NOTE: In order to make it so that people aren’t sitting on the sidelines, we have agreed to place Ada inside the church with Saul and Val. We have also agreed that Martin decided to get Lincoln, his horse, and ride to the church to see what’s been keeping his friends. He arrives just as the lightning bolt strikes Dr. Miller.
Keystone Coppery
The investigators all independently realize that they cannot take overt hostile action without arousing suspicion or the authorities getting involved. They instead all decide to put on a veneer of bumbling, well-intentioned incompetence in order to prevent the church’s leaders from discovering Father Wilk in the basement.
Outside, Dale tackles a limping Zebulon before he can reach the church door, citing his concern that Zebulon is injured. Meanwhile, Dr. Miller compels Fitzwilliam Carruthers to stop Helios Rebecca. Mr. Carruthers only gets the priestess’ hat, but Dr. Miller bears Helios Rebecca to the ground and sits on her. She tries to struggle, giving up once the long shadow created by Martin and Lincoln falls across her.
Inside, Alpha Solaris (with Val in tow) goes to the door to find out what the hell is going on. Zebulon (still immobilized by Dale) shouts that someone’s in the basement. Alpha Solaris goes to investigate, all the while screaming at Val, who is still pestering her with inane questions. This distracts Alpha Solaris enough so that Saul can get behind her and throw a cup of hot coffee on her back. This causes Alpha Solaris to scream in pain and stagger around, which puts her right next to a pew that Ada is “hiding” behind. Ada sees her opportunity, grabs Alpha Solaris’ foot, and pulls her off her feet. Alpha Solaris gets a badly bloodied nose for her pains.
Outside, Zebulon shrugs off Dale and runs for the door. Dale catches up to him and Zebulon, deciding he’s had more than enough, squares up to try and fight Dale. Dale throws a vicious jab to Zebulon’s abdomen, striking him full force in his partially healed bullet wound. The blow is non-lethal, but the intense pain takes the fight out of Zebulon.
Zebulon's Day Only Gets Worse From Here
Truce?
Outside, Helios Rebecca tells Martin and Dr. Miller that she surrenders and that, perhaps, the investigators and the church can come to an understanding. The two men are willing to listen and haul Helios Rebecca into the church while a bewildered Mr. Carruthers follows.
Inside the church, Alpha Solaris staunches her bloodied nose with a handkerchief given to her by Saul. Saul uses a second handkerchief to dab at the spreading coffee stain across the priestess’ back. Val looks smugly on at the scene while Ada sits down next to Alpha Solaris and begins to whisper terrible things into her ear. Things like:
“I have met the true priestess of Hylmunder and she is not you. She is coming for you and your church and you are going to die!”
Her words have a profound effect on Alpha Solaris.
Helios Rebecca asks for a moment to talk to her colleagues privately. When the investigators refuse, Helios Rebecca begrudgingly assents and says that they might as well talk about how much the church will need to pay the investigators to keep quiet. During this conversation, and the one that follows, Helios Rebecca calls Alpha Solaris “Mary-Ellen,” while Alpha Solaris calls Helios Rebecca “Hattie”.
This causes Val to scoff and say that Mary-Ellen’s real name is actually Ruth Green. Alpha Solaris’ eyes bug out as she finally recognizes Val. She demands to know why Val is here and not cooling her heels in a penitentiary somewhere. Val mentions how Alpha Solaris betrayed her, which causes Helios Rebecca to raise an eyebrow.
The church leaders explain that the church is a con job dedicated to fleecing its credible parishioners from their money. Originally, the tenets of the church were intentionally vague “Protestant adjacent” claptrap. This changed when the church elders found the temple of Hylmunder located underneath the church grounds. They soon incorporated Hylmunder-esque trappings into their religious services and began practicing magic.
Alpha Solaris insists that the whole thing is just a con and that she never meant to hurt anyone. Helios Rebecca points out that they hurt “the girl” (Molly Scott) and lied to her family and the police about what happened to her. Dale and the other investigators point out that Nicholas Frenso was killed by a bolt of lightning similar to the one that hit Dr. Miller. Alpha Solaris insists that Fresno died of a heart attack and ignores all evidence the investigators present to the contrary.
It becomes clear that, of the three, Helios Rebecca is the only one who seems remorseful about some of the church’s crimes. Zebulon seems unconcerned about their evil acts, while Alpha Solaris seems entirely justified by it.
Helios Rebecca - The Least Awful Cultist
Father Wilk
In the temple, Father Wilk hears the lightning strike and feels responsible. Taking the gold plates and extinguishing all the torches, he feels his way up the tunnel back to the church basement. As he goes, he hears parts of the commotion and subsequent conversation going on above. He takes some time to replace the movable shelf and sweep the floor to hide his tracks. Then he sneaks up the stairs to the storage room door.
After listening to the conversation for a moment, he decides that decisive action is called for. Concealing the plates beneath his robes, he leaps into the main church hall, clutching at his groin and shouting, “that’s not the bathroom! Where on earth is the bathroom? For the love of God, tell me where the bathroom is!”
Helios Rebecca offers to direct Father Wilk to the church outhouses. Val follows along, just in case. Father Wilk excuses himself, enters the outhouse, and quickly separates the plates from the iron ring holding them together. He then drops the plates one at a time into the effluvia below, watching as they sink out of sight.
Outside, Helios Rebecca asks Val for more particulars about her former relationship with Alpha Solaris. Val paints a less than rosy picture, saying that Helios Rebecca should prepare herself for Alpha Solaris’ sudden and inevitable betrayal. Helios Rebecca thanks her for the advice.
Father Wilk exits the outhouse and all three return to the church.
Into the Basement
The conversation swiftly deteriorates once it becomes clear that the investigators are not keen on taking a bribe to keep quiet about the church. Ada makes things worse by continuing to whisper awful things to Alpha Solaris, including that Molly Scott is the true priestess and that she is coming for her revenge.
Alpha Solaris is clearly terrified and insists, multiple times, that this is impossible, and that Molly Scott is dead. When the other investigators back up Ada’s story and claim that they have seen Molly Scott, Alpha Solaris promises to show them and heads down into the basement.
Dr. Miller stays in the church to tend to his wounds, and Father Wilk takes the opportunity to tell Dr. Miller about the plates and what he did with them. Meanwhile, Saul, who suspects this is not going to end well, and Mr. Carruthers, who has had quite enough of this, retreat to the car.
The rest follow Alpha Solaris as she grabs a shovel, swings open the shelving unit, and heads off to the underground temple. Zebulon and Helios Rebecca follow, the latter grabbing flashlights off of some of the shelves.
They reach the temple area to find that Alpha Solaris has tossed aside one of the rugs that marks out the processional path to the altar. She begins to dig in a patch of floor that is noticeably lower and more loosely packed than the dirt around it. After a few moments of frantic digging, she drops on her hands and knees and begins tearing into the dirt with her fingernails. In a ragged voice, she shouts, “Hattie. Zebulon. She’s not here. She’s not here. Where did she go?!”
As if on cue, Molly Scott, still garbed in her layers and layers of black fabric, phases through the wall and into the temple. Alpha Solaris screams in terror as Ada shouts, “she comes for you, your end is at hand!”
Zebulon pulls a revolver from his pocket and fires three shots into Molly Scott. This phases her not at all. As she walks calmly over to Alpha Solaris, Dale disarms Zebulon with such force that he breaks the man’s wrist.
Alpha Solaris Maxima Est, As Her Empire Crumbles
Showdown
Saul and Mr. Carruthers hear the gunshots. Saul falsely identifies them as more mysterious thunder. Both men remain in the car. Father Wilk and Dr. Miller, on the other hand, fear for their friends and run down into the basement.
They arrive as Molly Scott, who now stands before a kneeling and filthy Alpha Solaris, demands Hylmunder’s golden plates. Alpha Solaris says they are in the altar. Martin calmly goes to get the plates but finds that the secret chamber in the altar is empty.
This enrages Molly Scott, who denounces Alpha Solaris. She whispers that Alpha Solaris has squandered Hylmunder’s power, is a false prophet, and deserves the ultimate punishment for failing to scour the earth in advance of Hylmunder’s coming. With a strength that her slight frame belies, Molly Scott lifts Alpha Solaris up by her neck.
Ada looks away. Val watches in barely concealed excitement. The rest stand rooted, overwhelmed by horror, as Alpha Solaris begins to glow brightly red on the inside and a beam of white energy shoots out of her shrieking mouth. Alpha Solaris quickly blackens, filling the air with a sickly sweet, cooked pork smell.
Molly Scott discards the charred corpse without a second thought before turning to the other two church elders. Helios Rebecca, thoroughly overawed by the horror, throws herself on her face and vows to serve Hylmunder forever. Zebulon snarls at Dale to give him back his goddamn gun.
Dale does so, but only after snapping out the cylinder and dumping the remaining bullets and spent brass. Zebulon scowls at him.
“What do you say, Zebulon?”
“Screw you, lady.”
Molly Scott extends her hand. The air around Zebulon becomes dangerously cold. He quietly slumps down to the floor and expires, the heat of his body completely drained away from him.
“Now,” says Molly Scott. “Fulfill your promise to me. Find me those plates.”
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