of the CotBT, and what the heck a Chicota is, and the sign
- Bradley Grey of Dunston, Whittlebee & Grey, who represented Erica Carlyle
- Lady patient of Dr. Huston that killed herself just before they left for
  the expedition
- The Penhew Foundation and possible ties there
- The mysterious yacht, whose name begins with DAR
- Victoria Post, who accompanied Erica on her follow up trip to Africa
- Mordecai Lemming, the man Poole consulted about the voodoo aspect of the
  cult murders
- Dr. Huston's patient records (if possible)