Call of Cthulhu, Episode 12: 'Not a Fu-Manchu Movie'

Finding their way back to London, Elaine, still at the university, informs Professor Von Junzt that she is extremely worried about a man whom she had been ‘seeing’.

 Philip LeClair, a ‘stage Magician - ohh she is ‘sure’ he is really French…honest’…, seems to have gone missing. 

'Now madame, if I can pull an actual plot out of this scenario, that really will be magic!'

 The party (minus Sinead, who has disappeared into the London underground to meet her Irish contacts) determine to speak with LeClair’s agent  - ‘Howard Horne – Theatrical Impressario’ of Long acre, London.

  

'Can Oi 'elp?'

Horne talks the talk, but seems to know very little, outlining only that LeClair had developed a very exciting new ‘vanish’ trick, but since his disappearance,  a rival magician at the theatre – a German named ‘Karl Weiss’ (‘The Amazing Karl’) seemed to have appropriated it. He also states, almost matter-of-factly, that both men are involved with a strange society, run by a Chinese collective, known as the ‘Inner Brotherhood of Magicians’ (it helps if you say it in the style of the 1960s Fu Manchu movies). 

Saruman's finest hour

 

The party suspect the worst, and interview Karl – pretending to be Policemen, and of course benefitting from the ID that they …’borrowed’…last week. The Prof (rolling a psychology of 01) watches as the nervous Magician, who seemed very concerned at being watched by two Chinese thugs in the audience, blurts out to the Prof that the aforementioned Magic Society of Ching Lung Soo intimidated him into admitting that he had loaned Philip a book he shouldn’t have. It was at this juncture that Philip was brought before Ching Lung Soo – and he has not been seen since.

The two Chinese thugs in the audience try to gain access to Karl as the characters are interviewing, but are shoo’ed away, at which juncture the Prof and McLeoud decide to create a diversion, having them follow the Prof disguised as Karl…they also notice an enlarged Police presence in London, perhaps in light of the charity performance two nights hence..where the magicians will appear...

McDade, a bit of a dab hand with magic himself, agrees to accompany Karl to the society’s large house in Surbiton, where Karl tells him that if he can perform a trick, he might be allowed to become a 1^st level member of the cult…I mean society…

'We didn't order Prawn Crackers'

 What could go wrong?