A Residence at the Bay 03: High & Dry

### Players

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

### Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-js6af-12c9a88

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

This episode begins with a flashback of sorts, which depicts a conversation between Robert (who's just arrived in Robin Hood's Bay) and Samuel; the two speak about fossils, Billy Bakers, and Boggle Hole, which is where the majority of the local fossils can be found, at least according to the boy. He also tells Robert to not remove them or take them away, without really giving a reason for the fact; then Robert walks on and the intro begins.

As the scarecrow on the trig point waves at the characters, the scuttling sound stops, Dr Henry heads over to his room to "unpack" and Lady Marjorie (now deprived of a sanity point) becomes convinced that Robert is being kept in one of the rooms on the top floor. Peregrine reasons that it might not be appropriate to search the upstairs rooms, but eventually acquiesces and helps the Lady up the stairs. In his room, Dr Henry unties the bag secured by his wrist and lights his opium pipe as he reminisces about his time serving in Sudan and gets high. On their way upstairs, Peter inquires as to what the two are doing, to which Lady Marjorie responds that she's "going to the toilet"; Peregrine heads down to avoid suspicion and offers to say a prayer for the house, but Peter doesn't seem so enthusiastic about it.

Dr Henry then falls asleep in his bed, and Lady Marjorie reaches the top floor wherein she finds a room to rest in; Peregrine is the only one who's awake, and therefore searches for Lady Marjorie upstairs. She's snoring in one of the rooms, but since he can't quite be sure that it's her, he decides to investigate the room which they heard the scuttling noise from, which is locked. As he turns away from it, Peregrine hears the noise again and it reminds him of a past conversation in which another Reverend saw and heard what he assumed must have been rats "heaving" under some bed sheets: he then realizes that the noise is being caused by something bigger. In a slight panic, he heads downstairs and knocks on Dr Henry's door without initially getting a response, but eventually he decides to just open it and look inside; Dr Henry is lying asleep on the bed, surrounded by his opium paraphernalia. Once he wakes up, he feels "like a lazy god", and says they should check the trig point but after a brief misunderstanding about names, Peregrine asks him to go upstairs in search of Lady Marjorie while he joins Peter for an ale. On the ground floor, Peregrine chats briefly with the Crowes and brings their beers upstairs. In the meantime, Dr Henry has woken up Lady Marjorie, who makes a beeline for the room she believes Robert to be in as the others follow her. The shuffling noise begins once more, and Peregrine joins the other two with the key to his room which he assumes will also open this door; this, however, does not work, so the characters resort to lock picking, which is also unsuccessful.

Peregrine and Lady Marjorie suddenly feel a wave of extreme tiredness, and they see a glowing hand with a burning flame on each fingertip, waving them to sleep. By the time Dr Henry turns to look at them, the hand is gone, so he looks through the keyhole and in the darkness he can make out a cluttered room, the bed of which contains a writhing form with an eyeless, scarecrow-like face beneath its sheets. The figure also seems to be chained to the bed, and Dr Henry assumes the movement to be caused by rats gnawing at the bed sheets; he then attempts to help Peregrine up, but he also falls unconscious beside him and the Lady.

## Important NPCs

* Robert Thompson
* Samuel, the young boy
* Peter Crowe
* June Crowe

## Quotes

* "The Color Out of Dice..." (Joseph) "The Color Out of Face, surely?" (Dan)
* "If in doubt, go Welsh." (Joseph)
* "Is she a natural snorer, out of interest, Dom?" (Danann) "She's got the lungs of a rhinoceros." (Dom)
* "It's uncle fumble coming down the stairs again." (Danann)

## Trivia

1. ↑ Reference to a line from Charles Dickens' *Tom Tiddler's Ground* ("And if you was to walk through the bedrooms now, you'd see the ragged, mouldy bedclothes a-heaving and a-heaving like seas." "And a-heaving and a-heaving with what?" he says. "Why, with the rats under 'em.") which M. R. James also quotes in his story *Rats*.
2. ↑ This object is known as a Hand of Glory, which tended to be the severed hand of a hanged criminal which would then undergo a series of modifications in order for it to achieve magical properties: different sources list various uses for the hand, which could render those who witnessed it unable to move, cast them into a very deep sleep, or alternatively produce light which only those in possession of the hand could see. A hand such as this can actually be seen in the Whitby Museum.
3. ↑ From *Rats*: "Under the counterpane someone lay, and not only lay, but stirred. That it was some *one* and not some *thing* was certain, because the shape of a head was unmistakable on the bolster; and yet it was all covered, and no one lies with covered head but a dead person; and this was not dead, not truly dead, for it heaved and shivered."- other mentions of linen-covered faces can be found in M. R. James' *Oh Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad*, *The Uncommon Prayer Book* and *A Vignette*.
4. ↑ From *Rats*: "Propped, or you might say sitting, on the edge of the bed was— nothing in the round world but a scarecrow! [...] but here amusement ceased. Have scarecrows bare bony feet? Do their heads loll on to their shoulders? Have they iron collars and links of chain about their necks? Can they get up and move, if never so stiffly, across a floor, with wagging head and arms close at their sides? and shiver?"