X-raying a Mummy

Monday Morning, June 9

Mort, Ebony, Juan, and Sledge arrived at the Penn museum to meet the Curator Doctor Imelda Hyde.

Dr Imelda Hyde

She had been curator for five years. The previous curator was a Dr Joan Wilder, but she had died a few years ago.

Mort managed to impress Imelda, both with his faux charm and his faux qualifications on mummy wrapping techniques. He wanted to check out the mummies held by the museum to see how they were wrapped to compare them with other mummies of similar age. Dr Hyde agreed to let him have a close view of the exhibits. It turned out that they had six mummies, with only four on display.

Mort examined the four on display and managed to secrete a sample of each of their wrappings. Then Dr Hyde took the group to the museum storage rooms where the other two mummies were. Both these mummies were in their stone sarcophagi.

Again, Mort managed to take a little sample of the wrappings of the first one of them, but when they raised the lid of the second sarcophagus, a 3500 year-old mummy named Ahmenra, Dr Hyde gasped in surprise.

The inner casket, made of wood, had been disturbed, and was askew, and the mummy itself was in the foetal position (not lying in state, like they usual do)

"This is very strange," exclaimed the good doctor. "There's absolutely no way a three-thousand year old desiccated corpse can do that. If you tried to move the limbs, they'd just snap. I can't explain it!"

"We must check it out. I'll get it X-rayed to see if there is any bone damage."

Dr Hyde phoned the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and she managed to get a time slot for the CAT scan, that very afternoon.

Monday Afternoon, June 9

Dr Hyde, Mort, Vince, Ebony, Juan, and four museum assistants took the mummy (in wooden casket) to the university hospital. They wheeled Ahmenra into the radiography lab. Here, they ran into the first hurdle. It was still in the foetal position, so wouldn't fit into the CAT machine "body tunnel".

They did manage to scan the head itself. The radiographer scratched his head and reported that there was soft tissue within. Very strange.

Mummy Ahmenra

"Well, the skull cavity was empty, when we did this five years ago," said Dr Hyde.

She went off with the chief radiographer, to fetch another X-ray machine, so they could do the rest of the mummy.

Just after she had left, there was a loud CRACK, like the bang of a firearm. One of the legs of the mummy had suddenly straightened. It had moved so fast, no-one had seen it move.

Ebony rushed off to get Dr Hyde.

There was another CRACK. The other leg had straightened, again with lightning speed. Vince had watched the desiccated corpse the whole time. It had happened between blinks.

The party, the museum staff, and the radiographers backed away. Mort got out his spray can and lighter ready. Dr Hyde and Ebony arrived back. She was totally dumb-founded and kept muttering that a desiccated mummy just can't do that.

Juan observed wryly that they could fit it through the CAT scan now.

Just then, another CRACK, and an arm had straightened.
Then another CRACK. Everyone was looking at the mummy this time. No-one saw the arm move. It happened between blinks; or everyone blinked at the same instant.

Mort didn't wait a heartbeat. He squirted his spray can and ignited it, sending gouts of lighter-fluid flame onto the mummy's face and up its nostril, into the skull cavity.

There was a mighty roar which shook the entire Xray lab, and the creature sat up, head aflame, then stood up. The radiographers fled, with the museum staff too. Juan was too slow, and it punched him; a mighty blow which threw him across the room, and he crunched into the wall, all but unconscious.

Vince and Sledge whipped out their guns (glock 9mm and .357 magnum) and opened up. They both landed good shots. The mummy took off and bounded out of the room. Roaring.

Suspecting that the creature would head back to the Penn museum, the party took off, leaving behind the badly injured Juan to be fixed (after all, he was right inside the hospital). They took Mort's hearse.

They got back to the museum's storage room. Ahmenra's stone sarcophagus was still there, as left. They poured petrol into it.

Then the room started to fill with fog. They lit the petrol and left quickly, only to run into a skeletal dog out there. Sledge shot it to bits.

Hearing the noise of gunfire, one of the museum security guards arrived. A superstitious chap, it didn't take long to explain to him what was going on. He suggested to turn the aircon onto "full" to suck out the fog. So they did this, and it worked.

Monday Sunset 8:28 pm, June 9

It was now after dark, so Ebony contacted Mina, and asked if she could take the sarcophagus, and dispose of it. She gave instructions to take it to a warehouse

With the help from security guards, and forklifts, they took the two-ton stone sarcophagus to the loading bay.

While this was in progress, Juan stole a flat-bed truck and backed it into the loading bay. They loaded up the sarcophagus, and took it to Mina's warehouse.

Here, it was filled with dynamite, craned onto a boat, and floated it out into the Delaware river. Then detonated.

To the Museum

Friday Afternoon, June 6

Following up on the mummy lead (phoned through by Sledge from New Caledonia), Mort, Vince, Ebony and Juan headed off the the Penn Museum (The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) and to the Egyptian section.

They spent a few hours checking out the displays. There were four mummies there. All were behind Plexiglas. Two were in closed sarcophagi, and two visible in their wrappings. All the Plexiglas cases had key-locks, and were openable from the inside. The whole area was surveilled by mounted security cameras. Plus a few security guards.
The curator of this section was a Doctor Imelda Hyde.

Mort made an appointment to see her on Monday.

Friday Night

Ebony and Vince went to the rendezvous spot to meet up with Mina at midnight, by the battleship. They had nothing to report. Neither did she.

Saturday Morning, June 7

Mort got a call from the coroner. There had been another murder that morning around 3am (third murder). A homeless guy this time. As before, the body had been drained again, but had no wounds (presumably healed) , and there was lots of spatter. It was within a few blocks of the previous ones.

Mort met with the coroner and, in his capacity as mortician, volunteered to help. Unfortunately, Mort was rather keen, and when he blew up the cadaver's lungs, as in *blew* them up with his mouth, they exploded with a meaty pop, like over-full balloons, and spattered all over the walls of the morgue.
He was asked to leave. Although, he did manage to steal the scrapings of some fibres from under one of the cadaver's finger-nails.

Sunday Morning, June 8

Mort got another call from the Coroner: There had been another murder; a prostitute. This was the fourth murder. She had been killed and her blood was missing, but no spatter.

Mort sent out feelers into his Occult network, asking for experts on mummies "The Risen", via email, Google+ and Facebook.

"Don't you know the Mages run the internet?" quipped Theo, dryly.

"Well I have a password for Occult Usenet," said Mort. "I'll use that."

Late Sunday afternoon, Sledge Hammer arrived back in Philly, after his expedition to New Caledonia.

Sunday Evening

Mort got Oberon's number off one of his girls (who's number he got off Juan Direction).
Mort phoned him, that day after dark, and the conversation went like this:
Oberon, the vampire: "Hello"
Mort: "We'd like your help"
"Who is this?"
"Mort Tetian. We work with Mina"
"Why did you phone me?!"
"We want your help"
"Why should I help you, you prick? I have nothing to do with Mina."
"Well, if you don't, there will be trouble."
"You threatening me?"
"No. But there will be trouble."
There was a pause, then Oberon said, his voice deathly cold
"Better you hope I don't see you again."
"Bring it on, fang boy"

Previous Murders

Tuesday Night (cont.)

Theo's Sixth Sense was going off, so the vampire must have been still around. So he separated from the party, and started to mutter under his breath "I really need to talk to you. Give me a sign".

A pebble whacked on his head. So he wandered off in a quiet alley. Sure enough, the creature

Vampire Mina Nerissimo

descended next to him. This was the svelte vampire girl from the bar. Theo and her got talking and she revealed her name, Mina Nerissimo, and that "we didn't kill these two corpses. Someone else is trying to blame us" and "We are not the only ones who can exsanguinate and seal the wounds" and "You find out who did, and we shall be eternally grateful. Eternal with a capital E. Meet me here tomorrow and midnight."

The party proceeded to the second site, closer to the Delaware river.

This place was also guarded by a cop, but he was a lot more bored and a lot easier to distract. So they managed to investigate the site. There was less blood here (or else the Police had cleaned it up).

Wednesday Morning, June 4

Theo and Mort did some supernatural research; besides vampires, there were four groups of creatures that can heal similarly: the Sidhe (fairy folk), the Arisen (mummies), the Mages, and the Sin-eaters (the possessed). However, the Sidhe, Arisen and Mages use blood in their rituals, but not the Sin-eaters.

Also, Sledge did some work through his police contacts. About ten years ago, there was a similar spate of drained bodies found. Five bodies, all drained, all healed. A Detective Eleanor Street was the head D on this, but she left the force soon after this. The case was never solved.

Wednesday Night

Vampire Oberon Sanchez

That night at the Khyber Pass Bar & Grill, where Juan worked, both Brother Theo and Mort's hackles rose; their sixth sense could detect a supernatural disturbance nearby. Sure enough, a vampire was at the bar chatting up a girl there. Ebony bravely confronted him, and he motioned her out the back to "have a word". When alone, he slammed her against the wall and lifted her up by her throat. He was named Oberon. He knew about Mina, but knew nothing about these murders. He was just pissed at the party for confronting him. There was no love lost between Mina and Oberon.

Midnight rolled around and Vince and Ebony went to the rendezvous to meet Mina. They had an altercation with three street punks; the leader of which was shot in the head by Vince. They hid his body in a skip.

Mina arrived and demanded an update. There wasn't much to report apart from Eleanor's case of ten years ago. Mina wasn't in Philly then, so had no recollection herself. She would meet them in two night's time, this time at the base of the gang-way onto the battleship New Jersey, now a floating museum in the Delaware river.

Thursday Morning, June 5

Sledge managed track down where Eleanor Street had ended up : New Caledonia. He phoned and eventually got through to her. The lead was promising, but Eleanor refused to say anything too damning over the phone. So Sledge decided to fly out there. The flight cost $5000 and would take twenty hours via Los Angeles.

Friday Morning, June 6

Det. Eleanor Street

Sledge arrived in Nouméa. Detective Eleanor Street now worked for the island police. She met
Sledge at the airport and they got chatting. Eleanor admitted that she was ridiculed by her police colleagues over her theories of the Supernatural being involved; so much so that she left them and shifted out. It took Sledge a while to reassure her, and that he, too, believed in the Veil.

When Sledge mentioned the mummy, mage and fae theory, Eleanor suddenly recalled that the Philadelphia Natural History museum had a collection of Egyptian artifacts, including some mummies, and that a night guard had been killed back in 2004.

The Philadelphia Experiment

New campaign. 

World of Darkness: Hunter, the Vigil

THE PARTY

Ebony Medoza [ Jeff ], 
an ex-Athelete
a rhythmic gymnast who didn't quite make the US 2012 Olympic team. 
Archetype: thief. 
Fighting forte: thrown. 
Hated: geist

Jacob Bradshaw [ Ian ], 
forensic scientist. 
Works for Philadelphia Police Department.
Archetype: scholar. Fighting forte: none. Hated: demon

Juan Direction [ Matt] , 
a street racer (ex gang). 
Defined by his car, a Skyline GT-R. Has had many brushes with the law over illegal street facing.
Archetype: petty crim. 
Fighting forte: pistol. 
Hated: vampire

Lucy Lang [ Steven ], 
scientist and occultist. 

Archetype: Lab technician. 
Fighting forte: none. 
Hated: created

Sledge Hammer [ Shane ], 
a P.I.
An ex-detective who left the Philly force over accusations of corruption and wrought. "They ain't proved nothin'," exclaimed Sledge indignantly when asked about them. 
Archetype: PI. 
Fighting forte: pistol. 
Hated: werewolf

Reginald Gates [ Darryl ], 
a soldier. 
An ex-marine and former Corporal.
Archetype: soldier 
Fighting forte: sub-machine gun (mp5). 
Hated: mage

Leon Livingstone [ David Campbell ], 
An ex-soldier. 
Archetype: Soldier. 
Fighting forte: shotgun. 
Hated: mage











DEAD OR RETIRED

Mort Gezkowski [ Darryl ], a mortician (ex doctor). Has worked with and for the Philly Senior coroner at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Archetype: scholar Fighting forte: pistol. Hated: vampire

Vince Stevens [ Ian ], an ex hit-man. Made his name in Central America working for the Chavez junta's secret police "los perros corriendo". When Chavez died in 2013, Vince quickly left the country and returned to the US. 
Archetype: fighter. Fighting forte: pistol. Hated: mage

Theo St George [ Steven ], 
an ex monk (ex religious leader). 
Formerly a Benedictine monk from St Gregory's Abbey (Three Rivers in Michigan), he fell out over accusations of "indecency and impropriety", and was summarily excommunicated.
Archetype: Warrior priest. 
Fighting forte: sword, katana. 

Hated: mage

BEGIN

Tuesday Night, June 3

Juan was a recent employee of the Khyber Pass Bar & Grill, a boutique bar in the Old Town district of Philadelphia.

He nodded to his mates as they pushed through the few people in the place, and took seats by the bar. There was Eva, Mort, Vince, Theo and Sledge. Something serious must be up, because they didn't normally meet with him while he was working.
  
"Two bodies," began Mort, without any intro, in his usual terse style. "Exsanguinated".

"Drained of blood too," added Theo helpfully.

Mort continued, in a hushed tone: "Vamps, I suspect. But I didn't see any puncture marks. No where on the body."

Mort was a mortician, who worked at the city morgue, under the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

"Vampires can seal up the wounds" added Juan quietly.

"The patho told me one was found at the Washington Square park, about half a mile from here, and the other one down by the river" continued Mort.

Sledge, ever watchful, noticed a svelte girl down the bar raise her head at the word "vampires". He thought this was odd for Juan had said it barely above a whisper. Sledge nodded to the others and gestured subtly towards her, then wandered off. Sledge was superb at hiding and tailing, so he slipped into a pool of shadows just outside in the street.

The others, sans Juan, then proceed to leave and walked down the street. Sure enough, the girl stood up and left too. Followed by Sledge. Then Juan.

The girl was following the group. Sledged texted Vince to update him of progress, then kept in hidden pursuit.

They headed down an alley; a blind alley. 

The girl paused at the entrance.

Back down the street, the hidden Sledge texted Mort. Mort inched his way to the mouth of the alley. The girl must have noticed, she suddenly scooted up the side of the building, barely touching the walls, so by the time Mort got to the mouth, she was well out of sight.

Keeping a weather-eye on her, the group proceeded down Walnut St to the first of the body locations in the park. It was still under police guard.

Vince managed to sneak past the cops and had his own look at the site of the killing. There was blood spattered about.

He rejoined the group and told them of this. With nothing else to do here, they started to move off to the site of the second killing.