My Physicist Husband has Gone and Now I'm All Alone in This Black Hole

Before you read further, check out the combat primer we did for the campaign, called The Spooky Church.

Saturday, February, 2nd 1935

Toph Midnight awakens close to midnight, feeling his heart beat oddly. He feels a squeezing, and fears the worst, but controls his breathing, and the symptoms pass...

After a whirwind adventure at a local church, Clarise Midnight convinces her new friends that they could move into the family boarding house, pay a bit of rent, and live like kings. Reginald Van Pelt and Dr. Marcus Wheelwither decide to give it a shot, and spend the rest of the day moving their meager posessions to their new digs, and getting their rooms set up.

Sunday, February 3rd 1935

The group reconvenes in later part of the day, after Van Pelt, Marcus, and Clarise all receive a letter asking them to meet at 5pm at Continental Investigations, to discuss taking on a new job. The three meet back at to Midnight Property, many hour early, and meet Toph for the first time. The two newcomers are understandably curious as to how the blind giant of a man can see so well, but kept it to themselves, as he has quite a sharp tongue.

The group is greeted in the kitchen by Jonah Midnight, the patriarch of the Midnight family. He explains the rules of the house, rent payment, and gives a warning about messing around in the graveyard across the street. He hands out a Midnight Token to each of the tennets, warning them to not lose it. He also mentions that his security dog, Azazal, Guard Dog, would take care of any intruders that tried to enter the house without permission, and also to stay out of the dog's room. He mentions that family guests might be passing through from time to time, and to leave them alone. The old man smacks the twins around when they mouth off during the conversation, and at the end of his mental list, takes off, claiming to be heading for a hot cup of coffee.

Toph takes in the view of the mausoleums across the street. With his sight, he sees a man who seems to be extremely warm. He mentions this to his friends, and they decide to take a look at this person, to see what the fuss is about. When they get to street level, they see the man lay down a boquet of flowers at a large crypt. He starts to the north of the cemetery, and the group casually heads in that direction.

As the group approaches from behind, the man stops, and turns around. He waits for the group to approach. The group makes introductions with the man. "I am Victor Mareau." Victor evades many questions about himself, and his business in town, even telling the group that a beloved friend is buried in the grave. He is interested in Marcus, having recognized the Wheelwither name. But evades where he heard it, but eludes to dealings with them in the past. He warns the group that a man may come seeking him out, and if that were to happen, then to tell this stranger he would be waiting for the stranger at the cemetery. He takes his leave. The group does take a look at the mausoleum, and discovers that there is no name on the outside, but there is some strange writing in an unknown language on the crypt. The group takes a rubbing of the language, and decides to check on it at a later time.

A couple of hours pass, so the group heads to Continental Investigations, to talk to Noel St. Armand. He tells the group that Marian O'Hoolahan has approached the firm for help in finding her missing husband, Dr. James O'Hoolahan. He has been missing for five days, and the wife fears foul play. Mr. O'Hoolahan is a professor at Tulane University, holding the position as head of James had talked about a lucrative private project that he was working on.

Marian claims that she has no knowledge of her husband's current whereabouts, and she fears the worst for him. She offers to let the group inspect her house hoping that they may find something that she has missed.

When the group arrives in Carrolton, Marion leads them to a simple flat apartment. The O'Hoolahan's live on the second story, above a small bistro. The area is alive with the smell of ozone, as wires cross the streets in every which way. Muffled cackling and small, muted explosions can be heard, a sure sign of patent scientists at play. The house interior is simple, if not plain. This small apartment has three rooms, and its own bathroom. The main room, holds a small table, and two chairs, as well as a tiny kitchen. The next room is even smaller, and has a double bed and two half dressers against the walls. The third room, is more of a nook, and has a table and chair, being used as a desk. And, after a thorough search, nothing new is found. Marian mentions that her husband kept a separate lab away from the house, he was always worried about the secrecy of his work. She also mentions hearing about a man named Bigelow, that she remembers seeing a letter about the project that mentioned his name. She mentions that it was not uncommon for him to be gone for multiple days while working, and that she would usually make a lunch to bring to him on the third day. On this occasion, she found the lab empty of her husband, and ransacked of documents and equipment.

As the group approaches the building housing the lab in Storyville, they see the plume of smoke. Fearing the worst, they run over, only to see the ruins of the smoldering building. Officer Julius Craw is managing the on looking crowd, while the fire department finishes up. The group, realizies that any clues left are in ashes, want to get in the building, and attempt to talk to the copper, but are shut down hard. Marion gives her blessing to search the building, and the officer complies, but not until the fire crew is done. Mrs. O'Hoolahan, distraught over her husbands fate, decides to head back home, and leave this matter to the group. While looking around at the crowd, They see a seedy gent, looking pleased with the pile of rubble, and decide to have a friendly chat with him.

They corner the schmuck in a nearby alley, and threaten him into spilling his guts. The stoolie's name is Stevie Bodeaux, and he turns out to be a freelance firebug. He claims he was working for Bigelow, and was with 'the Man' when he raided the professor's lab, and loaded up everything they could into a truck for parts unknown. Stevie was reluctant to mention that 'the Man' had his favorite minions with him, and Stevie only knows one of their names. Brick they call him, cause he once ran through a 2 foot brick wall to take down a guy for 'the Man'. The group scares ol' Stevie into revealing a person who might be able to contact Bigelow, or tell them about the Man. This bartender, Greasy, runs a joint down in Algiers called the Bent Nail, across from Boudreaux's Thrift. He might be able to put the group in touch with Bigelow. The stoolie also has his pockets rifled through, and the group finds the O'Hoolahan Pocket Watch, which seems to do something besides just tell time, and a good amount of cash. They let the stoolie go, and head back to the charred lab.

Officer Craw is less than pleased about some private dicks stomping his turf, but grudgingly lets the group know about some writing on the wall of the lab, behind a book case. The group copies it down in hopes that it could be a clue. The copper also mentions that the professor had a squeeze on the side, named Sally Do-Right. Ol' Sally was a lady of the evening, working at the Grey Cat, around the corner. And, after a small bribe is handed over, the group and the cop part ways a better terms.

The group passes a huge mansion on the way to the Grey Cat, and asks a local working girl about whose house it is. She tells them that it belongs to the woman who runs Storyville, ???. There are numerous thuggish looking types hanging around the house, watching the group that has stopped on the street in front of this mansion. The group, realizing that they are slightly outclassed, move onward.

The Grey Cat is a ol' West -style saloon, where the girls will drink with you for a price, and after that, everything is negotiable. They group requests to see Sally, and get some drinks, and after a while, she saunters down the stairs in a deep red close fitting dress. She sees a full crowd, and after the group explains they want some of her time, she motions them upstairs to the quiet of her room.

The group questions her about the professor, and she sees genuinely upset at his disappearance. She mentions that he had a rival named Madison at Loyola University, and that she fears what he has gotten himself into.

The group decides to saunter over to Tulane, to check out where the professor worked. They bugle their way into the science building, and happen in on the only person still working at night. Dr. Gwen Strat is bending down to pick up a fallen clip board, and also showing off one of her best features, a set of legs that keep on going, man. This genius redhead stares intently at the group, whose jaws have dropped to the floor, and waits for rational thought to continue. When it does, the Dr. realizes that she has met Marcus at faculty functions, though they have rarely talked before. Strat tells the group that the professor was a bit f a nut, and had a long standing rivalry with Madison, that had started back in their youth. Madison's father is the Dean of Sciences at Loyola, so most folk assume some familial influence got Rodger his position in the university.

After the group show Strat the partial equation from the burnt wall, and after she takes some time examining it, she declares the equation to be a part of a larger one she once saw in a paper by Madison. Was O'Hollahan stealing Madison's work?

She tells the group that the paper she saw the equation in was about the viability of building a machine that could transport matter from one place to another.

The group realizes that they will have to talk to the Dean at Loyola in the morning, so they plan an outing to Algiers, to visit a bartender and find out about the man named Bigelow.

After a taxi, a ferry, and another taxi, the group arrives in a dark neighborhood, and feel watched as they exit the cab.

The bar is dark and dank, and upon entering, the bartender, a overly large, and unhygienic man, makes some vulgar comments about Clarise. When Toph responds, the rest of the bar stands, most holding some sort of weapon, and ask the group to leave. Toph pulls out his horn, and gives one of the greatest performances of his life in front of the bar patrons, who instantly fall in love with his creole jazz sound, and everyone settles back down. Most folk in the bar are so mesmerized by the music, that they clamor for more long after he has stopped.

The bartender introduces himself as Greasy, and tells the group that they are welcome anytime, and drinks are free, as long as the music plays once or twice. When they group asks about Bigelow., he responds, 'We's is friends now, don't go runinin a good thing here."

He tells them he wont introduce them until they show him a bit of competence in his world. he does offer to set the group up with a job, and to come by in a few days.

Van Pelt offers has been eyeing a gun on the wall the whole time, and Greasy has noticed. Greasy to trade Van Pelt Roosevelt's Rifle in exchange for a favor later on.

As the rest of the group is leaving, Greasy asks on of the patrons if he is working, and offers to pay the man $50 to help these mooks out now that Bigelow is involved. He wouldn't want his favorite horn player to have to cancel any performances. John Specter agrees to the job, and follows Van pelt back to the house, rents a room, and gets a token and a lecture.

Monday, February, 4th 1935

The next morning is filled with horn playing from Toph's room to wake the group and they ready themselves for a trip to Loyola. The group arrives on campus, and Toph starts to play his horn. Amongst the watching crowd, Specter spots an old acquaintance, named Stick. Stick is a tall drink of water, but tends to be a quiet man. After a bribe of moonshine, the man is very willing to talk. And, he leads the group to the science building. After harassing the students in the science building, and teachers, the dean appears. The dean introduces himself as Geoffrey Madison, and leads the group to his office. He tells the group that his son had been acting erratic as of late, even to the point of missing his classes and appointments. Rodger had mentioned a new project, and needing privacy, but not much else. Now he is missing. The Dean wishes to engage the group for monies to find his son.

He leads the group to the Rodger's lab on the 1st floor, but it had been cleaned out. Geoffrey mentions that his son had a second workspace in the sub basement...

So down two dark floors and stairs (spooky)! They group enters the boiler room/workshop, and sees chaos. The place is trashed, and it looks like there were some things removed. Toph senses that the matter transporter, or a version of it, was here. The group also finds a partially burnt letter describing a million dollar reward in gold for the successful completion of a working prototype, mentioning Bigelow. They find 3 yards of Metallic Cloth, and Madison's Ray-Gun. Seems Madison is a practicing patent Scientist. The Dean brings brings down his son's Teaching Assistant.

Miss Susan Wilson, an innocent, hot TA tells the group that the professor was concerned about his big rival at Tulane, and was going to some family land out of town with his side project to work without any prying eyes. The dean thinks he may know where that is, and wants to check some of his paperwork. he heads up to the office. Meanwhile, Clarise initiate this innocent girl into a more worldly adult culture in a short time. When the dean returns, young susan is sporting considerably less clothing, and has a heat about her, which she vows to express to her friends

The Dean tells the group that the family property must be the one they recently sold to Hexaco at the southern edge of Lake Pontchartrain. The party mounts up in the Dean's car, heading to the property. This takes about an hour.

The group arrives, scoping the palace out, and leaving the Dean in the car for safety reasons. They clear the first floor, manipulate some switches, find a Stone Box, and a stairwell down to the basement. The basement holds a bubble of a water-like substance, with a figure in the center, and a box with a glowing light near the wall. they examine the full room, and see the capital letters JOH. Smeared in the wet dirt close to the bubble. They examine the box, see a switch, and press it. This causes the liquid to collapse, the body hits the floor. So, they look at the body. Find a wallet, and discover that its Rodger Madison. The boys grab the Water Trap

Above, outside, the group hears a familiar voice calling them out to play. When the reach the first floor, they find a large amount of the first floor on fire!! A battle ensues, guns blazing windows breaking, earth moving, blood spilling. The group emerges victoriously.

While looking around, Clarise finds A Fancy Girdle in an unchecked room.

At the end of the day, the pyro and his minions are dead. The group recovers Rodger Madison's body, and clues are pointing to foul play by O'Hoolahan, and Bigelow. The question becomes, where are these two? Is O'Hoolahan still among the living? Why do the locals tell the group to stay clear of Bigelow? And, What could these two be doing with a matter transporter?

Perhaps these questions will be answered when the full group meets again...

But, until then...

During a break in play from the main group, a couple of the guys go on a little side adventure called Still Nights.