Masks of Nyarlathotep (6/28/2026)

GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Sean Nittner, Sarah Terman, Matthew Fisher
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
Content warning: body horror, graphic violence, and self-harm masked (like this)

The journey is not done yet.

Those that stayed behind

Though it was just a moment, Catherine and Colby had long moments to wonder.

Catherine was reeling from the experience of her mind being reduced from the great city of Pnakotus to the fragile shell of a mortal body.

Colby was thinking about options to get Catherine back to earth safely, knowing that as she stood, she would not survive the return journey.

Catherine looked to him and thanked him for their time together. The talked about what he would do with the knowledge they had accumulated and Colby thought to share it. Catherine seeded the notion of an institute to teach others what we learned the hard way. She believed he would be an incredible teacher, though most likely without her.

Those that returned

The travelers through time, Iris, Amos, & Nora, have experienced the unspeakable, and their journey is not done yet. What’s more, the Iris, Amos, and Nora who return to you—they who stumble across continents with shattered psyche, impossible knowledge of the future, and the second half of the Greater Eye of Light in Darkness—are not the same Iris, Amos, & Nora who left. These three are from a different iteration of the universe, a different garden, and while they’re almost the same, they are also different: like seeing a woman, knowing she looks feature-for-feature like your mother, and yet knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is a stranger. And yet the party is reunited, such as it is, as Iris, Amos, & Nora step from the shadows in the Yithian’s pyramidal holdfast.

The came from a different iteration, a different garden. Changed in some small way their lives were different and changed by reliving the last five years from the shadows.

• Iris, now hardened from her experience of nearly drowning, was no longer afraid of water, and had become a proficient swimmer (forgetting other knowledge in the process. She has also been planting seedling of her dream plant all over the world as she traveled, and there were now many growths that were flowering.
• Nora approach was more aggressive and less analytical, now skilled in intimidation (instead of psychology).
• Amos this time stood up to bullies that tormented him once, now also skilled in intimidation (instead of psychoanalysis). He also learned another spell in his travels.
• Li-Wen picked up the Mirror of Gol from Zahra Shafik in London so it could be of use.

All of them had to find ways to keep the Yellow Word from shattering their minds. The mastered the technique of sharing it with cultists, just before killing them.

“Does Catherine need to know about the Bantu gods?” – Question from Amos, surprising Sean (and likely Catherine)

When Amos returned he chanted the names of Bantu gods (a spell he had learned just for this occasion) and restored Catherine’s vitality (Magic Points) at the cost of his own essence (Power).

The Greater Eye of Light and Darkness

We had the two pieces of the Greater Eye, and yet we knew that we could only reforge it in a total eclipse. Where should it be places such that it could look over all the lands of the earth? We thought, at first, the moon herself. Surly there it would never be disturbed. But survival here for six months was likely impossible, and as far as we knew, the other side of the gate was falling into ruins at this very momnet.

As we discussed we saw the Winnie was still wearing her helmet, even though we discover some time ago (for Nora, it was five years ago) that you could breath in this room, and that breathing from her suit would reduce the air in the tank they would need for the return. Nora came up behind Winnie, unclasped her helmet and lifted it off.

Winnie gasped as though suffocating, but after a few moments realized she could breath.

Nora chastised her “It’s easy to hide from the things that scare you, but that doesn’t help. You need to face them.” The new Nora (or rather the more experienced Nora) was not as kind as her predecessor.

Catherine and Li-Wen (oddly protective of Charles’ daughter) both tried to offer comfort, but Winnie was still distressed.

Consulting our maps, we decided to place it in Sumatra, on of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia, that would be in the line of the eclipse.

On the way out of the Yith temple, Colby took a souvenir, a gold colored tetrahedron with a twist in it. It was either that or he’d be trying to prove the existence of Yith to skeptical people who thought he’d lost his senses along with his eyes.

Return to Earth

We passed across the surface of the moon unaccosted. Without Kakatak (who had simply been there one moment and was gone the next) we looked the same as all of the other cultists.

When we returned to earth, to the city of Pnakotus, we found it crumbling in ruins. Amos led us in a dream song to find our way out and to the Mardu.

On the way, Catherine relinquished the Dream of the Blue Temple back into dreaming, to heal some of the damage the Yith had done, or failing that, make it harder for them to return. It was difficult to let go of all the work she had done.

Colby watched out for the servitor, the flying polyp rampaging with delight through the city, and kept us safe.

Preparations

We had defeated the Crawling Chaos wherever we walked, but the outer god wore 1000 faces and would surely try to stop us again. In the intervening six months to prepare.

Amos and Iris consulted Anthony Cowles in Sidney and confirmed that Sumatra was a volcanic island that was not frequented often but considered as holy pace. A good place for the eye.

On the boat from Sidney to San Francisco, Winnie, who knew the Yellow Sign but could not bear to share it with others, approached Iris. She told her aunt that that there was an infestation in her mind that she could not get rid of.

Iris believed she knew that Winnie spoke of as was furious. She asked “Did you learn this from Amos or Nora?”

Winnie was sheepish, as she did not want Iris to be wroth with either of them “Yes, but I made them tell me. I thought that knowing would protect me…I was wrong.”

Iris, now accustomed to spending five years with the sign and sharing it with cultists just before killing them, was less sympathetic than she would have been before the journey thorough time. “Either live with it, or don’t.”

Winnie shuddered at the though of what Iris implied “I don’t think I can. I need your help.”

In that moment Iris realized Winnie was asking Iris to kill her. “I cannot. I will not do that.”

“You must. I cannot do it myself.” Winnie pleaded.

“You need to wait till January. I can’t think about this till then.

“I don’t think I’ll last that long.”

“I’ve seen too many of my family members die. I cannot deal with this and save the world.”

—

Amos through many books into the sea during the trip. Books that he deemed harmful to others. Books that should not be read.

Li-Wen tried to stop him “You’re destroying knowledge.”

Amos argued that they were too dangerous but that did not convince her. Eventually he settled on only destroying the worst of the books. “The enemies on Nodens are our enemies. Help me commit their works to the sea.”

Colby spent much of time time trying to navigate the world through listening and Dream. When they eventually arrived in Massachusetts the pods that Iris planted would him see a few things here and there. A lighthouse of forests or rivers.

Nails Nelson approached him one night and asked about his continued employment. He had noticed that he hadn’t been paid recently, and if they were going to wait ill January for anything to happen, that was a long time to be on retainers. “Is there anything to shoot in Massachusetts?”

“Yes” Colby confirmed. “These are people who need killing done, but are squeamish about doing it.

Amos approached Iris about using the pods of her plant to create a flare so that Colby could see an area for a time. Catherine had been thinking about a similar idea, using the plant’s discharge to make a paste that could be painted on the walls to make a place visible to him.

Nora talked to Winnie when she saw her starting to unravel. “I know you must be feeling the urge to share ‘it’. I have a method.”

Winne knew the method Nora was suggesting. Share the sign with a cultist just before killing them. “I can’t do that. They are skill people. I question the humanity…”

Nora tried again. “In the war there was a good side and a less good side. But even the good side had to do terrible things. Please, just trust me on this. It gets easier.”

I did not get easier for Winnie.

Catherine approached her as well, seeing how distraught she had become. When Winnie expressed that she was not cut out for this work and only a burden to others, Catherine refuted “You’re the heart that sustains us. Once upon a time, I might have been the one to help people see right from wrong, but I’ve lost that where as you have not.”

Catherine remembered seeing Madam Lin’s past and wondered, if she poured enough of herself into it, if she could look back at the decision Winnie made and help her change it. But she would never learn if it was possible. Winnie would not let her try.

Home again?

When Iris and Amos returned to Miskatonic they politely informed that after a year of absence their positions had been filled by others, however they were given an honorarium in the form of a lab to work in.

We found the cultists of Massachusetts leaderless and easy to pick of (for Iris, Amos, and Nora).

Nora found America strange compared to Australia. It was both bigger and smaller, scarier and more sedate. She studied local folklore of places like Salem and investigated cryptids. She got a sense of North American mythologies. Native people that have been fighting the Mythos for ages, though colonizers had quashed many of those efforts.

—

Winnie’s body was found by Colby, who saw her in dreams at the bottom of the river, weighed down by rocks. He arranged for a funeral and fold Iris that Winnie had drowned herself. “It looks like she just walked into the river.”

Never before had Iris poured so much grief into her plant. “I should have done something.” But we all knew there was nothing she could do.

“The soil of our company was not one in which a flower like Winnie could survive.” Colby Slater, the poet.

“The Morsleys. I’ve seen them all die in the past and in the future. And I can’t save any of them.”

“When you look at it like that, we’re all going to die and all we can do is trying to do some good while we’re alive. And those Morseleys have done more than their share of good.”

They were kinds words, but in the moment Iris couldn’t hear them. “The world is a dark place and I thought as least we could make it better for Winnie.

We all grieved in our own ways. Nora raged. Furious she couldn’t convince Winnie to join her. Li-Wen got into problem solving mode. Maybe she could be brought back? Catherine arranged to have her body taken back to the Morsley family graveyard to be interned with her family.

—

Catherine began work to set up the institute she and Colby discussed. She reached out to Kalfour and Mu’Sien and every academic contact she had to help set it up. They would teach people about the Yith so they we would be prepared if they ever tried to return. She sent out encoded messages for potential students. Those that could solve them would learn how to join.

She also created a Mark IV device. It was harder without the dream of the Blue Temple in her mind, but she did what she could. It needed to allow her at the very least to warn former Catherine using the Mark III. And maybe it would be used as a weapon once more.

Amos asked Old Bundari to help them prepare for the Eclipse and reforge the Greater Eye. The old man told us we had everything we already needed.

Roland Morsley

One night in November as it rained outside, there was a wrap on the window to the small house we were all staying in. Outside, a bit put out by the weather was an old man who has a familiar demeanor and appearance.

Roland appeared to be in his late 60s, with a strong frame that was stooped with age.

Nora answered the door “Yes?”

“Nora Blackwood, I presume? I sent a telegram. Where is my daughter?”

Roland was invited in by Amos who overheard the exchange and went off to fetch Iris.

Iris, somewhat dreading meeting another Morsley asked “What brings you to Massachusetts?”

Roland shared a story from 40 years ago of finding a dark tower with his boon companion Winston Thackery, and after there terrible experience within, pledging to spend the rest of his life working to stop those dark forces.

“Oh thank goodness, you already know about the Mythos. And I thought we’d have to send you away.”

January 12, 1926

We took a train to a ship to a boat to an unknown island in Indonesia. We trekked through unknown lands and used dynamite to open lava tubes wide enough to make a a cave from the ground to the peak of the mountain. We sealed both ends with Elder Signs. Iris prepared us all with bullets coated in dreams…dreams of grief and loss.

During the preparations Li-Wen asked Catherine about how much risk was acceptable for her to take in this final encounter. Catherine lamented they had spent far too long telling Li-Wen what she should and shouldn’t do. “I trust Li-Wen to do what you feel is right.”

Li-Wen nodded and set off, but before leaving asked Catherine to look after Roland. She had a penchant for old Morsley men.

Amos asked Bundari again for aid, and this time the the Dreamwalker filled our heads with dreams that we might use in the coming battle.

Catherine knew that to look into the future would be to look into the eyes of the Crawling Chaos itself, but if it would help she would have to do it. There were versions of our future where monsters rained from the sky. Versions where a gate was opened on the moon. Versions where powerful sorcerers brought forth the chaos. But we had prevented all of those.

And yet, Catherine saw that there was still one who would try to stop us the next day. One who will tempt us away from our mission. If we could resist that one, we might prevail. As she looked at the creature she saw it wear many faces. Some she had seen before, some that were new. The penultimate face was a man in a fine suit, but the last face was her own!

She was shaken, but thanks to Amos casting Earthly Serenity on her before entering the trance, she was able to hold the horror at bay long enough to share the danger with her companions.

January 13, 1926

As the totality began Amos began the song to cast the Greater Eye of Light and Darkness. “sa-ma sa-ma te-yo sa-ma” We all joined the spell and in a circle chanted alongside him, including a man in a dark suit.

“I wank to thank you all. You have challenged those who served me. Like an inoculation that makes the body stronger, you’ve been a shock to our system and make it stronger in turn. I chose you all to lead to this point. I chose you because of the great things you would do”

And then it was alone, with each of us.

“Amos, you walked the path to my embrace. I forged you. I can give you all that you wish.”

Amos held fast. Thought his body continued to chant, in his mind the refuted the offer “Your sorcerers as weak. We have bested them all.”

“You’re so right. Together we could explore a thousand worlds. Learn of power’s you’ve never fathomed.”

“sa-ma sa-ma te-yo sa-ma” Amos did not accept his offer.

—

To Colby he offered knowledge beyond anything he could imagine. Colby refuted that there are many thing that we will not learn in our lifetimes but the pursuit is still worthwhile.

The man continued to tempt. “The science behind the mystery can be known.”

“What would you ask in return?”

“Nothing of consequence, just that you serve me.”

“No!” Colby did not accept his offer.

—

“Iris, I could bring them all back. You could have everyone you’ve loved again. Winnie, Charles, Evangeline, Reggie…Edward.”

“They would never forgive me for aiding you.”

“They would never need to know.” He presented all of their faces to torment Iris, but it only made her stronger.

“I see those faces every day. You’ll have to do better than that.” Iris did not accept his offer.

—

“Catherine. You are not loved, but pitied. I could make the others love you as you would want.

Catherine studied the man and the mask he wore. “How much of you is here right now?” She goaded him and she could feel the elder signs strain as more of the Nyarlathotep gathered into our world to invade it.

Catherine engaged her Mark IV device for it’s final function. To pull the Crawling Chaos out of time. She did not accept his offer.

—

“Who are you old man?” The man offered Roland. He was not part of the plan.

“As long as there are Elder things trying to invade our reality there will be Morsleys here to fight them.” Roland did not accept his offer.

—

“You know you’re the replacement, right? They look at you and they see him. I could let you lead instead of follow.”

Nora shook her head. She did not accept his offer.

The fight for our garden

Catherine used the Mark IV to draw many versions of Nyarlathotep into this garden.

Amos plunged forward with the sword of dreaming. Nyarlathotep would have stepped aide but Amos used the dream of the Moon to trap him long enough to plunge the the sword deep inside.

The image of the man was torn away, to reveal the Bloated Woman. Our minds were wracked with pain at the sight of her but not broken.

Colby cut her face with his dagger, tied imperfectly to dream.

Nails Nelson shot her with dream bullets.

Li-Wen summoned a Night Gaunt to fight her.

The Bloated Woman tried to grasp Amos but he evaded her. She summoned two horrors from the sky above.

Catherine Dreamed a lattice work of order from that the Chaos would need to shatter, and in doing so begin to consume itself with the dream of the Ouroboros.

Colby cut her again with a faulty dream knife, shattering the blade as he destroyed another mask.

The Bloody Tongue appeared. And our minds were wracked with pain, but not broken.

The Bloody Tongue pounded into the island breaking it apart. We all held on to something. Some of of us from deft footwork. Some with aid (Roland reached out his cane for Amos to catch onto) and some with an intimate knowledge of geology (Iris had mapped the island before and she knew just where she and Colby should stand to be safe).

Li-Wen shattered the Mirror of Gol from the alternative timeline and sent shards of Nodens to grapple with one of the servitors as it descended.

Nora gave the other servitor knowledge of the Yellow Sign. Anathema to Nyarlathotep and harmful to his creations.

Amos and Colby shot dream bullets.

Iris continued chanting, the only only one holding the spell together.

The Bloody Tongue lashed at Iris to break the spell but the dream of roses protected her. Her plant, which had always tried to shield her from pain, grew up around her in and instant to block the blow, but was destroyed in the process.

Catherine unshackled the restraints in the Mark IV device to gather Yithian energy from other Gardens. The lightning coursed through our world and those adjacent, trapping Nyarlathotep in it’s energy, but it also flared back burning Catherine’s hands and sending her flying back. Her body lay unconscious, but alive.

Amos cast Earthly Serenity…on Nyarlathotep itself. A calm that was odious to the the Outer God.

Nora and Roland rejoined the ritual, to offer Iris aid.

Colby ran to Catherine, picked up the still smoldering Mark IV device and fired it as well. He struck at the perfect moment as the eclipse was wending and in an instant, the sun returned and Nyarlathotep was gone. [Critical hit!]

Nora poured all of herself into the creation and there was nothing left of her. Perhaps in order to prevent Iris or Roland from doing the same. Perhaps to finally rid herself of the the Yellow Sign. Perhaps because she could no longer endure the guilt of losing Winnie. Perhaps all three.

Greater Eye of Light and Darkness

The Greater Eye of Light and Darkness was forged anew.

And then, without warning or premeditation, there is a moment of stillness in the daytime night, a lull, a peace, as come the first glimmerings of the sun’s return. Even in his horror, the ancient being that is Nyarlathotep looks up to witness the midday dawn. And in that moment, as darkness fades and the warm light of the sun begins its gradual return, the spell concludes, the chant falls silent on your lips, and the Greater Eye of Light and Darkness, the protective sigil that you risked all and broke time itself to secure, is reforged.

Imagine if you will, around the world, a few dozen men & women, a ragtag army assembled through your work, believers in the possibility of humanity and the power of the light. Willa Sligh, at home in New York City, drawn by some unknown impulse, looks up toward the light. Michael A Cross & the artist Shipley, hand in hand, look towards the light; Dr. Ali Kafur & the archeologist James Gardner look up; Johnstone Kenyatta & Old Bundari, but too the groundskeeper Silent Joe & the railwayman Sam Mariga at his garden; Mu Hsien & Fergus Chum, Choi Mei-ling & Madam Lin, Tjunkiya of the Australian Mardu and Old “Mad” Muldoon, yes, but also every customs inspector that resisted the darkness to catalogue ships full of unspeakable artifacts; every colonial officer whose mind was sufficiently open to a brighter, freer future; every cultist who in the moment of crisis turned his back and walked away; all who have felt despair in the heart of them and yet stumbled back towards the light… Look up, as watchful eyes across the world awaken!

Amos touched the sign as it’s light faded and it was hidden in the rock face.

Iris holds his hand.

Roland tuts “well done.”

Catherine comes to consciousness for a moment and grabbed hold of Colby, asking if she felt a ring box in his pocket, because he answer is “yes”.

The Years to Come

A decade passes. The year is 1936, and the survivors of Nyarlathotep reunite in Dream. Nobody knows who suggested it, but it seemed an obvious place for a remembrance: where everyone can attend from wherever you’ve scattered, where Colby can see with eyes long gone, and where a certain Frenchman maintains a house with a garden. In the intervening decade there has been much of darkness—a stock market collapse and global depression, the rise of Johanna Specht’s people in Germany and Isoge Taro’s in Japan, leading to an invasion of Shanghai—but ever points of light as well. A renaissance of Black arts and culture flourishes in New York. Commercial airlines become more commonplace, reducing reliance on oceanic voyages. Actress Josephine Riley successfully makes the transition to talking pictures. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

The institute has been established on the Morsley estate in England to train the next generation of investigators. To give them the knowledge we had to fight so desperately to obtain and prepare them to fight the next iteration of chaos.

Catherine and Colby have two children that they raise on the estate.

Iris is lost. She lost Nora, her plant, and her reason to keep going. She keeps killing cultists and joins the institute as we research as way to excise the Yellow Sign.

Amos stays with Iris, honors Nora’s passing, and helps others learn to dream. He becomes our Old Bundari. He is cautious and stays clear of the Hounds of Tindalos.

Roland delivers Iris a letter from Winnie that she never delivered herself. He also reported on her sister Hazel, who is grieving but wants to join the institute.

Francois, even in dream, feels the absence of Nyarlathotep. He is interested in what is going on in the world. He’s crafted a home in dream that is reminiscent of the French countryside before the war. Pastoral rolling hills and idyllic sunsets. There are a few pictures on the wall to remind him of the world. Some blurry shots taken in a rush and some incredible landscapes he captured on our travels. As we join him, he asks what has come of the waking world.

A decade passes. The year is 1946, and the survivors of Nyarlathotep reunite in Dream. It has been a terrible decade—a genocide; a cataclysmic war; a weapon deployed, horrible beyond imagination—but still yet points of light. Heavyweight champion Gene Tunney accepts a commission in the United States Naval Reserve as to set up a physical fitness program for student pilots. After the war, a United Nations is called to order to protect the world from future calamity. Penicillin & benadryl revolutionize medicine. Computational machines the size of a room perform calculations at lightning speeds. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

Amos would have been drafted into the war, but he got the Blue Discharge for being openly gay. He was ostracized by most of society, but he doesn’t care about most of the world. He keeps teaching people in the institute in ways that don’t harm them.

Roland frequently visits the graves of his fallen family. Eventually he joins them. He wakes one night in the middle of the night to find his cane, but finds Iris’ hand instead. He squeezes it and then passes quietly in his sleep.

Catherine has pulled away from the institute to focus on her children.

Meanwhile, the institute had become Colby’s home. With seedling of the Dream Plant growing all over, he can see everything there and is shielded from some of the despair in the world. It becomes his fortress.

The institute develops a method of brain surgery to remove the Yellow Sign. Both Iris and Amos undergo the surgery, but it takes something from the. Iris develops tremors. Amos’s vision begins to fade.

Francois has made a family for himself in dream and found ways to reach people in the waking world through the plants. He offers those who suffer the most succor in dream.

Michael Cross’ book of the History of the Universe is release to no particular fanfare. Though we make sure to keep several copies in the institute.

The year is 1956, and an Iron Curtain divides the world. China fractures into communist and capitalist nations; Pockmarked Huang-backed-general Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of the Republic of China in Taiwan. But Egypt breaks free of British rule, becoming a republic. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

Catherine sees her children into adulthood. She returns to the institute, her hands stiff in the cold halls, and talks to Colby about retirement.

Colby prepares to step back, and for Hazel Morsley to take over leadership.

Amos becomes paranoid that the Elder Gods will infiltrate our world once more and becomes more and more eccentric. He has a radio in his study and when students try to present him new knowledge of the Mythos he turns it up loud so he cannot hear them.

Iris has become weary with age. She spends most of her time gardening.

Francois feels he cannot keep up with the waking world any longer. It has moved to far past him. He recedes deeper into dream until eventually he too, is gone.

The year is 1966. Humanity crawls into space, under the watchful eye of the moon. Johnstone Kenyatta has become president of a newly independent Kenya, the culmination of decades of his work. Assassinations vie for headlines with civil rights marches on color televisions. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

January 30, 1965. Colby Slater passed peacefully, leaving behind Catherine and his two children.

Iris leaves our world to find Francois, taking his pace in Dream.

1969. Amos dies in the Stonewall Riots, standing up for gay rights.

The year is 1976. The world outside continues to grow and change, people continue to suffer and thrive and make terrible decisions and demonstrate occasional grace. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

Catherine is alone for many years. One quiet night she looks at her ruined hands, so many times burned and crushed and cut in her youth, and whispers into time “Kakatak, I hope The Catherine was not a mistake.” As the light fades from her eyes, she knows somehow he is with her still.

The year is 2026. And the Eye of Light and Darkness holds.

A realization I had after the game. Had this been an earlier session would have caused much more discussion, was that the spell to create the Greater Eye required some of the energy of the Outer Gods to cast it. I’m sure at least one of us would have pointed out the dangers and inherent short-sightedness of using power from Nyarlathotep to cast a spell to stave of the same. What if that power later faded? What if the crawling chaos found a way to take it back? Not a question that was germane to the finale but sometime, somewhere, one of the members of the institute might say “wait a second….?”

Thoughts on this game

HOLY SHIT. There are not a lot of campaigns that make it to the end. There are not a lot that I would rank as part of my best gaming experiences ever. But this is one of those games.

We talked for hours after the game reminiscing on favorite moments, some from this session, and some from those in the past. As with all wonderful stories, it was hard to see it end, but I was also so delighted that we had such a wonderful ending.

Thank you to everyone in this game. You all made it wonderful.

Sam, you are an incredible GM. You pours so much time and energy into preparing the best game you can, and then you are also is so willing to throw that all aside and follow the characters on their journey. To do either one well is rare, to do both is incredible. I loved the many characters you portrayed and the world you painted for us in broad strokes where we filled in the details. You entertained precognition and high priests and dream plants and multiple timelines and budding romances and sibling spats and each of us running off in every different direction all at the same time. Thank you for a truly epic campaign.

Thank you Adrienne for inviting me to the game. For playing SO MANY MORSLEYS (seven if we count Hazel). For hosting us in the final few sessions. For arranging pizzas and ice cream and tacos and so many other delights. Thank you for your copious notes, and putting together all the pieces that we would have otherwise missed. Thank you for the short but sweet romance we had with Reggie and Catherine. Thank you for the fierceness of Evangeline and the chivalry of Charles. Thank you for the goodness and vulnerability of Winnie, and the stoic passion of Roland.

Thank you Matt for the driving force of Amos. From the boxing matches with Gene Tunney to the final slash of the Sword of Dreaming into Chaos. Amos pushed himself and all of us to plumb the depths of the Mythos and find the tools we needed to defeat it. He gave up so much of his own mind so that the rest of us could hold onto our own. Thank your for hosting so many of the games and sharing your home and your family with me. Thank you for the mid-game dinner talks and always inquiring about the happenings in our lives.

Thank you Sarah for your dedicating to playing Iris as such a rich and real person. Than you for our fights and our reconciliations. Thank you for our shopping trips and our light night talks. Thank you for the suffering and the enduring. Thank you for our sisterhood. And thank you for tracking the calendar and keeping track of so many notes and handouts. Thank you for helping us finally learn the rest of the ship name “Dar”. And thank you for helping all of us play people with thoughts and feelings and conflicting desires by modeling all of that yourself.

Thank you Dylan for the masterful way you depicted Colby as a man of science and a sceptic all the way until he could not possibly continue to disbelieve, and then sought to understand what could not presently be understood. Thank you for the beautiful slow burn romance with Catherine and for the ways both of them admired and complimented one another. Thank you for the visceral details of violence that delighted the whole table and the real world connections that helped our gain have more verisimilitude and substance. Thank you for the thoughtful approach you always took when posed with impossible questions and found a way to answer them from the heart of Dr. Slater.

Thank you James for playing a character through the incredible transformation and growth that Francois had. From the veteran photographer to curios investigator to high priest to dream entity, I loved the way you carried the truth of Francois through all these iterations even as he changed so dramatically. Thank you for the somber moments of a French man smoking in the rain, for the wild moments of monstrous arrogance looking into the Maw and not flinching. Thank you for brining Nora to life and showing how she struggled as she could not take Winnie on the same journey she went through. Thank you for the Elder Sign cooking you made for us in the end. I’m sure it protected us from the worst!

I feel so honored to be among you all.

Pictures from our game, and one of Sir Emmett as well. May he be remembered as long as the Eye of Light and Darkness shines.