A Residence at the Bay 06: Batten Down the Hatches

### Players

Joseph Chance as Dr. Henry Carrig-Muir, Dan Wheeler as Rev. Peregrine McCutcheon, Dominic Allen as Lady Helen Marjorie Bjalmier Potts

### Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-mq4if-12da69c

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

The episode begins with Robert entering the rectory and mumbling to himself, James soon joins him and the two speak about the time: Robert seems to think that the sun is acting strangely in these parts. The holes in the ground also seemed to be getting bigger, and Robert exclaims that he's being followed by people who want him dead; seeing him upset, James offers him to stay with him instead of at the Crowes', but Robert justifies his staying there by reminding James about Billy, the Crowes' dead son. The two then decide that the discoveries should be shared with Robert's friends, and to calm him down James also suggests to steer the conversation towards more trivial matters. This, however, makes Robert spiral into thinking about the "reap what you sow" principal and about how no one in the area buries the dead; James simply suggests he should stay the night and Robert seems to relax, but still mumbles to himself about the screeching of the owls. The intro then plays.

Peregrine catches James' attention to ask him about the strange fog, but he seems quite uninterested in the characters and simply says it's all fine; Dr Henry then requests that Peregrine say a prayer for the whole group. Forgiveness and help are asked for on behalf of the congregation, and immediately afterwards the characters notice that James has disappeared and have a look around the church to make sure he hasn't hidden away somewhere. They then all leave the church and find Samuel outside among the graves, cutting worms in half: the boy says they'll grow back multiple times and since he insists on being very uncooperative Lady Marjorie elects to simply slap him. This makes him a lot less lively, and he quietly tells Dr Henry to "ask them" and not him when he's interrogated on where fossils can be found: after this, Samuel leaves. The group wonders whether they should head back to the guesthouse or stay in the vicarage for the night, and eventually decide on the latter option: when they try and get in they notice the door is locked. A screech echoes across the moors, Peregrine recognizes it as the call of a Boreal Owl, and the two men look for a back door while Lady Marjorie notices a strange, extremely thin figure on a nearby hill; she shouts at it to identify itself, and it flattens itself to the ground, disappearing.

Dr Henry and Peregrine run back to the front of the rectory, after which Lady Marjorie tells them about what she saw. She assumes the church grounds are granting them some sort of protection and therefore says they should get into either the church or the vicarage: the fog parts and Peregrine and Lady Marjorie then notice two tree trunks in the moonlight which seem to move in strange ways. The fog then covers them once more and Dr Henry resolves the previous issue by simply breaking one of the vicarage windows and climbing through it only to notice it had been locked from the inside. Peregrine secures the window, but not before noticing two scarecrow-ish shapes in the distance, and at the same time Dr Henry runs upstairs to James' bedroom, but doesn't find anything particular. Lady Marjorie goes to inspect the toilet as Dr Henry descends the stairs, and a loud, repetitive banging noise begins to sound against the window. A blood stain begins to form on the outside of said window and the thudding intensifies, while simultaneously Lady Marjorie notices a window out of which James might have exited; the banging and scraping now extends to the back door as well, which is soon after opened by Dr Henry. Once he does, the fog retreats and nothing seems to be at the door, but he does notice some tiny footprints on the ground: he attempts to track them but eventually fails. Meanwhile, Peregrine tries to get a closer look at the blood stain on the window and notices a dead, injured hare on the ground. Soon after, they all reconvene outside and elect to head back to the Boggle Hole guesthouse. While they all exit the church grounds, Peregrine and Lady Marjorie notice a bunch of severed pink froms among the dirt and specifically, a forked thing which seems to be a three-pronged worm.

## Important NPCs

* Reverend James Blackwell
* Samuel

## Quotes

* "I hate this guy! Any other character that I've played over the last two years, I'd take out a gun and shoot this boy. You're very, very lucky that you've met me playing a Reverend." (Dan) "You're very unlucky that you've met me. I go over and I slap him very hard." (Dom)
* "As I'm running down the stairs I think 'Oh, Ned Caister would never have been able to run down these stairs as fast as I'." (Joseph as Dr Henry)
* "Did Bjalmier come out of the closet, if you pardon the expression?" (Joseph)
* "Fractal dinosaurs, impossible fossils, something's afoot, literally. I am going to follow them." (Joseph) "And you've just names three of my favourite bands." (Danann)

## Trivia

* The poem Danann quotes regarding the church pews is from *The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral* by M. R. James

1. ↑ These could be a reference to the fairy folk in M. R. James’ *After Dark in the Playing Fields* or to the “little people” (as Joseph calls them) from Arthur Machen’s *The Shining Pyramid*.