Several of the Intrepid Investigators had spent quite a bit of time in New York, but Berlin was something... else. The train from Leipzig pulled in to the Anhalter Bahnhof, releasing Alter, Pollack, MacNamara, Jeremiah and Lake into a cacophony of sound from hundreds of travelers, station staff, beggars, police officers and many more, all their voices reverberating from the girders high above the train tracks. Herr Abalbert Schulz was waiting for Franz Alter, and the old lawyer made sure that the investigators' luggage ended at their final destination, in this case the sizeable mid-nineteenth century building that Franz Alter had inherited in the fashionable, yet quiet, Grunewald section in southwestern Berlin.
The Willa Alter.
The house had belonged to Franz Alter's uncle, Alexander Scharff (originally Lipinsky, a man of rather exotic tastes. He performed in various shows and cabarets as well as in his house in various outlandish attires, and the house also contained a basement only suitable for certain very liberal types of adult play or entertainment. The house was also tended to by the dour Frau Claire Bonhofer, who had made sure that the weary travelers could look forward to a hot meal and generous libations from Uncle Alexander's full-sized bar. There was much merriment, and especially so from Mackie, who was looking forward to meeting her old colleagues, professor Gerhard Opitz and Reinhard von Kleist of the Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung next day, which would be Monday, November 1.
November 1 turned out to be a gorgeous fall day, and the Intrepid investigators piled into a taxi for a relatively short ride to the Neues Museum. The Museum is almost entirely devoted to Egyptology, and its collections are the finest outside the Bristish Museum. The most known piece is arguably the bust of Queen Nefertiti. Professor Opitz and von Kleist were incredibly happy to see Mackie, and they were fully prepared to entertain her friends as well. As a matter of fact, the professors had managed to secure tickets to enjoy the Milanese Nightingale. Bianca Castafiore, at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter dem Linden. The performance was, of course, spectacular, and in included meeting Madame Castafiore in her dressing room, where The Milanese Nightingale struck up conversation with an amused Howard Lake. More culture was to follow, and the next stop was the Romanishes Cafe, one of the number one spots to see and be seen in Berlin.
Professor Von Kleist Professor Opitz
Bianca Castafiore
Das Neues Museum
Romanisches Cafe (song: https://romanisches-cafe.berlin/en/launch-home/#iLightbox[fe68745e3555d07d582]/0)
This being Berlin, Professor Opitz secured a small amount of a recreational illegal substance, a black powder that the referred to as the Solution of Liao, and the invited all the investigators over to Professor von Kleist's apartment, which was conveniently located next to KaDeWe to try out some of this supposedly amazing compound. "It is for people who have both great imagination and knowledge, and the visions are truly remarkable. Here! I have some for everyone!" Both von Kleist and Opitz were clearly looking forward to enjoying the Solution of Liao.
Professor von Kleist's apartment was huge, and decorated with utmost taste. There was also generous amounts of champagne to be had, and after toasting Mackie and her friends, Professor Opitz produced a pipe and added the black Solution of Liao to regular pipe tobacco. Opitz inhaled deeply, and passed another pipe to Mackie, who seemed more than a little eager to try out this drug. So did Jules Pollack and Howard Lake, and they were transported to incredibly realistic visions out of history. Lake found himself riding towards medieval Canterbury, while Jules Pollack find himself floating over a primeval landscape consisting of a thick ocean underneath a methane-orange sky of weird proportions and angles. This is when Mackie started convulsing. Something was incredibly wrong, and Lake saw his pastoral ride being disturbed by a hysterically shrieking Professor Opitz. He also darted into Jules' primeval world, apparently being chased by something while wailing for help. Meanwhile, Professor von Kleist, Franz Alter and Felix Jeremiah were terrified to see Professor Opitz being torn to pieces in his Chesterfield chair. Mercifully, it took mere seconds for whatever ungodly entity attacking Opitz to finish its work, but now it became apparent to the still tripping Jules Pollack that this creature had statred chasing Mackie through what seemed to be an endless corridor in an Egyptian temple. As soon as Jules managed to somehow enter Mackie's hallucination, he saw what was chasing Mackie:
Jules and Felix were trying to help Mackie, and she kept on stuttering about some form of incantation. Franz Alter was also trying to bring Mackie back from her drug-induced state by administrating various chemicals. He did succeed after several attempts, but in a most spectacular fashion. Mackie was partially back, and so was the beast following her. But Mackie did manage to have both Jules and Felix help her with the incantation and the necessary signs, and this apparently cut off the creature from reality as the investigators knew it. By now, von Kleist's apartment was almost entirely destroyed by the creature, while there was still the remains of Opitz to deal with. Von Kleist was most distraught after having lost his dear and friend and colleague, but he assured the investigators that he'd deal with, well, everything. Everything, except how to make sure that use of the Solution of Liao wouldn't summon more of these hideous creatures.
The Intrepid Investigators retreated to Gruenewald, but only after having a late-night sausage and Felix finding a wedding ring in the sausage meat, almost turning him into a vegetarian.
Next day would be spent in the Willa Alter, with Jules Pollack taking lessons with fencing master Willifred Haber, and Howard Lake taking German lessons with the adorable young Adele Christo.
Dienstag, November 2, 1926
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Professor Missing!
Professor Gerhard Opitz of the Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung is reported missing since November 1. He was last seen leaving the Romanischen Cafe shortly after nine o'clock in the evening. The Berlin Police is looking for witnesses and any leads regarding the whereabouts of Professor Opitz.
THE ARKHAM ADVERTISER
Monday, November 1, 1926
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Arkham Academic Given Position in Germany
Moira Baker, M.D., has been given a scholarship from the Republic of Germany to study in Berlin. Dr. Baker will have visiting rights at the Institut fuer Sexualwissenschaft, which is headed by renown Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld.
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