Event:1925/01/21 Evil Portents

All the investigators dream the same dream. They are in the Chelsea Hotel the night of Jackson's murder, but it's different in the way dreams often are. The place is trashed / ransacked. They hear the same music that was playing from the apartment down the hall, but looking in, the people in that room are all dead and bear the mark of the Bloody Tongue. Moving to Jackson's room, they find the exterior wall broken down, and the smells of ozone, chlorine, and sulfur filling the space. There is a red sun low in the sky, and the sounds of artillery fire can be heard in the distance. Looking out, they see heaps of bodies stacked like cord wood upon which things with 2 legs that are clearly not men clamber over. Their eyes are drawn to a 3-legged titan striding toward them, clawing appendages swinging, it's head a bloody tongue. They realize the sounds of artillery fire are just the titan's footsteps. Doom overtakes them as they awaken.

Elise and Victor hear a strange whooshing sound outside and believe they see snake-like winged figure in the sky moving away. Elise tries to dismiss it.

Erica agrees to give us the books, claiming to be happy to be rid of the dangerous things. She said that she'd skimmed the Pnakotic Manuscripts and it seemed to confirm some of Roger's crazy ramblings. If the investigators uncover anything additional about Roger, she'd like to know.

The morning paper contains an article about the Prospero Press building burning down, and its proprietor, Jonah Kensington, missing / presumed dead.

The group heads by the site of the fire. Police are gruff. Curtis and Elise return to her townhouse, while Victor and Jack go to work. Curtis attempts to contact Lt. Martin Poole, but Sgt. Patterson says he's unavailable. Curtis leaves a message for Poole to call Victor's office.

Curtis and Elise spend the day skimming Pnakotic Manuscripts and Africa's Dark Sects, respectively, while Victor peruses People of the Monolith between clients. One Mr. Coleman Preston Lloyd comes to call on Elise during the day. He looks ragged and a bit druggy, and he pulls a gun on Elise. She dodges out of the room and Curtis comes down to find him sobbing. They both keep him at gunpoint for questioning. He claims Makunga sent him. He met Makunga a year ago through some friends. Makunga's group offered him booze, drugs, and sex (orgies). He's casually been present while the cult murdered people in the past. They met at the Juju House, though he never saw the faces. The group is now meeting at Fat Maybelle's, which is relatively near the Juju House. He believes the group was responsible for burning down Prospero Press. He says there are now 30 members of the cult, and they have something big planned for the eclipse on 1/24. He also confirms that the Cult of the Bloody Tongue has infiltrated the police department. After some debate about what to do with him, Elise gives him some money and buys him a one-way train ticket to San Francisco to get him out of town and to relative safety.

Another call to the police station, Sgt. Patterson tells Jack that Lt. Poole has been on leave since 1/20.

The group decides to spend the evening examining the artifacts that Silas had. Curtis puts on the African Mask and nearly loses his mind.