The Circle of Seven: Session Eighteen

Let’s Split Up!

The investigators return to the Fresno House. Ms. Delacroix excuses herself to take a nap. The rest split off into pairs to do some investigating around town.

Before leaving, Ada calls Dr. Miller’s home and speaks to his wife. She learns that Dr. Miller returned home but has been away for about a week to “take some time for himself,” since he hasn’t felt quite right since returning from Port Harbor. Ada passes along her best wishes and hangs up.

Ada and Martin

Ada and Martin saddle up Lincoln, Martin’s horse, and ride out to the ruins of the Luminous Church of the Ten Heartfelt Fires. The compound has been ravaged by fire and cordoned off by police, but there is no one else around. It becomes clear that the church has not been visited by anyone since shortly after the fire. Martin finds a ladder and uses it to climb up and peer down the roofless silo. Below, he sees that the altar to Hylmunder has been shattered, presumably by people wielding pickaxes.

Ada is still curious about the tunnels beneath Port Harbor, and expresses an interest in finding the presumably sealed off entrance that once led to the Underground Railroad cavern. She and Martin ride link down the banks of the Abanasset River, until they come upon what appears to be a very old rockslide.

Ada clambers over the rocks and finds a narrow gap that opens out into a void below. She decides to shimmy into the hole to see what’s on the other side, only to misjudge the sturdiness of her perch and the depth of the hole. She falls, knocking the wind out of herself on the muddy ground. Martin, horrified, runs to fetch rope from Lincoln’s saddle.

Since she’s down in the cave already, and since she happens to have a flashlight in her purse, Ada does some exploring. She finds an old, dust-covered encampment in the cavern, as well as various supplies and ancient tins of food. She also notes that a tunnel leads away from the cave and roughly toward the center of town. Near the tunnel entrance, she finds a crate that contains large candles. She also spots a number of “hobo symbols” carved into the tunnel walls.

Playing her flashlight around the cavern, Ada thinks she glimpses a shadowy figure in the distance. When she swings her light back to inspect the area more closely, the figure is gone.

Martin returns with the rope and and uses it to hoist Ada safely out of the cave.

Alfie and Dale

Alfie decides to pay a visit to Estelle LePage, his childhood acquaintance. Dale offers to come with. Alfie is otherwise fine with this but suggests that Dale put on a suit. Dale does so, wearing the one nice suit he has owned for several years. He is not comfortable wearing it and needs a few fashion tips from Alfie to get it up to snuff.  Tugging at his collar, Dale follows Alfie to his car, and the two of them drive over to the LePage residence. Alfie makes a quick stop on the way to buy flowers.

The house is in a higher-class neighborhood in the north of Port Harbor (not as nice as Alfie’s own neighborhood, but close enough). The house looks significantly more run down than its neighbors, with an overgrown garden, indifferent repair work, and various signs of decay.

The two men mount the crooked steps at the front of the house and ring the doorbell. They are soon greeted, but not brought into the house, by a somewhat formidable older woman wearing a housecoat and carrying a feather duster. Alfie recognizes her as Dolores Caine, Estelle’s childhood governess.

Dolores eventually recognizes Alfie, whom she last saw as a child, and gradually warms up to him as he displays his natural charm. She tells Alfie that Estelle isn’t home and that she has “a project” that keeps her away from the house for days at a time.

Alfie asks after the family and learns that Estelle’s father died a few years ago and that the family finances have suffered badly since. He offers his condolences, and the flowers, and says that he would very much like Estelle to contact him when she comes back. He also complements Dolores, saying that he is sure that, with her discipline and guidance, Estelle has surely grown up into a fine young woman.

Dale, who has had some calling cards printed up for the Fresno house, politely hands one to Dolores. He notices that Dolores seems to be quite taken with Alfie, but also notices that she winces slightly when Alfie calls Estelle a “fine young woman.” He suspects that Dolores disagrees with this assessment of Estelle’s character.

The two men leave the LePage house. As they drive away, they wonder how recent the picture that they have of Estelle is. Alfie points out that the LePages were once society people, and probably had their pictures in the paper from time to time. Dale suggest visiting the library to look up old editions of the Port Harbor News-Reader, while Alfie decides to go right to the source.

The Port Harbor News-Reader

Alfie’s entrance into the newspaper offices shocks the receptionist and brings several reporters scurrying out of their offices. This includes Catherine Planchett, who is very excited to see Alfie. She says that she will be happy to let the two men get the information they need, provided that Alfie gives her an exclusive interview. Alfie says he is free to sit down to an interview, “any time she wants,” and immediately regrets it.

Catherine takes the two men into the archives and gives them a brief tour. She suggests that they check out the flat file cabinets, where the paper stores its stock pictures.

Dale starts going through the flat files, but accidentally pulls out one of the drawers completely out of the cabinet. There is a loud rattle and bang as pictures fly everywhere. Catherine blanches and flees the archive room, loudly trying to cover up the accident.

Her ruse does not work and Jeff Doyle, the cigar-smoking editor-in-chief of the paper comes stomping into the archival room. He demands to know what the hell the two men are doing in and to his archives. Dale panics and tries to put the drawer back, but only succeeds in misaligning it and making horrible metal on metal scraping noises. Catherine comes to the rescue by taking Dale outside, promising him a cup of coffee. “It’s terrible, but it’s free!”

Alfie explains that they’re here to get an archival picture of Estelle LePage. Doyle, probably as an excuse to get rid of the two men, helps Alfie find the picture. It turns out to be a duplicate of the one the investigators already possess. It is dated 5-11-1922 and the description, “LePage, Estelle – Great War Charity Benefit.”

Doyle has Andy, presumably one of the staff photographers, make a duplicate of the photo for Alfie to take.

A Visit to Clayton Kent

While they’re out on the town, Alfie decides to pay a visit to Clayton Kent and ask him to dinner. He and Dale visit the phone booth in front of the newspaper and get Kent’s address from the phone book. They learn that he lives in Cannot Point, and drive down there.

Kent arrives home at roughly the same time as Dale and Alfie do. He is being dropped off by a friend, is looking a little ragged around the edges, and is carrying a battered protest sign.

He greets both men warmly and, upon recognizing Alfie, thanks him for his help and hopes that he wasn’t too badly manhandled by the cops. The three mene exchange pleasantries and then Alfie invites Kent over to dinner the following evening. Alfie also mentions the possibility of supporting Kent’s campaign.

Kent enthusiastically accepts the invitation before excusing himself to go rest. Dale cannot shake the feeling that there is something very familiar about Kent.

Driving away, the two men happen to pass the Cannon Point Hotel, where they see Val and Father Wilk—who are seemingly dressed in uniforms—getting into the Fresno car.

Val and Father Wilk

Father Wilk wants to pay a visit to the Cannon Point Hotel (the largest hotel in Port Harbor), to see if anyone related to their investigations has stayed there. Val not only volunteers to come with him, but also offers to disguise them both as hotel employees.

They take the Fresno car down to the hotel. Val then quickly leaves and returns with various accoutrements that feature the hotel’s embroidered logo. She and Father Wilk sneak around to the employee entrance of the hotel and prepare for their infiltration.

Just as Val is putting the finishing touches on their disguises, the door of the employee entrance bursts open, and the hotel’s concierge comes running out. He is ecstatic and relieved to see the two investigators, demanding that they come with him at once.

As they follow him through the back hallways of the hotel, the concierge explains that a Marquis de Borgeous has just arrived, and the hotel has no record of his visit. Since the marquis is, well, a marquis, the concierge has been frantically trying to sort everything out while desperately trying to save face. He implores Father Wilk and Val to do whatever the marquis says, give him whatever he wants, and take him up to his suite on the eighth floor.

The duo are introduced to the marquis, who is a portly, well-dressed man with a horrible attitude and roughly eighty bags, cases, and trunks. Father Wilk quickly finds a bellhop cart and starts loading it up while Val dawdles for a bit and earns the marquis’ ire. The marquis loudly disparages Val’s skills and breeding, which angers Val. She tries to take revenge by pressing every floor button inside of the elevator, but accidentally traps herself inside with the marquis.

“I wasn’t sure of your floor, and I didn’t want to miss it!”

The duo accompanies the now enraged marquis to his room and follow his instructions to place his luggage on the bag. Val struggles with one especially heavy trunk but, despite her best efforts, it crashes to the floor, its lid popping open. The marquis rushes to slam the lid shut, but not before Val and Father Wilk see a engraved plate that looks like the back of a $1 bill.

Father Wilk attempts to get a tip from the marquis, only to be rebuffed in the strongest possible terms.

Room 308

Free of their entanglement with the marquis, Father Wilk and Val sneak over to the unoccupied front desk to get a look at the hotel ledgers. They are interrupted by a guest who wants to check in. Father Wilk ducks down behind the counter to hide, while Val does a passable job of assigning the guest to their room and handing over their key.

Father Wilk discovers that an M. Collins checked into Room 308 for an extended stay—from 11/1 to 11/21/1924. He and Val both agree that a search of Room 308 is in order.

Before they can get away, the desk clerk returns and is horrified to find them behind the desk. He accuses them of trying to make him look bad and steal his job, but Val placates him and insists that they’re all on the same side and the concierge is a bit of a jerk, really. The clerk seems mollified by this and lets them go.

Val and Father Wilk take the stairs to the third floor and discover that their luck has changed for the better. A maid is in the process of cleaning up Room 308 and so its door is open. The maid barely registers the duo, but this does not stop them from coming up with a cover story to explain their presence. They say that there have been complaints that 308 has been left dirty and ask the maid if she’s seen anything. The maid takes umbrage with this and says she has cleaned the rooms like she always does.

The duo says that the concierge put them up to it. The maid lets them search the room but does not like them better for it. Val finds a scrap of notebook paper with some notes written in a woman’s hand. “Fresno will reading 11/15, seven people attending.” Father Wilk finds part of a brochure that has a picture of Port Harbor Congregational Church on one side and a bunch of text in German on the other side. Father Wilk recognizes the word, “Altergarten,” but not much else.

The duo escapes the hotel and happen to see Alfie and Dale drive by as they approach their car.

Back at the House

Everyone returns to the Fresno House. Ada takes a moment to bathe, change, and paint her cuts with iodine. Then, everyone compares notes—literally in the case of Father Wilk and Ada. Ada and Martin notice indentations on the back of the note Val found, and Val sprinkles the paper with powder to see if she can reveal any words. This works, and the back of the note reads, “Meet at Memorial. Story is "union information.”

There is some discussion of which memorial the note refers to, and Dale wonders if there’s a Memorial Hospital in Port Harbor (there is not).

During this discourse, Alfie excuses himself and uses the house phone to contact Emmitt Britt, the lawyer who is running for First Selectman. He invites Britt to his home for brunch the following day, which Britt accepts. Knowing that Charlie the hot dog vendor is a big fan of Mr. Britt, Alfie excuses himself, drives to the train station, and also invites Charlie along for brunch.

The exhausted investigators puzzle over the revelations they have uncovered before taking an early dinner and going to bed. Alfie, for his part, drives home.

The Phone Call

At about three in the morning, the house phone rings. The noise wakes Father Wilk and Martin, who both arrive in the living room at roughly the same time to answer the phone. Father Wilk defers to Martin.

A whispered voice on the other end of the line identifies itself as Dan Heidecker, who is calling from the sanitarium and is looking for Dr. Miller. Dan tells Martin that he’s not crazy—well, he is crazy, but not about this—and insists that he has seen monsters roaming around the hospital.

As Martin relays this information to Father Wilk, someone on the other end shouts at Dan to get off the phone. Then the line abruptly goes dead.

The Circle of Seven: Session Seventeen

Stolas Books

Bor Vodopivec and His Heroic Mustache

Bor and Ada catch up a bit before Ada starts asking about Maude and the Book of Black Tourmaline. Bor mentions that he has seen Maude in the neighborhood, bu she has never come into the shop. He has also never seen the book. He adds that, due to its singular appearance, he certainly would have remembered it if he had.

Father Wilk buys a book on basic boating techniques and mentions that he is planning to honor Dr. Miller’s suggestion to take Dan Heidecker out for some aversion therapy.

Dale asks if the shop has any occult tomes, and is shown into a small, locked closet with shelves containing such volumes. He finds a book of white magic, which contains a spell to help the caster recover lost items. Dale hopes to use this spell in search of the Book of Black Tourmaline.

Alfie is distracted by a local magazine that has a picture of him on the cover.

On the way out of the shop, Martin notices a poster for a Mr. Emmitt Britt, a Black lawyer who is local to Old Town, and who is running for First Selectman.

A Discharged Patient

After their search in Old Town turns up nothing much, the investigators return to the Fresno House to talk other options.

The phone rings. Dale answers it and learns he is speaking to Maggie Tanager, nurse and front-end manager at Kendrick Sanitarium. She is looking for Dr. Miller, because he apparently checked out one of the patients under the care of Dr. Neumann, the FMD. While Dale tries to figure out what’s going on, Dr. Neumann, who is in the background, shouts his annoyance over Maggie’s head and into the phone.

Dale is so baffled by the phone call that he has difficulty responding. This causes Ms. Delacroix to take the phone out of his hand, tell Dr. Neumann that he is being very rude, and hang up on him.

After some back and forth, the investigators persuade Ms. Delacroix to call the hospital back. She does so and is connected with a somewhat calmer, but still annoyed, Dr. Neumann. He explains that Dr. Miller showed up earlier that day and checked out Ellie Dunn, without consulting with Dr. Neumann previously. Dr. Neumann wants Dr. Miller to return his patient as soon as possible.

Dr. Harmand Neumann, in More Jocular Times

After this second call ends (much more politely than the first one), the more experienced investigators catch Ms. Delacroix and Alfie up on who Ellie Dunn is. She was once a worshiper of the Queen of Tourmaline, who seems to constantly hear the queen’s voice in her mind. This condition was only alleviated when Father Wilk prayed audibly in her presence.

There is some concern that one of Maude Collins’ people put on Dr. Miller’s face and abducted Ellie Dunn from Kendrick Sanitarum. The investigators are not entirely sure what to do about this. They discuss visiting the sanitarium to look for clues.

Meanwhile, Alfie, who has been quietly listening, asks about the strange mirror and photo album that the investigators recovered from “Al’s” apartment. These are brought out and shown around. Alfie, a Port Harbor native, recognizes one of the photos as being of Estelle LePage. She is a wealthy young heiress that Alfie was introduced to as a child—presumably for future matchmaking purposes. He says that he doesn’t know much about her, but he does know that her family lives in town.

Lunch Break

The investigators decide to visit the Port Harbor train station and speak to their good friend Charlie, purveyor of the Charlie Dog™.

Charlie is, as always, delighted to see them and serves the investigators happily. Upon receiving her hot dog, Ms. Delacroix sits on a nearby bench, extracts a plate, napkin, and silverware from her purse, and begins daintily cutting into and eating her hot dog. Charlie seems about to make a comment, but a lethal glare from Ms. Delacroix immediately silences him.

Charlie, unfortunately, has never seen Maude Collins or any of her three very large friends. He says that she might never have come to the train station, or he might simply have missed her.

Several of the investigators start hearing chanting and other crowd noises from somewhere to the northeast. Curious as to what is going on, they all take their leave of Charlie and go to investigate.

Everyone, that is, apart from Father Wilk, who politely asks Charlie who he plans to vote for in the upcoming special election. Charlie seems hesitant to discuss this, at first, but ultimately decides that he likes and trusts Father Wilk enough to tell him.

Charlie is torn between two candidate: Emmitt Britt, the lawyer from Old Town, and a young man named Clayton Kent, who works at H&W Cannery over on Cannon Point. He says that both men have done a great deal of good for the town, and both care about making life better for colored folk and the poor.

He goes on to say that the two men know one another and have worked together recently. Since early in the summer, Kent has attempted to unionize the cannery workers in the face of poor wages and unsafe working conditions. The cannery’s owners responded with the usual tactics, including calling in the Pinkertons. Britt volunteered to represent the workers pro-bono, using his legal bona fides to get the owners to back off and get both sides to the negotiating table. Unfortunately, these negotiations have recently become deadlocked, but both men (and Charlie) are optimistic that the cannery workers will win out. Charlie also thinks that if either Kent or Britt get elected, the future for the cannery workers will become especially bright.

Father Wilk thanks Charlie for his candor and follows his companions.

The Protest

Clayton Kent, Agitator and Candidate

The investigators arrive to find themselves in the middle of a protest which is being held directly across the street from the Port Harbor police station. This protest is also a political rally for Clayton Kent, who is up on a soapbox and speaking to the agitated crowd of cannery workers and other laborers. His rhetoric is very socialist, and the protestors are eating it up.

Chief Murphy and several of the boys in blue come out of the police station and demand that Kent and his rabble-rouses disperse. Kent shouts back that he has every right to peaceful assembly, which Chief Murphy denies. Things start to become very heated between the two groups as Father Wilk catches up with everyone else.

Alfie Davenport, trusting in the fact that he is a rich, well-known white man, approaches Chief Murphy and tries to defuse the situation. However, his placating words strike absolutely the wrong nerve. Before Alfie knows what’s happening, two police officers have thrown him against the side of a car and are slapping him in handcuffs.

This act further outrages the protestors. At a word from Kent, they march across the street to surround the police station parking lot. Dale, who had joined the crowd to listen to Kent, gets the eerie feeling that he has met Kent before. He also becomes briefly overcome with angry passion on behalf of his hardworking brethren. He almost joins the march, ready to do violence, only pulling himself away at the last possible moment.

Kent and the workers chant, “Hell no, let him go!” at the police. Chief Murphy, realizing that he and his boys are badly outnumbered, orders Alfie uncuffed in a desperate attempt to keep things from escalating. He tells Kent that, in recompense, he wants the protest/rally to disperse. Despite the fact that the chief has lost face, Kent agrees to leave, and takes the crowd on a march northward, toward the center of town.

The investigators, themselves not much beloved by Port Harbor’s finest, quickly take their leave. As they depart, Father Wilk tells them what he learned from Charlie and suggests that maybe getting to known Kent and Britt would be beneficial. Dale chimes in that Kent gave him the “Maude Collins” vibe and may have tried to psychically convince him to do violence. This makes the investigators even more intent on meeting the two men. Alfie suggests inviting them to dinner at his house.

The Circle of Seven: Session Sixteen

A Brief Timeship

The investigators deposit Helios Rebecca on the front steps of Kendrick Sanitarium. She is currently a patient there. It is unlikely that she will recover from her experiences, but time will tell.

Police and fire crews searching the aftermath of the fire discover the secret temple to Hylmunder and the bodies of Zebulon Davis, Alpha Solaris, and Molly Scott.

Saul Frenkel returns home to his pharmacy, having had more than enough of Port Harbor.

Dr. Miller, horrified and pushed to the brink by his experiences, also returns home. After a stint in a private hospital, he returns to normal life.

The First Selectman of Port Harbor, Gerhardt Scholl, resigns abruptly—and possibly under scandalous circumstances—triggering a special election scheduled for the first week of January, 1925. 

The Thanksgiving holiday passes without incident, and the remaining investigators are once again called to the law office of Alexander Sebastian, Esq. on December 13^th, 1924.

New Members of the Circle

Per the stipulations in Nicholas Fresno’s will, Mr. Sebastian has contacted two more people from “The List” to see if they will serve as heirs to the Fresno Estate. The two new people meet with and exchange pleasantries with Mr. Sebastian and the other investigators before signing all the appropriate documentation. The new arrivals are as follows:

Sybil Delacroix

A no-nonsense older woman with a stern demeanor and a very firm handshake.
She smokes cigarettes out of an exceeding long holder and always gets right to the point.

Alfie Davenport 

A famous actor and native son of Port Harbor.
He is currently living in his family’s house in southern Altergarten.
He is a very nice, very charming boy. All of the ladies swoon when he walks by.

At the end of the meeting, the investigators offer to show the new arrivals over to the Fresno house. While making plans, they discover that they are being watched by a gaggle of girls standing on the other side of the street. Ms. Delacroix descends upon them and suggests that they quickly find something else to occupy their time. The girls scatter, but not before blushing and casting moony gazes over at Alfie.

Dale leads the caravan to the Fresno house in the Fresno car, followed by Alfie in his posh vehicle and Ms. Delecroix in her practical Duesenberg.

Upon arrival, the investigators discover a letter that has been sent to Dr. Miller from Kendrick Sanitarium. Since Dr. Miller is no longer in the area, the investigators perpetrate some mail fraud to see what the letter contains. It turns out it’s from Dan Heidecker, the sailor they met at Kendrick. Dan has written Dr. Miller to say that he is improving, and has asked when Dr. Miller will be stopping by to take him on his aversion therapy outing.

Dan's Letter to Dr. Miller

The new arrivals are given a quick tour of the house, while the veterans hem and haw about how badly they should scare their new companions. After a brief visit, Alfie and Ms. Delacroix depart, but not before Alfie invites everyone to his parents’ house for a dinner later that evening.

The remaining investigators have a long discussion about what to tell the others. They ultimately decide that the only moral choice is to tell them everything and hope that they don’t terrify them into fleeing Port Harbor. To that end, the investigators decide to bring several souvenirs of their recent adventures to Alfie’s house, including several of the Fresno journals.

A Dinner Party

Alfie’s parents are quite wealthy, and their house is both large and immaculately decorated. As they are welcomed by Alfie’s butler, the investigators notice several large, professionally made signs in a nearby room. These signs are all for Merle Cottonwood, Jr.’s election campaign for First Selectman.

Alfie explains that the Cottonwoods are long-time friends of his family. The Cottonwoods are also very wealthy. Merle Sr. is a real estate developer who owns the buildings occupied by many of Port Harbor’s most successful businesses. This includes Corrine’s, the local department store.

The investigators proceed to have a delicious, multi-course meal and discuss their recent adventures. Despite the veteran investigators’ misgivings, the new arrivals take the information about their recent inheritance rather well.

As the investigators discuss what to do next, Ms. Delacroix notices the top of a cloche outside of one of the dining room windows.

A Scoop

Without a word to anyone else, Ms. Delacroix leaves her seat at the table and opens the dining room window, confronting the cloche-wearing person beyond. This person—a small, slim woman in her mid-twenties—loudly declares, “this isn’t the library” before trying to flee into the night.

Ms. Delacroix closes the window and resumes her seat, quietly pleased about having done her due diligence. Alfie, overcome with curiosity and a desire to be a good host, excuses himself and runs outside, catching up with the young woman as she flees.

He learns that the woman is Catherine Planchett, the gossip columnist of the Port Harbor News Reader. Catherine, it seems, was trying to get some good information on the local boy turned famous actor. After leaving her flustered and a bit tongue tied, Alfie allows her to resume fleeing into the night.

Catherine Planchett, Roving Reporter

A Second Candidate

After-dinner conversation resumes, and the investigators decide that they should follow up on Maude Collins to try and track down the Book of Black Tourmaline. Ada remembers that she has Maude’s card, which contains an address (in Old Town) and a phone number. No one picks up when she calls, however. The investigators make plans to pay the location a visit the next morning, to see if they can find any leads.

On the way home, several of the investigators drive past a nighttime political rally for one Mr. Cornelius Rose, who is running for First Selectman. Rose is standing on a box, ranting at a small crowd of onlookers through a bullhorn about how the Jews are trying to destroy Christmas. Everyone finds this somewhat alarming.

Mr. Cornelius Rose

Old Town

The next morning, the investigators head to Old Town to discover that the address on Maude Collins’ card is for a secondhand furniture store which is located next door to Stolas Books.

Dale speaks to the proprietor of the furniture store—an older woman of Eastern European descent. She explains that she has a back room, with a phone, that she rents to people who need office space. Dale asks to see the office and finds that it is a room empty but for a table, a chair, a telephone, and some shelves. The proprietor describes her last tenant, who left a few weeks ago, and who sounds a lot like Maude Collins.

Wondering if other people in the neighborhood had seen anything, or if someone who dealt in books might know something about Maude Collins, the investigators visit Stolas Books. There, they meet a young Italian stock boy and his boss, an older Slovenian man with an impressive mustache. Ada York, herself a dealer in rare books, recognizes the proprietor as Bor Vodopivec, someone she has communicated with by correspondence.