World War Cthulhu Session Notes: January 5, 2015

Mission Summary and Team

13 May 1941
New Identities

4 Rue du Champ Dolent

Raymond made contact with Alexis Routhier, Partner at the Bordeleau & Routhier Law Offices at 4 Rue du Champ Dolent, in Rennes, regarding a cover job.
He was introduced to Valérie Chassé, Routhier’s secretary, and David Brisette, a paralegal. These would be the only people who know Raymond’s true purpose.
Routhier mentioned that his partner, Sennet Bordeleau, was not a collaborator, but was “working within the current conditions” and maintaining the profitability of the firm, which had many influential clients, including French collaborators and Germans officials.
Brisette will provide Raymond with plausible “cases” to investigate. These will be cases handled exclusively by Routhier to minimize his exposure to the rest of the staff.
Raymond was provided with an office, should he need it, but advised to stay away from the office as much as possible. Brisette mentioned that there was likely to be opposition presence at the office on any given day.
Brisette would arrange to meet at a nearby café to exchange the paperwork necessary to maintain Raymond’s cover, but mentioned Raymond would need to come to the office to collect his pay packet, and that Dominique Parent, the office manager, was devoted to the firm and would stop at nothing to protect its reputation, perhaps even informing, so Raymond would need to be careful.

Allee Coysevox Market

Laurent was still awaiting a cover job, so he was tasked with collecting a specialist sent to assess the gold box and decipher the inscriptions.
They were to meet at the market in Allee Coysevox.
The man would be young and academic looking, and would be carrying a book with a conspicuous white bookmark in it. Laurent was given a recognition code to verify the man’s identity.
He arrived at the appointed time to find the market reasonably crowded, but there were German soldiers inspecting the shoppers’ documents.
He spied the man he suspected was his contact at the other end of the square. Something about him was out of place. Perhaps his clothing was too well maintained. Or maybe he was issued a better quality costume befitting his academic cover.
The contact was being questioned by a German soldier, but the man seemed to get by the inspection with no problems. However, Laurent must have stood out, because he attracted the interest of one of the Germans, who accosted him and inspected his papers thoroughly before moving on.
Laurent intercepted to young man and suggested moving to a more private place to make the introductions.

At the POW Hospital

Antoinette was no longer bed-ridden. She could walk around the 4th floor of the POW Hospital, but her abdominal wounds were still healing, so she was not quite up to taking the stairs yet.
She had been questioned by the Gestapo about the attacks in Betton on Kalb and Todt, and also another attack on a patrol of German soldiers, apparently by the same perpetrator. Hauptsturmfuhrer Mehler, Kalb’s replacement had been investigating.

Antoinette told the Gestapo officers that the convoy had been attacked by a large and powerful murderous being with a sledgehammer.
She told them that she and Marlon had been left for dead and some Good Samaritans had delivered them to the POW hospital in Rennes.
Mehler had confirmed that they were unconscious when delivered and that the people who brought them to the POW Hospital did not wait around to be identified. He was curious as to why they were brought there instead of a regular hospital.
Mehler also told Antoinette that two soldiers that had escaped the attack on Kalb’s convoy had corroborated Antoinette and Marlon’s story. However:

They said the assailant had worn canvas coveralls and a hood, and attacked with his fists.
They also said that a truck arrived after the first assailant attacked Kalb’s car and that the truck’s occupants had shot Kalb, Todt, and the soldiers.
The Gestapo had determined that the bodies recovered from the burned out vehicles had been shot by automatic weapons.

She replied that she had already been wounded before they arrived.
Mehler had confirmed that she and Marlon had been shot by a Luger pistol. He had inferred that they had been caught in the crossfire.

Mehler asked Antoinette if she knew the whereabouts of a Victor Brodeur, Simon Blaise, or Arnou Charette, three other recent arrivals to Betton.

She replied that she did not know of those people.
He told her that German authorities wanted to speak with them, and that they had disappeared since the attacks occurred.

After the Gestapo officers left, Stabsarzt Lumpf came to her room and informed her that she had recovered sufficiently to care for the patients on her floor. There were only two aside from herself: Marlon Jarbert, and another that was under guard by the Gestapo.
Antoinette checked in on Marlon.

She found him asleep. Maelys informed her that he had been heavily sedated as his wounds had been serious and they had needed to minimize his movement.
His condition was stable, but his abdomen was heavily bandaged and there was evidence of leakage. Antoinette and Maelys changed his bandages. Marlon did not wake up.

She the attempted to look in on the other patient, who was under Gestapo guard. The guard would not let her pass initially, but Antoinette convinced him to let her make sure he was still breathing.

The man had been severely beaten and was badly battered and bruised, but his wounds had scabbed over, indicating that he had been in the room a while, though with minimal treatment.
Antoinette called the alarm when she saw the patient in such a state. The guards informed her that the patient looked no worse than when they had brought him in, and that she would need permission from Hauptsturmfuhrer Mehler to treat him.

There Maelys informed her that that man had been brought in before she had arrived and that he had been visited frequently by Kalb, but since Kalb’s death, no one had come by.
Antoinette hypothesized that the man must be connected with whatever brought Kalb to Rennes in the first place, and that she needed to learn whatever he knew.

At Café Saint Malo

Laurent and the contact went to a café near the safe house to get acquainted.
The contact introduced himself as Vincent Stephens, an assistant antiquarian from London assigned by N to look into the gold box they had found.
Laurent told him to never use his real name or mention N ever again.
The contact identified himself as Norris Fournier, a school teacher looking for work in Rennes. He told Laurent that this was his first field assignment. He had been at a desk up until that point. He asked if Laurent was on his own.
Laurent told Norris that there was a team, but that the team lacked the technical knowledge he possessed. He then suggested they go to the safe house to meet the rest of the group.

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