The Eldridge Collection

"The Eldridge Collection"  is a Cthulhu Mythos story by Will Murray that originally appeared in the anthology The Disciples of Cthulhu II (Chaosium, 2003). 
==Synopsis==
The Cryptic Events Evaluation Section has been searching for years for a set of paintings of Mythos entities, and has finally found them in a private Rhode Island museum--but the paintings have powers that make finding them and keeping them two very different things.
==Characters==
* Esau Eldridge (1904–1961): A commercial artist who turned to gallery art and "a series of paintings depicting the Great Old Ones and their remorseless train." He never signed his work. He worked in a "lighthouse garrett" on Smuttynose Island, an island off the coast of New Hampshire (though actually part of the state of Maine).Wikipedia, "Smuttynose Island." He was a double Scorpio, which means he was born on November 7 or 8, 1904.Astro-Seek, "Ephemeris--November 1904." After his death, rival factions of Cthulhu cultists vied to acquire a complete collection of Eldridge's work, in "a Mafia-style power struggle conducted with demons and grimoires instead of hit men and firearms."
* Oriel Malbone: Curator of the Malbone Museum (founded 1971) of Newport, Rhode Island. He's in CEET's database as a "low-level dabbler,” but that seems to be an underestimation. He is described as an "elderly man with a face like a dried turnip" and a "thinning goatee," resembling "a mummified sea captain of the 1800s."
* Del Justice: A CEES operative, described as a "cadaverous man in severe black."
* Justo Osorio:  Justice's partner, "a short, dusky man in a severe black suit and tie." He and Justice previously made an unsuccessful attempt to seize an Eldridge painting of Nyarlathotep in Milan.
* Morand: Head of the CEES's Intelligence and Enforcement section.
* James Anthony: An operative in CEES's Intelligence and Enforcement division, based in Washington, D.C. An Aries with Moon in Capricorn. Divorced, no kids. Carries a reservoir of holy ashes in his belt buckle.
* Gina Itri: In the Cartomancy Division of the CEES's Arts and Crafts section--a Tarot reader, derisively referred to as a "pasteboard princess." A native of South Boston, she's attached to the Boston office. She graduated from Miskatonic University with a Masters in Applied Cartomancy and a minor in Scrying. She's been on missions ranging from Foxfield, Massachusetts, to Irem. She's described as "a feline redhead who looked like a cross between Fran Drescher and a moderately high-priced call girl," who "smoked like a Black Mass." A Leo with her Moon in Scorpio, she calls herself "part Gypsy.” Gargles with holy water between missions.
* Irby: A CEES agent who disappeared in Moodus, Connecticut, and was "later found embedded in a 125-year-old swamp maple as if it had grown up around his undecayed remains since Teddy Roosevelt’s day." His death made the CEES stop buying round-trip tickets for its agents.
==Publication History==
The story was reprinted in Murray's collection The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu: Volume One.
==References==
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Will Murray works