Silence is Golden

**Silence is Golden** is a side case in *The Sinking City* involving Joy Hayden.

The quest is added during the Deal with the Devil case. You receive a letter from Joy.

> "*Something horrible has happened. I must speak with you. Meet me at the Oakmont Library. Please hurry! I need your help - desperately*"
> ― Joy.
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You make your way to the University Library to find a frightened Joy. After promising you won't tell anybody, she says *"Her. In my apartment. Again. Don't know what to do !"*. When asking for more details, she gets scared and doesn't want to give any. *"No ! No words. Please."*

She gives Reed the address of Joy's Apartment : Western Shells, east from the corner of Liberty Rd and Hawking Ln, flat 1. Charles goes to the upper floor and finds a gruesome scene : Joy's dog laying on the floor, gutted and skinned. Reed finds A message written in blood on Joy's desk.

> *"Oakmont keeps its mouth shut, little girl. This is my second visit, and the final warning. If you can't be silent even when your mouth is sewn shut, I'll make a pair of shoes from your skin like I made a toy from your doggy. Stop talking too much. Silence is golden."*
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You find the mentioned toy next to the note : a gruesome teddy bear that she made with Joy's sewing machine and her dog's skin.

There are other clues, like a sign drawn in blood on the wall - depicting an eye, a Letter from Joy's parents, the dog's bed, a melted photo camera, and a Joy Hayden concert poster with the word CANCELLED written over it, right by a singing contest trophy.

After the scene reconstruction, Reed learns that the neighbor saw a glimpse of the terrible woman through a crack in a door. He tried to take a photo but got caught. To enter his apartment and continue the investigation, Charles has to search with his Mind's Eye to find the key in the basement. It can be found behind an illusory box on a shelf. Beware of wylebeasts !

Going back upstairs, you find the man laying dead on the ground.

> "*No sign of any wounds... but he looks like he's seen the Devil himself."'*"
> ― Reed
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In A tattered diary, you can read about his delight to have Joy as a neighbor and learn that the strange woman goes by the name of Granny Weaver. A certain Arthur Cox discovered her whereabouts and could lead to her lair : you have to go find out about it in the University Library's archives (History - Author - Local) this produces The Legend of Granny Weaver, a book written by Cox.

You learn about the legend of Granny Weaver, who grew from the story of Anne Osborne, a Salem witch, who became a weaver. She had taught her daughters about witchcraft if they swore to secrecy. Soon thereafter, the two girls' bodies were found in the sewers with their mouths sewn shut. It is believed that Obsorne's spirit still stalks the people expoising the town secrets. She can be banished for up to a century, but always comes back.

You find a supposed address : Beacon St between Windhalf Ave and Century Ave, western Oldgrove.

After Arriving at Granny Weaver's House it is found to be largely empty. There is an illusory wall on the ground floor next to a side table with books and a coat rack. Behind which he find a strange knife that "bites" him causing several wylebeasts to appear, as well as a book entitled Malleus Maleficarum. This book instructs that placing mirrors on either sides of a witches sign in her lair will summon her.

Upstairs behind locked doors Reed finds two child-sized skeletons with a doll and a Discolored, torn diary. The doll when examined with his minds eye reveals Granny Weaver giving the doll to a child named Eveline to keep her secrets. The diary being a note from the larger, presumably older skeleton.

In the basement there is a bloody sign on the floor between two broken mirrors. Retrocognition reveals that this was an attempt to summon and kill the witch
1. Setting up right mirror
2. Setting up left mirror
3. The Witch appearing
4. The men shooting at her.

From here Reed can go and collect two mirrors, one on the ground floor next to the basement stairs and one upstairs in the room with the two skeletons.

Placing the new, unbroken mirrors where the broken ones are will cause the witch to appear. What follows is a fight where Reed will suffer constant sanity drain.

After defeating the witch Reed can return to Joy to let her know she is safe, at least for the next 100 years, Completing the case.