An Opportunity in Masks...

[Nvision]

*Potential Spoilers for MoN below!*

I'm looking for some ideas on how to best handle a curious situation in my game. My group is running through Masks, and is currently in London. They've already had a run-in with the Brotherhood, brashly intervening when Mr. Nawisha was being intimidated by them. Now they're side-trekking with the "Serpent in Soho" plot, which I'm using to bring in a new player.

The new member is a journalist, currently working for The Scoop, and is following up disappearances in the neighborhood. I had one of the other dancers sidelining as a prostitute and she went home with Mile Shipley. Yalesha believes it's connected to her boyfriend's disappearance, and they group believes there's a tie with the Brotherhood.

After gaining access to the house under the guise of interviewing Shipley, one of the group slipped off to the bathroom, then jumped down a coal chute to gain "quiet" access to the basement. He did not inform the group of his plans. The rest of the group then got Miles agitated and he threw them out, though his "mother" was kind enough to wrap them up some cakes for the road and asked them to come back at another time. The lone investigator in the basement decided to poke around in the stone basin, found the remains and severed head of the missing dancer, and is now suffering temporary insanity, catatonic, in the basement.

The rest of the group has no idea where their companion has drifted off to, nor the danger he is in. They thought Miles was clearly off of his rocker, but that his mother seemed like "a nice old lady." In the lone player's current state he's clearly going to run afoul of Ssathassa, but how the sorcerer should deal with him has me considering a couple of options. He could simply feed on the investigator and keep up the act when the group inevitably returns. However, I was also thinking that the old lady ruse could be wearing thin for the creature at this time, and he could instead consume the investigator's likeness and attempt to join the party of investigators.

Do you think there would be adequate motive for the sorcerer to do this? Shipley's deteriorating mental state could be limiting his use to SSathassa, making the prospect of finding a permanent portal to his people less likely. Are there spells he would conceivably have access to that could give him access to the investigators memories, as well as his form? Gaining access to other entities and sorcerers of power could be another mean to an end for him. I also think it would be a great way to push the player into roleplaying something outside of his regular character type. Any thoughts?

[Whitechapel Jack]

I like the idea of sticking a monster in the party if the player could be counted on to do the role play..... If S. (can't spell it and don't wanna go back to look) has enough juice to get a glimpse at what N. (Same reason) is up to hw may very well decide to throw in with the investigators as if N. succeeds his own plan will fail! I like replacing the investigator who took a bad blow to the head and can't remember everything.... but is rearing to get on with it and promises not to be a burden... Alternately he could also spare the investigator and offer to ally with the team providing knowledge and aid of a sorcerous nature in exchange for being left in peace.... that he just wants to live a quiet life and is caring for the mad painter as best he can..... can turn on them later or after the fact Ireland goes dark and we find out a snake nation has taken over......

[Nvision]

Well, I discussed the two options with the player and he jumped at the chance to play a covert serpent-man. The rest of the group assumed their missing member was trying to poke around the lower level of the house while Shipley and his mother were upstairs. They wanted to give him time, but still be ready to back him up, so they broke into the derelict house next-door and planned to surveil the Shipley home from an attic window. However, once in the house, they took their time rummaging through EVERY room on the way up, which gave their friend plenty of time to have his memories and likeness consumed by Ssathassa. I even threw in some mildly useful items, like an old trench coat and knife, to keep the rest of the investigators focused on looting.

By the time they reached the top-most floor they looked through Shipley's skylight to find that the pictures in the gallery had been removed. Thick smoke was issuing from the chimney, and their friend stumbled outside, bewildered and sweaty, shortly after. He told the rest of the group about the human remains and lab in the basement, and how Shipley had caught him there. He was struck on the head and dragged up to the gallery closet. When Shipley's mother tried to stop him, wailing and screaming, he came to in time to see Shipley cast her into the painting. He stood up and shouldered Shipley in the back, sending him after her. Then, he covered the paintings, gathered them up, and crammed them into the furnace. The group bought the story rather easily...

My player has decided that, rather than being involved in some diabolical scheme, Ssathassa just wants to return home and get away from these loud and uncivilized apes. Shipley had worn out his usefulness, having become too addicted and addled by the Plutonian drug, and was drawing undue attention. He's currently looking for more powerful individuals or an alternate means to return to his people's heyday. Things should get interesting now, since Tewfik al Sayed has already seen through his disguise and is terrified of him. One of the group noticed Tewfik's reaction, and now has his own suspicions...