Month: September 2025

In Session 26 of our Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, the investigators pushed deeper into Ho Fang’s mansion. What began as sneaking past guards quickly spiraled into madness, discovery, and dread. From bug-eating children to locked chambers filled with rats and captives, the group uncovered chilling clues to the cult’s influence in Shanghai. Tension ran high as sanity slipped, and choices about fire, rescue, and escape shaped the night.

Key Characters Introduced

• Bug-Eating Child: A disturbing figure who hummed haunting songs while consuming insects, offering cryptic warnings about her father and the sea.
• Captive Woman: Found trapped in a bizarre rat cage, bloodied and broken, she became the focus of the party’s desperate rescue.
• Bloated Woman Idol: A shrine statue that revealed the cult’s true devotion, radiating menace and hiding a secret passage.

Key Events

• Bessie and Virginia Enter the Mansion: While the rest of the group struggled outside, Bessie charmed her way in, stalling with feigned admiration of bushes until Virginia rejoined her.
• Reuniting the Party: After failed climbs and near disasters, the group finally regrouped inside via a garage entrance.
• Exploring the Servants’ Quarters: The investigators uncovered storerooms, kitchens, and workshops, piecing together the daily operations of the mansion.
• Plans of Fire: Emerson concocted a makeshift escape plan using sawdust, lamp oil, and workbenches as a backup blaze to cover their tracks.
• Discovering the Bug-Eating Child: The unsettling girl offered cryptic phrases about “glory in the deep” and “the bloated woman,” terrifying the group and hinting at cult practices.
• The Bloated Woman Shrine: A massive idol revealed a secret door, deepening the party’s sense of dread.
• The Captive Woman and the Rat Cage: They freed a tortured woman from a horrific contraption, while the ceiling above revealed maddening cosmic visions.
• Percy’s Descent into Madness: Percy fell into a trance staring at the shifting stars on the ceiling, nearly lost to insanity until dragged away.
• Ezekiel Resists the Madness: Unlike Percy, Ezekiel broke free from the hypnotic ceiling, showcasing resilience against the unnatural.
• Escape and Rescue: The group fled with the freed woman but left the child behind, her refusal to leave preventing them from burning the mansion as planned.

Standout Moments

• Percy: Became entranced by the shifting starry ceiling, spiraling into madness and losing precious sanity before being forcefully pulled away.
• Bessy: Earned the trust of the captive woman and tended her wounds, becoming her safe anchor after the horrifying rescue.
• Emerson: Devised an elaborate fire escape plan and acted decisively, even covering Percy’s eyes to break his trance.
• Ezekiel: Stared into the same cosmic horror as Percy but managed to snap free of the madness with sheer willpower.
• Virginia: Unlocked both the garage gate and the captive’s prison, her skillful lockpicking saving the party more than once.
• Omar: Captured photographs of both the child and the imprisoned woman, preserving proof of the cult’s horrors for later use.

Session 26 delivered a chilling dive into Ho Fang’s mansion. What began with sneaking through servant quarters turned into a nightmare of shrines, tortured captives, and visions that shattered sanity. Each investigator faced their limits, with Percy teetering on the edge of madness, while others fought to keep the group together.

The team may have escaped with a rescued woman and valuable clues, but the child left behind and the looming power of the Bloated Woman serve as grim reminders. The mansion still holds secrets, and the cult of Nyarlathotep will not rest. The shadows in Shanghai only grow deeper, promising even darker nights ahead.

If you want to get Masks of Nyarlathotep, please click the links below. It helps the channel out if you buy from these links!

Investigators Handbook: https://amzn.to/4fHaRdi

Keeper Rulebook: https://amzn.to/4dilnpG

I use Fantasy Grounds for the automation and Virtual Table Top; please check them out here: http://affiliates.fantasygrounds.com/361781/15958

In Session 25 of our Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, the investigators regroup after the brutal firefight at Ho Fang’s warehouse and begin piecing together the mysteries left behind. With Percy badly wounded, the team balances recovery with reconnaissance, uncovering strange artifacts, rocket parts, and troubling movements of the Dark Mistress along the river. As they probe deeper into Ho Fang’s world, they risk exposure, temptation, and dangerous entanglements with cult secrets hidden in Shanghai’s shadows.

Key Characters Introduced

• The Suspicious Foreigner: A non-Chinese man frequently seen entering and leaving Ho Fang’s house, standing out from the locals and drawing the investigators’ suspicion.

Key Events

• Warehouse Escape: The team flees Ho Fang’s warehouse as police sirens approach, managing to load only one large crate and some expensive antiques before slipping away unseen.
• Rocket Revelation: At the hotel, they examine the crate and determine it contains part of a massive rocket engine, far beyond anything known in the 1920s.
• Percy’s Struggle: Percy grows dangerously ill from his wounds, forcing Bessie to secure antibiotics and the party to slow down for his recovery.
• Tightened Security: Reconnaissance reveals the warehouse now crawling with guards and police, making another break-in nearly impossible.
• Bronze Bowl: A strange artifact with handles resembling creatures from New York and Egypt sparks sanity-draining flashbacks.
• Dark Mistress Sighting: The cult ship reappears on the Wangpoo River, confirming its ongoing operations in Shanghai.
• Rumors at the Bar: Fergus shares whispers of insurance adjusters and stolen treasures, hinting at how deeply the warehouse heist shook Hofang.
• Crucial Documents: Omar’s developed photos reveal addresses in Kenya, Australia, and London, along with Ho Fang’s personal residence.
• House Surveillance: While watching Ho Fang’s home, the group notices a foreigner visiting regularly and learns that Monday nights are the least guarded.
• Operation Honeypot: On June 8, Bessie charms the gate guard, securing entry into Hofang’s house while the others prepare alternative plans.
• Inside the Walls: Bessie explores a pitch-black kitchen with only a match for light.
• Failed Infiltration: Clumsy wall climbs injure party members as the break-in stalls, and Virginia’s botched charm attempt both leave the session on a cliffhanger mid-heist.

Standout Moments

• Omar: Tried to sell his bloated woman statue at a pawn shop, nearly undercutting the group’s efforts before backing down.
• Virginia: Attempted to charm her way into Ho Fang’s house but failed, forcing her to rethink her approach.
• Ezekiel: Attempted to climb the spiked wall at Ho Fang’s compound, only to fall and injure himself, highlighting the risks of infiltration.
• Emerson: Studied the mysterious bronze bowl, only to suffer sanity loss from vivid flashbacks of past creature encounters.
• Bessie: Successfully charmed the front guard at Ho Fang’s heavily guarded house, gaining entry while the rest of the party scrambled outside.
• Percy: Struggled through a serious fever and infection from his gunshot wound, eventually stabilizing with Bessie’s care, marking his survival as the session’s most critical turning point.

Session 25 closed on a razor’s edge. With Percy barely on the mend, the group pressed forward into Shanghai’s shadows, uncovering rocket parts, unsettling artifacts, and dangerous whispers that tied Ho Fang more tightly to the cult’s schemes. The sighting of the Dark Mistress and the rumors swirling around the warehouse only confirmed their fears that something far larger was in motion.

Now, as Bessie gains a precarious foothold inside Ho Fang’s fortified home while the others risk injury and exposure outside the walls, the stakes have never felt higher. The investigators stand divided at the threshold of danger, each choice threatening to tip them deeper into chaos. Their next move could reveal the cult’s darkest secrets—or cost them everything.

Will the investigators uncover what lies hidden within Ho Fang’s house, or will Shanghai’s shadows consume them first?

If you want to get Masks of Nyarlathotep, please click the links below. It helps the channel out if you buy from these links!

Investigators Handbook: https://amzn.to/4fHaRdi

Keeper Rulebook: https://amzn.to/4dilnpG

I use Fantasy Grounds for the automation and Virtual Table Top; please check them out here: http://affiliates.fantasygrounds.com/361781/15958