Rupert Merriweather

The hook for this campaign will be a telegram you receive from a man named Rupert Merriweather - a copy of which can be found here: http://members.toast.net/jschultz/rp_telegram.pdf

It is up to you to decide how you are acquainted with Rupert - however, he is a man you have only seen sporadically at best in the last 5 years due to his failing health. It is possible it has been much longer since the time you last spoke with him.

Rupert M is an elderly man, over 70 by your estimate. Educated and refined, he is a graduate of Miskatonic University and a successful accountant. In fact, he was one of the 31 accountants to form the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in 1887. A decade later, they created a standardized test, creating the title 'CPA' for the first time.

For a period of time he was a guest professor at Miskatonic University and is a partner in a prestigious New England accounting firm.

You have always found Rupert to be a kindly man, well liked, and a good husband and father. His home is stately and filled with curios of a man with fairly peculiar interests. African Masks, Mummy Hands, Monkey Paws, and books on all sorts of esoteric subjects fill his library. Despite this he seems reticent to discus such things as though afraid of inviting criticism of his hobby -- even among those who make it plain their genuine interest. Those who have ever pressed him have been told sternly that 'some things should remain unknown to human minds' and that his collection is from a more foolish period in his life.

Despite his library the man seems to hold no secrets or any reason for you to suspect him of anything out of the ordinary. You knew he was in poor health but have no idea what the telegram may be referring to.