Mal does a slow spin in the center of the room, noting the out-of-place elements in what was a largely orderly life. The loamy smell, of course, was familiar now – familiar, but still odd. The even layer of dustiness surprises him. The professor had been dead for days, not months. Mal pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and moves first to the desk to examine the scrawl in the open notebook.
Was the professor penning something when he keeled over? The notebook was set aside, so probably not. But it may say something about what he was thinking.
Next, he moves to the bookshelf, looking at the spines of the misaligned books, curious about their titles. He uses his handkerchief to pull them out, ready to flip through the tomes - if necessary - to see what secrets they might hold. He also glances into the space they leave on the shelf, curious if anything is behind them.
After satisfying his curiosity there, Mal proceeds to examine the wall with the spiderweb of cracks near the door – trying to determine if it was new damage (showing fresh plaster beneath or plaster dust on the floor) and speculating on what might have caused it.
With time running short, he returns to the task at hand. He pulls the suitcase from beneath the desk and puts it aside. What’s this? The flower draws his interest. He examines it closely without touching it. Botany wasn’t his field but having foraged in the woods to survive, he picked up a fact or three about edible versus poisonous plants. And the professor’s unexplained death made him immediately think of poison.
Natural World 10% (5/2):1d100 ⇒ 3Hard Success!
Mal presses and pushes on the floorboards around the plant to see if they are loose. He quickly rifles through the desk for a letter-opener, on the off chance he needs to pry a board up.
Perhaps the professor was hiding a little garden beneath his floor? It would certainly explain the constant smell of turned earth.
He pauses briefly when he finds the personal curios in the bottom drawer: A copy of The Columbiad - the university yearbook - from Farnwright’s first year as a full professor; A small stack of photos with the professor and other faculty members chatting at some university function or another; a photo of the professor lecturing students; a couple souvenir programs from the yearly Columbia vs Cornell football game; and a gold tassel for a mortarboard.
Keeper wrote:
Malcolm, how do we know the professor loved working at the University?
I’m not sure we could determine he ‘loved’ working there except as a reflection of how central the university was to his life. I’ve added the curios in his desk to reflect that.
Malcolm is too distracted by the logistics of the day to worry about the strange building. He checks his watch – nearly 3pm. Taking the El was about 45 minutes each way. So, he’d be back at Columbia by 4pm. He’d pick up the suitcase and then almost immediately catch the El again to be at Voisin by 5. Then, he’d need to leave the wake around 7 to arrive at the internment by 8pm.
Mal’s plan is broad strokes: get the suitcase, get to Voisin for the wake, get to the internment.
Malcolm frowns. ”How he died might have some bearing on what we’ve been asked to look into. Miss Dunn found the Professor. She must have a few details the police are withholding. She didn’t take a shine to me but perhaps one of you more gregarious gentlemen would have better luck.”
Puzzlement crosses his face as Mal reads the letter no less than three times. His eyes reveal no sense of illumination after the final reading. ”I need to retrieve a case from his office at Columbia. Like you all, more documents to review.” He’s glad Ms. Warden wasn’t close with Farnwright because Mal is about to be indelicate. He looks at the lawyer, ”What were the circumstances of the Professor’s death?”
It’s a short walk from Columbia to the IRT El 116th St-Broadway station. Malcolm enjoys the pretty, less congested, view of the city from the elevated tracks of the subway train - even in the gloomy weather. An hour or so later, he steps off the train at the Bowling Green station. From there it is a short walk to 40 Wall St. But he has plenty of time to meander around before the meeting, so his trek becomes something of an easy amble as he looks around the southern end of Manhattan.
Mal hadn't meant to make the assistant bolt, but clearly his winning personality had won her over. He watches her leave. With nothing else keeping him here, he decides to step out and get some air.
I'm good to move on but no rush if any of our socially-skilled characters want to do their thing.
The discordant tenor of the comments circulating through the room reach Mal’s ears. He hands the saucer and coffee cup to the assistant while waving off her apology. ”There’s no reason you should remember me. I expect you were busy making all of the arrangements in the professor’s itinerary. I was just one of many balls you were juggling.”
Ms. Dunn wrote:
”…[it] was quite the interesting haul back, if I am recalling correctly." she says, seeming to ease into the conversation as Malcolm goes on. "You mentioned being his pilot, how well did you know the professor?"
”I can’t speak to the professor’s discoveries in Ur… but the trip had some 'exciting' moments, yes.” He considers her question, then responds more quietly. ”Honestly, I don’t feel I knew the professor that well… but, at times, strong bonds are formed when two people share hardships. There were some ‘incidents’ around Ur. We exchanged some words with unfriendly locals… and a few bullets. That’s a confidence I hope you will keep.”
He continues in a slightly less confidential (but still quiet) tone. ”I was somewhat surprised to be invited today. I hadn’t even heard of the professor’s death until I received the invitation. I don’t even know the circumstances of his passing.” Mal leaves the comment hanging, hoping Ms. Dunn would provide a few details.
Let me know if there is some roll I should include.
The professor's most recent assistant is obviously a shy woman, and has somehow found a spare corner to herself amongst the chaos of the cramped hall.
Malcolm could only take New York City in small doses for just these reasons – teeming crowds and the loudness. It all felt smothering and claustrophobic. The press of people at the reception, the amplification of every sound, and the stifling weight of the low ceilings were a microcosm of everything that drove him from the city itself. In an act of self-preservation, he moves away from the center of the room and the throngs of mourners, covering his strategic retreat by grabbing a cup of coffee and a few tea sandwiches from the tables set against the wall.
He hovers at the periphery of the room, feeling trapped, and finds himself slowly navigating toward the exit. Instinct trumping reason. He notices the professor’s assistant has cleverly carved out a small and relatively calm space for herself. He might find some relief there, otherwise his feet would drag him out the door. He approaches the lady slowly and does his best not to press into her sanctuary more than necessary.
He addresses her quietly, ”It’s Ms. Dunn, isn’t it? I’m Malcolm Strom. I worked with the professor a few years back, maybe you remember? He was working at Ur? In Mesopotamia… or rather Iraq now. I was his pilot. We spoke on the phone a few times and met in passing at his office once or twice?” He asks, hoping she remembers but not expecting she would. He presses on, ”I just wanted to offer my condolences. I enjoyed working with the professor and I hope you did as well." Struggling to offer more than kind words, he adds, "Can I be of some service, Ms. Dunn?” He holds up the cup of coffee and the plate of sandwiches. ”Would you like either? I haven’t touched them. Or if there is something else you’d prefer from the table, I’ll bravely attempt to fight through this crush of people to fetch it for you.” The ghost of a smile crosses his face.
Mal rises and shuffles out with the crowd. He only recognizes a few people in the group of mourners… and even fewer would recognize him. Ms. Dunn might. He spoke with her enough about Prof’s travel needs, and they’d actually met at his office a time or two. If matters became too awkward at the reception, he could likely chat with her without it feeling too forced.
Malcolm thinks he recognizes the wafting smell. He takes a closer look at the pallbearers as they carry the coffin past – specifically their pants and shoes – seeing if that can account for the unusual scent.
Between the strange smell, curious eulogy, the unsettled mourners’ reactions to it, and the conspicuous presence of the hovering flatfoot… Mal has more than a few reasons to wonder what exactly is happening here, and what happened to the Professor. If he died of natural causes, why would the police be here?
Mal glances a bit more closely at the folks in his eye line: Dean Harrow, the veiled girl in the front row who must be family, Father Thorne, Prof's assistant Ms. Dunn (if Mal recalls correctly), and Dr. Keats. He hopes something in their reactions will provide a clue. He wasn’t fond of surprises and this day seemed full of them. He also glances down surreptitiously, making sure his woolen coat is still closed and doesn’t obviously reveal the bulge of the holstered .45 beneath his right arm. He was technically violating the Sullivan Act at this moment, which could make for a very awkward conversation with the cop lingering around the periphery of the funeral.
Well, now that you've mentioned the hat, how can I not see it? :P Actually, I don't find it distracting at all.
I think there are some skill overlaps but most of them seem reasonable... like skills you may want more than one player to have, just in case - Listen, Spot Hidden, etc.
I'm fine with there being gaps in our skills, I'm just hoping we're not missing a really obvious skill (to experienced players) that only newbs forget to pick up. I did notice none of us has Locksmith, for instance.
CoC Smarties wrote:
Survival isn't really the goal in a Cthulhu game, revelation and role playing are. That said, spreading your skills thin in the hope you can at least attempt to do anything is not a good strategy. Characters should have at least a few skills they're 60+ in. If it were me I'd want 1 interpersonal skill up that high, 1 detection skill up that high (e.g. Psych, Listen, Spot, Stealth) and 1 knowledge skill up that high (includes the repairs etc). I lump combat skills (and dodge) with tactical support skills like drive auto and first aid and physical skills like climb, jump etc.
This all seems valid to me and my character fits that criteria... so I'm cautiously hopeful that I did a decent job building him.
CoF, I appreciate the warning and I don't flinch at seriously dark and/or mature themes happening.
Malcolm pulls his collar up and ducks deeper into the long woolen coat, trying to ward off the cold as he angles towards the chapel. Though unpleasant, the weather worked in his favor. He’d landed in the northern meadow of Central Park, presumably part of the scheduled barnstorming event for this weekend. The fog and cold all but guaranteed no locals (and few aviators) would want to go aloft today. He’d parked his drab bird alongside a few more garish cousins, exchanged his flying gear for a normal coat and cap, secured the waxed canvas cockpit cover, and made the shortish trek to the university.
He glances at the university attendants as he mounts the steps to the chapel and passes between them with a nod. Once inside, he pulls off his cap and quickly hand-combs his hair trying to make sure it is neat, since it won’t be stylish. He stuffs the cap in his pocket and looks around. Doubting he’ll spot anyone he knows, his second order of business is to find a seat, neither up front nor in the back. Being up front and not part of the grieving family said something, as did picking a spot in the back. Neither was a message he wanted to convey.
At the Sweeny Aerodrome (he hadn’t gotten used to calling it an ‘Airport’ yet), Mal taxies the Curtiss biplane past the hangar for the fledgling US Air Mail Service. He notes the impressive number of Curtisses waiting there. Of course, most of them have already given up their second seats for mail storage and extra fuel. Still, they were ‘sister’ planes to his own and with aviators – being a fraternity of sorts – he gives the pilots and crews a brief wave as he checks the windsock atop the building.
With the sky and field empty of approaching aircraft, Mal turns the plane’s nose into the wind and throttles up. The biplane leaps in response, roars across the hard-packed earth, bounces a few times, and then claws its way into the sky, the powerful Hispano-Suiza engine defying gravity with savage determination. Once airborne and climbing, Mal banks the craft lazily west until they are over the Hudson. He continues the turn until the river stretches out like a wide road before them. Heading south, the Hudson will lead them all the way to New York. Despite having kitted the Curtiss out with the latest aeronautical equipment, Mal trusts his ears – as they all did in the Great War – to tell him their speed. From the high pitch ‘singing’ of the support wires, he pegs their speed at 70-ish miles per hours. He glances at the airspeed gauge which counters with 75 mph. Regardless of who is right or wrong, they’ll be landing in less than an hour… giving Mal some time to ponder why ‘Prof’ Farnwright had included him in his will.
The two useful (I think) skills I'm seeing that none of us has thrown points into are:
First Aid - but the base is 30% so maybe that's not a big deal?
Psychoanalysis - this skill is good for helping people recover Sanity points over time. For the folks with CoC experience... is this a useful skill or do you normally hire a psychologist to treat folks that are about to crack? IF this is a good skill to take, my character went through intensive therapy so it could make sense that he picked up this skill. I'm happy to shuffle some points around to give us better than 1% chance on this. What do you think?
Are you looking for 'tips' on how the system works or what you should specifically buy?
I plugged your CR of 75% into Hero Lab and it comes to:
Spending Level: $50 (this is kind of like your Per Diem - if you spend less than this, you don't really need to track it)
Cash: $375 (this is the money in your wallet right now.)
Assets: $37,500 (this is basically your savings account, etc.)
The Investigator's Handbook has lists of goods and prices.
It seems like a lot of regular, low cost, items (below your Spending Level) can be hand-waived as being in your possession... Luggage with a range of clothing? Check! Toiletries kit? Check! Given your CR, Howard probably has a silk smoking jacket and fine Turkish tobacco, too. :)
When you start buying expensive stuff that's when you need to consider tracking it. A Duesenburg J (fine car) costs like $20,000. In that case, you should reduce your total Assets by that amount. If you wanted to buy a shotgun (worth $50), you could probably pay for it out of your Cash or your Assets.
But the Keeper has the final say on all that. I made a few big ticket purchases that fit my character but are well above my Spending Level and Cash... so I accounted for everything I wanted to buy (because I'm just too used to PF) and reduced my Assets by that amount.
Presumably, we are just attending a funeral and will reading in NYC. Since you are coming from MA, you probably have luggage and personal effects. After that, I guess it comes down to how your character likes to travel and other stuff he'd bring with him.
About me... I'm a long-time RPGer and consider it a team sport. So, I'm into the teamwork aspects of the game and I'm happy to tweak my build to shore up weaknesses our team may have.
Malcolm ‘Mal’ Strom stands a hair over 5’9” and is on the slender side (Size 60). He isn’t an imposing man, in any sense of that word. He has recently clocked – but not celebrated – his 32nd year.
Mal is a generally quiet and introspective man. At parties, he gravitates to the outskirts of the room to either enjoy a private conversation or simply to observe the happenings around him.
He makes no secret of his career. Mal is a barnstormer (when money is tight) and pilot-for-hire – cargo or people – when the price is right. He has no qualms about setting a plane down in ‘adverse situations’. And that is how his professional relationship with the curious Professor Farnwright began. The archaeologist needed a sharp-eyed pilot to shuttle him between remote and hard-to-access dig sites in north Africa and the near east. Mal had the skills, the wherewithal, a passing knowledge of Arabic which could smooth the way at times, and a familiarity with weapons when language skills failed. The relationship profited them both.
The rest will be spoilered for the Keeper. I'm still building it.
