Call of Cthulhu Part 11: October 18, 1925 (Late)

In which the longest day ever at last concludes...

Mikhail

After a harrowing journey that has taken its toll on everyone who wasn’t Mrs. Dimathias (she slept through the whole shooting/murder/drive away quickly scene like a champ), Mikhail and company finally reach Ashby, MA. They meet Phillip (Ruth-Anne’s husband) at the boarding house and get rooms for the night. Phillip is fine with having a dog on the premises, which suits Mikhail. He neither wants to sleep alone, nor with Angie in his room.

Once everyone is settled, Mikhail makes some phone calls using the public phone at the general store. He first calls Deb, tells her pretty much the entire truth of the situation, and apologizes for not trusting her before. He tells her that he now trusts her and Anige with this important information. Deb is willing to help Mikhail take on the Silver Twilight Lodge.

Mikhail’s other phone calls are continued below.

Ron and Viv

Somehow no worse for wear, Ron and Viv return to the Bernouse residence later that evening. They find that Nathan Torpley has left a small, flat box (wrapped in brown paper and twine) on the steps of the guest house. There is a note addressed to Ron, indicating that, “everything will be ready” and that he should come to a certain French restaurant in Midtown at 8:00 tomorrow evening. Ron opens the box and finds a very nice gold and jade necklace.

Mr. Torpley Has Good Taste...

Viv then gets a late-night call from Mikhail, who tells her where he (and James and company) are. Mikhail mentions the Silver Twilight Lodge member who almost assassinated James before being killed by Angie. Viv is surprised at how far Mikhail went to keep James safe, but does admit that Mikhail has a point when he says, “they just thoroughly searched Ashby. It’s the last place they’ll look.”

Viv relates her and Ron’s adventures of the previous evening. In the background, Ron apologizes for the states of the door, the rug, and the lemon cake at Mrs. Dimathias’ house. He promises to send someone over to fix things. The call ends with Viv asking Mikhail to call Johnny and crew and fill them in on what happened. They should all, hopefully, be back at the judge’s house by now.

At the Judge’s House

Judge Putnam convenes a quick meeting with Kane Eastman, Dr. Black, and Johnny to get their stories straight, while the judge’s lawyer, Raleigh Rothschild, talks to the police on scene. The quartet spin a believable story about how, at the same time the now deceased intruder broke into the judge’s house, a pair of different intruders broke into the garage to steal the judge’s car. Johnny, Kane, and Dr. Black went to investigate the sounds of the break in, exchanged gunfire with the suspects, but could not prevent them from fleeing in the judge’s car.

The police believe all this because the judge is white, a judge, and very rich. They take everyone’s statement, remove the dead intruder from the house, and ask the judge to stay in the carriage house tonight while they process the scene. They also ask the judge to stop by the station tomorrow to give a more complete statement.

The quartet retire to the carriage house, where they debrief one another on what happened that night. The judge hands over the black, velvet bag containing human hair, fingernails, some knuckle bones, and a small vial of blood, as well as the two pieces of paper recovered from the intruder. Johnny notices that the ritualistic scroll is partially written in Greek. He manages to make out that it is a “magic spell” that allows someone to “take on the form of another” through something called “anthrophagy.” He tells the judge that he suspects that the Lodge meant to kill him and, through the use of magic, replace him with a doppelganger. 

The judge dismisses all of this magical stuff as poppycock and balderdash.  Dr. Black, who is busily stitching up his own wounds, is skeptical. Kane Eastman, however, believes Johnny’s story. He says that, if the judge was willing, he could call up Carl Stanford and pretend to be the successful intruder, now disguised as the judge. He further says that the judge has made this even easier by obliterating the intruder’s face (and head) with a close-range shotgun blast. The group discusses the merits of this plan. The judge worries that he might accidentally give the game away by not knowing things the intruder should. Kane says that, “it’s magic. You could probably fake some kind of amnesia.”

The judge, discomfited by all this Silver Twilight Lodge nonsense, tells the others that he plans to create a warrant and send about fifty police officers in to seize and search the Lodge premises. The others are hesitant, and bring up the following:

• A lack of evidence.
• Other Lodge members having enough influence to stop the investigation.
• Other members learning about the police operation and fleeing before the cops arrive.
• There was also a suggestion that the judge could order the sting operation and then abruptly end it, as a way to prove that he had been magically replaced.

Johnny then said that he wished he had gotten the Lodge’s Gate Box back from Ashby instead of just chaining it up. He explained that the group could use it as a way to get into the Lodge undetected, douse the place with kerosene, and leave behind a huge pile of dynamite. He said that it would almost be worth it to make a multi-hour trip to Ashby to get the box back. Failing that, he planned to employ other means…

At this point, Mikhail called.

MIKHAIL: I’m in Ashby.

JOHNNY: You’re WHERE?!

MIKHAIL: Ashby, Massachusetts. I have James, we…

JOHNNY: Okay, I want you to listen to me VERY CAREFULLY.

Johnny tells Mikhail that it is vitally important for him to recover the wardrobe from the lonely cabin in Mill Ville. Refreshingly, when Johnny says, “it’s because it’s a magic box that will allow us to teleport into the Lodge undetected,” Mikhail 100% believes him and trusts his judgment.

Mikhail tells Johnny that he has James Clark, and that James went a little loopy yesterday, which caused him to start screaming about the end of days and an invading deity or monster. Something called “YOG-SOTHOTH.” Johnny has never heard of the name, but is concerned. He mentions it to the others, and they’ve never heard of it either.

The End of the Day, Finally

Kane's Friend, Horus

Everyone gets some rest. Except for Kane Eastman, who steals a bottle of the judge’s best wine and brings it to his friend Papa Doc Horus. Horus is happy to see Kane, but is absolutely horrified when Kane mentions the name “YOG-SOTHOTH.”

Horus tells Kane that this is the name of the evil, grasping spirit that he had told Kane about before, and that Kane needs to drop this whole business before the demon sorcerer destroys him. Kane refuses to do this, as he is convinced that the Lodge is up to no good and needs to be destroyed. Horus sighs, drinks  straight from the wine bottle, and makes up some charms that will protect Kane from the evil he is guaranteed to soon face. Kane also takes a swig of the wine bottle before thanking Horus and going home to bed.