Evelyn
bump
Evelyn suddenly lowers her voice to a whisper, "I think there are eavesdroppers about." With a concerned look toward the door she glances back in Robert's and Fergus' direction.
Robert moves to the door as quietly as he can and listens intently.
Unfortunately he sneaks like a herd of buffalo and can't hear a thing
The floor is pretty creaky as Robert moves across.
However, Robert as you listen, you hear a sudden creaking on the porch.
Evelyn moves up to the window. As she peers out she's just in time to see the back of what appears to be the same man you saw on the road, hurry down the porch steps and start moving towards the trail that leads from the cabin back to the road.
With the annoyance obvious in her tone, "It's that same man. Persistent, isn't he?"
"Yes he is..and what's more we don't know how long he was out there"
Robert opens the door and steps out.
"I'll stay outside and make sure he doesn't come back"
In that case he continues to run off down the path to the road. Soon you can no longer see him due to the trees.
Anything else you wish to ask Mother Bishop?
Evelyn turns back toward Mother Bishop, tells her the story of the ancient golden ferroniere, and asks if she has any insight.
Mother Bishop ponders your question for a moment.
She then says, "Excuse me for a moment dearie."
With that she gets up, and with significant effort walks into one of the two back rooms of her cabin. You can hear her rummaging about in there for some time. Finally, she comes back out. She is carry a thin book. She opens the book and you can see that the old yellowed parchment pages are no longer bound and are just sitting loosely between the covers.
On the page she shows you is a drawing of the Ferroniere and beside it are some hand written notes done in sepia toned ink. The notes appear to be written in an eastern language, possibly arabic.
"Is this the object of which you speak?"
You nod.
She then continues, "My arabic isn't what it used to be, but according to these notes this object is very very old, crafted by a civilization that may have existed before even the ancient egyptians. They have been referred to as the hyboreans. This artifact is said to have magical properties. According to these notes it has power over the dead. It says something about being able to breath a semblance of life into the body of a deceased."
A frown crosses Evelyn's face, "I wonder if it's connected with Noah Whatley's grave. See Rita and I found that Mr. Whatley's grave has been dug up and is empty on Sentinel Hill. Do you think whoever stole the ferroniere believes in its powers and is trying to bring him back?"
Mother Bishop's wizened old face frowns.
"I don't know what to make of all this. However, if what you say about Noah Whateley's grave is true, then I strongly advise that you investigate your hypothesis further."
Tilting her head with a thoughtful expression, "Well, our most likely suspect in all this still seems to be Amos. Maybe we should finally pay him a visit and see firsthand exactly what and who we are dealing with." She glances toward Fergus and Rita to see if they want to add anything.
Robert contines to patrol around the house watching for interlopers
Rita is still not feeling well after her experiences in the caves, and Robert the things that Robert has seen has started to weigh heavy on. He decides that he should take care of Rita and escort her back to the Squire's home for now.
Robert and Evelyn are free to continue the investigation.
Off to the Amos residence then?
Robert and Evelyn are free to continue the investigation.
Off to the Amos residence then?
After a polite goodbye to Mother Bishop Evelyn repeats her question and reasoning to Robert outside.
"Sure Miz Evelyn..no harm in checking the place out...but lets not try and rile this guy up..sounds like he doesn't take to kindly to strangers calling"
With a smile, "Isn't that why I have you along?" She gets directions from Mother Bishop if she is so inclined and heads that way.
Since you don't really know where Mr. Amos Whateley is you have to go back to Squire Whateley's place first. You accompany Rita and Fergus, but neither of them seem up for further investigations today. The strain of the exploration in the caves and Fergus's disappearance the previous night have been a little too much for them.
When you arrive at the Squire's home, you find that the Squire has a guest. The guest is a woman, probably in her mid 40’s, and she appears to be fairly normal for the most part. She might even be considered attractive for her age if it weren’t for ears that stick out just a bit too much and a lazy right eye.
She’s sitting in a chair in the Squire’s living room, and the two of them are drinking tea. She seems somewhat upset.
As you enter the squire introduces her to you, “This is Ruth Whateley, my cousin.”
Evelyn gives a warm smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Evelyn Carnavon and this is Robert Edward Jackson. Can we be of some assistance?"
"Mornin' Ma'am..we're sorry to intrude upon you and the squire here"
She looks at you and is obviously, distressed.
"Nice to meet you. Thanks for you concern, but these are personal matters. Unless one of you happens to be a doctor."
The squire nods says. "Don't worry Ruth, I'll take you to go find Dr. Jones and we'll see what can be done for your husband."
With concern in her voice, "Of course, of course. Sorry to hear your husband is ill. Perhaps I could stay and keep Ruth company while you fetch the doctor or we could fetch the doctor ourselves for you?"
The Squire says "Yes, how about the two of you stay for a moment, and I'll go fetch the doctor. Don't worry Ruth, Evelyn and Robert here are both very nice people."
She looks at you with a bit of distrust in her eyes, though with one being lazy...
Squire Whateley grabs his coat and heads out the door. It has begun to rain a little. Fergus and Rita have headed back to their respective lodgings for the time being.
After the Squire leaves, a moment of awkward silence falls over the room, as Ruth continues to sip her tea, but seems to be unsure what to say.
From somewhere in the village the fading sounds of someone wailing and shrieking drift into room. For a moment Ruth's head comes up, as though she is listening to the sounds, but her expression doesn't change and after a few seconds she looks back down into her tea. A tear trickles down her cheek. The faint shrieking sounds continues.
Her brow furrowed with worry she looks toward Robert, "It's sounds as if someone may need assistance Robert. I am sure we will be fine here." Turning back toward Ruth, Evelyn places her hand on hers, "I'm sure the Squire will do everything he can, he seems a good man. What's your husbands name?"
"I doubt anyone's in any real trouble. Sometimes people around here like to carry on. It helps them clear their heads."
"Oh my husband, his name is Curtis."
Hoping Robert is picking up on all this, "Still, it can't hurt to make sure everything is ok." Smiling warmly, "Curtis. That's a nice name. What does he do here in town?"
"Well unfortunately, these days he doesn't do much of anything due to his condition. In fact he's even recently stopped eating, which is why I want to get Dr. Jones over to see him. I'm really worried about him. It's been very hard on me. I pretty much have to do everything around the home even all the men's work."
At this point she starts sobbing.
"May I ask how long your husband has been suffering from his condition Ma'am" Robert asks solicitously
She recovers from her sobbing long enough to answer Robert's question.
"It's been since last September, but he's gotten much worse over the last month. I am at my wits end. I worry so much about him. He hasn't spoken a word since before winter, and lately he's been leaving the home for hours before he comes back. And now he refuses to even eat at thing.
The Squire's been good to me though. He's too old now to do many chores, but he's sent Red over to help me from time to time by cutting fire wood and that sort of thing."
"May I ask how long your husband has been suffering from his condition Ma'am" Robert asks solicitously
Well I am sorry to hear that Ma'am...do you have any idea how he developed this condition ..was it an illness or something else?"
"I don't want to talk about it. But you probably already heard some rumors anyhow. There were some bad things that happened here last year at that time, and he saw some things..."
He voice kind of trails off at this point.
Evelyn rubs the back of the woman's hand, "I'm sure the Squire will be able to help." Not wanting to cause the woman further pain she makes small talk about the weather and countryside until the Squire returns.
Robert would dearly like to question the woman further but a sharp look from Evelynn makes him hold back his questions..he joins in the small talk until the squire returns.
Several minutes later the squire returns with a bald, slightly overweight, middle aged man in a black suit carrying a doctor's bag.
The Squire introduces him as Dr. Tucker Jones, and he explains that you're reporters and friends of his. He then invites to come with them to meet Curtis.
Red prepares the carriage, which can seat all of you. The Squire drives and Robert sits beside him. In the seats in the back sit Dr. Jones, Evelyn and Mrs. Whateley.
You head for their farmhouse, which turns out to be a little west of the old Whateley farm and Sentinel Hill.
Evelyn greets Dr. Jones (do his friends call him Indy?) and as they ride in the carriage she says with concern in her voice, "I hope you haven't had the call to be terribly busy as of late doctor..."
Well I'm the only Dr. in the village, so I keep busy enough. The thing is the folk around here don't have much use for modern medicine. They have their own ways of dealing with health issues, and frankly a lot of them are based more on superstition than anything else.
It takes about 20 minutes to half an hour to get to the farmhouse. It's a small place not unlike most of the residences in Dunwich. A mangy dog is curled up on the porch gnawing on a bone, and the front door is hanging open.
Everyone gets out of the carriage and heads towards the home. As you head up the porch steps you see dark muddy boot prints on the steps and porch that lead into the house. The mud is still wet and fresh. As you enter the home you see a figure that must be Curtis sitting on a chair staring at the wall. He looks rather pale, and it is clear that he hasn't shaven or bathed in a long time. His eyes don't blink and he doesn't show any reaction to any of you as you enter the cottage. He is still wearing his boots and they are clearly the source of the trail of mud.
Dr. Jones moves up to him and snaps his fingers in front of his eyes a couple of times and says his name. He still doesn't blink or respond.
Evelyn looks back to see if she can tell where the muddy footprints lead and then watches the doctor work quietly while comforting his wife.
They come from his little cart track that leads up to their home. Some of the mud on his boots (particularly the higher parts where it hasn't had a chance to wear off or get mixed with other soil types) looks quite darker than anything you notice in the immediate area.
Next the doctor takes out his stethoscope and checks Curtis's heart rate. He murmurs a little, but doesn't seem overly concerned. After that he takes out a thermometer and sticks it in the man's mouth. He still doesn't react or blink. After he takes the thermometer out. He then feels Curtis's head and a perplexed look crosses his face.
"That's odd, he's forehead feels almost cold to the touch, but his temperature is very high. Feverish in fact. He still hasn't blinked. I'm tempted to give him a shot of adrenaline to see that pulls him out of his catatonic state."
Robert it is clear to you that though Curtis certainly needs medical attention, a psychiatrist might be good for him.
Robert tries to judge Curtis's condition but beyond recognising his catatonic state he is at a loss.
He is loth to suggest that Arkham Asylum might be the safest place for the unfortunate man
Dr Jones says, "His condition is worse than I had anticipated, and to be honest I'm not really sure how to treat it. I'm going to give him a shot of adrenaline and see if that brings him to his senses for at least a few moments."
Dr. Jones pulls a syringe out of his bag and fills it with liquid from a small glass vial. He then injects it into Curtis' arm. Curtis eyes suddenly bulge and he jolts forward in his chair. He screams out, "WHATELEY!". Then collapses back in his seat. Foam begins to build around his mouth and he starts to gibber. "Ny'lesh y'hyl so thoth agraz somore ry'leh xi tith..."
The gibbering continues; It is nothing you can understand. The foam gets worse, and he begins to twitch and shake as though he were having a seizure.