Blood from a Stone: Recaps

I'm never gonna be what I should

And you think that I'll be bad for just a little while

But I know that I'll be bad for good

There’s nothing I can ever do to atone

But you could squeeze another drop of love right out of my heart

As sure as you could squeeze the Blood From a Stone

The moon a black hole in the blaze of night

A raven’s wing as bright as tin

Then you, my love

Would be darker than sin

And maybe I’m damned if I do

But with every other beat I’ve got left in my heart

You know I’d rather be damned with you

#### Chapter 1

Students from Paradise High gather on the shores of Sleepy Lake after Prom. ZEKE is approached by former student ELLEN, who seeks drugs that can calm some wild “bear” of a man, which Zeke provides in exchange for a blood-stained bankroll. GREG does magic tricks. ALICE, in an ornate ball gown, talks of a secret lover.

DANIEL, a martial artist, is dared by WILL, a football player, to stand in the lake for one minute. When he does so, he is seemingly pulled below the water, to the concern of Zeke, Alice, Greg, and TRENT, a lifeguard. Alice, thinking she sees something attacking Daniel, shoots a rock into the water with her slingshot.

Daniel soon surfaces, rubbing his head, acting odd. Will and the popular kids leave after being admonished by Trent and Zeke. Trent checks Daniel; his skin feels strange, and he has no visible wound from where Alice’s projectile struck him. Daniel still wants to play truth or dare, subsequently daring Greg (and everyone) to enter “the crypt” in the nearby LOVER’S LICHYARD.

Greg declines, then tries to distract Daniel via impressive magic tricks with his white rabbit, HOPPER. Daniel walks into the graveyard alone as the moon shines down. The others follow tentatively, insisting he go to the hospital. Enraged by their demands and his own inability to find “the crypt”, Daniel transforms into a clawed, fanged, undersea horror.

Greg falls out of his wheelchair in life-threatening terror, but Trent revives him with hastily summoned healing berries. Greg tells Hopper to run, and it bolts after Zeke and Alice, already in flight. Trent tries to push the creature away from Greg so he can carry him to safety, but the creature falls on him and devours both boys... as well as Trent’s healing berries.

Alice and Zeke regroup, arguing about what they’ve seen. Zeke insists they’re hallucinating, and never wants to speak of it again. Alice returns home to discover another note from her secret admirer.

### Chapter 2: Sometimes Friendships Transform in the Pale Moonlight

#### Invocation

Oooh, I know there's dance after death

And I don't ever want to be rescued

I don't ever want to be saved

I got a feeling that I'm gonna be alive forever

Dancing on the edge of a grave

#### Chapter 2

In her bed, Zeke is attacked by the Were-Daniel before it’s burned away by hellfire. A fiend of smoke and flame appears, telling Zeke this monster from the deep will never stop its pursuit. But the fiend will protect Zeke and Alice... if they do as he commands. Zeke awakens. Hopper gravely stares at her.

Zeke goes to Alice’s and throws rocks at her window; a disappointed Alice emerges, expecting someone else, but joins the quest. First stop is Greg’s house, to retrieve a book. Outside, Alice is spotted by Greg’s very worried parents; she lies, telling them she and Greg made out before he left the school.

Thanks to that distraction and Hopper’s guidance, Zeke recovers several books from a hidden compartment in Greg’s closet. At the Midnight Diner, the girls analyze the books, determining that Zeke purchased his Arcane Grammar, 5th Edition from AISLES OF ENCHANTMENT... and that he didn’t seem to realize he was doing REAL magic.

Meanwhile, in that store, proprietor HARRY COPPERFIELD attempts to sell an arcane focus to ‘SCOOT’ MCGEE, a soda jerk with burgeoning warlock powers. The girls arrive and present the book to a confused Harry, who cannot believe that Greg practiced such complex magic unguided, as Hopper is clearly a Familiar.

Another customer enters, with wet footprints: the Were-Daniel! It demands the girls help it find the crypt. Harry tries to assist it, as Were-Daniel cannot interpret “sigils” on its own. The irate monster shows its true form. Scoot and Harry are terrified: the former, fleeing; the latter, keeling over, though not before blasting the creature with his magic wand (of magic missiles).

The monster devours Harry, taking on his form and voice. Zeke and Hopper flee; Scoot and Alice consider cooperating with Were-Harry’s demands, before fleeing themselves. Scoot is injured in the escape. Were-Harry nearly pursues, but a few young customers enter the store. He welcomes them in and closes the door.

### Chapter 3 - Zombies in Paradise

#### Invocation

Everybody’s going nowhere slowly

They’re only fighting for the chance to be last

There’s nothing wrong with going nowhere, baby

But we should be going nowhere fast

#### Chapter 3

Unable to see, Zeke pulls off the road in her Camaro, and Alice follows on her bike with Scoot. Ahead of them, through the mists, they can barely see the neon lights of the TEN FOOT POLE strip club.

Scoot hears flapping wings — and then Alice is gone! He rushes into Zeke’s Camaro at the appearance of HEIDI HOLLY, a country girl who attends Paradise High and was out for a walk when she got lost in the mists. She too climbs into Zeke’s car to get out of the rain, right before the car dies.

Zeke spots something lurking in the fog — a small, cloaked figure, drawing closer. The teenagers are shocked to see that this being, who calls himself WRAX, is not a human. He refers to the kids as “big gobs” and “smooth gobs” and himself as a GOBLYN, and demands their assistance returning to his clan.

Zeke and Heidi try to fix the car, to no avail. The roar of distant engines and the glow of fiery exhaust cuts through the fog; the BURNING BATS M.C. are doing donuts in the distance, and Zeke hears the sound of a woman screaming, before the sound of the bikes recedes into the distance.

Zeke suggests they seek shelter at the Ten Foot Pole. On the way, the fog clears, and a woman’s body can be seen in the field. Wrax and Heidi investigate, but Heidi flees when Wrax loots the body (and eats one of its fingers). At the club, no one answers the door, so Zeke picks the lock... but horror surges!

Brain-hungry zombies shuffle from the club and the mists. Zeke manages to get into a pickup truck with Hopper, a badly injured Wrax hides in the bed... but Heidi and Scoot are ripped apart by the ravenous undead! Zeke races away as the mists lessen. She then sees Wrax taking drugs she sells from her brand of baggies! The Goblyn claims to have gotten them from the dead (non-Goth) woman in the field, before they take effect; he freaks out and rushes off.

### Chapter 4: Gargoyles and Plans Foiled

#### Invocation

Every time I try and dream you

I can't believe how hard it's been to

Conjure up your face

And trace your body in the air

All the seconds go on forever

But the thirds and fourth ones are even better

Every time I do it just a little bit longer

Every time I dream it's just a little bit stronger than real life

#### Chapter 4

Meanwhile, Alice is carried by a gargoyle to the Lover’s Lichyard. Blindfolded, Alice speaks to her unseen (and unstable!) admirer. He claims he’s keeping her safe and is the “only friend” she needs. He wants to bring her a gift; she asks for a bat. Minutes later, she hears a loud thump and finds the corpse of a HUMANOID BAT WEARING MOTORCYCLE CLOTHES, along with another letter!

The mists fade away. Alice finds her way back to Louise just as Zeke and Hopper reach the Camaro — but the window’s smashed and the books are gone! Others arrive as the mist dissipates: WILL SCARLET, a former student at Paradise High and current gambler, as well as GARDENIA PLANTERFIELD, the school’s eccentric guidance counselor.

Zeke and Alice drive the others back into town; as they park, a door creaks open — one leading to MADAME FOURSHADOWS, Paradise’s preeminent fortune teller. The group warily enter, to discover she’s offering them a free reading. She reads tea leaves assisted by her four shadows, which seem to move independently. Fourshadows knows of the HORROR SURGE that occurred that morning — and knows of a way to prevent it! But Will and Gardenia are dubious, and when the Madame sees Alice’s tea leaves portending powerful love, she sends everyone out, not wanting to upset “him”. She warns Gardenia to stay away from Alice. Will steals a small puzzle box on his way out.

At the soda fountain, the group can’t open the box. Gardenia and Alice take it into the back alley, and Gardenia smashes it open with her \*thorn whip\* at which point an eerie voice is heard. Alice asks the box a few questions; in response to “Do you know the future?” it opens, revealing a milky, pulsing gem. Alice runs inside to get the others, at which point Gardenia is attacked by a gargoyle, which flies off with the gem. The others find Gardenia at death’s door, but Alice is able to stabilize her, and Will drops her off in the pharmacy before the group follow Hopper away from the alley.

### Chapter 5 - Enter Monsieur René

#### Invocation

(\*unread on air\*)

I know that you love me

There’s no need to talk

I see the look in your eyes and I got the proof

And there are no lies on your body

So take off your dress

I just wanna get at the truth

#### Chapter 5

Alice, Zeke, and Will chase after Hopper. Zeke spots Wrax, coming out of a stupor, and still badly injured. The Goblyn once again demands assistance getting back to his clan, while Alice and Will are surprised by his very existence. Zeke asks where they can go, and Hopper, with no other ideas, leads the group to the PARADISE DIVINITY SCHOOL. There, they find FATHER YEATS, who is surprised by the presence of a Goblyn here... but not by his very existence. Wrax requests healing from this priest, which Father Yeats covertly provides.

Father Yeats steals away, and the group eventually follow, discovering him hanging up a phone hidden within an ANGEL STATUE in a chapel within the school, a chapel into which Hopper dared not enter. Father Yeats explains that he is calling for help from someone who knows more than he does, a MISTER RENÉ, who shows up shortly thereafter. This extremely handsome and put-together gentleman speaks to Wrax in his native Goblyn tongue, and asks questions about what the others are experiencing. He seems extremely knowledgable, and suggests he can get rid of the shapeshifting lake dweller stalking the party.

He invites the group to his Manoir, where they’ll be safe. Zeke can’t find Hopper (who ran off as soon as René arrived), but she agrees the rabbit will probably follow them. With varying degrees of trepidation, the group go with René to his house, a gothic manor rising out of the mist. They meet SWODLEY, the hulking gray-skinned butler, and gather in the sitting room. René checks to see if anyone else is home, and Will recalls what he’s heard of René through his gambling connections: that he’s a wealthy man of many lovers. Zeke finds a horse whip buried in a couch cushion.

René returns and asks more questions of the group. He’s surprised to hear Wrax is from some faraway realm and not, as he suspected, Ignador. He then discloses that the party, like he, are trapped within a DOMAIN OF DREAD, and asks if they want to escape. Alice would only do so if her boyfriend could come, and upon René’s questioning, talks a bit more about him. René opens the window to the sitting room, telling her to call out to the night, asking her love to show himself. Then he crushes her head in his hand, a radiant burst, and cackles at the night, saying there is nothing he cannot take away from the “coward” in the dark.

The others rush away in shock as gargoyles descend on the house, but are barred from entering it. Wrax sneaks past Swodley and escapes into the night, while Will hides. Zeke exits through the window, but René chases her down, thinking she may also be the beloved of his enemy. He holds her tight, striking her. Gargoyles try to pull her out of his grasp, and she eventually escapes. A gargoyle scoops her up flies her off. Will shoots at the gargoyle, insisting Zeke isn’t who anyone’s looking for. René aims extends an arm toward the fleeing Gargoyle, and Zeke is burned to charred remains by radiant, holy light. René puts a comforting arm on Will’s shoulder, inviting him to stay for dinner.

### Chapter 6 - The Paradise Galleria

#### Invocation

I’ve been looking for an original sin

One with a twist and a bit of a spin

And since I’ve done all the old ones ’til they’ve all been done in

Now I’m just looking, then I’m gone with the wind

Endlessly searching for an original sin

#### Chapter 6

Wrax flees the bloodbath at the manor house, but his flight to safety becomes a chase for a delicious scent. At the PARADISE GALLERIA, a shopping mall, Wrax encounters yet another group of Big Gob youths: water polo player CHIP HARRINGTON III; lacrosse player CHESTER D. RIMESTONE III (Chaz); and cheerleader KITTY KATZ STRATTON. Apparently they broke into the mall after hours for mischief.

The teens spot Wrax and his crossbow, but assume he’s a kid in a Halloween mask. They realize he’s following the scent of corn dogs, which almost makes sense to the Goblyn. (“Corn? No good. Dog? GOOD!”) Chaz uses his lacrosse stick to bust open the grate for the corn dog stand in the food court, but HORROR SURGES—

The teens are besieged by murderous MANNEQUINS, in a variety of fun summer looks! Wrax, finding the fryer baskets empty, escapes out the back of the stand. Chaz follows. Chip tries to defend Kitty, but he is slashed apart by a “MILF” mannequin. Kitty tries to avenge him, but is also slain.

Behind the mall, Wrax jumps into a dumpster, seeking, finding, and eating delicious corn dogs... as well as a broken, naked mannequin, which slashes him. Chaz, seconds behind, sees the night sky in the distance overcome with a strange iridescence: a DREADSTORM!!! Chaz seeks shelter in the dumpster, only to find Wrax being attacked by the mannequin. He grabs the “kid’s” dying body and sprints to his car. He nearly makes it, until horror surges AGAIN in the midst of the Dreadstorm, and several DEATH’S HEADS fly down from the sky, devouring Chaz! The Dreadstorm ends, and the death’s heads and surviving, stalking mannequins are suddenly torn apart by arrows.

The Paradise Galleria is gone, replaced by a fortress from... somewhere else. Several small figures in horrifying masks, the ORPHANS OF THE ELDRITCH, emerge, uncertain of where they are. They grab the bodies of the mannequins, death’s heads, Wrax, and Chaz, before barring their sturdy gates...

### Chapter 7 - Party at the Manor

#### Invocation

She used her body just like a bandage

She used my body just like a wound

I’ll probably never know where she disappeared

But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now

Just like an angel rising up from a tomb

#### Chapter 7

A party is held at the manor of Etienne René. In attendance are: Will Scarlet; PHILIP YU, HS QB; DALHIA FRAY, theater major at Darkmoor College; DR. ANDERS ANDERSON, ghost hunter and professor at Darkmoor; and MADAME AETHER, whose interests are pleasure and pain.

Dr. Anderson picks up a reading on his EPS ghost detector, isolating a presence in an angel statue in the gallery. Madame Aether records the examination. Dahlia thinks it’s more anatomically correct than the other statues. Etienne’s wife DELIRIA appears and furiously insists everyone leave, shutting them out and remaining within.

Etienne goes to arrange a projector so they can watch the recording; the others hear sounds of lovemaking beyond the door, with Deliria calling out “gode divin” in Celestial. They leave the hall, and Philip tells Etienne what they heard; Etienne, intrigued, steps away. The guests play back the footage, when they suddenly feel an eerie chill. Flapping wings are heard outside.

ELAINE CASEY, a close friend of Etienne’s, suggests dinner should begin. Etienne returns, suggesting his friend JAMES BRETON and Deliria take those who are present only for carnal pleasures to the basement to commence. To the others, Etienne discloses a Dreadstorm has occurred; Elaine, Philip, and Dr. Anderson are stunned to hear the Paradise Galleria is gone. The others have no memory of a mall.

Etienne offers to perform a ritual on his guests, anchoring their souls so that, even after death, they can pass on their knowledge and drive, in hopes they might all escape this “prison called Paradise”. Everyone but Philip agrees to the ritual, which Etienne performs in a greenhouse on his property, painfully infusing each soul with radiant, holy light.

Etienne, Elaine, Madame Aether, Dr. Anderson, Will Scarlet, and a few of the others who took part in the ritual then go to join in the orgy. Philip and Dahlia do not. Elsewhere, in the gallery, a statue of an angel lies shattered on the floor.

### Chapter 8 - The Creature in the Aisles of Enchantment

#### Invocation

But I don’t see any angels in the city

I don’t hear any holy choirs sing

And if I can’t get an angel

I can still get a boy

And a boy’ll be the next best thing

The next best thing to an angel

A boy’ll be the next best thing

#### Chapter 8

Will rejoins Dahlia and Philip as the party ends. They question Deliria, who’s angered by the destruction of her gode divin. She says Etienne is not to be trusted; if they wish to meet who’s really in charge, they should go to the Lover’s Lichyard. As they leave, Etienne requests they meet him tomorrow afternoon on the green.

Monday morning, Philip asks Coach Parsons if he can skip practice to meet Mr. René; she replies he should do whatever it takes to get face masks and, hell, a bus. At the green, Etienne explains he wishes to test their abilities by sending them to the Aisles of Enchantment to learn what the “creature” therein is up to. Will is dubious, but Philip inspires the group, and they head to the store.

The trio are eventually able to enter the locked store, where they are surprised to find Danny LaJolla. He’s acting strangely, as is Harry Copperfield, who is never seen with Danny.  Danny seems agitated when they reference coming on behalf of Mister René; even so, he shows them a book containing an arcane symbol. Nobody can decipher it, except for JANE, a straight-A high schooler who just then came to the shop for school purposes.

Before she gets a chance to explain, however, Philip spots Hopper behind the counter. This prompts a near confrontation with “Danny”. Eventually, the youths are allowed to depart with a copy of the symbol; things nearly get dangerous when Will calls out to Hopper to join them, but the rabbit stays hidden.

Outside, the team discuss what happened, before noticing gargoyles on the roof — one of which approaches, demands the copy, and trades blows with Philip. Jane quickly provides an imperfect copy and the gargoyles fly off. Will fetches Etienne, and Jane explains what the symbol is: that of ANAPHAÏAS, a long-dead mage buried in the CEMETERY HERMETIC. Etienne bids Will, Dahlia, and Philip investigate this crypt, while sweeping Jane away to indoctrinate her into his growing order.

### Chapter 9 - The Cemetery Hermetic

#### Invocation

And I don't want to let another minute get by

Love is going to get us while the moon is on the sky

We may be running out of night but never running out of steam

We're acting on a hunch and we'll be acting out a dream

There really isn't any time to lose

They're going to catch us if we wait until it gets too light

You're such a pretty boy

Let me show you what to do, and you'll do it

But you gotta move faster

Faster than the speed of night

Faster than the speed of night

It's all we ever wanted and all we'll ever need

And it's slipping through our fingers, faster than the speed of night

#### Chapter 9

Philip heads off to two-a-days. Will and Dahlia proceed to the Cemetery Hermetic, meeting Professor MAURICE FEINGOLD and librarian ANNABETH CRANE, friends of René’s who were not at last night’s gathering. They enter the pristine cemetery. The ghost of famed inventor SYLVIA MESSINI appears to Annabeth, and upon hearing their quest, leads the librarian to items hidden within her crypt: a clockwork dagger which Annabeth keeps; a protective amulet, which Will slips on; and a clockwork peahen named BEATRICE. Sylvia suggests the group visit the BARD’S TOMB, as “BEEZY” REED might also be of aid.

At that tomb, Dahlia spots the symbol of BEEZYS, an irritating a cappella/improv group at Darkmoor College. Dahlia is extremely hesitant to sing their popular song \*The King Bee Needs His Honey\*, but she eventually does — to superlative effect! Instruments within the tomb animate and accompany her, as bees deposit honey and beeswax on the stone floor. Maurice applies the beeswax to his ears, becoming immune to being charmed and frightened; Dahlia consumes the honey, and her Charisma increases by 2.

Feeling bolstered, the party venture to the Crypt of Anaphaïas. Will sees a gargoyle perched above Upon crossing the threshold, a handbell rings. Maurice, now fearless, leads the others down a stone stair, and he and Annabeth are attacked by Living Unseen Servants, who are easily dispatched. They find the crypt itself, lit by flames in sconces, a few burned skeletons on the ground — then those flames coalesce into a Living Burning Hands! Maurice, Annabeth, and Beatrice are roasted. Dahlia and Will nearly destroy the fiery creature, before retreating... right into the arms of a gargoyle, as a STATUE wearing stone sunglasses stalks towards them. The gargoyle knocks Will unconscious. The statue, lovestruck, gazes upon Dahlia — who, in fairness, with a Charisma of 22, has never looked better...

### Chapter 10 - Monsters Amidst the Rubble

#### Invocation

Glänzende Augen, glänzendes Haar

Schlaflos vor Neugier und blind für die Gefahr!

Blutrot

Lippen und Wangen

Haut weich wie Samt

Jung, schön und weiblich

Verderblich und verdammt

Sterblich!

Sei bereit

#### Chapter 10

Dahlia meets the Statue with Sunglasses. He’s smitten with her, prone to sudden outbursts, and frustrated by his enemies: BAAL, the BAT, and the BETRAYER. He claims Mr. René is a “renegade angel” who is “bad for good”, then partially destroys the Crypt of Anaphaïas. The Statue leaves with his gargoyles (one of whom plays a red Stratocaster), taking the unconscious Will to question him about the sea creature.

Then Philip arrives with BRYCE KENSINGTON, a youth minister who participated in last night’s activities. Dahlia is upset by her encounter with the Statue. (“At first, I thought he was a fan...”) Bryce heals Dahlia while Philip goes to investigate the partially collapsed crypt, but the football hero accidentally alerts the Living Burning Hands and causes a cave-in, crushing himself in the rubble!

Dahlia and Bryce are unable to dig Philip out. An ALSEID, upset by the disturbance to the grass, rushes towards them. Fortunately, Dahlia speaks Sylvan and convinces the fey spirit they are not to blame. Bryce takes Dahlia to St. Agatha’s, where he calls the fire department to no avail. His subsequent call to Etienne is tense; he accuses Etienne of recklessness. Etienne tells him to come by the manor.

Meanwhile, Philip awakens, trapped in rubble. He manages to dig his way back to the crypt below... where he encounters two ghouls snacking on Annabeth and Maurice! Improbably, Philip convinces them to help him; they free him from the rubble and will carry him back to the surface through their tunnels, “princess style”.

After taking Dahlia home, Bryce arrives at Etienne’s, where he rejects Elaine’s amorous advances. Etienne explains he must teach Bryce a lesson he’ll remember when his soul touches its next body, before crushing his head with radiant light. The Angel then apologizes to Elaine that Bryce didn’t allow her the unique experience of making love to a man at the instant of his death. They head to dinner.

### Chapter 11 - A Gathering in the Lover’s Lichyard

#### Invocation

Though it’s cold and lonely in the deep, dark night

I can see Paradise by the dashboard light

#### Chapter 11

Will awakens in the Lover’s Lichyard. He sees a figure of ice and snow, but Gargoyles chase it away. The Stone Man appears, calling for a gathering. The Gargoyles play rock and roll. Below, the Ghouls carrying Philip are growing suspicious, but our QB is  saved by the drums; the undead also hear the music and head to the surface.

Madame Aether and Dr. Anders Anderson knock on Dahlia’s dorm door right as she’s about to sleep. Etienne Renê has directed them to represent him at a gathering in the Lover’s Lichyard. Dahlia is hesitant, but agrees to go, carrying her crossbow and wearing her nightgown.

A gathering forms at the Lover’s Lichyard: zombies; ghouls; an androgynous German VAMPIRE; the BURNING BATS bikers led by JOHNNY SWITCHBLADE, a Werebat; the LOST AND GOLDEN, a bunch of hippies led by BAAL, a big guy in a tuxedo shirt with a red scarf; our heroes. The Stone Man is angered that Etienne hasn’t shown up... and concerned Dahlia has, as he’d hate for her to see bad things.

The Stone Man issues a warning against harming Dahlia, then tells everyone to stop seeking TALISMANS... or else. To illustrate the point, Gargoyles carry out “Danny LaJolla”, who reverts to its true Sea Fey self. The Gargoyles pull the creature apart, and the Stone Man dismisses the gathering, charging Aether and Anders to deliver the warning to Etienne.

Philip extricates himself from the ghouls and rejoins the living. Our heroes leave, but are stalked by the Vampire. Will hides. The Vampire won’t harm Dahlia (though they do charm her!), but they are going to feed. Philip grabs Dahlia’s crossbow and takes her “hostage” as a gambit to escape. The shocked Vampire feasts on both Anders and Aether, and watches as a Gargoyle swoops in and kills Philip!The Vampire learns Dahlia’s address and promises to visit her tomorrow night, and the Gargoyle takes her home. The Vampire then buries Anders and Aether in the woods, before departing.

Alone, Will says, “Verdammt!”

### Chapter 12 - Opening Nights and Ravenous Undead

#### Invocation

I’m gonna drown in the ocean and the bottomless sea

I wanna give you what I’m hoping you’ll be giving to me

And when the waves are pounding on the sand tonight

I wanna take your hand and make it good and make it right

And now the sky is trembling, the moon is pale

We’re on the edge of forever and we’re never gonna fail, no

How hard, how hard, how hard do I gotta try?

Surf’s up, surf’s up, surf’s up, and so am I

#### Chapter 12

In Etienne’s library, Jane reads of other Domains of Dread: Mirkshire, Ignador, Tobaccotos, Die Leckergärten. Dahlia dreams of vampires rejecting a boy with beer for blood, while she drinks her fill. Will gathers Zeke’s things and heads to Dahlia’s dorm, alerting the Gargoyles to the Vampire’s interest in her.

Etienne invites Jane to attend \*Twelfth Night\* with him at Darkmoor College that evening. James invites Will to the same, paying him to attempt to seduce his wife, KARLA. Dahlia receives flowers and a creepy note from the Stone Man. HOPFEN (the Vampire) stops by with more flowers, telling her to “break a leg” and charming her again.

Dahlia’s performance as Viola is flawless. At intermission, Will has little luck seducing Karla. He’s then approached by Hopfen, who knows his scent and will keep hunting him. Will tells Etienne of Hopfen. During the curtain call, the Angel attacks the Vampire, triggering a stampede and a Horror Surge, as tiny TOPIS charge out of papier-mâché stage decor and attack the crowd. Hopfen turns into a bat and flies away, pursued by Etienne.

Dahlia tries to help Jane but is gravely injured by Topis, though Gargoyles manage to stabilize her wounds and fly her to safety. James falls as well, but, when Deliria tries to stabilize him, Karla flies into a rage and bashes her head off before rounding on the badly-injured Jane. Jane runs from Karla, losing her in the parking lot. Karla rips the hood of a car in her fury and stalks into the night.

James succumbs to his wounds. Etienne returns, angered that he couldn’t catch the Vampire and shocked that his wife and best friend are dead. Deliria is beyond saving, but the Renegade Angel begins casting \*raise dead\* on James. Seeing Etienne’s power, and knowing Hopfen is still after him, Will heads back out to the parking lot, looks at Zeke’s lock pick and rabbit’s foot one last time, says, “I love you, mom,” and shoots himself

### Chapter 13 - A Storm at the Paradise Penitentiary

#### Invocation

And when you see me like this

And I see you like that

Then we see what we want to see

All coming back to me

The flesh and the fantasies

All coming back to me

I can barely recall but

It’s all coming back to me now

#### Chapter 13

Dahlia revives in the Lover’s Lichyard, giving herself an affirmative \*healing word\*. The Stone Man takes her to the top of a tall tower hidden in the mist. They see an approaching Dreadstorm, and he asks her to stay here where it’s safe. Dahlia requests her friends not be harmed. The Stone Man asks if she thinks he’s a monster and accepts her assurances that she does not. He leaps out of the tower, and the mist enrobes it once again.

Later, four are absentmindedly drawn to PARADISE PENITENTIARY: SENSEI MARK, martial arts instructor in a Geo; GREEN, trucker in a big rig; COURTNEY McCARTHY, bus driver in her bus; and OKSANA SMIRNOFF, exchange student on said bus. They hear haunting whispers; Courtney and Oksana trade insults and accusations, nearly coming to blows. Horrifying visions besiege them all! A vampire’s bite for Oksana. A gun for Sensei Mark. Slashing claws of Topi for Green and Courtney... who loses all sense of reality, laying out Oksana with her tire iron!

Then, the Dreadstorm begins, more transformative than the last! A sludgy swamp pours over the Penitentiary, washing across the parking lot! Sensei Mark knocks out Courtney and carries Oksana to his car; his shockingly effective Tiger Balm revives her. Mark and Green attempt to leave the deepening swamp, but it’s hard to drive through the muck.

An aquatic humanoid leaps onto Green’s cab; he hits the pedal and shakes it off. But before either vehicle is free, horror surges and SWAMP HORSES attack! Sensei Mark and Oksana manage to get free in the Geo, but Green’s truck is torn apart by the Swamp Horses. In a dying rage, Courtney rushes onto her bus, slams into Green’s truck, and dies! Green climbs out, swims to the dry road, and starts running after the Geo... but Swamp Horses emerge from the muck, lumber towards him, and trample him to jelly!

Mark and Oksana remember a Manor House, and a man named Etienne, and feel they need to go to him to get some answers...

### Chapter 14 - The Awakened and the Suckers of Blood

#### Invocation

Say a prayer for the falling angels

Stem the tide of the rising waters

Toll a bell for the broken hearted

Burn a torch for your sons and daughters

#### Chapter 14

After the Dreadstorm, much of the Mist Ring, including what was formerly the Penitentiary, Sleepy Lake, and the Cemetery Hermetic, are now part of the PARADISE MARSHES. Etienne gathers the AWAKENED, who carry memories of deaths not their own, telling them they could pass through the Paradise Marshes to another Domain of Dread, the MARSHES OF THE GRAVE, and perhaps, from there, to freedom!

Etienne dispatches Oksana Smirnoff and former shoe salesman KENNY SPENCER to find a gap in the Mist leading out of Paradise. Kenny, who was already despondent after the loss of the Paradise Footwear Company (“We’ve got your SOLE at Paradise Footwear!”) when the Galleria was subsumed in the previous Dreadstorm, is the Awakened of Dr. Anders Anderson. Etienne gives Oksana \*+1 cestus\*, and, upon learning Kenny is a pyromaniac spellcaster, grants him a \*wand of fireballs\*. The Angel isn’t messing around.

Dahlia convinces a Gargoyle she needs to go home for her skincare routine. He flies her from the tower, but he’s pulled down by a massive tentacle from some undersea behemoth in the Marshes! Dahlia is unable to drive the creature off through \*hideous laughter\*, but she dives free and swims to a swampy shore. The remains of the cracked Gargoyle are soon chucked past her. She runs... right into Oksana and Kenny, who attempt to help her.

Madame Aether, now a Vampire Spawn, approaches from the familiar but altered trees. Dahlia tries to convince her to leave in peace, but Kenny hits the Vampire with a \*fireball\*, and the fight is on! Between flame, magical punches, and \*vicious mockery\*, victory is entirely in their grasp... but Kenny is unwilling to \*fireball\* the Vampire again, as it would roast Oksana as well. Thus, Madame Aether rips out his throat and feeds upon him. The women flee, and Dahlia directs Oksana toward a stretch of running water, which the Vampire cannot cross. The athlete leaps across the water carrying the actress, safe for the moment...

### Chapter 15 - Madame Fourshadows

#### Invocation

Remember everything that I told you

And I'm telling you again that it's true

You're never alone cause you can put on the ‘phones

And let the drummer tell your heart what to do

(Keep on believing, and you'll discover baby)

There’s always something magic

There’s always something new

And when you really really need it the most

That’s when rock and roll dreams come through

#### Chapter 15

Oksana gives up her mission to “find the hole” and instead carries “pretty girl” to town. They meet an old man on his porch with a shotgun who’s killed a fish-creature; he impossibly complains he’s lived next to the Paradise Marshes all his life. They head to the Midnight Diner for ice cream. Meanwhile, Etienne dispatches three Awakened — Sensei Mark, VIGO (fashion designer), and FRANZ LLOYD (chemistry professor) — to bring Madame Fourshadows and her tarot cards to his manor. This motley crew pile into the Geo and head to Main Street.

Dahlia and Oksana go to Madame Fourshadows for a cheap couples reading. Dahlia inspects arcane sigils on the window, and horror surges... until Madame Fourshadows appears and prevents the impending horror! (This comes at great cost; the Dreadclock increases by 6 hours!) Oksana and Dahlia now know this technique. Madame Fourshadows begins her reading, telling them it’s a bad match because of the Stone Man.

The guys barge into the session, laying out Etienne’s request. She refuses, warning them the Angel has no interest in saving them; if they wish to survive, they should bring about his demise, either via the Stone Man or the housewife, Karla Breton.

Despite her strong warnings, all request a tarot reading. Each draws a card; Franz reveals the 4 of Cups and disappears! A man in medieval garb appears in his place and runs off; a likeness of Franz is seen on the card! The same happens to Sensei Mark, sucked into the 8 of Swords and replaced by a horned, red-skinned, fork-tongued woman who also flees.

Vigo draws the Magician but remains. Oksana tells Dahlia how much she means to her, and the actress inspires her with a sonnet; Oksana reveals the Page of Swords and manages to stay. As for Dahlia herself, she draws the angel-bedecked Temperance card, but keeps herself present as well.

Vigo, Oksana, and Dahlia step out into the driving rain, a Dreadstorm on the horizon...

### Chapter 16 - Monsters on Main Street

#### Invocation

It was long ago and it was far away

Oh God it seems so very far

And if life is just a highway

Then the soul is just a car

And objects in the rear view mirror

May appear closer than they are

#### Chapter 16

Dahlia, Vigo, and Oksana try to access the locked Geo, but Sensei Mark took the keys with him into the card. The Tiefling whose place he took in the card, SORROW, steps out of the rain, begging their assistance. Dahlia pulls away from her touch, and Oksana adopts a threatening, protective stance. Sorrow attempts to smash her way into the car. Oksana rips a door off and Vigo searches for keys, no no avail, though they do find weapons; Dahlia takes a katana, while Sorrow takes darts and nunchaku.

Suddenly, a spirit tethers itself to Sorrow, giving her grave visions: Etienne; the death of Will Scarlet; Sensei Mark’s escape from the Marshes. Though she resists any temporary madness at these memories, the dark energy triggers a Dreadstorm — in the distance, high in the sky, a flash of orange and red flame, and a roar Sorrow knows belongs to a dragon. The group argue for a few moments, with Sorrow telling Oksana she owes her because she saved her in the Marshes; but this is interrupted when a 20 foot tall Fire Giant, leaching cigar-scented smoke from a dragon-shaped brand on its chest, emerges from the rain. It rushes our heroes, describing them as “leaf” in Draconic.

Vigo, Oksana, Dahlia, and Sorrow flee, but the Giant tramples the Geo and throws it at them! It breaks apart terrifically, putting Vigo and Oksana on the brink of death. Sorrow spares a \*healing word\* for Vigo, winks at Dahlia, and leaves Oksana to her fate, fleeing down Main Street. Vigo tries to put the Giant to sleep with his psionics, but is unsuccessful; the Giant rushes him, knocking him prone once again, pounding him into roasted cinders.

Dahlia finds some of Sensei Mark’s tiger balm amidst the wreckage, she stabilizes Oksana, but cannot revive her, so she calls out to the Stone Man for help, telling him that she WANTS him, NEEDS him, and LOVES him. The Dreadclock is reset, and the Stone Man, having staved off the incursion of another Domain, arrives faster than the speed of night and takes the fight to the Fire Giant; impervious to the creature’s blows (though not the minimal fire damage it deals), the Stone Man pounds the Fire Giant to death, telling it: “There ain’t no Coup de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box!”

Sorrow reappears, pledging her service to the Stone Man and offering to perform a marriage ceremony between him and Dahlia. He freaks out, declaring: “Let me sleep on it! I’ll give you an answer in the morning!” before rushing off into the night. Sorrow then uses the tiny bit of remaining tiger balm to restore a single point of life to Oksana, telling her “you owe me”. The rain lets up.

### Chapter 17 - The Horror of Bruce Pumper

#### Invocation

Stop right there!

I gotta know right now!

Before we go any further!

Do you love me?

Will you love me forever?

Do you need me?

Will you never leave me?

Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?

Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?

I gotta know right now!

Before we go any further!

Do you love me?

Will you love me forever?

#### Chapter 17

Dahlia invites Oksana to return to her dorm to rest for what remains of the evening. She’s less sure Sorrow should come, as the Tiefling’s appearance is unusual and she’s been somewhat antagonistic, but perhaps the horns and skin can be explained away as a costume. They start walking, and Dahlia is shocked to see an unfamiliar mountain rising sharply at the east end of Main Street, a circular tower on its slopes; for a few moments, she fears much of town has been replaced again — perhaps even Darkmoor College and her dorm — however, they continue following Main Street around the mountain, and on the other side, campus can be seen in the distance beyond. Sorrow thinks she hears something large prowling on the mountainside as they pass.

In Dahlia’s dorm, Sorrow takes the unoccupied bed belonging to Dahlia’s former roommate (who disappeared under mysterious circumstances) while Dahlia and an extremely nervous Oksana share Dahlia’s bed. Oksana hears a tapping at the window and awakens Sorrow, who peers out into the rainy night but sees nothing. Later, the tapping resumes, and Oksana sees Hopfen out the window, smiling and trying to charm her. Oksana improbably resists the charm and awakens the others. Hopfen winks at her and disappears. Dahlia pulls the blind to hopefully block the vampire’s mesmerism.

The women sleep, but are awoken early the next morning by a man’s cries of terror coming from the next room over. That’s because Bruce Pumper, a “sexy movie” producer, disturbingly found his way into this women’s dorm, couldn’t find anybody who’d let him sleep with her, and wound up crashing in an unoccupied room (its occupants also disappeared under separate mysterious circumstances). And now Bruce Pumper is experiencing the fiery death of Vigo, becoming another of the Awakened.

Bruce goes into the hall, getting into trouble with some of the residents, before Oksana opens the door and pulls him into Dahlia’s room by his leather vest. It’s quickly established that this highly unsavory character remembers them, though he quickly proves unpopular with the women, especially after he suggests he’ll refer to them as “1, 2, and 3”, rather than learning their names.

The group decide to do as Madame Fourshadows suggested and seek the aid of Karla Breton. Dahlia finds she can’t use makeup to cover Sorrow’s skin as it bubbles and melts — she comforts the cleric, saying, “I have annoyingly small pores, I understand.” — and instead disguises the Tiefling with a large cloak from her ample wardrobe.

En route to Karla’s, a gargoyle lands before the party, gesturing for Dahlia to come. Dahlia suggests this may be the safest option, but Oksana isn’t having it, physically blocking the gargoyle, who flies off after a few moments. Dahlia suggests Oksana is going to get herself in trouble, but the Russian makes an impassioned speech about how much she cares for Dahlia, and how much better she would treat Dahlia than the Stone Man does.

At Karla’s house, the party are greeted by the scent of pies cooling on the window sill, soft music playing over the radio, and a perfectly manicured lawn... and a gargoyle on the roof, who starts playing a fast-paced guitar riff, soon joined by other gargoyles flying with instruments. Karla emerges, asking if James is back.

The Stone Man shows up behind Dahlia, ranting how he “couldn’t take it any longer”. Apparently, he’d decided to swear to his god and on his “mother’s grave” that he’d love Dahlia to the end of time... and now he needs the end of time to arrive, because he can’t stand this another minute. Apparently, he heard Oksana’s plea and suspects that Dahlia does not love him after all. He raises his massive arms to strike her, but Oksana leaps in front, hoping to block the blow—

### Chapter 18 - One Killer Concert

#### Invocation

It was long ago and it was far away

And it was so much better than it is today

It never felt so good, it never felt so right

And we were glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife

#### Chapter 18

As the Gargoyles play operatic rock and roll overhead, Oksana pushes back the Stone Man and Dahlia distracts him with a \*message\* spell, explaining he’s scaring her and she just doesn’t want anyone to get hurt, which he knows is true. Meanwhile, Sorrow tries to explain to Karla what’s going on, hopefully bringing her to their cause, but the Tiefling inadvertently makes the housewife think both she and the Stone Man had been involved with her husband James, in addition to the Angel — Karla attacks Sorrow.

While climbing out of his window next door, DYLAN SNEED witnesses this madness, and suddenly becomes Awakened. Bruce Pumper tells the Stone Man and Karla that they are both sexy and they should make a movie — he strips to his black, snakeskin briefs, and the Stone Man instructs the Gargoyles flying overhead to give him a guitar he can dance with.

Sorrow takes to the air to escape, and Oksana flees with Dahlia — with no other target, Karla vents her rage on the hypersexualized Bruce Pumper, pushing his heart out of his chest. Bruce asks, stunned, “This is your fantasy?!” Karla then tells Dylan that grown up stuff is going on and he should leave; he flees, noticing strange figures watching from the periphery.

Sorrow is given the blood-stained guitar Bruce was dancing with by a Gargoyle, and she flies off after Oksana and Dahlia. The Stone Man approaches Karla, remembering her and referencing her guilt about “the salesman”. The others run so far away that they can no longer hear the Stone Man or Karla speaking...

Dylan, parkouring his way through the neighborhood, falls into the backyard of ROBERT SCHLICHTER, a stern psychiatrist. Dylan’s description of what he’s just seen leads Schlichter to become Awakened with Bruce Pumper’s spirit. The two seek the women, finding them on another house-lined street not far away and explaining who they are.

The group are then approached by a fish like humanoid, whom some remember from the Dreadstorm and Horror Surge at the Penitentiary — this one disguises himself in a trenchoat and hat, and offers an escape to the Marshes of the Grave, where the airbreathers live in “cities on stilts” — this creature claims it serves THE DEEP, and works for UGL-TLUR, and Dahlia senses no deception on it.

Someone makes a reference to children, and this spooks the fish person, who fears the “Orphans” are nearby and tells the others they can follow if they wish, before he quickly sloshes away. The others look around and see no small figures lurking, though Dylan says he saw one earlier. Spotting Gargoyles overhead, the party continues on, seeking a safe place to regroup.

From behind a nearby trashcan, a child-sized figure wearing a cloak and porcelain mask emerges. They look after the party, make a slashing gesture with their dagger across their throat, and disappear into the mist along this quiet, suburban street in Paradise.

### Chapter 19 - The Old Woman and the Vampires

#### Invocation

For the good of believing in a life after birth

For the good of your body so bright

For the good of the search for some heaven on earth

For the good of one hell of a night, for the good of one hell of a night

God speed

God speed

God speed, speed us away

#### Chapter 19

Dylan tries to lead the group over a fence to find a safe place, but the mists overtake them. Oksana hears Sorrow saying something, but soon she loses sight of her... and of Dahlia! Hearing the roar of a motorbike and the orange glow of its flaming exhaust, Oksana rushes after the bike, seeing its snarling bat-headed rider!

Oksana and Dylan hear a door opening. An elderly woman, MRS. SMITH-WELLINGTON (whom Dylan knows as a staple of the church and someone who constantly yells at him about running through her backyard) beckons them in, saying it’s not safe outside. Agreeing with that sentiment, Dylan, Oksana, and Robert Schlichter enter the house.

Mrs. Smith-Wellington seems extremely feeble and confused as she locks the door behind them and takes the key. She offers them lemonade, but Oksana requests something in a can. The group suspect there’s someone in her kitchen and feel a mounting sense that something’s not right. The old woman is bundled up and the thermostat is set very low. She insists there’s nobody else here but doesn’t seem to make much sense. Oksana spots dried blood on her neck beneath her scarf.

Dr. Robert enters the kitchen to find a familiar figure reading the paper, with the Ectoplasmic Spectrometer Device on the table — Professor Anders Anderson! A tea kettle steams, coating the ceiling in a thick mist. Dr. Robert can’t recognize the man sitting at the table, but Oksana’s memories as Madame Aether come through, and she remembers that he, too, was taken by the vampire Hopfen!

Oksana ushers Dylan toward the door and tries to knock it down, until the mist in the kitchen flies toward them. Hopfen appears, more feminine than masculine at the moment; she wants information about the Dreadstorms and the Angel’s plans; whoever helps doesn’t have to be a snack. Oksana agrees to give it to her if Dylan can go.

Anders uses his EPS on Oksana, Dylan, and Robert, finding the most ghosts on Robert, which fascinates him. Oksana tells Dylan to tell Dahlia that Oksana loved her... unless Oksana survives, in which case he better not say a damn thing! Oksana tells Hopfen all she knows, specifically the key detail that a gap in the mist was found. Dylan adds that he believes it’s at the prison.

Hopfen opens the door for Dylan; he pleads with her to let the others go, too. She asks which of them he most wants to save; feeling guilty, Dylan says Oksana. Hopfen, ever the sadist, tells Robert he’s free to go, but he declines, still curious. Oksana punches Hopfen in the face.

The vampire grabs her just in front of the open door and sinks her teeth into Oksana’s neck; Oksana strikes back and tries to break the grapple. Hopfen tells Anders to come take readings on Oksana as she’s drained, but Robert pulls out his BDSM whip and breaks the EPS! Anders rounds on Robert and tries to bite him due to the doctor’s leather undergarments, so he instead claws open the doctor’s throat with his hands, leaving Robert on the precipice of death!

Even so, Dr. Robert manages to escape the clutches of Anders and rushes out of the house. (Hopfen makes no move to stop him, as she’d already agreed to his release.) The vampire finishes off Oksana, whose last words avow Dahlia is still in her heart. Hopfen replies, “Oh that’s that interesting flavor!” and promises that Dahlia will see Oksana’s face again soon.

Dylan and Robert flee down the street once again. The door to the house closes behind them. And what makes these events all the more tragic is that, had Oksana been able to break the grapple and run, she would have been free, just feet from the door. For, even when it’s cloudy and misty and dark, few vampires would risk stepping outside during the day.

### Chapter 20 - The Tower on the Mountain

#### Invocation

They're burning up in their eyes and burning out in the streets

Tires are burning rubber and screaming like a banshee in heat

The girls are looking really pretty and they're waiting for the moment of truth

You're breaking out of your chains, and you're breaking in a new pair of boots

And it's the backbeat of the city on a Saturday night

If you're too scared to jump, then you gotta be shoved

It's the howling and the moaning and the crying of the lonely and the

Stark raving love (Stark raving love)

#### Chapter 20

Dylan slows, realizing Dr. Robert is no longer with him. He calls out but hears no response, so he makes his way to Main Street. En route, he encounters MEMVIROUC ZEBYARDIRKA (who goes by “Meme”). Unbeknownst to Dylan, this is the man who had been trapped in the Four of Cups, and who now contains the essence of Franz Lloyd who replaced him in the card!

Meme has a new outlook on life; he wants to be chill and enjoy himself, as everything is better than being trapped in that card — even death! Especially if your essence transfers to another body when you die! He is especially interested in food and drink, and Dylan tentatively leads him towards Main Street; though the corn dog shop at the mall is closed, there are certainly other places one can get a corn dog in town. As they walk, Dylan mentions the fish person he and the others encountered, whom Meme suspects was a SAHUAGIN.

Rounding the mountain that now sits at the end of Main Street, Dylan spots a small cloaked figure in the bushes on the side of the mountain, peering up, similar (but not identical) to the small cloaked figure he saw watching all that craziness outside of Mrs. Breton’s house! Dylan is hesitant to approach, but Meme attracts the figure’s attention, and the group then meet MIRI, a little girl holding a doll and wearing a very upsetting mask!

Miri is scoping out this mountain for some reason. She asks Dylan if he is also an orphan. She’s one of those Orphans of the Eldritch in the fortress that replaced the Galleria! Meme asks Miri if she knows where to get food, and she gives him candy but demands a thank you. Upon hearing loud snoring, they spot a man a bit further up the mountain sleeping on a park bench that’s half-embedded in the mountain. He’s surrounded by bottles and cans. Miri is very interested in those which might contain beer. Meme goes to the man and awakens him, asking if he knows where he can get good mead. The man’s called BULL, though nobody asks him.

Dylan hears someone sneaking a bit further up the mountain and informs the others; having been discovered, a Kobold with a ragged cape over one shoulder emerges and invites the party to follow him to the “tow’r” where they might meet his Lord, DUSADORANK and BRONK. He is particularly interested in meeting Miri, suggesting he wants her to speak to his leader so she might discuss things with her leader. Miri talks to her doll and then agrees to go. Meme is interested in getting refreshments, and Dylan is willing to follow these people who haven’t tried to kill him yet; they follow the Kobold toward the tower. Bull considers leaving, but sighs and follows, thinking of the children who are likely in danger.

It’s still drizzling as the day latens, and it makes for tough going up this once dusty now muddy mountain. The group hear something growling ahead in the brush. The Kobold guide is very frightened, and begins groveling, cowering, and begging. The party look uphill and spot what appears to be a panther with black tendrils on its back, preparing to pounce on them. But then, this displacer beast is surrounded by Kobolds... who begin biting it with their sharp fangs!

Horror surges, as the party are surrounded by KOBOLD VAMPIRE SPAWN (the deadliest creatures on the Horror Surge table!) who attack with bloodlust. The displacer beast runs away, pursued by the more daring Kobolds. Miri throws a temper tantrum and attacks another with her sword; another comes for Meme, dealing him a considerable amount of damage in a single horrible bite! Dylan elects to make a break for the tower, using parkour moves up some rockier slopes. Their guide is devoured, Miri is bitten, and Bull tries to help her fight, but eventually everyone follows Dylan’s inspiration (though not his exact freestyle footsteps) and tries to get the hell out of there.

Unfortunately more spawn lay ahead of them. Meme uses magic to \*thunderwave\* a few Kobold away from him, as well as a \*minor illusion\* to create an image of water barring their, though this technique is less effective. Miri seems quite put off by his use of magic.

Dylan makes his way to a high window on the tower and calls for help. He hears loud arguing voices in a strange language, pounding footsteps, and the sound of a gate opening. An Orc appears, asking him what’s going on; upon hearing Dylan’s response, the Orc invites the kid inside while closing all the shutters. Dylan enters the tower and starts scooting down the massively-scaled steps, immediately hoping to find a way out.

Back outside, Bull and Meme are slain by the vampires, and Miri is surrounded by Kobold Vampire Spawn; one nearly finishes her off, but is fortunately a little drunk off Bull’s blood and misses its attack. But then, she and the Kobold Vampire Spawn are all shocked by the sight of a two-headed giant, called an ETTIN, lumbering towards them. This is DUSADORANK and BRONK, Lord of the Tower, and they argue about whom to attack, both striking at different targets and thus both missing with their massive weapons. Most of the Kobold Vampire Spawn flee and Miri skulks off; she gets away unseen, but triggers a Dreadstorm in so doing.

The fates are with the Stone Man this day; he decisively beats back the incursion from another Domain of Dread, and given the inciting placement of the Dreadstorm, he loses no territory or influence that wasn’t already gone — for now there is an incursion within an incursion; growing out of the mountain is a strange shrine of spiny basalt which glows eerie eldritch green. A skull symbol rests over the top of a set of doors. Miri is terrified of this clearly magical structure. She manages to sneak past it without touching it, leaving the Ettin to inspect it as the rains continue over Paradise.

### Chapter 21 - Dylan and the Monsters

#### Invocation

There are hungry devils everywhere, it’s on my heart they feast

Let me rise above the carcass of this pitiable beast

If I had the chance I’d fly away, I’d see my soul released

I’d fly above the carcass of the nature of the beast

#### Chapter 21

Dylan is held within the tower amongst a motley crew of nightmarish monsters. The Ettin Dusadorank and Bronk returns from the shrine that appeared on the mountain, a necrotic injury on Dusadorank’s hand from having touched the door. After much arguing between the two heads, it is decided that various troublemakers from the tower will go investigate and bring back treasure, along with this new human interloper. Otherwise, they die/are eaten!

And thus begins the tale of DYLAN AND THE MONSTERS. Soon, Dylan stands outside the mysterious shrine with GLOOMTOOTH, a Chitine; DR. LIVINGSTONE, a Zorbo; and FLOMP, a... uh, well, Flomp is a Norker, but he has no arms or torso or pelvis, and a very large nose. A crowd of other monsters watches them, jeering their efforts at treasure hunting.

Dr. Livingstone is able to open the door, releasing eerie wails and the stench of decay. The group enter the shrine, walking on a floor of green metal, until Dr. Livingstone steps on a \*glyph of warding\* and is hit with a 3rd-level \*inflict wounds\* spell, dropping dead. While Gloomtooth eats his hand, the others investigate the chamber. Three doors, two skull shaped vestibules... as well as a cloaked, skeletal figure who appears before them, her face completely invisible within the darkness of her cowl.

The figure identifies herself as STREM’ZAZ, and she begins advising the adventurers, telling them they can take all the treasure they wish provided they “pay in blood”. However, she starts conversing with them one by one, and it becomes clear she is trying to sow dissension and chaos in her wake. She also tells Dylan that this is her prison, and he would do well to help her escape by killing the others.

The group are joined by a Bone Whelk who calls himself DAVID, as his name is unpronounceable in their language. Gloomtooth and David take some necrotic damage while inadvertently touching the deathstone doors into a room NOT containing certain death. Within is a chamber ringed by rib cages containing floating, glowing hearts... and plenty of treasure within an impenetrable \*chest of force\* ahead of them.

Dylan notices one of the rib cages is different from the others. Gloomtooth identifies this as belonging to a Goblin and eats the heart, gaining temporary hit points. A skeleton forms around this rib cage hanging from the wall and begins speaking to the group; this is JAMMY THE FAITHFUL, a Gob\*LYN\* loyal to SHTA-SOOTH, Lich Lord.

Jammy hates THE LICH QUEEN VIZZA-BEDAIROTH, whose power is so great, everyone has to do anything if it’s in her name. David tries to pull Jammy the Faithful off the wall to discover whatever room the Goblyn says is behind him, but only succeeds in ripping off Jammy’s legs and one of his arms.

Dylan realizes this Lich Queen may be the key to this shrine of death. He invokes the name of Vizza-Bedairoth at the invisible chest containing the treasure, which immediately dissipates. From the treasure, Dylan claims a rapier with a mirrored red blade, and Flomp slips a blood red ring onto one of his toes. David starts picking up the rest of the treasure with his adhesive form, and Dylan next asks Jammy to move in the name of Vizza-Bedairoth; the Goblyn falls off the wall, revealing a small room beyond, containing more treasure.

Gloomtooth touches another heart; all the hearts turn black, and Gloomtooth falls over, dead... though he suddenly revives. He goes to fetch the dagger from the hidden chamber, getting smacked by a Poltergeist, dropping dead again... and suddenly reviving again. Gloomtooth grabs the dagger, but is attacked by a Boneless, a horrifying undead skin sack, though he manages to evade it. Dylan tells the Poltergeist to flee and the Boneless to let them pass; these undead obey, and the party return to the foyer. The Boneless consumes what’s left of poor Jammy the Faithful.

David starts to leave with the treasure, but Strem’zaz tells him he hasn’t paid for the treasure yet. He continues inching along, at which point Strem’zaz pulls back her hood, revealing a skull with two gemstone eyes: one black, one red. The red one pulses, and David is burned alive! Strem’zaz puts her hood back up, pulls the fiery carcass back into the foyer, and tells the group they should continue.

Dylan opens the door to the final room by invoking the Lich Queen Vizza-Bedairoth, revealing a chamber with an outer ring of green metal and a section of floor of deathstone, carved with deep dark runes and sloping down toward a sarcophagus in the center. Three cabinets surround the room on the edge of the stone. The party decide they need blood, and David is replaced by GRRRRR, a Mongrelfolk. Gloomtooth entices him on the stone and attacks him, his blood starting to fill up the runes below!

Gloomtooth and Grrrrr battle, spilling blood onto the floor, as Strem’zaz watches in silent approval. After enough blood has been spilled, one of the cabinets opens, revealing a dark tome, which Dylan grabs. Gloomtooth dies on the deathstone, and another cabinet opens, revealing various arcane equipment, which Grrrrr seizes.

Dylan tries to get Flomp to come into this chamber, but the nose-thing is too busy attuning to his new toe ring. Grrrrr goes out after him, trying to drag him in, but Flomp kills him, to the disapproval of Strem’zaz: the blood only counts when it’s spilled on the runes. BLAZEBUG, a Magmin, joins the fray. He and Flomp both try to drag the body of Grrrrr into the chamber, they then turn on each other.

KAZ H’RAI, a Jaculi, springs in, trying to attack Flomp, but instead goes flying onto the deathstone, shedding blood to the dark necromancy. Blazebug tries to jump off the flailing Jaculi to the sarcophagus in the center; he doesn’t make it to the Jaculi or the sarcophagus, and screams as he takes more damage from the deathstone. Another cabinet opens, revealing a golden staff radiating power. Dylan goes to it, in awe.

Strem’zaz is frustrated by Flomp’s lack of murdering, so she pulls back her hood and hits him with a black eye beam. Terrified, Flomp runs away from her onto the black stone, just in time for Blazebug to succumb to the necrotic power, exploding in a fiery death burst, which roasts away the last of Flomp’s life. Finally, when Kaz H’Rai succumbs to necrosis while still on the deathstone, enough blood has been paid; the sarcophagus opens in the center of the room, and a cadaverous, non-skeletal woman, the true Strem’zaz, steps out. The skeletal form of Strem’zaz phases away, sending its gemstone eyes into her living (?) hands.

Strem’zaz tells Dylan he can keep the staff, and asks him, “Fear or flame?” Dylan says he’s had enough fear and chooses flame; Strem’zaz sends a red gemstone hurtling at him, which embeds in his eye. She pushes the black gemstone into her own eye. Strem’zaz asks Dylan about the world in which she now finds herself and puts an arm around his shoulder, suggesting they go and “kill some people”. Young Dylan leaves the shrine, the bodies of the monsters decaying behind them.

### Chapter 22 - The Witch and the Lich

#### Invocation

It’s like a storm that’s never ending

It’s like a shadow on the land and the sea

There’s nothing as sad as a tomorrow gone bad

The future ain’t what it used to be

#### Chapter 22

MEANWHILE... Dr. Robert Schlichter, having been lost from the others in the mists, made it to Main Street. Being severely deficient in iron after his near total exsanguination, he went to the Paradise Steakhouse, where he enjoyed a transporting, multi-hour meal.

Dahlia and Sorrow, also separated in the mists, found themselves in a dark wood. After long wandering, Sorrow spotted Hopper the White Rabbit! Hopper took them to meet VINCENT, a Wood Woad. He wanted vengeance against a Hag called MINUTIA who worked as a librarian (libraries were apparently abominable places to Wood Woads). He charged Dahlia and Sorrow to defeat her for him, and he would share rewards with them... and let them leave the woods alive. They agreed, and on their way out, Hopper allowed Dahlia and Sorrow to retrieve a prize buried at the base of a tree: a shield emblazoned with a monstrous frowning face.

NOW... Oksana emerges from soft, wet earth in the backyard of the house where she was killed — a Vampire Spawn! With newfound power and perception, and deep hunger, Oksana catches Dahlia’s scent in the air and stalks out into the night. At the same time, Dylan and Strem’zaz make their way off the mountain. Strem’zaz probes Dylan’s mind to learn more about Paradise, glamouring herself so she appears as a young auburn-haired, poodle-skirted teenager named STACY, while glamouring Dylan so his eye appears normal, and his staff and sword are invisible.

Oksana makes it to Main Street, where she witnesses REGGIE, known bully, stealing ice cream from kids. So she drags him into an alley and drinks all his blood. Unbeknownst to Oksana, the kids are watching, and they begin to scream. Their screaming attracts the attention of all the others, who had just coincidentally converged there on Main Street — at Sorrow’s instruction, they gather in Teddy Timor’s, a clothing store.

Stacy introduces herself to Dylan’s friends, who think something’s off about her. Oksana joins them, and Dahlia is gutted to learn she’s been turned into a Vampire; Oksana swears she was in control and would never hurt Dahlia. Dahlia and Sorrow explain Vincent charged them with killing a witch. Stacy casually murders the shop girl through dark necromancy. Dylan requests she not kill his friends; it’s suggested she could help them kill the Hag, a prospect she relishes.

At the library, Oksana walks up the wall and scopes things out through a high window. She sees Minutia (with her massive black “cover-up” sunglasses) at the front desk, as well as a pair of teenagers studying in the back. Dahlia goes in and convinces the teens to leave so they wouldn’t be harmed in the ensuing conflict; on her way out, she’s stopped by Minutia, who seems... curious about her.

Sorrow asks if Stacy would simply handle Minutia for them; she agrees, and heads into the library. Sorrow flies up to watch the fight from the window looking down into the library. What follows is a battle of spell casters who, totally by happenstance, are the exact same level! Minutia reveals her hypnotic and brain-melting dragonfly eyes — she takes a lot of damage, but eventually casts \*dominate person\* on Stacy. Seeing this, Sorrow sends a \*guiding bolt\* at Minutia, but it doesn’t break her concentration. Minutia has her new thrall Stacy retaliate on her behalf, and Sorrow is \*blighted\* into a pile of desiccated ash, leaving behind nothing but her horns! Dylan reveals his \*eye of flame\* and ignites Minutia, who still keeps her concentration. The two high-level casters step out of the library, to take on the rest of the party together...

...although, unknown to any others present, Stacy succeeded on her save against the \*dominate person\* spell. She’s just happy to comply with Minutia’s orders for the moment, as they involve killing people!

### Chapter 23 - A Scouring Storm at the Paradise Library

#### Invocation

And even if you don’t have anywhere to go

You go down on the pedal and you’re ready to roll

And your speed is all you’ll ever need

All you’ll ever need to know

#### Chapter 23

Stacy sends a skeletal \*Bigby’s hand\* at Dahlia, intentionally drawing blood. Oksana summons untold reserves of willpower to resist feeding on Dahlia... causing the Dreadclock to advance by 6! Dr. Robert Schlichter convinces Stacy it’s in her best interests to kill Minutia and not them, while Dahlia uses \*message\* and her acting acumen to make Stacy think the Stone Man is telepathically contacting her and commanding her to let these people live, as they are under his protection.

Dr. Schlichter is slain by Minutia’s Animated Books for his interference. Stacy takes the dead man’s advice and kills Minutia, but she also believed Dahlia’s acting... to a disastrous end. “Hail and well met, Dark Lord Stone Man! You care about them, do you? Well let me show you how we do things Ignador!” she  cries out with a cackle! She attacks Dahlia with her skeletal hand once again, bringing Dahlia to the cusp of death, trying to gain the ire and attention of the Dark Lord!

Oksana moves against Stacy but can barely land a single punch, as the necromancer is warded against hostile undead. Amidst this chaos, a Dreadstorm begins! As Gargoyles play their instruments, the Stone Man’s voice (or is it Baal’s?) is heard echoing through Paradise:

"And I’m gonna need somebody to make me feel like you do

And I will receive somebody with open arms, open eyes

Open up the sky, let the planet that I love shine through

For crying out loud, you know I love you"

The sky opens, revealing a red ringed planet, as well as several FLYING SAUCERS. One of these shines down a beam of light, analyzing the various corpses, before targeting the barely alive Dahlia and pulling her into the sky! The ground in this area begins to change to a more alien terrain — the Stone Man has just barely lost this battle of wills with the Dark Lord of another Domain!

Dylan casts \*expeditious retreat\* and flees. But a Kuo-Toa called DENK, THE CHOSEN appears before him, having gained the memories of Dr. Schlichter, et al. Denk tries to grab Dylan to speak with him, but as Dylan resists, horror surges, and quasits begin attacking the survivors. Denk and Dylan are both taken down by the quasits.

Denk is killed by the little fiends, but Stacy chases away those circling Dylan. She insists he find the will to survive on his own. Tragically, he fails his saves and perishes. Stacy collects her \*staff of the magi\*, her book, and the red gem she’d sent into Dylan’s eye. Quasits in bat form attack Dahlia in the sky, but she fights them off. Just as the doors to the flying saucer close, Dahlia inspires Oksana one last time from on high, singing out, “I’ve had the time of my life!” Oksana kills the remaining quasits. She feels Hopfen calling to her, and stalks into the night to seek her vampiric sire.

Within the vessel, Dahlia is met by a silhouetted alien creature, who thinks she may be of use. Its face tentacles wrap around her head, and Dahlia feels intense cranial pain. The next thing she knows, she’s awakening somewhere. According to her pink-tinted visual and fuzzy audio stimuli, several brains within jars rest on racks around her. Several OTHER brains within jars. Dahlia “sees” two aliens walking past her; their body language and intonations suggest they think she’s special. And despite her circumstances, that brings Dahlia’s mind a little comfort.

## Part II: Mirkshire

### Preces and Responses

#### Confession and Absolutions

  Thus, my fears were growing deeper, spurred on by that callous Keeper

Whose cruel rulings and pronouncements swarmed like wasps within my head.

  “Please!” I begged, “The night is falling! Soon, the Phantom will be calling

  For my soul, with voice enthralling; spare me, please, or I’ll be dead!

Make thy vital intercession — or I’ll surely soon be dead!”

     Quoth the Keeper “Go with Dread.”

#### Benediction

By a route obscure and lonely,

Haunted by ill angels only,

Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,

On a black throne reigns upright,

I have wandered home but newly

From this ultimate dim Thule.

### Chapter 24 - The Order of the Opal Octopus

#### Invocation

By a route obscure and lonely,

Haunted by ill angels only,

Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,

On a black throne reigns upright,

I have reached these lands but newly

From an ultimate dim Thule—

From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,

      Out of SPACE—Out of TIME.

#### Chapter 24

In the city of MIRK, four gather within the Walpole Building, headquarters of the ORDER OF THE OPAL OCTOPUS. They are:

Mr. Conrad Bourgeois, Inventor

The Honorable Allastair MacGregor, Judge

Ms. Sarah Quill, Heiress and Dilettante

Ms. Siobhan Walsh, Antiquarian

This group have been invited to dine with an esteemed senior member of this organization, OCTAVIA O’DOWELL. A footman appears and invites them into the chamber, opening the door and ushering them in. However, Octavia and her subordinate HARRIS were not ready for them; Octavia quickly slams closed a red leather document holder. Judge MacGregor hears Harris whispering something about how “she just heard this” before leaving.

Dinner is served, and Octavia explains what has prompted the invitation: another member of the OOO, a botanist named DARLA QUICKLIME, has gone missing up in THATCHFORD-CUM-LOWGRAVE, following reports of an elusive flower, the DARK-LORDS-AND-LADIES, being seen in the area. Judge MacGregor recalls this area from a spate of ritualistic murders that occurred around 30 years ago. The final victim was a pregnant woman, though if memory serves, the child was successfully delivered. Octavia suggests the group view their investigation as a bit of a test: if they succeed, they’ll be rewarded with access to the OOO’s restricted library and other amenities.

Conrad asks about the red folder, and, thanks to the charms of Siobhan and Sarah, who remind Octavia of her grandchildren, she tells the group of the LISTENER IN THE ATTIC, a young woman who hears strange things. The past week or so she’s been exceedingly agitated, muttering many strange phrases which have been recorded here. The group can make neither hide nor hair of these ramblings. She requests the party not disturb this young woman, and suggests they’ll learn more if they continue advancing within the OOO. With that, Octavia excuses herself.

The group finish their dinner. Before going back downstairs to make preparations for tomorrow’s departure, they hear a woman screaming above; Conrad spots the footman who let them into the room prematurely gazing at him from a dark hallway, before disappearing up a staircase.

Conrad leads the group after him, discovering a narrow stair leading up to a locked door. Locks are no problem for Conrad, however; he busts out his screwdrivers and removes it in no time. The group push open the door and cautiously creep into a room set in one of the eaves, bathed in eerie blue moonlight. A young woman in a nightgown stares at the window, aware of but frightened by our investigators. Her only response to their questions is another cryptic phrase:

\*Each night I dread and dream and hope you’ll break me apart\*

\*There’s nothing I can ever do to atone\*

\*But you could squeeze another drop of love right out of my heart\*

\*As sure as you could squeeze the Blood From a Stone\*

“Now you are the loud ones,” the Listener in the Attic adds, and will say no more. When Judge MacGregor attempts to get her talking through more direct questioning, she begins to scream. The group attempt to leave, but hear footsteps approaching up the stair.

Sarah Quill slips out as Conrad closes the door behind her, holding it in place as Harris shoves against it, unable to open it and demanding an explanation from Sarah. She fast talks Harris, telling him the others left and she thinks maybe a ghost closed the door. Harris roughly escorts her down the stairs while directing staff to get the door open to the attic.

The others quickly slip out and make their way downstairs to the concierge, where they set about borrowing weapons from the armory, acting as if they’ve been here a while. Sarah rejoins them with a mildly suspicious Harris. Once armed, the group depart the Walpole Building, and will reconvene in the morning at the livery yard. Destination: Lowgrave.

### Chapter 25 - A Village of Many Murders

#### Invocation

  ‘Over the Mountains

  Of the Moon,

Down the Valley of the Shadow,

  Ride, boldly ride,’

  The shade replied,—

‘If you seek for Eldorado!’

#### Chapter 25

The next morning, Judge McGregor researches the legal history of the murders in Lowgrave, learning the name of the surviving infant: BOORMAN SLAUGHTER, who apparently got married at the tender age of 14 to EMMA SLAUGHTER (née STILES). Meanwhile, Siobhan charms her way into a newspaper archive: she finds a story suggesting the ritual murders involved the worship of a figure called the GREEN MAN, though there is conspicuously no further mention of this theory in future reporting.

At the livery, the investigators meet GLOVER, their coachman, who requests Sarah not touch the horses. They embark, with Judge McGregor and Siobhan sharing the fruits of their research with the others, and Conrad remarking on the footman at the Order who he spotted then lost track of when the group visited the Listener in the Attic. Sarah thinks he was perhaps a ghost, while Judge McGregor feels it’s far more likely he exited via a secret passage, and Siobhan posits he was perhaps the lover of the Listener and was hiding under her bed the whole time.

Glover deposits the investigators at a public house called the SIXPENCE-A-HEAD in Thatchford to settle in. The pub is largely empty, save for a well-dressed young nobleman at a table in the center. Judge McGregor happened to have seen a daguerreotype of him; this is ULYSSES CRAVENGATE, heir to LORD CRAVENGATE, DUKE OF PEKE. He seems to be expecting someone, and when Sarah Quill waves at him, he approaches, asking if she is “Polly”.

Conrad asks for a bottle of whisky and several glasses (as Sarah is very curious about being “shot in the face” with whisky) and soon the group have joined Cravengate at his table. When asked about their reason for visiting the area, Conrad says they’re looking for the dark-lords-and-ladies flower, and Cravengate suggests they’ve not been seen for a while; they used to grow at the gardens of BITTER END, his estate; he has a preserved specimen pressed in glass there.

The party accept an invitation to come and view the flower; upon determining they are generally a group of means and manners, Cravengate suggests they could even stay at Bitter End instead of the Sixpence-a-Head, as his family are currently away in Hibernon and he is interested in company. As for his own reason for being in the pub: he’s waiting for a young woman named Polly who is running late; when it’s suggested she may be in trouble, he decides to seek her out.

After he’s departed, Siobhan mentions she thinks he means them no ill will, but is more curious than altruistic, hence his generous invitation. Sarah asks the barman about any dark tragic history among the Cravengate family, and he gleefully begins to tell her the story of OL’ BEN CHARM, an overseer who offered “sixpence-a-‘ead” for anyone who’d work the fields of the Cravengates, but then he hung them!

Sarah interrupts the story, confused that the workers were hanged instead of beheaded. This throws the barman off his game; he grumbles out some of the rest of the story, how the Cravengate heir EDMUND was among those killed, and how the noose of Ol’ Ben Charm might slip ‘round the neck of anyone who hears him calling out his offer on the wind.

When asked about Darla Quicklime, the barman indicates he hasn’t seen her for a couple weeks; he has letters addressed to her. Judge McGregor threatens him with various legal proceedings, and the barman hands over the letters (which merely reveal Harris and Octavia wrote her with mounting concern for her wellbeing) and he allows the group to inspect her room, which has not been occupied since her disappearance.

Upstairs, Sarah thinks she hears whispering for a moment just outside the door. She turns the key and our investigators enter. Housekeeping has clearly been here, which complicates matters. Around the room are 13 paintings of pine martens, made by different artists. Sarah Quill, an amateur painter, inspects them, discovering that the forepaws and mouths of each pine marten have had red paint applied long after the original paintings, likely all by the same person at the same time.

Siobhan discovers the wardrobe has already been forced open, meaning someone has already come here seeking Darla’s possessions. Sarah Quill becomes confused by Conrad’s way of speaking; he explains he’s using idioms. Sarah, hurt, defensively replies that she is not an idiom, but soon she realizes she’s not being insulted. Judge McGregor stoops to peek under the bed, at which point he painfully throws out his back.

Sarah Quill runs to fetch him some aid, but she hears whispering again in the hallway, which she can’t quite make out; she then hears a voice in her ear saying “Sixpence-a-‘ead” and she nearly spins until she comes to her senses, finding herself teetering on the top step. She can’t tell if she actually heard the voice or not, and she is beset by a bout of aboulomania, or pathological indecisiveness. After much hemming and hawing, she returns to the group and debates how much of what she just experienced she should even share with them.

Siobhan gets a sense that something is off, at which point she makes excuses and abruptly leaves the others upstairs in the bedroom, rushing down the stairs and out of the pub, seeking the water...

### Chapter 26 - Alone

#### Invocation

From childhood’s hour I have not been

As others were—I have not seen

As others saw—I could not bring

My passions from a common spring—

From the same source I have not taken

My sorrow—I could not awaken

My heart to joy at the same tone—

And all I lov’d—\*I\* lov’d alone—

#### Chapter 26

Siobhan follows Bitter Brook north of Thatchford. A good distance from the village, she removes her shoes, hikes up her skirts, and steps into the water, feeling at peace. Ahead, she hears splashing and sees clothing hanging from a tree. Below the water, in a deeper section of the brook, Siobhan sees red hair billowing off a slight female figure. She calls out for BRONAGH; seeing Bronagh’s face, she enters the water and grabs for the figure, who pulls back in fright and swims to the far side. Siobhan swims after her, discovering that this is not Bronagh, but POLLY, the young woman Cravengate was waiting for.

Polly explains that she’s come here as a diver, the family business; as her father and brothers were unavailable for various reasons (including injuries due to bar fights), Polly was sent to perform a job for Ulysses Cravengate, Heir of Peke, though she has mild fears as to his intentions. With her dress completely soaked, Siobhan needs to purchase a new one, so she and Polly prepare to head back to Thatchford.

Not long thereafter, Siobhan hears someone coming out of the woods ahead, speaking in a hateful brogue. Across from her, Siobhan sees a tall, dark-haired, freckle-faced man carrying a salmon skin cap much like her own, though the one in his bony hands is torn and stringy. He glares at her, and Siobhan speaks of him killing her sister, which confuses Polly, and the man himself... for when Siobhan looks back, she sees Cravengate, who’s out seeking Polly.

Cravengate suggests the women come directly to Bitter End, his manor, where they can be given food and warm clothes. The ladies agree, and Siobhan asks what job Cravengate has for Polly; he mentions there is a deep pool behind the house, but does not go into details. Siobhan is soaking wet, so Cravengate puts his coat over her shoulders. She discovers a cold iron key in a pocket that tingles unpleasantly in her hand; he takes it and slips it into her own pocket.

The sun goes down by the time they reach Bitter End, a large Tudor manor. An aged butler welcomes them in and summons a lanky footman to show Polly to the servant’s quarters; Siobhan instead suggests Polly should stay with her. Both ladies are sent to a den with a roaring fire where they can dry off, and the footmen are dispatched to bring them clothes. While Polly wrings out her hair by the fire, Siobhan once again sees Bronagh in Polly’s place.

Someone knocks on the door and Polly opens it. A beautiful burgundy dress is carried into the room by a footman. Siobhan takes it and he departs, not closing the door behind him. Polly closes the door and helps Siobhan into the dress, though halfway through there’s another knock on the door; the lanky footman has come with dresses, as requested. Polly cracks the door open and takes them from him; Siobhan prefers the burgundy dress, but suggests Polly wear one of the others. Polly chooses the gray.

Siobhan then looks around this chamber, drawn to a picture of a black horse on a strange gray field, which Sibohan realizes is no ordinary horse, but a KELPIE. Polly thinks it’s just “an ‘orse” but she is familiar with kelpies, selkies, merrows, all sorts of frightening things that live under the water and drag folks to the deep.

The ladies are summoned to a drawing room, where Ulysses Cravengate stands staring into a roaring fire, a glass of sherry in his hand. Mounted over the fireplace is a massive stag head. When Cravengate sees the women, he drops his sherry, and excuses himself from the room. Apparently the dress Siobhan is wearing is \*\*not\*\* one he intended to be offered. He asks which footman brought it; Siobhan can’t quite remember, thinking it might’ve been the lanky fellow, though Polly thinks it was another; she didn’t get a good look either, thinking ‘e was average build, dark ‘air.

Cravengate apologizes for his nerves, pours sherry for the ladies, and explains Polly’s working directive. The pool is deceptively deep and dangerous, but there are many things in it he’d like recovered, and he’ll pay per item. Some are, upsettingly, likely on corpses, a prospect that doesn’t faze Polly but that Siobhan suggests is akin to grave robbing. Cravengate excuses himself, leaving the ladies to dine alone. As he passes a mirror, his reflection shows that of FERGUS, the man Siobhan thought she saw in the woods. She hurls her sherry at the mirror after a moment, startling Polly.

Dinner proceeds without incident; afterward, Siobhan suggests having a look at this pool. She and Polly step out just as the clouds part and moonlight shines down on the black water. Siobhan sees Bronagh’s head emerge from the water. She shuts her eyes, thinking it more ghostly tricks; when she opens them, she sees a tail flipping up before submerging. Polly saw nothing, but Siobhan is sure someone is there. Polly tells Siobhan it’s too dangerous for her to go, but Siobhan begins talking to Polly in a droning voice... and suddenly, Polly grows still and docile, totally enthralled.

Siobhan removes the burgundy dress and enters the water in her slip, drifting below the surface. It is pitch black, until she adjusts her hat on her head. Now, she can see in the darkness. Now, she can breathe in the water. And now, her legs join together once again, forming a powerful tail. Siobhan descends, tracking the bubbles of another who dove just moments before.

Siobhan passes through jagged rocks to an even deeper section. She pauses for a fearful moment, discovering the remains of a young woman in a nightgown that seems not dissimilar to the burgundy dress, and a necklace around her neck drifting in the current. The skull seems to loll towards Siobhan. She calls out for Bronagh, and hears an answer from below. She dives deeper.

Siobhan finds her sister, expressing relief and confusion; she thought Bronagh was dead, drowned by Fergus, who’d stolen her hat. Bronagh just says Siobhan’s name back, telling her that “he” has brought Siobhan here, because of what she’s trying to learn. Soon, Bronagh confirms that she is in fact alone, and dead, and transforms into a drowned human woman, lifeless beneath the water.

Siobhan, now truly alone, has an attack of her monophobia, or fear of being alone. As she loses her sanity, the waters suddenly begin swirling ferociously around her, a loud cacophony that causes Siobhan to develop some ligyrophobia, or fear of loud noises, to boot. She closes her eyes and fights against the whirling water, finding herself lying on a gray, dry field. A voice speaks directly in her head: “Do not turn around.”

Clip, clop, clip, clop. The sound of hooves behind her. A hot, bestial gout of breath on her neck. Siobhan trembles as the entity behind her chides her for seeking knowledge she ought not, and asks, “What is my name?” Siobhan, having glimpsed the Dread that suffuses Mirkshire, knows part of the name, and replies, “The Phantom.” The entity behind her sends more knowledge directly into her brain, lowering her sanity but increasing her understanding of the Dread Mythos.

Siobhan finds herself back in the water, alone. Fearfully, she rushes back to the surface, calling for Polly, but seeing no one, not even her clothes. She adjusts her hat and swims forward; Cravengate emerges with a torch, and helps Siobhan out of the water. His footmen found Polly catatonic and took her inside to revive her, which seems to be in process. The girl is quite disoriented. Cravengate is angered by Siobhan’s recklessness. Siobhan hears the lanky footman mentioning that they cannot find the key that was in his coat to return the burgundy dress to the northwest wing; Siobhan asks if she can continue wearing the dress until tomorrow; Cravengate agrees, frustrated, and storms off.

Siobhan and Polly go up to their chamber. Polly, disoriented, falls to sleep immediately. Siobhan takes a bath; as she’s emerging, she hears a knock at the door. She answers quietly through the door, and Cravengate replies, mentioning he wanted to make sure she was alright, before he wanders away. As Siobhan blows out the lamps in the room, a small note is slipped under her door. Siobhan picks it up, discovering a directive for the staff from four years ago that the northwest wing be sealed and not opened for any reason. Siobhan is curious, and resolves to investigate this sealed wing with her stolen key sometime tomorrow.

Siobhan climbs into bed next to the snoring Polly. She closes her eyes, and sees faces she sees so often. Bronagh. Fergus. Ghosts of the past. Siobhan soon falls into a fitful sleep.

### Chapter 27 - To Bitter End

#### Invocation

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand —

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep — while I weep!

O God! Can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream?

#### Chapter 27

Back at the Sixpence-a-Head, Conrad secures Darla’s old room for the evening, as it seems neither Judge MacGregor nor Sarah Quill are going anywhere. He also decides to check the bed where Judge MacGregor injured himself; at first he sees nothing special, but the inventor bends lower in the exact same way that Judge MacGregor did before throwing out his back... and, thanks to an extreme spot hidden success, Conrad discovers a black leather journal sewn into the mattress.

This handwritten tome is titled within as “THE LABOURER’S ACCOUNTE.” In quill pen writing, it relates the first person tale of a deafened laborer centuries ago who also accepted Ben Charm’s offer of sixpence-a-head. He noticed all the others who’d gathered listening to a song and acting strangely, before tossing ropes over trees and hanging themselves. Even Lord Edmund Cravengate, who’d come out to investigate the noise, also threw a rope over a branch and took his life.

The story grows even stranger. The unnamed deafened laborer claims Ol’ Ben Charm freely admitted he’d made a deal with the Devil, all for “Sixpence! Sixpence! Sixpence!” He was hanged from the neck like those he’d coerced into doing the same in the fields. Though he choked for a time, at the instant of his death, according to this narrator, he burst into coins; the greedy crowd rushed forward and gathered them up. All save the narrator subsequently denied that Ben Charm turned to coins, and the official story went he was cut down and buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave.

Judge MacGregor suggests they follow the tactic of mythic heroes and stuff their ears with wax; cotton from the ruined bed is more handy, so our investigators use that. Judge MacGregor then attempts to sleep it off, while Sarah looks over the journal more closely. Conrad stuffs his own ears with cotton and proceeds downstairs.

After some shenanigans of Conrad hearing nothing, talking loudly, and removing the cotton from his ears, the barkeep gives Conrad a message from Bitter End, explaining Siobhan and Polly are there, and the others are free to visit at their pleasure. Conrad speaks a bit to the landlady MRS. GORMAN, who flirts with him and is amused by his strange demeanor. Conrad buys a round for everyone in the bar; one man, JOHN HULL, is suspicious, thinking Conrad might’ve been sent after him by Marcus... until he hears Conrad talk about his corn-shucking invention, and then he relaxes.

Conrad thinks the burly John Hull might be useful in a fight and asks the farmhand to join them in their search for Darla. John Hull somewhat misunderstands the scheme and tells Conrad he’ll be sleeping here by the hearth overnight; “Just kick me when your’e leaving.”

The next morning, the investigators breakfast in their room, with Judge MacGregor and Sarah feeling much better. Judge MacGregor does his own close reading of the book, determining two things: the work was likely not actually written by the teller of the tale, and the song that was sung by Ben Charm involves the words “score” and “more”. Conrad tells them about John Hull, and Sarah is confused about whether or not she can trust him if he is nefarious. She lands on the idea that they’ll be best friends.

Downstairs, John Hull seems a bit thrown by Sarah Quill (she offers her hand for him to take or kiss; he kind of slaps it, so then she starts slapping his hand repeatedly, sometimes asking him to extend it so she can slap it, etc. etc.). But he’s even more thrown by Judge MacGregor, who’s got a few inches and many pounds even on the burly farmer, but is also consistently addressed as “Judge”. He tries to bow out, but is talked into joining them. Glover drives them in the carriage to Bitter End.

At the Tudor style manor, the investigators are greeted by the Butler, COMBS, who directs them to the den to await the master. John Hull cases the artwork. Judge MacGregor gives him an intimidating look. Hull once again says he should leave and go work on the farm; again, he’s compelled to remain.

Judge MacGregor thinks he sees a murder hole in the ceiling; he loudly points it out to the others, then realizes he was just seeing things. Sarah Quill inspects a painting of a black horse on a gray field that is bizarre in its artistry. Somehow it’s TWO paintings; one of a still lake, the other of a dry field. Someone knocks on the door. Conrad asks them to come in, but there’s no reply. Conrad calls out again, and through the door they’re told the master is ready for them upstairs.

The group leave the den. There’s the sound of splashing coming from outside the house, but they head upstairs as instructed. On the landing are six bedrooms, only one of which is closed. Sarah holds John Hull’s arm, agitating him further. At the far end of the hall to the northwest is a locked door, likely leading to a staircase to another wing. Conrad calls down for Combs, asking where they’re meant to go. Then the door at the end of the hallway creaks open.

The group begin walking toward it, but Judge MacGregor hears a voice calling to them from downstairs; it’s Combs, answering Conrad’s question. Charmed by Sarah, Combs allows them to explore upstairs, and even joins them there — but he freezes when he sees the open door at the end of the hallway. He immediately opens the closed bedroom; within, Conrad sees Siobhan, asleep. Combs explains Siobhan fell into the water last night and is still resting. The investigators gather around the door to confirm she’s all right.

Judge MacGregor hears a creaking down the hall; he glances over and briefly sees the mysterious footman from the Walpole Building nod to him, before closing himself off behind the door.

### Chapter 28 - Ghosts of the Northwest Wing

#### Invocation

That motley drama—oh, be sure

  It shall not be forgot!

With its Phantom chased for evermore

  By a crowd that seize it not,

Through a circle that ever returneth in

  To the self-same spot,

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,

  And Horror the soul of the plot.

#### Chapter 28

Conrad notices the door at the end of the hallways is closed; Judge MacGregor says it blew shut. DOWEL, a footman hears the general commotion upstairs and comes to offer assistance; Conrad requests libations, which he fetches. Siobhan awakens and joins the others. Dowel returns with whisky, which Siobhan feels it is much too early for, though she does accept some champagne. Combs leaves the guests in the care of Dowel and goes to seek Master Cravengate.

Sarah feels Judge MacGregor is acting strangely; thanks to her charms, he confesses that he thinks he saw that same footman from Mirk within the open door to the Northwest Wing before it closed, though he knows he’s been seeing things today (like the murder hole in the ceiling). Perhaps it’s all stress from his back pain.

Siobhan realizes she’s not seen Polly; Dowel says she’s in the pool. Siobhan is incensed the girl is diving unmonitored and rushes downstairs. Judge MacGregor remains inside the hall on a bench with the ever-uncomfortable John Hull, but the rest of the group step outside to see the still water of the pool, with Polly’s outer clothes gathered on the shore.

Siobhan gesticulates oddly and makes strange intonations in a bizarre language. Dowel and Conrad are confused, but Sarah is delighted. Soon thereafter, a salmon pokes its head above the water. Sarah speaks to it in that strange tongue — in fact, she is telling it to watch over Polly and keep her from going anywhere unsafe.

The salmon submerges. Siobhan tries to explain to the others it’s simply a good luck custom where she’s from: “Find a fish, give it a wish.” Sarah loves this suggestion. Bubbles emerge twenty feet from the edge of the pool. Dowel and Conrad see a young woman running to the surface; Siobhan sees the drowned corpse of Bronagh floating up. She rushes into the water before she grabs hold of a fully alive Polly, who proclaims, “A salmon bit me arse!” This happened just before she entered a dark crevice.

Siobhan convinces Polly not to dive too deep and to instead scavenge coins and such from the shallow parts of the pool. Polly agrees. Once again in a soaked dress, Siobhan goes upstairs to change with Sarah. Dowel goes to fetch them drinks. Conrad speaks to the Judge and John Hull; the former’s back is giving him trouble, so he’ll remain on this bench for a spell. John Hull will happily go with Conrad upstairs; Conrad suggests that the big man stay by this mysterious door to the Northwest Wing and prepare to knock it down if they deem it necessary.

Low on options, Siobhan puts on the burgundy dress once again. She tells Sarah little of what transpired last night, but warns her not to touch any horses she may see around the grounds. She also warns Sarah about befriending people so quickly; Sarah replies, “I’ve only met five people outside of my family, and they’re all my best friends!”

Dowel comes upstairs with drinks. With his keen hearing, he hears Siobhan telling Sarah that she might have a way into the Northwest Wing if they can get the staff off their back. Dowel knocks and brings in tea for Siobhan, before confessing he also wants to get into the Northwest Wing to satisfy his curiosity. He can help them avoid questions or prying eyes. He admits he overheard their conversation, and Sarah points out that when you have people working for you, they usually listen to what you say.

Dowel says the key, which is usually on Cravengate, is missing. Conrad and Hull are brought into the mix. It’s decided the group will attempt to access the Northwest Wing via the also-locked servant’s entrance leading up from the kitchens; Siobhan claims she’ll be able to pick the lock (when in fact, unbeknownst to anyone but her and Sarah, she still has the stolen key, and will secretly try to open the door with it).

In the kitchens, John Hull knocks over a pot and Hoggins appears, wondering what’s going on. Dowel manages to convince him all is above board and the lanky footman leaves them to it. The motley crew creep up the stairs, and Sarah tries to distract Dowel by pretending to faint — Dowel shouts briefly before coming to his senses, having misread something about what she was doing. For a moment, it appeared he thought the... girl was a horse. But that’s impossible. Unless, he heard Siobhan telling her not to touch horses here. But he couldn’t have heard that; he wasn’t outside the door yet.

In any case, this provides sufficient distraction for Siobhan, who’s able to open the door without anyone noticing that she has the key. The group find a musty, dusty hallway leading to the wing and begin investigating. Conrad discovers a nursery full of unused toys. Dowel mentions the occupant of this wing was LADY LORELEI LUSH, the betrothed of Ulysses Cravengate, until she went missing around four years ago.

Sarah Quill enters the nursery, looking over the toys. She sees a beautiful red-haired doll that she didn’t notice before. The doll is smiling at her, so she picks it up. Siobhan looks at the doll, and the rest of the room goes dark. The doll turns its head and smiles menacingly at Siobhan. Siobhan knows this doll is a Thing of Dread. A source of knowledge and power... as well as madness and terror.

Sarah wants to take the doll. Dowel says she can’t remove property from the Northwest Wing, and Siobhan insists Sarah put it down. Conrad notices John Hull is gone; he and Dowel rush off to find him. Siobhan, unable to convince Sarah, instead uses her magic to \*enthrall\* her; Siobhan takes the doll from the docile, suggestible Sarah, opening a toy chest in which she can hide it... but then, in her hands, the doll looks like the drowned Bronagh.

Siobhan can’t get rid of it. She hides it on her person.

Conrad and Dowel find the door to the master bedroom open. Within, they see John Hull staring lasciviously into the open bathroom door, though they can’t see what he’s looking at. The farmer won’t reply to any of their questions. Conrad tries to shake him, and a disoriented Hull slashes at Conrad with a pearl-handled lady’s razor. Conrad dodges, and he and Dowel rush out into the dark hallway, away from the raging John Hull, where Sarah and Siobhan are walking up to them, both disoriented.

Dowel hears thudding from in the room, then silence. He slowly reenters the room and discovers John Hull dead in the bathroom, seemingly with a slit throat. Conrad goes closer to investigate, seeing that Hull is dying, with a smile of joy on his face. He leans in, and in a bloody final exhalation, Hull says one word: “Kiss...” Sarah Quill comes in and freaks out, briefly forgetting where she is and who these people are. When she remembers them, she embraces Dowel as her best friend.

Siobhan sees a green leather journal on the end table open and flip ahead six pages. She picks up the journal and looks inside. The journal of Lorelei Lush references three “dreadful” works:

\*Forbeden Magiks of Deade Ecknadore\*

\*The Tear-Stained Diamond\*

\*The Book of XIII\*

The journal also references how she’s afraid she will lose her mind after reading these books, “like Ol’ Ben Charm must have done.” Siobhan shares this information with the others. They step into the hallway, and discover it brighter than they remember. A door into a small reading room now stands open, the light from within illuminating the dark hall. It contains stained glass windows, velvet armchairs, and two iron cages: one of which is open; the other contains a book.

### Chapter 29 - Tomes of Dread

#### Invocation

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

  Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

  Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

  Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

  In her sepulchre there by the sea—

  In her tomb by the sounding sea.

#### Chapter 29

His back feeling better, Judge MacGregor searches for the others, soon finding the servant’s stairway to the Northwest Wing with the door standing open. He creeps through the dusty hallway, momentarily hearing movement in the nursery, but seeing nothing. In the master bathroom, he finds the body of John Hull, before continuing down the hall to rejoin the others in the reading room.

His Honour seems entirely unperturbed by the fact Hull is dead, a callousness that tremendously upsets Sarah Quill, as Hull was one of her “best friends”. Dowel, pallid and wan, tells the others he must return to his duties and asks if they plan on informing Combs and Master Cravengate of the dead man in the forbidden wing; they indicate they’re honor bound to do so. Dowel departs.

Siobhan inspects the book within the cage, a flaking red leather octavo with no title on the cover, just an embossed symbol of a skull with a snake emerging from its left eye. Thanks to knowledge implanted in her mind last night, Siobhan recognizes this symbol: that of the Lich Queen Vizza-Bedairoth of Ignador. Which means this book is almost certainly \*Forbeden Magiks of Deade Ecknadore\*. At Siobhan’s request, Conrad removes the lock from the cage.

Siobhan sits down to read from this dark tome, patting the seat next to her so Sarah (who is still sulking over the Judge’s uncaring behavior) may join her. Conrad and MacGregor search the rest of the shelves: the inventor finds two notable tomes of local occult customs, being \*Cults of the North Country\* and \*The Bloodsucker Head Murders\*.

Judge MacGregor locates another book of local significance, \*Traditions of Mirkshire\*, as well as several pages bound between hard covers and tied with a ribbon. A printed card on the front of this collection reads \*The Tear-Stained Diamond\*. The Judge was not privy to what Siobhan learned from the journal; even so, he can tell this is text of significance and holds onto it.

Sarah begins reading \*Forbeden Magiks\* while the Judge digs into \*Traditions of Mirkshire\*. Conrad tries to keep both watch and his wits about him. After a time, he hears something down the hall, likely from the master bedroom. He leaves the others without a word, as they are enrapt in their studies. Within the chamber, Conrad hears someone muttering to himself about the condition of this chamber. He glances within and finds someone in the process of tidying up this chamber. A footman, who’s already made tremendous progress.

A footman he recognizes as the one he saw in the Walpole Building, the man who disappeared into the attic!

The footman, aware of Conrad’s presence, turns to him and asks if there’s anything he requires. Conrad asks him many questions about why he’s in multiple places and what he’s doing; the footman’s responses are infuriatingly unforthcoming and polite. When asked directly, he does tell Conrad his name: BRADFORD WALKER. Conrad asks how the man got into this locked wing; Walker says he will demonstrate, and then walks into the master bathroom.

Conrad follows him, and sees no one. The room is completely empty and clean — with no sign of John Hull’s body — and there are no means of entry or exit, save the door. Conrad manages to keep his sanity, and then Bradford speaks to him again from the master bedroom, boggling the logical inventor’s mind.

Conrad knows something strange is afoot and demands an explanation. Walker asks Conrad if the bath is to his liking, and Conrad discovers the clawfoot bathtub is suddenly filled with pleasantly warm, clean water. Walker says if Conrad wants answers, he should submerge himself completely in the tub, though he might drown. Conrad takes off his hat, scoops up some water and rushes past Walker, heading back to the reading room. Walker nods deferentially as he departs: “Very good, sir.”

Meanwhile, Judge MacGregor learns many disturbing details of Mirkshire folklore traditions, so much so that his sanity is slightly impacted. It appears that worship of figures like the Green Man is particularly prominent, especially in the rural areas, and there are recurring themes and practices that liken human beings to little more than crops to be culled and planted and recycled into the earth.

Siobhan reads her even more ominous Tome of Dread, taking a much larger hit to her sanity. However, just as she feels herself about to lose control, a childlike voice tells her that everything is alright, almost encouraging her to give into her Dread. She does so, keeping her wits about her as the Dreadclock advances by 4 to the 10 o’clock hour.

Conrad rushes back into the chamber, holding his hat of water, frantically telling the others of what he saw (or didn’t see) in the bathroom. To his dismay and confusion, the water in his hat is now muddy and silty, full of plants and particulates. Siobhan is fairly confident it is water from the pool. Sarah thinks that perhaps Siobhan can learn something more about the pool, as she speaks to fish.

Hoping to get to the bottom of things, Judge MacGregor leads the investigators back to the master bedroom. As Conrad said, the room is now cleaned and tidied. There is no sign of John Hull, Bradford Walker, and the bathtub is completely dry. Sarah puts on Conrad’s hat, splashing herself and the (briefly) clean bathroom with muddy water. “I didn’t know what I expected to happen! I thought it would be something mysterious, but instead I am just damp!” she says in explanation.

The group discuss their next moves within the master bedroom, all of them having a growing sense that something is very wrong in this house... and perhaps, with their assignment. Siobhan catches a glimpse of herself in the now polished full length mirror in the bedroom; she sees a slender, pale, woman with black hair and baleful eyes in her place, wearing the burgundy same dress.

Siobhan realizes she is wearing a dead woman’s dress holding the dead woman’s journal in the dead woman’s bedroom, and that might be a recipe for disaster in a house so touched by occult energy, especially with her sanity so diminished already. She suggests the group leave at once. Sarah asks why and Siobhan explains what she’s seen; Sarah instead wishes to put on the dress herself, so she might discover something extraordinary. Sarah suggests she has nothing to lose; Siobhan strongly disagrees with that assertion.

Judge MacGregor and Siobhan hear someone knocking on the main locked door to this wing. Ulysses Cravengate’s muffled voice can be barely heard, demanding to know if anyone is within the wing. Over Sarah’s strong protestations, the group conceal the books on their persons and try to quietly head down the servants stairway. As a group, they are not particularly successful at either endeavor, and Siobhan pushes her luck with her attempts to hide the octavo and the journal on her dress (which already conceals a doll).

Judge MacGregor pulls the door closed behind him as the others clomp down the steps. He hears the lock turn in the door behind him. He listens at the door, hearing nothing for a moment, but he listens harder. He then hears Hull’s voice, softly speaking through the closed door: “I’m not going to forget you, Judge.”

Something about this threatening tone dredges up a memory for Judge MacGregor. He remembers another voice, from another time, when the snow was falling and the Yule season was upon the capital city of Wendon...

### Chapter 30 - A Judge’s Carol

#### Invocation

       Hear the sledges with the bells—

                Silver bells!

What a world of merriment their melody foretells!

       How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,

          In the icy air of night!

       While the stars that oversprinkle

       All the heavens, seem to twinkle

          With a crystalline delight;

        Keeping time, time, time,

        In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the tintinabulation that so musically wells

      From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

              Bells, bells, bells—

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

#### Chapter 30

Marsh was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Marsh was as dead as a door-nail.

And yet, it is Horace Marsh’s voice Judge MacGregor hears calling him now. He looks down the stair to find his companions gone and the steps covered in snow. The Judge creeps down, walking through the dark, frosted manor before finding himself in a hallway he’d not seen in decades; the one housing his and Marshs’s old chambers, back when they were crown prosecutors. Down in Gloomy Old Wendon.

The office seems abandoned. MacGregor notices the decorations of the Yule holiday on the streets of Wendon outside. Finding his wallet a little lighter and his clothing fitting less snugly, MacGregor discovers he’s seemingly in his body from those decades back. He purchases a paper from Weathers, a newsman, and confirms the date is nearly thirty years back. The headline fills him with a dark memory: THE RED DEATH, a serial killer, has struck again.

MacGregor knows this case well.

MacGregor heads to his old home, finding the key in his pocket. And then it happens that MacGregor, having his key in the lock of the door, sees in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change — not a knocker, but Marsh’s face.

MacGregor yelps, before recovering himself and entering his cold, austere former home. After making sure the property seemed secured, he hears sounds from below. He grabs a vase and rushes down before stopping short — at the sight of dead Horace Marsh, much aged and decayed, wrapped in rattling chains which emit a dark purple fog, coming up the stair toward him.

Horace Marsh warns MacGregor that the same fate awaits him for his sins, unless he manages to save himself, and Marsh to boot. MacGregor assumes Marsh doesn’t know that in recent years, he’s allowed many well connected criminals to go without justice in exchange for bribes. Marsh tells MacGregor he’ll be visited by three spirits. MacGregor suggests he's seen so much in Mirkshire, he’ll not be afraid. Marsh grows severe; MacGregor is about to face true Dread. “You’d best not be flippant, boy!”

With that Marsh departs, and MacGregor puts on a sleeping gown and a long conical hat, as, according to Marsh, that’s how such things are done. MacGregor goes up to his bed but does not close the curtains. Soon, as the clock begins to toll, MacGregor hears irregular steps outside his door. With great difficulty, the chamber door is opened, and a horribly mutilated body with a red paper skull mask shuffles in, rasping that she is “The Ghost of Yule Past.”

Having been familiar with this case, MacGregor recognizes her as Bonnie Smith, who was killed by the Red Death on Yule a year before the time MacGregor has seemingly returned to. She offers her bloody, half-removed palm to him, and MacGregor finds himself in a seedy dockside bar where DECLAN SINK plays cards with other degenerates. The sailor’s nose is missing due to syphilis, giving him a cadaverous appearance.

This is the Red Death. MacGregor coaxed a confession out of Sink, and the man hanged for the crime.

MacGregor and Bonnie follow Declan out of the bar, and at times it seems Declan can almost sense MacGregor’s presence, at which point MacGregor realizes most people cannot. He is walking through a vision, a memory. But suddenly, Declan hears a woman’s voice singing, and MacGregor hears it too. The words are strange, something about how, “You’re my guy, and I’m your dame.”

MacGregor finds himself, like Declan, compelled to follow the voice.

MacGregor and Declan stand in an alley for several minutes, waiting for the screams as they were instructed by that voice. Then Declan goes to the freshly slain corpse, that of Bonnie; her places a red paper skull mask upon her face. Declan begins freaking out, uncertain of how he arrived. MacGregor finds nothing of note on the body that he didn’t see on the coroner’s report, so he returns to the Ghost of Yule Past.

The Ghost asks if he wishes to see more of the past, but MacGregor brusquely says he’s seen enough. She points behind and Declan Sink approaches... only this is not the living man in the alley, but a ghostly figure with a noose around his neck, purpled skin, and his eyes bulging out of his head after his hanging. This is the Ghost of Yule Present.

The Ghost glares at the Judge, who offers no apology other than a suggestion the evidence pointed to Declan. He then grabs the ghost’s hand, and the two are transported to a boat out in the Mists beyond the ports of Wendon. Several drab figures shuffle about, in fear and dread. Judge MacGregor assumes this is where the unfortunate dead go. The Ghost of Yule Present points to the prow of the boat, more thickly obscured by the Mist. Within it, the Judge spots a familiar large figure, still with more color and vibrancy, being but recently deceased.

The Judge approaches the ghost of John Hull, but upon entering the Mists he begins cackling for a full minute, as his mind gets a glimpse of the depths of the hopelessness of all who live here. When the laughter subsides, John Hull turns to the Judge, blaming him for his death. He wanted to leave that house. The Judge offers no apology, and John Hull attacks the Judge with his razor, but Judge MacGregor gets a lucky break as he’s a larger foe than John Hull is used to, and the laborer’s attack puts him slightly off balance — the Judge shoves with all his might, sending John Hull over the edge of the boat.

The Judge returns to the Ghost of Yule Present, who asks him why they are all so tormented. The Judge isn’t sure, and wishes simply to carry onto the Ghost of Yule Yet to Come. He hears a rowboat approaching the ship; within this boat, he sees the shade of Darla Quicklime tossing ropes up to secure herself to the larger vessel. It’s hard to tell at this distance: is she still alive?

But the Judge hears another voice. Soft and small and... doll-like? A voice saying, “I can show you more.” The Judge accepts this voice, and reaches out behind him, finding his fingers brushing a tiny porcelain hand. He finds himself outside Bitter End, covered in snow, where Yule festivities are in full swing. He nearly enters, but instead notices a red haired doll in snow next to  him, pointing beyond the Tudor manor. He picks the doll up and carries her around Bitter End, past the pool, before spotting odd lights in the purple misted woods beyond.

Eventually, Judge MacGregor finds another manor house, in the Baronial Revival style common up in his native Caledon. This house appears completely abandoned, with rotting turnips on the steps. The Judge thinks for a moment he hears a distant voice, perhaps that of Marsh, shouting desperately, but he listens more closely and hears nothing, just the whole snowy wind.

The door opens before the Judge; he enters, and as his eyes adjust to the darkness, the door slams closed behind. Despite the lack of light, the Judge determines where he’s meant to go; an upstairs child’s bedroom painted blue with white fluffy clouds on the wall. Peering about the room, behind the painted clouds, the Judge spots a figure, who cryptically asks if the Judge is up to the task of learning more.

The Judge says he is, and a form gallops toward him from the distance in the walls. A black horse... though, when it bursts forth into the room upon him, it has a more phantasmal human face as it knocks the judge to the ground and attempts to fill his mind with Dread. The Judge resists, but his sanity takes a hit and he suddenly believes this is the Red Death upon him. The Judge, from some reserve of righteousness buried for decades, fights back against this phantom, which seems to enrage the undead, incorporeal thing.

The Judge realizes this form is not the ghost of his own past, not the Red Death at all, and he tries to plea for mercy, to appeal to some sense of law. But he unfortunately uses the phrase “by all that is holy” in his argument; a common phrase, but one that incenses the dark spirit. The Judge is knocked to the ground, and his whole form is filled with Dread. Chains wrap around his throat, across his chest, through is very fingers. He looks to the pretty red-haired doll, who seems to smile as he suffers.

The Judge finds himself amid that dark purple Mist, wrapped in iron chains which pulse with the very same vapors. He hears a sigh and glances over to find Horace Marsh, as he appeared in the house, in his own misting chains. MacGregor’s mentor seems disappointed but unsurprised, and not even angry. This is simply the fate they now both share. He and MacGregor exchange a look and gesture which might almost be described as a mournful shrug.

Meanwhile, on a staircase in Bitter End, Judge MacGregor’s back breaks, and his heart strains tremendously as it stops beating. The big man falls with a clamor behind the others, and speaks his final words in a weak, pained voice:

“The doll...”

### Chapter 31 - Rawlings, Walker and the Fearful Dead

#### Invocation

Thank Heaven! the crisis,

The danger, is past,

And the lingering illness

Is over at last—

And the fever called "Living"

Is conquered at last.

#### Chapter 31

An oddly gaunt man named S.A. Rawlings approaches Bitter End — a satchel over his shoulder, flasks and bottles on his belt, his once-nice suit worn to bits. The door opens and a footman with dark hair welcomes him in, saying Rawlings is expected and that members of the Order of the Opal Octopus are in the kitchen. Rawlings thanks the footman and heads that way.

Dowel comes out of a brief stupor and walks back into the foyer moments later, seeing the unfamiliar Rawlings entering a hall, and the front door standing open. But no sooner can he investigate than does Master Cravengate come charging down the stair, eyes wild, face unshaved, asking Dowel if the “other guests” have made it into the Northwest Wing.

As Dowel deflects the question, a great crashing and crying out is heard in the kitchens. Cravengate rushes toward the noise, followed by Dowel. They push past Rawlings, who is himself proceeding to the source of the sound; the stranger is nearly knocked into a counter covered in mise en place, but he manages to dodge and avoid contact.

In the hallway leading out of the kitchen, they find Conrad, Sarah, and Siobhan knocked to the ground, purloined books scattered in all directions. Judge MacGregor lies among them, unseeing eyes open — dead as a door-nail, having whispered but two words before he passed: “The doll...” Sarah weeps, and Conrad checks for a pulse and finds none. Dowel and Rawlings stop short... but all Cravengate can focus on is Siobhan in the burgundy dress.

Rawlings identifies himself as another member of the Order of the Opal Octopus — Siobhan doesn’t recall his name from any of the registers she found in Mirk. Dowel sees the name Rawlings on the kitchen chalk board for today’s guests, having seemingly been recorded there weeks ago, in a hand that has made various entries around the house, but one he doesn’t recognize. Even though, he’s satisfied the man is an expected guest.

Rawlings inspects the judge’s body and is certain the man died of Dread, though Cravengate is sure he’s simply an unhealthy old man who died of a bad heart. Cravengate sees the books scattered on the floor, as does Rawlings, who can’t quite make out the titles of interesting Tomes of Dread; he sends Dowel to escort the guests somewhere, quietly telling the footman to watch them. Conrad recovers the judge’s gun.

As the group leave, Cravengate asks for Siobhan to remain, as she gathers up the dread tomes and the diary of Lorelei Lush. Cravengate tells Siobhan he wishes she would leave, as what she’s doing here is dangerous. Siobhan suggests that reading books is far less dangerous than what Cravengate is paying Polly to do. She senses deep grief and despairing loneliness in the man. She asks how Lorelei died. Cravengate draws close and whispers into her ear: “She read.” He walks away, morosely letting her keep the books she’s taken from the locked and forbidden Northwest Wing.

Dowel guides the guests to the den where he pours himself and Conrad a drink, admonishing his co-conspirators for getting caught so easily. Rawlings, after drinking an oddly thick substance from one of his flasks, gives more context to his pronouncement about the judge’s death, explaining that the man experienced a personal haunting, and that “something broke his brain with fear.”

Sarah Quill becomes exceedingly agitated at the prospect, fearing that she will go insane again, as she has done already. She clutches Dowel and weeps on his shoulder, making the footman even more uncomfortable than he was at the prospect of fear breaking his brain. Siobhan enters and attempts to comfort Sarah as Rawlings gets a lucky glance at the books she carries, realizing both are Tomes of Dread.

Conrad, still curious about the changing and disappearing water in the tub, wants a closer look at the pool. Siobhan protests until he assures her he has no desire to enter the water. They go out and Siobhan waves to Polly, who’s currently surfaced several yards out; the diver waves back. Sarah then enthusiastically waves to Polly, and the diver is forced to wave to everyone gathered there on the shore.

As Siobhan approaches the pool, she feels the water growing colder. A presence, both doll-like and sisterly, assures her everything is alright. This temperature change is no hallucination; Polly starts shivering, and decides at this time to call it an afternoon. Conrad asks her several questions about the water, and Polly explains that it’s mostly just murky silty water without many trinkets, especially now that she’s not diving into the deep rifts in the center of the pool, as Siobhan told her to avoid.

Polly goes inside to put on dry clothes, while the others return to the den, where they find a shaven and presentable Master Cravengate staring into the fire. He seems quite upset that they entered a locked section of his house, and is understandably agitated to learn of ANOTHER death on the property, one these guests cannot even provide a body for. Conrad asks him about the footman Walker, whom Cravengate and Dowel are unaware of. Conrad calls out for Walker in an exceedingly persuasive fashion.

Walker appears in the doorway behind him, asking what he requires. The footman speaks briefly to Cravengate, who suddenly remembers Walker, and apologizes for having forgotten the man’s name. Dowel vaguely recognizes him as someone who’s been around the house, but is aware that something doesn’t add up about the man. Rawlings knows that this man, this footman who greeted him at the door, is a ghost. And Siobhan, while unaware of Walker’s nature, knows that he just used some spell to alter Cravengate’s memory and make him suggestible.

The group start to pepper Walker with questions; the ghostly footman sends Cravengate away so he can prepare to show the dark-lords-and-ladies flower to the guests (as that is the whole reason they’ve come). Walker then asks the group a few questions, confirming he brought Siobhan her dress, and that John Hull’s body is now in the pool. Conrad asks how. Walker replies, matter-of-factly: “Magic, sir.”

When Siobhan asks about the spell he cast on Cravengate, Walker explains he did so to protect the man’s sanity. Sarah asks if he can do the same for her; Walker suggests that she is too deep in the woods and that the only way out is through. He recommends the group share information, and tells Rawlings that Miss Quill might be best able to understand things about the nature of Dread by reading the Tome he carries.

Rawlings presents Sarah with a small novella bound in cream and purple card stock, featuring an image of red meat on a fork. The book is called \*A Taste of Paradise\* and Sarah excitedly starts reading it. Rawlings tells the others of the strange tale, written in an odd but intelligible vernacular, about a salesman called Horace who eats disturbing amounts of food while trying to bed a married woman named Karla. He explains that, hidden within the prose, are deeper secrets and meanings, including oblique but complete descriptions of two spells: one of which is called \*Hunger of Horace\*, and is quite distasteful to him as it requires eating huge amounts of food to cast, as well as human flesh; the other spell, called \*Blood From a Stone\*, is, as yet, beyond his capabilities to understand.

Rawlings sets to looking over \*The Tear-Stained Diamond\*, discovering it is a musical score and libretto for an opera, or play with music. It’s exact form is unfamiliar to him. Meanwhile, Sarah reads from the Tome of Dread and understands its deeper meaning. A red mist descends upon her. She suddenly realizes a rifle is displayed on the wall, just at arm’s reach. How convenient. Was that there before?

Sarah takes the rifle, aims it and Siobhan, and pulls the trigger, blessedly missing. Dowel dives behind a piece of flimsy furniture. Conrad rushes to Sarah, disarms her, and tries to tackle her. She fights back as she falls, her head striking a marble plinth nearby with a sickening crack.

Siobhan rushes to help restrain the injured Sarah, who now thrashes and mutters wildly, concussed and insane, blaming the others for always treating her like a child...

### Chapter 32 - Sister Mercy

#### Invocation

But lo, a stir is in the air!

The wave- there is a movement there!

As if the towers had thrust aside,

In slightly sinking, the dull tide-

As if their tops had feebly given

A void within the filmy Heaven.

The waves have now a redder glow-

The hours are breathing faint and low-

And when, amid no earthly moans,

Down, down that town shall settle hence,

Hell, rising from a thousand thrones,

Shall do it reverence.

#### Chapter 32

Cravengate calls out from rooms away, asking about the gunshot. The investigators call back, telling him all is well. Rawlings notices Siobhan cocking her head, as if listening to something, though he knows for certain that no one is speaking. Not aloud, at least. Siobhan stands, breathlessly tells the others not to go to the pool, and leaves.

Sarah Quill, no longer pinned down, rushes for Conrad, before slipping and falling directly into the flimsy furniture Dowel hides behind. The piece shatters, and a shard of wood slides sickeningly into the back of Sarah’s neck. She falls unconscious, bleeding profusely. Conrad pulls Dowel out from under Sarah and the wreckage. The footman uses his first aid skills, and Sarah is stabilized for the moment, but she needs real medical attention soon. Dowel goes to arrange that, and Combs sends Hoggins to the village in hopes of finding anyone with medical training.

Conrad kneels next to Sarah, apologizing for whatever role he played in her injuries. A thought intrudes into his head, a thought about the humane way one deals with an injured animal on the ranch. Conrad feels his hands flexing, before dismissing the thought... knowing it was not his own.

After a tense couple of hours, Hoggins returns with SISTER MERCY MAGDALENE, a nun who’d just arrived in Thatchford. Sarah is carefully moved upstairs to a bedroom and Sister Mercy provides successful treatment. Sarah will require several days of rest but might possibly make a recovery. She awakens for a few moments of lucidity, saying she’s tired of being underestimated, before slipping into a laudanum dream.

Combs invites Sister Mercy to meet with Master Cravengate in the library, and the others join her. Cravengate paces about with great agitation. Hearing Sarah is well, he asks after Siobhan, and nearly rushes off to check on her, but before he reaches the door, he sends Dowel to go and check on her.

Cravengate presents Conrad — the only present member of the original team — with the preserved dark-lords-and-ladies flower. It means little to Conrad or Sister Mercy. Rawlings, after looking around this main downstairs library and seeing little of interest, turns his own attention to the flower, and expresses his surprise to see one.

Rawlings is quite aware of these exceedingly rare flowers, given their importance among certain occult circles, especially of those who worship a strange counterpart to the Green Man: the GREAT GOD PAN. It is said this flower only blooms by permission of this figure, and is used in dark rituals by these practitioners.

Outside, Dowel sees Polly sitting on the grass near the pool, watching Siobhan, who stands motionless at the water’s edge. Dowel goes to her, speaks to her, but she doesn’t reply. He looks at the water, sees nothing, but then keeps looking... and for a moment, it seems that a woman with red hair, not unlike Siobhan’s, is seen under the water.

But he also briefly sees something in Siobhan’s hands, clutched to her chest, something he’s sure he didn’t see when he first walked out here. A red-haired doll. Like the one from upstairs, the one Sarah Quill found. Only this doll looks drowned and dead. And her eyes seem to be staring at Dowel. Suddenly, Siobhan raises the doll to her ear, as if listening to it, though Dowel, with his acute ears, knows he hears nothing.

Dowel tries to run away, but Siobhan’s arm snaps toward him, her hand wrapping around his throat with an iron grip. She drags Dowel into the water, holding him below the surface, but he manages to fight his way free and swim back to shore. Polly seems surprised but is unworried, thinking they’re just roughhousing.  Dowel hears a whinnying sound behind him. Before entering the house, he is unable to keep from looking back. Beyond Siobhan, he sees a dark horse shadow lurking in the water.

With a cry, Dowel rushes inside and collapses in the foyer. Walker appears behind him, asking Dowel what he’s seen. Dowel asks if he knows of the horse, and Walker replies that he does not like horses. With a horrible glare, Dowel suggests Walker consume some strychnine or other rat poison, as this would be a mercy compared to other ways Dowel might wind up perishing. Walker remarks that this ruins his plans.

Dowel rushes away from him, hearing the sound of the front door opening as he flees back to the library. Sopping wet, he stammers out the story about Siobhan trying to drown him. Cravengate hems and haws before, almost to himself, explaining that he’s shown Conrad the flower; he rushes out of the room to see to Siobhan. Rawlings realizes Walker’s previous suggestion for Cravengate to wait in the library meant he couldn’t leave!

No one follows the master of the house, as Dowel then tells of his encounter with Bradford Walker, where the ghostly footman seemed quite angry with him, and suggested he kill himself. He begs Rawlings for a way out of this predicament. Sister Mercy seems unscandalized by this discussion, as if she is not herself unfamiliar with occult matters. Rawlings realizes that certain spells might prevent a ghost from harming someone, or might could even banish one altogether.

Conrad asks Dowel about Siobhan, and he insists she was... listening to that doll, though the doll now looked different. Sister Mercy believes she has heard Dread tales of such a doll, one that might be more powerful even than the Darklord himself. The doll is a thing of evil, and if it is nearby, the Lord has sent her here for a reason.

Rawlings pulls out the \*Tear-Stained Diamond\* and prepares to read it, both to increase his knowledge and perhaps to save Dowel. Sister Mercy steps forward upon seeing it is a musical work and demands to read it as well, given her musical training. Dowel sits watching them, a ball of nerves.

Polly wanders into the room, seeming a bit bored. She lets the others know that Cravengate rushed outside just in time to see Siobhan faint. He charged into the water and carried her out, back upstairs to their room. He told Polly to take the burgundy dress off Siobhan, which Polly did — but the diver insists to everyone that she DID NOT let Cravengate see Siobhan naked. When asked about what happened to the doll, Polly says, “What doll?” Apparently, she never saw it.

Polly wanders off to get a snack (perhaps a cracker, though they’re called water biscuits there) while Conrad heads upstairs to check on Siobhan and Sarah. Cravengate sits at Siobhan’s side, the wet and muddy burgundy dress balled up in his lap. Siobhan sleeps soundly. Cravengate steps out with Conrad; as he closes the door, Conrad sees the doll in Siobhan’s arms, a doll he could’ve sworn wasn’t there before. The doll seems to be looking right at him, smiling, before the door is closed.

After confirming Sarah is also sleeping soundly in the next room, Conrad asks Cravengate about why he hired Polly; the noble is not forthcoming, and suggests they go get a drink. Conrad agrees to that. Meanwhile, Mercy and Rawling pore over the \*Tear-Stained Diamond\*, finding it a work from another world, using musical techniques decades past the current modes and a dialect that feels utterly alien.

Rawlings suspects that each song in this book is a spell, with performance the means of casting, most effectively with a full orchestra and singers and dancers, however the scores dictate. He chastises Sister Mercy for humming the music as she peruses, worried she might inadvertently cast the spell. She and Rawlings get into an argument with some sexual tension (though, to be fair, all arguments with nuns have some sexual tension). They believe a song spell called \*The Score Is Worth More\* might be of aid to Dowel’s troubles. The hour is late, and the party decide to call it a night.

### Chapter 33 - Storms and Angels and Flowers that Bite

#### Invocation

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,

Assailed the monarch's high estate.

(Ah, let us mourn! — for never morrow

Shall dawn upon him desolate!)

And round about his home the glory

That blushed and bloomed,

Is but a dim-remembered story

Of the old time entombed.

#### Chapter 33

As the investigators sleep, at long last, a storm descends on Bitter End — a Dreadstorm!

Sarah, in her laudanum haze, has a vision of figures dancing in a masquerade, some tall and strong, some small and lithe — all clad in flowing garb or jackets of leather. They bring out a young girl, struggling in terror... and drink her blood. Sarah stirs, feeling pleasure and nourishment, as blood fills her mouth, pouring over her lips. She swallows and smiles, sleeping soundly.

Rawlings dreams of a handsome man with golden hair. A man who is joyful to see Rawlings, who tells him of the storm. Rawlings realizes this figure is from another Domain. He tells Rawlings to call to him, to help him break through to Mirkshire. To chant a strange incantation:

\*Ain’t no doubt about it\*

\*We were doubly blessed\*

\*’Cause we were barely seventeen\*

\*And we were barely dressed\*

Rawlings awakens, throws open the shutters to the storm. In a flash of lightning he sees a Black Horse in the distance across the grounds, rearing up in anger. Rawlings begins chanting.

Sister Mercy dreams there is a figure standing in her room looking out of a storefront window at the rain — a woman glad in exotic garb, casting four shadows. She senses Sister Mercy and commands she depart. Sister Mercy realizes this woman is from another Domain, and therefore possibly a Thing of Dread, though the woman also wants to keep the boundaries closed and the Mists firm, which suits Sister Mercy’s goals. The woman implores Sister Mercy not to let anyone weaken the boundaries before \*banishing\* the nun back to consciousness in Mirkshire.

Sister Mercy hears Rawlings chanting about being “seventeen” and “barely dressed” and runs to her own window, throwing it open and calling out to Rawlings to stop his chant. Rawlings disappears for a moment to lock his door before carrying on. Sister Mercy runs down the hall to his door and starts pounding on it.

Conrad dreams of a different kitchen window showing the rain, and the smell of freshly baked pie. A small blonde woman in a pink dress turns to him, surprised to see him... and wondering if he’s come here to “do it” as so many have done of late. After all, “Now that you know how it’s done, it’s only a matter of practice!”

Conrad says that doesn’t seem proper, but the windows open up behind her, dousing the chamber in cold water and knocking Conrad to the ground. The woman climbs atop him, but Conrad refuses her — she grows angry and incredibly strong though Conrad manages to fight his way free of her. Then, a towering figure of stone peers in through the blown-open window and says in an unhinged voice: “Oh man, I guess they’ll let anybody in here!”

Conrad bolts awake, terrified... and his terror does not subside. As the storm rages around the house, he spots a figure standing in the room, standing over Dowel, who requested to sleep in his room with him.

In his own dream, Dowel finds himself on a dark gray field. Clopping hooves are heard behind him, and he’s told not to turn around, nor to speak when he hasn’t been spoken to. The Black Horse is behind him. Wants to know who’s responsible for this storm. Wants to know if it was Walker. Wants to know where Walker is now. Dowel explains he knows nothing, only that Walker told him to kill himself; the Black Horse replies that probably would’ve been a better option than what’s coming next. A hoof digs into Conrad’s back, until he is awoken by the sound of a gunshot.

Conrad, quickly grabbing his revolver, just winged Hoggins, who was standing over Dowel’s unconscious form, about to plunge a knife into him. Hoggins collapses, shocked and confused about how he got here. Dowel leaps upon him, pinning him down. Hoggins passes out soon thereafter.

Meanwhile, the Dreadstorm reaches its climax. And thanks to Rawlings chanting those words of Paradise, and the Black Horse distracted by Dowel and thoughts of Walker... a winged figure wreathed in gold appears in Rawlings room. Sister Mercy, pounding and demanding to be let in, sees the room filling with golden light from under the door. The man, with angel wings, identifies himself as ETIENNE RENÉ, and embraces Rawlings for having summoned him here.

Rawlings opens the door so that Sister Mercy may behold the angel, who is delighted to see a woman of the cloth. Sister Mercy detects no malice or evil on this being, though she maintains terror and suspicion of all things that transcend the Mists, though she senses no deception from Etienne when he says he comes from Heaven.

Meanwhile, Siobhan dreams of a tea party in a blue room with white fluffy clouds painted on the walls. She sits there with Bronagh, Polly, and the doll. The storm is heard but distantly. All seems pleasant, until Bronagh speaks of how she doesn’t want to die, how she doesn’t want to drown, how scary it is, and how painful, as he holds her under the water. Siobhan tells her not to think about that.

A hard knocking starts shaking the door into this room. Bronagh insists that she’ll drown, and so will Polly, and so will Siobhan, and Siobhan realizes she’s not wearing her salmon-skin hat. Siobhan sees a dark figure standing behind the painted clouds, watching her. Bronagh, Polly, and the doll all appear dead and drowned. Siobhan closes her eyes as she hears the doors burst open. Strong rough arms grab her by the shoulder. She grabs the arms and flings her attacker with all her might—

—as she wakes, discovering that she’s just tossed Cravengate into the wall. Polly screams, standing in the glow of an oil lamp. Apparently Siobhan had been convulsing in her sleep, and Polly was unable to wake her, so she fetched Cravengate, who tried to rouse Siobhan and was rewarded by being thrown into the wall. Cravengate, his arm injured, a small wound on his head, insists he’s okay, though he nearly calls Siobhan “Lorelei”. But then, they all hear a gunshot, and the sounds of movement in the hall.

Everyone converges at Rawlings room, where they are beckoned in to meet the angel. Conrad is struck with awe, Cravengate is struck totally dumb, Dowel hopes the angel can help him, and Siobhan seems similarly enraptured at the salvation this angel might offer. The angel greets everyone warmly... but upon gazing at Siobhan, and seeing the doll in her hands, the holy creature’s face falls. In a soft, faltering voice, he says, “Thank you, Rawlings,” before sprinting to the still-open window of Rawlings’ bedchamber and flying out into the cold rain, golden light disappearing into the black.

Dowel and Rawlings noticed how Etienne’s eyes fell on the doll, and both could almost swear the doll smiled as the angel flew off. Dowel thinks the doll’s expression seems almost... smug. And now he feels the doll is staring at him. Rawlings reports on the dream he had and the actions he took. Sister Mercy is furious that he actively sought aid from something from another Domain; the two argue about the meaning of Paradise. Siobhan expresses a serious desire to find the angel, and Dowel seconds this, though he would very much like to speak to the arguing Rawlings and Sister Mercy for a moment alone.

They go to Conrad’s chambers so that Sister Mercy may provide medical treatment to Hoggins, who’s lost a lot of blood since he was left there. Dowel slams the door closed behind them. In Rawlings’ chamber, Cravengate gets more and more confused about whether or not Siobhan is Lorelei; clearly concussed, Lorelei suggests he go get some sleep and he departs. Conrad tells Siobhan of his strange dream, asking if Siobhan has ever had a dream like that.

Meanwhile, as Sister Mercy treats Hoggins, Dowel expresses his serious concerns about that doll. He and Rawlings are fairly certain the doll scared the angel away, and Dowel strongly suspects it was the doll that caused Siobhan to try and drown him. Sister Mercy has heard rumors of a doll, rumors she already shared with the group, and they discuss options for dealing with it, as Siobhan seems... unlikely to let the doll go.

Dowel shuts up as he hears Conrad and Siobhan approach, and the group gather once again. Siobhan reaffirms her desire to find the angel, asking if there are any spells that could do so. Though Rawlings knows of certain mystic practices to aid in locating individuals, good old tracking might be perfectly effective in this case. An angel is unlikely to go unnoticed unless he wishes to be.

Siobhan then goes to check on Sarah as the others watch from the door. Siobhan sees a bit of blood around Sarah’s smiling lips; she wipes it off with a handkerchief and steps back out into the hall. It is still the dark of the night, though it is unlikely, after the dreams they’ve had and the things they’ve seen, and with the storm still thundering outside, that any of these investigators will sleep again ere the dawn...

### Chapter 34 - A Song of Dread

#### Requiem

I got a taste of paradise

I'm never gonna let it slip away

I got a taste of paradise

It's all I really need to make me stay

Just like a child again

Heaven can wait.

And all I’ve got is time until the end of time.

I won’t look back.

I won’t look back.

Let the altars shine.

#### Invocation

But see, amid the mimic rout,

  A crawling shape intrude!

A blood-red thing that writhes from out

  The scenic solitude!

It writhes!—it writhes!—with mortal pangs

The mimes become its food,

And seraphs sob at vermin fangs

  In human gore imbued.

#### Chapter 34

The investigators gather for breakfast, feeling a bit better now that morning has broken, even though the rain has not let up. Cravengate joins them, and asks if anyone would like to go for a walk in the rain, though when he does so a thick mist suddenly appears in the room; Sister Mercy quickly pulls on her sleeve and clutches her rosary, while Cravengate throws open a window and inspects the fireplace, assuming something is wrong with the flue.

Siobhan, Polly, and Conrad join Cravengate on a walk, while Sister Mercy and Rawlings remain behind to discuss whether or not they should attempt the spell to hopefully contact the Angel. Rawlings points out to Sister Mercy that Etienne is mentioned in \*A Taste of Paradise\* — she counters it is not a Holy Book, but a Tome of Dread, which doesn’t imply he’d be a noble ally. Even so, she is intrigued by what Rawlings reveals from the book about Etienne’s appearance, especially the description of THE SHUFFLING DOMAIN.

Meanwhile, on the rainy walk, Conrad and Siobhan convince Cravengate to tell of Lorelei’s death. How she began reading those books in the upstairs library, how she started speaking strangely, how, early one morning, she was heard to sing a song before presumably drowning herself in the pool, her body never found. He confesses he’s hired Polly to find the body and see if she is wearing a necklace; if she is, it means he knows who got her started reading those books. Siobhan tells him that knowledge won’t help him, but he remains unmoved in his aims.

The perambulators reenter Bitter End; hearing them, Rawlings tells Sister Mercy he thinks they should not do this spell anywhere near Siobhan, given her connection to the doll. Siobhan pulls Polly aside and tells her not to dive here anymore; Polly says she won’t today, as it is raining. She goes upstairs while Conrad and Siobhan join the others, who are deep into their preparations to cast the spell called \*The Score is Worth More\*.

Conrad, looking at the sheet music, realizes this is likely the same kind of music as was described in \*The Labourer’s Accounte\*, a book found in the Sixpence-a-Head Inn describing the mass suicide overseen by Ol’ Ben Charm — which only he, Sarah Quill, and the late Judge read about. He warns the group this spell is likely incredibly dangerous; Rawlings replies that this connection to that infamous local legend is “just another thread in a wonderfully chaotic tapestry.”

Siobhan and Conrad plug their ears with wax, rendering themselves incapable of participating, as does Sister Mercer. Rawlings keeps his ears open. They conduct themselves to the parlor, where there is a piano, and Sister Mercer sits down to play. Suddenly, Siobhan runs over, closing the piano and gesticulating wildly; eventually, she and Conrad forcibly remove some wax from the good Sister’s ears and Siobhan explains her fear that others in the house might hear. And if this spell can cause suicidal madness...

The group ask Cravengate if he has any portable instruments; as it happens, his mother has a guitar, which he provides to the group. (There are notably few servants around today, as Hoggins is recuperating from his gunshot while Dowel is out of commission due to mental anguish.) The group conduct themselves to the DREAD GAZEBO away from the house, next to the pool.

When he first heard of their destination, Conrad was afraid it was a monster. As Sister Mercy spreads out her sheet music and prepares to cast her spell, Conrad asks if this spell could go bad. Rawlings says it absolutely could, but he thinks he and Sister Mercy are intelligent enough to avoid ill effects. Conrad and Siobhan plug up their ears.

Sister Mercy begins to sing:

If you’ve really got a price

Where you would pack it in

Then let me tell you, buddy

Your life ain’t worth a fin

You’re one pathetic so-and-so

A real sad piece of work

I oughta shoot you in gut to watch you

Bleed to death, ya jerk! ‘Cause, see...

The score is worth more

Than a walk in the park

Than a kiss in the dark

The score is worth more

The score is worth more

Than a big birthday cake

Or a copper on the take,

Yeah the score is worth more

If you say that you’re doing it all for your dame

Get outta the game, ‘cause you already lost

You say you only wanna help your lover or your brother?

Me? I’d murder my own mother if it covered half the cost, because

The score is worth more

Than a bright sunny feeling

Nothing’s that appealing!

Yes, the score is worth more!

The score is worth score is worth score is worth score is worth score is worth score is worth score is worth more!

Sister Mercy performs flawlessly; she and Rawlings put much of their willpower into the casting. They feel their sanity slipping, but manage to keep their wits about them, resisting a brief suicidal urge. Sister Mercy then feels herself connecting to another presence, though it is not the Angel. She turns to Rawlings and starts speaking to him in a different voice, asking what he wants...

Siobhan has a sense something is wrong and removes her wax; Conrad does the same. By the time they get to the others, they are both simply sitting there unmoving. In their minds, Rawlings and Sister Mercy are being promised the answers to all they seek: Sister Mercy is told of a piece of the Devil hidden in a bank vault in Wendon, one she could destroy to free this realm of evil and gain grace everlasting; Rawlings is told of books that can speak to him, books holding all knowledge, including the truest copy of the \*Book of XIII\*, hidden in a bank vault in Wendon. Both are warned to trust no one. To tell no one what they know is within the bank...

Rawlings and Sister Mercy snap back to reality, saying they need to depart Bitter End. Sister Mercy leaves at once, pausing only for a moment to bid goodbye to Siobhan. Rawlings insists to the others that he didn’t make contact with anyone as part of the spell, that it simply didn’t work, but Siobhan knows he’s lying. He then tells them he must return to Wendon on an important task; he can’t tell them about it, but they are welcome to come and assist him. Both decline; Conrad will not leave Sarah Quill at this sad house, while Siobhan still wants to find the Angel.

Conrad then spots a form floating in the water. A man in gardener’s garb. Face down. Unmoving. A landscaper who must have been further around the pool, who heard the song... and who plunged himself into the water. Then, before the stunned Conrad can even tell the others, the man’s body is pulled under the surface, and for a moment Conrad sees a black horse under the water, eyes staring right at him, before it is gone, and the pool is just dark water again, with the cold rain falling upon it.

### Chapter 35 - The Ghost of Lorelei Lush

#### Invocation

Out—out are the lights—out all!

  And, over each quivering form,

The curtain, a funeral pall,

  Comes down with the rush of a storm,

While the angels, all pallid and wan,

  Uprising, unveiling, affirm

That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”

  And its hero, the Conqueror Worm.

#### Chapter 35

Siobhan leaves Conrad and goes to check on Polly, but she hears a bell coming from Sarah’s room. She checks on Sarah, who seems to be healing slowly but surely, having had a pleasant dream that left a wonderful taste in her mouth. Dowel, having just emerged from his room, encounters Siobhan, who requests he fetch Conrad from the gazebo so he can speak to Sarah. Conrad goes, as Siobhan can’t drown him because she’ll still be inside.

Conrad inspects the area where the groundskeeper must’ve gone into the water. From the woods beyond the pool, he hears a voice saying, “Pretty song...” He does not investigate this, instead returning to the house, where he meets Dowel. The two of them go upstairs and speak to Sarah. As they pass Siobhan and Polly’s room, Conrad sees that Siobhan is holding the doll.

Sarah apologizes for trying to hurt Conrad, and tells him a bit of her dream of the masquerade. Conrad feels the dream sounds quasi-religious, and wonders if Sister Mercy subtly influenced Sarah’s subconscious somehow. He tells her a bit about his own strange dream. Dowel, standing in the doorway, hears footsteps down the hallway and sees the door to the Northwest Wing standing open. But he sees no one in the hallway, though the footsteps draw closer.

Dowel retreats into the room, brandishing a candlestick; Sarah grips her bell, and Conrad puts a hand on his revolver. Footsteps are then heard in the room, before being muffled by the thick carpet. Then Dowel feels a chill, and hears a woman’s voice whispering into his ear: “Footman, draw me a bath.” The footsteps recede. Dowel resolves to follow her, which Conrad thinks is a bad idea, as water has been exceedingly dangerous around Bitter End.

Dowel reveals that he has no memory before the time of Miss Lorelei’s disappearance four years ago... but he recognized the voice and knew it was her. He needs answers. Conrad inspects Dowel’s head, looking for evidence of injuries... before deciding the only humane thing to do is to put this suffering man out of his misery. And Sarah, too. And Siobhan, with. her attachment to that doll. He draws his revolver, but Dowel hears him, manages to knock the gun out of his hands, and rushes out of the room, following after the footsteps.

Conrad picks up his gun, and considers helping Sarah in that difficult way, but he manages to come to his senses as she stares at him, terrified and reproachful. She explains that just because they may be suffering, they don’t want to die. She then downgrades Conrad from best friend to very good friend. Upon deciding that Sarah is safe, Conrad follows after Dowel, noticing the red-haired doll sitting in the middle of the hallway, watching him with a smile.

Meanwhile, Dowel follows the footsteps of the unseen Lorelei to the master bedroom, where he glimpses the real woman — tall, lithe, fair of skin, with long, night-black hair — in a sheer dressing gown, asking him again to draw her bath as she steps into the bathroom. Dowel hesitates before hearing the sound of water.

He goes to the bathroom, the tub full of clear water. Lorelei disrobes casually, leaving her wearing nothing but a necklace. She asks if Dowel will keep her company as she bathes, watching her as he apparently has done before. Lorelei gets into the tub and Dowel brings her a brush. Dowel asks her many questions about his missing memories, but she doesn’t answer; instead, she asks if he’d hand her her book, and Dowel spots a leather bound tome with XIII embossed on the front.

Dowel picks up the book and Lorelei asks if he’ll read to her; she reclines in the tub seductively, but as Dowel opens the book, he hears footsteps rushing down the hall. He sets the book on the edge of the tub and goes to intercept Conrad, to prevent Lorelei being seen in the bath. Conrad tells Dowel he’s in danger, and suddenly they both hear sloshing and a pained gasp. Dowel rushes into the bathroom to find Lorelei drowned and dead in a tub of murky, silty pool water, clad in nightclothes and wearing her necklace.

Overwhelmed, Dowel rushes to grab Lorelei as Conrad calls out to wait, running after him. Conrad sees the water disappear from the tub, along with Lorelei and Dowel. Dowel finds himself clutching Lorelei’s dead, decaying body in the chasm of the pool. His lungs fill with water, and a heavy hoof begins pushing him down, telling him not to struggle, as it is undignified. Dowel, with his last ounce of strength, looks at the terrifying horse and tells it he hopes it chokes on him; the horse replies Dowel is not worthy of even being consumed, before driving the hoof through the footman’s chest.

Conrad stares at the bathtub, muttering that he warned Dowel before turning to depart. Unseen by Conrad, still in the bathroom, is a woman in a sheer nightgown, and the Book of XIII resting on the lip of the bathtub...

## Part III: Heisteles

Preces and Responses

Chapter 36

Chapter 37