TEXT:  
   
   
  THE MAN DOWNSTAIRS 
  BY 
  ADAM GAUNTLETT 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   2 
  CREDITS PAGE 
   
   
   
   
   
  Written by 
   
  Adam Gauntlett 
  aka Karloff 
   
   
  Call of Cthulhu is a Trademark of Chaosium Inc. and is used with their permission via the OBS Community Content program. 
  For more information please visit Chaosium’s website: www.chaosium.com 
  The Miskatonic Repository Logo is used under license. 
   
  The Man Downstairs ©2017, Adam Gauntlett 
   
  Image credits:  
   
  The following image(s) were obtained via Wikipedia under the Wikimedia Commons license: 
  Lichtenberg Figures caught in clear acrylic, credit Bert Hickman of www.telsmania.com, (p8) 
   
  The following image(s) were obtained via the New York Public Library Digital Collections, public domain: 
  Cover Image, Harlem Tenement; Policemen on Patrol, Harlem (p7); Tenement Frontage (p9); Tenement Interior Layout (p10); Lenox 
  Avenue Map Plates 134 & 135 (p22-23); Rear Cover Image, Harlem Street Scene. 
   
  The following image(s) were obtained via the British Library Digital Collections, public domain: 
  Finis (p 21) 
   
  The sunrise at Cavello Bay, Bermuda image used on this page is from the author’s collection. 
    
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   3 
   
  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
   
  The Hook.................................................................. 4 
  The Awful Truth ....................................................... 4 
  Harlem Unbound .................................................................... 4 
  Race and Racism ..................................................................... 4 
  Mister Shapira .......................................................... 5 
  Thinking Outside The Box......................................... 6 
  Local Tradespeople .................................................................. 6 
  City Employees ........................................................................ 6 
  Prohibition Bureau .................................................................. 6 
  The Shady Side of the Street ....................................................7 
  Newspaper Archives .................................................................7 
  Public Archives .........................................................................7 
  The Man With Lightning Flowers .............................. 8 
  224 Lenox Avenue .................................................... 9 
  First Floor ................................................................11 
  Storefronts .............................................................................. 11 
  Superintendent’s Apartment.................................................. 11 
  Charlie Rose’s Apartment ...................................................... 12 
  Second Floor ........................................................... 12 
  Finding the Second Floor ....................................................... 12 
  Renata’s Apartment ................................................................ 12 
  Cecilia’s Apartment ................................................................ 13 
  Kate’s Apartment .................................................................... 13 
  Josef’s Apartment ................................................................... 13 
  Miss Minnie Loobey’s Apartment .......................................... 14 
  Third Floor .............................................................. 14 
  The Thomas’ Apartment ........................................................ 14 
  The Glory’s Apartment ........................................................... 14 
  Samuel Johnson, Pete Vance, Clarence Brooks .................... 14 
  The Empty Apartment ............................................................ 15 
  The Epps Sisters ..................................................................... 15 
  Fourth Floor ............................................................ 15 
  The Haywards’ Apartment ..................................................... 15 
  Miss Martin, Miss Watkins, Miss Groves .............................. 15 
  Davey Salt, Lawrence Morton, Lorenzo Wiley ...................... 15 
  The Williams’ Apartment ....................................................... 16 
  The Brooks’ Apartment .......................................................... 16 
  Fifth Floor ............................................................... 16 
  The Jones’ Apartment ............................................................ 16 
  Sidney Gilpin .......................................................................... 17 
  The Bishop’s Apartment ......................................................... 17 
  The Moses’ Apartment ........................................................... 17 
  Zora and Martha Fuller .......................................................... 17 
  People and Creatures .............................................. 18 
  The Shapiras ........................................................... 18 
  Izzy and Sam ........................................................................... 18 
  The Cops ................................................................. 18 
  Patrolmen ............................................................................... 18 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Gangsters ................................................................ 18 
  Typical Thug ........................................................................... 18 
  The Man With Lightning Flowers ............................. 18 
  Avatar of Dark Powers............................................................ 18 
  224 Lenox................................................................ 19 
  Renata, Second Floor ............................................................. 19 
  Cecilia, Second Floor .............................................................. 19 
  Kate, Second Floor ................................................................. 19 
  Miss Minnie Loobey, Second Floor ....................................... 19 
  Josef Voorzanger, Second Floor ........................................... 20 
  The Black Cat, Second Floor (Roaming) .............................. 20 
  Samuel Johnson. Third Floor ............................................... 20 
  Arthur Brooks, Fourth Floor ................................................. 20 
  Sidney Gilpin, Fifth Floor....................................................... 21 
  Roman Jones, Fifth Floor (Roaming) .................................... 21 
  Sanity Rewards ....................................................... 21 
  Harlem Street Maps ................................................ 22 
  Plate 134 (West) ..................................................................... 22 
  Plate 134 (East) ...................................................................... 22 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   4 
  THE HOOK 
  The tenants of 224 Lenox Avenue, between W 121st and W 122nd, 
  New York City, have a neighbor they have never met, and never 
  knew existed until a few weeks ago, yet he was always there. He 
  lives on the second floor. Until recently, nobody in 224 Lenox 
  knew there was a second floor; they walked past it each day, but 
  never saw it. That was the way the man on the second floor liked 
  it – he valued his privacy. 
  Now his protections are failing. The people living at 224 Lenox 
  realize the second floor exists, even if they can’t always find it. 
  The landlord is particularly concerned, since he isn’t getting rent 
  for that apartment, so he brings the investigators in to find out 
  who the man is, and how long he’s been there. 
  The problem is, the investigators aren’t the only people 
  looking for the man downstairs. 
   
  Keeper’s Note: this scenario contains references to drug use, 
  alcohol use, and dark themes. It does not include extreme 
  content, such as excessively violent or pornographic imagery.  
  THE AWFUL TRUTH 
  The man downstairs is Josef Voorzanger, and he took up 
  occupancy in 1881, the year the tenement was first built. There 
  was a fire in the tenement in 1882, and seven people died, among 
  them Josef – at least, officially. The fire was a necessary evil, and 
  the dead were sacrificed to provide Josef with some security. 
  Their deaths gave Josef the power he needed to disguise the 
  second floor, so nobody could find it. Josef needed that level of 
  protection because he was on the run, and still is.  
  Josef is a clever man, and a diligent student of the occult. 
  Years ago he sold himself to dark powers in exchange for his 
  heart’s desire, the ability to win the complete obedience, (he 
  would call it love), of a woman. For a time he enjoyed his life 
  with his beloved Renata, but problems soon arose. Obedience is 
  not love, and he grew bored, then angry, with his bride. He killed 
  her in a fit of rage, only to discover that obedience survives after 
  death. 
  Josef panicked. He originally conceived of the fire as a means 
  of covering up the murder, but quickly realized it could be 
  further turned to his advantage. The servant of dark powers 
  Josef had sold himself to would eventually collect on the debt. 
  What if, when that servant came, Josef wasn’t there? 
  Once the ritual was complete, and workers arrived to repair 
  the tenement, Josef used his magic to compel them to wipe their 
  minds, removing all recollection of the second floor, or anything 
  peculiar they might have seen during the repair work. When it 
  looked as if one of them was about to have an inconvenient 
  recovery of memory, he sent his wife to deal with the problem. 
  After that, Josef lived the life of a hermit, in an apartment 
  nobody but he could find. He never left the apartment, using 
  magic to compel one of his neighbors to shop for him, and using 
  his cat as a spy, keeping watch on the outside world.  
  Every so often he would fall in love with a neighbor, and that 
  poor unfortunate would vanish. In time he grew tired of her, and 
  then the old story repeated itself. To date, including Renata, he 
  has had four ‘wives.’ 
  Time marches on. Josef does not know how to prolong his life, 
  and his clever mind is failing him. The power he gained from all 
  those sacrifices is wearing off. He knows what that means, and 
  is terrified. 
  The man with lightning flowers is coming for Josef 
  Voorzanger. 
  HARLEM UNBOUND 
  This scenario does not use any material from Harlem Unbound, 
  published by Darker Hue Studios and written by Chris Spivey. 
  All such material is copyright Darker Hue Studios. 
  However, the author encourages anyone interested in the 
  setting to seek out Harlem Unbound, as it is a splendid 
  supplement, and includes rules conversions for GUMSHOE as 
  well as Call of Cthulhu.  
  RACE AND RACISM 
  Racism is not a topic lightly trifled with. 
  When playing in any historical setting, the players and Keeper 
  must decide for themselves to what extent they intend to mirror 
  the historical mores and attitudes prevalent at that time. 
  Americans have perpetrated and suffered under endemic racism 
  since the nation’s earliest days. Harlem, and the people who 
  lived, loved and died there, was not exempt.  
  For some groups, confronting the historical climate of the 
  time is part of the attraction of roleplaying. For others, it is 
  something best avoided.  
   Harlem is a big place. In period, whites own most of the 
  businesses and the tenements, and rent to blacks. Many of the 
  most famous Harlem speakeasies, like the Cotton Club, are run 
  by white gangsters for white customers; blacks can serve, but 
  they don’t get to play. Marcus Garvey preaches black 
  nationalism from Liberty Hall on W 138th. The National Negro 
  Committee meets in New York and creates the N.A.A.C.P.; 
  W.E.B. DuBois, one of its founders and the preeminent 
  sociological scholar of his day, lives in Harlem. Professionals, 
  well-to-do middle class, the working class, the working poor, 
  sports giants and singers, dancers and accountants, clerks and 
  train workers, tens of thousands, and hundreds more arriving 
  each year, all call Harlem home. 
  Its heartbeat is Lenox Avenue. 
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   5 
  MISTER SHAPIRA 
  The owner of 224 Lenox is Leonid Shapira, but he is well 
  advanced in years. His son Zeno runs the family business these 
  days, and it is at his invitation that the investigators gather at his 
  business address in East Harlem. 
  It is a modest brownstone. The Shapiras own it, and rent most 
  of the offices to other businesses – lawyers, accountants and 
  other professionals. One or two of them are slightly shady; one 
  of the architects does a lot of work with speakeasies, and the 
  lawyer on the third floor is, frankly, a crook. However he is a 
  respectable crook; the Shapiras would never rent to anyone less 
  than respectable, not for any amount of money. 
  The Shapiras have the best office, up on the top floor. Traffic 
  noise is dimmed, and sunlight filters through cloudy skies. 
  Zeno Shapira is in his 30s, and does all of the talking. His 
  father sits in the corner and nods, occasionally adjusting the 
  spectacles on his withered nose. 
  “We have a problem,” says Zeno, “With one of our tenants. 
  Well, strictly speaking, he isn’t a tenant. He certainly never 
  signed a lease, but he’s there, and I want to know what he thinks 
  he’s doing. 
  “We first became aware of the problem about two weeks ago, 
  when one of our other tenants complained. At the time we didn’t 
  take the complaint that seriously, because, well, the man didn’t 
  make much sense, and I thought he might be drunk. We had 
  some problems at the time which made me think that might be 
  the cause of it all.” 
  Zeno’s clearly uncomfortable talking about this, and 
  investigators who make a Law or Know check realize this is 
  because of a recent embarrassing news story. The Prohibition 
  Bureau raided a speakeasy operating out of one of 224 Lenox’s 
  shop fronts, and there were allegations that prostitutes were 
  doing business there. “This is an ordinary speakeasy catering to 
  men and women at which prostitutes are permitted to solicit,” 
  said the Prohibition Bureau’s report, which appeared almost 
  verbatim in the papers. “At the time of the investigation one 
  prostitute was seen who was known to the investigator.” The 
  story hit the Graphic newspaper, complete with photos of the 
  alleged whores being dragged out of 224 Lenox by police. Zeno 
  would rather have all his teeth pulled by a drunk mortician than 
  talk about it. 
  “Anyway, we’ve changed our minds. It’s pretty clear that 
  someone’s living there, and we didn’t know about it till now. We 
  want to know who, and for how long. You don’t have to worry 
  about getting rid of the schlemiel.” 
  His father pipes up for the first, and only, time.  
  “We have people who take care of that for us.” 
  “What makes me mad,” Zeno continues, “Is somehow this 
  guy’s been getting away with it for who knows how long, and we 
  never had a clue. Our superintendent never said a thing, nor did 
  any of the other tenants. It’s uncanny, but that’s not important 
  right now; what I need you to do is confirm the guy exists, and 
  how long he’s been there, in case we decide to sue for back rent.” 
  The investigators may ask the Shapiras some questions, or go 
  through the office records for more information about 224 
  Lenox. They discover: 
   
   
  Accounting (no dice roll): 224 Lenox is a five 
  story tenement, with three shop fronts at street level. 
  One of the shop fronts is currently unoccupied. A 
  shoemaker and a clothing repair shop are in the two 
  occupied shop fronts, and all the other apartments 
  are tenanted by families. The superintendent, Mister 
  Early, has been in the building for eleven years, and 
  by all reports is a conscientious worker. See 
  Psychology, below. 
   
  Persuade or Charm (no dice roll): the man who 
  complained is Charles Jones, one of the fifth floor 
  tenants. He said he followed a dead black cat to an 
  apartment that didn’t exist before, and was thrown 
  out by a naked white man. However Charles doesn’t 
  know where the apartment is, exactly, nor can he 
  find it again. 
   
  Psychology: neither Leonid nor Zeno know the 
  second floor exists. As far as they’re concerned, 224 
  Lenox is a four story tenement. They are perfectly 
  sincere in this belief, and will not deviate from it 
  without some kind of objective proof. Plans of the 
  original building taken from City records, or the 
  architect who designed it, will do. Even when they 
  look at their own records, they see only four stories. 
   
  Library Use or History: 224 Lenox was built in 
  1881, and suffered a catastrophic fire in 1882 that 
  resulted in several deaths and extensive damage. 
  Fortunately the building was saved, and restored. 
  This is all before the Shapiras bought the building in 
  1900, and neither of them know much about it 
  beyond what little is in the property file. Apart from 
  that, the building has had an uneventful career. 
  There’s enough information in the property file to 
  track down the original architect, and his drawings, 
  should the investigators feel the need. 
   
  Persuade or Charm (hard): Leonid remembers 
  that several women went missing at 224 Lenox over 
  the years. He’s pushed it to the back of his mind; 
  after all, people get lost all the time in the big city. So 
  a daughter gets itchy feet, or a wife runs out on her 
  husband. So what else is new? But all this talk of 
  tenants who weren’t there before, and are there now, 
  makes him nervous, and a little guilty. Perhaps he 
  should have looked harder, when people said women 
  had gone without explanation or a trace. To his 
  knowledge, three women went missing, the first in 
  1901, another in 1915, and one last year. 
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   6 
  THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX 
  Most of the scenario takes place at 224 Lenox. However the 
  investigators may choose to follow up leads elsewhere, and the 
  sources most likely to yield useful information are: 
   
  Local tradespeople, like shop delivery workers, ice 
  vendors, or the milkman. 
   
  City employees who work in the neighborhood, like the 
  beat cop, or the mailman. 
   
  The Prohibition Bureau, if the investigators know that 
  the speakeasy at 224 was recently raided. 
   
  Gamblers, criminals and other folk from the shady side 
  of the street, who might know about the speakeasy. 
   
  Newspaper archives, say from the New York Age or the 
  Graphic. 
   
  Public archives, like the New York Public Library 
  Harlem Branch, which is just up the road from 224, on 
  Lenox W 124th. 
   
  Local Tradespeople 
  The most useful skill tests here are Charm, Fast Talk and 
  Listen (to overhear gossip): 
   
  224 has a peculiar reputation. People say it’s haunted, 
  but when pressed, nobody’s seen a ghost, or has a ghost 
  story to tell.  
   
  Everyone’s still talking about the speakeasy at 224 that 
  was padlocked. It was a sight to see; one of the 
  prostitutes punched a cop right in the eye! 
   
  Miss Loobey used to buy double the amount of 
  household goods and food as everyone else, but she 
  went missing last year. Now that poor fool Roman 
  Jones buys exactly the same things she used to, and 
  nobody can work out where Roman gets the money. It’s 
  not as if his uncle Charles will give Roman cash. 
   
  Miss Loobey was a pretty young thing who shared an 
  apartment with four other girls, and she went missing 
  last winter, just before the cold snap kicked in. She 
  didn’t have any family in Harlem, and nobody really 
  tried to look for her. She just left. People do that. 
   
  City Employees 
  The most useful skill tests here are Persuade, Psychology and 
  Law (to impress, and possibly bluff, bureaucracy-ridden cogs in 
  the machine): 
   
  It was a shame about that speakeasy. You could get 
  good beer there, and it wasn’t needled [poisoned with 
  a shot of industrial alcohol, for extra kick]. Keeper’s 
  Note: the beat cop was getting $200 a week bribe 
  money to keep his eyes shut, so his opinion is biased.  
   
  When Miss Loobey went missing, the girls sharing her 
  flat reported it to the police. The cops went looking in 
  all the usual places, but found nothing. There was a 
  similar case years ago, in the same building, but the girl 
  was never found.  
   
  Roman Jones is a mental case, one step away from 
  institutionalization. He’s a big fellow; fortunately he’s 
  good-natured, or he could do a lot of damage. 
   
  If the investigators know about the man with the 
  lightning flowers, and they speak to a cop, preferably 
  with the picture from the Graphic (see below), they 
  discover that the man is a John Doe [unidentified 
  deceased] who was struck by lightning and died almost 
  instantly, about a week before the speakeasy raid. The 
  cop was the one who found the body; he doesn’t know 
  the John Doe went missing from the morgue. The 
  whole thing happened no more than a block from 224. 
   
  Prohibition Bureau  
  The most useful skill tests here are Persuade and Law, but 
  unless the investigators have some kind of law enforcement 
  credentials or Credit Rating more than 50%, any tests made 
  are Hard: 
   
  Acting on information received, the Bureau put an 
  agent on the case, who spent two weeks gathering 
  evidence before arranging the raid. The case goes to 
  court in a week, and the Bureau is confident of several 
  convictions. 
   
  The agent is on leave, having worked very hard, almost 
  to the point of exhaustion. The investigators are not 
  encouraged to seek him out. 
   
  Hard Test, regardless of credentials or Credit 
  Rating: the investigators find Bureau agent Bobby 
  Reacher, at his East Harlem apartment. Bobby saw 
  some peculiar things at that speakeasy, like a black cat 
  that was ice cold to the touch, but nothing beats the 
  man he saw the last time he was there: he was marked 
  with lightning burns, and when he spoke, the metal in 
  his teeth flashed blue. He said he was looking for Josef 
  Voorzanger, and when he resisted arrest during the 
  raid, the cop who tried to arrest him was hit by an 
  electrical charge. Psychology (regular): Reacher’s 
  telling the truth, and has suffered a great blow to his 
  Sanity. His superiors are keeping him under wraps, 
  because they’re afraid he might talk out of turn and 
  jeopardize the upcoming court case. 
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   7 
  The Shady Side of the Street 
  The most useful skill tests here are Charm, Fast Talk, and 
  Intimidate: 
   
  The speakeasy was protected by Jacob Morrisey, an 
  alumnus of the old Lenox Avenue Gang led by Gyp the 
  Blood, which broke up when the gang’s leadership went 
  to the electric chair in 1914 for murdering gambler 
  Herman Rosenthal. Jacob Morrisey was one of the few 
  survivors of the Gang still free and doing business, but 
  he got his throat cut several weeks before the Prohis 
  raided 224. Smart money says, when Morrisey died, 
  the cops stopped getting their bribes, which is why the 
  Prohis got involved. 
   
  Miss Loobey used to buy muggles [marijuana] and 
  homebrew hooch at the speakeasy, but after she went 
  missing, Roman Jones started buying the same stuff, in 
  the same amounts. Now the speakeasy’s padlocked, 
  Roman doesn’t know where to get his stuff, and 
  nobody’s in a hurry to sell to that kook.  
   
  A pawnshop near 224 is a regular customer of Roman 
  Jones, and before him, Miss Loobey. Both of them go 
  there every few weeks with some new gold trinket to 
  sell. For a while, before she went missing, Miss Loobey 
  used to show up with pieces from a gold chess set; a few 
  pawns one day, a queen and a couple knights the next. 
  The pawnshop owner still has the full set; he’s a little 
  spooked by it. 
  Newspaper Archives 
  The most useful skill tests here are Credit Rating and Fast 
  Talk. The New York Age is a black newspaper, the most 
  influential of its type; the Graphic is an exploitative yellowsheet, 
  also known as the pornoGraphic, and is best known for its 
  salacious photographs. 
   
  The Graphic has the best shots of the speakeasy raid, 
  but one of the photographs it didn’t use has a clear 
  picture of the man with lightning flowers. If the 
  investigators want it, Charm, Sleight of Hand or 
  Fast Talk is the best way to get it. The Graphic got its 
  start in 1924, so it doesn’t cover the previous 
  disappearances at 224. 
   
  The Age goes back to 1887, and covered both 
  incidents. With the information in those articles, the 
  investigators will be able to identify Josef’s wives. 
  However the fire at 224 took place in 1881, several 
  years before the Age became a regular weekly, and it 
  doesn’t have any information about the fire. 
   
   
   
  Public Archives 
  The most useful skill test here is Library Use: 
   
  From the collected letters, photographs and diaries of 
  people who used to live on Lenox and donated their 
  papers to the Library, the investigators can get a clear 
  idea of what happened when 224 burned. The fire 
  started in one of the second floor apartments, probably 
  thanks to a neglected, lit stove. The second floor was 
  the most badly affected, and seven people died. 
   
  Among the dead were Josef Voorzanger, and his wife 
  Renata. They burned alive; the others who died at 224 
  succumbed to smoke inhalation. 
   
  There is one curious incident that happened after the 
  fire. A workman who helped restore the building was 
  strangled, and a witness to the incident, a child, 
  claimed the one who killed him was “a nasty lady, all 
  burned up and dead!” This sparked a very brief public 
  scare, which died away when nobody else was hurt, and 
  the so-called burnt lady never made another 
  appearance. The child was orphaned by the attack, and 
  suffered mental trauma; she died in an institution five 
  years later. 
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   8 
  THE MAN WITH LIGHTNING FLOWERS 
  Many years ago, Josef Voorzanger sold his soul to dark powers. 
  For this scenario, it’s not important precisely which powers. In 
  theory, if you want to play a more mundane horror game, it 
  could be Satan. However in a Cthulhu setting the more likely 
  prospects are Nyarlathotep, Hastur the Unspeakable, Tulzscha 
  the Green Flame, or Yibb-Tstll, the Patient One. 
  The entity uses an avatar to carry out its bidding. That avatar 
  is created by a lightning strike, which kills a person, allowing the 
  husk to be inhabited by a very small portion of the entity. This 
  avatar is what this text refers to as the man with lightning 
  flowers: the victim was struck by lightning, and died instantly, 
  leaving the marks of lightning burns on the victim’s head and 
  upper body. There is almost nothing left of the small-time 
  gambler and hustler he once was.  
  This avatar is temporarily prevented from finding Josef 
  thanks to the wards Josef has placed on the second floor. These 
  wards will not hold forever; however it would be much easier for 
  the avatar if it were let through Josef’s defenses – say, by the 
  investigators. 
  The avatar has very limited intelligence; its human 
  personality has been thoroughly scrambled by the lightning 
  strike, and the controlling entity is unfathomably inhuman and 
  malign. It can talk, but bargaining with it does not work. It 
  doesn’t understand promises, and cannot make a deal. Its one 
  function is to carry out the terms of Josef’s contract, and that 
  means Josef has to die. 
  Once the investigators know about the man with lightning 
  flowers, they may try to find out more about him. The ordinary 
  Harlemites on Lenox don’t know anything, but the cop on the 
  beat was there when the victim was hit by lightning (see City 
  Employees, above), and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer 
  of the City of New York has an embarrassing story about him, 
  that 
  it 
  would 
  rather 
  keep 
  quiet. 
   
  Finding out this story is a Hard test of an interpersonal 
  ability, though if the investigator has legal credentials of any 
  kind the test is Regular. The body was transferred to the Chief 
  Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy; one of the lab technicians 
  was particularly keen to see what happens when someone dies 
  by lightning strike. However, although the body was received 
  and signed for, it went missing, along with its clothes and 
  personal belongings. A thorough search of the morgue turned up 
  nothing. Best guess is that someone turned the body over to a 
  funeral home after the Chief Medical Examiner’s office received 
  it, possibly thanks to faulty paperwork. Losing bodies isn’t 
  something the forensic technicians would prefer they were 
  known for, so the story’s being hushed up. 
  The avatar has been seen several times. The Graphic has a 
  photograph of him (Newspaper Archives, page 7), and the 
  Prohibition Bureau agent who conducted the speakeasy raid at 
  224 Lenox saw him in action (Prohibition Bureau, page 6). If 
  the investigators have a photograph, one of their contacts on 
  The Shady Side of the Street will recognize him as ‘Horse’ 
  Baron, a gambler with bad, metal-filled teeth and an unlucky 
  streak as wide as the Hudson River. However, to the best of the 
  contact’s knowledge, Horse left town weeks ago. At least, 
  nobody’s seen Horse at his usual haunts. 
  The Keeper should use the man with lightning flowers as a 
  floating adversary, who can appear whenever convenient. He 
  can act as a spur to action; whenever the investigators seem at a 
  loss, or the players seem bored, have him appear, much like 
  Raymond Chandler’s man with a gun in his hand. 
  If the investigators manage to defeat the avatar, and it’s a little 
  too soon in the plot for that to happen, don’t worry: one 
  lightning strike later, and another avatar appears, and another, 
  and another, if necessary. It’s not as if the dark powers are ever 
  going to run out of lightning bolts. Try not to electrocute a player 
  character, but otherwise, zap away. 
  Lightning flowers, also known as Lichtenberg figures, are 
  caused by the rupture of capillaries under the skin due to the 
  shock wave of lightning discharge. They were first described by 
  the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, in the 18th 
  Century. They resemble branching, fernlike formations, not 
  unlike a lightning strike itself. When a victim survives a hit, the 
  scarring dissipates in a matter of hours; in this instance, the 
  scars are permanent red blemishes (possibly green, if Tulzscha 
  is the dark power), which glow in the dark – or when the avatar 
  gets angry. 
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   9 
  224 LENOX AVENUE 
  This brownstone, built 1881 when Harlem was in the early 
  throes of a building boom, is where the majority of the scenario 
  takes place. It is a fairly grandiose five story building, 
  constructed in neoclassic style with Palladian touches. The 
  Shapiras have updated it with modern central heating, 
  electricity and plumbing, but otherwise haven’t put a lot of 
  money into it. Their superintendent, Richard Earley, is a minor 
  miracle worker when it comes to home repair, and the tenants 
  at 224 all like him. 
  Few of the tenants are aware there is a second floor. Only 
  Charles Jones and his nephew Roman have seen it for 
  themselves, and Roman is under Josef Voorzanger’s control. 
  Many of the tenants think there is something spooky about the 
  building but, when pressed, none of them have experienced 
  anything eerie. They just don’t like the way it feels, and 
  sometimes smells.  
  There’s an odd miasma that sweeps through the building 
  every so often, a heavy chemical odor with sulfuric overtones. A 
  hard Chemistry test, reduced to regular difficulty if the 
  investigator making the test has any points in Occult above 
  base, recognizes the stink as the aftereffect of an alchemical 
  working. This is what happens when Josef uses his alchemical 
  lab to produce gold, which Roman then sells so he can buy 
  Josef’s food and supplies. Josef can prevent people from finding 
  his apartment, but he can’t do anything about the stink, which 
  comes up through the service elevator shaft. It is much easier to 
  find the second floor if the investigators track it by smell, when 
  Josef is working his alchemical magic. See Finding the 
  Second Floor, page 12. The Shapiras, and Mister Earley, know 
  about the smell but can’t do anything about it. The Shapiras 
  think it’s someone making bathtub gin. Mister Earley doesn’t 
  know what it is, but is confident it isn’t bathtub gin. Or, if it is, 
  he never wants to drink a pint of gin that smells like that. 
  The Keeper should refer to the tenement plans for further 
  information about the building layout. Each floor above the 
  storefronts is exactly the same as the others. The apartments 
  each have at least one chamber(s) (bedrooms), one kitchen, and 
  usually one living room, or parlor. The apartments at the front 
  of the building overlooking the street have parlors rather than 
  living rooms, because there isn’t enough space for a full-fledged 
  living room. Toilets and baths are right next to the kitchen in 
  every apartment; it keeps the plumbing and waste water lines 
  clustered together in the same spot.  
  Mister Early lives in the apartment colored orange on the 
  building plan, on the first floor. All the other apartments are 
  occupied by tenants. 
  The Fire Escapes are marked F E on the building plan. 
  The Court is open air. On the first floor, there are steps up to 
  the side door of the building, which enters into the public hall 
  under the stair that leads up to the other floors. The other access 
  point, for the first floor public hall is via the street, between the 
  store fronts, as indicated on the building plan. 
  The Court is accessed by an alley running between this 
  tenement and the tenement next door. Some apartments are less 
  desirable than others, and while this is in part a size issue, it’s 
  also a light problem. Not all of the rooms have good access to 
  natural light, and some of those that do look out on less 
  interesting vistas, like the Court. The store fronts only get 
  natural light from their front windows, making them feel dim 
  and gloomy without electric lights. 
  There is a very small service elevator marked with a cross on 
  each floor, which opens into the public hallway. It was only ever 
  intended to move groceries and small goods. It’s not big enough 
  to fit anyone larger than a child, and in any case hasn’t worked 
  properly in years. An investigator would have to be SIZ 50 or less 
  to have a hope of fitting down the elevator shaft, and a fall is 
  potential major injury. Josef’s cat sometimes uses it as a 
  means of getting from floor to floor. 
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   10 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   11 
  FIRST FLOOR 
  Storefronts 
  There are three storefronts at street level, two small, one large. 
  The two smaller storefronts are occupied by legitimate 
  businesses. One is a shoe shop, operated by Joseph Haywood, 
  who lives with his family on the fourth floor. The other is a 
  hairdressers, operated by Adelaide White, who doesn’t live in 
  the building. The third, and largest, is the former speakeasy, 
  which is padlocked with a notice tacked to the door by the 
  Prohibition Bureau. 
  Joseph Hayward has two employees, Michael Stuart and Bob 
  Packer, neither of whom live in the building. The two employees 
  are middle aged skilled craftsmen who mind their own business, 
  and won’t say anything about the building without Joseph’s say-
  so; in any case, they know nothing about the second floor, 
  though they have colorful stories about the goings-on at the 
  speakeasy. The shoe store is well appointed, and there’s a sharp 
  smell of leather and polish. The store specializes in men’s shoes, 
  but there is a small stock of women’s as well. It’s Hayward’s 
  boast that he can repair any shoe within twenty four hours, no 
  matter what the damage. Charm or Persuade works best here, 
  but neither Hayward nor his employees know anything useful. 
  Joseph complains about the chemical stink (the alchemical 
  smell, see page 13), and they’ve all seen the black cat hanging 
  around, which they think is bad luck, but they’ve no lurid stories 
  to tell. 
  Adelaide White and her three employees, Ellie Potter, Alberta 
  Jefferson and Sessie Dunn, do not live at 224 and have nothing 
  useful to impart. They all knew about the speakeasy, which they 
  didn’t like – it made the neighborhood less respectable, and 
  some of their clients were scandalized by it. However they knew 
  better to complain, bearing in mind who was supposed to be 
  protecting it. As with the shoe shop, all of them have seen the 
  black cat. They think one of the tenants owns it, but don’t know 
  who. The hairdressers is smartly turned-out, and can handle 
  almost any request; their specialty is the bob a la Ethel Moses. 
  The speakeasy is padlocked and the curtains are drawn. There 
  is a notice on the door announcing that the business has been 
  closed for multiple violations of the Volstead Act. Technically it’s 
  a crime to go in, but it’s not one the police or anyone else is going 
  to go out of their way to punish. The only reason nobody’s tried 
  yet is nobody has a reason; the Shapiras aren’t going anywhere 
  near it till the scandal dies down, and the gangsters who used to 
  run the place are dead or in jail. Locksmith or a good pair of 
  bolt cutters will get past the padlock. 
  Inside, the place is a mess. The police took an ax to every piece 
  of furniture and bottle; there’s nothing left but splinters and a 
  strong smell of bootleg beer. An unknown artist drew dancing 
  figures all over the walls, and there are some smashed musical 
  instruments on the floor where the band used to play.  
  The kitchen attached to the store is a dump. Nobody bothered 
  to clean it while the speakeasy was in business; there are some 
  old pots on the stove with what was rice and boiled pigs feet, 
  once upon a time, but the passing weeks have turned it into 
  green, maggot-crusted sludge that even a desperate rat, (and 
  there are some of those wandering the kitchen), would think 
  twice about eating. 
  The back room was where the prostitutes did business, and 
  when that wasn’t going on, where small time gamblers played 
  cards. This, too, has been cut to pieces. 
  The speakeasy has been picked clean, first by the Prohibition 
  Bureau, then by the cops. There’s nothing here worth having, 
  nor are there any useful clues. 
  The first time the investigators come here, they find Roman 
  Jones picking through the rubble, looking for anything he can 
  take up to Josef. Maybe someone overlooked some muggles, or 
  there’s a bottle of beer that escaped the ax. On all subsequent 
  visits, Roman isn’t here, though the black cat may be. Roman got 
  in by forcing the window that leads into the kitchen. See page 21 
  for further information about Roman. 
  Superintendent’s Apartment  
  Mister Earley lives in the apartment colored orange on the map, 
  on the first floor, with kitchen, living room and two bedrooms. 
  Richard Earley, his wife and two children live here. Richard’s 
  brother Wilton is here, temporarily, on the living room couch; 
  his wife threw him out. The apartment is as spotless as it can be; 
  Josephine Earley is compulsively tidy, but Wilton’s not making 
  it easy for her. Most of the furniture is Josephine’s, from her 
  aunt and mother’s apartments, and some of it is pre-Civil War, 
  which she takes great pride in polishing almost daily.  
  Charm or Persuade works best here, and there’s a bonus 
  die if Earley has any reason to believe the investigators are 
  working for the Shapiras. They know: 
   
  The chemical stink has been a problem from the 
  beginning. There’s no predicting when it will 
  happen, but not a month goes by without at least one 
  breakout. Mister Earley can’t understand it; despite 
  years of trying to track it down, he’s got no clue what 
  causes it. 
   
  The black cat has been a regular visitor ever since 
  they moved in. They don’t know who owns it; they 
  don’t think it belongs to anyone in the building, and 
  besides, just how long do cats live, anyway? This one 
  never seems to age, and Mister Earley knows, from 
  talking to the man who looked after the building 
  before he did, that the cat’s been around for twenty 
  years or more. He’s forbid his children from playing 
  with it, not that they need telling; it frightens them. 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   12 
   
  The speakeasy was a problem from day one, but the 
  gangsters who operated it threatened Mister 
  Earley’s children, and shut the Shapiras up with a 
  combination of bribery and, when that didn’t 
  altogether work, threats. Mister Earley isn’t sorry to 
  see it go. Eventually he’ll have to clear the place out 
  and get it ready for a new tenant, but he’s waiting for 
  the Shapira’s say-so before he does that. 
   
  Roman Jones is, in Mister Earley’s opinion, a 
  dangerous man. He’s fine and docile most of the 
  time, but when he gets mad, Katy bar the door. He 
  used to follow Miss Loobey around like a puppy; 
  when she left, Mister Earley thought Roman would 
  break down, but he acts as though nothing 
  happened. 
   
  Charlie Rose’s Apartment  
  Charlie Rose and his wife Emma Lou live in the other apartment 
  on the first floor.  
  Charlie is a motorman who works for the Elevated Railway, 
  on the Ninth Avenue El with its infamous ‘suicide curve.’ He’s 
  got plenty of stories to tell about people who fling themselves to 
  their doom on the 90 degree junction from Ninth Avenue to 110th 
  Street. However he has nothing useful to say about 224 Lenox; 
  like the other tenants, he’s seen the black cat, and thinks the 
  building is spooky, but has no real complaints.  
  Emma Lou gets bored sitting around all day with little to do. 
  She’s too young to enjoy the staid life of a stay-at-home wife, and 
  far too pretty for safety. More than one wife at 224 has cause to 
  clip their husbands’ ears, for letting their gaze linger too long on 
  Emma Lou’s shapely form. She’s carrying on with Davey Salt, 
  the trumpet player up on the fourth floor, but that won’t last 
  long; Emma Lou’s flings never do. Charm, or possibly 
  Intimidate if the investigator knows about her trifling with the 
  trumpet player, gets her to admit that Miss Loobey was, to her 
  certain knowledge, having some kind of affair with someone in 
  the building. 
  To hear Emma Lou tell it, Miss Loobey was in love. At least, 
  she always had a faraway look in her eyes when she talked about 
  him. It was the strangest thing, though; Miss Loobey insisted her 
  paramour was white, and there are no white tenants at 224. She 
  also said that her lover had been married three times before, 
  “but this would be for keeps.” 
   
   
   
   
   
  SECOND FLOOR 
  Finding the Second Floor 
  This is blocked off by Josef’s wards, and cannot be perceived. 
  The other tenants at 224 walk past each day, never noticing it. 
  Because he never has to clean up after himself, and because he 
  doesn’t maintain it, Josef has allowed the second floor to fall into 
  a semi-decrepit ruin. There’s a stink of stale air and sulfur 
  throughout, and fearless rats skitter across the floor. 
  In order to bypass the wards, the investigators need to make 
  a Hard Luck check, or a Regular Occult check, with a 
  penalty die. Josef has put a great deal of effort into his wards, 
  and his Mythos magic, backed by human sacrifice, is why the 
  investigators have a penalty die. 
  However it is not always this difficult. If the investigators are 
  following right on the heels of someone who is allowed to come 
  and go, like the black cat or Roman Jones, or if the alchemical 
  stink is active, then they still need to make a Hard Luck check, 
  or Regular Occult check, but without the penalty die. 
  Also, if an investigator has Cthulhu Mythos above base, 
  then that investigator does not suffer a penalty die 
  under any circumstances, and does not need to be trailing 
  after Roman or the cat, or wait for the stink, to avoid the penalty 
  die. Their Mythos score is enough. 
  If an investigator gets through, but other investigators do not, 
  then from the point of view of those who failed the check, the 
  successful investigator disappears into thin air. However if that 
  successful investigator returns to the group, she can lead the 
  others through. As long as they maintain physical contact – 
  holding hands works – no further dice rolls are required. 
  The black cat and Roman Jones come and go, and are not 
  necessarily on this floor when the investigators arrive. However 
  Josef never leaves, and neither do his wives.  
  Once the investigators get through, they can see the wards for 
  themselves. These magical symbols are scratched into the stairs, 
  doors, and windows of the second floor, covering every possible 
  entrance, except for the service elevator. This means someone 
  could, in theory, get up through the service elevator, if they were 
  small and agile enough. Occult or Cthulhu Mythos 
  recognizes the wards as powerful magic, the work of someone 
  very experienced in ritual workings.  
  Each room is described in order, starting with the apartment 
  at the upper left hand corner, next to the stairs, colored light 
  blue, and then running clockwise from apartment to apartment.   
  Renata’s Apartment 
  Renata has been Josef’s slave the longest, and has been ignored 
  for most of that time. Though she’s devoted to him, and is 
  almost in a zombie state, there’s a small part of her original 
  personality left, just enough that she’s aware of what she’s 
  become, and how powerless she is. She can’t even die, and her 
  burnt, flaking flesh is a constant agony. She can’t talk, as her 
  vocal cords and tongue were destroyed in the fire, but she can 
  make wordless hissing noises. She spends most of her time 
  enraged, and if she could get her hands on Miss Loobey she’d 
  tear her apart. This is why Josef took the precaution of nailing 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   13 
  boards across the front door of her apartment, though if she 
  needed to she could break through in two rounds. 
  The wallpaper here has been almost scratched off by Renata, 
  over the years, and the carpets are worn through. This is the 
  best furnished of the apartments; most of the furnishings are 
  Renata’s, inherited from her family or bought when she and 
  Josef married. There’s a silver framed photograph of Renata 
  and Josef on their wedding day, on a table in Renata’s 
  bedroom. There’s a trail of flaked-off flesh in each room. 
  This is the only apartment the cat never enters. 
  Cecilia’s Apartment 
  Cecilia Gebel became Josef’s slave in 1901. At that time she was 
  the sixteen-year-old bride of one of the other tenants in the 
  building, and the neighborhood was still Jewish, though it 
  wouldn’t be for much longer. Cecilia is also the one Josef 
  remained happiest with for the longest time, and she managed 
  to survive for five years before Josef finally tired of her. She 
  died when he punched her, so hard that she stumbled and hit 
  her head. She still has a visible dent, but as it’s in the back of 
  her head and part covered by hair, it’s not easy to spot.  
  This apartment is sparsely furnished. The living room is well 
  appointed, with old-fashioned, heavy wooden furniture, but the 
  bedrooms and kitchen are almost empty. Josef dragged out the 
  luxurious bed after he and Cecilia stopped sleeping together, 
  and Cecilia had no other bedroom furniture. Her clothes closet 
  has also been raided over the years, and there’s little but scraps 
  left.  
  Cecilia spends most of her time sitting in her rocking chair, 
  humming to herself. She always hums the same tune: The 
  Faithful Hussar (Der Treue Husar), about a brave young 
  soldier separated from his dying lady love. Every so often, she 
  sings it aloud, which can be heard by the apartment above; see 
  page 14. 
  The cat often comes in here and sits on Cecilia’s lap. 
  Kate’s Apartment 
  Kate Cooper was the fifteen-year-old daughter of a drunk who 
  used to regularly beat her, and her siblings. Josef pictured 
  himself as her rescuer, when he abducted her in 1915. Her 
  soldier boyfriend came looking for Kate, but never could find 
  her; see further page 14.  
  However Josef tired of her very quickly. As a slave, she 
  couldn’t show the proper gratitude to her rescuer; Josef wanted 
  adoration and praise, but she was no more expressive than any 
  of those who had come before her. Consequently he broke her 
  neck less than a year after taking her, and her head always lolls 
  to one side.  
  However, because she’s an excellent cook, Josef has her 
  preparing all his meals. Her kitchen is the best appointed of all 
  the apartments, and the cupboards are well stocked. The 
  apartment has very little other furniture, and when not cooking 
  or cleaning all the apartments, she spends most of her time 
  sitting on the floor, waiting for instructions. 
  Because she cleans all the other apartments, Kate is the only 
  one of Josef’s wives who might be found outside her 
  apartment. She only cleans those rooms she’s been instructed 
  to clean, by Josef. 
  The cat very occasionally comes in here, always when Kate is 
  cooking. 
  Josef’s Apartment 
  This is the largest of the apartments, and one of two facing the 
  street; the other has been given to Miss Loobey. 
  The kitchen is devoted to Josef’s alchemical experiments. 
  When a younger man, he loved to try new ideas and considered 
  the quest for alchemical gold to be his lifetime achievement. 
  Now he couldn’t care less, and churns out gold every so often 
  when he needs more money, otherwise ignoring his life’s work. 
  He had a very extensive alchemical library, once upon a time, 
  and his collection of original documents may have been unique, 
  in the Western world at least. However in the years since he’s 
  torn pages out of priceless tomes and used it to roll muggles 
  cigarettes, or for a similarly less-than-dignified purpose. He’s 
  stopped caring, and the shoddy, stained condition of the texts 
  in his alchemical library reflect this. The Keeper should feel 
  free to seed the alchemical library with such texts as the Keeper 
  feels appropriate for the campaign, but the collection definitely 
  includes: 
   
  The Secret Doctrine, a translation of the Book of 
  Dzyan; no spells, no Sanity loss, and no Mythos 
  either, as the most relevant sections have been torn 
  out. 
   
  Book of Eibon, English language version, a 17th 
  Century version of the 15th Century translation, 
  Sanity Loss 1D3, no spells, no Mythos; a quarter of 
  the book has been torn out, and what’s left of it is 
  currently next to the toilet. 
   
  Nameless Cults, 1909, Golden Goblin Press edition, 
  Sanity Loss 1D3, no spells, no Mythos. Pages from 
  this have been used to make paper dolls which he 
  pins on the kitchen wall, and throws darts at when 
  he’s bored. 
   
  If the alchemical equipment, which is always on low heat, is 
  smashed or significantly disturbed, there’s a risk (Luck 
  check) the building will be set on fire. A fire starts as a 
  potential minor injury, and if not put out, grows within 
  four rounds to be a potential moderate injury. Four 
  rounds after that, it becomes a potential major injury, 
  and once it gets that bad there is no chance of putting out the 
  fire without the help of the fire department. This causes severe 
  damage to 224 Lenox, and the Shapiras will not be pleased. 
  Josef spends most of his time in the Parlor, or at Miss 
  Loobey’s apartment. The two bedrooms of his apartment are 
  filled with a lifetime’s worth of junk, and are so stuffed with 
  useless garbage that it’s impossible to go in. There’s just 
  enough space for the cat to fit through.  
  Josef keeps a makeshift bed in the Parlor, and rarely bothers 
  with clothes. Spot Hidden finds enough information – old 
  diaries, photographs, letters, love poetry, articles clipped out of 
  newspapers about missing women – to identify all of Josef’s 
  wives. There are four jars up on the mantelpiece in the Parlor, 
  each of which contains a glowing liquid. Each jar is labeled 
  with a different name: Renata, Cecilia, Kate, Minnie. These jars 
  contain the life essence of Josef’s wives; Sanity Loss 1/1D4+1 
  if the investigators realize this. If Miss Loobey’s jar is smashed, 
  she’s free of him, and will run away. If Cecilia or Kate’s jars are 
  smashed, their bodies turn to dust, dead at last. If Renata’s jar 
  is smashed, she retains physical form and will last just long 
  enough to attack and, if not prevented, kill Josef. If somehow 
  she is prevented from doing so, perhaps because one of the 
  other investigators already killed him, she will attack whoever 
  slew him, out of rage and frustration at being denied a 
  vengeance she’s long craved. If this means she attacks the man 
  with lightning flowers, then both of them vanish in a ball of 
  lightning, utterly destroyed; the energy from this explosion 
  might be enough to set the building on fire, as above. 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   14 
  Miss Minnie Loobey 
  This is the best kept of the apartments, and has the most 
  modern furniture. Pride of place is given over to the record 
  player in the Parlor, and most of the furniture in the Parlor has 
  been moved to the side of the room so Miss Loobey can dance.  
  Josef did not realize that Miss Loobey is a female 
  impersonator. As far as Josef was concerned, he was in love 
  with a woman; now he doesn’t know what to think. He hasn’t 
  tried to take Miss Loobey to bed since the first night, when he 
  found out her secret. He still loves her, and when not in his 
  apartment curled up with his memories, he spends all his 
  waking hours with her.  
  Miss Loobey has no function within Josef’s hierarchy. She’s 
  not the violent sociopath he can set loose on his enemies 
  (Renata), the repository of treasured memories (Cecilia), or the 
  dogsbody and cook (Kate). As a result, she has little to do 
  during the day except eat the chocolates Josef has Roman bring 
  her, and is running slightly to fat. Every so often she plays her 
  favorite record, Freddy Keppard’s version of Willie the Weeper, 
  about a drug addict’s dream. See page 15. 
  Unlike the other wives, Miss Loobey is still alive, as 
  Medicine will show. If the investigators try to remove her 
  from the apartment without smashing the glass jar in Josef’s 
  rooms, she doesn’t struggle, but returns to the second floor as 
  soon as she’s able. She has no will of her own, and is tied 
  inextricably to Josef so long as he keeps her soul in a jar. 
   
  THIRD FLOOR 
  Each room is described in order, starting with the apartment at 
  the upper left hand corner, next to the stairs, colored light blue, 
  and then running clockwise from apartment to apartment. This 
  means, among other things, that Renata’s apartment is directly 
  below the first apartment described here in the Third Floor 
  section, Cecelia’s below the second apartment described, and 
  so on. This becomes important because the people in the 
  apartments above can hear what’s going on below them, even if 
  they can’t perceive the Second Floor in any other way. 
  The Thomas’ Apartment 
  Mister Gabriel Thomas, his wife Norah, and their two children 
  live here. It’s cramped, but cosy. Norah has a yen for the bright 
  lights of Hollywood, and the walls are decorated with signed 
  photographs of film stars, her only extravagance. She’s 
  especially proud of a signed letter from writer and film 
  producer Oscar Deveraux Michaud, which she’s had framed.  
    Husband Gabriel works for the city, as a postman, and 
  keeps long hours. Norah worries about him; she’d worry even 
  more if she knew how much money he lost at dice every Friday 
  night. 
  None of them have seen or experienced anything unusual. 
  Like the rest of the apartments, they complain about the 
  chemical stink, and Norah doesn’t like the black cat that keeps 
  hanging around; she thinks it’s bad luck. However they have no 
  complaints about 224 Lenox.  
  They know all about the rent party that’s going to be held up 
  on the Fourth Floor next week, and Norah wants to go. If the 
  investigators appear to the Thomases to be in any way official, 
  the kind of people who would object to bathtub gin, the 
  Thomases will be very nervous, which might set off the 
  investigators’ own paranoia. 
   
  The Glory’s Apartment 
  Mister Henry Glory, his wife Thelma, and their daughter 
  Dolores live here. Henry Glory works as an appliance 
  repairman for a machine tool shop down the block, and is a 
  highly skilled workaholic. He’s up all hours God sends, and his 
  only form of relaxation is Church on Sunday, where he’s a 
  deacon. His wife Thelma is slightly more frivolous, and makes 
  her own Limoncello, (a lemon-based liqueur), in a jug under 
  the sink. She sells the end result to other 224 Lenox tenants for 
  mad money; Henry can be a little stingy. She learned how to 
  make Limoncello from an Italian family she worked for, before 
  she got married. 
  Like the other tenants, the Glorys have noticed the smell and 
  the cat, but haven’t paid either any mind. Thelma quite likes 
  the look of the cat, but has never been able to stroke it; the cat 
  isn’t friendly. 
  The Glory family definitely isn’t the sort to go to rent parties, 
  and disapprove of those who do. At least, Henry does; Thelma 
  isn’t such a stickler, but she’d never go without Henry’s 
  permission. 
  Listen notices that daughter Dolores occasionally sings a 
  German folk tune, Der Treue Husar, which she says she 
  learned from the lady downstairs.  “She has such a beautiful 
  voice,” says Dolores. Anyone who waits patiently for several 
  hours might hear Cecilia, in the apartment below, sing the 
  tune.  
   
  Samuel Johnson, Pete Vance and Clarence 
  Brooks 
  These three men share the apartment. Samuel Johnson, former 
  corporal 369th Infantry Regiment, is considerably older than 
  the other two, who are in their teens. 
  Pete Vance and Clarence Brooks slop out kitchens right now, 
  but they have big dreams. They’re going to be professional 
  dancers someday, and to get there, they spend every free 
  moment practicing their routines in the living room. Samuel 
  Johnson doesn’t mind, but it does get on his neighbors’ nerves. 
  Not that any of them would have the courage to confront him 
  about it. 
  Samuel works as a bellhop at a hotel downtown. His rigid 
  military bearing and no-nonsense attitude make him almost 
  perfect for the role; guests have been known to salute him 
  automatically, without thinking. 
  Samuel chooses to live in 224 because that’s where he last 
  saw his beloved, Kate Cooper. He never believed she’d run off 
  without saying anything to him; if he hadn’t been sent to 
  France, he’d have carried out more of a search when she went 
  missing. He bloodied the eye of her no-good father more than 
  once, but that didn’t stop old man Cooper. After the war, when 
  Samuel came home, he and old man Cooper had a reckoning; 
  what’s left of Cooper is at the bottom of the Hudson.  
  Samuel is the only person in 224 who might come to the 
  investigators’ aid in a pinch, if need be. This is especially so if 
  the investigators convince him that they know what happened 
  to Kate.  
  Samuel and the two would-be dancers have not seen or 
  experienced anything unusual. They know about the rent party, 
  and are planning to go. 
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   15 
  The Empty Apartment 
  This is the one apartment in the building that’s untenanted. 
  It’s clean – Mister Earley sees to that – but unfurnished, and 
  the air is stale from being shut up most of the time. If asked, the 
  other tenants in the building say little about it, and that’s 
  because they know why nobody lives here any more. 
  The Norton family used to live here, until about two weeks 
  ago. Their son hung himself in his bedroom, and his heartbroken 
  parents moved out. His death was only the most recent event in 
  what the other tenants at 224 see as a string of bad luck, for those 
  who live in this apartment. People who live here get murdered, 
  arrested, lose their jobs, lose their families, fall into addiction, 
  and much worse. Izzy and Sam, the Shapira’s eviction 
  specialists, return to this apartment again and again, after yet 
  another deadbeat tenant loses out. 
  Josef’s apartment is directly beneath this one.  
  Spot Hidden finds a loose floorboard in the Norton boy’s 
  bedroom, in which is hid a collection of childish drawings of a 
  black cat, eating people. Four women in particular recur in these 
  pictures again and again, and the boy names them as Renata, 
  Cecilia, Kate, and Miss Loobey. 
  The Epps Sisters 
  Maudie, Louisa and Bee share these rooms. It’s a little snug for 
  three, but they manage. Maudie and Louisa have never left 
  New York, but little Bee used to work on the White Star Line, 
  travelling back and forth to Europe on some of the world’s 
  most luxurious ocean liners. Consequently she speaks a little of 
  half a dozen languages, and is the most cosmopolitan of the 
  three. However she’s also a workaholic, and an outsider would 
  be forgiven for thinking she’s traded being a maid on an ocean 
  liner to being a maid for her two, less active sisters. It’s largely 
  thanks to Bee’s money, and a legacy from an aunt, that they can 
  afford to stay at 224 when Maudie and Louisa don’t work – 
  though both are pillars of their Church, the same one that 
  Henry Glory goes to. Bee finds time to take in laundry and 
  mend clothes, which raises a little extra cash.  
  Maudie and Louisa occupy the rooms marked Chamber and 
  Parlor, while Bee has a cot in the Living Room, which she puts 
  away during the day so her sisters can use the room. 
  They know about the rent party. Maudie and Louisa, being 
  pillars of the Church, would never dream of going, but Bee 
  intends to sneak out and join in. 
  None of them have seen or experienced anything suspicious, 
  beyond the alchemical smell and the cat. None of them like the 
  cat, and wish they knew how to make it go away. 
  Anyone in the Epps Sisters’ apartment for longer than an 
  hour, (Listen not required – it’s that loud), hears someone in 
  the apartment below putting on a record, Willie the Weeper. 
  The Epps sisters are well aware of this, and wish it would stop, 
  but no amount of complaining to Mister Earley makes that 
  happen. Mister Earley doesn’t know which tenant is playing 
  that song over, and over, and over again.   
   
  FOURTH FLOOR 
  Each room is described in order, starting with the apartment at 
  the upper left hand corner, next to the stairs, colored light blue, 
  and then running clockwise from apartment to apartment. 
   
  The Hayward’s Apartment 
  Mister Joseph Hayward, his wife Laura, and their teenage son 
  Gary live here. Mister Hayward owns the shoe shop on the first 
  floor. 
  Joseph and Laura are very worried about their son, who 
  spends far too much time in the apartment across the hall. 
  They don’t want Gary to grow up to be some kind of nightclub 
  delinquent; they want him to be a respectable businessman, 
  like his father. Gary, meanwhile, loves to dance and sing, and 
  would like nothing better than to become a piano player in a 
  honky-tonk ragtime bar. 
  When not working, Joseph and his wife love to go to Coney 
  Island, particularly Steeplechase Amusement Park. There are 
  several pictures on the wall, of the family enjoying themselves 
  on one of the many rides or attractions at Steeplechase.  
  They know about the rent party and are planning to go. 
  None of them know about, or have experienced, anything 
  unusual at 224 Lenox, beyond the chemical smell and cat. They 
  don’t like the cat; Laura thinks it’s bad luck. 
   
  Miss Martin, Miss Watkins, Miss Groves 
  Three female impersonators live here. Miss Loobey also lived 
  here, before she was taken by Josef. 
  The four of them shared the rooms, when Miss Loobey still 
  lived here; Miss Loobey and Miss Groves were in the room 
  marked Living Room. Now Miss Groves is all alone, and she’s 
  heartbroken. When not working, (all three dance at local 
  nightspots), all she does all day is sit at the piano in the Living 
  Room, dolefully plucking out Willie the Weeper; Miss Loobey’s 
  favorite song.  
  Gary Hayward from next door is a frequent visitor. Until 
  Miss Loobey went missing, he was learning how to play the 
  piano, but these days Miss Groves hasn’t the heart to teach. 
  Gary still practices each day, but it’s not the same. 
  The bathtub next to the kitchen is full of bathtub gin. In 
  order to make some extra money, the three intend to throw a 
  Rent Party in about a week. A Rent Party is exactly what it 
  sounds like, a party to raise enough cash – in this case through 
  gin sales – to pay the rent. For that reason, if the investigators 
  seem in any way official, or the type likely to object to bathtub 
  gin, the three will be very nervous, which in turn may set off 
  the investigators’ own paranoia. 
  Charm and Persuade work best here: 
   
   
  Miss Loobey behaved very strangely, in the months 
  before she went missing. She stopped hanging around 
  with her old friends; all her spare time was spent 
  shopping, or on mysterious errands somewhere in the 
  building, though she never said where or doing what. 
   
  Roman Jones used to follow Miss Loobey all the time, 
  like a big dog. She called him her protector. Funny; he 
  doesn’t seem at all upset that she’s gone missing. 
   
  Miss Groves once followed the black cat, after Charles 
  Jones told everyone about what he saw. Miss Groves 
  didn’t find whatever it was he saw, but she knows the 
  cat is dead. “It felt like ice, to touch! Then it scratched 
  me, and I let it go.” 
   
  Davey Salt, Lawrence Morton, Lorenzo Wiley 
  These three musicians share this apartment. Morton and Wiley 
  sleep in the Living Room and next door Chamber, while Salt is 
  in the bedroom next to the Kitchen. 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   16 
  Davey Salt, a trumpet player, is the best of the three, but all 
  of them find plenty of work in Harlem’s many nightclubs. 
  When not out working, or relaxing in the early morning after a 
  gig, they spend most of the day asleep, and will not be happy to 
  be woken up, if the investigators come knocking on their door 
  during the day. 
  Davey Salt is carrying on an off-again, on-again romance 
  with Emma Lou Rose on the First Floor. It’s a casual thing, for 
  him; he has half a dozen girl friends, but Emma Lou is the only 
  one with money. Sometimes he hits her up for a loan. 
  They know about the rent party; in fact, they’re the 
  entertainment. On the night, they’ll be playing out in the hall 
  for everyone to hear. 
  None of them have seen or experienced anything unusual, 
  beyond the chemical stink and black cat. 
   
  The Williams’ Apartment 
  Carl Williams, his wife Tressie, and her sister Eunice Duval live 
  here. Carl and Tressie are trying for a baby, but nothing’s come 
  of that yet, leaving Tressie unhappy and Carl stressed. 
  Carl is a journalist at the Age newspaper, and a fund of local 
  knowledge. He’s been taking notes about the goings-on at 224, 
  and while he doesn’t know what’s really behind it, he does 
  know all about the three women who have gone missing, as 
  well as the 1881 fire. Effectively, he has the same information 
  as that held at the Lenox Street Library and Newspaper 
  Archives (see page 7), but Persuade is necessary to get him 
  to open up. He’s thinking about writing a book of ghost stories 
  one day, fictionalizing the lives and stories of the people who 
  live, and lived, at 224 Lenox. 
  Eunice works as a secretary at a local business, and is being 
  romanced by the owner of the firm. She doesn’t mind him too 
  much, but he’d not really her type – far too old, for one thing. 
  However he does send her flowers every week, which brighten 
  up her room. 
  All of them know about the rent party and are planning to 
  go. 
  Eunice Duval once had a very odd experience, walking up to 
  the Fourth Floor. She felt it took a lot longer than usual, for 
  some reason, and she heard someone singing, in German. Then 
  she saw a white man, wrapped up in a robe, who swore at her 
  and frightened her so much that she ran the rest of the way up 
  the stairs. She’s never seen that man again, or had the same 
  experience. Persuade or Charm is needed to get her to tell 
  this story. 
  Apart from those experiences, none of them have seen or 
  heard anything unusual, beyond the alchemical smells and 
  black cat. 
   
  The Brooks’ Apartment 
  Arthur Brooks and his wife Nora live here. They have no 
  children; their only daughter, Agnes, died of a fever two years 
  ago, when she was five. Photographs of the young girl are all 
  over the apartment, in heavy black frames. 
  Arthur works as a clerk at a local bank, and dabbles on the 
  side as an accountant for some of the local speakeasies, for 
  extra cash. As such he carries a gun, though he’s frightened to 
  death about using it. Nora believes that Arthur’s willingness to 
  work with gangsters, which she sees as sinful, is the reason why 
  God punished them by taking their Agnes away. 
  Arthur used to do the books for the speakeasy on the First 
  Floor. He knows that it was protected by Jacob Morrisey, 
  formerly of the Lenox Avenue Gang, and he also knows that 
  Jacob was murdered over a woman, a singer at the Cotton 
  Club. That was why, when Jacob died, his little empire of 
  speakeasies didn’t have a patron, stopped paying bribe money, 
  and was raided by the Prohibition Bureau. Arthur has enough 
  information in his little black book to make many senior 
  policemen and Prohibition Bureau agents very unhappy. If they 
  knew it existed, Arthur’s life wouldn’t be worth ten cents. 
  Arthur isn’t sure what he should do, but at the moment keeping 
  his mouth shut seems the safest policy. Hard Persuade is 
  necessary to get him to talk about any of this, though searching 
  his office desk in the Parlor (Spot Hidden) will uncover his 
  accounting books, and notebooks with all the bribe money 
  payments, who to, and how much.  
  If the investigators take Arthur’s information and use it to 
  make trouble, say by publishing the whole story in the papers, 
  then any interaction with the police or the Prohibition Bureau, 
  no matter what it is, is Hard difficulty. Unless the 
  investigators do something to protect Arthur, he’ll be dead in a 
  few days. The investigators cannot rely on official protection, 
  even from Federal agents; there’s too much at stake for those 
  concerned to let Arthur live. For that matter, if the 
  investigators have any tangible proof, their lives aren’t worth 
  ten cents either. So long as they stay in New York, they’re at 
  risk. 
  The Brooks’ know about the rent party and are planning to 
  go. 
  Of all the people in the building, Arthur and Nora are the 
  least cooperative, and any interpersonal ability test is Hard 
  difficulty, but that isn’t because they know anything about the 
  Second Floor. Like everyone else in the building, they know 
  about the chemical smell and the cat, but have no opinion on 
  either. 
   
  FIFTH FLOOR 
  Each room is described in order, starting with the apartment at 
  the upper left hand corner, next to the stairs, colored light blue, 
  and then running clockwise from apartment to apartment. 
  The Jones’ Apartment 
  Charles Jones, his wife Edith, their baby Carl and Charles’ 
  nephew Roman live in this apartment. Charles, his wife and the 
  baby are in one Chamber, Roman in the other.  
  Charles isn’t that close to Roman, but Roman is family, and 
  to Charles that matters more than anything. Edith is slightly 
  afraid of Roman, not because he’s ever done anything, but 
  because he’s very large, and sometimes unpredictable.  
  Charles works in a garage near 224, and Edith, before Carl 
  came along, was a secretary. These days she works part-time as 
  a seamstress; not that her talents lie in that direction, but every 
  penny helps, particularly with Roman at the dinner table. 
  Charles is willing to tell investigators who can prove they’re 
  working for the Shapiras everything he remembers about the 
  experience he had on the Second Floor, no dice roll 
  required, but if the investigators can’t show they’re working 
  for the Shapiras, all interactions with him are at Hard 
  difficulty, since he’s worried he’ll implicate Roman in 
  something that might get him put in a mental institution. 
  His story is that he became worried about Roman’s 
  wanderings. Sometimes Roman would be gone for hours, and 
  Charles didn’t know where he was. One day, he saw Roman go 
  downstairs, and the black cat was on Roman’s heels. Charles 
  decided to see what Roman was up to, and that’s when he 
  found himself in a strange part of the building he’d never seen 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   17 
  before. Then a naked white man showed up, and started 
  screaming at Charles. At the same time, the cat fell over, and it 
  looked to Charles as if it had died on the spot. Confused, 
  frightened, and angry, Charles went to get Mister Earley, and 
  together they went back to the mystery apartment – but they 
  couldn’t find it. Charles tried talking to Roman about it later, 
  when Roman came back to the apartment, but his nephew had 
  nothing to say for himself. Charles has seen the black cat 
  wandering the building after this incident, apparently very 
  much alive. He doesn’t know what to make of it. 
  As he’s been there before, for purposes of getting to the 
  Second Floor, Charles can lead the way and negate the 
  penalty die. However he’s not willing to do it without some 
  significant (Hard difficulty) motivation.  
  Roman will not talk to the investigators. He doesn’t talk to 
  anyone, really, except for Miss Loobey and his uncle Charles. 
   
  Sydney Gilpin’s Apartment 
  Sidney Gilpin, aka Stuart Phagan, aka W.D. DuFresne, is a 
  grifter of long standing. He’s pushing eighty these days, but in 
  his prime he’s bottom-dealt full houses on Mississippi steam 
  boats, dug for gold at mining camps from Deadwood to the 
  Klondike, and, in his most recent incarnation before the War, 
  reverted to type and fleeced card players on trains from here to 
  California. However his glory days are behind him, and 
  arthritis keeps him from dealing cards as cleverly as he would 
  like. He still has a substantial nest egg left, and lives modestly 
  on that, occasionally dabbling in stock investments just to keep 
  him interested in getting up in the morning. 
  He lives alone. The other rooms in his apartment are filled 
  with the mementoes of a gaudy life, including (but not limited 
  to), his old Faro set that he took from mining camp to mining 
  camp, a Buntline special, animal pelts carefully skinned and 
  preserved, a North West Mounted Policeman’s dress uniform 
  jacket, a Bowie knife, many photographs, a collection of 
  postcards and letters from many women, and a peculiar carved 
  stone on a leather neck strap. 
  This last item is an Elder Sign, made by a Cree and won by 
  Gilpin in a card game. Anthropology recognizes the item as 
  Cree, while Cthulhu Mythos (no die roll) recognizes its 
  significance. Gilpin will not part with this, or anything else 
  from his collection, under any circumstances. It can be 
  Filched (Hard difficulty – Gilpin’s no fool), or Gilpin can be 
  Persuaded to come with the investigators, Elder Sign in 
  hand. 
  If the investigators have the Elder Sign with them when 
  attempting to find the Second Floor, it negates the penalty 
  die.  
  When not walking the streets on a sunny day, playing cards, 
  or scouring the newspaper for stock tips, he spends most of his 
  time in his apartment, writing his memoirs.  
  He knows about the rent party and is planning to go. 
  He knows there’s something peculiar about 224, and has the 
  same complaints as everyone else about the smell and the cat, 
  but has never experienced anything unusual himself. 
   
  The Bishop’s Apartment 
  Andrew Bishop, his wife Blanche, and their two sons Arthur 
  and Anthony all live in this apartment.  
  Arthur is a factory worker, and when not at work prefers to 
  spend all of his time birdwatching or reading about birds. His 
  wife Blanche volunteers for as many charitable causes as she 
  has free hours in the day, possibly as an excuse to get out of the 
  apartment and away from Arthur. Their teenage sons, 
  meanwhile, are outwardly as respectable and dull as it is 
  possible to be, but whenever they get a chance to sneak away 
  they hustle suckers at local pool halls. The two are so alike they 
  might be twins, a fact they’ve relied on for years as a means of 
  getting out of trouble.  
  Arthur and Blanche are possibly the only two people in the 
  building who don’t know about the rent party. Their boys do, 
  and are planning to go. 
  None of the Bishops know anything about the Second Floor. 
  Arthur, in fact, is so utterly oblivious that he hasn’t even 
  noticed the smell or the black cat.  
  The Moses’ Apartment 
  Charles Moses, his wife Annie, and their two daughters Gloria 
  and Laura all live in this apartment.  
  Charles is a clerk at a local office, and dreams of being a 
  writer someday, though he lacks the stick-to-it he’d need to 
  really get anywhere. However he does have notebooks filled 
  with interminable poetry, which he’ll happily show to anyone 
  who’s interested. His wife Annie is the practical one, and it’s 
  thanks to her that the apartment is spotless, the children well-
  groomed, and that the household money isn’t frittered away on 
  yet another of Charles’ schemes. Her one indulgence is cards; 
  she and Sidney Gilpin get together from time to time. Gilpin 
  even lets her win, every once in a while, just to keep her spirits 
  up. 
  The apartment is cheaply furnished, as the Moses family 
  doesn’t have a lot of money, and what little they do have is 
  spent on their children. However teenage Gloria has a talent for 
  sculpture, and her work is displayed proudly. 
  None of them are going to the rent party, though they all 
  know about it. Annie thinks it will be a little racy for the 
  children, and Charles will be too busy writing. 
  None of the Moses’ know anything about the Second Floor. 
  They think 224 Lenox is a little peculiar, but have never 
  encountered anything unusual. 
   
  Zora and Martha Fuller 
  Zora Fuller looks after her mother, who’s getting on in years. 
  Really, Martha’s too frail to be left on her own, but if Zora 
  didn’t go out to work, they’d have no roof over their heads. As it 
  is, Zora’s job and what little’s left of daddy’s life insurance 
  money keeps them afloat. 
  Zora works two jobs. By day, she’s a secretary, and by night, 
  a cabaret dancer. As a result, she’s dead tired most of the time. 
  Meanwhile Martha is a little wandering in her mind, but can 
  pull herself together and function for several hours at a stretch. 
  However a few hours is her limit; when tired, she forgets what 
  year it is, or whether she’s left something cooking on the stove. 
  Persuade or Charm gets Zora to tell something Miss 
  Loobey once said to her, a long time ago, before she went away. 
  Miss Loobey said she was afraid of the man on the Second 
  Floor, that he stared at her and made her uncomfortable. But, 
  Miss Loobey said, he was rich, so rich. He could make gold in 
  his kitchen and sell it, if he wanted to. Miss Loobey thought she 
  could persuade him to tell her how he did it. 
  Other than that, Zora has never seen or experienced 
  anything unusual, beyond the alchemical smell and black cat. 
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   18 
  PEOPLE AND CREATURES 
  This section is not going to list statistics for every named NPC, 
  since most of that information would be redundant. Instead, 
  where applicable, statistics will be given for an NPC that might 
  be in conflict, either with the investigators, or on the 
  investigators’ behalf. 
  For all NPCs not listed here, assume basic civilian status, 
  with 10 Hit Points (adult) or 6 Hit Points (child), professional 
  skills at 45%, other skills at 30%, no meaningful attack or 
  defense abilities, and their default strategy in combat is to run 
  away. Possibly to get a policeman, if the situation requires it. 
   
  THE SHAPIRAS 
  Izzy and Sam 
  These are the two heavies the Shapiras rely on to handle things, 
  when they need a little muscle. Neither of them will do anything 
  blatantly illegal, like murder, but a few thumps and bruises are 
  fine. Evictions are their specialty. 
   
  STR 40 
  CON 50 
  SIZ 50 
  DEX 45 
  INT 30  
  APP 30 
  POW 30 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 30  
  HP 10 
  DB: 0 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 6 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  35%, (17/7) damage 1D3  
  Shotgun 12-gauge 
  40%, (20/8) damage 4D6/2D6/1D6 
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Intimidate 30%. 
   
  COPS 
  Patrolman 
  The cops will only get involved if something has gone badly 
  wrong, or if someone carelessly starts shooting. 
   
  STR 45 
  CON 55 
  SIZ 50 
  DEX 45 
  INT 30  
  APP 30 
  POW 30 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 30  
  HP 10 
  DB: 0 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 6 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  35%, (17/7) damage 1D3+DB  
  Nightstick  
  45%, (22/9) damage 1D6+DB 
  .32 Revolver 
  40%, (20/8) damage 1D8 
  Shotgun 12-gauge 
  40%, (20/8) damage 4D6/2D6/1D6 
   
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Climb 30%, Dodge 30%, Intimidate 25%, Jump 30%, Law 
  10%, Spot Hidden 40%. 
   
  GANGSTERS 
  Typical Thug 
  In the unlikely event that the investigators manage somehow to 
  really tick off the local crime syndicate, perhaps by 
  investigating the speakeasy a little too thoroughly. 
   
  STR 40 
  CON 50 
  SIZ 50 
  DEX 45 
  INT 30  
  APP 25 
  POW 40 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 30  
  HP 10 
  DB: 0 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 8 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  35%, (17/7) damage 1D3+DB  
  Switchblade 
  35%, (17/7) damage1D4+DB 
  .32 Revolver  
  45% (22/9) damage 1D8 
  Shotgun 12-gauge 
  40%, (20/8) damage 4D6/2D6/1D6 
  Thompson SMG 
  30%, (15/6) damage 1D10+2 
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Dodge 35%, Fast Talk 15%, Intimidate 30%, Jump 30%, 
  Stealth 35%. 
   
  THE MAN WITH LIGHTNING FLOWERS 
  Avatar of Dark Powers 
  An entity beyond human understanding, temporarily occupying 
  a human corpse. 
   
  STR (30) CON 60 
  SIZ 55 
  DEX 45 
  INT (10)  
  APP 15 
  POW 100 EDU N/A SAN N/A  HP 18 
  DB: (-1) 
  Build: -1 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 20 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  45%, (22/9) damage 1D3+DB  
  Lightning Strike 
  Special 
   
  STR Note: By spending 2 MP, the avatar can increase STR to 100 
  for 1 round. DB increases to +1D6. Build remains unchanged.  
   
  Lightning Strike: By spending 4 MP, the avatar can electrocute 
  a target within Touch range. This does not require a roll to hit. 
  The target gets a CON save for half damage; failure means the 
  target takes 2D6 damage. If used against a flammable object, the 
  object catches fire, and will suffer 1D4 damage/round until 
  extinguished.   
   
  MP: This recharges in 24 hours; it can recharge instantly, if the 
  avatar receives a dose of electrical energy, say by short-circuiting 
  224 Lenox’s electrical supply, or by being struck by lightning. 
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   19 
  Armor: all physical attacks do minimal damage, and can only 
  destroy the avatar’s physical form; the human corpse can be 
  destroyed, but the entity survives. A new avatar can be created 
  within 24 hours. Attacks from magical or Mythos weapons do 
  full damage to the corpse and entity both; a kill from such a 
  weapon disrupts the avatar, and it shall not return for at least a 
  year. 
   
  Skills: Track Josef 35% 
  224 LENOX 
  Renata, Second Floor 
  Josef’s long-dead, rage-filled first wife. 
   
  STR 80 
  CON 80 
  SIZ 55 
  DEX 35 
  INT (30)  
  APP 10 
  POW 05 
  EDU N/A SAN 0  
  HP 14 
  DB: 1D4 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 8 
  MP: 1 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  30%, (15/6) damage 1D3  
   
  Armor: Major wounds might result in the loss of a limb, but 
  otherwise she’s immune to any physical damage, even attacks 
  that target the head. Her soul is elsewhere (see Josef’s 
  apartment, page 13), and until her soul is freed, her body will 
  continue to function. 
  Skills: none. 
  INT Note: though her natural intelligence is suppressed by 
  Josef’s mind control, Renata is not a brainless corpse; she can 
  plan, use tools, and has limited tactical ability. She lacks free 
  will. 
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D8 
   
  Cecilia, Second Floor 
  Josef’s long-dead second wife, repository of his favorite 
  memories. 
   
  STR 80 
  CON 80 
  SIZ 55 
  DEX 35 
  INT (30)  
  APP 60 
  POW 05 
  EDU N/A SAN 0  
  HP 14 
  DB: 1D4 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 8 
  MP: 1 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  30%, (15/6) damage 1D3  
   
  Armor: Major wounds might result in the loss of a limb, but 
  otherwise she’s immune to any physical damage, even attacks 
  that target the head. Her soul is elsewhere (see Josef’s 
  apartment, page 13), and until her soul is freed, her body will 
  continue to function. 
  Skills: Art (Singing) 65%. 
  INT Note: though her natural intelligence is suppressed by 
  Josef’s mind control, Cecilia is not a brainless corpse; she can 
  plan, use tools, and has limited tactical ability. She lacks free 
  will. However she will not take any direct action unless ordered 
  to by Josef. If attacked, and Josef has not told her to do anything, 
  she does not resist. 
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D4. Cecilia is the most intact of Josef’s dead 
  wives, but, being dead, is still an uncanny thing to see. 
  Kate, Second Floor 
  Josef’s long-dead third wife, dogsbody and cook. 
   
  STR 80 
  CON 80 
  SIZ 55 
  DEX 35 
  INT (30)  
  APP 30 
  POW 05 
  EDU N/A SAN 0  
  HP 14 
  DB: 1D4 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 8 
  MP: 1 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  30%, (15/6) damage 1D3  
   
  Armor: Major wounds might result in the loss of a limb, but 
  otherwise she’s immune to any physical damage, even attacks 
  that target the head. Her soul is elsewhere (see Josef’s 
  apartment, page 13), and until her soul is freed, her body will 
  continue to function. 
  Skills: Art (Cooking) 75%. 
  INT Note: though her natural intelligence is suppressed by 
  Josef’s mind control, Kate is not a brainless corpse; she can plan, 
  use tools, and has limited tactical ability. She lacks free will. 
  However she will not take any direct action unless ordered to by 
  Josef. If attacked, and Josef has not told her to do anything, she 
  does not resist. 
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D6. Kate is relatively intact, but, being dead, 
  with an obviously broken neck, is still an uncanny thing to see. 
  Miss Minnie Loobey, Second Floor 
  Josef’s fourth wife, alive for now. 
   
  STR 60 
  CON 40 
  SIZ 60 
  DEX 45 
  INT 50  
  APP 60 
  POW 40 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 30  
  HP 10 
  DB: 0 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 6 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  35%, (17/7) damage 1D3  
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Art (Dancing) 45%, Disguise 65%, Fast Talk (55%), 
  Language (French) 25%, Sleight of Hand 35%. 
  Skills Note: when in (parentheses), the skill is suppressed by 
  Josef’s mind control magic. 
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   20 
  Josef Voorzanger, Second Floor 
  The Mythos sorcerer who caused all this trouble. 
   
  STR 20 
  CON 60 
  SIZ 70 
  DEX 55 
  INT 70  
  APP 30 
  POW 80 
  EDU 65 
  SAN 0  
  HP 13 
  DB: -1 
  Build: -1 
  Move: 3 
  MP: 16 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  25%, (12/5) damage 1D3  
   
  MP Note: Josef’s base MP is 16. However due to those human 
  sacrifices in 1881, his MP was boosted considerably, which is 
  how he was able to create the wards that protect him from 
  detection. However the MP he stole from the dead do not 
  refresh, and over the years he’s used them all to keep his wards 
  powered. The wards cost a permanent sacrifice of 5 MP per year 
  to continue functioning, which means if Josef wants to keep 
  hidden, he’ll need more sacrifices. He’s not sure how best to do 
  this, or even if he can remember how. 
   
  Armor: none. However if he has a chance to cast Flesh Ward, he 
  typically invests 2 MP, gaining 2D6 armor. 
  Skills: Appraise 35%, Cthulhu Mythos 30%, Dodge 30%, 
  Electrical Repair 15%, Intimidate 35%, Language (German) 
  45%, Language (Latin) 25%, Occult (Alchemy) 75%, Science 
  35%, Stealth 30% 
   
  Spells: Body Warping of Gorgoroth, Brew Dominance, Cloud 
  Memory (only costs Josef 1D3 MP, due to his mastery of the 
  form), Curse of the Putrid Husk, Dominate (targets receive a 
  penalty die to resist, due to Josef’s mastery of the form), Flesh 
  Ward, Mental Suggestion, Summon Fire Vampire (Josef has 
  forgotten how to Bind it). 
   
  Spells Josef no longer remembers how to cast: Create Zombie, 
  Superior Warding (by which he keeps the Second Floor hidden). 
   
  Tactics: Flesh Ward, followed by Body Warping to camouflage 
  self against the walls or the junk in his apartment, followed by 
  attack spells, eg. Dominate, Mental Suggestion. 
   
  New Spells: Brew Dominance. This requires the caster know the 
  Dominance spell, be at least 50% proficient in Occult (Alchemy), 
  and have at least 10% Cthulhu Mythos. This special variant on 
  the Dominate spell requires that the target be fed a magic, 
  noxious substance. This causes the target to vomit out their 
  spirit, or soul, which can then be kept and used to control the 
  target. So long as the caster keeps this liquid soul essence, the 
  caster has control over the victim. If the soul container is 
  shattered, and the liquid spilled, the victim will recover; 
  otherwise the victim is spiritless, without direction, unless the 
  caster issues instructions. If the victim should die before this 
  happens, then the victim becomes a walking corpse, and can 
  never truly recover. The brewing process takes many days, and 
  costs 15 MP. 
  The Black Cat, Second Floor (Roaming) 
  Josef’s eyes and ears. The Black Cat can be encountered 
  anywhere in the public areas of 224 Lenox, as the Keeper 
  desires. 
   
  STR 20 
  CON 60 
  SIZ 20 
  DEX 55 
  INT N/A  
  APP N/A POW 01 
  EDU N/A SAN N/A  HP 8 
  DB: -1 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 6 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  25%, (12/5) damage 1D2  
   
  Armor: Major wounds might result in the loss of a limb, but 
  otherwise the cat is immune to any physical damage, even 
  attacks that target the head. It is Josef, and is controlled by him; 
  so long as he is alive, it can never die. Given enough time, and 
  all the missing pieces, the cat’s body can repair itself, though 
  even repaired it still looks like a very thin, sickly animal. 
  Skills: Climb 45%, Jump 65%.  
  Spells: Josef can cast Dominate and Cloud Memory through the 
  cat’s eyes. 
   
  Sanity Loss: 0/1D4 
   
  Samuel Johnson, Third Floor 
  Ex-soldier turned bellhop, who might come to the 
  investigators’ rescue. 
   
  STR 60 
  CON 60 
  SIZ 70 
  DEX 35 
  INT 40  
  APP 40 
  POW 50 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 50  
  HP 12 
  DB: +1D4 Build: 1 
  Move: 8 
  MP: 10 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  55%, (27/11) damage 1D3  
  .32 Revolver 
  50%, (25/10) damage 1D8 
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Climb 45%, Dodge 25%, First Aid 45%, Survival 45%. 
   
  Arthur Brooks, Fourth Floor 
  Frightened accountant, who seems more sinister than he is. 
   
  STR 30 
  CON 40 
  SIZ 60 
  DEX 35 
  INT 60  
  APP 40 
  POW 40 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 40  
  HP 7 
  DB: 0 
  Build: 0 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 8 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  15%, (7/3) damage 1D3  
  .32 Revolver 
  10%, (5/2) damage 1D8 
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Accounting 60% Credit Rating 40%, Dodge 18%, Law 
  25% 
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
   21 
  Sidney Gilpin, Fifth Floor 
  A clever old fellow who’s seen a thing or two in his day. 
   
  STR 20 
  CON 60 
  SIZ 40 
  DEX 65 
  INT 50  
  APP 60 
  POW 40 
  EDU 40 
  SAN 40  
  HP 10 
  DB: -1 
  Build: -1 
  Move: 3 
  MP: 8 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  55%, damage 1D3  
  Bowie Knife 
  60%, damage 1D8+DB 
  Buntline Special 
  40%, damage 1D10+2 
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: Appraise 45%, Charm 65%, Disguise 20%, Dodge 45%, 
  Fast Talk 65%, History 30%, Natural World 20%, Psychology 
  20%, Sleight of Hand 55%, Spot Hidden 40%, Stealth 40%, 
  Survival 30%. 
   
  Roman Jones, Fifth Floor (roaming) 
  A quiet, simple man, who can be a holy terror when he gets 
  angry. This is most likely to happen if Miss Loobey is 
  threatened or harmed in any way. 
   
  STR 80 
  CON 60 
  SIZ 90 
  DEX 25 
  INT 10  
  APP 30 
  POW 25 
  EDU 20 
  SAN 25  
  HP 15 
  DB: +1D6 Build: 2 
  Move: 7 
  MP: 5 
  Luck: N/A 
   
  Attacks per round: 1 
  Brawl 
   
  65%, (32/13) damage 1D3+DB  
   
  Armor: none. 
  Skills: 
  Climb 
  45%, 
  Dodge 
  30%, 
  Intimidate 20%, Listen 45%, Throw 40%. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  SANITY REWARDS 
  If the investigators participate in the destruction of Josef, but 
  Renata, The Man With Lightning Flowers or some other actor 
  actually kills, him, they gain 1D4 SAN.  
  If the investigators deal with Josef themselves then the 
  reward is 1D6 SAN. 
  Freeing Josef’s wives from bondage is a 1D4 SAN reward. 
  If a named NPC, like Samuel Johnson, should die, whether 
  saving the investigators from some hideous fate, or from some 
  other investigator-inspired cause (if Arthur Brooks is killed 
  because of something they did, say, or the building catches fire), 
  then the investigators lose 1D6 SAN. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
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  The Man Downstairs, by Adam Gauntlett 
   
   
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Call of Cthulhu (CoC) (BRP) [multi]/Adventures/CoC 7e - Adv - The Man Downstairs (Miskatonic Repository).pdf