The Armitage Files Session Log: Document #2 – Session #7 – Traveling Side Show Freaks
Date At Start Of Game: September 11th, 1935
[Author’s Note: This is the log for the 7th session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be in the exact order that they occurred during play.
Note that for the first two hours of this session we worked on converting all of the characters from Trail Of Cthulhu to Call Of Cthulhu.]
Circus Act
The session opens with the PC gathering at the Hower estate to stop three members of the Clyde Beatty Circus from breaking into the house. Detective Keagan takes the lead by openly walking up the driveway with his shotgun in hand. He spies the three performers on one side of the Hower Mansion. After cycling his shotgun and telling them to freeze two of the burglars raise their hands to surrender. The third large performer, Vladimir, rushes forward in a frenzy! Detective Keegan takes a shot but it goes wide. Tredge moves over to the wall with his bat to block his escape. This time Detective Keegan does not miss. The shot sends Vladimir to his knees. As Tredge approaches to brain the large weightlifter he mutters, “Great Cthulhu will feed!” With that Tredge brains him with his bat knocking him unconscious.
After apprehending the performers they are brought back to the station for questioning. Detective Keagan and Professor Peaslee are in the room while the other PC are watching through a one way window. They first question Harriet Evans. Harriet explains that the circus is failing. They have been losing money at each stop due to poor attendance. Also costs escalated when one of their tigers needed significant medical care. The trio have been committing robberies up and down the eastern seaboard to keep the circus afloat. Their motive operandi is to case a mark at the show. They then follow the mark home or pick their pocket to get their address. After getting the address they case the house. The next night they commit the robbery. They focus on small high value items only. Jewelry, small antiques, and rare artwork are what they try to steal. Vladimir has a brother in Moscow who he mails the items for fencing in Russia. The brother then send them money for the item after taking a cut.
The PC next ask what Harriet knows about “Cthulhu”. She does not know anything about Cthulhu and does not know what made Vladimir so crazed. Harriet also mentions that they normally don’t pull jobs so quickly but Vladimir did not want to wait.
Next the PC ask about the black book with the strange symbol on the cover. Harriet explains that in Boston they robbed the house of a man named “Jahraus”. One of the items they made off with was a small wooden box. Inside was a set of golden scales. When they accidentally dropped the box a hidden compartment popped open. Inside was this strange black book. The language looked like it might be Italian so they showed it to Claudia (aka the fortune teller). She told them it was Latin not Italian. Claudia could only make out a few words but it seemed old and valuable. When the PC started asking about it at the circus Harriet gave the book to Claudia to sell. They should talk with Claudia to see if she was able to actually sell it.
Questioning Sergei does not reveal anything additional of interest except that Vladimir’s brother is named Yuriy. The PC have not yet attempted to question Vladimir who is still out cold.
At this point the PC began to weigh their options…
Date At End Of Game: September 12th, 1935
