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n-a-r-f.org Welcome everyone. If

0:40

you are listening to

0:42

this episode around the

0:44

time that it drops,

0:46

we are shortly past

0:48

Halloween 2024, and I

0:50

hereby declare that spooky

0:53

season is not yet

0:55

over. And in light

0:57

of that declaration, I

0:59

bring you... a special

1:01

duet one-shot featuring myself

1:04

and EOR founding member

1:06

Jen playing through the

1:08

classic call of Kethulu

1:10

scenario paper chase.

1:13

Enjoy. All right so

1:15

we are playing paper chase

1:17

which is from the

1:19

call of Kethulu starter

1:22

set and you have a

1:24

couple of options. It's

1:27

a relatively short

1:29

scenario This is

1:31

like one of the

1:33

early starter sets. So it's

1:35

got like an ad for

1:38

something that doesn't even

1:40

exist anymore All right

1:42

Anyway, I love looking at

1:44

old ads. Oh me

1:46

too. Yeah, yeah, yeah

1:48

Or like yeah, like the

1:50

little mailer cards, you know, like

1:53

fill out this card. Yeah, and

1:55

get that, yeah, get the catalog

1:57

or whatever. Might as well send

1:59

those in. So

2:02

you got a couple options.

2:04

The Starter Set does come

2:06

with pre -generated characters. Perfect.

2:08

Also comes with blank character

2:11

sheets and character creation rules.

2:13

No, I'll take one. Okay.

2:15

Ready made. By all

2:17

means. You have free reign

2:19

for once. Incredible. I know.

2:23

Jesse Williams, history student

2:25

age 20. So this is

2:28

taking place in a college senior

2:30

college? It is not actually. This

2:33

scenario, weirdly enough, is set

2:35

in Michigan. Okay. And

2:40

like any classic Call

2:42

of Cthulhu scenario, you are

2:44

being contacted by somebody

2:46

to look into something. Okay. So

2:48

I know, I think all of

2:50

those pregenes are like kind

2:52

of scholastically oriented. Yeah, they are.

2:55

It says science student, history

2:57

students are like, oh, okay. Yeah,

2:59

right. No. There's a professor,

3:01

a couple professors I think. Engineering

3:03

student, archeology professor. There you

3:05

go. Yeah. And a languages professor.

3:07

Ooh, languages. Might be fun.

3:09

Might be fun. So are any

3:11

of these possible and would

3:13

be okay? Any of them would

3:15

be okay. We

3:18

would just want to

3:20

come up with a

3:22

reason why you of

3:24

all people were being

3:26

contacted to look into.

3:28

Certain deeds, but yeah,

3:30

I mean, honestly, if I were,

3:33

if I were like, designing

3:36

a character specifically for this

3:38

scenario, I would probably go

3:40

with a PI or a journalist

3:42

or something like that. Yeah. But.

3:46

Okay. Yeah. Those aren't

3:48

an issue here, but I can do.

3:55

I'll do the languages professor. Sure.

4:00

name is Wentworth Avesbury. Nice.

4:04

Alright. He's

4:06

58. Okay.

4:11

If you want a little

4:13

surface to write on, I

4:15

don't know. No, I'm using

4:17

Desiree's. I'm using Desiree's. I

4:20

should probably start a fresh page I can just. No,

4:22

I'm gonna leave it in there. It's like I know you're

4:24

years later when she's looking at this. She's like,

4:26

what are these? What are these notes? Cheek.

4:29

Cheek and the gall.

4:32

There you go. Yay. Okay. Let's get

4:35

some music going here too. But

4:38

yes, as I

4:40

say, the name of the

4:42

scenario is Paper Chase and the

4:45

year is 1922. 100

4:49

years ago. Just

4:51

about. Good for take. That

4:55

was a weird one for me when I realized

4:57

because when I got into golf, the gaslight era

4:59

was 100 years ago. I didn't

5:01

realize like, oh, now the classic

5:03

era is 100 years ago, right?

5:05

Which means I'm 30 years older.

5:11

I'm going to need this in bold

5:13

print, large print now. Oh, God. Let's

5:19

see here. Yeah,

5:24

so and like I

5:26

say, this takes place,

5:28

I guess, I guess

5:30

we could say it's

5:32

it's rural Michigan because there's

5:36

a reference at one point

5:38

to someone moving to

5:41

Detroit and little

5:44

jelly

5:47

roll Martin in the background there. Yeah,

5:51

so there, you know, otherwise

5:53

it's kind of a small town

5:55

sort of I get off

5:57

of this thing. It doesn't actually

5:59

tell you what town it

6:01

takes place in. Arnoldsburg Michigan and

6:04

You have been

6:06

contacted

6:08

by one Thomas

6:11

Kimball and You

6:13

have been contacted

6:15

by one Thomas

6:18

Kimball He's

6:21

contacted you

6:23

through a mutual

6:25

acquaintance No

6:28

doubt said mutual acquaintance

6:30

referred him to you

6:32

because you're a man

6:34

of letters You are

6:36

well read. I assume

6:38

what what are what

6:40

are some of your

6:42

standout skills? I am

6:44

really good at Latin

6:46

Oh good good and

6:49

then I'm good at Greek

6:51

and Egyptian uh-huh so

6:53

of course English right

6:55

sure Listen, not terrible

6:58

at fighting. Okay. I

7:00

have some slight of

7:02

hand. Interesting.

7:04

I can drive. I have

7:06

a 40 credit rating. Okay.

7:09

So maybe we know each

7:11

other through school or something.

7:13

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Persuade

7:15

of 60. Wow. All that Latin.

7:18

I only have an occult

7:20

to five. Well, you

7:22

don't read the

7:25

fun Latin. I

7:27

don't. That's about

7:29

to change. Yeah,

7:31

so you have

7:33

you have presented

7:35

yourself at 218

7:37

Ailsbury Street in

7:39

Arnaldsburg at the

7:41

behest of your

7:43

mutual friend to

7:45

talk to this young

7:48

gentleman Mr.

7:51

Kimball. Okay. shows

7:53

you into the parlor, the front

7:55

parlor of the house. The house

7:57

itself is very nice. It is...

8:01

well -appointed sort of

8:03

joint. Let's

8:06

see. Charming

8:08

it says here. Yeah,

8:13

it looks a

8:15

bit larger than

8:20

would be necessary

8:22

for, you

8:25

know, just one

8:27

person to

8:29

be he

8:32

perhaps anticipates your question

8:34

as you settle

8:36

in and he's pours

8:38

some tea for

8:40

you saying I moved

8:44

in here about a year

8:46

ago this house actually belonged to

8:48

my uncle Douglas and he indicates

8:50

a little 8 by 10

8:53

photo on the side

8:55

table you see you

8:58

know a man of

9:00

of elder years but

9:02

not not ancient by any

9:04

means bald white haired looks

9:06

a bit like a banker

9:08

you know he's got little

9:10

little circular spectacles

9:12

and he

9:14

looks a

9:17

lot like

9:19

you fine

9:21

-looking man fine upstanding man

9:23

this is the sort of man

9:26

you would give a home

9:28

loan to Douglas Kimball Douglas Kimball

9:30

that's gotta be one of

9:32

my favorite names of all time

9:34

Kimball and then Douglas oh

9:36

Douglas Douglas Kimball great name

9:43

I ever go missing for

9:45

eight days yeah just

9:47

start calling the hotels for

9:49

Douglas Kimball because it's

9:52

me shout out to all

9:54

the ducky K's out

9:56

there I

10:00

listened to a podcast about

10:02

the Elvis isn't dead craze and

10:04

reminded me of our tabloid

10:06

games. Yeah, I know. But yeah,

10:08

his, well, I forget what

10:11

his assumed name was, but. Oh,

10:13

oh. You know. Oh, no,

10:15

I remember. It wasn't that far

10:17

off of Douglas Kimball, right?

10:19

I mean, it's like Richard Branson

10:21

or well, yeah, but it

10:23

was, yeah. Let's see. That's so

10:26

funny. Did

10:28

you know about Orion, the whole

10:30

Orion thing? The

10:32

constellation? No. What? This

10:34

woman wrote a novel about

10:36

a like a pop

10:38

star named Orion who was

10:40

like one of the

10:43

most popular entertainers of his

10:45

day and then he

10:47

faked his own death and

10:49

to get out of

10:51

the public eye. And like

10:53

the details of like

10:55

the sort of character of

10:57

this guy, Orion was

10:59

very Elvis like. Oh boy.

11:01

And but she published

11:03

the book before Elvis died.

11:05

Yeah. So then this

11:07

dude had bought Sun Records

11:09

and he was this

11:12

total like, you know, con

11:14

man grifter type guy.

11:16

Okay. And there is this

11:18

other fellow. And it's

11:20

unfortunate. I can't remember his

11:22

name because he just

11:24

wanted to be a musician

11:26

in his own right. And

11:29

he worked, you know, he was from

11:31

Deep South. Yes. And he worked menial jobs

11:33

until he finally got up the courage

11:36

when he was like 35 to go out

11:38

and pursue a career in music. Wow.

11:40

But unfortunately he sounded exactly like Elvis. Oh

11:42

no. And so nobody wanted to book

11:44

him. need two. So then Elvis dies and

11:46

this, the owner of Sun Records finds

11:48

out about this guy and brings him in

11:50

and has him like record a bunch

11:53

of actually this was even before Elvis died.

11:55

He just had him record a bunch

11:57

of songs in his like Elvis voice and

11:59

then release them. right as Elvis as

12:01

if they were Elvis they were released as

12:03

like a question mark like that was

12:05

the credit on the album anyway so

12:08

then this this this con

12:10

man finds out about the Orion

12:12

book approaches the author

12:14

they strike a deal where

12:16

they bring this dude who sounds

12:18

like Elvis in and basically

12:20

make Orion a real person that's

12:23

really cool and he goes

12:25

out and he would wear the

12:27

jumpsuits and everything but he

12:29

was like proto -orval peck because

12:31

he also wore a mask yeah

12:33

Orion Orion and so people

12:35

there's a whole documentary

12:38

about it apparently sounds amazing

12:40

sounds incredible yeah and

12:42

um and he he had this

12:44

whole bit on the you know like

12:46

like he had people I mean he had

12:48

people who literally believed he was Elvis

12:50

in disguise he did it for like a

12:52

few years finally got sick of like pretending

12:54

to be someone he wasn't sure so

12:56

he like unmasked himself at a concert oh

12:58

no which of course that's it ruined

13:01

everything that's the end of the wheeze and

13:03

then and then she turned

13:05

into like a Elvis truther later

13:07

like in the 80s and then got

13:09

exposed by Geraldo in like 1989

13:11

this is the most american story I

13:13

know because

13:18

like oh she claimed to have a

13:20

recording of Elvis calling her and talking

13:22

to her oh you know why that

13:24

rings a small bell well because it

13:26

was it was like the one thing

13:28

that all the Elvis truthers would point

13:30

to like well explain the recording that

13:32

sounds exactly like Elvis and so they

13:34

had Geraldo had the special 1989 where

13:36

it's like you know Elvis the truth

13:38

unmasked or whatever and she was on

13:41

the show and then he bring he

13:43

he's like well we got this guy in

13:45

the front out the front row of

13:47

the audience stand up sir and it was

13:49

like a psychic channeler who apparently was

13:51

just making money on the side um like

13:53

doing the sorts of gigs were like for

13:55

instance someone would contact you and say

13:57

hey can you do an Elvis impersonation And

14:00

they brought him in for like four weeks of

14:02

recording, which seems like a lot. It's a lot.

14:04

But he thought he was doing it for some

14:06

kind of like movie or like a gag or

14:08

something. Like he didn't think they were gonna actually

14:10

try to pass it off like it was really

14:12

Elvis. Yeah. And yeah,

14:14

and then he just, like you didn't sound

14:16

like Elvis at all until he like slid

14:18

into the voice, you know? Yeah, did it,

14:20

yeah. Which was also kind of funny. He

14:23

was like, oh, so you're sort of admitting

14:25

that your whole channeling thing is, you're just,

14:27

you're just good at imitating people. Anyway,

14:31

yeah, fascinating stuff. Orion.

14:35

Anyway. All

14:38

right. Make

14:40

names of Elvis Presley. I

14:43

don't have a dad's here to yell on. Glad

14:45

you still remember. I know. I don't know

14:47

what the hell we were looking for in the

14:49

first place. I was still blown away by

14:51

this guy, Orion. And I'm like. John Burroughs. John

14:53

Burroughs. See, that doesn't,

14:56

that's almost Doesn't his Kimball sounds

14:58

better. That's almost the perfect, because John

15:00

Burroughs is boring. Yeah. Right? I'm

15:03

gonna write that down. All right. So

15:07

I'll check Douglas Kimball first

15:09

and then John Burroughs is the

15:11

then Gwendolyn Smalls. Okay, noted. That's

15:16

if you have to check it in person,

15:18

right? Then it's Gwendolyn Smalls. Okay.

15:22

All right, so you're

15:24

in this red parlor

15:26

and Thomas is saying, yeah, I've

15:28

lived here for about a

15:31

year. Good

15:34

old Uncle Douglas. Sad

15:37

to say he went missing about

15:39

a year ago. Missing?

15:42

Indeed. And

15:46

I haven't been able

15:48

to bring myself to

15:50

touch his study. He was a

15:52

great reader. Okay. Was Uncle

15:55

Doug. And

15:57

well, you'll have a chance to

15:59

see for yourself. but yeah, he had

16:01

quite the private library. I've mostly

16:03

moved in the rest of the house,

16:05

but we do have guest accommodations

16:07

if you would like to stay here.

16:12

The reason I've asked you to come out this

16:15

far out into

16:17

the countryside professor is,

16:21

well, Uncle

16:23

Douglas's library

16:25

was sorry to say

16:27

burglarized. No. A couple of

16:29

nights ago. No. Yes. Yes,

16:34

so. Oh,

16:36

so we have a double mystery. Indeed,

16:38

indeed. Yes, because

16:40

I mean, my uncle,

16:43

he disappeared without a

16:45

trace. Okay. And

16:47

do you mind me

16:49

asking who or where was he

16:51

seen last? Do you

16:53

have any of that information? Or

16:55

did you arrive much later on the scene?

16:58

I was called

17:01

out once he disappeared.

17:03

So you were later.

17:05

Yes, I was not

17:07

party to the circumstances

17:09

of his disappearance. Obviously,

17:13

there's some folks around the neighborhood who might

17:15

be a little more informed on this matter

17:17

than I. And

17:21

you did call the police? Yeah,

17:23

well, as to the disappearance?

17:25

As to the disappearance, well,

17:28

either or. I have

17:30

not contacted the police as to the

17:32

burglary. Okay. I

17:35

frankly don't think they'd be terribly

17:37

interested in the matter of a half

17:39

dozen missing books from a library. No.

17:43

But yes, as for the

17:45

disappearance, yes. I mean, they were

17:47

certainly aware and... No luck

17:49

on that. Nothing, nothing turned up.

17:51

All right. That is, I'm

17:53

sorry for your loss. Well, thank

17:55

you. We hope to find him, of course. Of

17:58

course. I mean, you know, never. never

18:00

say never that's right

18:02

but okay so six

18:04

volumes do you have any

18:06

concept which I don't we

18:08

can we can go take

18:10

a look right now all right

18:13

let's let's go to the

18:15

scene of the crime okay

18:17

very well so you

18:19

put your tea saucers down

18:21

and proceed

18:24

from the parlor

18:26

into the paneled hallway

18:28

and to

18:31

the you know

18:33

double sliding doors

18:35

that give access

18:37

to the study

18:39

and what

18:42

you see when the doors

18:44

are flung wide is a

18:46

desk

18:49

chair fireplace

18:51

sorts of things

18:54

you would expect

18:56

many many shells

18:58

for the ceiling with

19:00

you know ladders on

19:02

rails and the whole

19:04

thing oh okay wow

19:06

stacks of books

19:08

on the desk

19:10

papers Thomas reiterates

19:13

I've left it more more

19:15

or less as as I

19:17

found it when I

19:19

when I first moved

19:21

in okay which is

19:23

why I happened to

19:25

notice when I came

19:27

in here day before

19:30

yesterday well see for

19:32

yourself and he sort of

19:34

indicates the swath of the

19:36

bookshelves and you can see very

19:38

clearly there's like missing teeth

19:40

you know okay okay

19:42

so very specific

19:44

yeah specific volumes for

19:46

sure dear and when

19:49

was the last time you

19:51

had been in this room

19:53

prior to discovering that um you

19:55

know like what the it was

19:57

in the last week okay so this

19:59

is recent thing yes I

20:01

don't I don't make

20:03

a point of like

20:05

staying out of the

20:07

room I just you

20:09

know right don't often

20:11

there's no call for

20:13

it right no call

20:15

to come in correct

20:17

you know it's two

20:19

days ago you noticed

20:22

that there were these

20:24

exactly spaces and no

20:26

sign of any forced

20:28

entry right I was

20:30

just gonna ask are

20:32

there there windows in

20:34

this room yes there

20:36

are windows and may

20:38

I look at the

20:40

windows they're they're fairly

20:42

large multi -paned vertical

20:44

windows they give a

20:46

very picturesque view of

20:48

a cemetery no oh

20:50

yes oh my god

20:52

oh my god the

20:54

second floor yeah he

20:56

sees you maybe stiffen

20:58

up a little bit

21:00

he says yes that

21:02

is definitely one of

21:04

the more interesting features

21:06

of this house is

21:08

our our scenic view

21:10

of the local community

21:12

cemetery just

21:23

a gray say autumnal

21:25

afternoon and yeah so

21:27

you wanted to check

21:29

the sills just to

21:31

see if there was

21:33

perhaps evidence of entry

21:35

via the window since

21:37

we are on the

21:40

ground floor mm -hmm

21:42

had been jimmied if

21:44

there's any kind of

21:46

footprint or dust or

21:48

material okay why don't

21:50

you roll me a

21:52

spot hidden and I

21:54

fail I feel in

21:56

86 okay right Yeah,

22:00

so you know,

22:02

to your untrained eye,

22:04

the only really

22:06

notable thing is that

22:09

this house is,

22:11

you know, probably mid

22:13

-century construction, and

22:15

so the fixtures

22:17

on the windows are

22:19

old. Easily

22:22

defeated locks,

22:25

very rudimentary. All

22:27

right, so, okay.

22:30

I mean, does it really matter if they came in through the window?

22:32

No, versus the door? Not really. I'm just looking.

22:36

And now I'll, ooh,

22:38

what should I do? Is

22:41

there anything obvious, like a rug out of place?

22:45

Nothing obvious. Nothing obvious, like,

22:47

okay, well, it's clear, like a chair

22:49

over turned. No, no. So

22:51

no sign of a

22:53

struggle? Mm -hmm. That's

22:57

good. So let me

22:59

go over and look at

23:01

these empty spaces and

23:03

see what the

23:05

general tone of that shelf might be

23:07

if there's any kind of a system.

23:12

There does seem to have been a sort of

23:14

loose catalog system, you

23:16

know, books on similar topics

23:18

are arranged on the same shelf,

23:20

you know, that kind of

23:22

thing. Yes, and if all the

23:24

comedy books will be in

23:26

one place. Yes, all the Hollywood

23:28

actor autobiographies are on another

23:30

shelf. Exactly. The

23:33

erotic new German photography

23:35

is on this shelf over here.

23:37

The largest of shows. The largest,

23:39

the Folios, yes. Yeah,

23:45

so the thing is that, yeah, there's about

23:47

a half a dozen of these these empty

23:50

spaces, right? And they

23:52

are seemingly random, you know,

23:54

one's up here, one's

23:56

down here, one's over there.

23:58

Oh, uh -huh. And, and

24:00

so. So the range

24:02

of subjects is broad? Of

24:04

course. Because they're not

24:06

all out of one zone,

24:08

which is intriguing and

24:11

odd. I'm

24:15

just thinking to myself, who would

24:17

have known these books were here in

24:19

the first place? So I'm going

24:21

have to learn more about Mr. Douglas

24:24

Kimball, figure out who would have

24:26

known to come here and look for

24:28

these books. Can I glean anything

24:30

from these shelves? Is

24:32

it just a total chaos in

24:34

terms of subject matter, or is

24:36

there any kind of a thrust

24:38

to this library? Let's

24:41

see here. Is he a

24:43

collector of any kind of particular

24:45

type of literature? It

24:54

seemed like he was more

24:56

of a generalist reader. There's

24:58

literature, but there's history, and

25:00

there's popular science books. -Louis -Stevenson.

25:02

Right. How

25:07

bizarre. My

25:13

next step is to

25:15

very foolishly put my hand

25:17

into the empty spaces

25:20

and feel if there's any

25:22

kind of a trap

25:24

or a lever or anything

25:26

behind there. Yeah, yeah.

25:28

No. Nothing. Let

25:30

me look at the

25:32

dust, the dust on the

25:35

shelves. The dust on the

25:37

shelves seems pretty uniform. As

25:39

you're running your finger along

25:41

the shelf, Thomas says,

25:43

I do have a housekeeper

25:45

who comes through once a

25:47

week and dusts, so. There's

25:50

your thief right there. Not

25:53

only did she know what was

25:55

there, she had opportunity. Maybe

25:57

she's just borrowing the book. Maybe she

25:59

just wouldn't, you know. It's entirely possible.

26:02

going to need to speak with

26:04

this housekeeping course. Of course. The

26:06

reason I don't suspect her is

26:08

that I happened to be in

26:10

the room when she was dusting

26:12

the last time she

26:14

was here and then I

26:16

didn't notice the missing books

26:18

until a couple days later. So

26:21

it wasn't her. Most likely not. Most

26:23

likely not. Okay. Well,

26:27

it seems I'm going to have to be earning my check here,

26:29

Thomas. Yes. Yes,

26:31

indeed. So I can offer you,

26:33

I'm not a rich man,

26:35

but I am prepared to pay

26:37

expenses as well as $10

26:39

for your trouble. All right.

26:42

That's more than adequate.

26:44

I will require a Chinese

26:46

meal this evening. A succulent

26:48

Chinese? A succulent Chinese meal. Very well.

26:50

I would like to stay here.

26:52

Of course. particular creaks and groans of

26:54

the structure. Tune

26:56

myself. Yes. Certainly.

27:00

Does this room have a door that has

27:02

a lock on it, perhaps? Let's

27:05

see here. Again,

27:09

so it's a sort sliding

27:11

double doors. So there's a small,

27:13

little, easily defeated just a

27:16

ton of things. But he says,

27:18

I don't. I'm not in

27:20

the habit of locking. Why

27:22

would you lock an interior door in your own home?

27:24

Of course. But I think perhaps tonight we should lock

27:26

this door. Very well. Easily done.

27:28

All right. At

27:32

least slow the blighter down for a moment. Oh,

27:34

you think there's a chance that they

27:36

may return? I do. I do.

27:39

I think this person's thirst may

27:42

be unquenchable. I see.

27:46

I'm going to go outside

27:48

the house now, if I

27:50

may, and look

27:52

underneath the window in the

27:54

flowerbed area for signs

27:57

of footprints or

27:59

disturbance. of leaves. Certainly. I

28:01

don't imagine you have any

28:03

points in tracking, but you

28:05

can always make a default.

28:07

I have ten, which is

28:09

default, I think. There you

28:12

go. All right, tracking. Come

28:14

on, baby. Oh, I

28:16

rolled a one. A

28:18

one? I rolled a one.

28:20

Holy shit. All right.

28:22

right. So

28:26

you're poking around

28:28

under the window sill.

28:32

And you

28:36

know, it's been raining off and on. It's

28:40

October. So

28:44

you know, you get periodic

28:46

little, little cold rain showers

28:48

blowing through. Certainly. That time

28:50

of year. That time of

28:52

year. And in amongst the

28:54

soft earth and the dead

28:56

leaves, you see

28:58

there is definitely an impression,

29:00

something pushed down into

29:03

the turf as if you

29:05

know, you were hoisting

29:07

yourself up onto the window

29:09

sill and you needed

29:11

to push yourself up. Rather

29:13

deep depression. It is.

29:15

Because there's some force there.

29:17

There is some force.

29:19

What strikes you is the

29:21

shape of the depression.

29:23

Very important. Yes. Because it

29:26

is not foot shaped. It's

29:29

more sort of ovoid or

29:31

circular in nature. Okay. I'm going

29:33

to make a note of

29:36

about the approximate dimensions of this

29:38

ovoid. And there's just the

29:40

one. I'll

29:44

call Thomas over and say, well,

29:46

would you have a look at this?

29:48

Pointing with your cane. So

29:52

he takes a

29:54

knee and looks at

29:56

it closely. is

30:00

where I believe they came

30:02

through. It could very well

30:04

be, but what an odd

30:07

shape. And he sort of

30:09

pushes some of the leaves

30:11

out from the depression, you

30:13

know. And you're both standing

30:15

there looking down at this

30:18

impression in the dirt. And Thomas

30:20

says, well, if I didn't

30:22

know better, I'd say that's

30:24

a hoof print. Good lord.

30:26

That's chilling. But just

30:29

the one. Just the one and

30:31

it's facing the house. How?

30:33

I don't know. How can

30:35

there be one whole frame? Unless

30:38

our man is a peg leg. It

30:40

could be a peg leg. But

30:42

then where's the foot? Right.

30:44

So you could have like

30:47

a prosthetic with a book

30:49

which is quite amusing. Well,

30:51

or the peg could have

30:53

just created a

30:55

strange impression in the

30:58

dirt. Oh, that's true.

31:00

If he was pushing

31:02

himself up off

31:04

of that, yeah, hooked

31:07

his leg up onto

31:09

the sill here. Oh,

31:11

yeah, okay. Entirely possible.

31:14

Oh, void. Yeah, it's, it's,

31:16

it's big. I mean, you

31:19

know, so it's, um, yeah,

31:21

like a cow or horse,

31:23

maybe. Ungulate.

31:26

An ungulate. Yes. Could

31:28

be a goat. Could be a goat. Could

31:30

be a goat. Could be a large,

31:33

could be a man goat. Could be

31:35

a large goat. I'm saying this

31:37

to myself. I'm not going

31:39

to tell anybody I'm actually

31:41

thinking it could be a

31:44

man goat. A man goat.

31:46

Preposterous. It's obviously a man

31:48

bear pig. Okay. Yes. Is a

31:51

man bear pig? Is there any

31:53

other sign on the wall or

31:55

on the wall or on the

31:57

wall? Handprint on the glass. No.

32:00

thing like that. I

32:02

like that. All right.

32:04

Well this is the

32:06

best clue we've

32:08

got. Certainly it's

32:11

more than I more

32:13

than I had

32:15

discerned certainly.

32:17

I'm gonna back up

32:20

and do like a

32:22

half circle search just

32:25

to see if there's

32:27

any other print. as it,

32:29

as it, you know, flows

32:32

as the track might

32:34

continue on. Otherwise,

32:36

from where did this

32:38

print arise? Right. Out of

32:40

the sky? Did it, did he,

32:43

did he, did he come from

32:45

the second floor? Ooh.

32:47

Through the outside and then?

32:50

My drop down, sure. Otherwise,

32:52

this makes zero sense

32:54

to me. As it's

32:57

fascinating. Yeah, so. When

32:59

I investigated that case,

33:01

and I'm sure you'll

33:03

remember this, I'm sure you've heard

33:05

of this, that yes, indeed

33:07

there was a baby footprint

33:09

on the ceiling. Ah, within the

33:11

wood, as if with some force. Yeah,

33:14

it's possible and yet. Our

33:16

mutual friend did mention that

33:18

once. Yes, yes, this is

33:21

quite reminding me of that. In

33:23

the same vein. Ah, yes. Interesting.

33:26

All right, so the

33:28

yeah, the lawn outside

33:30

the the house is

33:32

well maintained Yeah, they've

33:34

rolled it they've rolled

33:36

it All right That's

33:38

all right. Yeah, that's all

33:41

right. Yeah, that's all right

33:43

How far is it? Just

33:45

say to the beginning

33:47

of the graveyard from

33:50

here right? Are we

33:52

talking? I

33:54

don't know, 100 feet, are we talking

33:56

20 feet? Oh no, no, definitely

33:58

more than 20 feet. I feel

34:00

like it actually said

34:02

the acreage of this lot,

34:05

but you know, it's

34:07

a large lot. All right.

34:09

All right. So we're not cheek to jowl with this.

34:11

No, no. So that someone could perhaps

34:13

stand on a stone. Oh,

34:16

no, no, no, no, it's at least

34:18

50 yards, I'd say. Oh, gracious. All right.

34:25

All right. All

34:27

right. So I'm

34:29

going to go inside again, Thomas,

34:31

if you would allow me, and look at

34:33

some of the papers on your uncle's desk.

34:35

I'm sure you looked at them and a

34:38

search for him. But perhaps looking at them

34:40

again, it certainly could do no harm.

34:42

Of course, absolutely. So

34:45

head back into the house. Thomas

34:49

excuses himself to - I've been

34:51

going for a year. Yeah. Okay.

34:53

All right. Excuses himself to

34:55

tend to some business and he leaves

34:57

you to your own devices. leaves me

34:59

alone in this room. He does. So

35:02

I will need another

35:04

spot hidden role in your

35:06

search for papers. All

35:08

right. I fail with a 72 out

35:10

of 50. Can

35:12

I spend a point

35:15

of luck or something? Well, you

35:17

don't have to spend a

35:19

push. So you'd have to

35:21

either spend 22 points of

35:23

luck or you can push the

35:25

roll by simply spending more time

35:27

rifling through things. I'm to

35:29

push it. Yeah. No.

35:33

I'm going to push it.

35:35

I am going to start opening

35:37

things that I should not

35:39

be opening. And

35:44

I make it with a 42 out of 50.

35:46

Okay. So

35:48

it's beginning to get

35:50

dark by the time

35:53

you find something of

35:55

any interest. Okay. It's

35:59

a journal. You missed it

36:01

initially because it just looked

36:03

like a book, you know,

36:06

stacked under many other books.

36:08

Oh, yeah. But, you know,

36:10

you were pretty much reduced

36:12

to just going through

36:14

one volume at a

36:17

time, opening every book,

36:19

flipping through the pages,

36:21

you know, is anything

36:23

falling out? Exactly. Right.

36:26

Looking for the receipts,

36:28

anything. You know paging through

36:30

it it appears to just

36:32

be a fairly typical diary

36:35

sort of day journal thing

36:37

writes about You know a tasty

36:39

meal he might have had

36:42

or You know went into

36:44

town today or whatever very

36:47

very like mundane mundane things

36:49

Give me an English role

36:51

actually in your own language

36:56

And I failed by one

36:58

point, so I'm going to

37:00

spend that luck. I'm going

37:02

to spend a point of

37:04

luck. The sort of, if

37:06

there is a common thread

37:09

to these journal entries,

37:11

it's a sort of

37:14

gradually increasing sense of

37:16

exasperation with the, just

37:19

the, the daily grind

37:21

of life. He's just

37:23

feeling very put upon.

37:25

a sort of common

37:27

refrain that comes up

37:29

a lot is just,

37:32

you know, wanting to

37:34

be left alone to

37:36

just enjoy his

37:38

favorite activity, which

37:41

is reading, and

37:43

just being interrupted

37:45

by all the mondonities

37:48

of life. And so

37:50

the final entry, which

37:53

appears to be... If not

37:55

the day he disappeared certainly

37:57

within a day or two

37:59

of his disappear because it's

38:02

a year ago

38:04

last October,

38:07

contains

38:09

a cryptic

38:12

mention of

38:15

having reached

38:17

a decision

38:20

to join his

38:22

friends below.

38:24

Oh no! Oh

38:27

no! How

38:29

am I going to

38:31

break it to Thomas?

38:34

Oh, yes, one other

38:36

thing about these

38:38

journal entries. It

38:40

seems like he enjoyed

38:43

spending a lot

38:45

of time in the

38:48

cemetery and some

38:50

of the latter journal

38:52

entries, he talks

38:55

about having... Suspicions

38:58

of their being

39:01

like, what do you

39:03

call them, catacombs

39:05

beneath the cemetery.

39:08

Friends below. Friends

39:10

below. Shoot, and

39:12

now it's dark.

39:14

All right. Well,

39:19

my next stop is

39:21

going to be that

39:24

cemetery, of course, but

39:26

for right now, we

39:29

have to call it

39:31

a night. Unless. Unless.

39:33

I can get a

39:35

flashlight. Make

39:37

a look, roll. 26. Yes,

39:40

I got a flashlight.

39:42

All right. So you find.

39:44

Thomas wrapping up his work

39:47

for the day and his

39:49

in his own little study

39:52

that he's set up for

39:54

himself is just you know

39:56

closing up the roll top

39:59

desk. I'll ask him

40:01

for a flashlight, an

40:03

electric torch, and he

40:06

retrieves one for

40:08

you from the basement.

40:10

And I'll ask him, I'll

40:13

say, here man, I've

40:15

found your uncle's journal.

40:17

Oh, of course, yes. Had you

40:19

noticed this final

40:21

inch? Well, I hadn't

40:24

really thought it appropriate

40:26

to read through his

40:28

journal. Oops, well, I've gone

40:30

and done it now. If you

40:33

should return, however, I think you'll

40:35

find it as a quite boring

40:37

journal with the exception

40:39

of this final paragraph in

40:41

which he's speaking of

40:43

reaching a decision to join

40:46

his friends below. Were you

40:48

aware of him having any

40:50

friends that might be considered

40:52

from below? Is he talking

40:55

about somewhere further down state,

40:57

perhaps? No. Well, that's

41:00

very upsetting.

41:02

One's mind goes

41:04

into very

41:07

inappropriate directions

41:09

when you

41:11

read words like

41:13

that. What it does.

41:16

Yes. Yes. I don't

41:18

think he would have

41:21

been capable of

41:23

something like that.

41:25

make any sense to me.

41:27

No, it doesn't. It doesn't ring a

41:30

bell? All right. Well, I thought I

41:32

would let you know. I, I, I,

41:34

my first thought was perhaps he

41:36

was talking about offing himself,

41:38

but, well, yes, if you'd

41:41

like to put it that

41:43

way. We have this unwholesome

41:46

cemetery directly adjacent to this

41:48

property, and perhaps it worked

41:50

on his mind. If so,

41:52

you would have found the body

41:54

by now, however. Unless

41:57

he was particularly good at hiding

41:59

it. And this doesn't bring us

42:01

any closer to finding the

42:04

volumes, but just out of

42:06

sheer curiosity. And because it is

42:08

dark, although early in the evening

42:11

in October, I was wondering, if

42:13

you wouldn't mind, you could come

42:15

along or choose not to, I'm

42:18

going to now wander about the

42:20

cemetery with this torch. Oh. By

42:22

all means. I'm not the sort

42:24

to engage in such morbid pursuits.

42:27

All right. But off I go.

42:29

It's free to borrow the porch. It's

42:31

one of my hobbies to read

42:33

these Inscriptions. I'm a Latin

42:36

scholar and so I know of

42:38

course older These older Inscriptions to

42:40

be quite evocative. Oh, yes. So

42:43

I will head that way and

42:45

the oldest cemetery in the

42:47

county, you know, so that

42:49

is tremendous and fascinating.

42:52

So I will now head out Okay, have

42:54

you a dog by any chance? I

42:56

do not Thank you. So

42:58

you walk down the gravel

43:00

drive. Not even a sheet

43:02

too. Nothing. No one. Just

43:04

a rat terrier. You walk

43:07

out along. The red terry

43:09

would be perfect. Actually would.

43:12

Yeah. So you walk out

43:14

along the gravel drive. There's

43:16

a wind blowing the dead

43:19

leaves and the branches.

43:21

The moon is not yet up.

43:23

It's dark, but dark.

43:25

It's dark. But you

43:28

have your, you have

43:30

your flashlight. It's one

43:33

of those giant battery

43:35

jobs. Yes. They're like

43:37

hardwired into the, you

43:39

know, with a huge lens.

43:42

But it's like a lunch

43:44

box. It's lunch box.

43:46

It's like five pounds. Yeah,

43:49

it's straight down. Exactly. All

43:51

right. So you walk down the

43:53

gravel drive out onto the main

43:55

road, which you can take down

43:58

to get to the gate. As

44:00

you emerge out onto

44:02

the street, you know,

44:04

this is kind of

44:07

a semi-rural area.

44:09

There's, you know, there

44:11

are other houses around,

44:14

but they have plenty

44:16

of space in between

44:19

them. A lot of

44:21

them are, you know,

44:23

current or former farmhouses.

44:26

Oh, okay. Okay.

44:29

Sort of rusty

44:32

squeaking noise coming

44:34

up the way Oh

44:37

Towards me towards you

44:39

very slow. No,

44:41

very deliberate and

44:43

Playing your flashlight

44:46

around you see it's

44:48

an old woman. Ah

44:51

and she's she's pushing

44:53

a little ham cart.

44:55

No. Oh, yes God

44:58

So I will announce myself

45:00

all right shining my beam

45:02

in her face. Yes Oh

45:05

there madam pleasant evening to

45:07

you all right you have

45:09

your choice of making an

45:11

appearance or credit rating

45:13

role I'll make a

45:16

credit rating role I don't

45:18

know what I look like what

45:20

I find that any more since

45:22

a month. Oh Oh, I'll make

45:24

a credit, right? So I'm in

45:27

the room. Oh, you're 50 on

45:29

app, so, almost.

45:31

Perfectly average. Yes.

45:33

93. Oh my God. Almost

45:35

a fumble. 93. I

45:37

have startled her, I think.

45:40

Indeed. So, hey, who are

45:42

you? You don't look like, young

45:44

Thomas? No, I'm not. Oh, stay

45:46

away for me. Ah. She quickens

45:49

her pace a bit. Oh, okay.

45:51

Oh, dear. Pushes are way past.

45:53

I wonder what was in that

45:56

cart. Hmm. How very odd. What

45:58

an odd area this is. Damn!

46:02

I blew that encounter. But

46:05

onwards we trundle.

46:08

Okay, so you

46:10

pass under the

46:12

arched gateway. Looks

46:17

reasonably well

46:19

tended. Lots of

46:22

carefully manicured

46:24

shrubs.

46:26

And two

46:28

Thomas's point.

46:30

The trees all look

46:32

quite mature. It's

46:36

all

46:38

large. And

46:41

there's

46:43

tombs, mausoleums,

46:47

gravestones aplenty. I should have asked

46:49

him where the Kimbell plot was. But

46:55

as you're walking around,

46:57

flashing your flashlight. I'm

46:59

wandering and I'm flashing.

47:05

A voice calls out to you.

47:09

Hello there! So

47:12

you find the

47:14

source of the voice

47:16

and you spot

47:19

a man approaching from

47:21

in amongst some

47:23

of these tombs

47:25

and tombstones. Holding

47:27

a hurricane lantern. Okay,

47:29

that works. He's wearing

47:31

overalls and he's got

47:33

a little flat cap. African

47:38

American. Maybe

47:43

your age, a little

47:45

younger perhaps. But he

47:47

comes up and he's waving at you. And

47:51

he says, I

47:53

was just about to lock up. Thank God

47:55

I'm here at the behest

47:58

of Thomas Kimbell. who

48:00

as you may know

48:02

is searching for his

48:04

uncle Douglas Kimball. Unfortunately

48:07

a number of books

48:09

had been stolen from

48:11

his library. I see.

48:13

And there is a

48:16

track leading from this

48:18

area and I thought

48:20

I would simply see

48:22

what was happening over

48:24

here. See if anything

48:27

turned up. All right.

48:29

You can make a

48:31

charm or persuade roll.

48:33

All right, what have

48:35

I got? I have

48:38

a charm at 15

48:40

and I have a

48:42

persuaded 60. So let

48:44

us go for the

48:46

60. Oh, 51. Nice.

48:49

All right. puts a

48:51

hand on his back,

48:53

stretches a little bit,

48:55

you know, and he

48:58

says, um, yes, yes,

49:00

that was, uh, that

49:02

was unfortunate about, uh,

49:04

the older Mr. Kimball.

49:06

He and I got

49:09

along fairly well, actually.

49:11

Oh, is that so?

49:13

He was something of

49:15

a regular. What? For

49:17

what what what is

49:20

the Kimball plot here

49:22

is the family here?

49:24

No, no, I think

49:26

their plots down at

49:28

the first Presbyterian Okay,

49:31

no, he well old

49:33

Mr. Kimball he he

49:35

enjoyed his books Yes,

49:37

he did and Yeah,

49:39

oftentimes I would I

49:42

would find him during

49:44

the day you understand

49:47

reposing on a particular

49:49

tombstone reading. How uncomfortable

49:51

could that possibly? Well

49:54

he said it was...

49:56

very comfortable and but

49:59

he was always happy

50:01

to talk very friendly

50:03

fellow and very well

50:06

read very well read

50:08

many a conversation we

50:10

had about whether politics

50:13

history you you name it

50:15

he strikes me as the kind

50:17

of man who would come here for

50:19

peace yes that that is exactly

50:22

the word he used peace

50:24

he found a very peaceful

50:26

here But yeah, it was

50:28

yonder stone over there. That

50:30

was the one. So thank

50:33

you, sir. This has shortened

50:35

my fruit was wandering. I

50:38

will go on and see

50:40

just where he would like

50:42

to read of an afternoon.

50:45

And so I will go. Of

50:47

course. Of course. I do have

50:50

to lock up soon. You

50:52

understand. Okay. If I'll

50:54

be trapped here for the

50:57

night if I'm not... What

50:59

can I... Can I persuade

51:01

you to stay open for

51:03

say another half hour? Can

51:05

I persuade him with perhaps...

51:08

I don't know. First wait.

51:10

Well give me a spot

51:12

hidden roll. Oh jeez! Nope,

51:15

fail. 76 out of 50. All

51:17

right, that's fine. So yeah,

51:19

so he's... Unfortunately, I do

51:21

have to keep to a

51:24

schedule. Oh, all right. But

51:26

you're more than welcome to

51:28

come back in the morning,

51:30

of course. We open our

51:32

gates at 8am sharp. All

51:35

right, well then I will have

51:37

to do that. It's likely my

51:39

searching will be more... What?

51:41

I don't know what the word

51:43

is. Fruitful? Fruitful.

51:46

During the daylight. So I

51:48

will turn around. But first I

51:50

have to make a note of where

51:52

this place is. Yes. So I

51:55

will try and remember. Mental

51:57

note. The tombstone he pointed.

51:59

out, which you shine your light

52:02

on, no doubt. Should be fairly

52:04

easy to locate. It's clearly

52:06

one of great antiquity. Old.

52:09

Old. Weather worn. All right,

52:11

I'll come back. I'll come

52:14

back. So thank you. And I'll

52:16

see you tomorrow. All right. Tips

52:18

is hat to you. All right.

52:20

I'm going to go home and

52:23

have some chicken-allaking

52:25

at the Kindle house.

52:28

Indeed. Yes. No, I'm

52:30

having Chinese. Oh, that's

52:32

right. I kid. I kid.

52:35

Yes. I guess. All right.

52:37

He has his chef whip

52:40

up some chop suey for

52:42

the two of you.

52:45

Excellent. All right.

52:47

So, first thing in

52:49

the morning then. You

52:51

will. Or. Let me just

52:54

quickly go through Douglas's bedroom.

52:56

Ah, of course. I just want

52:58

to do a sweep. Sure. Make

53:00

sure there's nothing obvious out of,

53:02

you know, anything. Well, that's easily

53:05

done because that is the very

53:07

bedroom that you're being put up

53:09

in. Oh God, that's creepy. All

53:11

right. And that's only because, as

53:14

Thomas said earlier, the study is

53:16

the only room he's left untouched.

53:18

So every other room got... kind

53:21

of a refurb. Oh no!

53:23

All right. All right. Yeah.

53:25

Okay. So no muddy slippers

53:28

are to be found. Sadly

53:30

no. No. Is there a

53:32

lock on this door? Yeah.

53:34

I'm going to lock that

53:37

door. Okay. Because I

53:39

do not trust this

53:41

Thomas Kimball. Even though

53:44

he has hired me. Yep.

53:46

He stood to gain

53:48

simply too much. from Douglas'

53:51

disappearance. True, if Douglas were to

53:53

reappear. He would lose it all.

53:55

He would lose it all. All

54:02

right. Is there anything

54:05

by way of a

54:07

scent or personal

54:09

products here?

54:12

No? No? All right.

54:14

Okay. No effects?

54:16

Anything odd?

54:18

Any kind of a

54:20

membership badge?

54:23

Nothing. Nothing of

54:25

like, you know, grand

54:27

pouba? Right. Yeah, exactly.

54:30

The hat, pfez. Pfez.

54:32

Yes. On Arnelsburg. Yes.

54:34

Yeah, the elks lodge.

54:36

Right? No, nothing like

54:38

that. I could possibly

54:40

pin this crime on.

54:42

All right, okay. No,

54:44

he was, Uncle Douglas

54:47

was a, you know,

54:49

not a worldlyly man.

54:51

He did not like

54:53

to engage if possible.

54:55

All right, that's true.

54:57

He hated people. Except

55:00

for this guy. Except

55:02

for this one guy.

55:04

Yeah, he enjoyed a

55:06

conversation with the grounds

55:08

keeper. The grounds keeper,

55:10

who I did not

55:12

see if he had

55:14

both his legs or

55:16

not. Ooh. He was

55:18

not walking like Torgo,

55:20

I'll tell you that.

55:22

Think things. Okay. There's

55:24

a hunting theme.

55:27

That is a

55:29

hunting theme. That's

55:31

like, that's honestly

55:34

gonna call something

55:36

up. That's good

55:38

shit. Oh Jesus.

55:40

Are you recording

55:42

this? No. No.

55:45

No. Never. Well.

55:47

All right. So

55:49

I'm going to

55:51

go to sleep

55:54

then on the very bed

55:56

that was abandoned by

55:59

Douglas. Yes, perhaps

56:01

not by choice. Yes.

56:03

How do I sleep? Do I

56:05

sleep? Make a constitutional.

56:09

Oh my gosh, I sleep like

56:11

a baby. All right. Oh.

56:13

I'm healed. You are. Yes.

56:16

You feel all your

56:18

psychic and physical damage.

56:21

All right. You're like

56:23

shit. I think Thomas

56:26

is about to disappear.

56:30

What is this, a

56:32

temper peat? He's got

56:35

your sleep number

56:38

dialed. Exactly. So

56:40

I'm like cake

56:43

walking down the

56:45

hallway. Right. Never felt

56:48

so good. Right. It's

56:50

like a coffee commercial.

56:52

Right. Yeah. No, it's

56:55

a soda pop commercial.

56:57

All right, so I'm

56:59

gonna go downstairs and

57:02

we're gonna have breakfast

57:04

I'm gonna say guess what

57:06

I'm doing today Well Don't

57:08

tell me you're thinking about

57:11

it back to the cemetery.

57:13

Indeed I am. Oh well Any

57:15

particular reason? Only

57:17

this The caretaker told

57:20

me that this was a

57:22

familiar and favorite haunt

57:24

of Douglas So I would like

57:26

to see. You don't say. Yes.

57:28

And in particular, one

57:30

particular stone that he

57:33

particularly cared for. Huh.

57:35

Fascinating. It is fascinating. It's

57:37

a peaceful, beautiful place

57:40

with lots of trees. I

57:42

don't begrudge him hanging out

57:44

in a cemetery. Fine grounds

57:46

as far as such things

57:48

go. I suppose some people

57:50

do picnic in cemeteries and

57:52

that sort of thing. I'm told

57:54

that your family plot is not

57:56

here. No. No. It's still kind

57:58

of a little. a little

58:01

bit strange but

58:03

okay so again

58:05

would you care to join me in this journey? Oh

58:07

no I have to go

58:09

into town I have some meetings

58:11

to attend to. All right

58:13

I will go here is your

58:15

flashlight thank you for the use

58:17

of it. Of course and

58:19

thank you Chex's you know best

58:21

pocket watch. Oh I have

58:23

to be going. All right

58:25

best of luck in your

58:27

perambulations. Thank you. Okay,

58:34

heading out. Back

58:37

to the cemetery. To

58:39

the cemetery in all its damp

58:41

splendor. It's a much more pleasant walk

58:43

this morning. Is it? What about

58:45

the old hag? No

58:47

sign of the hag. Pity.

58:50

Yes it rained a bit in

58:52

the night so there's sort of

58:54

a bracing freshness to

58:56

the air. Yeah. All

58:58

right. Moisture.

59:03

Humidity. But

59:12

you walk

59:14

up into the cemetery

59:16

the gates as promised

59:18

are open. Good. You

59:20

can hear somewhere off in

59:22

the distance the groundskeeper is

59:24

you know yeah working away

59:26

with some shears on some

59:28

bushes. Yeah. Oh

59:30

yeah but other than

59:33

that there

59:35

are no mourners to disturb. Quiet and

59:37

peaceful no mourners not this early

59:40

in the morning at least. Excellent. Probably

59:42

not even nine yet. Perfect. Head

59:45

on over to the stone. Okay.

59:52

And you briefly describe the

59:54

stone. Yes. Let's

59:57

see. Is that here?

1:00:00

or elsewhere. I guess it's

1:00:02

here. Okay. There's a lot

1:00:04

of there's a lot of

1:00:06

information on like how that

1:00:08

conversation with the groundskeeper can

1:00:10

go on what to do.

1:00:12

Yeah. Since this is the

1:00:15

starter said it's you know

1:00:17

someone verbose. If this fails

1:00:19

you can try this and

1:00:21

if this fails you can

1:00:23

try that. Exactly. Okay, what

1:00:25

you find when you get

1:00:28

to the tombstone is that

1:00:30

it is, like I say,

1:00:32

quite old. So old in

1:00:34

fact that the details of

1:00:36

whoever was once named on

1:00:38

the stone, weathered away to

1:00:41

the extent that you can

1:00:43

barely make anything out. Just

1:00:45

a few letters. Wow. somewhat

1:00:47

defaced cherub, you know, right,

1:00:49

right, you know, the years

1:00:51

18, something, something, something, something,

1:00:54

it's old old. But, the

1:00:56

shape of the tombstone is

1:00:58

one of those sort of,

1:01:00

I don't know, oxbo kind

1:01:02

of shapes, right? Yes, where

1:01:04

there were little finials. Yes,

1:01:07

I know what you mean.

1:01:09

And because of the weathering,

1:01:11

the stone is actually smooth

1:01:13

and sort of curved and

1:01:15

sort of curved. And so,

1:01:17

it's almost like a, it's

1:01:20

almost like a bench. Yeah.

1:01:22

And you could, you could

1:01:24

even see yourself maybe clamoring

1:01:26

up on top of this

1:01:28

thing and stretching out lengthwise.

1:01:30

Good lord. Right, right. And,

1:01:33

yeah, it's a good four

1:01:35

feet wide, three feet tall.

1:01:37

But that would be comfortable

1:01:39

even. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you

1:01:41

just sort of be lolly

1:01:43

gagging on this. It is.

1:01:46

It's a lounger. Okay, and

1:01:48

I can't make out any...

1:01:50

the words

1:01:52

on this thing.

1:01:54

Correct. It's

1:01:56

a pretty large

1:01:59

piece of

1:02:01

stone overall. Oh

1:02:03

yeah it's

1:02:05

a big one.

1:02:07

All right I'm going to thrust myself

1:02:10

into his position and lay on

1:02:12

this thing. All right. You

1:02:14

hop on up. And then

1:02:16

I'm gonna lay on down. And

1:02:19

do I see anything? Or

1:02:21

does anything move when

1:02:23

I do this? Let's

1:02:30

see. Give me a

1:02:32

spot hidden roll. Okay. Got

1:02:36

to beat 50 to make it. 26.

1:02:41

Noice. So

1:02:43

you're looking around. And

1:02:49

you're

1:02:52

looking... just now notice there's a map.

1:02:54

Okay well whatever. So

1:02:58

you're looking around

1:03:00

and you know like

1:03:02

I say there's some of these

1:03:04

like sort of mausoleum tomb structures

1:03:06

nearby. Yeah. The

1:03:09

Elks. Right. Exactly.

1:03:11

Yeah. The standarys

1:03:13

or whatever. The albergues.

1:03:15

Pillars. Yes. The

1:03:17

town fathers. That's right.

1:03:19

And nothing jumps

1:03:21

out at you in

1:03:23

particular. And so

1:03:25

your eye just sort of

1:03:27

wanders down to the ground

1:03:29

around you. Yes. And you

1:03:32

see perhaps

1:03:34

because of last night's

1:03:36

rain showers. Uh -oh. Soft

1:03:38

ground. Yes. Bearing many

1:03:40

impressions of hooves.

1:03:43

Oh that's what? Identical

1:03:45

to the print spot.

1:03:47

Oh dear. Outside the house.

1:03:50

Many hooves. Um,

1:04:04

are these trending in any

1:04:07

particular direction? They seem to be.

1:04:09

Oh god, they do? Where

1:04:11

are they going? Off

1:04:13

and amongst the tombs.

1:04:16

Wait a minute. So

1:04:20

if the footprints are

1:04:23

going off, that

1:04:26

means they're emerging

1:04:28

from, that right

1:04:30

here. Looks

1:04:32

like it's a path

1:04:34

that was tread to

1:04:37

the tombstone and then

1:04:39

back again. I

1:04:41

gotta go find the caretaker. So

1:04:47

you. I'm worried this guy's gonna

1:04:49

kill me because I'm, I feel like

1:04:51

I'm about to discover something and

1:04:53

I'm already blabbing about it. Wait, hold

1:04:55

on. Okay. Give me a second.

1:04:57

All right. You swing your legs down

1:04:59

off the tombstone, but you don't

1:05:01

hop down yet. I'm not quite. Hold

1:05:03

the phone. Wait a minute. So

1:05:08

like there's this path of hoops.

1:05:13

There's no goat poo. No,

1:05:15

there's no, no scat.

1:05:17

Right? As they would say.

1:05:19

So it's not like

1:05:21

there's this loose deer, which

1:05:23

could happen, right? They

1:05:25

could be dinging around. They're

1:05:27

everywhere. Oh yeah, especially

1:05:29

in Michigan. Oh good. They're

1:05:31

in my backyard. Oh

1:05:33

yeah. So is this creating,

1:05:35

okay, can I follow

1:05:37

this trail? Forget, forget about

1:05:39

talking about the guy.

1:05:41

Yeah. That's too risky. I'm

1:05:43

gonna follow this trail

1:05:45

for prints. Okay. All right.

1:05:48

All right. So you follow

1:05:50

the trail and it

1:05:52

leads you in, you know,

1:05:54

among some of the

1:05:56

smaller tombs. and see up

1:05:59

ahead of you a very

1:06:01

large mausoleum. A very large

1:06:03

mausoleum. Yeah, the kind that

1:06:05

has its own door and that sort

1:06:07

of thing, you know. amazing. Yeah.

1:06:10

That's just amazing. I know. Can

1:06:12

you imagine? No. God, it's amazing.

1:06:14

Especially when it's like it is like a

1:06:17

family thing. So it's like, you

1:06:19

grow up in that family, you go

1:06:21

to the funerals of your grandparents or

1:06:23

whatever when you're a kid. And it's

1:06:25

like, one day you'll be buried there,

1:06:27

son. Like, what an odd thing to

1:06:29

know that that's where your terminal destination

1:06:31

lies. Like,

1:06:34

I don't know where I'm going to be buried. And

1:06:38

then like, it's like a little house,

1:06:40

right? You know, so it's kind of

1:06:42

appealing. Yeah, like I kind of want

1:06:44

to like hang out in there, right? Yeah,

1:06:46

a little house, right. But it's horrifying

1:06:48

at the same time. Exactly. And

1:06:51

they've got to be so expensive. Yeah, I mean,

1:06:54

I can't even imagine if you want to do

1:06:56

that today. Oh, God, oh, geez. It

1:06:58

would be like buying a small house. You

1:07:00

might as well buy a small house

1:07:02

and just, you know. OK,

1:07:07

all right. So is there a

1:07:09

name on this? This

1:07:12

mausoleum structure? is

1:07:14

a great question. You're

1:07:18

looking at the door. It's closed.

1:07:22

And the key. How do you not lose

1:07:24

a key to that thing? Good

1:07:26

Lord. I seriously. And then you've

1:07:28

got to maintain it. Yeah,

1:07:34

no, there's there's no name. There's

1:07:36

no name. That's just plain

1:07:39

odd. I'm going

1:07:41

to attempt I'm going to

1:07:43

open the door. It's

1:07:46

a it's it's, you know,

1:07:48

a. Bronze.

1:07:52

Yeah, cased door. Beautiful door.

1:07:54

Yeah, sure it is. So

1:07:56

I'm going to need a strength roll. All right, heavy.

1:08:02

got to beat 50

1:08:04

no gotta go under 50

1:08:06

31 all right

1:08:08

you

1:08:12

uh you grab hold

1:08:14

of the handle and you

1:08:17

know after your initial

1:08:19

normal about average you

1:08:21

know hole doesn't yield

1:08:23

anything other than a

1:08:26

slight scrape all right

1:08:28

you give it a

1:08:30

good solid hole and

1:08:32

and the door flies

1:08:34

open and you are

1:08:36

hit by this miasma

1:08:38

of stench no so

1:08:40

powerful oh god you

1:08:42

black out oh fantastic yes

1:08:44

very love crafty

1:08:46

it wow

1:08:51

so flat

1:08:53

on my back flat on

1:08:55

your back isn't this

1:08:58

delightful you

1:09:01

return to consciousness

1:09:03

yes your first sense

1:09:06

is one of dampness

1:09:08

dampness your clothes are soaked

1:09:10

through no is it still

1:09:12

day or night is it

1:09:14

day as your eyelids flutter

1:09:16

open the moon is shining

1:09:19

over you apparently

1:09:23

have been lying here

1:09:25

the whole day

1:09:27

no all day knocked

1:09:29

out yes and

1:09:33

look at it and

1:09:35

die okay you

1:09:37

uh

1:09:39

yeah it's definitely later

1:09:42

than when you were here

1:09:44

last night so cemetery is almost

1:09:46

certainly closed up yes i'm

1:09:48

stuck in here now and um

1:09:50

this is terrible you

1:09:54

stand up i suppose

1:09:56

yeah yep all right

1:09:58

the door is open still.

1:10:01

Well that's good, got some

1:10:03

air in there. Oh my god.

1:10:05

What would you like to do?

1:10:07

I gotta find some light

1:10:09

source. Is there, I'm gonna

1:10:11

look inside the crypt and

1:10:13

see if there's a candle

1:10:16

stuck somewhere in a

1:10:18

picture. Pitch dark inside there.

1:10:20

Is the moon up yet? The

1:10:23

moon is out. Can I see at

1:10:25

all in that thing? Barely.

1:10:27

Barely. Yeah. There's

1:10:30

still a slight

1:10:32

odor hanging in

1:10:34

the air. Well, I'm

1:10:37

going in. All right,

1:10:39

right now? Right

1:10:42

now? Immediately? Yes.

1:10:45

All right. Let's see

1:10:47

here. Do I have

1:10:50

a match? Give me

1:10:52

a listen roll. Oh

1:10:55

God, what? All right.

1:10:57

Oh no, fail. Okay. Me

1:10:59

without my matchbook. So as

1:11:02

you're patting your pockets,

1:11:04

I'm just mixed up.

1:11:06

Even better. A three.

1:11:08

All right, so, um, and

1:11:10

just make a luck roll

1:11:13

for matches while we're in.

1:11:15

Good. Oh no fail. Okay.

1:11:17

Me without my matchbook. So

1:11:20

as you're patting your pockets

1:11:22

and realizing a blast. I

1:11:25

love the matches back at

1:11:27

home. You hear something. Let

1:11:30

me, uh, let me see

1:11:32

if I can replicate

1:11:34

it here. It's a

1:11:37

very distinctive sound. Hmm.

1:11:39

That? That? Page is turning.

1:11:41

I thought you were gonna,

1:11:43

like, going to the, all

1:11:45

right. And it's dark. Now,

1:11:48

this is not coming from

1:11:50

inside the mausoleum. Oh.

1:11:53

It's coming from. behind

1:11:56

you. really

1:12:01

so I'll turn around

1:12:03

there's something behind me yes the

1:12:05

moon is up yes the moon is

1:12:07

up you're looking down this little avenue

1:12:09

between the tombs and you see that

1:12:11

old tombstone yes the one yes there

1:12:13

is someone sat upon it

1:12:15

and he's reading a book but

1:12:19

a light of the moon who

1:12:23

else could it be

1:12:25

I'm going I'm going to the

1:12:27

the shade of

1:12:29

Douglas Kimball so you

1:12:31

walk forward good Lord

1:12:33

and you see it is

1:12:36

an older man he

1:12:41

is bald

1:12:43

but but as

1:12:46

you get closer you realize

1:12:48

what you would have initially

1:12:50

assumed were his clothes it's actually

1:12:52

like moldy

1:12:54

caked on dirt that's

1:12:57

just covering his otherwise

1:12:59

body oh

1:13:01

no weirdly

1:13:04

he is wearing his spectacles and

1:13:10

as you

1:13:12

approach he looks

1:13:15

up he looks

1:13:17

at you and

1:13:24

one more can I see

1:13:26

his feet yes his legs

1:13:28

are crossed

1:13:31

on the tombstone

1:13:33

human feet

1:13:35

no no no

1:13:37

and as he looks at

1:13:39

you you can see

1:13:41

that his ears are somewhat

1:13:43

pointed yes his face

1:13:46

is somewhat elongated and these

1:13:48

little tusks are poking

1:13:50

up and yet and yet

1:13:52

he addresses you perfectly

1:13:54

friendly oh my god

1:13:56

voice hello so I

1:13:58

will need sanity

1:14:01

roll I think

1:14:03

perhaps the fumes have done the

1:14:05

end yes oh no I

1:14:07

fail 71 out of 60

1:14:09

all right so

1:14:11

let's see here

1:14:14

okay okay

1:14:19

so sanity rolls okay

1:14:21

great all right so 70

1:14:23

failed okay all right

1:14:25

all right so let's see

1:14:28

what you lose a

1:14:30

mere three but that's that's

1:14:32

not good so it

1:14:34

was a failed roll you

1:14:36

do make some sort

1:14:38

of involuntary action probably

1:14:40

a slight scream

1:14:43

yes shock yes the

1:14:45

second sanity roll

1:14:47

oh is as you make

1:14:49

eye contact with huh it

1:14:51

is unmistakably Douglas Kimball all

1:14:53

right in some sort of

1:14:55

monstrous guys so I'll

1:14:57

need a second sanity roll

1:14:59

how with the slower number

1:15:01

now yes indeed oh no

1:15:04

I made that one with a one okay oh

1:15:06

wow with a one with a

1:15:08

one again I love these two

1:15:10

guys they're treating you well you

1:15:12

still do lose one point for

1:15:14

that all right it's still jarring

1:15:16

but okay but no damn you

1:15:18

recover yourself okay after yourself well

1:15:20

I can only afford one more

1:15:22

point before I'm really out because

1:15:24

that would be that's four -point loss

1:15:26

now oh yeah well no it's

1:15:28

five five in one roll in

1:15:30

one roll but where did

1:15:32

you start I started at 60

1:15:35

I'm now at 56 all

1:15:37

right so you're okay because if

1:15:39

you lose 12 in like

1:15:41

okay an hour right that's that

1:15:43

will do it yeah so

1:15:45

you're a third of the

1:15:47

way there I'm

1:15:49

shook all right so

1:15:51

yes he's greeted

1:15:53

you hello Douglas Kimball

1:15:56

I presume it

1:15:58

is I did you as he

1:16:00

sort of cocked an

1:16:02

eyebrow at you when

1:16:05

you screamed, but then

1:16:07

he closes his book.

1:16:09

Oh my gosh. And,

1:16:11

uh... Oh my gosh.

1:16:13

It's his book, isn't

1:16:15

it? Uh-huh. Swings down

1:16:17

off the tombstone. Oh

1:16:19

good. He's looking at

1:16:21

you. How? You can

1:16:23

smell that same kind

1:16:25

of like funky, rotting,

1:16:27

moldy odor coming off

1:16:30

of him. I don't

1:16:32

believe we've had the

1:16:34

pleasure. I will attempt

1:16:36

to shake his hand.

1:16:38

I will say your

1:16:40

nephew Thomas has engaged

1:16:42

me to search for

1:16:44

you upon becoming particularly

1:16:46

difficult for him because

1:16:48

he is noticing that

1:16:50

some books have been

1:16:53

missing one of them.

1:16:55

All right, give me

1:16:57

a constitution role as

1:16:59

you as he takes

1:17:01

your hand. Yes! Yes,

1:17:03

and I make it

1:17:05

with a 33. All

1:17:07

right, so the hand

1:17:09

is dry, but definitely

1:17:11

crusty and as you

1:17:13

feel the fingers wrap

1:17:16

around yours, you realize

1:17:18

like he's got claws

1:17:20

growing out of his

1:17:22

fingertips. as he withdraws

1:17:24

his hand, he says,

1:17:26

oh, Thomas, good lad,

1:17:28

good lad. You know,

1:17:30

I honestly didn't think

1:17:32

he cared enough to

1:17:34

notice those missing volumes.

1:17:36

I couldn't help but

1:17:38

see that he had

1:17:41

left the study as

1:17:43

I had, which I

1:17:45

certainly appreciated. It made

1:17:47

my little nocturnal raid

1:17:49

worth it, I suppose.

1:17:51

But, very interesting, very

1:17:53

interesting, quite unexpected. Unex,

1:17:55

that's unexpected. This is

1:17:57

the unexpected part. That's

1:17:59

on.