Father o’Patrick (PJ)

Agent Mouldy Fox (Kell)

Agent Danger Scuzzi (Rod)

Prof George Arbuthnot (Gray)

Dr Nathan McNamara (Dave G)

Sebastian ‘Danger’ Travers (Sukh)

Basil Rathbone (Rich, played for one line of dialogue by PhilJ)

Part One : In which Scuzzi and Mouldy become partners, Dr McNamara encounters two unexpected visitors, and Father o’Patrick goes to the Big City…

Boston, 10 July 1999 : FBI Agent Danger Scuzzi sits opposite her boss, Director Alex Krycek, who is smoking a cigarette in perhaps an unnecessarily affected way. He explains that the bureau are pleased with her work, and are reassigning her to a new case : Agent Mouldy Fox, has become to acquire a bit of a reputation. His work has tended to pay more attention to the more lurid and sensational cases that pass his way than they might strictly warrant. Voices are being raised as to whether Agent Fox’s work is actually a valid use of public money. Agent Scuzzi is therefore being assigned to work alongside Agent Fox for the forseeable future. Director Krycek stubs out his cigarette, again, perhaps in a self-consciously sinister way : they are not of course expecting Scuzzi to condemn Fox’s work out of hand…

Dr Nathan McNamara is returning home late. It’s been a pleasant evening doing yet another interview with CNN about the crisis in Kosovo. It’s about midnight and he can’t find a taxi, so he decides to walk. Passing the nearby church of St Quentin the Slayer, he hears a disturbance from within…a brief crackling sound, perhaps a faint grey light from above, and a scream, suddenly choked off. Naturally, he decides to investigate…

The church is in semi-darkness, lit only by a few candles around the altar. Nathan sees a figure pick themselves off the ground and run through the rear door. He considers pursuing him, but sees a number of prone figures on the ground.

Two are dressed in late-period Victorian dress. One is wearing a crushed blue velvet suit. The other…the other is a mere outline of a human figure, clad in black robes. The fingers are little more than ash, whereas the skull is almost crumbling before his eyes.

One of the unconscious figures struggles upright. A somewhat confused and peturbed Nathan asks who he is.

The ferociously bearded fellow replies that he is Professor George Arbuthnot, Fellow of the Royal Society, and resident of Hampstead village. He asks Nathan where he is.

Nathan tells him he’s in the Church of Saint Quentin the Slayer in Boston, Massachussets.

George’s brow furrows behind those incredibly bushy eyebrows. Not in a secret underground chamber beneath the streets of London then.Very well, could Nathan please tell him what the date is. He’d very much like it to be 10 July 1898.

Nathan has some better news for him. He’s 101 years out, but to the exact day.

Another figure raises his head. ‘Don’t worry George, the Brontosaurus is large but placid’.

George tells Nathan not to worry, that’s just Mr Rathbone the well-respected consulting detective, and he is prone to acting like that on occasion.

Rathbone slumps back into unconsciousness, just as the third figure rises, brushes the dust from his blue velvet suit, adjusts his cravat, and strikes a manly pose. He introduces himself as Sebastian ‘Danger’ Travers, International Man of Mystery and Gentleman Superspy. Where is he, and more to the point, where is Doktor Krow?

Nathan does his best to explain. He doesn’t know any Doktor Krow, but he saw some guy rushing out the back a few minutes ago.

Sebastian says there is not a moment to lose, lest Doktor Krow escape to wreak his evil on an unsuspecting world. He makes for the exit, but is interrupted by the arrival of a priest who staggers through the vestry door and collapses in Travers’ strong arms. Travers lowers the stricken figure to the floor.

George rushes forward and attempts some emergency first aid. To no avail. The unfortunate priest is dead.

Travers curls his lip. Doubtless, the work of Doktor Krow.

George moves to examine the remaining figure. It’s of human shape, clad in black robes, but the figure is disintegrating steadily. The arms are now nothing but ash, the skull just recognisable as human, but crumbling away.

Travers nods again. This too, must be the work of Doktor Krow.

Travers examines the area around the altar and discovers a kitbag containing a set of clothes, and a small bronze statue of an emaciated figure. Sebastian and George both have a bad flashback upon seeing this, but there is no time for reflection as sirens wail outside and two cops enter the church.

George grows more and more confused. He can just about accept the idea that these are policemen, but they are…well, let’s not beat about the bush here…these fellows are…well, black…

Explanations are proffered, but the cops decide that this can all be sorted out down the station. An ambulance is called for the unconscious Rathbone, and a paddy wagon arrives for the remaining three. ..everyone is escorted outside.

George is having a few problems adjusting. The city is ablaze with light, and enormous cyclopean structures seem to stretch as far as the eye can see. He remembers a visit to New York, but Boston…well, building work in Boston has evidently been something else altogether. And it must take an awful lot of gas lamps to light the streets like this…

It doesn’t get any easier for him as he’s bundled into the back of a large box on wheels which accelerates away at unpleasant speed. He decides to pass out for a while.

Elsewhere in the city, Agent Fox receives a phone call. It’s the Bureau. Yes they know it’s late but a call has come in about some unpleasantness in a church which seems to be right up Fox’s street. He’s to call Agent Scuzzi and get down there. In the meantime there’s 3 weirdos down the station being held in connection with the incident.

Mouldy calls Scuzzi. She’s a little … uptight, but says she’ll head straight to the police station.

Mouldy heads off for the church. The police have sealed the interior. He takes in the figure of the dead priest and the crumbling figure in robes. A brief examination of the area reveals a kitbag containing a jacket, shirt and trousers, and a small emaciated bronze statue. The jacket contains a small amount of money and a student id card for Boston University in the name of Damien Eldritch….

In the small monastery of St Quentin the Slayer, perhaps 60 miles outside of Boston, Father o’Patrick is engaged in his solitary priestly activities when a young novice knocks on the door and says Abbot Manus McManus wishes to speak with him. Father o’Patrick says he’ll be along in a moment, he just has a few things to finish off first…

Abbot McManus is old and frail, and wheezily explains to the Father that he has received a phone call from Boston. Father Kelly, the priest of the Church of St Quentin has passed away in violent circumstances. The Abbot is too old to undertake such a journey himself, so Father o’Patrick is to travel to Boston and discover the fate of the unfortunate priest. When he arrives, he is to make contact with FBI agent Mouldy Fox, who is in charge of the investigation…

Father o’Patrick announces he will leave at once…it is late, well past midnight; nevertheless he sets out on the sixty mile walk to the big city…

After a few miles he decides that it’s a bit of a long walk, and flags down a passing pickup truck. The driver is taciturn, but offers him a lift, and the use of his mobile phone. The priest finds some difficulty in using this devil’s device, but after a little help from the driver, and a rather confusing conversation with someone at FBI headquarters, he receives direction to the Church of St Quentin.

The entrance to the church is cordoned off, but after much shouting Agent Fox appears and confronts the wild-eyed priest…

‘Come in Father…I’m afraid I have some bad news for you…’

Part Two : In which Nathan surfs the net, Sebastian removes his trousers, and Father o’Patrick makes some soup…

Agent Scuzzi arrives at the station, and interviews each of the three in turn.

Some of the cops recognise Nathan from the TV. One asks if he can have an autograph for his wife. Scuzzi reckons he’s probably just an innocent bystander, but decides to hold him for a few hours just in case.

She examines Sebastian’s posessions…little to speak of beyond a Walther PPK automatic and some money. It doesn’t really resemble any British currency she’s come across but at least the Queen looks familiar. Unlike the bizarre A4-size banknotes found in George’s wallet…

She calls George in. They have a little chat. Yes, he really does believe he is a Victorian scientist who only a few hours ago was investigating the Maitland case in an underground chamber at Sir Matthew Phillip’s London townhouse. Scuzzi makes a note of the names to get checked out.

At this point a cop enters and passes her a note from the hospital. Rathbone is still unconscious. They’ve also found a veritable cocktail of illegal narcotics in his blood, and ‘track marks’ on his limbs.

George explains that yes, Mr Rathbone is a recreational drug user. No, he doesn’t dabble himself. No he doesn’t supply him with drugs either….

Scuzzi has him sent back to the cells and calls in Mr Travers…

Sebastian’s eyes light up. He was expecting a nasty session with Good Cop / Bad Cop and the Rubber Hose…instead, he gets to have a cozy chat with a rather attractive, petite young lady…

‘WHAAAAAH HEY HEY!!!! It’s a chick!!!!!!’

‘Sit down please Mr Travers’

‘It’s a CHICK!!!! WAHHHHHH HEYYYYY’

‘Mr Travers….?’

‘Do I make ya horny baby????!!!! Do I? Do I?’

Sebastian dances around the room, removing his clothes …

‘Sit down Mr Travers’

‘Show me LOVE Baby, Yeah!!!!’

‘SIT DOWN!!!!!!!’

Sebastian sits down….

‘And put those back on at once….’

They have a little chat. Yes, Sebastian is an occasional recreational drug user. No, Agent Scuzzi is not able to score him any. Yes, he really is a British Intelligence Agent. Yes, he has been to the States before, contact Felix Darklighter at the CIA. Or Basil Expedition at British Intelligence.

‘Howl! Howl! Howl!’

Agent Fox looks a little embarrassed…

‘Howl!Howl!’

‘Sorry Father. Still he’s at peace now eh?’

‘Howl! Howl! Howl! Still, no time to grieve, much to be done... ‘

Fox and o’Patrick examine the vestry. In the desk is a cloth bag.

Father o’Patrick takes the bag out, and reverently unrolls it’s contents…Mouldy watches with interest…what strangeness is this?

The priest takes out nine daggers. These, he reveals, are the nine daggers of St Quentin the Slayer. Once plunged into a body in the shape of a cross, the evil will be extinguished forever and forced to return to the depths of hell from whence it came…

Agent Fox is quite interested to hear a man of the cloth speak thus, and examines the daggers to see if they’ve been in use. It appears not.

Very well then, there’s not much more he can do here. He gives the priest the address of a Catholic refuge in Boston.

Mouldy calls up Scuzzi. He thinks it’d be worthwhile if she checks out the scene at the church.

Scuzzi tells the cops that Dr Macnamara is free to leave. The two other guys she thinks would be worthwhile hanging on to. In the meantime she contacts the bureau with a list of people to check out.

Scuzzi arrives at the church. She examines the priest briefly…someone at the bureau can do a proper autopsy, but a cursory examination suggests a heart attack, presumably brought on by the attack. She also fines a small crystal, perhaps 5 cm in height and 2 cm in width…

The robed figure has almost completely crumbled away, they’ll need a Dyson to take it back to the lab for carbon dating.

But this is all a bit strange. After all, human beings decompose into ooze, not into ash…

A tired Dr Macnamara heads off home. It’s early morning when he arrives. He phones the university and explains he’ll be in late. But before he goes to bed he decides to search the web for any information on George Arbuthnot and Basil Rathbone. There’s no real information to speak of, but he does find a site on Victorian Crime and Detection. Most of it is dedicated to Holmes and Watson, but a number of other amateur detectives are listed. Two of whom are indeed a Mr Basil Rathbone and a Prof George Arbuthnot. No photos however, but still…Nathan decides to call it a night…

George and Sebastian remain in the cells to ponder their fate. Sebastian evolves a master escape plan via the urinals, but decides against it. He suddenly remembers his one phone call. He hammers on the door of the cell until the guard releases him. He dials the number of British Intelligence. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know that all telephone codes have changed in the past 30 years, and gets a ‘number unobtainable’ message. Protesting, he is led back to his cell.

Fortunately Agent Fox arrives on the way back home. He thinks the two might as well be released. However, they’ve got no money and no place to stay. Mouldy gives them $50 and gets them a cab to the Catholic refuge.

At the refuge, George and Sebastian find Father o’Patrick hard at work distributing bowls of soup to the needy. George immediately feels a bit more cheery. Evidently some things are still the same as they ever were.

Part Three : In which Nathan goes to the libray, George and Sebastian go shopping, and

Early afternoon. Mouldy and Scuzzi have much to do, but they’ve been up most of the night and are seriously tired. Scuzzi receives a phone call from the CIA. Yes, they did have a Felix Darklighter on their books, since retired. Scuzzi arranges to have him flown in to identify Travers. Likewise, there still is a Basil Exposition at British Intelligence. She arranges for him to call back tomorrow morning…

The autopsy result on Father Kelly reveals that he did indeed die of a heart attack, most likely as a result of being beaten up. Forensic and carbon-dating tests on the ash reveal no clue as to it’s date, although the robes are identified as being of modern origin.

Mouldy calls up the university. The admissions clerk says there’s no record of a Damien Eldritch on any course…

Eyewitness reports gathered from the area around the Church of St Quentin don’t yield much; although there is a report of a little bald guy with a scar scurrying away from the church round about the time the incident occurred…

Enough of this! It’s been a long day, so the intrepid pair call it a day and go home…

Meanwhile, Nathan has a browse around the university library. He finds a book on the history of amateur detection in Victorian England. It includes a short chapter on the strange fate of Rathbone and Arbuthnot, who disappeared whilst investigating the Maitland Case in 1898. There’s a photograph of Prof Arbuthnot…identical to the same ferociously bearded fellow encountered by Nathan last night!

Sebastian is tired of cooling his heels at the refuge, so he decides he’s going to take George out and introduce him to the wonders of 20^th Century life.

George finds the streets a bit intimidating at first. Everyone seems to be driving these loud, fast and extremely smelly vehicles for one thing, and secondly…well the women…well, let’s just say he’s never seen so many ankles in all his life…

First stop, then; a bar : the Jackie Charlton. It’s quite early in the day so it’s pretty empty. The landlord, Johnny Jack, mixes two vodka martinis. George is quite impressed. Sebastian asks where the action is happening at night, man, and Johnny recommends the Green Parrot Club. They have a good old natter, Johnny tells them his life story, how he came over for the 1994 World Cup and stayed. No he can’t score them any recreational drugs. Still, he has such a nice time reminiscing that he completely forgets to charge them for their drinks…

Next stop is to get George into some fine ‘n’ funky threads. Sebastian finds a designer store doing some relatively restrained suits, and George finds a sharp little Armani number he’s quite taken with. The catch is, it’s $1500 and the guys have $50 between them. But Sebastian works his mojo to dazzling effect, he persuades the sales assistant – a Ms Dolores del Rio – that the FBI will cover the tab, and, even better, he persuades her to come out to the Green Parrot Club that night…

Part Four : In which George and Sebastian go clubbing, and Father o’Patrick goes to pieces…

Father o’Patrick has passed a busy day doing God’s work in the soup kitchen and is relaxing with a cup of tea and a copy of Revelations when he is interrupted by one of the nuns at the refuge. She explains that there’s a phone call for him.

He answers the phone. An educated voice tells him that the priest has something he needs. He must have it back as a matter of urgency. He is to leave it at a safety-deposit box at the station. Father o’Patrick protests that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about but the line goes dead.

Some hours pass. There’s another phone call for him…

The priest steels himself, ‘Who are you , why are you doing this to me…???’

The line goes dead.

O’Patrick looks out of his bedroom window. Outside, in the darkened street, he sees the silhouette of a figure in long coat and hat watching the building….

Frantically he makes a phone call to the FBI…

‘Help!!! Help!!!! Eeeeeeevilllll is come upon me!!!!’

Silence, then two faint voices at the other end: …yeah, think it’s one of Fox’s weirdos…nah, he’s not here…ah, what the hell call him at home…

The call gets transferred. The priest hears an answering machine message. Agent Fox lies blissfully asleep in the arms of Morpheus….

The priest calls the bureau again…

‘Help! Help! It’s outside!!!! A dreadful doom awaits me!!!!’

A faint voice again : …yeah…him again…try Scuzzi? Dunno, she’s in a bit of an odd mood…wouldn’t care to wake her up…aw hell let’s do it…

The priest hears another answering machine message. Agent Scuzzi sleeps soundly, dreaming of hot baths and huge tubs of Hagen-Daaz…

Father o’Patrick looks outside. The figure is still there. He grabs the Daggers of St Quentin and flees through the back fire escape, and runs until he reaches the nearest police station….he frantically explains that Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevvvviiiilllll is upon him and he must have sanctuary….the desk sergeant wearily waves him to a seat, where the troubled priest settles down for the night…

Sebastian and George hit the town. They meet Dolores and two friends, Judith Krantz and Erica Jong outside the Green Parrot. The doorman looks a little peturbed by Sebastian’s threads and George’s facial hair, but he waves them through.

Inside, George is assailed by a veritable battery of noise, and the sight of hundreds of young females in various states of undress.

Hmmm. Maybe this century isn’t so bad after all.

They pull up a table and Sebastian orders a round of vodka martinis. This takes every last dime they have in the world. George gets asked to dance. He gives it a go, and, hey, he’s actually pretty good. He gets a round of applause as he leaves the dancefloor. He proceeds to ask the ‘man working the gramophone’ if they have any waltzes, but to no avail.

Sebastian meanwhile has been asked to dance by a gentleman with a goatee beard. Afterwards, he offers to buy him a drink. Seb readily agrees. Then he gets asked for his phone number and if he’s a regular on the scene. Ah. The penny drops, and Seb points out he’s with the three foxy chicks in the corner. His admirer says he’s a big tease, but it’s alright as long as he can have a dance later.

Seb works his mojo to avoid paying for any more drinks. George, meanwhile, has proved a bit of a hit, and several young ladies want him to go clubbing with them later that week…

The two get invited back to Dolores’ flat. Sebastian thinks he’s scored but no, a cup of coffee is all that’s on offer, and strictly no recreational drugs are on the menu. George is fascinated by the television…goodness, those Lumiere chaps invention has really come on a bit. He spends the rest of the night channel surfing, while Sebastian crashes out on the sofa…

Dawn breaks, George remains glued to the TV, Dolores fixes up breakfast, and Sebastian walks around ostentatiously in his underpants. Arrangements are made to go clubbing later that week; in the meantime the two time-travellers decide to meet up with Mouldy and Scuzzi again.

Part Five: In which old friends are encountered, our heroes learn about Swiss Surrealist Art, and Sebastian enjoys a quiet smoke…

It’s a busy morning. Scuzzi receives a call from the bureau : a Mr Felix Darklighter has arrived. Mouldy receives a phone call from the cops : there’s some crazy priest who’s been at the station all night waiting for him…

Felix is delighted to see his old friend Sebastian, and walks forward to give him a big manly hug:-

‘Er, no I really am the Sebastian Travers…’

‘No, Felix baby, I really am Seb Travers!!!’

‘LISTEN! I am Seb Travers dude!!!!’

Eventually, Felix admits that the original Sebastian Travers had a distinctive scar, acquired during a drunken night in Cuba, due to a bet involving a firework and Sebastian’s bottom…the famous Travers posterior is therefore examined, and Felix is forced to conclude that Mr Travers is indeed the genuine article…as soon as underpants are replaced, the big, manly hug is administered…

But this tender re-union is interrupted by a phone call. It’s Basil Exposition from British Intelligence. Scuzzi puts him on the phone to Sebastian. Yes, it’s the same old Basil, now just trying to keep his head down until retirement. Doktor Krow? No, he disappeared in the Sixties…about the same time as Sebastian…everyone had assumed they’d perished together in a final, apocalyptic battle. Be sure to drop by the office next time you’re in the country…

Scuzzi takes the phone back and speaks briefly to Basil. So, he does sound like the missing Mr Travers? Very well then…

The intrepid team head off to Boston University. One of the receptionists recognises the photograph of Damien Eldritch as being that of Michael ‘Chappy’ Chapps, an ex-student. He seemed to think his original name wasn’t cool enough, so changed it. She thinks he was a computer student so calls up the course tutor, Dr James Boseley.

Sebastian’s getting bored, so works his mojo to see if the receptionist knows any of Chapps’ friends. She tells him there’s a guy called Steve Traynor who he used to hang around with who’s got a flat on campus.

Seb arrives at Traver’s apartment. The door is answered by a Hispanic guy, a little unsteady on his feet. Seb’s trained nostrils detect the unmistakable odour of stale marijuana smoke. Inside the flat, there are a number of semi-conscious students lying around in a sea of empty beer cans. One of them rises unsteadily to his feet and introduces himself as Steve Traynor. Yeah, he was a pal of Chappy’s, but he dropped out a while ago. They kept in touch by email (Seb’s eyebrows raise…what is this thing you call email?), mainly about SF, horror and stuff, but he’s got a forwarding address and some further info. He prints out a whole batch of emails from his PC.

Traynor goes on to explain that Chapps’ was working on the translation of something called the Voynich Manuscript. He doesn’t know much about it, but it’s basically an encrypted document from 17^th Century Europe. No-one has ever been able to crack it; for some reason Chapps thought that, with enough time and money, he could…

A job well done then, thinks Sebastian. Time to report back to the others…but first…he asks Traynor if he’s got any gear…

So, time passes, and the gentleman superspy enjoys his first joint in 30 years. Mmmmmmmm….

Meanwhile, Dr Bosely explains that Michael Chapps was one of his most brilliant students, specialising in computer security and encryption methods. About a year-and-a-half back he’d dropped out to work for some private individual in Arkham. No idea why. No, he doesn’t have any forwarding address.

Foz shows him the small bronze statue. He’s not quite sure what it is … possibly a Giacometti…but really the best person to ask would be Professor Jill Wereszczuk in the Fine Arts department…

Prof Wereszczuk examines the statue. Yes, definitely the work of Giacometti…difficult to say if it’s an original or not without a proper intensive examination, but Giacometti nonetheless. If it is original it could be worth several hundred thousand dollars….

The party look at each other. A mutual shrugging of shoulders. Mouldy speaks on their behalf…

‘Er, sorry, but who is this Giacometti guy?’

Prof Wereszczuk gives them a potted history. Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss-born Surrealist Artist and Sculptor. During the 1930s he appeared to take a break from his work, and for 12 years no further pieces by him were exhibited. When he returned, his style had evolved, and sculpture was now his main concern. In particular, sculptures of stylised, angular, emaciated figures…the reasons for this evolution in his style are unclear – some believe it was as a result of the pictures of the concentration camps at the end of the war. For any further information she recommends they contact a Dr Julian Karswell, a Boston resident who’s one of the world’s foremost authorities on Giacometti.

Sebastian, a little unsteady on his feet, catches up with the others and passes on his info. The party deduce the following :-

1. Eldritch/Chapps was working on a translation of the Voynich Manuscript for some guy called Maitland.
2. Chapps seemingly found a key to the translation which revealed pages of Latin.
3. Maitland refused to give Chapps an English translation of his work. Chapps got Traynor’s girlfriend Lisa to translate a few pages before she stopped and refused to do any more…
4. Chapps and Maitland fell out, with Chapps not receiving the remainder of his money. He stole something from Maitland’s apartment by way of compensation…
5. Two email correspondents : ‘Faustus’ they identify as Steve Traynor, ‘Orlok’ is unknown…

‘Orlok’ has a microsoft address. Scuzzi makes a phone call and identifies him as John Mullin, a programmer from the Seattle office. She then calls the Feds in Seattle to bring him in for videoconferencing…

Mouldy decides that maybe this motley crew of investigators can be of use to him, so he and Scuzzi dispense with their his’n’her Lexus’ and swap to a people carrier. Everyone heads off to Dream-Haunted Arkham…apart from Nathan…

Part Six : In which our team decamp to Dream-Haunted Arkham and Mouldy receives a mysterious phone call…

Arkham, a town of bells and spires. Perhaps 60 miles from Boston, it has the air of a quiet provincial town, ignored by it’s larger neighbour. The pace of late 20^th Century life has inevitably made an impact yet it’s streets are still relatively quiet, and the more crass commercial elements of modern times are less than obvious. The centrepiece of the town is old Miskatonic University.

The party arrive at Chapp’s crumbling brownstone apartment and are met by his landlady Mrs Hudson. She explains that Chapps was a good tenant, paid his rent on time, never caused any particular disturbance, can’t recall him receiving any visitors. Her only other tenant is Dr Cushing on the top floor…

Chapp’s apartment is a bit of a tip. It takes the party a while to wade throught the morass of old pizza boxes and coke cans, but eventually a search reveals a letter from a Mr Jason Cobley, referring to a magazine called ‘Blackout’ and a comic-strip character called ‘Damien Eldritch’. A few copies of ‘Blackout’ are to be found – it’s a British semi-professional magazine, consisting of music reviews and a few comic strips. One of which is about a psychic investigator called Damien Eldritch.

Elsewhere, a newspaper clipping is found, seemingly from the early ‘70s. It reports the case of two pensioners who foiled the theft of the Voynich Manuscript from Yale University. One of them is referred to as being an expert on the manuscript…perhaps the ‘old guy’ that Chapps’ referred to in an email…

But just what were two old men doing outside a library in Connecticut at 2 in the morning. Mouldy reckons either of these guys is worth questioning…James Leroy is probably dead, he’d be almost a hundred, but Irvin Howard Roberts might just be alive…in the meantime, they decide to crate up Chapps’ PC and check it out back in Boston.

Mouldy’s phone rings…

The line goes dead…

Part Seven : In which Nathan learns more about the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, and receives an unwelcome visitor…

Nathan investigates the Voynich Manuscript a little further. He finds the following details at the university library :-

In 1912, Wilfrid M. Voynich (a book collector) bought a medieval manuscript (235 pages) written in an unknown script and what appears to be an unknown language or a cipher from the Jesuit College at the Villa Mondragone, Frascati, in Italy (near Rome). However, despite the efforts of many well known cryptologists and scholars, the book remains unread. Since 1969, it is at Yale University, at the Beinecke Rare Book Library with catalogue number MS 408.

It is known (from a letter of J. M. Marci in 1665/6) that the manuscript was bought by Emperor Rudolph II of Bohemia (1552-1612) for 600 ducats (an exorbitant sum in those days). The manuscript somehow passed to Jacobus de Tepenecz, the director of Rudolph's botanical gardens (his signature is present in folio 1r) and it is speculated that this must have happened after 1608, when Jacobus Horcicki received his title "de Tepenecz". Thus 1608 is the earliest definite date for the Manuscript.

The Voynich Manuscript, as it has come to be known, contains many drawings of plants, but the plants have not been identified, nor have the drawings been identified with known fanciful or distorted drawings of plants from the Middle Ages. There are what look like astrological drawings. The persons and costumes look generally European. The script seems to have been developed from early Arabic numerals and medieval Latin abbreviations and embellishments; it resembles Renaissance cipher scripts.

Computer analysis of the Voynich Manuscript has only deepened the mystery. One finding has been that there are two "languages" or "dialects" of Voynichese, which are called Voynich A and Voynich B. The repetitiousness of the text is obvious to casual inspection. Entropy is a numerical measure of the randomness of text. The lower the entropy, the less random and the more repetitious it is. The entropy of samples of Voynich text is lower than that of most human languages; only some Polynesian languages are as low.

Nathan downloads a few sample pages from the net. He notices that 2 additional constellations are detailed - patterns of stars that can be seen today with the use of high-power telescopes, but which could not have been seen with the technology available in the late middle ages. Likewise, a number of the plants detailed were unknown at the time.

Nathan retires for the night, happy in the knowledge of a job well done...

In the small hours of the morning, he’s awakened by soft footsteps on the stairs. The footsteps stop outside his bedroom door. He can hear the sound of a low, bestial breathing, and the rattle of the door handle being tried.

Fortunately his bedroom door is locked…

Unfortunately he is the only man in America to safely lock his gun away at a gun club…

The door handle is tried again, more violently this time. Then two hands smash through the door! More blows, the door splinters, and a crouched figure stands in the door frame.

Nathan’s bedroom is on the first floor. He’s got no weapons, and the intruder is standing in the door. He leaps out of bed, flings open the bedroom window, and jumps 15 feet to the ground beneath! He lands on his feet, and runs off into the night…

What a guy!

He hammers on a neighbour’s door until they let him in, and calls the cops.

The police arrive and take statements, and eventually call out Mouldy and Scuzzi. They check out Nathan’s garden, and find a couple of preserved footprints in the mud…cloven hooves. The bedroom has been trashed, and they find a scrap of paper : Very well … I no longer need it… but the blood of a newborn is on YOUR hands!

Part Eight : In which an offer of cheese on toast is declined…

Morning : Scuzzi gets a phone call from Seattle. They’ve brought Mullin in for questioning. John Mullin is a young, scared-looking guy. He says he had no idea Chapps was dead. Yeah, they’d been good pals but they’d fallen out when Chapps took his new job. Mullin had never met or heard of Maitland but thought the whole thing sounded like a scam : he’s convinced no-one could, or will, ever translate the Voynich script…

Analysis of Chapps’ PC reveals a series of emails to ‘Orlok’ and ‘Faustus’. One message, seemingly a translation from the Manuscript, is of particular interest :-

The ‘Shining Path’ : both George and Sebastian remember the glowing crystal shining bright light as the last thing they remember before awaking in the church…but the rest of it makes no sense…

Mouldy has made a few enquiries, with the following results :-

Irvin Howard Roberts however is alive, well, and living in Boston. Time to pay him a call…

Irvin is old and frail, and tends to ramble a bit. He explains how Chapps came to see him, wanting some information on the Voynich manuscript…

At this point, Irvin wanders over to his mantelpiece and takes down a picture …

He puts down the picture and wipes a rheumy eye. Then he brightens :-

The offer is politely declined, then one of the party tentatively mentions ‘The Treader of the Dust’. Irvin’s mood suddenly changes.

At this, Father o’Patrick draws a horrified breath, for he has heard the name of Carnamagos : a 15^th C Italian monk, author of a book banned by the Pope, and burnt for heresy…

Irvin continues :-

Again, the offer is politely declined, and the investigators take their leave…

Part Nine : In which George demonstrates his inner steel, and Father o’Patrick demonstrates his bedside manner…

Our heroes mull over the facts as they see them :-

Scuzzi suggests getting a SWAT team to guard all hospitals in the Arkham area, but a phone call reveals they don’t have the resources. But as there’s only one hospital with a maternity ward in Arkham, surely two highly-trained FBI agents could do the job themselves…

The maternity ward is on the second floor. Matron is a bit peturbed by the presence of so many strangers, but, after all, two of them are FBI agents and one is a priest…

Father o’Patrick sits and prays by the side of a heavily-pregnant woman, the rest of the team take up strategic positions in the corridor outside…

Hours pass. Then a distinct ‘Thud!’ sound is heard from the end of the corridor

‘Nothing, my child, just the wind in the trees…’

Mouldy runs to the end of the corridor, and barges the door open. At his feet lies the body of a nurse. Looming above the corpse is a creature…humanoid, yet with a bestial, canine face, with sharp teeth and talons, and unpleasant rubbery flesh…Mouldy screams in horror and drops to the floor.

Scuzzi runs after Mouldy, and tries to barge her way through the double doors, now blocked by the two bodies. The door opens, she steps through, gun ready…a short pause, another AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!! …and then silence…

Meanwhile, in the delivery room :-

‘No, no, my child, ‘tis only the wind. But maybe I’ll just step outside and check…’

Seb runs up to the door, barges through. A short pause, then another (manly) scream echoes round the hospital, followed by a dull thud….

Father o’Patrick leaps to his feet…the woman grabs his arm…

The priest tries to extract his hand but the woman’s strength is as the strength of ten…

George stands alone in the corridor. The swing doors burst open and a figure stands illuminated by the light behind it. The figure shuffles towards him, breathing low and bestially…

George steadies himself, takes aim, and blazes away at the creature…

‘Er, Father…I don’t think this beastie is going to die…any chance of a hand perhaps???’

‘I shall be only a moment my child…God will watch over you…’

More gunshots…

With a superhuman effort, the priest succeeds in freeing his arm, and rushes outside…

He reels in horror for a moment at the sight of the diabolical creature in the corridor. Then, pausing only to cross himself, he takes out the Nine Daggers of St Quentin and leaps upon the foul beast and plunges the daggers into it’s body…the creature screams in it’s death throes as the wild-eyed priest sets about his holy task…then the creature lies still, Father o’Patrick administers the last of the daggers, and the gore-drenched priest gets to his feet…

But in the midst of this scene of horror, there comes the cry of a baby…Father o’Patrick rushes back inside…the woman is holding a baby boy in here arms…

A look of panic comes over the face of the priest…

‘Er, they call me Father o’Patrick child…’

An unsteady Scuzzi, Mouldy and Travers get to their feet and have a quick shufti at the creature. Scuzzi immediately phones for a meat wagon to take the body back to Boston for examination. It’s going to be a bit of a job unpinning the creature from the floor…

Outside, Mouldy’s phone rings :-

Part Ten : In which the investigators meet the distinguished Dr Henry Armitage, and Sebastian unleashes a torrent of filth…

The team return to the Boston safe house. The following morning Scuzzi performs an examination of the creature. George asks if he can also be present, which is fortunate as Scuzzi makes a bit of a mess of the whole thing…well, she hasn’t been sleeping well, she’s feeling a bit stressed and, well, …Listen, IF you’re so goddam clever why don’t YOU have a go!!!!

George does, with consummate professionalism. The creature’s internal organs are basically human, although the teeth and claws are more reminiscent of carnivores…the flesh, an unpleasant rubbery consistency, is most definitely not human…also the presence of raw animal flesh in the stomach…conclusion : well, not sure really – possibly a highly evolved or highly regressed human…

The investigators find themselves at a bit of a loose end. Evidence seems to point to ‘Maitland’ as the voice on the telephone. It is suggested that perhaps Christopher Maitland himself has travelled through time and is responsible for all this, yet George is adamant that the Dr Christopher Maitland he knew was a well-respected man of unblemished reputation.

One of Chapps’ emails refers to ‘Maitland’ purchasing some items in England, and also to some information held at Miskatonic University that could be of interest to him. The team therefore undertake a trawl of local newspaper archives, searching for any references to Maitland, and to Miskatonic university

They unearth a clipping from 1994, detailing the sale of the Maitland estate to Dr Julian Karswell.

They also find a clipping relating to a break-in at Miskatonic University the previous year. The spokesman for the university is a Dr Henry Armitage…time to head off to Arkham again then…

Dr Armitage, a powerfully-built, distinguished looking gentleman in his early sixties surveys the investigators, and speaks in a deep, booming, cultured voice :-

Mouldy queries : ‘Ah yes, erm, what is this Book of the Arab…?’

Armitage waves a hand dismissively : The Book of the Arab…Kitab Al-Azif…the Book of Dead Names…the Buzzing of Insects…

‘Yes, yes, but what actually is it’

‘C*ckbroth’

Silence.

‘Er, nothing’

‘C*ckbroth!!!!’

Long Silence.

At this point, Sebastian is ignominiously dragged outside by Nathan…

Dr Armitage indulges in a good rant about ‘young people today’, ‘fought in the war for people like that’ before being brought back to the point. Yes, he was acquainted with James D Leroy and his work. He explains the following :-

1. The Voynich Manuscript : the exact origin and nature of this book is undetermined, though the basic facts of it’s origin in Bohemia in the early 17^th Century are undisputed.
2. James D Leroy was one of the few people allowed to have access to Miskatonic University’s copy of Al-Azif, the Book of Dead Names. Five copies only of this text are known to be extant – one, in the hands of a private collector in London. One in the British Museum. One in the Biblioteque Nationale. One in the University of Buenos Aires. Miskatonic holds Dr John Dee’s Latin translation.
3. Dee, a mathematician and cryptographer also served as Elizabeth the First’s astrologer and mystic, and was known to have travelled in Bohemia at the end of the 16^th Century. James D Leroy was aware of this connection, and a reference found in Dee’s translation of Al-Azif led him to believe that the Voynich Manuscript was indeed Dee’s encrypted Testament of Carnamagos.

Armitage goes on to explain that he was approached by a young man calling himself Damien Eldritch, who begged to have access to Leroy’s work. However, Armitage and Leroy had agreed that the secrets revealed by the Testament were insanely dangerous, and hence would be held anonymously at the University and not published. The Testament deals with the cult and worship of Quachil Utteaus, a being somehow outside earthly time and space, believed to be able to grant his followers powers such as eternal life.

A few days after the conversation with Eldritch, the Leroy files were stolen…

The party apologise again on Sebastian’s behalf, and take their leave of Dr Armitage…

Maitland, then, has a translated copy of the Testament of Carnamagos. He believes he can use this book to summon a creature known as the ‘Treader of Dust’ to grant himself unknown powers. To do this he needed the crystal found in the church, or, failing that, a child sacrifice…

Maitland = Karswell ?

But Karswell is dead.

The two agents get the Bureau to dig up any information on Karswell’s passing. It appears that Karswell owed several hundred thousand dollars to the IRS at the time of his death…

Mouldy suggests they find out who the executor of Karswell’s estate was.

A few phone calls yield the name of Milton McCarthy. Scuzzi and Mouldy have both heard of this guy, he’s a well-known shyster lawyer…

Bingo! A brief call to Mr McCarthy’s Boston office then…

Part Eleven : In which time starts to run out, and our heroes interview a colourful member of the US legal system…

McCarthy’s receptionist does her best to delay their entry as best she can :-

The party burst in to McCarthy’s office. Milton is frantically stuffing papers into shoeboxes etc, whilst a man flees out of the back entrance and down the fire escape.

Sebastian has been waiting for this moment : all this time in the States and he hasn’t had the chance of a decent chase down a fire escape yet. He runs after him, the guy drops to the street, Sebastian leaps after him, and pursues him. With an athletic display of martial arts (Judo Chop!), he knocks him to the floor…

‘Doktor Krow, so we meet again… ‘

The guy bursts into tears. He howls about his ex-wife is trying to bleed him dry, and McCarthy was his last hope.

‘Ah…very well…’

A small crowd has gathered. Sebastian dusts off his suit.

‘Come along people…nothing to see here…’

Scuzzi and Mouldy gently explain to McCarthy that they’re not here on behalf of the IRS. No, they just want information on Karswell. McCarthy is quite at liberty to take the 5^th, but if he does they’ll start going through his records piece by piece.

McCarthy gives it less than a seconds thought. Yes, he was Karswell’s lawyer. He owed huge amounts of money to the IRS, so, in return for a substantial amount of cash, McCarthy arranged for him to disappear. He is now living in Arkham under the name of Sebastian Melmoth.

Back to Arkham then…Fox receives a phone call on the way…a report has come in of a new-born child being abducted from a home in the small village of Westboro, 10 miles outside of Arkham…

Melmoth / Maitland / Karswell’s apartment is deserted. The place is sparsely furnished, although the Karswell’s interest in Giacometti is evident from a number of prints of the same angular, shrunken, skeletal figures…

One wall is dominated by a large map of the Arkham area. Overlaid on the map is a veritable spider’s web of interconnecting lines. Lines which spiral in to a graveyard…and the Karswell family plot…

Beneath the map, the legend Death is But a Door is written.

Only one place he can be then…

Part Twelve : In which the forces of Evil are finally encountered, and the two highly-trained FBI agents show their inner steel…

The party drive up to the outskirts of Arkham and the city cemetery. It takes a short while to locate the Karswell mausoleum, a huge, crumbling, ivy-strewn construct. Several sarcophagi lie inside, seemingly undisturbed. The floor is dusty but the tracks of several footprints can be seen, one set human, the others cloven. On one wall is a statue with Death is but a Door inscribed beneath. The party examine the statue and find a concealed entrance behind.

The party proceed into the tunnel beyond…from a short distance they can hear the sound of a human voice chanting, as well as other, bestial voices.

They proceed about 10 yards into the tunnel when two of the semi-human creatures fling themselves on them. Scuzzi and Mouldy are struck with terror and drop to the floor. Nathan and George open fire and bring one down before it can reach them. Sebastian engages the other in hand-to-hand combat! Judo Chop!! Amazingly, his finely honed martial arts skills succeed in chopping the creature to the ground.

But no time to waste, the chanting is growing in intensity…the remaining heroes run up the corridor wich widens into a cavern. At one end stands the figure of a powerfully built bearded man, holding a knife above a small child. Before they can react, three more creatures move to attack. A mutual hiss of Oh Shit moves around the party….

George and Nathan start firing, two of the creatures move to attack Father o’Patrick and Sebastian Travers hand to hand. Seb has a harder time with this one as the creature sinks it’s fangs in his throat and wrestles him to the ground….

George and Nathan bring down one of the creatures and move to help the priest. Sebastian is in big trouble, he’s on the ground and the creature is hanging on to him, worrying at his throat…

The figure at the altar raises the knife…George and Nathan blaze away…bullets strike, perhaps??? But then a pale grey light shines from above, encircling the figure…faintly…ever so faintly…a small, horribly emaciated figure descends…it reaches out a withered claw…

Karswell screams, but only for a moment, and crumples to the floor. Before the heroes eyes, his flesh withers away and bones crumble to ash. The emaciated figure stands for a moment before walking off through the dust, into the corner of the cavern, and disappearing…

Scuzzi and Mouldy come round. Scuzzi attends to Seb whose in a bad way…he’s bled all over his frilly cravat, and blood will be difficult to remove from crushed blue velvet…

They examine the tracks…Seb pronounces They are the tracks…of Doktor Krow

A long pause. The party stare at each other. Could it be, this shadowy figure was the mastermind behind the whole scheme? Is he now at large within this warren of caverns, planning a dreadful revenge…

Eventually it’s suggested that Sebastian is just in shock…or Doktor Krow really is only about 18 inches tall…

A passage is discovered leading out of the cavern. A brief examination reveals it splits into several tunnels. From deep within the earth, sounds of bestial voices can be heard.

The party are a little unsure of what to do. Then Scuzzi makes a basic sanity check : they’ve got a small baby with them and Travers is very badly wounded…this is not the time to go wandering around unfamiliar tunnels with an unknown number of enemies. Better to leave and call in a SWAT team…

Epilogue: In which the team remain confronted by an unexplainable mystery, and George settles down for a good long read…

And so the party return to Boston and the child is returned to it’s grateful parents. But mysteries remain unsolved : Just what did happen to Karswell…were they responsible or was it his own doing…?

Perhaps the answers are to be found in the Testament of Carnamagos? Father o’Patrick’s Latin is unfortunately not up to the job, but George believes he can decipher it, although it will take a few months…

And where, of course, is the mysterious Doktor Krow….?