Part Six

*A small town, a new direction, a necessary wait...*

### Content Warnings

Hospitals, guns, chewing sounds, hoarding, vomiting (retching/coughing noises), illness, assault, flies, rotting food.

## Summary

Arthur and John escape the hospital and head to Amanda’s apartment to investigate John’s strange vision. A disturbing run-in with a resident leaves John suspicious of their circumstances, but Arthur remains optimistic that their search will lead them to the answers they seek. Their search at Amanda’s house pays off, and new clues lead them out into Lake Crawford, seeking a mysterious island, unmarked on local maps.

## Synopsis

In the hospital boiler room, Arthur agrees to purchase a gun on their way to Amanda Cummings' house. They escape the hospital to Harper's Hill. John describes it to Arthur as a small town sitting on the shore of a large lake called Lake Crawford. John guides Arthur down the street, away from the hospital, and towards a diner where Arthur can eat.

They discuss the vision John had when Arthur touched Amanda. They mutually decide to search her house and recover the diary John saw her hide. Arthur believes her murder was intended to disrupt their investigation. John explains that Amanda seemed frightened of the man that killed her, but familiar with him, as if she knew him.

Arthur finishes eating, and they leave the diner to find a shop where they can buy a weapon and some other supplies. They reach a promising looking store, but it's closed. There is a newspaper stand outside, and John notices the headline is about Amanda. He discovers that a local homeless man, Christopher Ryan Evans, was arrested for her murder. The neighboring store, a music store, is open, so Arthur heads inside and John talks him into playing a piano piece while they wait. The clerk notices them, compliments Arthur on his playing, and asks what the piece is called. Arthur tells him it’s called ‘Faroe’s Song.’

Their interaction at the music shop lasts long enough for the supply store next door to open, and they head inside. Arthur asks the clerk for a .45 Automatic, ammunition, and a few other supplies: a flashlight, matches, and a way to force a lock. When Arthur is unable to produce an ID to buy the firearm, the clerk offers to sell him one under the table. Arthur agrees, and as the clerk is getting Arthur’s order ready, a police officer enters the store. Arthur is nervous, but his new ID, naming him Laurence Holder, checks out and he successfully makes his purchase.

They go to Amanda’s apartment building and climbs the stairs to the third floor. Arthur nearly bumps into an eerie old woman in a wheelchair, but John alerts him just in time. They finally make it up to Amanda’s room and, finding the door locked, Arthur picks the lock and impresses John. They enter Amanda’s apartment, but find nothing of note except for the book she hid under the mattress: *The Magic Mountain* by Thomas Mann. Amanda has written a riddle inside, along with the numbers 31-55-78, which leads them to the local train station.

Before they leave, they hear retching and coughing from the floor where they met the old woman. Arthur expresses concern. They follow the sounds into an open apartment, revealing stacks of garbage and filth. The woman appears to be a hoarder, but Arthur presses further into the room. The woman is nowhere to be seen. Finally, John convinces Arthur to leave, and as soon as he does, the woman appears, crawling on the floor towards them and trying to attack them. They leave the building, but John remains unnerved, stating that something is corrupting they people they meet.

They arrive at the train station, following the clues Amanda has left them to a small locker. Inside the locker is a map of Lake Crawford, with a small island hand-drawn on the far side of the lake. Arthur is enthusiastic about finding answers, but John remains serious, warning Arthur that they may not have been the only people to follow Amanda’s clues.

They head towards the lake when John spots a larger map of the lake just outside the harbor. This map doesn’t show the island that Amanda had drawn on her own map, which puzzles Arthur.

They reach the harbor. John tells Arthur that there are several boats tied up, a few small ones similar to the one they took from Kellin, and a larger schooner. Arthur decides to ask someone for a ride, but John is against it. He reminds Arthur that the last time they tried to ask for help was with Kellin. Arthur remains stubborn, assuring John that he won’t make the same mistake he did with Kellin, which was ignoring John’s instincts. He promises John that he’ll listen to him if John has a bad feeling about their possible ride.

John reluctantly agrees, letting Arthur know that there is an old, gruff-looking man standing next to the schooner. Arthur approaches the man, asking if he can pay for a ride across the lake, but the man refuses. He tells Arthur that there is nothing for him on the other side of the lake, that no one will give him a ride, and warns him to leave well enough alone. John tells Arthur that the man is serious and that Arthur should back off, and is surprised when Arthur listens to him. Arthur reiterates that he’s not planning on ignoring John’s input again, making his way back down the dock towards the shore.

John asks him what they’re going to do, and Arthur tells him they’re going to steal a boat. John is excited, and guides Arthur to a nearby rowboat, helping him untie the knots and guiding him out into the lake. Lake Crawford is misty, and John comments that it reminds him of the lake by Kellin’s property, and Arthur jokes that it’s different this time, because he’s not bleeding out and there’s no severed head. As they row further out into the lake, Arthur begins singing *You Call it Madness.*

## Votes

* Chapter 26: **Wait for the shop to open [7]** / Head to Amanda's [1] / Try to find out more about the Murderer [2]
* Chapter 27: Seek out information on the Murderer [2] / **Head to Amanda's Apartment [9]**
* Chapter 28: Can you answer the riddle in time? [write-in]
* Chapter 29: **The Docks (Follow the Map) [9]** / The Police Station (For the Murderer) [1]
* Chapter 30: no vote

## Additional Notes

* Arthur asks John if they managed to kill the strange hound, but John is unsure, stating that things from the Dark World don’t die the same way.

* The marks on Amanda’s body left behind by the creature appear as bruises, making it look as though she had been choked.

* Upon meeting the old woman in Amanda’s apartment building, John remarks that she reminded him of the old woman in the woods who gave them the baby, that she has the same kind of “almost madness in her eyes”

* The riddle left by Amanda reads: “I’ve seen the creature, it’s long hard body, straight as an arrow yet moves like a serpent. I’ve watched it drive into the dark holes in the stone. The lives it takes are none the wiser as it screeches into the night.” The book has 720 pages, leading them to locker number 720 at the train station.