The following character can be used as an NPC (or replacement PC) in the England chapter of Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign for Call of Cthulhu.

Spoilers for that campaign abound!

Geoff Norris is a crime reporter for the London Times who has been covering the “Egyptian murders” for the last two years, and the PCs will be pointed toward him if they inquire about further details that perhaps Inspector Barrington doesn’t have.

Norris is a gruff, no-nonsense reporter with a strong nose for bullshit – he knows when people are lying and is willing to call people out on it. He’s suspicious of authority and believes that “the people ought to know,” but is also cagey enough to keep himself out of trouble.

Norris is a tall and lanky 25 year old who chain smokes and perpetually looks like he slept in his suit (which he often has). Unlike many NPCs in authority, Norris will actually believe the PCs’ story about cults and murders for an ancient god, providing they’re willing to let him in on the scoop. That said, he’s not Mahoney at the Scoop – Norris will need pull out all the “occult mumbo-jumbo” to ground the story in abuse of power and will be an advocate to bring Gavigan to justice, even if it means a bigger scandal.

For the price of a couple of pints, Norris is glad to share all he knows, especially if it becomes clear to him that the PCs know more than they’re letting on. He is glad to join in on the investigation, or just follow one step behind and help break “the scoop of the century.”

Background

Born in 1900 and raised in the industrial city of Manchester, he grew up in the working class parts of town and knows how to keep his head down and out of trouble. Too smart for his own good, he quickly learned the hard knocks of life but could not keep his mouth shut when he saw hypocrisy and abuses of power. He figured out at a young age that the best way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them early, and quickly slid to the middle of the pecking order, ignored by teachers and hoodlums alike.

Norris found his calling when, in 1916 at the age of 16, he broke a story about criminal smuggling and black-market sales of baby food and chocolate during the Great War. Seeing the unjust nature of the smuggling, and the police department’s apparent willingness to look the other way, he used interviews with struggling young mothers with babes at home to draw a bleak picture of corruption and malfeasance during a time of national crisis.

He then sold the story, and two follow up pieces, to the Manchester Guardian and began his life as a crime reporter. However, having made enemies of both the police and criminal underground, and with the war in Europe at full pace, he soon skipped town and spent the next two years in the trenches of Belgium, where he came to understand the true cost of unchecked power.

Returning to England in 1918, he watched the world continue to burn as the so-called Spanish Flu continued to ravage England and his peers. Not wanting to return to Manchester, he settled in London as a young reporter with an eye toward uncovering corruption and exploitation. He pitched himself to the London Times, where he was able to uncover a hospital that was experimenting on its patients and hiding failures among the influenza victims. With a slightly salacious tale backed with solid interviews and that broke the news first, Norris had made it.

Now, at just 25 years old, Norris is works the crime beat hoping to uncover the corruption and abuses of power he knows are taking place. The Egyptian Murders are very suspicious to him and he has interviewed both Gavigan and Shafik, though kept their stories out of the papers without anything directly tying them to the crimes. As yet he has not yet seen any abuse of power or motivation to tie the murders together, and senses that Barrington is doing everything he can, especially after the disappearance of Munden.

He knows something’s rotten about these murders, but doesn’t have the facts to put a story together. However, if the murder of Munden can be proven, that will override any clout Gavigan has and that will be the “scoop of the century.”

How He Can Help

Norris is eager to engage with any story of conspiracy or hints that there is more to the murders than is apparent, especially since Barrington has nothing new to share. That said, Norris does not have much more information than Barrington, and is most useful to add context as well as be encouraging to the PCs’ involvement (as opposed to Barrington’s hesitancy).

He did not meet Elias and has not read any of his works. Barrington did say at one point that an American writer had come around asking questions, but then he left and was never mentioned again. As such, Norris has not heard of the Brotherhood of the Black Pharoah, but he will definitely be interested in learning more about it – if sources can corroborate its existence.

Norris has much of the same information that Barrington has around the core facts of the case:

• There have been 19 murders over the last three years each with same MO.
• 17 of the murders have been Egyptian, and one of the non-Egyptian was of an Ethiopian national (see below).
• All of the murders have been committed with the same weapon, but forensic evidence points toward the assaulter being of different heights – again, more evidence that there is a conspiracy of some kind.

He has a few clues that Barrington does not, which he hasn’t reported because he can’t get any sort of confirmation. These are more rumors than facts, but he is glad to share:

• One of the non-Egyptian nationals was an Ethiopian man named Badhu Girma (Yalesha’s boyfriend). He has spoken to the family and has not put together the connection with the Blue Pyramid Club. He can give the names and address of Badhu’s family in the East End (who can then point the PCs toward Yalesha).
• Barrington’s predecessor, Munden, was an honest cop who probably got too close to the truth, but Norris has no additional facts to share. Sadly, Munden was a bachelor whose death was quickly cleaned up by Scotland Yard. Norris spoke to Munden about a week before he disappeared, and Munden had indicated that he might have something shortly for Norris. Then – snap – he was gone.

Norris sees himself as a champion for the oppressed and innocent, and can quickly be recruited as an ally for the party. He is also a fantastic replacement PC.

Skills

Norris is a skilled journalist and Great War vet, quick on his feet and quicker with a word. He shies away from violence, however, having seen his share in the trenches of Belgium.

• Art/Craft (Journalism) 65
• Dodge 40
• Fast Talk 45
• Fighting (Brawl) 45
• Fighting (Rifle) 40
• Persuade 45
• Psychology 65