The investigators are as follow, Luis is playing Artie Gumshoe, Sarah is playing Rachel Hemingway, Jayson is playing Dr. Warren Bedford, and finally, Andy is playing Dr. Thomas Hooper. Since Andy had to work, he didn't arrive until they were ready to enter the house.
Beginnings
Now being a prominent private investigator as he was, Artie Gumshoe had worked with Rachel Hemingway before on one of her newspaper stories for the Boston Globe, where she works. She had also worked with Dr. Warren Bedford on some occult thing in the past dealing with a cult from Europe, and since Dr. Bedford is a Professor of European History at the University of Massachusetts, she asked him for help researching the cult. Dr. Bedford knows of Dr. Thomas Hooper, who is also a professor at the university, and asked him for help researching as well on that story. Now Artie actually has met Dr. Bedford before on a case he was investigating. The four of them regularly socialize at the Coconut Grove, a jazz club in Boston. Artie tends to talk a lot when at the club, so it isn't unknown that he's a private investigator for hire.
Now, Jackson Worthington also frequents the Coconut Grove and overheard Artie one night and one of Artie's stories stuck in Jackson's mind. So when a Mr. Anthony Worthington, Jackson's uncle, called Artie to hire him to investigate the Corbitt house, a newly purchased residence of Mr. Worthington's, Artie and the group accepted Worthington's offer to investigate and examine the old Corbitt house in central Boston.
Worthington set up a meeting with the investigators at his office in an apartment building across the street from the Coconut Grove via a telephone call, but gave the address to the house accidentally. He told that he had recently purchased the house, a really good deal, and wanted the investigators to examine the house to squelch the rumors of the house being haunted. He also let the investigators know that the last owners, the Macario family, were currently hospitalized at Roxbury Sanitarium where the husband and wife were and the two boys were staying with relatives. Mr. Worthington says he'll pay $20 per day and $100 when they finish their investigation. He also gives them a $50 retainer and leaves the rest up to them. He tells them that they can contact him at his office if they need to. Mr. Worthington also gave the keys to the house to Artie.
Artie drove by the house before meeting with Mr. Worthington and the others, he didn't see anything special.
Investigations
Now the investigators had an idea to search for news and records on the Macario and the Corbitt names. Dr. Bedford searched the main library at the university while Ms. Hemingway searched the morgue, the place where the newspaper kept their clippings files. Ms. Hemingway found stories on the Macarios, but it didn't contain any information that they didn't already know, however, she found clippings on a 1918 feature story that was never published stating that in 1880 a family of French immigrants moved into the Corbitt house, but after a bunch of violent accidents killed the parents and maimed three children. The house had long stood empty. Rachel also found a story about another family that moved into the house in 1909 whom fell ill right after moving in within a few days. The oldest brother of that same family killed himself after going mad with a kitchen knife and the family moved out, heartbroken. The final story that Rachel found was about a third family that occupied the house in 1917, but they left within a few days after everyone got sick at the same time. Rachel tried bribing and flirting with the male clerk that was working in the morgue organizing and performing duties such as a librarian would, but ended up pissing the guy off so much he helped her just to get rid of her. The clerk told her that although there weren't any files older than 1878, there might be records of it elsewhere from before that year.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bedford searched the main library at the university and found that a Mr. Walter Corbitt was sued by his neighbors, who petitioned to make him leave the area "in consequence of his sic habits and unauspicious demeanor." After he found this file, which took him four hours, he contacted Rachel to come help him do research. Rachel showed up and helped Dr. Bedford search, but only found out that a prosperous merchant built the house, but got sick and sold the house to Mr. Walter Corbitt, esquire after eight hours. Dr. Bedford had better luck in those eight hours though. He found that Corbitt won the lawsuit and that his obituary in 1866 states he still lived there. It also stated that a second lawsuit was filed against him to stop him from being buried in his basement, which was stated in his will. Dr. Bedford also found out that there was no outcome to the second lawsuit filed.
The investigators end up going to the Hall of Records, they pass through security and find civil court records that state that Reverend Michael Thomas was the executor of Mr. Corbitt's will and pastor of the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets. The register of churches, also located in the Hall of Records, shows that the Chapel of Contemplation closed in 1912. They look for the chapel in criminal court records, but don't find any. Artie chirps in and tells the rest that serious crimes would be handled in the county, commonwealth, or federal court system and those records would probably be kept at the Central Police Station and High Court House, both in the same building.
The group finally makes their way to the Central Police Station and end up having to bribe the security guard to the records room $10 each. After getting into the room, which is huge, they are surprised by a female secretary who tells them how the room is organized and that the Cs are in the corner which she pointed to. In the records they find out about a secret raid on the Chapel of Contemplation that was occasioned by affidavits telling that members of the church were blamed for the missing neighborhood children. In the raid, three cops and seventeen cult members were killed by guns or fire. There were no autopsy files that stated anything significantly outstanding since it almost looks like they didn't even perform any, such is the quality of the autopsy reports. Though 54 members of the chapel were arrested originally, only eight were held. The records hinted of illegal procedures performed during the proceedings that intervened by officials who were important locally which sort of explains why the biggest criminal action the cops have ever done never was written about in any media, ever. The records also stated that Pastor Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but escaped in 1917. He was charged on five counts of second-degree murder.
The Neighborhood
Being ready to check out the house now, the investigators go to the house and see a newsstand down at the corner of the block. Dr. Bedford went and talked with the newspaper and cigar vendor and found out that he didn't know anything about the house, except that it was recently purchased. Rachel went and talked with him and found out that the Chapel of Contemplation was a couple blocks up the road.
Dr. Bedford had called Dr. Hooper and told him to meet them outside the house. He gave the address.
The Chapel of Contemplation
The investigators drove up to the chapel and immediately started feeling ill. They investigated the grounds and found the symbol of the church.
Two of the investigators fell through some rotten floor boards and discovered a rotten copy of Liber Ivonis bound in animal hide, upon further inspection, it is deduced that it is actually bound in human flesh. A journal of cult activities is also found that states that Walter Corbitt is buried in his basement "in accordance with his wishes and with the wishes of that one who waits in the dark."
The investigators go back to the Corbitt house.
The Old Corbitt Place
The investigators go to the house and park in front on the road.
They investigate the front of the house and find all the windows nailed shut from the inside. The front door, which is located on the side of the house and leads into the hallway on the ground floor was locked. Luckily, Mr. Worthington had given the keys to Artie. They entered through the door and Artie was the first through and went straight into the living room. He notices an unusual abundance of crosses, images of the Virgin, and other Catholic religious artifacts, but is intrigued by a painting on the wall that makes him feel uneasy. He makes out the name of the artist, Nelson Blakely. Followed closely by Dr. Hooper who went straight into the dining room. Thomas removes the cover of the tureen on the table and the smell is enough for him to vomit. He feels the need for fresh air. Rachel was next, who stopped in the living room to investigate all the religious icons found by Artie. Finally, Dr. Bedford went and searched the the first door in the hallway. Amongst the storage boxes, rusted water tank and old bicycles, he finds three leather journals. Artie continues on to the kitchen through the hallway, the smell of the dining room deterring his passage through that room and finds a wood stove and a larder with some edible canned foods, spoor of rats and some bottle of wine. Dr. Hooper leaves the dining room and goes into the hallway and gets some fresh air by the front door and jams something into the door jamb preventing it from closing. Rachel takes a look at the picture. Dr. Bedford heads to the second door in the hallway and finds another storage closet mostly filled with pieces of wood for burning. Artie then picks up the wood stove poker and heads out to the hallway. Dr. Hooper heads to the third door in the hallway and finds the mud room where hung upon hangers are overcoats, some galoshes on the floor, some hats on the top shelf and a few umbrellas along with several bags of coal for the living room's free-standing stove are on the floor opposite the boots. Rachel and Dr. Bedford come up and form a line behind Artie. Just then, while they are discussing on whether or not to head upstairs or see what's behind the door, assuming stairs down to the basement, Rachel hears scratching sounds coming from upstairs.
The group goes upstairs and investigates. Artie goes first, and finds himself at the top of the stairs and heads to the first door on his left. It opens up into a bathroom. Dr. Hooper comes up next and heads to the first door on his left in the hallway (I reversed the order of the rooms, so that room 3 was actually room 1 and vice versa). He found the master bedroom that belonged to Vittorio and Gabriela Marcario. Rachel came up behind him and searched room two, finding it containing toys suitable for little boys. Dr. Bedford brought up the rear and went straight to the final room. He found some weird scratches on the floor under the bed frame with the bare bed springs and called out for the group to look at them. Artie, being next up in the initiative, headed for the last room in the hallway. Meanwhile, Dr. Hooper heard something coming from the bathroom and headed there. He was looking in the lavatory and noticed a dark substance starting to pool to a point on the ceiling. He pulled out his pocket camera to take a picture of it, and right when he was to snap the picture, the liquid fell on the lens of the camera. He looked at the liquid on camera and saw that it was red and smelled of blood. He nearly fainted by the thought of blood dripping from the ceiling and called for reinforcements. All the while Rachel, eavesdropping on the conversation between Artie and Dr. Bedford, heard scratching coming from the window in the room she was currently in. Dr. Bedford remained in the last room discussing with Artie and searching for a trap door in the floor. Artie, hearing the calls of Dr. Hooper, heads to the loo and finds nothing wrong. Dr. Hooper asks Artie if he can see the blood on the camera. Artie replies that he cannot. Rachel stares at the window that's making the scratching sounds. Meanwhile, the bed in the third room starts vibrating and shaking uncontrollably on the floor, slowly moving towards and blocking the door. Dr. Bedford, being unnerved by the bed, moves towards the window and looks out to see how far a drop it is, thinking about climbing down, and is surprised when he is pushed out the window and falls to the ground below. Hearing the crash, Artie runs to the room and sees the broken window and looks to the ground where Dr. Bedford fell and is pushed out the window as well, failing to cling to the window ledge, barely misses falling atop Dr. Bedford. Dr. Hooper, having heard the commotion, heads down the stairs and out to where the two have fallen, planning on performing some first aid. Rachel, being alone upstairs now sees the walls with streams of blood flowing up to the ceiling defying gravity which bewilders her and as she runs out of the boy's room, heads to the last room instead of towards the stairs and looks out the window to see how everyone is doing when she is also pushed out the window, landing on Dr. Bedford.
Suffice it to say, they were in pretty bad shape at this point, but were loving the game, so I allowed them to roll their own characters, which we'll do in two weeks and the proverbial torch will pass to the new investigators while these recover in the hospital. This is what happened. I apologize for my earlier rant. I was upset.
Until next time, have fun and game safe.
Beginnings
Now being a prominent private investigator as he was, Artie Gumshoe had worked with Rachel Hemingway before on one of her newspaper stories for the Boston Globe, where she works. She had also worked with Dr. Warren Bedford on some occult thing in the past dealing with a cult from Europe, and since Dr. Bedford is a Professor of European History at the University of Massachusetts, she asked him for help researching the cult. Dr. Bedford knows of Dr. Thomas Hooper, who is also a professor at the university, and asked him for help researching as well on that story. Now Artie actually has met Dr. Bedford before on a case he was investigating. The four of them regularly socialize at the Coconut Grove, a jazz club in Boston. Artie tends to talk a lot when at the club, so it isn't unknown that he's a private investigator for hire.
Now, Jackson Worthington also frequents the Coconut Grove and overheard Artie one night and one of Artie's stories stuck in Jackson's mind. So when a Mr. Anthony Worthington, Jackson's uncle, called Artie to hire him to investigate the Corbitt house, a newly purchased residence of Mr. Worthington's, Artie and the group accepted Worthington's offer to investigate and examine the old Corbitt house in central Boston.
Worthington set up a meeting with the investigators at his office in an apartment building across the street from the Coconut Grove via a telephone call, but gave the address to the house accidentally. He told that he had recently purchased the house, a really good deal, and wanted the investigators to examine the house to squelch the rumors of the house being haunted. He also let the investigators know that the last owners, the Macario family, were currently hospitalized at Roxbury Sanitarium where the husband and wife were and the two boys were staying with relatives. Mr. Worthington says he'll pay $20 per day and $100 when they finish their investigation. He also gives them a $50 retainer and leaves the rest up to them. He tells them that they can contact him at his office if they need to. Mr. Worthington also gave the keys to the house to Artie.
Artie drove by the house before meeting with Mr. Worthington and the others, he didn't see anything special.
Investigations
Now the investigators had an idea to search for news and records on the Macario and the Corbitt names. Dr. Bedford searched the main library at the university while Ms. Hemingway searched the morgue, the place where the newspaper kept their clippings files. Ms. Hemingway found stories on the Macarios, but it didn't contain any information that they didn't already know, however, she found clippings on a 1918 feature story that was never published stating that in 1880 a family of French immigrants moved into the Corbitt house, but after a bunch of violent accidents killed the parents and maimed three children. The house had long stood empty. Rachel also found a story about another family that moved into the house in 1909 whom fell ill right after moving in within a few days. The oldest brother of that same family killed himself after going mad with a kitchen knife and the family moved out, heartbroken. The final story that Rachel found was about a third family that occupied the house in 1917, but they left within a few days after everyone got sick at the same time. Rachel tried bribing and flirting with the male clerk that was working in the morgue organizing and performing duties such as a librarian would, but ended up pissing the guy off so much he helped her just to get rid of her. The clerk told her that although there weren't any files older than 1878, there might be records of it elsewhere from before that year.
Meanwhile, Dr. Bedford searched the main library at the university and found that a Mr. Walter Corbitt was sued by his neighbors, who petitioned to make him leave the area "in consequence of his sic habits and unauspicious demeanor." After he found this file, which took him four hours, he contacted Rachel to come help him do research. Rachel showed up and helped Dr. Bedford search, but only found out that a prosperous merchant built the house, but got sick and sold the house to Mr. Walter Corbitt, esquire after eight hours. Dr. Bedford had better luck in those eight hours though. He found that Corbitt won the lawsuit and that his obituary in 1866 states he still lived there. It also stated that a second lawsuit was filed against him to stop him from being buried in his basement, which was stated in his will. Dr. Bedford also found out that there was no outcome to the second lawsuit filed.
The investigators end up going to the Hall of Records, they pass through security and find civil court records that state that Reverend Michael Thomas was the executor of Mr. Corbitt's will and pastor of the Chapel of Contemplation & Church of Our Lord Granter of Secrets. The register of churches, also located in the Hall of Records, shows that the Chapel of Contemplation closed in 1912. They look for the chapel in criminal court records, but don't find any. Artie chirps in and tells the rest that serious crimes would be handled in the county, commonwealth, or federal court system and those records would probably be kept at the Central Police Station and High Court House, both in the same building.
The group finally makes their way to the Central Police Station and end up having to bribe the security guard to the records room $10 each. After getting into the room, which is huge, they are surprised by a female secretary who tells them how the room is organized and that the Cs are in the corner which she pointed to. In the records they find out about a secret raid on the Chapel of Contemplation that was occasioned by affidavits telling that members of the church were blamed for the missing neighborhood children. In the raid, three cops and seventeen cult members were killed by guns or fire. There were no autopsy files that stated anything significantly outstanding since it almost looks like they didn't even perform any, such is the quality of the autopsy reports. Though 54 members of the chapel were arrested originally, only eight were held. The records hinted of illegal procedures performed during the proceedings that intervened by officials who were important locally which sort of explains why the biggest criminal action the cops have ever done never was written about in any media, ever. The records also stated that Pastor Thomas was arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but escaped in 1917. He was charged on five counts of second-degree murder.
The Neighborhood
Being ready to check out the house now, the investigators go to the house and see a newsstand down at the corner of the block. Dr. Bedford went and talked with the newspaper and cigar vendor and found out that he didn't know anything about the house, except that it was recently purchased. Rachel went and talked with him and found out that the Chapel of Contemplation was a couple blocks up the road.
Dr. Bedford had called Dr. Hooper and told him to meet them outside the house. He gave the address.
The Chapel of Contemplation
The investigators drove up to the chapel and immediately started feeling ill. They investigated the grounds and found the symbol of the church.
 |
| The symbol in the Chapel of Contemplation |
The investigators go back to the Corbitt house.
The Old Corbitt Place
The investigators go to the house and park in front on the road.
 |
| The Corbitt House The road is towards the bottom of the page. |
The group goes upstairs and investigates. Artie goes first, and finds himself at the top of the stairs and heads to the first door on his left. It opens up into a bathroom. Dr. Hooper comes up next and heads to the first door on his left in the hallway (I reversed the order of the rooms, so that room 3 was actually room 1 and vice versa). He found the master bedroom that belonged to Vittorio and Gabriela Marcario. Rachel came up behind him and searched room two, finding it containing toys suitable for little boys. Dr. Bedford brought up the rear and went straight to the final room. He found some weird scratches on the floor under the bed frame with the bare bed springs and called out for the group to look at them. Artie, being next up in the initiative, headed for the last room in the hallway. Meanwhile, Dr. Hooper heard something coming from the bathroom and headed there. He was looking in the lavatory and noticed a dark substance starting to pool to a point on the ceiling. He pulled out his pocket camera to take a picture of it, and right when he was to snap the picture, the liquid fell on the lens of the camera. He looked at the liquid on camera and saw that it was red and smelled of blood. He nearly fainted by the thought of blood dripping from the ceiling and called for reinforcements. All the while Rachel, eavesdropping on the conversation between Artie and Dr. Bedford, heard scratching coming from the window in the room she was currently in. Dr. Bedford remained in the last room discussing with Artie and searching for a trap door in the floor. Artie, hearing the calls of Dr. Hooper, heads to the loo and finds nothing wrong. Dr. Hooper asks Artie if he can see the blood on the camera. Artie replies that he cannot. Rachel stares at the window that's making the scratching sounds. Meanwhile, the bed in the third room starts vibrating and shaking uncontrollably on the floor, slowly moving towards and blocking the door. Dr. Bedford, being unnerved by the bed, moves towards the window and looks out to see how far a drop it is, thinking about climbing down, and is surprised when he is pushed out the window and falls to the ground below. Hearing the crash, Artie runs to the room and sees the broken window and looks to the ground where Dr. Bedford fell and is pushed out the window as well, failing to cling to the window ledge, barely misses falling atop Dr. Bedford. Dr. Hooper, having heard the commotion, heads down the stairs and out to where the two have fallen, planning on performing some first aid. Rachel, being alone upstairs now sees the walls with streams of blood flowing up to the ceiling defying gravity which bewilders her and as she runs out of the boy's room, heads to the last room instead of towards the stairs and looks out the window to see how everyone is doing when she is also pushed out the window, landing on Dr. Bedford.
Suffice it to say, they were in pretty bad shape at this point, but were loving the game, so I allowed them to roll their own characters, which we'll do in two weeks and the proverbial torch will pass to the new investigators while these recover in the hospital. This is what happened. I apologize for my earlier rant. I was upset.
Until next time, have fun and game safe.
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