A Residence at the Bay 07: ...Doth close behind him tread

### 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-fcifr-12eca7f

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

The episode begins with a scene in which Robert is digging up certain strangely mutated fossils in Boggle Hole, trying to be quiet so as to not alert the "figures" populating the moors, and is suddenly surprised by Peter and June arriving instead. They try and get him to come back to the guesthouse, but he insists on staying out on the coast so they acquiesce and leave; an owl's screeching then begins, and Robert starts to feel uneasy until eventually the sound is replaced by that of a scarecrow. The intro plays.

At sunset, and in front of the church, Lady Marjorie recalls the books she purchased at the bookshop in Robin Hood's Bay, and digs out the one regarding the local smugglers as well as Robert's journal, in which she finds a sketch similar to da Vinci's Vitruvian Man but slightly modified to look like a scarecrow. The trio then proceed as Lady Marjorie inspects the first book, where she finds illustrations depicting the smugglers and their owl-esque cloaks and hats; one of them in particular is a drawing of the trig point in front of the Boggle Hole guesthouse, wherein the stone marker is turned into a gallows and one of the smugglers has been executed upon it while a row of others watch. Here, the characters begin to theorize about what may be happening in the area, and Lady Marjorie's suspicions regarding Dr Henry are assuaged as they agree they must all have been drugged by the Crowes. The fog then begins to run back in as Dr Henry recognizes Samuel in the distance, who smiles and puts his finger to his lips while covering his eyes, which they take to mean "be quiet, they can't see"; Peregrine also sees a hare running towards him, which seems to have quite a damaged and bloodied head, and winks at him before it runs off.

At this point, the trio hear a noise like that of a young man's cut-off cry, and they all head towards it cautiously while some exaggerated stage-whispering occurs; eventually, they arrive in front of a Christ-like figure, and despite the other two's suggestions, Peregrine is determined to take a closer look at it and determine whether or not it's alive. He speaks to it, its crumpled linen face raises and a muffled breathing begins as its head looks around frantically. Peregrine then tries to remove the sack from what he assumes to be Blackwell's head, while Dr Henry covers his back.

## Important NPCs

* Robert Thomson
* Peter Crowe
* June Crowe
* Samuel, the young boy
* Reverend James Blackwell

## Places

* Moors surrounding the Boggle Hole Parish

## Quotes

* "The Crowes have human-centipeded Robert, haven't they?" (Dom)
* "Could you do me a spot hidden, Perry?" (Danann) "Yeah, happily." (Dan) "Are we allowed to call him Perry?" (Joseph as Dr Henry) "I am!" (Danann)
* "Hang on, the Reverend's taking the Doctor's sack in his hand?" (Dom) "It's the Oddchester way!" (Joseph)

## Trivia

* This episode is named after the last of a series of verses quoted by M. R. James in *Casting the Runes*, which are originally from *The Rime of the Ancient Mariner* by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1. ↑ Here he references M. R. James' *A Warning to the Curious*.
2. ↑ This structure is also present in Rats (“[Thomson] found himself looking at a square block of white stone fashioned somewhat like the base of a pillar, with a square hole in the upper surface.”, “[…] up where you see that stone what the gallus stood in.”), and might also have been inspired by the gallows in M. R. James' A View From a Hill.
3. ↑ This statement also applies to the creature present in M. R. James' *Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad* ("It began to move, in a stooping posture, and all at once the spectator realized, with some horror and some relief, that it must be blind, for it seemed to feel about it with its muffled arms in a groping and random fashion.").
4. ↑ Another reference to *Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad* ("Parkins, who very much dislikes being questioned about it, did once describe something of it in my hearing, and I gathered that what he chiefly remembers about it is a horrible, an intensely horrible, face of crumpled linen.").