It is the end of March in 1892, the moon is full, and as seems to happen so often, a series of brutal murders has shocked London. The press has already begun to play up the four deaths in the heart of the city. They are particularly interesting because they are characterized by the horrible mutillation of the bodies. Scotland Yard has already initiated an investigation under the direction of Inspector Brian Bollard, and the people are afraid to walk the streets by night. Few details of the cases have been released to the press, but weird horrors are hinted at in pubs and smoking rooms.

Involving the Characters

Very little is known about these murders, so the best way to involve the characters is probably to have them called in to consult by the Yard, or to have them working for the Yard. Given the nature of the case, experts on the supernatural or experts on forensic medicine might be particularly useful. Bollard is also a bit of an unorthodox worker, and employs a lot of underworld investigators and informants. Player characters could also be drawn in by being a friend or relative of one of the victims, probably the victim of March 28th, Peyton Blount, whose case is not being investigated as detailed below. Alternatively, they could witness one of the crimes, the best being the first on the 26th of March, when the bodies are being dumped in the river.

The Murders

The first bodies in this case were found on the morning of the 27th of March by longshoremen at the London Docks. Two bodies were found floating under a wharf, recently dead. Inspector Bollard was called in immediatly and an investigation was initiated. The coroner determined that both of the men, two brothers named Ed and Tom Christy who worked at the St. Katherine Dock, were killed after work the night before, presumably with an edged instrument. They were both large and healthy, but seem to have been killed by a somewhat shorter, yet powerful man standing infront of them, seemingly with little struggle. After they were disembowled their abdomens were opened. Tom Christy's appendix was removed and Ed Christy's spleen was removed. After that the bodies were dumped in the river. Extensive bloodstains were found in an alley off Red Lion St. near the docks. Current theories at the Yard indicate an insane killer or some ritual objective. The Yard has clamped the lid out and is giving out almost no concrete information to those with little official status. The second bodies were found by a Mike Lorber, a vagrant, near midnight on the 28th. He had repaired to the yard of the Jew's School on Bell St., and to his horror found two bodies, those of Richard Bellison and Roger Finch, piled in a stairwell, soaked in blood. These victims were killed earlier that night, in the schoolyard. The coroner's report indicates a similar incedent here, with one kidney removed from each victim. If the characters are with the Yard or witnesses they should be coming in at this point. If they are friends of a victim or hired by friends they will come in on the evening of the 29th, where no murder seems to take place. In the case of Peyton Blount, a student at London University who was in the Italian Hospital with pneumonia after a skulling accident. Blount was left unattended, and when a nurse checked him at 11pm he was dead in a bloody bed, his abdomen neatly sliced open, 'as if in surgery', and his liver removed. The Yard investigated, but is reluctant to class this with the other murders, as it does not fit the apparent Modus Operandi, as the victim was not in the open and was a single person.

Easy Investigative Observations

Several conclusions will be easy for the party to get at this point, though not all of the information above may be available. Assuming complete access to the case(not possible for private investigators or outside consultants) some thins will be clear.

All of the victims were male, over 6ft tall, healthy and fairly physical. All of the victims were killed between 8pm and 10pm. The moon is full, so loonies are likely to be out. A different organ was removed from each body. The victims don't seem to have struggled much. Some sort of ritual or lunacy with a purpose seems to be behind it all. There seem to be no witnesses.

Harder Investigative Observations

These conclusions can be reached by better opportunities, special skills or keener investigation, or by asking the right questions.

None of the victims knew each other, except the two brothers(ask relatives and friends). Entry wounds indicate that the attacker was shorter than the victims(medical skills or seeing coroner's report). Wounds indicate possible surgical skill or equivalent(surgery skill). Murders seem to be one incedent per night, starting with the first night of the full moon(logic should show this), so more should be expected. The murders were done in a great hurry(logic and observation should show haste), and little trouble was taken to dispose of the bodies. The murders seem to be taking place in a line, leading from the St. Katherine Dock and leading towards Regents Park(some observation and deduction, plus placing the murders on a map would be nice before players are allowed to figure this out. It is very important, let them work it out, or drop some hints about it if they aren't getting it.)

Don't make any of this too easy to find out. Let them use their minds and investigate a bit to make discoveries.

Routes of Investigation

From these basic observations, the characters should be ready to investigate, interviewing suspects, tracking leads and trying for a break before the murders get any farther. Likely targets for investigation include the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and New Hellfire Club(see 'Wings in the Night'), which are both dead ends. Consulting an expert on the supernatural might also be helpful. If they have discovered the geographical pattern they might start investigating places near the murder spots. Two of these may be rewarding, the St. Katherine Docks and the St. Katherine Docks Warehouse, near the 1st and 2nd sets of murders. Deep questioning and access to manifests(not easily gained) will indicate that several items(elaborate) including several crates which have moved on to the British Museum were at the docks on the first day and the warehouse on the second. This should give more false and real leads to check out. If this doesn't get them to the British Museum, the next section will.

Aiding Slow Investigators

If they don't seem to be making the British Museum connection, you can do several things. An expert consulted might suggest seeing E. A. Wallis Budge as an expert on middle-eastern ritual and magic. Budge works at the museum and supervises the key exhibit. They might hear of the planned opening of the new egyptian exhibit at the museum, or one of them might work at or know someone at the museum and luck into it. If none of these see practical, the next section will certainly get it for them, though it might be nice if they found out sooner.

The Next Murder

On the evening of the 30th the 6th victim, Hugh Kable, a guard at the British Museum, is discovered by the guard relieving him at midnight at the outer door. The murder fits all of the characteristics, the geographical pattern has focused down, and his pancreas and gall bladder were removed. If this is not enough to get them on the track of the exhibit, either have a trace of mummy wrapping found near the body, or even better, have one of the party be the victim on the 30th or 31st if he fits the size and health requirements. Things are getting tight at this point, as the murder on the 31st is the last one, and things will get really nasty after that.

Illuminating the Situation

Essentially what we have here are 7 murders starting on the 27th of March and 3 or 4 days to investigate them, probably starting on the 28th or 29th, and ending on the 31st. This is a pressure investigating situation, with the clues and opportunities detailed above. Running this scenario will be easier when you understand the situation and objectives behind the murder and the nature of the forces which seek to hinder the investigation.

Dr. Basil Nicomachus is the murderer, but that is of almost incedental importance in the context which he is working in. Dr. Nicomachus is a Greek surgeon formerly of the Royal Hospital in Thessalonika and now with the North London Hospital. He is socially prominent and moves in academic circles, wealthy, urbane, witty and known for his extreme expertise in forensic medicine and analysis and autopsy of mummefied bodies and the bodies of those long dead. He is regularly brought in as a consultant on protecting mummies by the British Museum, and occasionally on special cases by Scotland Yard. He lives on Regents Crescent and is a member of the Royal Archaeological Society. He is a permanent resident of England, and has lived there for over 30 years. He also has some reputation in occult circles. In actuality, Dr. Nicomachus is neither Greek nor a Doctor. He was born in Egypt in 361bc. His name was Nekhtaneb (Nectanebos to the Greek), and was the last Pharaoh of the 30th dynasty. He was deposed by the Persians and went to Greece in 340bc, to become the lover and astrologer of Olympia, the sorceress-mother of Alexander the Great(he may have been Alexander's illegitimate father). He was of considerable magical skill and power and made secret pacts with dark and unknown forces. As a result he achieved immortality, and has travelled throughout the world, working as a healer and savant, waiting for an opportunity to fulfill a destiny worthy of his power. The arrival of a new exhibit found in Egypt by Sir Nevil Maskelyne Smith has offered him his opportunity. This exhibit has some artifacts and a sarcophagus from a tomb of the 9th Dynasty, found near Hermopolis. While this sarcophagus is old, its contents are far older. It holds a strange mummy found by priests of the 9th Dynasty, and secretly re-entombed in a secret chamber, with no records. More is to be said of the mummy later. It is sufficient to say here that Nicomachus' goal in killing these people and stealing the organs is to revive the mummy, and he is placing the organs into the mummy as replacements for damaged ones, sneaking them in to where it is being stored, following the exhibit as it is moved, from the St. Katherine Docks, to the St. Katherine Warehouse, to the storage room off the 3rd Egyptian Room of the British Museum.

Dr. Nicomachus is the focus and cause of all of this, using his powers and knowledge to facilitate his plan. More is made clear in the section on the museum and the exhibit. He will be a challenge to deal with, and seems very unthreatening, even helpful, a bit bewildered by the whole situation. Certainly, he thinks he is sane, though he has an obsession with power and his own survival, even after 2265 years of life.

The Exhibit and the British Museum

The British Museum is a large museum and library, mapped at the start of this scenario. There are two guards on patrol around the perimiter of the building at all times. In addition, there is a guard at a desk in the first vestibule on the ground floor, a guard in the reading room, and a guard in the second floor vestibule between the Terracota Antiquities Room and the Anglo Saxon Room. There is also one guard on a roving patrol on each floor, and a guard room off the First Graco Roman Room on the ground floor, where there are at least 2 guards at all times. During the day there are an additional 6 to 8 guards on patrol on each floor and the other posts are still manned. The building is only open to visitors until 10pm on weekdays, but staff and persons accompanied by staff will be admitted after hours by the guards, as there is research and study which goes on at night. Some areas are closed off or have restricted admission. From the 29th to the 31st of March the 1st through 3rd Egyptian Rooms will be closed to the public, roped off, and with a guard posted during the day. In addition, staff may be working there.

The exhibit which concerns us is a collection of artifacts just unearthed at a site near Hermopolis by the sometime archaeologist and surveyor Col. Sir Nevil Maskelyne Smith. Smith has had this selection of items crated and shipped back to England and left in the charge of Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, the Director of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, and Budge is setting up a special exhibition of the finds for two weeks in the 3rd Egyptian Room. The three crates which make up the exhibit were delivered on the 25th from Alexandria at the St. Katherine Dock, arriving on the 'Frederick Barbarossa' of the North German Lloyd Line. It was held there and then transfered to the St. Katherine Dock Warehouse, and went from there to the British Museum, where they are being stored in the storage room off of the First Egyptian Room while the hall is being prepared.

The exhibit has a varied content. It includes 3 funerary figures of priests, some 4ft tall, tablets bearing heiroglyphic inscriptions describing the burial of the High Priest Menatusr, a golden ceremonial axe, a golden torque with ankh symbols on it, two small sarcophagi with the mummies of cats, a selection of clothing and food, photographs of the tomb sight and other artifacts, and the prize of the collection, a huge, gold and enamel sarcophagus in the style used only for the highest priest or pharoah. The most unusual aspect of the still sealed mummy case is that instead of a human head it bears the head of an Ibis. The implications of all this can be explained by Budge or discovered with the use of the proper skills. All of this will be displayed starting on the 1st, and before that it will be stored. The sarcophagus is not scheduled to be opened.

Investigating In the Museum

An investigation of the exhibit or the museum may yield some interesting results. First, this is a connection to Nicomachus, as he will be called in by Budge to check out the mummies, and the sarcophagus. Next, if the investigators pass through the museum, they may enter the 3rd Egyptian Room where the exhibit is being set up. If they do and have met Nicomachus, there should be a small chance for each person that they will notice the bronze statue of Pharoah Nectanebus II, perhaps as it is being carted out, with the result of a nagging familiarity, eventually leading to a dawning awareness of the similarity in appearance between the statue and Dr. Nicomachus. Examination of the parts of the exhibit will also open opportunities. A person with some skill in Egyptology will be aware that the Ibis head is the symbol of the god Thoth, and the practice of giving High Priests sarcophagi in the image of their god was a heretical practice which cropped up in the 7th, 9th and 13th dynasties, and was regularly persecuted. This is the fanciest and best preserved sarcophagus of this type and the first found which is unopened. The remainder of the artifacts are interesting but not remarkable. Should the sarcophagus be opened, it will be clear to any skilled Egyptologist that the mummy is not that of the priest. It is treated totally differently, is better preserved, and seems to be that of a large ape, perhaps a baboon laid out as if he were a man. A careful examination with a great deal of skill behind it will lead to the suspicion that the mummy is actually far older than the rest of the material, put in the sarcophagus for some unclear and ancient reason.

Dealing with Dr. Nicomachus

If the investigators begin to suspect him they may want to check out Dr. Nicomachus' house on Regent's Crescent. It is a 4 storey row house, with a door on the front, windows, and a door onto a yard by an alley in back. An investigation will reveal nothing enormously suspicious. However, there are a large number of Egyptian and other ancient artifacts around, including a large book collection containing books on science, medicine and the occult dating back to the beginning of printing in almost every language. In addition, there is a special chest of papyri and parchment scrolls and books on similar topics, and some in languages totally unfamiliar, including odd variations of Demotic and Heiroglyphic. Time and research in the library will reveal new insights into magical healing, perhaps allowing a student to acquire some knowledge of special skills or spells, perhaps reflected by a skill benefit on Psychic Healing of 1 or 2 points. The house is guarded. Nicomachus has used his arts to call up two ancient spirits which watch over it, and they can act to animate statuary or cause other diversions, as well as watch intruders and raise an alarm. They can do little to attack directly, but they can attack by animating objects. Their preferred objects are two matched, life-size statues of black panthers near the front door(stats are in appendix). Note that Nicomachus has no live-in help, but a cook comes in for two meals a day and he has a part time butler and cleaning lady. He prefers privacy.

Dr. Nicomachus' objective is to reanimate the mummy in the sarcophagus, which he has learned through centuries of study is that of Aahtehuti, the earthly avatar of the god Thoth, possessed by the gods spirit. The mummy is of a creature halfway between a man and a baboon, and with many of the powers of the godly spirit within it. Nicomachus has been taking body parts from persons of goodly size and health to replace damaged organs in the giant mummy. He has been finding victims around 9pm, and doing the work by midnight. His final organ is the heart, to be taken from a museum guard or convenient investigator of at least 6'2" and CON of 14+. His replacements are to be completed at midnight of the 31st, the eve of the full moon cycle, and the beginning of a major festival to Thoth. At 12:01 he will begin incantations, which after about 45 minutes will return the mummy to life with a full restoration of its status to that of a somewhat baboon-like man, with no apparant damage from the years. He hopes that the two of them together will be able to work secretly with their powers to take control of England which they see as the base of power for control of the world. They are not inherently evil, they just have little concern for human life. Through his own powers Nicomachus has been in limited communication with the spirit which is dormant within the mummy. Note that even if the ceremony of ressurection is interrupted, as long as it has been started, it will progress to some sort of climax. If nothing else, the spirit will be wakened, if some progress has been made, the body will at least be animated in mummy form. If the spirit is wakened and free, it can move freely, and may try to possess someone, with a very good chance of success if they get into touching range of the body. This will be held as a last measure. If the sarcophagus is opened some evidence of his ongoing work will be noticed, but he is able to reseal the sarcophagus so that there is no exterior sign of his work. Interference with his organ placement will put him on the trail of the investigators, and in search of new organs.

A nice culminating scene to all of this is to have the party come on Nicomachus while he is in the storage room with the sarcophagus open, working on the spells to revive the mummy, allowing for a nice showdown with him and perhaps Aahtehuti as well, though Aahtehuti might chose to just possess someone quietly and lie low for a while if Nicomachus is defeated. It is also particularly nice to have them know Nicomachus, see him as suspicious, but not be able to prove anything, just sort of feeling around frustratedly.

Concluding Notes

The basis of this adventure is the central characters and their objectives. There are certain clues and facts to keep track of, and they should be fairly challenging for the party to discover. It is nice to keep them guessing, so that they don't begin to solve it too soon, and are on the run right down to the wire, feeling around cautiously for a solution until they are forced to action. Feel free to vary, improvise and adjust to get the best results.