Professor Victor Hawkins (archaeology, Cambridge) and young Evelyn Joans (plucky reporter) stay in Providence. Hawkins uses his academic pull to secure a private research room at Brown. Luckily it is summer break and he has a high Credit Rating. They then go to the local dog pound and casually secure a dead dog. Like you do. Hawkins wants to experiment on the "essential saltes" theory.
Returning the corpus canis to the university, a long alchemical procedure is carefully followed. At the end of which there is a small pile of blue-gray powder in the room, looking suspiciously like the powder in the many vials they
He casts the spell and suffers a mild shock as his mind reels. Then Hawkins and Joans both gasp as they see a smoking pile of powder suddenly form into a dog. Hawkins freezes and gibbers.
The dog totters a bit, then growls savagely, leaps at the catatonic professor, and starts tearing into his throat. Young Miss Joans, not one to wilt in the heat of battle, pulls her .32 from her purse and puts a bullet through it. Then another through its brain once it releases the professor. A confused janitor shows up and the duo bluffs him. How did a rabid dog get in here? What's the meaning of this? Don't you know who I am? Etc.
Our heroes take this whole series of events as an excellent sign.
Meanwhile, in Woonsocket, Platt and Sharpe park several miles out and hike through the backcountry into town. The better to avoid authorities, you see. Sneaking up to the back of the police station, Platt cracks his knuckles, approaches the lock, and critically succeeds. The lock opens to him like a lover and they sneak in, electric torches at hand. Locating their friend's desiccated corpse, they quickly load it into a body bag and then leave.
They then proceed to schlep a dead body several miles through the backcountry in the dead of night. Due to Sir Richard's experience with night maneuvers in the War, this goes off without incident.
Our heroes take this series of events as another excellent sign.
Reuniting the next day, they formulate a plan. Hawkins reduces their friend's body to its saltes. They bottle the residue and then go to the asylum to pay a visit to their "friend." Luckily it is July 4th and most of the employees are out at festivities. Platt, the only American amongst a party of Brits, takes the opportunity to be briefly but obnoxiously patriotic.
They sign in as visitors to the asylum. Dismissing the orderly who escorted them to the padded cell, Platt and Hawkins enter. Joans and Sharpe stand watch. Their "friend" in the cell asks if they've had a change of heart. Platt says yes, and gets out a chloroformed rag and immediately presses it up against the man's face, crushing him in his deadly embrace. The man is straightjacketed and outmatched by Platt even on an even footing, so there is little he can do except squirm until he loses consciousness.
Hawkins casts the reversal. They both gasp and startle as the fiend's body withers into powder. They carefully sweep the saltes up into a little pile and scoop it into an empty vial.
Emptying out the vial of their friend onto the floor, Hawkins again casts the spell, and suffers the consequences. Their friend stands before them in shock. He slowly looks around as realization dawns, and begins to titter, then laugh madly. "Do you have my book?" he asks. "I need my book. There is so much, so much. The beauty, between the spheres. You've heard it [looking at Hawkins]. The burning in your eyes tells me. MY BOOK!"
"Sorry, Brian," says Platt, and chloroforms him. They strip him naked and then put him into the straightjacket, unconscious, and leave him on the low padded bed. They then march merrily out of the asylum and wish the desk clerk a happy fourth. They pause on the way to scatter the saltes into the Atlantic.
SO:
- they have almost certainly destroyed a long-dead sorcerer.
- they have an evil book which one party member wants to burn.
- they brought their friend back to life, probably driving him mad in the process and doing little to dissuade him from his obsession with black magic. Luckily he is safely locked up in an asylum where there is no possible way he could ever escape and cause problems for the PCs, ever.
- they are not especially welcome on the Brown university campus.
All in all, a good night's work!
But wait, what's this? A telegram from their good friend Jackson Elias? Ah, good old Jackson, just back from abroad! Let's go see what he needs and toast his good health!
Damned Rubbish I say! Call me a Hobo murderer when I was shot & wounded twice by the violent degenerate madman. I am not some wilting flower Vegan to bury my head in the sand like a lumpy turnip when some one is attempting to kill me! No I returned fire with a single shot & alas that was more than sufficient to end the raving maniac. No derbies for me! Even the Sheriff, the Judge, & the District Attorney saw it clearly that way without me even needing to contact a solicitor to take a case. Damn you - --- you Third-Person-Omniscient-Voice!
ReplyDeleteAs to Platt dabbing it up with the giblets door to the Sherrif's office, I for one am glad to be shut of that hamlet & will never have to touch that filthy mettle soaked doorknob.
Yes that filthy book should be burned! It seduces the professor & his Mary-Anne (oops I mean Judy - I mean the writer lady) with it's darkness & I fear can only lead them to madness & deep pits of despair! Also it will serve as a beacon to any dark thing that desires power. It will also call to the poor unfortunate locked for now in the asylum. I fear that he will escape its confines & be drawn like a moth to a flame to recover the book. I for one will be sad to have to put down that lost soul if he makes a mad try for the tome in some future confrontation. This book will bring only grief & trouble!