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karohemdPreviously, Episode 1 and 2.
In which our intrepid heroes find a body, send telegrams, are followed by ugly people, learn of more mysterious people, make a plan, break into a warehouse and fail to both capture a frail, old man for questioning and burn the place down to cover their tracks.
(probably needs some proofreading which I'll do tomorrow)
Right, where were we? Ah yes, the morning after the dreadful nightmare. Everything outside the window looked fine and bright, well, at least there was an outside. There was a knock on the door. I opened it carefully, peeked around it and there was just a corridor and faithful Dunbar with a tray of tea, not some dreadful octagonal room. Quickly I got dressed and wandered downstairs to join the others (with exception of the Professor who refused to come out of his room and Thomas who would join us later when we had almost finished breakfast). Thomas looked more worse for wear than everybody else and apparently he "had fallen out of his window". Truth be told, his face looked as if he had... Added to that, his painting had changed again. In the sky there was a blob which was shaped curiously like the thing I had seen in my dream and I tried so much to banish from my mind...
Our little group established that we'd indeed all had the same nightmare and after a quick deliberation we decided to head down to the village.
Having arrived there we found a crowd gathered around the blacksmith's shop. Investigating, we heard that he apparently had jumped out of his window at night and fallen to his death. The Reverend went to speak to the wife while we tried to disperse the crowd and find out more. Not much more info was forthcoming, the constable only knew what the wife told him and the body was covered by a sheet on the floor. The doctor wasn't here yet as he had to be summoned from elsewhere on the island. Oh, while were there we told the constable about the missing maid, Miss Fry.
The Reverend returned but had not much else to report. Apparently, the poor blacksmith had screamed in his sleep (which woke his wife) and then jumped out of bed and literally run through the window.
Our nextt stop was the post office where I sent a telegram to James Hill's estate to see what happened to him.
On our way back, we noticed a commotion by the ferry where several workers were arguing. Turned out the ferry's rudder had jammed in a way and the ferry would be going nowhere until it was repaired. That was our easy way off the island gone but we were sure we could organise a boat from somewhere if the need arose.
As lunchtime was getting close we decided to head to the pub for a drink and a bite and to debate how to proceed. The place was packed but we managed to get a drink and some really nice fish pie. While we were deliberating what to do next, I spotted a rather odd fellow, ugly as sin, who was quite clearly watching us. I motioned Dunbar to keep an eye on him and then we left. We walked across the road to the first guesthouse on our list. Our object: to find the mysterious Dr. Parsons who had to be staying somewhere. Luck was on our side as it was indeed the place he was staying (and paying by the day). Interestingly, we hadn't been the first ones to enquire after him, there had also been a stocky gentleman in a bowler hat with piercing blue eyes (the man, not the hat). We thanked the man and set off down to the docks again. Every now and then, I spotted the ugly fellow from the pub following us in a safe distance. OK.
Down by the docks we learned that the ferry's rudder was actually missing and needed to be replaced and they're trying to get an engineer from the mainland as the only person who could have fixed it is now dead (the blacksmith/mechanic). Conspiracy? Who knows?
As we didn't really have anything else to do, we returned to the castle, also to see what our shadow would be doing.
When Dunbar returned he reported that the ugly chap had followed us for some way but must have realised we returned to the castle and went back into town, down the docks and into a warehouse. That was our next lead.
As we were chatting back at the castle, Jenkins reported that a stocky gentleman in a bowler hat with piercing blue eyes (yes, I know) had enquired after William but was sent away because William had still been asleep. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser...
After a hearty dinner of pheasant casserole, we decided that we had to know what was going on in the warehouse (which was near where those workers had shifted crates a couple of nights ago) so we got various things ready and then waited til after midnight before heading out.
We found the warehouse without running into anyone. The back door was locked with a chain and padlock but Robert managed to crack it with a crowbar. The door creaked open and we went in, Dunbar watching by the door with his trusty 6 iron.
The warehouse was, as far we could see with the light from our lanterns, packed with large shipping crates. While the others spread out to look around, Thomas and I had a look at the office to one side. The door was locked but Thomas knocked out a splinter from the window, reached in (badly cutting his arm in the process) and unlocked the door. Inside we were greeted by the absence of any filing system whatsoever, just stacks and stacks of papers, most of which looked like shipping manifests but none were filled in properly. Some had a name on it but there was nothing really useful.
While we were searching through the papers, we heard shouting and things from the rest of the warehouse so went out. Past one crate that had been prised open and seemed to contain boxes of wine, some fine French plonk, if I remember correctly, 1902, I believe. Further on, the others were gathered around a crate, which the Reverend was just closing again. Dunbar looked after Robert, who was leaning against a crate, an empty expression on his face, as if he'd just seen a ghost. The Reverend went on to describe a demon from hell with tentacles and teeth and mouths and things. Usually, I would have laughed at him but after last night, I wasn't so sure anymore.
Anyway, that crate had curious markings on its side, not a language any of us knew but curiously similar to the pictograms on the back of Thomas' painting, on the bottom of the ivory statuette and, of course, on the palms of our hands. So I went back to the office to search for the relevant shipping manifest and by sheer chance found it! Not that it was any good to me because it was all written in that curious language but it was a clue!
Now things got a little hectic. Suddenly, Thomas came crashing through the door, almost knocking himself out on the floor and there was shouting and scuffling and flickering of light coming from further down the warehouse. We headed over there to find the others battling with another old and ugly chap. We joined the fray but none of us managed to connect a blow or at least make any kind of impression, the man was slippery as a snake! Finally, Robert got out his gun and the fight stopped. The man demanded an explanation as to why we were there and threatened us with the authorities, babbling about breaking and entering and we wanted to know what this was all about. Needless to say, nobody got an answer and before long, the ugly fellow suddenly grabbed me and off the fight went again. He pulled out something from his jacket, twisted it and threw it to the floor, upon which we were blinded by a searing painful light in which awful shapes seemed to float. It took us a while to come to again and return to where we left off. More scuffling until I finally managed to hit him across the arm with my walking stick in a fine Bartitsu move which brought him down. I don't know why he was so mad but before anyone could do anything, Thomas pointed Robert's revolver (which he had dropped after being kneed in the groin - ouch) at the chap's knee and fired, severing his lower leg. The chap was clearly quite dead and had taken his secret to his grave.
Dunbar suggested that leaving this place was a good idea but before we set off I thought the ugly fellow might have something on him that could help us so went through his pockets. I found a small, curious pouch with odd feathery drawstrings and a round stone thing with a metal cap, that looked a bit like the thing he threw to the ground and blinded us with.
As an afterthought, someone had the idea to burn down the warehouse, both to cover our tracks and to destroy what else was in there (like the thing in the one crate, apparently a monstrosity in a bell jar) and the living(?) coral thing in the other (which, I realise, I had declined to mention up until now) so fire was set to the paper in the office and we made our way out.
The fire would soon attract a crowd so we decided to split up. Dunbar and I stayed behind to see what happened, the others headed back to the castle. Well, to make this brief, I'm sorry to report that the villagers were quite well organised, set up a bucket chain (which Dunbar and I joined so as not to raise suspicion) and the fire was actually put out rather quickly before it could do much damage. After it was clear we could gain no more information from here, we returned to the castle as well.
Back at the castle, it was already very late at night so after Dunbar and the Reverend administered medical care to those who needed it (especially Thomas and Robert), we decided to retire for the night.
Just before I went to sleep, I looked into that curious pouch and found a number of odd, small stones. As it wasn't something I could immediately investigate, I decided it would have to wait til morning and turned off the light...
(to be continued)
In which our intrepid heroes find a body, send telegrams, are followed by ugly people, learn of more mysterious people, make a plan, break into a warehouse and fail to both capture a frail, old man for questioning and burn the place down to cover their tracks.
(probably needs some proofreading which I'll do tomorrow)
Right, where were we? Ah yes, the morning after the dreadful nightmare. Everything outside the window looked fine and bright, well, at least there was an outside. There was a knock on the door. I opened it carefully, peeked around it and there was just a corridor and faithful Dunbar with a tray of tea, not some dreadful octagonal room. Quickly I got dressed and wandered downstairs to join the others (with exception of the Professor who refused to come out of his room and Thomas who would join us later when we had almost finished breakfast). Thomas looked more worse for wear than everybody else and apparently he "had fallen out of his window". Truth be told, his face looked as if he had... Added to that, his painting had changed again. In the sky there was a blob which was shaped curiously like the thing I had seen in my dream and I tried so much to banish from my mind...
Our little group established that we'd indeed all had the same nightmare and after a quick deliberation we decided to head down to the village.
Having arrived there we found a crowd gathered around the blacksmith's shop. Investigating, we heard that he apparently had jumped out of his window at night and fallen to his death. The Reverend went to speak to the wife while we tried to disperse the crowd and find out more. Not much more info was forthcoming, the constable only knew what the wife told him and the body was covered by a sheet on the floor. The doctor wasn't here yet as he had to be summoned from elsewhere on the island. Oh, while were there we told the constable about the missing maid, Miss Fry.
The Reverend returned but had not much else to report. Apparently, the poor blacksmith had screamed in his sleep (which woke his wife) and then jumped out of bed and literally run through the window.
Our nextt stop was the post office where I sent a telegram to James Hill's estate to see what happened to him.
On our way back, we noticed a commotion by the ferry where several workers were arguing. Turned out the ferry's rudder had jammed in a way and the ferry would be going nowhere until it was repaired. That was our easy way off the island gone but we were sure we could organise a boat from somewhere if the need arose.
As lunchtime was getting close we decided to head to the pub for a drink and a bite and to debate how to proceed. The place was packed but we managed to get a drink and some really nice fish pie. While we were deliberating what to do next, I spotted a rather odd fellow, ugly as sin, who was quite clearly watching us. I motioned Dunbar to keep an eye on him and then we left. We walked across the road to the first guesthouse on our list. Our object: to find the mysterious Dr. Parsons who had to be staying somewhere. Luck was on our side as it was indeed the place he was staying (and paying by the day). Interestingly, we hadn't been the first ones to enquire after him, there had also been a stocky gentleman in a bowler hat with piercing blue eyes (the man, not the hat). We thanked the man and set off down to the docks again. Every now and then, I spotted the ugly fellow from the pub following us in a safe distance. OK.
Down by the docks we learned that the ferry's rudder was actually missing and needed to be replaced and they're trying to get an engineer from the mainland as the only person who could have fixed it is now dead (the blacksmith/mechanic). Conspiracy? Who knows?
As we didn't really have anything else to do, we returned to the castle, also to see what our shadow would be doing.
When Dunbar returned he reported that the ugly chap had followed us for some way but must have realised we returned to the castle and went back into town, down the docks and into a warehouse. That was our next lead.
As we were chatting back at the castle, Jenkins reported that a stocky gentleman in a bowler hat with piercing blue eyes (yes, I know) had enquired after William but was sent away because William had still been asleep. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser...
After a hearty dinner of pheasant casserole, we decided that we had to know what was going on in the warehouse (which was near where those workers had shifted crates a couple of nights ago) so we got various things ready and then waited til after midnight before heading out.
We found the warehouse without running into anyone. The back door was locked with a chain and padlock but Robert managed to crack it with a crowbar. The door creaked open and we went in, Dunbar watching by the door with his trusty 6 iron.
The warehouse was, as far we could see with the light from our lanterns, packed with large shipping crates. While the others spread out to look around, Thomas and I had a look at the office to one side. The door was locked but Thomas knocked out a splinter from the window, reached in (badly cutting his arm in the process) and unlocked the door. Inside we were greeted by the absence of any filing system whatsoever, just stacks and stacks of papers, most of which looked like shipping manifests but none were filled in properly. Some had a name on it but there was nothing really useful.
While we were searching through the papers, we heard shouting and things from the rest of the warehouse so went out. Past one crate that had been prised open and seemed to contain boxes of wine, some fine French plonk, if I remember correctly, 1902, I believe. Further on, the others were gathered around a crate, which the Reverend was just closing again. Dunbar looked after Robert, who was leaning against a crate, an empty expression on his face, as if he'd just seen a ghost. The Reverend went on to describe a demon from hell with tentacles and teeth and mouths and things. Usually, I would have laughed at him but after last night, I wasn't so sure anymore.
Anyway, that crate had curious markings on its side, not a language any of us knew but curiously similar to the pictograms on the back of Thomas' painting, on the bottom of the ivory statuette and, of course, on the palms of our hands. So I went back to the office to search for the relevant shipping manifest and by sheer chance found it! Not that it was any good to me because it was all written in that curious language but it was a clue!
Now things got a little hectic. Suddenly, Thomas came crashing through the door, almost knocking himself out on the floor and there was shouting and scuffling and flickering of light coming from further down the warehouse. We headed over there to find the others battling with another old and ugly chap. We joined the fray but none of us managed to connect a blow or at least make any kind of impression, the man was slippery as a snake! Finally, Robert got out his gun and the fight stopped. The man demanded an explanation as to why we were there and threatened us with the authorities, babbling about breaking and entering and we wanted to know what this was all about. Needless to say, nobody got an answer and before long, the ugly fellow suddenly grabbed me and off the fight went again. He pulled out something from his jacket, twisted it and threw it to the floor, upon which we were blinded by a searing painful light in which awful shapes seemed to float. It took us a while to come to again and return to where we left off. More scuffling until I finally managed to hit him across the arm with my walking stick in a fine Bartitsu move which brought him down. I don't know why he was so mad but before anyone could do anything, Thomas pointed Robert's revolver (which he had dropped after being kneed in the groin - ouch) at the chap's knee and fired, severing his lower leg. The chap was clearly quite dead and had taken his secret to his grave.
Dunbar suggested that leaving this place was a good idea but before we set off I thought the ugly fellow might have something on him that could help us so went through his pockets. I found a small, curious pouch with odd feathery drawstrings and a round stone thing with a metal cap, that looked a bit like the thing he threw to the ground and blinded us with.
As an afterthought, someone had the idea to burn down the warehouse, both to cover our tracks and to destroy what else was in there (like the thing in the one crate, apparently a monstrosity in a bell jar) and the living(?) coral thing in the other (which, I realise, I had declined to mention up until now) so fire was set to the paper in the office and we made our way out.
The fire would soon attract a crowd so we decided to split up. Dunbar and I stayed behind to see what happened, the others headed back to the castle. Well, to make this brief, I'm sorry to report that the villagers were quite well organised, set up a bucket chain (which Dunbar and I joined so as not to raise suspicion) and the fire was actually put out rather quickly before it could do much damage. After it was clear we could gain no more information from here, we returned to the castle as well.
Back at the castle, it was already very late at night so after Dunbar and the Reverend administered medical care to those who needed it (especially Thomas and Robert), we decided to retire for the night.
Just before I went to sleep, I looked into that curious pouch and found a number of odd, small stones. As it wasn't something I could immediately investigate, I decided it would have to wait til morning and turned off the light...
(to be continued)
