The House of Edwin, Part Five: June 18, 1926

A Long Solstice Nap

As the sound of the winded conch shells die down, the London Group leaves the safety of the Edwin estate to check on the islanders. They are relieved to find that the folk of Chebeague Island are merely deeply asleep and not dead. Assuming that the islanders are relatively safe where they are, the group leaves them to their slumber and makes some desperate plans to deal with their enemies.

The group unanimously decides to seek the missing Gate box, which they hope is still on the island somewhere. Johnny and Dr. Black work together, using a folk magic ritual that Dr. Black found in the Edwin library, to create a dowsing rod. Johnny hopes that, with this rod, the group will be able to track down the box.

They all bundle into the Judge’s car and begin a tour of the island. They find it eerily quiet and deserted. In several places, there are strong fishy smells. Near the tower, there is an awful, buzzing hum.

They first visit the north ferry dock. Though the ferry is still gone, the London Group does manage to find three boats moored nearby that might be able to get them and their companions safely away from Chebeague Island. All of them are just large enough to accommodate the whole party (assuming cramped quarters and a judicious selection of luggage). Two of them are sailboats. The third is powered by sail and outboard motor.

While at the dock, Johnny uses the dowsing rod to search for the luggage Gate box. It points roughly along the ley line in the direction of the tower. At his urging, the group gets back into the car, drives to the southern side of the island, and repeat the dowsing rod process. It again points directly at the tower.

The Assault on the Tower of Yog-Sothoth

The Tower of Yog-Sothoth

The group plan to approach the tower from two directions, thereby getting the element of surprise on any defenders. Vivian, Mikhail, Pushok, and Ron drop the others off near the entrance to the path that goes to Sentinel Hill. They then drive around to the hill behind the tower and bushwack their way up the side of the hill.

Judge Putnam, Johnny, Kane, and Dr. Black climb up Sentinel Hill, pass through the amphitheater, and head down the path to make a frontal assault of the tower.

The judge’s group sees six fish-like humanoids standing around the base of the tower, holding spears and tridents. Judge Putnam and the doctor both attempt diplomacy, hailing the creatures in English and Valusian. The creatures whirl around aggressively and move to attack them, but at least they tried.

The creatures get into range and hurl their weapons. One of them catches the judge in the leg. The doctor grabs one of the thrown tridents and plans to use it as a melee weapon to engage the creatures more quietly.

Meanwhile, Ron and company hear the sounds of battle as they climb up behind the back of the tower. They are horrified by the creatures, but the creatures do not see them. Ron decides to even the odds by lighting one of his sticks of dynamite and tossing it in the middle of the group of creatures. The explosion is deafening. Several of the creatures are killed outright. The rest are wounded.

The judge’s group closes with the creatures. Dr. Black is nearly disemboweled and collapses unconscious. The rest of the creatures are swiftly dealt with. Johnny performs life-saving surgery on the doctor, bandaging his wounds and bringing him back to consciousness. He tells the now conscious Dr. Black to stay where he is, goddamn it, while the group investigates the tower.

Johnny attempts to climb the interior of the tower, but his maimed arm betrays him and he is forced to descend. After some hemming and hawing, Ron decides to climb up to the top of the tower. He is a bit more successful.

While Ron climbs, the group notices that the darkness has begun to descend from the top of the tower, enveloping the interior in utter blackness. Dr. Black sees the darkness filling the tower from the outside and, fearing for his friends, ignores Johnny’s warning, gets up, and staggers toward the tower. This once again proves that doctors make the absolute worst patients.

Ron, who is nearly at the trapdoor, screams in panic as the door opens and a fungus-like winged thing with a brain for a head “stares” down at him. The others scream in panic as Ron is pulled up bodily through the trapdoor and is instantly lost in the darkness.

Ron is thrown onto the upper floor of the tower, amidst some very strange machinery.

Johnny calls upon his bond with Yog-Sothoth to try to banish the darkness from the interior of the tower. He has minimal success, but his attempt at magic gets the attention of the apparently psychic thing at the top of the tower. The fungus thing contacts Johnny telepathically and they start to have a tense conversation about who Johnny is and what he and is friends are doing here. This is cut short, because…

Boom Goes the Dynamite

Ron, fearing for his life and the lives of his friends, and seemingly having no other options, lights one of his remaining sticks of dynamite. The fungus creature, realizing what is about to happen tries to grab the dynamite out of Ron’s hands. When that fails, it retreats to the far side of the room and engages a mechanism that causes the roof to start to open. It unfurls its dragonfly-like wings and tries to take flight but…

Ron throws the dynamite, and it goes off.

What Ron Exploded

The explosion rocks the tower and sends shards of masonry and machinery down to the bottom floor below. The rest of the London Group manages to escape with only superficial injuries. When the smoke clears, they peek inside and see a charnel mass of fungus and other unidentifiable goop splattered amidst the fallen masonry.

Kane notices that part of the upper ledge is still intact. The group grabs rope from the car, gives it to Kane, and watch in anticipation as he climbs. Kane reaches the ledge, ties off the rope, and lowers it. He then peeks over the ledge to see that Ron Deluca—mostly intact and somehow still alive—is slumped against the wall.

Dr. Black, with the help of the rope sent down by Kane, painfully ascends to the ledge. He has to switch places with Kane, as the ledge will likely not support both of their weight. Kane descends safely and goes to the car to get a tarp and some other equipment. While he is gone, Dr. Black stabilizes Ron, but is unable to revive him.

The group sets up a rescue stretcher with the tarp and some of the other supplies and, after quite a lot of gentle maneuvering, manages to get Ron’s unconscious and broken body back down to the ground. The healthier members of the group opt to carry Ron’s stretcher overland from the now ruined tower to the Edwin estate, while the rest bundle into the judge’s car and drive back that way.

The Grace of an Old Enemy

Papa Doc Horus, Brother Theodore, and Tommy Hayes greet the group and explain that they heard the multiple explosions and were really worried. They are horrified to hear what happened at the tower and about what happened to Ron. Brother Theodore asks the group to bring Ron into the entrance hall, where Papa Doc is putting the finishing touches on his salt circle. Brother Theodore stays with Ron’s unconscious body, praying to Nodens to send a miracle for Ron’s recovery.

The group becomes aware of a large group of robed cultists walking up the steps from the sea to the front lawn of the Edwin estate. As the London Group prepares for what they believe is a final standoff, Mikhail, who is watching from the roof, notices that the cultists stop a hundred feet or so down the staircase. A cultist who seems to be misshapen, and favoring the right side of his body, ascends alone, reaching the yard and calling out.

“Hello the house.”

Johnny and several of the others come out, weapons drawn, to treat with the cultist, who pulls his mask off and reveals that he is Smith—a Master of the Silver Twilight that they had last encountered on the Orient Express.

The Return of Mister Smith

Smith informs the group that there is no way for them to survive the night and that they will die on Chebeague Island. He tells the group that he respects them, and indicates with several nods of his head that he believe that Johnny and Judge Putnam, especially, are people he considers his equals.  Smith says that “the other one wants to sacrifice you and torture you forever,” but that he is willing, out of respect for the group’s efforts, to give them quick, clean, painless deaths. “No muss, no fuss.”

Johnny and the others take the opportunity to question Smith. They learn that Carl Stanford is alive again and appears to be running the show from another location. They also learn that Smith’s injuries were caused by the judge during their last encounter, and that Stanford has not permitted Smith to repair them as punishment for his failure. Smith goes on to say that the Order of the Silver Twilight has badly underestimated the London Group multiple times, and seems to indicate some dissatisfaction with the group’s leaders and his colleagues.

He is also happy to reveal that the “other one” on the island is none other than Annie Chantraine, recently arrived from New York City.

Smith once again makes his offer to the London Group, saying that they are running out of time and that Annie will offer them no such quarter. At this point, Mikhail, who is standing on the roof, takes aim at Smith with his .45 and shoots him through the heart.

Smith salutes the London Group as he silently collapses onto Christopher Edwin’s lawn. While the group looks down at his body, stunned, Mikhail shouts from the rooftop that Johnny should give Smith a coup-de-grace, to keep him from reviving. Cursing under his breath, Johnny fires his shotgun point blank into Smith’s head.