The Curious Case of Ms. Gretchen Weiss

On the morning of Friday, October 17, 1924, Mackie MacKenzie’s phone rings, and it is the elderly provost of Miskatonic Univerity, Ralph Maynard, who’s been serving Mikatonic U for a good 30 years. As it were, one of the graduate students of history, Gretchen Weiss, has been missing for almost a month. Since Mackie had advised Ms. Weiss on occasion, the provost decided to call Mackie to find out the whereabouts of Ms. Weiss. Mackie had indeed met with Ms. Weiss roughly six weeks ago to discuss a thesis project regarding glyph structures of late ancient Egypt, but at that point nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. 

Ms, Gretchen Weiss

Ralph Maynard

Mackie doesn’t know Gretchen Weiss that well, but she is a diligent student, who came to Miskatonic as an exchange student from the Humboldt University in Berlin during the spring semester of 1923. She is rather quiet and shy, and some might even say of a sensitive nature. Ms. Weiss is not known to be a reveler, but she enjoys painting water colors, and she frequents certain cafés, typically with a stack of books. She also has a cat, Schatzi.

Mackie is enjoying a rather lazy Friday morning in her father’s old mansion, and she is not really ready to face the world, so she calls Henry Chester to see if he might be able to find out what might have happened to young Ms. Weiss. Henry Chester really doesn’t mind at all, and he places a few calls himself as well as visiting to the police station. As the paranormal investigators gather at J. Polack Fine Antiquities for a Friday afternoon cocktail, Henry announces that the young graduate student had been admitted to the Arkham Sanatorium, also irreverently known as the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane after a very violent episode in the building she lives in on Boundary Street and West Saltonstall. She is not seeing any visitors. The Arkham police claimed that there was no suspicion of any criminal activity, and they are not involved in the case, although the landlady, Mrs. Helen Gardener, was apparently injured by Ms. Weiss before the police could take her into custody.

Mrs. Helen Gardener  

                               

                      

How incredibly strange! What befell the young graduate student? How are all of you doing?

Trains, Tomes and Wrestling with Fish Men

From the diary of Mackie MacKenzie:

Surreal, by Jove! Coaching Moira turned out to be a way for the Dagon-worshippers to try to ensure that we became the nest item du jour for human sacrifice, or so it seems. A seemingly innocuous Saturday night wrestling tournament saw us instead facing unholy cult members and a two abominations, seemingly fish-men from the bottom of some unholy maritime abyss, together with the Amazing Angel, a true glamazon. A frenzied fight ensued as the wrestling ring descended into the dark nether regions of Los Angeles, with gyrations and oscillations provided by Henry, who pretended to be some form of stage manager in his frustrated events to raise the ring back up to street level. The scene was also accompanied by Lake and Pollack discharing clip upon clip into the frenzied cultists, each and every one of them intent on tearing us to shreds. Shreds!

From the diary of Henry Chester:

(unintelligible)

 From the diary of Jules Pollack:

What an interesting auction - with Germans to boot! I am sensing that this Niszka character must be acquainted with the likes of Herr Mayer and his weird extremist bibliophile grouping.

The Los Angeles Historical Society held a gala and auction on Wednesday, March 26, at 7 pm at 1122 Larchmont Street in Hancock Park, and a great range of unique items from Los Angeles' past were featured, including several rare books as well as works of art. The proceeds from the auction will help finance a new building for the Historical Society.

The auction of Lake's book, Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New Egland Canaan, was a rather serious affair, but after just about 15 minutes the bidding field seemed to be reduced to the following:

-        Lake

-        A nervous-looking American, Albert Brill. He was a somewhat lank and sweaty 30-year old in a cheap suit

-        A very well-dressed lady with a purely professional demeanor by the name of Abigail Harrington, a proxy for Miskatonic U here in Los Angeles. Harrington smoked long, hand-rolled cigarettes, and she is essentially a twat. She is also mesmerizing.

-        A middle-aged man of military bearing, Major Julius Niszka, accompanied by two goons named Siegfried and Roy as well as a young girl, Beata.

-        Jordan Knight, another book collector. This jovial red-headed gentleman is a serious collector, and quite well-known. He's in his late forties, and a dedicated historian, researcher and geek.

However, Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New Egland Canaan ended up in the supposedly foul hands of Niszka and his elderly associate von det Tann. They were set to take the train to New York next day, and we bought tickets right away!

Beata

Niszka

Von der Lippe