The Acolytes

**"The Acolytes"** is a radio play by J.P. Leck and is the fourteenth installment (seventeenth, chronologically) in his Endless Elsewhere multimedia meta-narrative. It is the sixth Endless Elsewhere radio play. It originally aired on a local Indianapolis radio station on December 24, 2016.

## Synopsis

Two detectives discuss the practicality of pursuing an unsolved case around the holidays before realizing they are closer to it then they originally imagined.

### Post-Credits

A now-lucid Carolyn Pelfrey awakens in the Circle City Cemetery to find Ryan Tolliver, whom she begs to help her get rid of the demon within her. Ryan says he has a machine that will determine whether or not Carolyn is lying, but advises he may not be able to help if what she says is true. He does, however, ultimately decide to help her.

## Characters

* **Det.** **Keith Sorrells** - a veteran of the Circle City Police Department and one of the lead investigators on the Lucas Dawalt case.
	+ *Det. Keith Sorrells is voiced by **Stephen E. Foxworthy**.*
* **Det. Alex Heaney** - one of the lead investigators on the Lucas Dewalt case and Sorrells' partner who is more willing to believe in the improbable.
	+ *Det.Alex Heaney is voiced by **Samuel Dumas**.*
* **Lucas Dawalt** - an imprisoned member of the Boonies cult, arrested for having attacked Alex with a sword earlier that year.
	+ *Lucas Dawalt is voiced by **Caleb Dunkerson**.*
* **Piper** - a waitress at Joe's Diner who has the misfortune of waiting on Keith and Alex.
	+ *Piper is voiced by **Lauren Mallison**.*
* **Carolyn Pelfrey** - a cult member possessed by a demonic spirit that is exacting its will through her person.
	+ *Carolyn Pelfrey is voiced by **Julia Leslie**.*
* **Patrolman Voyles** - a patrolman with the CCPD, known by his colleagues as something of a creepist.
	+ *Patrolman Voyles is voiced by **Jack Draga**.*
* **The Dispatcher** - a dispatcher for the Circle City Police Department.
	+ *The Dispatcher is voiced by **Lindsay Leck**.*
* **The Captain** - the captain of the Circle City Police Department and Alex and Keith's boss.
	+ *The Captain is voiced by **Timothy Renshaw**.*
* **Officer Sandoval** - a member of the CCPD SWAT team who ventures into the mausoleum in pursuit of Pelfrey.
	+ *Officer Sandoval is voiced by **Patty Esparza**.*
* **Ryan Tolliver** - a groundskeeper at Circle City Cemetery who moonlights as a do-gooder.
	+ *Ryan Tolliver is voiced by **Tucker**.*

## Artifacts

* **The Lantern** - Ryan obliquely mentions his machine that can determine whether or not Carolyn is lying about the demonic possession within her.
* **The Lucky Bullet** - a bullet from a Civil War-era sharpshooter's rifle that failed to kill Keith's great-great-grandfather.

## References

"The Acolytes" contains references to the following Endless Elsewhere tales:

* *The Merely Mortal*
	+ Keith's great-great-grandfather ran the Wild West show from which Bertram recruits Skysong.
* "The Final Ingredient"
	+ Sorrells makes mention of the police archives being digitized, which the Collector references is the reason behind the eyewitness account of "The Final Ingredient" was uncovered.
* *The Novelty*
	+ When the grave robbery victims are found, one of the bodies is said to have its skull caved in. This is likely the dead-eater itself, which met its fate at the hands of Violet and her flashlight.
* *The Lantern*
	+ Both Ryan Tolliver and his 'device' are first seen in *The Lantern*.
* "The Red Mass"
	+ Lucas mentions the blood cult's first attempt to possess Carolyn as being thwarted by "a tall woman and a man who carried a strange case," referring to Violet and Ryan, who interrupted their initial attempt.
* *The Roman*
	+ Alex mentions his hearing Carolyn say that the spirit that inhabited her was not Boone, but "something else."
	+ Lucas claims he was never trying to kill Alex in the Roman Civic Theater, but was being 'sporting' by giving him a sword with which to defend himself.

"The Acolytes" is further referenced in the following Endless Elsewhere stories:

* "The Invoked"
	+ Violet mentions that Alex and Keith eat at Joe's Diner everyday since it reopened to help encourage business after the shooting.