Cannich Part Eight: March 22, 1926

Meeting Adjourned

As mentioned previously, Elias Dunne tabled the meeting at the distillery rather abruptly. The group later learns that this is because the MacQuarrie brothers, who work for him, are intending to tell all of Dunne’s dirty little secrets unless he somehow gets them out of trouble. He spends the morning and early afternoon in the constabulary, splitting his time between yelling at people and trying to get the MacQuarries released. The group is left to their own devices.

Vivian locks herself in her room at the Slaters Arms and tries to find a way to make the Bernouse offer palatable to Dunne, while also possibly kicking the supports out of Bianco’s offer.

Dr. Black and Judge Putnam attempt to get a look at the skeletons in the Hancock house. They are aided by Dr. MacParlan, who is on the scene and sweet talks the constables guarding the house into letting them through. All three men confirm that there is something horribly wrong with one of the skeletons. Dr. Black and Judge Putnam are certain it is the skeleton of a snakeperson.

The three men get to talking about Hancock’s archaeological interests. Dr. MacParlan offers to tell them what he knows and invites the judge and the doctor to his house for tea. During the visit, he says that Hancock was very secretive about the dig site. Dr. MacParlan knew that it was on the north side of Loch Mullardoch, and that it could not be seen from the shoreline, but did not know its location apart from that. He also tells his guests that he was invited to join the expedition, but declined due to his advanced age. He also mentions that he found a document which Hancock said had helped him greatly in his research. He produced a copy for Dr. Black and Judge Putnam. When the two men read it, they discover that it is a more detailed version of the account that Kane “found” in the town church.

A Summary of the Expedition, Part One

A Summary of the Expedition, Part Two

Kane sends a telegram.

Johnny wanders about town, as does Mikhail.

Ron also sends a telegram to Vito, informing him that he “didn’t do it.” Then, on his way back to the bed and breakfast to rest, he once again encounters Nellie Thompson. This time, Ron takes the more direct approach, directly interrogating the little girl about her activities and proclivities. He tells Nellie that he knows she’s not actually a girl, and suspects that she has some relationship to Nathan Torpley.

Nellie laughs, horribly, and tells Ron that she is Torpley, and Lostalus Black, and many, many others. She says that she has helped Ron and his friends in the past because he finds them useful and interesting. She also says that Ron should strive to remain interesting if he wants to keep living.

Nellie offers to help Ron. Ron says that he would like to be able to go home and start over and sort everything out in his personal life. Nellie then gives Ron a rag doll which has two faces (one terrified, one bespectacled and angry). The doll wears a badly worn and many times perforated grey robe, as well as a cigar band on one stuffed fist. In not so many words, Nellie tells Ron that she will help him if he can get the gold band (the Ouroboros Ring) away from the one who has it (Bryan Slim possessed by Carl Stanford). Ron blanches at the thought as Nellie walks away cackling, leaving him with the doll.

A Brunch at the B&B

Ron invites the others over to his bed and breakfast, where the elderly, mostly deaf woman who runs the place serves them tea and scones. The group compare notes, drink tea, complain about the dryness of scones, and try to determine what they should do next. Dr. Black seems interested in finding Hancock’s dig site, while Kane and Johnny are more focused on finding where Tommy Hayes has gone.

The group is interrupted by Rae MacNab, who has come up to Cannich to thank them properly. He is here because he inquired about the group’s location from the constabulary and was directed to the bed and breakfast. He awkwardly thanks the group and promises that his wife will send along some baked goods shortly.

Rae also says that he knows, from his visit to the constabulary, that people are out looking for Tommy Hayes. Rae says that early in the morning, he saw someone who was definitely Tommy walking closely with another man that he did not recognize. He tells the group that Tommy and the other man were headed toward Creag Dhubh.

Once Rae departs, the group gets in their cars and drives back to the mountain that has been the source of much unpleasantness.

Not Metal Enough for a Cannibal Corpse Album Cover

The group ascends Creag Dhubh and finds a murder of crows congregating around the ritual circle. The corpse of Tommy Hayes lays on its back on the altar stone, slit open from abdomen to sternum and congealing in its own blood. Dr. Black puts the time of death anywhere from 2-4 hours ago. Dismayed that they are too late, the group searches the hilltop in an attempt to gather evidence, including:

• A fragment of a distant argument between two men. They are too far away to hear what is being said.
• An emerald and silver tie tack, which is missing its back.
• An alternate pathway down the mountain. It is a good deal steeper than the path the group has been using. It also leads more directly to Mullardoch House.
• An unknown set of footprints, which head down the steeper side of the mountain.

At this point, the group descends the steep path hoping to find more evidence or the murderer.

Down the Steep Way

The group slip and slide down the steep path, following a trail of occasional blood spatter as it wends its way downward.

From this vantage point, Dr. Black thinks that he can make out the dig site on the shore of Loch Mullardoch. The group notes this and continues their pursuit.

They come to a place where it seems that the murderer has slipped and, in bracing themselves, has transferred a large amount of blood from the murder weapon to the surface of a flat rock. The group notes that the murder weapon appears to be a knife of some kind with a sun or flower motif carved on its blade.

Making a note of that, the group completes their descent and reaches Mullardoch House. Without informing anyone of his intentions, Ron slips away from the group and goes peeping in at the first-floor windows. He sees the kitchen staff at work, as well as numerous empty rooms, but nothing of note.

Johnny, Kane, and Dr. Black split off from the group to search the barn at the back of the property, which they know is the squatter home of Willie Wassle, the mad servant of Azathoth.

Judge Putnam, who has no time for this skullduggery, marches up to the front door of Mullardoch House to announce himself. Mikhail and Pushok go with him. Ron completes his circuit of the house just as the two men and the dog arrive on the front steps. Ron, very quietly, joins them.

In the Barn

Kane, Dr. Black, and Johnny reach the barn without incident. They search the pile of haybales that is serving as both the furniture and walls for Willie’s makeshift bedroom. Johnny finds a filthy datebook containing Willie’s scrawled down thoughts, while Dr. Black spies a glint of bronze gleaming from beneath a haybale that makes up half of Willie’s bed.

The doctor puts on gloves, lifts the haybale, and retrieves the object, which is an ancient bronze dagger with ebon grips and a flower or sun design carved on the blade. It is also thickly clotted with blood. Dr. Black recognizes something in the shape of the dagger and, recalling something Vivian mentioned to him in the past, realizes that the weapon might be none other than the Black Lotus Dagger, one of the Nine Treasures of Nephren-Ka.

The Dagger of Nephren-Ka

Kane, meanwhile, splits off from the group and ascends a ladder to the barn’s loft. There, he finds a ritual circle crudely etched into the floorboards. He points it out to Johnny and Dr. Black, and the two men climb the ladder to study it. Though they are all convinced that the circle has occult or Mythos significance, they cannot determine what it’s for or what it does.

The three men have a long conversation about the knife and what they are going to do with it. Kane is strongly in favor of leaving it there, as it is the murder weapon and, without it, the constabulary will not be able to convict the murderer. Dr. Black suggests using the new science of fingerprinting to see if the murderer left prints on the blade, and mentions that Tommy had a fingerprinting kit in the secret compartment of his briefcase.

Eventually, the group decides to wrap the blade in additional doctor’s gloves and take it with them as they climb back up Creag Dhubh. This is because Johnny has had an awful, terrible idea.

Visiting Mullardoch House

Ian MacLennan, Lord of Mullardoch House

Ron, Mikhail, and Judge Putnam are greeted by James, a butler straight from central casting. When informed that the group would like to see Mr. MacLennan, James vets them, ensuring that they are not there to arrest his lordship or serve him with papers. Once the group passes his scrutiny, James allows them to come into the house, takes their coats and hats, and shows them to the sitting room.

Pushok, alas, must remain outside, as dogs, according to James, are very dirty. Mikhail blusters at this, but eventually relents.

They meet Ian MacLennan, who seems displeased to see them, but greets them cordially enough and offers them drinks and cigars. They exchange small talk for a bit, while James stands vigil at the doorway, until Judge Putnam informs Mr. MacLennan that he is a judge and that Mikhail is a lawyer. Mr. MacLennan is immediately on his guard, but relaxes a bit when Judge Putnam tells him that they are there to help him with his recent legal trouble, if he will have them.

Mr. MacLennan is about to answer them when another man walks into the room. The man, a red-headed bearded fellow, who clearly expecting to find MacLennan alone, stammers an apology and tries to leave. Mr. MacLennan insists that the man join them for drinks, and introduces the man as Peter Dubner, his old friend and house guest.

Peter Dubner

Mikhail and Judge Putnam recognize the man as Belphegor immediately, even with his altered appearance. All three men also notice that Mr. Dubner is missing his tie tack.

Judge Putnam makes small talk with Mr. Dubner and learns that he is in agribusiness, and that he is here in part to visit his friend Ian, and in part to try and update “his lordship’s” hobby farm with the latest technologies and techniques.

While they are talking, Judge Putnam gives the eye to Ron and Mikhail, indicating that they should make a move against Dubner/Belphegor now. Mikhail nods in understanding while Ron gets up from his chair to look for something heavy.

In order to maintain some element of surprise, Judge Putnam gestures to an old oil painting hanging over the fireplace and asks Mr. MacLennan about its history. Dubner regards the painting politely while MacLennan recounts a not terribly interesting story about how it was painted by his great-great grandfather, a previous Laird of Mullardoch House.

It is at this moment that Ron Deluca picks up a smallish stone replica of the Venus de Milo, grabs it by its head and neck, and swings.

The statue shatters against Belphegor’s chest, hurling him with great force into one of the room’s many overstuffed armchairs. Mr. MacLennan lets out a cry of surprise and protest, and only stops when Judge Putnam levels his cane gun at him. James the butler starts across the room to do something about the terrible, terrible breech in protocol, only to be sent back to his corner by one intimidating glare from Ron.

It is at this moment that Mikhail begins to feel that someone is tampering with the timestream. Assuming that it is Belphegor’s doing, Mikhail recites the Justman Equation, which is known to halt temporal anomalies. He casts it on himself and on Belphegor, but the latter’s superior will shakes free of the equation.

For the rest of this encounter, it seems to Mikhail that he and Belphegor are moving at normal speed, with everyone else in the room moving impossibly slowly. To the others, it seems that they are moving normally while Belphegor and Mikhail are moving so quickly that the eye can scarcely perceive them.

Belphegor pulls a knife and stabs Judge Putnam in the back. The judge swings around and opens fire on Belphegor with his cane gun. Despite it being a point-blank shot, Belphegor dodges. The judge’s buckshot riddles the wall behind where Belphegor was standing, narrowly missing James the butler.

James, for his part, seems to be not discomfited in the slightest. He is a professional, after all.

Mikhail draws his blessed Masonic sword and trades blows with Belphegor, but neither one can break the other’s guard. Belphegor retreats, slicing apart Ron’s coat sleeve and mildly wounding him, but somehow getting struck in the jaw by Ron in the process.

Belphegor reels back and calls forth terrible magic to wither Ron’s physical body, but Ron resists.

Realizing that Belphegor is distracted by Ron, Mikhail takes his opportunity and stabs, striking Belphegor in the abdomen. Mortally wounded, Belphegor collapses onto the room’s bearskin run, and time abruptly resumes its normal flow.

Johnny’s Plan

Johnny knows the portion of the Ritual of Salts to reduce someone who has been resurrected by the other portion back into their essential salts. Since the resurrection ritual is simply saying the words of the portion he knows backwards, he informs Kane and Dr. Black that it would be trivially easy for them to resurrect Tommy Hayes.

This leads to a long discussion between the three men regarding both the moral implications of bringing Tommy back to life with awful magic, and the fact that, once Tommy is alive again, they can no longer accuse or arrest his murderer.

Kane, ultimately, feels that he must do right by Tommy, as he feels it is the group’s fault that Tommy is dead. He persuades Johnny and Dr. Black to try the two rituals.

In order to preserve the vestiges of his sanity, Johnny teaches half the ritual to Dr. Black and half the ritual to Kane. Dr. Black goes first, casting the portion of the ritual that renders Tommy’s corpse into its essential salts. The group watches, horribly fascinated, as Tommy essentially sublimates into powder before their eyes. Dr. Black is so overcome by this process that he goes mad with the power he believes he has unlocked. He raves to Kane and Johnny that he has found the means of conquering death, and promises to rid the world of suffering and disease.

Kane and Johnny tie up and gag Dr. Black, just to be safe.

Kane then casts his portion of the ritual, which is meant to restore Tommy to life. Kane, focusing on how much he wants to do right by Tommy, maintains his composure as Tommy’s body reintegrates before him. Moments later, Tommy Hayes, now naked but fully healed, sits up, lets out a terrified shriek followed by a string of curses, and flees down the side of Creag Dhubh.

Kane and Johnny manage to corral the frantic, naked, newly alive man before he is able to either get away or hurt himself.

Meanwhile, Dr. Black realizes that his new gift makes him, essentially, God.