Session Nine - 04/25/2021

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The investigators, weapons drawn, face off against the wraith of Walter Corbitt. Delia, her dagger still laying on the ground on the other side of the room, draws her holdout pistol and fires at Corbitt, however the shot goes wide. McQuaid, service revolver at the ready, fires a shot right into Corbitt's toothy maw, shattering the thing's teeth and blowing out the back of its head. The creature drops lifelessly to the ground.

Ophelia approaches the body of Billy and picks him up, noting his withered and lifeless features. Vincent checks him for signs of life, finding none. McQuaid uneasily tries to search the body of the creature, opting to handcuff its limbs together. Vincent, in a leap of questionable logic, takes his tattered pants off and attempts to bind the creature's face with them. The wraith's body stirs and stands back up. Ophelia runs up and punches it in the face, having little effect. Vincent swings his bonesaw into its neck but is unable to do much more than open its leathery skin a bit. Corbitt claims that its kind were "what once was and shall be again" before attempting to bite Vincent. Its aim thrown off by the wound in its neck, it chomps down on empty air. McQuaid fires at it again, putting another hole in its head but doing noticeably less damage than before. Delia retrieves her dagger and attempts to stab the creature, but stumbles on Vincent's discarded pants and misses. Vincent, remember the bone dagger from earlier, grabs it from Ophelia's belt and attempts to stab the creature, however it catches his arm and smacks the dagger's pommel back into Vincent's face. Ophelia brandishes her own dagger and drives it into the creature's neck, trying to separate its head from its body, however she is only partially successfully. Corbitt turns to Delia and attempts to rake her with his claws, but he too stumbles over Vincent's abandoned pants and his swing goes wide. McQuaid then fires three more shots into its chest in quick succession, dropping it again.

Vincent, seeing his chance, drives the bone dagger into Corbitt's chest. A wave of force pushes everyone back a few feet, and they watch as the skin on the creature begins to blacken and shrivel, before turning to dust and disappearing entirely. Vincent pockets the dagger and then lifts the body of Billy over his shoulder. He notices that the body is heavier and warmer. He pauses and checks for life signs, finding a pulse and hearing a heartbeat. They file out of the basement one by one, with only McQuaid remaining. He closes the spell book Corbitt had been reciting from, and puts it in his backpack. Before leaving the room, he empties his last round at the altar table, chipping its stone surface.

Exiting the Corbitt house for the final time, the group sees Mr. Knott waiting beside McQuaid's car. Knott approaches them anxiously, asking them about the investigation. McQuaid tries to calm him down, but Knott reveals that the police have been asking him about the investigation and that he now believes the investigators may be persons of interest. In a panic, he told them he believes the police are on the way. As he and McQuaid discuss this, pants-less Vincent realizes how awkward he may look holding a child over his shoulder, so he goes to put the kid down. Billy is awake and conscious, but says the last thing he remembers is talking to Mr. Dooley at the cigar stand. Belatedly, McQuaid recalls mention of a "cigar stand owner" in the un-redacted report on the police raid of the Church of Contemplation. Mr. Knott hands over $200 as payment and asks that they return the key and hand over any and all investigation materials before the police arrive. The group is not comfortable with this and press Mr. Knott on the timeframe. He mentions that the chief of police was at the group's shop and he's concerned that he may also be in trouble. He just wants to get what he paid them for and leave town to lie low for a bit. McQuaid insists that Knott come with them to the Inn, and Knott reluctantly agrees as the sound of police sirens is heard. Billy quietly bolts from the group, not wanting to deal with the cops either. Taking both McQuaid's car and Vincent's car, the group heads north and out of the neighborhood, just in time to see three police cruisers swerve around the corner and come to a halt in front of the Corbitt house.

The investigators pull into the parking area at the Landing Tree Inn, noticing a car parked there that they hadn't seen previously. The landlady greets them warmly, voicing her concern at their wellbeing since they hadn't been back in four days. She mentioned that their friend "Chuck" had been back in their absence but wasn't currently there. She also mentions another guest is staying in Room 6. The group discusses renting Room 3 like they did previously, but Knott steps up and requests to rent all of the other rooms to ensure the group's privacy. After some discussion, the agree to leave Room 3 available in case "Chuck" comes back, but they proceed with renting the other four. They ask the landlady to alert them if "Chuck" returns, since they are planning a surprise party for him, to which she points out the bell system in use here. There's a small service bell in each room that can be rung to request things, and they also work the other way around in the event that callers or messengers arrive for the various guests. She agrees to ring the bell to let them know if "Chuck" shows up. Vincent asks to use the phone, and telephones his government contact. He's not able to provide much specific information, requesting to speak directly to someone with Sagittarius. The agent on the other end simply says "we'll have someone there shortly" before disconnecting. The rest of the group makes their way up to Room 2, but Ophelia goes into Room 5 with the intent of eavesdropping on whomever might be in Room 6. McQuaid peaks in and sees Ophelia with her ear to a glass cup against the wall to Room 4. He gently takes the cup from her and goes over the wall leading to Room 6. He's able to overhear a female voice, sounding rather displeased at having to be back in the area, but nothing else of relevance.

After some discussion and getting Knott up to speed on how a simple request to look into a spooky house turned into a manhunt, the group discusses their options. They feel directionless and helpless, especially when explaining to Knott about Monte making off with several important artifacts. Delia happens to mention the book, Secrets of Ancient Egypt, to which Knott remarks that the author of that book, Lord Carter Phillips, was in town this past week for an exhibit at the Boston Museum of History. He wasn't sure if Phillips was still there, however. As this is being discussed, Vincent finds out to his chagrin that the red ball, the box of crayons, and his toy soldier are all missing now. Knott gets up and opens the door to the hallway, playfully kicking the red ball he found out there and remarking that it must have fallen from Vincent's backpack at some point. Ophelia gets up to go after the ball, but it is nowhere to be seen. She decides to follow Knott down to the office and eavesdrop on his telephone call, with Delia joining her. They noisily make their way down the creaky steps, past the noisy landlady who greets them loudly, and stand at the doorway as Knott finishes his conversation. He notices them and gives them a wave of greeting before ending the call. He informs them that Phillips is in town for only one more day before the exhibit moves on. They all return to the room and discuss their options. Its eventually agreed that since the Museum is on the west side of the city and away from their previous zones of activity, they may have a better chance at avoiding any police. They note that McQuaid's vehicle is known and decide to try to conceal it here on the bluff before taking Vincent's car back to the city. They roll McQuaid's car off to the other side of the house near some woods as the landlady appears. She asks if they are hiding the car for "Chuck's" surprise party, and offers to provide a tarp to cover it with. They then pile into Vincent's jalopy and begin heading north. McQuaid corrects Vincent's sense of direction and they are finally heading south, on their way to the Museum.

The pull in front of the museum, seeing plenty of people out and about and no police in sight. They enter and speak with the museum employee at the entrance, who tells them about the Secrets of Ancient Egypt exhibit, Lord Carter Phillip's lecture, and the dinosaur exhibit in the other wing. Vincent darts off toward the dinosaur exhibit, while McQuaid and Ophelia notice the employee sporting a silver ring. McQuaid notes that the symbol, a triangle containing the Eye of Horus, is eerily similar to that of the eyed triangle used by the Church of Contemplation. After being told that Phillip's lecture was going on right now, they snag Vincent and head to the Egyptian exhibit. They enter to find an older, stately gentleman standing next to a golden sarcophagus, with only one patron present, who is studiously taking notes of everything the man says. He mentions the sarcophagus and the treasures belonging to one of the lost pharaohs, Nephren-Ka, who was buried some distance away from the Valley of Kings, though it wasn't known if this was meant to be a place of honor or exile. The woman pays the group no heed, even after Vincent tries to show her his drawing of the Dark Pharaoh. McQuaid asks Phillips if he could have a moment of his time, to which Phillips replies he still has much of the lecture to go through. McQuaid shows him the puzzle box, eliciting a shocked "...my god" from Phillips, who ends the lecture abruptly to investigate the box. As he does so, he thanks Ms. Dorn for her attendance. The woman who had been taking notes turns to leave before catching a glimpse of the group and saying in shocked disbelief, "Delia? Darling?"