A Christmas Inheritance 05: Hide and Seek

### Players

Joseph Chance as Edward CaisterDominic Allen as Sidney WagnerDan Wheeler as Rev. Peregrine McCutcheon

### Podcast Link

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-wfxes-115e959

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

As Sidney turns to look upon the figure which stood behind him at the end of the previous episode, it brushes past him and lumbers away. The characters are then presented in the introduction, Sidney makes a sanity roll and is set to experience a bout of madness. Meanwhile, on the grounds, Edward proposes once more to postpone the search for Samuel so him and Peregrine eventually head back to the house in search of Sidney, who is now realizing the whole thing is simply a game. He then becomes convinced that his friends won't be able to see him; they have now entered the house with Ben accompanying them, and Peregrine suggests soon enough that Sidney may simply have retired for the night.

The house appears to be almost *too* quiet, so Edward attempts to stoke up the fire in the library while Peregrine heads up to Sidney's bedroom and knocks on the door, receiving no response; he then opens the door slightly and through the darkness he realizes the bed is empty. Downstairs, Edward dries off in front of the fire and has some whiskey while Peregrine trips up on the bowl from the study; he then calls out to Sidney, who is assured by Danann that he is still safe and warm. Edward and Peregrine meet up to converse about their friend, the latter picks the bowl up and they decide to keep it with them as they look for Sidney, thinking he might be in either the kitchen or the wine cellar, but the fact that it's approximately 4am requires a constitution roll which renders Peregrine so exhausted that when he sits down in front of the fire to dry off he almost immediately falls asleep. Edwards tucks him in "just like I used to do back in the day", and goes into the kitchen while Danann checks in with Sidney once more. Edward brings Ben with him towards the dining room and into the kitchen, where he procures some cheese, and he then walks back to his room after making sure Peregrine is still asleep. He attempts once more to call for Sidney but nothing happens so he also passes out.

Meanwhile, Sidney is still feeling rather safe, and after some time Peregrine wakes suddenly, feeling a little disoriented, and finds that his hand is being licked by what he assumes is Ben, until he hears a bark sound from the other side of the house; the thing freezes as he realizes this, and simultaneously the fire dies out. Peregrine strokes it and addresses it as if it's Ben, but thanks to a natural world roll realizes it can't be alive since it's cold and the fur is very stiff. There's low growl, the thing rises up, and in a panic Peregrine finds himself yelling "Go up you bald head!" as the thing screams beside him; he runs for the door, but then fumbles a luck roll and bumps into something so that the thing looms over him and causes a sharp pain in his shoulder while they both fall into the table. Peregrine pulls out his knife and manages to slightly injure the creature which subsequently makes a sound similar to the crying of a child. There's some ragged breathing followed by a loud shriek, and it bites Peregrine's left arm before stumbling out of the room.

Sidney now "steps out of his cocoon" and hears a sort of high pitched noise, like that of a flute, which cuts off as he fails a pushed roll. Edward is now still asleep while Peregrine makes his way over to the closest window to check the time, which turns out to be 5am; he then knocks on Edward's door and hears a low growling inside the bedroom. The door then bursts open revealing a mass of strange, unknowable shapes, which Peregrine slashes at with his knife, as Sidney (the figure covered in various hats and furs) yells "Bear!" and smashes the wall with a bronze hammer he presumably acquired from the study; Edward is woken up by this, and reaches for his shotgun as Sidney slumps and falls asleep on the floor, which allows the others to see that he is wearing his entire hat collection. Peregrine then tells Edward about his incident in the study, and it becomes apparent that there is a creature in the house.

## Trivia

1. ↑ The main character of M. R. James' *The Diary of Mr Poynter* also has a very similar experience.
2. ↑ Most likely the whistle inspired by the one in M. R. James' *Oh Whistle, and I'll Come To You, My Lad* which will come up later on.