Camille "Cami" Burke, unemployed actress
Alexander "Murph" Murphy, pilot
Luis Phillippe De Resario, horse-rancher
Miranda Sullivan, cat-burglar
Alais Corbin, dilettante
John Stewart, Coroner [RIP]
Each of the investigators receives a telegram from Jackson Elias, a friend of theirs who writes about death cults, and make preparations to travel to New York to meet him.
Meeting in New York, they recognize each other at least by name, as Jackson has used each's talents in the past. A phone call from Jackson, taken by Murph, sets a meeting for the following evening at the Chelsea Hotel, in his room. That evening, Alais, Cami, Miranda and Murph go out dancing in some expensive New York clubs. The group fails to recognize Erica Carlyle, brother to Roger, who was mentioned in the telegram they received from Jackson, but they do have a very enjoyable time.
As the others recover from the night's exertions, Stewart and Luis head to the New York public library to look up more about the Carlyle expedition, about which the group could only summon vague memories. A morning of research leads to quite a few articles, and Stewart, the coroner, decided to follow up on Robert Huston, looking for access to his medical records. Without New York credentials or family permission, he is, unfortunately refused access.
That evening they knock on Elias' door at the Chelsea Hotel. Receiving no reply, Miranda rapidly opens the door to show three figures and the dead body of Jackson Elias. In the ensuing fracas, Murph takes a very nasty stab from a panga, and Miranda is just dissuaded from jumping on to the exterior fie escape, which was hanging on by only a few screws. The fight concludes with two villains dead, one of multiple gunshot wounds, and one of head wounds from being punched over the edge of the fire escape. Stewart administers first aid as the others search the room. Amazingly, the combat did not attract any attention and the group were able to leave unhindered, complete with a half-dozen leads.
Library research and phone calls dominate the day; an appointment with Lieutenant Poole of the NYPD was set up, Professor Cowles was located and the head of Emerson imports talked to, leading to an address in Harlem, at Ju-Ju house. That evening, at 12:30, All the group except for Stewart and Alais approach Ju-Ju house. The party expect trouble, and as their rented car pulls into the alley, they are immediately noticed by three apparent winos -- but Miranda notes they are faking a drunken stupor.
In no mood for compromise, Luis pulls out a Tommy gun and is soon joined by an injured, but still active Murph. A few brief bursts and all attempt at secrecy is over. The group breaks into the Ju-Ju house, downs two more cultists who come from the basement (they managed to turn up on a meeting-night!) and then back out to discuss whether to continue downstairs. This turns out to be an error, as the head of the organization decides that Tommy guns are not to be trifled with, and summons a hunting horror to attack them.
On seeing the horror, Murph and Luis lose it. Luis is in the act of throwing an injured cultist in the car boot, and insanely jumps in, believing that consuming the flesh of the cultist will protect him. Murph, more prosaically, decides to flee at high speed in the car. The women jump in the car and they depart at speed. After an hour of frantic driving, the women manage to convince Murph to pull into a gas station and Miranda slashes the car's tires so as to stop the journey. Cami violently slaps Luis and the two men are brought out of their bout of temporary insanity. Miranda gets in contact with her one New York underworld friend and arranges disposal of the vehicle. Everyone takes deep breaths.
During the day, Alais and Stewart talk to Poole. Based on their statements, it's clear he suspects they were in room 410 and played a part in proceedings, but as they were basically helpful, gave useful information, and clearly were not the killers of Elias, he decides not to enquire too deeply. That evening, the group returns to Ju-Ju house, intent on revenge for Elias. The house is fairly empty that evening, with only four zombies providing much in the way of opposition, and even though bullets are not that harmful to them, a few full machine-gun bursts, combined with a molotov cocktail, takes care of them. The entity in the well is approached with extreme caution; only Alais looks at it, and they pour petrol into the pit and set fire to it. Exit Chakota.
Cami puts on a mask they find in the chambers, getting a vision of Azathoth. It gives her a few minutes of terror, but leaves her mind surprisingly intact. They leave.
Recovery, a brief chat with Professor Cowles, reading a book found in the Ju-Ju house and booking passage to London fill this day.
Off to London. On the trip, Murph tries the mask and sees a vision of Nodens. His mind survives the encounter, also. Stewart starts reading the book and learning the spell. The others just enjoy the cruise and try to recover from a variety of wounds.
Delayed by bad weather a day, the group arrives in London.
A day is spent wandering around London, with Mickey Mahoney, the editor of The Scoop tabloid being their strongest contact. He gives them several useful leads and they persuade him to get them a meeting with a contact in the London Underworld, where they hope to gain access to weapons similar to those confiscated at customs. Shotguns are their main desire. The three leads that interest the group (as they had been pursued by Jackson Elias previously) are the following:
The group rests most of the day, taking out a lease on a room in Soho overlooking The Blue Pyramid, so they can stake it out.
A visit to Miles Shipley, the artist in the news story, is undertaken. They meet Miles' mother, drink tea, and lose a little sanity looking at the unsettling canvases, even buying one and having it sent to their hotel. Convinced something is strange, they split into two groups that night. One group, comprising Cami, Murph and Miranda, will break into Shipley house. The other group, John Stewart, Luis and Alais, stays in Soho in case anything happens at the club. Of course, it does, and a truck pulls up to the club, and customers clamber in, including a couple of unwilling young women.
John, Luis and Alais follow the truck deep into the countryside and nearly run into an armed guard around an old mansion, but manage to return without mishap, pinpointing the location of the mansion. However, all they find is a note and a picture. The note says the picture trapped the other two and tells them that Murph is on his way to Shipley's to find out how to get them back.
What happened was that the break in went very smoothly. They broke into Miles's secret cupboard and found his prize painting, which they brought back to Soho and then looked at. It sucked the two women in, and Miles went out to find help, eventually deciding to beat the truth out of Miles. Not a bad plan, except that Shipley's mother turned out to be a serpent person, and only by pretending to be poisoned did Miles manage to fight to a standoff. After tense negotiations, the serpent-man agreed to get the girls back if the painting was returned. Both sides did not plan to keep their word. Miles went off to get the painting, crossing the other group who had decided to go to Miles' place with the painting themselves. They are met by a surprised serpent-person, again disguised and again he ambushes members of the group, this time with lethal intent, since they have the painting. After taking nasty blows from Miles' cleaver, their group dispose of Miles, and then, finally, the serpent-man, who has run out of magic points and is surrounded by gun-wielding foes. The group now needs only find out a way to get the girls back from 250,000,000 years in the past....
After much investigation and spending of large sums of money in bribes and payments, the investigators persuade an old lady who knows a little magic to cast a gate spell to bring their friends back. They make preparations to go back through the gate, bringing the woman with them to cast the gate spell and bring them all back home. Included in their preparations is the purchase of a 0.50 heavy machine gun, complete with tripod and two cases of ammunition.
The group heads back in time, reconnects with the girls, and starts forward back to their own time through a long, slow, gate they must walk through. However their walk is interrupted by a sorcerer who breaks into the gate and drags them into London, 1603, where their help is forcibly enlisted in finding a missing girl and stopping a growing cult.
Although successful, this adventure marks the death of John Stewart, who drowned underneath Tower Bridge in the Thames, unable to swim through the frigid and dark night-time waters that ebb treacherously around the pier. "Sum quod eris; fui quod sis"
Saddened, the group returns to 1925, enriched with a fortune in gems, but missing their good friend.