Session Thirteen - 06/25/2021

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With the boat tipping at a steep angle, each investigator is able to grab on or steady themselves to keep from falling overboard. Whatever tipped the boat lets go, and the vessel levels out again. Ophelia notices a green glow coming from underneath the boat and tries to enact a ritual of protection for the boat, but even with Delia's help gets the feeling that the ritual was unsuccessful. Lotte and McQuaid notice that the sky doesn't seem as blue as it should, but more green than anything else. The sun itself seems to be emitting a pulsing, green glow as well. The boat shudders and they hear the low, reverberating hum from underneath again. Lotte decides to go through Captain Farthing's quarters to find the spyglass, but instead finds a set of binoculars with a shattered right lens. McQuaid suggests investigating the cargo hold to see if there are any relics that may be able to help them, just as they start hearing a strange sound coming from the deck below them. Ballroom music.

They open the portal that leads to the second deck and see that, instead of the claustrophobic metal corridors they were expecting, instead there are plush red carpeted steps leading down into a brightly lit ballroom. The orchestral music plays from the ballroom, but the room itself is completely deserted. They see a set of mirrors a the center of the room, and instead of reflections they see smoky, shadowy shapes moving inside. Delia passes out a protective amulet to everyone before they go any further. With Vincent leading the way, the group descends the elegant steps. There are three mirrors on each side of the dancing floor. The moment Vincent steps into the exact center of the room, the music disappears and the shadowy shapes stop moving. There are now cloudy reflections standing at each mirror. They can make out the shapes of three reflections, the others are too ethereal to be discerned. One of the reflections, a tall square shouldered masculine figure, reaches up and starts tapping the glass. Ophelia reaches up to the mirror and taps back. The figure leans closer and the face coalesces into that of Samuel Becker, Lotte's handyman extraordinaire. Lotte attempts to communicate with him, and hears him trying to speak, but the sound of his voice is far too muffled to make out. Ophelia, for the first time in her life, nails the perfect roundhouse kick right the face of Samuel's reflection. The mirror shatters, revealing empty wall inside the mirror's frame.

As they stare at the broken mirror, they hear footsteps descending toward them and see Samuel Becker in the flesh. Lotte, shocked, asks how he got here. Samuel, confused, said he's been with them the entire journey, he was up on the deck with them just a moment ago and saw they had all gone below deck without him, so he followed. McQuaid puts that situation aside for the moment and approaches one of the other reflections. The gloating visage of Monte Sterling leans in and locks eyes with McQuaid before leaning back out and disappearing into the cloudy void. Without hesitating, McQuaid draws his sidearm and puts a bullet into the mirror where Monte's face was a moment ago. They approach the last mirror that had a discernible figure, noticing there are now two figures in the mirror now. Ophelia doesn't attempt to communicate, just fires a haymaker into the mirror. Her fist goes through the glass as if it were water, and something behind the image grabs her hand and holds tight. McQuaid grabs her and pulls her back, her hand being released by whatever was behind the mirror.

The two figures approach the mirror, coalescing into defined images of an elegantly dressed couple from the late 1800's, before stepping through the mirror and into the ballroom itself. The woman greets them in German and identifies herself as Magdalene. The man also greets in German and introduces himself as Dietrich. They inquire why the investigators called them to the ballroom, causing some confusion on the end of the investigators. After some discussion on nightmares and Dreamlands, they ask the investigators how they were able to conjure the ballroom. McQuaid asks them if they know of the now-crumbled statuette the group had found previously, with the image of the dragon man with an octopus head. The couple grins and refers to the description as "Great Cthulhu". They describe Cthulhu as the nightmare that gnaws at your mind while you sleep. Lotte, a student of the mind, asks if this Cthulhu is the root of madness. After sitting at a table behind the group that had not existed beforehand, they clarify that Cthulhu isn't the cause of insanity, but instead something that can direct it and manipulate it like a radio transmitter. Ophelia asks them for help fighting something like that, they counter by asking why they would want to stop it. She tells them it would be the end of the world. They respond that the world will go on after humanity, as it did before humanity. Delia mentions a dream she had about the darkness beneath the waves. Magdalene takes her hand and confirms that Cthulhu has touched her mind directly. McQuaid asks them about the Shining Trapezohedron in the puzzle box. They reveal that it is not one of Cthulhu's relics, but that of his distant cousin the Crawling Chao, Nyarlathotep. They deny any involvement with Nyarlathotep, stating that he is a mystery to them, and even to Great Cthulhu. McQuaid asks for help in dealing with Nyarlathotep. They agree they could help, since it "keeps the game going", however they won't offer anything as of yet. Lotte asks them about their age and origin, they reveal they are native to Earth but were born ages before humanity. At this, Lotte asks them why they look human. Dietrich looks down at his hands in bafflement and seems disgusted to be in this form.

Lotte asks them about the Dreamlands they mentioned earlier. Magdalene mentions their spirits travel to the Dreamlands when they slumber, and that its possible to live entire lifetimes in there only to wake up and find only a single evening has passed on Earth. They do state it has been some time since they have been able to travel there, mentioning a Doom that came to Sarnath over a thousand years ago. McQuaid questions why they are being so forthcoming with information, they shrug and state there's no reason not to. The cycle is an inevitable part of the ages, and not something that can be "fought", and it has been this way ever since Great Cthulhu's arrival subsumed the planet's original cycle. They rise from the table and return to the mirror, briefly stopping when Ophelia asks them directly if they were made by Cthulhu. They offer that a "great essence was split" in their creation. They reveal that Cthulhu was already dead and slumbering when they came into existence, and that all of their communication with him has been through dreams and that they are his priests. McQuaid asks how they can be contacted again, Deitrich and Magdalene tell them to simply knock on the mirror, and if they are around, they may answer. More confusion is expressed as the group tells the couple they didn't create this ballroom or the mirrors. The couple shows brief signs of anxiety, stating "it would seem our hands are not the only ones in play". Lotte asks what is behind the mirror. They reply "infinity". When pressed that that was not a helpful answer, they say there is so much more there than here in the mundane world, and if the group ever wants to experience it, they only have to ask. Deitrich looks directly at Ophelia and expresses confidence that she specifically probably will. They then turn and go back through the mirror, disappearing entirely.

Samuel goes over to the shattered mirror that once held his image and picks up a piece of the mirror. He investigates the mirror frame as he's holding the piece, but isn't able to discern anything significant at the moment. They hear a muffled thumping sound, like footsteps, from across the ballroom behind a large, ornate set of double doors. Ophelia marches over and dramatically flings open the doors, revealing a busy corridor on the bottom of the deck of the ship, with crewman walking around as if nothing had happened. Ophelia waits for everyone to step through the doors before pulling it shut behind them. Ophelia stops a crewman and asks about the disturbance. The crewman is confused and states there's been nothing but smooth sailing for over a week, and that they are halfway to Hamburg now. Lotte turns around to see if the ornate double doors are still there, and instead finds only the normal expected portal door. She goes to open it, but finds its locked. From inside, someone yells "occupado", revealing that this door leads to the head.

They return to their room, with McQuaid wanting to look for remnants of the Cthulhu statuette. They find the scattered dust from when it crumbled under Ophelia's touch previously. McQuaid scoops some of it into a bottle and stores it away. Lotte suggests they go up to the top deck for fresh air. Samuel pulls out the mirror and turns away from the sun, checking its reflection. He sees the sun in the reflection has a pulsing green glow. He can see his reflection just fine, however when he checks the reflections for the rest of the group, they show up only as cloudy shadow figures. Ophelia takes a look and confirms Samuel's reflection shows just fine, however hers is vague and blurry. Delia checks too, and its the same for her.

McQuaid comments that this seems to be in line with the fact that they originally saw Samuel inside of a mirror. Samuel expresses confusion and reiterates that he's been with them the entire time. Ophelia theorizes that this isn't the same Samuel they know but instead one from another timeline. Lotte confirms that the last time she saw Samuel was days ago when she put in her leave of absence to Dr. Feinlander at Roxbury Sanitarium. Samuel shakes his head and states he was the one who drove her, along with McQuaid and Vincent, to the pier to get on the boat. They both believe their memories are correct. Ophelia redirects the conversation to wondering what they can do to fight against Cthulhu. McQuaid states he's more worried about Nyarlathotep, who seems to have been directly involved in their affairs since the beginning of the Corbitt house investigation. Elijah agrees with McQuaid, stating that whatever Cthulhu's plans may be, they seem far more ethereal and long term, while whatever Nyarlathotep is noticeably more immediate. McQuaid does allow that it all seems to be interlocked somehow. Lotte tells them that they need to start thinking in dream logic, since that seems to be the language that Cthulhu is using to direct his wishes upon the world. She seems momentarily disturbed when she starts to think about the implications of that.

McQuaid suggests checking in with Captain Farthing since it seems that several days more have passed than they are aware of, having gone into the ballroom on their second day of their voyage and coming out on the eighth day. After gaining entry to his quarters, they ask him what he remembers of Samuel Becker's attendance with the investigators. Captain Farthing confirms Samuel was with them when they embarked in the first place. The captain mentions that they've been model passengers in the past week, very quiet and keeping to themselves in their quarters aside from coming out to eat at mealtimes. The group notes that that doesn't seem "normal" as far as their behavior goes. Lotte asks if he's dreamed about the city again, Kadath. He is confused and says he has no idea what she's talking about. Lotte reminds him of the tale he told them while stargazing a few nights prior. He recalls telling them of Polaris during that time, but nothing about Kadath. While the captain is speaking, Samuel checks his reflection in the mirror, confirming it is clear and normal looking.

After exiting the captain's cabin, Lotte finds she still has the binoculars she found in his deserted quarters earlier. She looks up at the sky and notices that the shattered side shows a kaleidoscope of colors that don't seem to be present in the sky normally. Several others try it and find the same effect. Samuel looks through them at his mirror, and sees the kaleidoscope coalesces into green light. Delia goes to look and instead of the kaleidoscope of colors, or green, she sees only darkness. After some brief discussion on the misalignment of their memories and Samuel's, they follow McQuaid's suggestion of going to look for the crate that the Cthulhu statue came from. In the cargo hold, they find the crate from Arkham with its lid slightly ajar. Looking inside, they see a statue identical to the one they had earlier. Delia attempts a purification ritual to see if it has the same result as when they tried it previously. The salt blackens, just like before, and the packing straw starts to catch fire. McQuaid retrieves the statue and stamps out the flames before they can spread. After catching Samuel up on what the previous statue's reaction was, something he had no recollection of, they put the statue back and go out to the top deck to look at the stars.

They arrive just in time to see the sun set and a green flash light up the sky. Oddly, through the mirror shard, the green flash looked like a flash of normal sunlight. They see Aldebaran in the night sky, noting that Captain Farthing had said it disappeared months ago after seemingly moving towards Polaris. They pick out the broken crescent constellation and see that Sirius is not glowing green like it used to. However when Samuel holds up the mirror, the star does show that peculiar green glow again. Delia suggests they start keeping dream journals, just try to stay on top of whatever influence may be creeping into their subconscious. Lotte mentions the significance Dr. Carl Jung placed upon dreams and the subconscious, prompting an odd memory to surface in Delia's mind of the night Dr. Jung died and the story that his friends all had the same dream of a burning tree. Lotte expresses confusion because as far as she knew, Dr. Jung was still alive and well. Delia is also confused at this knowledge, and they theorize she may have somehow remembered forward.

They decide to adjourn to their quarters to get ready for the night's rest. Delia does a short Tarot reading for the investigators, pulling one card: A Short Sorrow.