Call of Cthulhu: A Time to Harvest (Sessions #7 & #8; An Unknown Ace)

Recalibrating in Arkham (August 22nd, 1930)

Having narrowly escaped the horrors of Cobb’s Corners and the outright hostility of the local sheriff, Professor Lilian Neill, Teddy Harris, and Sophia Picado regrouped in Arkham, licking their academic wounds after being reprimanded for alleged “licentiousness and scandal”. Despite threats of expulsion, the core team was determined to understand the conspiracy that saw their terrifying accounts dismissed as “lies”.

The team swiftly initiated a plan. Sophia, grounding herself in facts, pursued information linking the expedition to Federated Oil and Chemical (FOC) funding. Her trip to the Arkham Gazette archive revealed a photograph and article detailing a grant offered by FOC head Michael Abelard to Miskatonic University approximately three and a half years prior, confirming a deep, formalized financial relationship.

Meanwhile, Lillian and Teddy located the West Pickman Street apartment of Robert Blaine, the expedition leader whose evasive behaviour had led them into peril. They planned an early morning stakeout, but Teddy’s attempt to check the letterbox was thwarted by the building’s superintendent, Mr. Flanagan. Their luck turned quickly when Blaine—dropped off by a university car—stumbled up the steps in a drunken stupor, visibly carrying a bottle of whiskey. Lillian seized the moment, crossing the street to use the nearby chapel’s phone to anonymously report shouting and breaking glass, hoping to lure the police to Blaine’s apartment and cause a distraction.

The Motherlode: Daphne’s Journal and Roger Harold’s Treachery

The police arrived, symbolically poured out the liquor, and departed without arresting Blaine. Thirty seconds later, Blaine—half-stumbling, half-staggering, and muttering angrily—stormed out again, heading toward the Dorothy Upman Hall, the women’s dormitory. Teddy followed discreetly and overheard Blaine shouting the name “Clarissa!” at the locked door, lamenting: “This is not the way it should have been! This is wrong!”.

When Blaine collapsed drunkenly near the fraternity house on his way back, Teddy helped manhandle him back up to his apartment, leveraging Mr. Flanagan’s assistance. While Blaine was unconscious, Teddy quickly searched the room. On the nightstand, he found three heavy occult texts: Isis Unveiled, Discovery of Witchcraft, and Demoniality. Inspired by feathers on the floor, Teddy lifted the down-filled mattress and discovered a journal hidden inside a slit on the underside.

The journal belonged to Daphne Devine, the star student who disappeared on the unsanctioned 1929 return trip. Inside was a letter from Professor Roger Harold, the head of Anthropology, who had arranged their recent release from jail . The letter congratulated Daphne and “wholeheartedly approve[d] of your return trip to Cobb’s Corners,” contradicting the university’s claim that the second trip was unsanctioned. Teddy also secured a handwritten, enraged letter addressed to Blaine from Emelda Cratchit, the widow of Jethro Cratchit, accusing Blaine of getting her husband mixed up with Miss Devine and causing Jethro’s “untimely demise” due to the stories he was telling them. The “motherlode” of evidence confirmed that Blaine, Harold, and the missing students were deeply interconnected by sinister secrets dating back to the previous expedition.

The Students Return, Changed (August 23rd – 24th)

Over the next few days, the investigators gathered disturbing observations about their supposedly missing, then miraculously returned, colleagues. Teddy, adopting the role of private detective, tailed Harry Higgins and others. He noticed that Clarissa Thurber had returned but was severely dishevelled, her hair matted, and her clothes poorly worn. When Sophia confronted Clarissa in the dormitory, the chemistry student showed no recognition and was unresponsive .

Teddy’s vigilance paid off when he tailed Higgins, William Noakes, and Terrence Laszlow to Professor Harold’s office. Eavesdropping, Teddy made a shocking discovery: Harry Higgins was speaking not in his familiar Irish brogue, but in a clear Germanic accent, and mentioned the confounding mineral, Pasquallium.

Later, Sophia observed Clarissa, Higgins, and Noakes collating notes in the Science Annex lab . When she spoke to them, Noakes addressed her with unexpected haughtiness . Clarissa showed palpable discomfort and looked to her colleagues for cues on how to respond . Lillian, meanwhile, observed Jason Trent in the library, looking utterly flabbergasted while reading mundane American history texts . The returned students—some of whom had suffered severe injuries, only to return strangely uninjured—were physically present but psychologically altered .

New Blood and a Plan of Action (August 25th)

On August 25th, Peter Goodman, Teddy’s friend from Sheboygan, arrived early in Arkham, having been summoned by Teddy’s frantic letter describing the “terrifying flying things” and the miracle healing of the broken leg . The three investigators recounted the full, bizarre story—from the eerie silence and recurring nightmares, to the doctor finding a calf carcass in a grave, and the sight of hundreds of pairs of eyes in the darkness . Peter agreed to join the investigation, acknowledging the severe risk to their academic careers .

The group established a four-point plan to uncover the conspiracy:

The immediate peril was over, but the disturbing realisation that the returned students—and perhaps Professor Harold—were involved in a terrifying contradiction made the need for answers paramount.

---

Until next time,

Owen