Dan-ily Remaster

0:00 Daniel's Dread Tales is a show for grown-ups. It may contain adult language and adult themes. Please check the episode description for content one. Hey everybody, it's me, Daniel. These are my dreads. I'm Gabriel Fernandez, I'm the host of the show. Thanks for checking us out. This is our first episode at our computer, and I just want to give you a little bit of a historical note. This is not actually the first episode that we put in. This is the same thing, but the episode we put out, it was fine. But we've learned a lot about producing podcasts since then. We wanted to make sure that the first thing you hear is not traffic.

1:02 Yeah, we can say it. So please enjoy this remastered version of the first episode of our show. Hope you enjoy it and hope you enjoy the rest of the show. Thanks. Bye. All right, so welcome everyone to Daniel's Thread Tales, our first episode here. This evening we're going to be playing Trail of Cthulhu. Specifically, we're going to be playing a version of the adventure The Dance in the Blood by Graham Wolmsley. It's a pretty great little adventure, I think. And let us introduce you to our characters this evening going around Russell, Tell tell us about yourself and your character.

1:56 Hello, I'm Russell and I'll be playing Doctor Michael Laws. He's the Doctor. Is there anything we should know about Doctor Laws? Anything special we should know about him? What do you think the most interesting thing about Doctor Laws? Good question. My love for humanity extends to those around me, like my brother and my wife. I haven't been entirely faithful, but it still counts. OK, that's you love her. You just haven't always been faithful to her. You know what happened? All right, Nathan, how about you? Hi, I'm Nathan. He him pronouns I and I am playing Helen Long, an artist. What's something interesting we should know about Helen? Well, at the moment she's bored out of her God damn mind and to inspire her absurdist, her surreal artwork, she needs something dark and twisted and exciting. And I, I get the feeling that she's going to regret that. But you know, we'll see how it goes. Last but not least, is Dominic.

2:56 Hello, I'm Dominic. I'm playing Tom Jones. Jonesy is what you can call me. I am a gentleman extraordinaire, one of the nicest, most British people you can possibly meet. Even though my English it's not that great, but I will gladly take any drink that you offer me and I will gladly pay you back when I can because that's the most gentleman thing to do. What would you say your profession is? Jonesy is a gentleman. I yes, I am a gentleman of the great small town that I'm from. Everyone knows my name.

3:40 I have great character, especially among those of the police, but yeah. 'Cause I'm looking at your sheet and it does say hobo on here. I'm just. I just wanted to double check that I. I'm a gentleman and kind of a scholar. Hobo is just a trait or just a name for someone that travels around. Exactly. You're, you're a, you're a travelling man. Exactly. It's a certain kind of scholarly air, you know, a very specific one. I should note that you are not the only hobo in the world. The year is 1935 and we are in in an area of England known as the Lake District, in a small little village called.

4:29 Keswick. Yes, we're in the small little village called Keswick and you've all ended up there for various reasons and I think we're going to get started. Right now it is evening and you're all at the inn here in Keswick. It's pretty normal evening. You all have gotten done with whatever you were doing during the day and what do you think you're doing when we're you're sort of wrapping things up for the evening. I should note there is a lovely little bar at the Hood. Well, I'll head down to the bar for a spot of Branda. Yes, Brander, it's like Brandy, but harder. It's harder Brandy, yes. So at the Blackstone where you are, they do have a bar. It's, it's a pretty nice place and it's overlooking Keswick's Market Square.

5:19 This is a small town, but it's not a nothing town. It's got like a pencil factory, you know, very exciting stuff. There is a hospital, there's a library. It's not like a little village, but it's still not a particularly exciting place. This is, you know, no one's going to confuse this for London, but there are not a ton of people in the bar when you're going down there. There's like 6 or 7 people. They're all sort of sitting at tables chatting with each other. And there is one gentleman standing behind the bar at the barkeep, and you see that it looks like what he's doing is reading a book right now. Barkeep the spot of your finders Brender. He looks up from the book with disdain in his eyes and says, what Brander? I misspoke and I'm sticking to it. Brandy, then.

6:08 Well, if that's what you've got. OK, yes, any particular whatever. And he grabs something and starts pouring it. This place is, you'd say it's very quaint. There's a lot of decorations on the wall. There seems to be photos of people from the village and whatnot. There's photos all over the place. There's a couple of like, I don't know if you'd call the artifacts or something, but there's like old stuff on the wall as well. Like, oh look, here's like an old farm pick or something. It's almost like a modern day Fridays, just with a bunch of goofy stuff on the wall. Does Fridays have that? I guess that's more of an Applebee's thing. Regardless, do you? There's just bunch of pictures on the wall and. And some other random stuff. Yeah.

6:50 Pours your drink and offers it to you. And would you like to set up tab or you want to pay right now? I'll pay now, I don't drink that heavily. You can make the deal. What is your credit rating? Or you have a four credit rating. OK, you can afford to buy something right now. It's not going to affect your your personal finances or anything here. OK, so you're just sort of drinking at the bar. What are you doing as you're drinking? Anything in particular? Oh, definitely. Looking around at the other patrons, I believe I'm just sort of visiting this place. Yeah, you're just sort of visiting. You're on a you're on a little vacation. Yeah, so well, people watch. Yeah, do it. Some people watching. All right, well, let's look at some of the other people you might see.

7:33 Jonesy. What? What do you think you're doing? So Jonesy just walks into the bar with his bowler cap, his nice fanciest coat, and he's got, you know, dress pants that look they've seen better days, but they're in good, goodish quality. And he walks in with a cane in hand, twirling, and he points towards the barkeep and he winks and goes, ah, it's good to see you again, friend. What can you get me today? I hope it's a gin and tonic. And he puts on his biggest smile. And how are you today? How's everything going? He sort of sighs and looks up at you and says are you going to be able to pay?

8:21 You know me, I am a man of great quality, great esteem and great way of pain. And Jonesy kind of looks around and goes, ah yes, you. And he points towards the the doctor and he goes, ah, excuse me, what is your name? Doctor Michael Laws, pleasure to meet you. Laws, it is a great honor to meet you. My name is Tom Jones. You may call me Jonesy. As you can tell I am a in a pinch but I can glad you pay you back. If you just give me a gin and tonic I will gladly pay you back. Not today, but maybe tomorrow. Well, that sounds like fantastic deal. Here you go.

9:06 You see that the barkeeper during this conversation has pulled up his book. He's reading Murder on the Orient Express and is ignoring you guys. That is an excellent book. Murder on the Orient. Positively good book. As you can tell. I have paid the drink. Gin and tonic please. He sighs, pours you a gin and tonic. He slides it across at the bar for you. What are and what are you doing here besides drinking? Jones, he's here, he's looking for a little bit of trouble. He's looking for trouble so he can report it to the police 'cause he's, that is his duty as a great and grand citizen of this English country. You're a hobo who's friends with the police. Oh yes, absolutely.

9:53 I talk to them all the time. I report all the gums and goings of the town and if there's any vagrants, some people of ill repute I greatly report to the police. Of course, of course. And finally, Helen, I think maybe you're the last one to arrive, or maybe you've been here all along. What are you doing this evening? She's she's at the bar drinking mostly. She's here because, well, since she's so bored, you know, alcohol might help. And if a bar brawl breaks out, that would really help. Like maybe if something really violent happens, she could maybe get some artistic inspiration from that. So she's kind of just looking around while getting a little deep in her cups.

10:40 Got it. All right. Well, Helen, do you have, do you have the photography skill? Yes. You do have the photography skill, all right, So you're sort of looking around as well, trying to get a feel for things. It doesn't look like any fights are breaking out. There's this very loud gentleman who's just come in the bar and is hitting up the doctor at the bar to get itself a drink. But you're sort of looking around, examining everything. What catches your eye is one of the photos on the wall is kind of close to you and you look over at it and it's weird. At first it seems like just one of the other photos around the bar. It's a picture of what looks like a small family.

11:20 There's a man and presumably his wife, and you see four young children with them. And there's some names written under the there. But there's something weird as you're looking at it. There's one young girl and the name Helen is written underneath this small child. She about she can't be more than like 2 years old, but sort of looking at it a little, it kind of looks like you. The fuck kind of the Shining bullshit. It's just hanging on the wall right there and you see the you see written on it is Helen wearing see other names there. There's a there's a Victoria seems to be the mother.

12:03 Jack seems to be the father there. There are a couple other names. Michael, Thomas and Jeffrey, it seems very weird to you. There's something sort of drawing you to this picture. You said Michael and Thomas were two of the names. Michael and Thomas, yes. Like like the other two people currently at the bar. Yes, Weird, isn't it? Very weird. I'm going to go up to that picture and take it off the wall, assuming it is only hung on the wall and not it's. Just hung on the wall. The bar keeper sort of looks up from his book is, hey, what are what are you doing?

12:46 Oh, I just, I wanted to ask you about this picture. What can you tell me about this? She says that she brings it over to the bar. I don't, I don't know. There's a lot of pictures that hang around here. We just get it's decoration for the bar. I don't looks like a family. It's supposed to be a family that lives around here. I don't know, it seems kind of an old picture. So as Jonesy sees Helen pick up the picture, he stands up immediately and twirls his canes. Madam, do you plan to pay for that painting that you just lifted off my good friends wall? Did did you just call this a painting?

13:27 Yeah, it's in a frame, correct. Yes, but I failed to see what that has to do with you know what, I'm not getting caught in this. I was not planning on taking it. So if you don't mind. If you do take it without paying, I will have to report you to the proper authorities. Doctor laws, Are you interacting with this at all? Have you looked at the picture? I think I'm noticing there's a commotion and. Yeah. That there is a woman holding a picture. Yeah. I'm going to go over to her and introduce myself. Hello Doctor Michael Laws. I'm married and it still counts. Why would you never mind?

14:08 Hello. I'm Helen. Helen Long. I was just admiring this photograph. There's something strange about it. Yeah, it's quite striking. Doctor Michael, as you are looking at it, do realize that your name is on here. What the deuce? As is the name of your brother Jeffrey. And the faces here do seem to look like what you've seen of yourselves when you were younger. You definitely Jeffrey's the oldest of all the the children in the picture and it kind of looks like some of the pictures that your parents have up around the House of young Jeffrey.

14:49 Well, this is quite odd. Are you 2 related? Is this a family reunion? Well, I'm sure I'd know. I've never, I've never met this man in my life. Obviously you 2 are in the same photograph and it looks like you 2 might have been planning a meeting, have you? Ah yes, more drinks around Baki, more gin and tonic. Well, I assume you're getting this round. I yes, absolutely. I am a gentleman. And you, Madam, what are you drinking? Bourbon. A bourbon and then you and Jones just kind of puts his nose to your drink. Doctor and ah, a brander, right? That's it exactly.

15:33 Ah yes, Baki Brander and a bourbon please. And another gin and tonic. Open up a tab under doctor laws. We will gladly pay you back. The barkeep size writes that down, mutters like I know this one person did it. All the clues are coming together. It's got to be this one person on the train and pours your drinks and slides them over and just says whatever, happy, reunite, whatever, just put the picture back when you're done. Yes, perfect, drinks all around. So let's grab a seat and I would like to hear your two stories. How did the long lost brother and sister do this? Tom, have you noticed that your face is on this picture yet? Oh, hold on.

16:24 My dear old mother lives in Canterbury. She's not. What? What is this? Who got my picture? Yeah, it looks like the youngest child here. Doesn't quite look like. It's hard to tell. It's kind of a, I guess saying that it looks like you is maybe a little much of A stretch because it's kind of a baby, but there's sort of like a dimple on your chin that this child has as well. And it has the name, and it sort of looks like it's a couple of pictures that your dear old mother had of you when you were young. I will have to call my dear old mom. Maybe she might have a photo like this. Maybe we're both. We're all related.

17:05 Baki. More drinks. But no, I we should finish this round first, don't you think? We will have another drink right after this one. I'm up for. Anything. I will note now, now that you've all sort of seen this, this is all kind of unsettling. This is weird. No kidding. No kidding. I need you all to make difficulty for stability tests. You have a. This would be a loss of three. So what that means is you have, you have stability points that represents your like sort of general. It's not quite your sanity, although it's related, just your ability to like hold it together. What I'm going to need you to do is make a role difficulty 4.

17:48 If you fail this role, you will lose 3 stability points. I should note that your stability can go all the way down to -11 before you are absolutely, completely mad. However, you may spend some points before the role of your stability. So it's kind of a, a tricky thing to think about. You could spend one point of stability and then you have a higher chance of succeeding at your role, but then you've used up one of your points of stability that you're trying to hold on to. And if you still fail then. If you still fail, you'll still lose the three points that you're potentially going to lose here. And this is just a 1D6, correct? The only dice you roll in this game is AD 6 I guess the only die you roll. Nailed it.

18:33 Oh. So you didn't spend anything, Russell, Correct. Yeah. OK, Well, you got a six. I'm going to spend 10. Come on. That's a three. Sorry. That's a failure. So you're going to lose 3 points and you also spent one. So that's a net loss of four there. Great start. I'm not going to spend anything, I'm just going to roll. OK. Oh, so that's a four. That's just enough. So the only person who lost out was the only person who spent a point? Yeah, that's my luck. That makes sense. Certainly for an artist in Lovecraft, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Jonesy and Dr. Law seem to not be too bothered by this. Maybe you're taking it into your stride or something like that. But Helen, all of this is kind of unsettling to you. Well, this bear is investigating to the library. Oh well, it is about 8:00 at night, so the library would be closed.

19:32 We can break in. Wait, that's the brand you're talking? Is there anything you would like to do to investigate this though? Could look at the photograph? You could talk to people here. Feel free to use any of your investigative skills if you think they apply. Yeah, Earlier I asked the bartender about it and he kind of brushed me off. I've got assess honesty as an interpersonal skill. Does he actually not know anything about it or is he hiding something? You could sort of tell that this guy's not trying to hide anything. He just doesn't, he doesn't want to talk to you about this. He barely looked at it, is the thing. He's it's not that he doesn't know anything about it or knows something about it. It's more that he just sort of looked at it and didn't really think about it at all and just said to leave him alone so he could go back to reading his Agatha Christie. Which, I mean, fair.

20:20 Murder on the Orient Express is one of the greatest murder mysteries I've ever written. Yeah. Well, I'm something of a photographer myself and telling a thing or two about photos. I'll flip it over and see if anybody's written anything on the back. Do you have photography skill? 1. We have one point of photography. OK, great. You would need to take the photograph out of the frame to look at it more, but you could easily get it out of the Nope. OK, how do you open up the frame? Do you just sort of RIP it apart or what are you? What are? You doing? Absolutely. I do not hold my liquor well. Oh. What are you doing? The barkeeper says. Look. At it, don't worry about it. You you find a photographer's mark on the back and it lists the location manisty. Well, this means nothing to me.

21:09 And the barkeeper sort of walks up and statues the photo out of your hands, or at least tries to and says what are you doing? You can't just take the photos out of the frame. This is not yours. Can I reassure him? Want to reassure him? No, this is fine. Don't worry about it. This picture of me I should have this. I will say you can reassure him to make him not immediately kick you out. If you would like to spend a point of reassurance, you could make him like you and be willing to give it to you. I see no reason to hoard my reassurance points. OK, Yeah, this is definitely an important to solving the mystery of this photograph. I guess holding on to it is kind of important. It's literally the only clue we have. This is true.

21:53 So far. OK, so spending a point of reassurance, he's like, fine, whatever. I guess it's you. How about you just go to bed and go go to Manistee tomorrow? OK, leave me alone. Wait, what's Manistee? Aren't you from there? Refresh my memory maybe? Small village on the other side of the water. It's to the West. Yes, I remember now. Very smooth. He just sort of shakes his head again and says, all right, well, let me know when you want to close out your tab. Doctor goes back to his book. Well, it sounds like we're off to Manesty in the morning. Are you working together now or what? What's going on? Yes, we're a merry band. I thought it was obvious.

22:35 When did this happen? Just now with the the thing with the photo. Whatever. So Jonesy's had his mouth a gape the whole time because he just witnessed vandalism. And he's just like, I don't, I don't know if I should report this or roll with it. So Jonesy's going to talk to other other patrons at the bar. There are other people here. Yeah, there's some other people here. I will they. Must be quite the sight. I will just kind of talk to one of the other patrons. I'm going to use my streetwise and just kind of, you know, since people know my name, everyone knows Jonesy, the excellent extraordinaire gentleman and just goes, excuse me, all people from Manistee this way. I'm sorry to tell you, Jonesy, People may know about you in other parts of the country, but you have not really been to this town before in Keswick.

23:31 You're kind of new to the area, so they don't immediately recognize you. Everyone knows Jonesy. A streetwise spend will is not really going to be helping you here. Streetwise is more dealing with the criminal elements. Oh my bad. No, it's totally fine. Streetwise is sort of a a broad term for this, but streetwise is more like being knowing about crime stuff. I guess you have that because you are always reporting that people who are. Doing then I will use my charmingly good looks and flattery to talk to the. People, yeah, one of them says Manistee. Nobody goes over there. That's just a town that that's like a nothing town on to the West. It's empty, a ghost town.

24:16 What do you mean? Is it just? Yeah, it's just a little fishing village. They got some pigs over there. I don't know. It's kind of nothing. It's been there forever. Is it the same quality of air as old Keswick? Actually, it smells kind of bad there. It's near the it's on the Moors, the swamps over there, they don't smell so good. If you really want to go to hop on the ferry or I guess take the southern Rd. over to the West. Oh, OK, the ferry. Jonesy hasn't been on a ship yet. New adventure, What do you say? And he just looks at the other two.

24:57 Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. Yes, you have. You are quite deep into your brand and you miss Helen. What do you say? The road a fairy. I don't see why either would be a problem. Let's do the fairy then, assuming we can all afford the fee. Can you my friend? Absolutely. I'm a gentleman and a scholar. I can afford many things. Ain't that right, Doctor Laws? Well, I don't think either of those professions actually pays very much. You Sir, are quite the gentleman yourself and you can afford things as I have seen paying for our rounds of branded gin and tonic and bourbon. Well, yes, but I'm a gentleman at a doctor. Doctor Michael Laws, married, still counts. Why do you keep saying that?

25:49 So everyone knows it still counts. OK. Well, sounds like you guys have kind of a plan. If there's anything else you want to do, you can do it this evening. But if you'd like, you could retire to your rooms or I guess outside Jonesy. Jonesy is going to visit Miss Travis. She's an exceptionally kind old lady. Yes, there is a nice lady named Miss Travis who you recently met when you came to town a couple days ago. And if she doesn't help me out, I'll go visit my friend Tiny who's at the library. Miss Travis does has sort of gone to bed, but you do know that she has a little shed in the back that she leaves a little cot for you to sleep on. God.

26:37 Bless her, I'll settle up with the barkeep. Yeah. Thank you, Doctor. My pleasure, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he says again, not a very good bar. Keep uninterested in talking to you. Just wants to read his book. He's sure that it's this one guy did it. He knows there's one person who did it, and that person is the one who did it. He's got to keep reading and figure it out. I'm pretty sure the Butler did it. So you settling up your tab and you guys could sort of retire to your rooms. Do you think you guys paid for like the nice rooms at the hotel or the kind of basic ones? I think I'll go with basic. OK. Yeah, I've.

27:17 Basic, totally fine. You guys go to sleep and getting ready for an interesting day tomorrow. None of you guys have anything. You don't have any particular reason to be here, but now you do. You're sort of on vacation or painting or just wandering around. But now you've got a little bit of a thing, like try to figure out what's going on with this painting. Oh, now I'm calling it a painting. Jonesy Jonesy got me going on with this photograph. Well, it's rotoscope, so it's actually kind of both. Is some really advanced shit for the 30s? Yeah, exactly. You do, however, have some unsettling dreams, Doctor Laws.

27:59 That's my name. You find yourself standing inside a circle of standing stones. There are others around you, dancing with bizarre ritualistic movements, whirling as they hold their arms horizontally. You look down and you see your brother Jeffrey. You see your brother Jeffrey lying beside an open grave. In your hand is a curved, ancient knife of strange metal. You know what you must do. You must slice his throat, shoulders and calves. What do you do?

28:42 Well, exactly that, it's what I must do. OK. You just fucking went for it. And then you wake up. Wow, what an unsettling dream. Helen. That's me. You are walking across a Ridge in the hills with a shovel in your hands. In the distance is a lake glittering in the dark night. You're tired. You've walked for a long way, but there are duties you must perform. You know you must continue. Ahead of you is a stone circle. What do you do? I suppose I keep walking. As you get closer, you start to hear strange sounds, almost like whispers.

29:30 And then you wake up and finally, Jonesy, you're dancing. It's a dream where you're dancing, dancing around like crazy, and you're in a stone circle. You hold your arms to the side, leaping and whirling, but you're executing complicated steps and you know them. You don't even need to think about them. And in the middle of the circle you see a man holding a curved blade of metal that looks strange with a knife, ready to perform a human sacrifice. What do you do? Can I use sense trouble? Buddy, there's trouble.

30:15 All right. I look around for the nearest police officer. I admire your consistency. There's no one here except those dancing and the one with the knife. No one is coming to help, but you don't need any help. Everything's going to be OK, everything is just as it should be, and then you wake up. No police. I guess maybe that everything isn't as it should be. That's terrifying to you. Where are the police? Everybody? Difficulty 4, loss of three stability.

30:58 Except for you, Doctor Laws would be a loss of four stability because it was your brother. So she goes. OK, it looks like Russell. Excuse me, Doctor Laws lost something. Jonesy is good, and Helen lost it. Oh, actually, Helen, it's only two for you 'cause all you did was you were walking with a shovel. It was still a weird dream, but it wasn't as there was no human sacrifice in it. It's good 'cause I am the one who has so far suffered the most. Yeah. Direct hits to the sanity, yeah. Sanity is actually a whole other thing that will start going ticking down once you get into the negatives of your stability, right. Yeah.

31:38 So by the way, the whole point of this sort of game is you're going to be driven mad. You know this. We know all why we're here. So if you ever feel like there would be something crazy that happened or something spooky that would mess with their stability, you could just say like, hey, would would that hurt my stability? And I'll and I'll probably say yes. So if I don't call it out, you could call it out. Go for it. It's fun. Lovely. That's the whole point of this, all right? And you wake up. What do you do? Well, I'll wake the sweat for my brow. That was quite an intense dream and there was a lot of sawing at the end. A lot of sawing, I guess the the cutting, yeah. Jeffrey's flesh was very tough, knife was dull.

32:23 Actually his flesh came off very easily, it was almost loose. Oh, that's a relief. That's worse, yeah. Would you like to do anything before you guys head out in the morning? I suppose you had some ominous dreams that you could maybe look at stuff about or chat with each other about. Or you just go hop on the ferry and go check out Manistee. Jonesy Jonesy, you were in my dream last night. Before Jonesy leaves the cot, he looks around. Misses Travis's garden for flowers. He picks the flowers and then puts the flowers on her back doorstep as kind of like a gift.

33:04 Kind of. Like, yeah. He's a gentleman, so and then he heads to the to the bar, but he's got to go on patrol. So he's just kind of looking around suspiciously because that was a rough dream for him. No police, no, no authorities. Aw, man, jeez. So he's kind of looking around a little suspiciously. OK, and what about you, Helen? What are you doing this morning? Well step one, grab my fucking supplies and sketch the shit I saw. Oh, OK. Yeah. That's free real estate. You actually, as you start sketching it and thinking about it, your art knowledge means you're actually kind of knowledgeable about dance as well.

33:48 I don't know, maybe you're friends with a dancer or maybe you're a dancer. I, I, I don't know, I don't think you're a dancer, but you tell me about Helen. Was there dance in my dream? Shoot, you didn't see the dance. You were the shovel person. Back it up, the shovel lady. Back it up. I hope we don't cut a lot of this because it's really funny. Well, we'll, we'll figure it out. OK, so you're sketching the the stone circle that you see in the distance? Mostly, yeah. Do you think there's anything, any skills that you have that might help you know what a stone circle is from? Well, I have architecture and art history, so. Looking at the stones, you could tell like they look like they were, you know, one of the many stone circles around England. But besides that, you don't really know too much more about it.

34:42 Other than that I'm not sure what I would use so. Yeah, no, that's fine. I I'm not trying to trick you. I don't actually think you have the skills for it. How much time do you spend like sort of drawing this or painting this? I mean, I know I've got shit to do today, so I basically just get the rough sketch down so that way I it's like stuck in my head and I can paint it later. Oh, it's going to be stuck in your head. And how about you, Doctor Laws? What? What do you do when you wake up? What's your morning ritual like? Oh, have breakfast. There's a different person at the bar now who seems a little bit more friendly. Oh thank God. But the bar also has a little restaurant there as well. They're serving some eggs and stuff like that and you could get a nice little English breakfast. Those are continental. Beans. There is not a continental breakfast, no. I don't know if they had those in the the 40s, thirties, 30s. I also don't think they had those in the 40s, but it's the 30s right now.

35:33 I know at my earliest convenience I'm going to be discussing my dreams with my new compatriots. OK, Jonesy sort of is on patrol looking around and eventually I think we'll make it to the restaurant. Oh yeah, yeah, he definitely makes us to the restaurant. He almost like comically, kind of floats through the air because he's smelling breakfast. Oh yeah, there's a pie on the windowsill. Actually, and he kind of hopes that his brand new best friend, Doctor Laws, still married, still counts, is downstairs. And he kind of almost instantly twirls his cane, points to Doctor and goes, ah, my good friend, what a interesting night. You going to finish that breakfast?

36:13 Good question. Now that I think about it, I think I may have taken too much my friend. Perfect, I will gladly finish that. It's the most genuinely thing to do. Oh. That's very nice of you. Is this you being nice Doctor Laws? Certainly. Yeah, okay. And then Jonesy just scarves it all down like. Fast Jonesy Jonesy, we do have silverware here. Yes, perfect. Let me wash my hands and reuse the silverware. And Helen can descend at any point while you guys are sitting there. Have a conversation if you would like. Let me know when you want to head out or if you want to do anything else. So as he's cutting the toast and eggs and goes. I had such a strange dream yesterday. Oh, myself as well.

36:54 I was dancing. I haven't danced in a long, long time. Something, something stone circles. Yeah. But I can tell you the scariest thing about it. There were no figures of a thought. My dream included a circle of standing stones and dancing as well. There I was, also dancing. I do want to mention Doctor Laws. Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. You were not dancing, Doctor Laws. You were standing at the circle, not dancing, with a knife in your hands. Yes, dancing away the night. I did also as Jones. He's kind of cutting a little slower now that the memory's still a little, still a little fresh. There was someone in the middle with the knife. Was there?

37:41 Were there also someone in the dream with a knife in the middle of the circle? Yes, I recall seeing that as well. How strange that we've had the same dream. Clearly, our shared experience last night has done something to our brains. And it's at this point that Helen comes down from her room, and she's like, yes, I overheard a bit of this. Did the stone circle look like this? And she pulls out the sketch that she made of it. Yes. I had a dream last night where I was walking to this place carrying a shovel. Yes, probably to bury my brother. I mean nothing. What? What? Dancing the night. Away. Yes, You have a brother.

38:25 Best Jeffrey, one of my finest friends. How old is he? He's a couple years older than me. Oh, is he a good man? Is he a gentleman and esteemed as you? Yes. All right. Why did we need to bury him in the dream? Well, you don't walk away from that much blood loss, let me tell you that. Jones is just kind of eyes, both of you suspiciously. And yes, how about we just leave for this fairy before this conversation requires me to go talk to someone, Yes. Sounds good to me. Helen rolls up the drawing. The second location. Wonderful. As you're getting to go, you hear a ton of static coming from around you. You're not quite sure where it's coming from, just this really loud, staticky sound. Sounds like someone's radio is on the Fritz. Shall we quickly take a look?

39:11 I would like to see a radio. Yeah, there's a radio on the bar and you notice that somebody must have brought it out to set up some music, but you're just hearing all this, this wild static coming out of it. Can I use a mechanical repair? Just ask the bar key. Do you hear that seg? May I take a quick look and see if I can fix that? He looks at you and sort of turns his head to the side, says no, no, the radio works just fine. OK, I got no money for you. I'm sorry. Oh no, I won't do it. I won't do it for money. I won't do that. The kindness of my heart, it's gentlemanly thing to do. No, you don't need the music. Sounds just fine. OK. Don't. Don't mess with the radio. But it sounds like static. No, it sounds like Cole Porter. What are you talking about? Oh.

39:53 You know, and then Jonesy just kind of picks his ear and pulls out a big old thing, that ear wax. Yes, my word, yes. It's just, it's just my ears. And kind of like sheepishly walks out. Oh no. Hell and stability. Yeah, 2 point stability loss difficulty 4. I swear there's other mechanics in this game besides losing stability. Oh God, that's a one. OK. So you want to down to two stability? Jonesy loses 2. I'll think nothing of it, my friends. I don't really understand music either. Can't believe it. You're just. Nothing is bothering you, Doctor lost. You're just completely fine. I lost some from the dream. You lost some from the dream, you did lose some from the dream. So plan is go to the ferry leaving Keswick, get ahead on the ferry over to Manistee.

40:40 Before we leave, hold on what? What time does the ferry leave? Leaves at 10. OK, what? What time is it I? Don't know, it's like 9 or so, maybe 8:30. OK, we have an hour real quick. So knowing certain things of the streets, Jonesy is going to go talk to his dear friend Tiny, who sleeps at the library. He kind of wants to get some information about manasy. Maybe Tiny might know something? And adjacent to that, I'd like to use my library use skill to see if Helen can find anything out about the circle that she saw. OK, got it. If there's any record of something like that in the area or? Yeah, of course, Of course. OK, heading over to the library.

41:20 How about you, Doctor? I will wait patiently at the fairy landing. Just sort of wait at the fairy landing. OK, sure. I don't see how medical records or hospital wards would help me right now. OK, Helen, you sort of go through the books. You you have a library skill. As you're looking through the books, you do find that this seems to be Castle Rig Circle. The description of it looks about right, and it's relatively nearby, a little bit north of the water. I see. I keep saying the water that is a lake that is between here and Manistee. It's called the water. But yes there is a old stone circle called Castle Rig.

42:01 Reading about it, there's not much to it, just that it's not of modern craftsmanship obviously, but also it doesn't really match quite up with any of the other stone circles built by druids and stuff around this time. It seems to be unique. In fact it seems to be better constructed than any of the other ones that are around. But besides that, nothing, nothing more to it. It's just sort of an odd archaeological footnote, as it were. And Jonesy, you're, you're able to talk to Tiny He, he's happy to see you in the morning. Jonesy, my man, come, come. He gives you a big old hug.

42:43 My dude, how are you doing? Getting by, getting by, You know how it is. Yeah, you know how it is. And you know, one of the things that everyone keeps falling about is this this act anyways, you know anything about Manistee? Manistee. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's, that's that little village over there, right? Yeah, yeah. That's what I hear. Any anything to look for? Do we got any signs over there? No, it's kind of a small town. I've been over there once before. Not much to it. It's like a little inn over there and just some houses and some some fishermen and a couple of farmers. Really nothing. Nothing that exciting over there. Do you know if we have any interesting stone circles there? I don't know any stone circles.

43:32 I think. I think a little bit to the South there was like a couple of broken down buildings, but I wouldn't call those stone circles. Well, what type of the buildings were they used? I don't know, I was just looking for a place to stay. I found a couple of like torn down buildings like ruins but like I don't know it there wasn't enough cover from the wind. They're not. They're not safe. No, it's, it's better just stay over here. Warmer, more friendly people. People over there, not too friendly, not unfriendly, but I don't think they get too many visitors is the thing, you know? And if I, you know, twirl the cane, tip the hat, people, people kind of fall for that kind of thing.

44:13 I am a gentleman after all. You can give it a shot. They always love you, Jonesy. Everyone loves old Jonesy, so all right, cool. Why you ask about Mantasy? You going over there? Yeah, a person that's a doctor that I'm kind of schmoozing, he might be able to pay for a few things and might be able to look after me, maybe if we head back to London. Yeah, he's paying. He's paying for everything. This guy's a sucker, so. Yeah, and he's and he's going to Manistee. Yeah, he's going to Manistee. The hospitals in Keswick? Why is he going to Manistee? Maybe he has someone he has to look after, something about a brother or I don't know.

44:56 Oh, OK, You stay safe, Jonesy. Yeah, take it easy, Tiny. You know what? Yeah, yeah, take it easy. And Jonesy pulls out a shilling and flicks it towards Tiny and goes live large. You got it. I should note that Tiny is of course, a huge man. That's why he said live large. Yeah, Anything else you want to squeeze in before the ferry arrived? I could inquire after the health of my brother. OK, just give him a call. Yeah, You call his house in London, he does not pick up. Well, I'm sure he's fine. I'll write him a letter. You'll write him a letter. OK, What are you going to write him in the letter? Dear Jeffrey, how are you? I am fine. Keswick is OK. I'm going to go explore Manassee. That's it.

45:40 Yeah. No, like I think we're adopted or anything like that. It's a very strange picture the other day. That's why I'm going to explore Manassee. Goodbye. Got it. Love it. The boat arrives, you hop on the ferry. It's uneventful, honestly. The fact that it stops at Manistee is kind of a side note. It's got a couple of stops and it swings by Manistee on the way, but you are able to take the ferry there and you arrive in the small town of Manistee. It's on the other side of the Derwent Water. And as you cross this beautiful, dark and glittering lake, you see the village, which is constructed of mostly local Gray slate stone. It's pretty grim and foreboding.

46:25 They're blocky stone buildings and there's just sort of nothing really too much to it, but it's small little village. My word, it stinks here. The barkeep was not lying. Wow. Well. Yes, I guess the best thing to do, my friends, is why don't we go introduce ourselves to the closest bar, Hmm. Gin and tonics. I don't see any trouble going on. Maybe I'd go on one of my patrols. Helen, would you like to come with me on one of my famous patrols? No. Oh, what? What about if it's? You might get inspirational art inspiration. Shit.

47:14 All right. Ah, perfect. You never go on patrol by yourself if you're in an unknown place. And you, doctor, would you like to go on patrol? Nah, I think I'll go wander off alone for a while. OK, well, be careful. Seems like a bad idea. As you all are wandering around the town, one pair and one solo, there are people that are sort of going about their daily lives. People going down to fish, some people that are working, building some stuff. There's a Cooper, you know, making a barrel. You hear the sound of a couple of pigs near the edge of town. People are giving you like sort of odd looks, but nobody's sort of walking up and talking to you necessarily as you're looking around.

47:57 Near the center of town, one of the only sort of public places is a little building that has a sign outside that says the Leeward Inn. Besides that, there's just mostly a bunch of houses. I don't know I without knowing a particular house to look for, I don't know what you could do. So the doctor will meet back up with these guys. Wow, this place sucks. Quite. Yeah, I thought Keswick was a dumb does. Anyone feel like we maybe made a mistake and we should go back? Nonsense, nonsense. We gotta give every town a chance. Why don't we go into the inn and then we can introduce ourselves to at least some of the locals. If need be, I can go in first, tip the hat, twirl the cane and put on my charm. You do still have that photograph. I suppose I should mention as you're looking at the photograph a little bit more, you know, after you stole it from the bar, I mean, took it with permission from the bar. The picture does appear to be in front of one of these Gray houses.

48:57 Unfortunately, they're all kind of Gray stone houses, so that doesn't really narrow it down too much. We could ask the innkeeper about the picture. Sure. Brilliant idea, Helen, Brilliant idea. All right. Well, as you head into the inn, it's cold and dark and there's kind of nobody in here. No one's really drinking at noon. Amateurs. You actually do see there's a couple of people sitting at one table and then one lone figure sitting at another table. But there's a woman behind the bar who sort of looks out at you and says, more visitors to town. Well, is there some sort of convention? There's a convention in town. What type of convention? I do love people.

49:40 I am Tom Jones. You can call me Jonesy. And these are my compatriots. Miss Helen an artist and we have a doctor. Is anyone sick in town? She's just sort of looking at you with narrowed eyes and both narrowed eyes of suspicion but also confusion. You're kind of a lot for her. Just a big ol smile on Jonesy's face. Yeah, she says. No, there isn't a convention. Maybe you could tell me. We already had another visitor come by yesterday. I don't know who you guys are. Are you you with the bank? Are you trying to buy up the land? What? What's going on?

50:21 Why is it cheap? I don't. I don't really know anything about that really. Sorry about my friend here and Helen kind of a little bit pushes him to side. Oh my pardons. I suppose I'll start with some good old fashioned reassurance. OK? Terribly sorry if we gave off the wrong first impression. He's eccentric. He certainly is. But we're here in town on a voyage of self discovery, we'll call it. She rolls her eyes. Yeah, I know. I get that all the time. But but we do mean no harm, You said another someone else from out of town came in recently.

51:01 Did they give you a name or anything like that? I don't know. We got a got a room last night. He stayed up there, Jeff or something like that. No, Jeffrey, it's my brother. What? What? I second that. What? Oh, it makes sense. He was in the picture, so he's come to investigate too. How would he know? How would he know what's in this picture if we have this picture right here? Well, maybe he's got a copy. What picture? What are you talking about? This one right here. I got it from a bar across the water. OK. Look, it's me and Jonesy and Helen. Oh, so you're you're from around here? I don't really.

51:44 Wait, are you Jack's old son? Sure, why not? Could you tell us a bit more? Like I said, it's a journey of self discovery so we don't know ourselves. No, I, I I recognize this picture. This is if these are you that then you must be Jack and Victoria's kids. Rest their soul. Oh, wow. Why are you coming back after all this time? Well, hold on, hold on. Maybe they're related. No, that is a child. That is a baby that is not old. Jonesy. My mother, Misses Jones, God bless her, is a seamstress in Canterbury. I'm along with them 'cause these are my dear friends that I've met in Keswick.

52:30 They must be mistaken. Well, Jonesy, I'm something of a doctor that most adults at one point in their life are babies. But don't all babies look the same? Well, yes, most people do when it comes right down to it. Yeah, see, we're not related. My dear old mom's in Canterbury. God bless her. I should call her on the phone. She has a new phone. We, we have a phone here if you want to call, I guess whatever. Absolutely. I will call my mother and we'll have the discussion. I'm from England, I am English. God bless you. I would also. Like to call my mother about this. And where might Jeffrey be my brother? I sure.

53:14 I guess if he's your brother, there's, there's a room in the back where he's staying. I, I don't think he's left it. He's been in there. He seemed kind of worried. I, I don't know, but whatever you have the phone's over there. Feel free to make a call. Are you buying anything? Oh, bourbon for me. OK. Gin and tonic on her tab please. Well, I'll go fetch Jeffrey and we'll all have a drink together. Perfect. All right, who? Which one do you think's is gonna make the phone call first? I will gladly let the fine lady call first. Helen appreciates it. She knocks down her drink and dials up her mom and Chelsea.

53:55 Hello. Hello, mother. It's it's Helen. Oh, Helen, dear. How are you doing? How's the art coming along? You always were so talented. It's been so long since I've heard from you, darling. Yeah, Terribly sorry about that. I Yeah, I was in Keswick. Oh, that's out in the Lake District, right? Yeah. What are you doing out there? I was. Looking for artistic inspiration, a friend pointed me in this direction. Well, a client and admirer. Oh, you always have so many admirers. Yes, right now I'm in Manistee, the town across the lake.

54:41 I'm sorry, what? Mother, is there something you'd like to tell me? About. About. Manistee, yes. Helen, I There's no easy way to say this. I Well, when you were young, you were, you were too young to tell about this. We didn't know when. And another time passed and we don't. Your father and I didn't. Mother, am I adopted? Yes, yes, there was a woman, your birth mother, a woman named Victoria, had put you and some of her other children up for for adoption. And your father and I, we, we'd never been able to conceive. So we took you into our family.

55:25 And, and I know, I'm sorry I never told you, but you should know that we will always be your family. I think of you as my daughter, 100%. I, I, I You may not have come from me, but you are my flesh and blood spiritually if not. It's all right. You are my mother. You could tell that she's baby getting ready to cry she's feels so guilty about this. And I promise you, no matter what may come to pass, you will always be my mother. Well, thank you darling. I How did you figure this out? It's a long story, OK? I'll tell you all about it when I come home. If I come home. Darling, don't speak like that.

56:07 For some reason, the world feels rather crazy right now. I'll call you back if I get the chance. I love you. Bye. I. Love you too, darling. Helen hangs up. Are you all right, Miss Ellen? That was a sobering conversation. Sobering indeed. I need another bourbon. One point loss test. It's not too much because you kind of were already starting to put these clues together in your head. Well, I passed this time. OK, first check, I've actually passed. So Jonesy hasn't called his dear old mum in a very long time.

56:48 So he kind of fiddles around in front of the phone. Just, I don't know, She's she's getting there in age. I don't want to bother her. All right, I'll call her. So yeah, that's his dear old mom. Hello, Mom. Thomas, Is that you, Thomas? Yes, ma'am, it is your baby boy Thomas. I have finally called you. Oh, Thomas, it's so good to hear from you. We don't hear from you. It's so long. I know that you had gone into the city to look for work and And how how are you, my boy? Oh, it's been so. Long, Your clothes are still the best pair of clothes you've ever made.

57:33 My dear old mom. The coach, fantastic in great condition. The cap, the bowler hat, still in mint condition. Mom, these are the best things I'm telling you. You need to sell your clothes to the wider public. Stop working for that awful man. You know that I can't compete with the the textile mills that they have these days, darling. I've been showing your clothes everywhere I go. I've been going like the weave leaf on the wind, as Wordsworth once said. Something beautiful. I can't remember anything but.

58:14 You always were so well read. Your dear old son is doing quite well. He's well known across all of London and and England will soon know Tom Jones. Well, I, I, I don't doubt it, dear. I don't doubt it. I just make sure that you're eating well. It's tough out there these days. Oh yes, absolutely, ma'am. It's it is definitely tough, but I found some great people along the road. I'm with a doctor right now. I'm helping him look for his brother in some small village called Manistee. Ring a bell? It sounds familiar, but I I can't say I I don't I don't really know. Perfect. That is totally fine Mom.

58:56 I went to Keswick and then to this small little town helping a doctor. I do have a question to ask you, mother. Do you know anyone named Jeffrey? Jeffrey Jeffrey Wolfson, he we see him at church. Yes, I remember him. I I don't really know any other Jeffreys. I'm sorry. Sorry. Are you looking for a There are a lot of Jeffreys in the in the land you know. Oh yes, it's a very common name. I just the name slipped. What about a Michael Laws? Anyone named Laws? No, I I don't know anyone named laws. I'm I'm sorry, dear.

59:37 You might need to look in a well, I was going to say phone book. Are there phone books? I guess there's maybe a phone book? I will call the director or the operators. Yes, the operators, The switchboard people, yes. OK, Mother, you have helped me out a lot. God bless you. I hope you are in good health. And yes. Nothing else you wanted to ask me, darling. It's it is a crazy, crazy story. There was a picture that my friends and associates found that apparently a small child, a baby apparently looks like me and I was being held by another family.

1:00:20 They think that I'm adopted. Oh, darling, sweetie, Thomas I that is. That is true. Before you tell me anything, Mother, that's not true. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go. I can barely hear you right now. And you have a great day. Love you. Click. Ha ha. That that that rattled fucking old Todd Jonesy. That really rattled him. I think that might be a two point loss for you. OK, a second round for my friend. No, ignorance is bliss. You just Yeah, you rolled A6. Obviously not true. Your mom's too old.

1:01:01 She doesn't know what she's talking. About she's up there in it. Yes, Jen and Todd, actually, you know what? I'll take a Brandy. A What she means Brandy. No, OK, don't have much, but OK. It's not not what it's called. It's not called a Brander. Helen just size and Pats him on the shoulder. That is also devastating. All right, Doctor laws, While these phone conversations were going on, you made your way to the back and you knocked on the door to the room. But do you get no response? Well, as is our custom when dealing with my brother, I will knock louder than required. Open up. You hear it Sounds like kind of a groan coming from in there. Go away.

1:01:43 Jeffrey, open up with me. Michael. Yes, it's me, your brother. What are you doing? And you hear the sound of movement, and the door opens. And you were right, of course. The Jeff that they were talking about is your dear brother Jeffrey. And to put it bluntly, he looks like shit. He seems to be sweating like crazy, His skin looks rather pale, and most importantly, he looks like he hasn't been sleeping and looks almost panicked. It it. It's good to see you, Michael. I What? What are you doing here? Well, we found this picture and we've extrapolated that we've probably adopted some strange dreams and happenings have me thinking that maybe I'm destined to sacrifice you in a standing circle. I'm sorry, what?

1:02:31 Why would you open with that I? Me and my brother have a special bond. He just goes and lays back down on the bed. I think I'm dying. Not yet you're not. No, I know you're a doctor and you keep people from dying, but but I can't. And you see that he's like touching his wrist, touching his neck, and he says like, I don't, I don't have a heartbeat there. There's something wrong with me? This seems like a job for first aid. Actually, this would be less first aid, because first aid is the actual like going in and fixing someone, which I suppose you're going to do. But to diagnose someone, to figure out what's wrong with them, that is a medicine. Hey, if nobody else has been here on first aid. You don't also have medicine.

1:03:16 I do. OK. Well, regardless, first aid or medicine can get you. As you go over to him and start, you do try to take his pulse. And he's right. You can't find his pulse on his wrist, on his carotid, or anywhere else. He feels very clammy to the touch and he looks very pale. He says that his skin feels loose, and as you're just sort of examining him, it you don't really know how to say this. D glove. No, he seems to be dead, or at least not alive by any normal sense of medicine.

1:03:59 He does not have any of the things that an alive person should have. Well, Jeffrey, it seems like your tickers stop ticking. We ought to get a drink in you and figure this out. All right, this will be a five loss of stability. Perfect. How do you keep rolling? Nothing phases you. This should be should probably bother you, doctor. OK, well, OK, he says. I don't think I could drink anything. I'm not thirsty or hungry. I just feel so sick brother. Well, let's test your hypothesis. So do you like sort of get him up at all about to the bar? Yes. OK, as you 2 are wrapping up your phone calls you see the doctor coming out with a man who, as previously mentioned, looks like shit. Jonesy raises a glass.

1:04:50 Goes here. Here he found his brother. Hear that everybody? He found his long lost brother. Yes, Jonesy. Helen, this is my brother Jeffrey. Introduce yourself, Jeffrey. Hello, I'm I'm sorry, can I go lay back down brother or go I I think I'm dying. He looks really bad, Doctor. Oh my God, please get that man somehow. Why don't we have him actually sit down? Let's is there like a booth or the table we can sit him down at? There is, yeah. And so Jonesy pulls out a chair and goes. Sit down, Sir. Thank you. Thank you. At Gin and Tonic. Can I just have a water baby? Gin and tonic. Bottle of your most sterile Brandy.

1:05:32 A water. What? The lady said. In any case, I don't mean to jump right into business when you are clearly so ill, but before anything else, I must ask. Helen pulls out the sketch. Have you dreamed of this location anytime recently? It's why I'm here. I thought so. I've been dreaming of this place and I I had to come here. I knew I had to come here. But you're glad to see me. It is always good to see you brother. I don't think I can do it. I feel so sick. Maybe we should take him to Keswick, to the hospital like. Yeah, what happened to him? He does not look good, doctor. Yeah, that seems like it might be a decent idea. Nonsense. I'm the Doctor here. There's something weirdly funny about the two random people having more compassion for this man's brother than the compassionate Dr. Isn't one of your things that you care about people in that written on your character sheet? I save lives.

1:06:26 Humanity is essentially good. Yeah, yes. We should take him to the doctor. Not doctor, hospital I suppose. Yes, yeah, yeah, No, that would be that's probably for the best to go to the hospital. I can't if for some reason I I knew I had to come here, but now I don't know what I need to do. And I think, I think maybe I'm just going crazy. I know what that feels like. When does the next ferry leave? The woman looks up, comes by around 5:00. Oh, it's still in the morning. Oh, well, we could. Maybe this is a crazy idea. Why don't we go possibly to the South and take a just a quick look and see if we can find those pillars?

1:07:08 I'm kind of curious if those actually exist, but it's up to you Sir. Are you able to walk? I can walk, but I I'm fine to go to the hospital. That's probably a good idea, but could I just go lay back down until it's time to go? Yes, I think at best you rest and that we investigate. Also, did I never mention that I found out where the pillars were? No, actually. Oh my apologies, there is an intact stone circle that is to the north of this location. How about weed? Get your brother back into bed, doctor, and see for ourselves. It is across the Moors. It would be across the Moors, yeah.

1:07:48 So probably too long of a walk to get back by 5. Yeah, unfortunately it's a little bit too far to go there if you want to get back by 5, the woman says. Well, I'm glad you're taking care of him. I don't really want anybody to die in my inn. But you're going to go meet up with Jack's wife, Did you? Did you want to to see her? Oh. Certainly. She's still in town, very much so. Well, Jack hasn't been in town for a little while, but his wife is, so maybe you could see her. She lives in a the little house up the way and she gives you some directions to a house that'll be the Waring house. Well, I see if we have time we could go see this fine lady.

1:08:30 And then be back in time to get this man to a hospital. Yes, I'll get Jeffrey tucked in nice and snug. If you'd like, you could make a first aid check at difficulty 4 to give him something to to calm him down to make him feel better. A spot of Brandy. Yeah, suppose there's that too. OK, didn't spend any points on that. No. So he is not. He's not reassured. Very good at being stable, very bad at first aid. Not a doctor. Here's a lollipop for you, Jeffrey. I hope it makes you feel better. Oh my God. So it's a short walk away from the center of town. It's a small Gray cottage like many of the other ones around here.

1:09:12 It's got a short little dirt driveway away from the main road. As you're walking up, Doctor, in particular, you are feeling a sense of familiarity that the bird song you're hearing, the crunch of gravel, it all feels very familiar to you, Helen. You're also feeling that a little bit, mostly like the bird song seems to be triggering a little bit of a memory to you. I will say, Jonesy, not so much you, maybe just because you were so young the last time you were here. And you approach the door, and before you knock, Doctor, you know without a doubt that the wallpaper behind that door is going to be yellow with a Tulip design. Hey, Jonesy.

1:09:57 Jonesy. Yes, Doctor, Sorry, it was in my head. What do you how much you want to bet that the wallpaper in this place is yellow with a Tulip design? It's our adopted home, remember? Well, you're adopted. No, no, all all three of us, we're all definitely adopted. A gentleman's bet, How about that? Sure. What's that mean? It means I don't pay anything. Well, Ben. Excellent. Let's shake on it. All right. Shookt. Do you hear some giggling coming from inside the house? Sounds like like a young woman, maybe 2 of them. Well, I'll knock on the door extra loud, as is my custom. Open up. You knock on the door and opening the door is a quiet, mousy sort of woman. She looks like she's in her her late 30s maybe, and she smiles, but is you could tell there's a little bit of a concern on her eyes.

1:10:51 It says hello, Can I can I help you? Hi, I'm Doctor Michael Loss. Are we related? I no, I'm my name is, is Mary wearing? I don't know any laws, I'm sorry. I think you might be in the wrong place. You know who does know some laws? This guy right here, Jonesy. Yes, I do know Doctor Laws. My name is Tom Jones, and he tips his hat like gentleman extraordinaire. And your name is Ma'am? My name is Mary Wearing. I'm sorry, are you are you selling something? I'm I'm sorry.

1:11:31 I, if you, if you need a cup of tea, I can give you something, but I, I'm confused. What? And she actually kind of looks over at you as well. You whose character's name I forgot, Helen. She looks over at you as well. Helen maybe with a little bit of a pleading, seeing if you will make any of this make sense 'cause she's extremely confused by this situation. Time to play that all time classic assurance card. Sorry if my companions seem strange. We're in town investigating our parentage as it were, with this as our only clue, and I show her the picture.

1:12:13 Oh oh. Yes, I don't suppose you could help us? Oh, you must be Jack's kids from his previous marriage. Sure, why not? Oh, come, come in, come in. I Yeah. And as she opens the door more, you do see behind her the wallpaper. Well, a little bit older is as remembered. Well, John, ZI think you owe me two handshakes. All right, I wow, I'm quite shocked. Here you are. Here's your first handshake and I will give you that second handshake later. All right. Yeah, we're very adopted. Doctor Laws, that is going to be a Stability 2 test. I know you're sort of playing it off here, but it's also sort of very weird for you.

1:12:59 There we go. OK, so you lose 2 still doing fine, but you're bluster about all of this is is maybe covering up something that's a little weird here. She smiles and is pouring you guys some tea and says yes. I guess I don't really know too much of what to say, but feel free to to look around. Get nostalgic for your own home I suppose. And you do hear some static coming from one of the bathrooms and two girls. Oh, is that more Coltrane? Doctor Law. Excuse me ma'am, do you have a radio in the house? Yes, Lisa and Bethany are playing it too loudly. Lisa, Bethany, our guests don't want to listen to jazz music.

1:13:43 Turn that off. Oh no, I am a big fan of jazz, definitely from America, but it's not English, It's not too English. Why don't we take a look? If it's a little too loud, maybe the knobs a little broken, I will. I'm a man that knows a little bit of mechanical work I can take. Take a look for you. I guess. So. I sure guess you'd sort of motions towards the back and as you go back there you see 22. You could definitely tell they are twins, two young girls, probably about five years old, 5-6 years old, not particularly old. And they are laughing and listening to the radio and you see every once in awhile one of them like whispers into the radio and they both start laughing. I will dance.

1:14:31 You will dance. Yes. OK to the static. Yes. There's no real music to dance to, it's just sort of static. Yeah, that's a pretty unsettling picture, right? Yeah, actually, as you start listening to it more, you know, to dance to music, you have to really listen to it. It's not quite just static. There's something to it. There's maybe some sort of drum or something like that, and every once in a while you you think you hear a voice, but you can't quite make out what it's saying. Mostly you just hear static. I don't trust like that. Excuse me, you 2 find young girls?

1:15:13 My name is Tom Jones, Jonesy as you can call me. Do you mind if you turn that down just a little bit? Just a little bit. OK, I like your dance, Mr. He's silly. Oh, Doctor Lazius, he's a very silly man. Why don't you go say hi to him and dance along while I help turn down the the music? Mommy said we're not supposed to dance anymore. No, she told us not to dance when we did the other thing. It's fine. We can dance. We can dance all we want. When they go out and they start dancing around you in a circle. Dr. Loss. Just remember to leave your friends behind if they don't dance, and if they can't dance, they ain't no friends of yours.

1:15:59 And he turns down the music. No, my friends have to come. You, you. You Can Dance behind me and Helena can bring the shovel. You mean Helen, not Helena? Correct. Speaking of Helen, meanwhile, good news to talk to Mary so. Yeah, this has been a great excuse for, like, the doctors keeping the kids busy and like, Josie is messing with the radio. We kind of leaving you alone with her. So what can you tell us about your husband? About Jack. I he's he's not around. She seems uncomfortable and maybe not willing to talk about it. There are a couple ways to read that, but I suspect he walked out. I'm not saying this in character, I'm just making a personal note.

1:16:45 If you would like, you could try one of your interpersonal skills to try to get her to talk a little bit more. Yeah, reassurance is the old classic. Reassurance is not going to really work on her though. I didn't think so. Yeah. I'd feel like a real asshole if I tried intimidation. You could try it, but yes that would be an asshole move. I think I'm going to go for flattery. OK, I'm going to say well, as it were, you've you seem to have done very well raising these two girls without him. They are 5. How long have you been raising them with without him? And that's going to do it. That's sort of going to unlock it. Jack left before they were born. I was pregnant one day.

1:17:28 He, I mean, he'd been having bad dreams for a while and then one day he just just left. He didn't even pack up his stuff. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. He just disappeared, walked away. Did he ever mention a stone circle? No, I don't. He said so many things about his dreams, but I don't really remember anything about a stone circle. Sorry. I see. Thank you. I know that he, I don't, I don't know. But you know, we make do, make do now. But yes, I'm sorry about Jack. He, he's not here. And your mother, I oh God, she sort of catches herself. Do you know about your your mother? No.

1:18:18 What is there to tell? Jack never really told me too much, but from what I understand she she took all of you away, put you up for adoption and then never told Jack where he went. They found her dead in a hotel in London. Suicide. I see I. Don't I know what would make a person do that? I think it it really hurt Jack, but he did his best to move on. He was he was a good man. He was a kind man, a knowledgeable man. He was so well learned. He he ran the school here in town. I know he had an office down in the school and then he just, he's just gone, started having those awful dreams.

1:19:05 I do want to just cut over to the little girls that are dancing around and laughing with you. Are you doing anything in particular with the girls? Dancing and laughing. Dancing and laughing. Perfect, cool. Nothing else is. Just having a good time with them. Grand old time. Grand Old Time and Jonesy, do you try to mess with the radio at all or you're just turning it down and. Then yeah, I'm just trying to turn it down just enough so I stop hearing the static. It's really getting to me. Yeah, as you're getting closer to the radio, definitely there's a voice in there that's saying something. Can't quite make it out though. Yeah, no, just turns it off. Just turns it off. Yeah, no. The fact that you are just going to turn it off means that you're only going to suffer a possible 2 point loss. OK, damn, that got to me.

1:19:55 Yeah, heebie jeebies. Yeah, I don't, I don't really know anything else to to tell you, She says that she sort of just sort of mutters and and looks away. Well, I appreciate it. You truly have been helpful to us. Is there anything else that you would like to do around here, Jonesy? I would say everyone is distracted. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, Jonesy is going to just kind of rub his hands a little bit and just goes, OK, what can we find here today, Jonesy? No Jonesy after she's been so helpful. Come on. Yeah, I'm just going to look around and see if there's like anything that's remotely expensive.

1:20:37 Nothing too expensive that's out here. You do know that maybe there could be something valuable in the bath. That also is a very reasonable thing to be like, oh, I'm going to the bathroom. Like I could sort of sneak in there and that's like totally reasonable something to do. Oh yes, I'm heading to the water closet. I definitely need to relieve myself. Yeah, you notice that the bathroom mirror, it's an older mirror. I suppose it could be worth something, but it's not like you could actually lift the mirror out and steal it. It's maybe. It's a little too heavy for. Jonesy Too heavy for that, a little too fragile, but there are some weird scratches on it about head level and they seem to like sort of form the shape of a head just like all scratched up, maybe with just like someone's hands or maybe even like a small knife. There's horizontal lines running across it, though, and then there's like some eyes that are carved in there with like sort of XS that sort of look like slits. It seems like somebody was looking at their face and doing something to it.

1:21:42 It almost looks like he drew a face or someone gender. I don't know. It's it was probably Jack. It was like scratching out a face, and in particular it was a face with two slits for eyes. Oh, oh, wow, that's slightly disturbing. And so is this one of those like, is it just like a solid mirror or is it something that's kind of like a little cabinet, like a like a pill cabinet? It is a solid mirror, but there is a cabinet around here that you could you could go through as well. Let's. Check that. There's some small little bits of medicine here and there, you know, like a little. No, My knowledge of 30s medicine is limited, but there's a couple things you could just pick up here real easily. Jonesy kind of looks at the like, thinks about the kids, thinks about the mother and looks at the pills, looks at the mirror, looks back at the pills, looks at the mirror and just goes I'm going to take one bottle, just one, and it's going to be the one that's the looks like the most expensive. Yeah, you could do that actually. Make a filch roll.

1:22:50 Oh yeah, absolutely. Difficulty 4 Would you like to spend any points? I'm gonna spend 4 points. I will say this, you don't. You don't want to spend 4 points. That's kind of a waste. You could spend 3 points to get a four because you'll roll. I'll spend 3 points. Yeah, perfect. OK, so then that's an automatic success. Perfect. You not only find a nice little bottle of pills, but also as you're going through, it's like, oh, there's like a man shaving razor in here. It's some shaving cream that's like a little old that you're also like, oh, I could totally take this. Nobody's going to be using this either. A gentleman needs a clean shaven face. Yeah, so I'm taking that razor. Yeah, You have a, you know, a straight razor. Nothing could be bad about that.

1:23:32 The girls are sort of laughing along. It's singing with you, doctor. And they say, like, do you know the song? Could you sing the song? No, no, I don't understand music, really. Oh, OK, OK. We have to sing them down and then they get up and then everything's great. I like your funny words, children. We like you too. Are we friends? We are friends. They both sort of give you a hug around the leg. Yeah, I'm popular with children. Jonesy kind of walks out and goes, wow, he's, he's a good doctor. He's a pretty friendly guy. Yeah, you're a pediatrician. I don't know what that word means. Kid doctor ah.

1:24:13 There we are, yes. Is he one of those? Yeah, I think that makes sense. Yeah, that that would make you more adorable. Your your pediatrician. That's why you had a lollipop to give to your brother. Exactly. All right. And Helen, the tea has been sort of set out for everyone here, but no, people seem to not be drinking it except for perhaps you. And you do sort of get the impression that, well, Mary's being nice to you guys, but isn't quite sure what to do about what's happening here. I mean, who? Who would? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't. There's nothing I else I know about Jack really nothing else to say. But yeah, you can stay here as if you need to for a little while, but we don't really have a place for you to sleep. No, that's quite all right.

1:25:11 We need to be getting back to the ferry by 5:00 anyway. Oh. My brother needs to go to the hospital. Oh, no, that does make sense. He he had four children, right? Oh, I'm sorry. Your brother's not feeling well. What? What's wrong with it? Well, he doesn't have a pulse, and it seems like his skin's about to fall off. I'm sorry, what? Helen did not know that this was the extent of the. Yeah, yeah. Helen just knew that he was feeling bad. Actually, Helen, you hearing that? And Jonesy, do you hear that as well? Oh yeah, no, he spit out his tea as soon as he heard that. All right finding out that he is not you know alive or at least having the traditional ways of being alive 3 point stability loss take a check only three it was five for his brother 3 for you guys, although I guess you are he is your brother sort of but. So I'm going to add a point because like at this point, if I, if I get hit with anything, I'm out. So I might as well try and avoid that. OK, not out, but like, yeah.

1:26:14 Oh, and of course, the one time I do, I don't need to. Can we just have a quick stability check going down the line? How's everybody doing? I have one stability. Doctor's feeling fine with four. Yeah, I'm down to three, OK. Helen is anything away from losing her God damn mind. You see that definitely hearing that, the sort of sick not having a pulse seems to be. You see, there's maybe a little bit of a reaction from Mary at first, but then she sort of shakes her head, says, well, you should probably take care of your brother. Oh, he'll be fine. We see this sort of thing all the time, I think. Oh, oh, OK.

1:26:58 Well, good morning. Yeah, let's thank you for the tea ma'am. I'm Jones. Jonesy puts down his teacup and tips his hat and says that he looks at the 2 little girls ladies and then he goes. Shall we get to the fairy? Let us away. Indeed, though at some point I would like to check out the school, take a look through his old office. There's time to check the school, probably. OK, I'll give his office a once over if they haven't, you know, put somebody else in it or something like that. Does anybody have the ability assess honesty? I have two points. In I do. Might want to use it is all I'm saying.

1:27:39 Last time I'm going to try to remind you about this, but it might be a a thing to consider using. I don't know that I've heard anything that I need to assess honesty for. OK, then I guess we're good. No, I have. If you're ever talking to somebody, remember you can use assess honesty. Probably most of the time people will be telling you the truth, but it's something to to remember and consider. Well, humanity is essentially good. No one would ever lie to me. Yes, of course. Forget. I think it said that doctor. She was a little too quick to accept your assessment of your brother. Well, I'm a professional. I know what I'm talking about, no? No, no, we, we, me and me and Jonesy reacted like people. We were stunned. She barely reacted.

1:28:19 And you're supposed to react to these things. Are you a sociopath? I don't know what that word means. It's fine, doesn't matter anyway. Yeah, she seemed to be reacting a little weirdly when she didn't quite react the same way as everybody else when she said that. Well, if you listen to static all day, it does kind of get to you. There's something she's not telling us, and I don't know what it is. I suppose that's why she didn't tell us. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely something about in particular, you know, talking about that and talking about Jack. It seems like she's trying to avoid saying something about Jack, but not because she's like trying to keep some sort of terrible secret or anything. It's more that she's like, Nah, I don't need to say that. That's that's nothing.

1:29:04 That's ridiculous. Sort of a thought in her head. That's sort of the vibe you're getting. It's like she she was going to say something, but then she thought better of it. Not because she's trying to keep a secret, but just because she's like, it's just a bunch of strangers. It doesn't matter. I already got all the information I could out of flattery, so OK, somebody else wants to double back and ask and try questioning her. Or you could head to the schoolhouse, or back to the inn, or I guess down to the town ruins that Josie was interested in, or whatever you want to do. You probably have time to do one more thing before the ferry arrives. We have time to do three more things if we split up. That's also true. We went on the patrol before and I don't sense anything troubling yet, but. Yeah, nothing scary or troubling at all going. On nothing just yet.

1:29:55 Nothing just yet. I would like to at least take a look at what Tiny was talking about. That might be just a a destroyed building, but sometimes you can find some of the greatest things in the rubble. But I am OK at going to the school with you. Well, I'll accompany what appears to be our dear sister to the school all. Right. You're a sister. No, our sister, we're adopted. You're adopted, mind you. Yes, and you are too. You're our brother. Let him come to it in his own time, Doctor. I, I I cannot as a gentleman, say that you, we are brother in spirit, but not in physical flesh. My we're.

1:30:38 All part of the brotherhood of man, you know. I'm going to check out the school. OK, then I will accompany the fine Madam. Not splitting up a team. OK, so the school, the old school house, it's kind of hard to notice. It's sort of an unremarkable disused building. The only reason you know where it is is because it was pointed out to you. It's just a tiny little Victorian school. It even has like separate entrances for girls and boys. But then when you get inside, it's the sort of one big classroom though, though there is a small office attached. As you approach, you find the door is not locked. The whole thing is very dusty. It's almost like people just disappeared.

1:31:19 It's like, you know, they talk about like with Chernobyl, like if you went around there, it just looks like everyone disappeared and left everything there. It's kind of like that. There's a quadratic equation written on the board. There are like some notebooks and stuff in the desks, but there are cobwebs covering everything. There are weeds and Moss growing through the flagstones on the floor. And the whole place, at least for you, Doctor, it feels familiar. Ah yes, the old school house. I probably learned some things here all. Right. Actually, as you're looking, you know which one of these desks was your desk? You remember. Oh.

1:32:00 I better carve my initials in there do. You want to take a look. Of course, yes. You absolutely did carve your first name, or at least somebody carved that name in a childish version of your handwriting. 3 point loss. Oh. Yeah, this is all you know. This is sort of freaking you out a little bit. You were definitely here before. That's not the right last initial. Yeah. It's not the right last initial or I mean it's AW wearing. What would you like to do in here? Jones is going to take a look at the teacher's desk. OK.

1:32:40 Mostly there's just like a bunch of exercise books that are written there. It seems like he was maybe in the middle of grading, like, children's essays. And as you're going through it, it seems like they're writing about like, local folklore. At least some of them seem to have been writing about that. And as you're going through it, that seems to be what it is. You would need to maybe have some sort of ability to go through a bunch of books and like use a collection of books to maybe get this information. I'm gonna use a library use. There it is. Library use. Yes, you start going through all of them. One of the essays catches your attention because it seems to be Well, I'm going to share that with you right now. Class I have a essay for everyone to listen to. Take your seats please.

1:33:33 Once Upon a time there was a little girl who lived in Manistee, and one day she found a Gray slimming hand reaching through the earth. She did not know what to do. What is this? She asked, but her mommy and daddy did not know. The next day when she was walking through the woods, she saw a monster and it was all wormy and slimy and smiled at her. The little girl went home, told her mommy and daddy, but they did not believe her. Then wormy slimy monsters under the earth came up, and that night they ate the little girl up and their mommy and daddy and they tore the house up and ate its bricks. Not what I was expecting for a child story. Slightly scary.

1:34:29 I'm going to put this down and kind of walk outside. Is there anything else on the paper? Yeah, he just kind of puts the the paper down right next to Helen. That might be some inspiration for you. Oh. Yeah, the child has drawn a little picture of a house with somebody inside of it. Helen, how would you describe that thing that's coming towards the house? It's very basic, but it appears almost Serpentine and it has two arms with fingers that are way too long. Yeah, like a kind of monster. Kind of a wormy monster. Kind of a wormy monster. Yeah, there's a little worm monster. Yeah, not a fan of that.

1:35:10 Wait, Helen, wouldn't you be a fan of that? Helen's having a rough day. Yeah, I'd be more into this if checks notes my whole life hadn't been upended two hours ago. Because we're adopted. Among you. 2 are adopted. You say from outside as. You say exactly outside. We'll tell him when he's older. By the way, Jonesy, when you stepped outside, there is sort of an angry looking farmer who walks up. Dude says boy, what are you doing here? I've was accompanied with my friends to take a look at the school and I'm going to use flattery to calm down the situation. How are you flattering this angry farmer? You look quite in physical shape my friend. What have you been doing with your life? It looks you look fantastic, like I'm just changing the subject immediately.

1:36:11 I'm looking for my pig. Oh, your pig. Did you take my pig? No. Is your what? What does your pig look like? It's a pig. Is it a prize pig? Is it a fair pig? Is it over ��100? No, it's just a it's one of the youngest pigs that we had. It was a young, small pig. I don't know if there's a pig rustler around here. You're not rustling pigs, are you, You bum. I I Sir, I am a hobo, not a bum, and I don't rustle pigs. Oh my God, did he just admit it? Oh my God, he admit it. Gentlemen. Gentlemen. Stability gain.

1:36:56 Fine, if you were to be stealing pigs, you would have stolen more than the smallest one. I also don't see a pig around you, you keep an eye out. I guess what's the pig's name so I can call its name? It's a pig. It doesn't have a name. But, well, I've heard Sue Mary, Mary Sue Sue, you know? Sure, sure. Yeah, whatever. Just look for my pig. OK, I will keep an eye out, my friend. And Jonesy pulls out a handkerchief. Oh sweet God. Yeah, you're being accused of crimes, Jonesy. That was close. Anyway, back inside the schoolhouse, anything else you want to look for? I don't know how much is here, but there's maybe some stuff. The desk, His desk was checked, right? Oh yeah, I definitely want to check that. Does he have an office in here?

1:37:48 She mentioned An office. I want to give that a look through. As you are going through the office, you do find several of these exercise books, children's stuff that's been left there. Again, they seem to all be written about local folklore. They must have been having to like, research local folklore and write some stuff about it. And you see a lot of them seem to have been writing about Castle Rig's stone circle. Not surprisingly, it's a, it's a pretty recent spot. It said it was like a place frequented by witches who buried people alive. They did human sacrifice. They would cut them and then bury them alive. That feels important. Yes, is that? Going to ring a bell?

1:38:30 But besides that, it does look like maybe there were some things that were taken away. I know it was said that Jack disappeared in the night, but you could tell that like there's one drawer that's empty that he he might have taken stuff from so. Jonesy walks in and just goes. Farmer just accused me of stealing his pig. Jonesy, you can't be stealing people's pigs. Do I look like I could steal a pig? Yeah, absolutely, if you set your mind to it. Thank you, it's actually quite charming you. Gotta believe in yourself, Jonesy. Thank you. Well, I I'm not a thief. Not a thief. I'm a gentleman.

1:39:10 And can we can we can we leave? Is this. Yeah. You guys need to go or I'm still looking around. Well, I just learned something interesting. Helen shares what she had least recently learned. That was interesting. Yes. Yeah. The other thing, Helen, is as you were looking, there were a couple other books that talked about Low Manesty, which was the village that was there before. Well, before we unpack all that, we should probably get your brother to a hospital. Absolutely. Assuming they can help him now that I've learned what I've learned. Oh, it'll be fine. They'll hook him up with some heroin. He'll be fine within the fortnight. So you go back to the inn.

1:39:55 He's still looking real shitty. Jeffrey, have you been eating your lollipop? I had it. I was delicious. At least I remember they were delicious. Didn't really taste like much. Oh, that's not a good sign. Yeah, I are we going to go? Yes, we're going to get you to the hospital, Jeffrey. All right. Yeah, Get on my shoulders. He sort of is able to walk a little bit. He's not going to jump on his shoulders. He is your Big Brother. I was thinking firemans carry but all of a sudden it became a piggyback ride. I don't think a piggyback rod is going to work here. He's still able to walk a little. So at the very least we can support him.

1:40:35 Yeah, to the ferry. Yeah, you do see that there are in the inn as it's getting a little later, a couple of people are getting done with their work a little early, and there are people dancing as the radio is playing static very loudly, almost drowning out everything else. Yeah, more of that Coltrane. Yeah, Can we get to the ferry? I don't want to listen to this. Yes, I am choosing to focus on anything else as we keep moving. So, Jeffrey, it turns out we actually are adopted and these are your siblings. Oh, strange. I well, we'll deal with that later. I guess. I'm, I guess I'm Jeffrey. Hello. Hi, Helen. Nice to meet you, He offers to you to shake it, you know. He offers his hand to shake.

1:41:22 Helen takes it and then quickly moves to supporting, supporting him on her shoulder. Yeah, we can. We can. We can bond his siblings once you're better. Yeah, his hand is clammy and yeah, and the skin feels almost loose, like a glove. Charming. Tom Jones, no relation. You 2 are adopted. He's still processing it. Okay, okay, you move towards the fairy and it's full of people. Actually, when it when it's coming through, there must have been something else going on in one of the southern towns or whatever. But as it stops, you get kind of a glare from the guy as you're calling on a person who could barely walk. I don't want any sick people on on the boat. What are what are we doing here?

1:42:15 Oh, I will use some reassurance. What he's got isn't catching friends. We just need to get him to a hospital, get him looked after. What are you, a doctor? How do you know this? Yes, I am, in fact, a doctor. Doctor Michael Laws. Oh, do you have like a card or something? Definitely. OK. Oh, OK, doctor, I guess I'm sorry. It's kind of full today. I think you and your your patient, but I'm sorry the other two I don't think they could fit on. Well, that works for me, if it works for them. That's fine, we can check up at the end. We're we're staying here. Wait. I have found no signs of any of my compatriots.

1:42:59 Excuse me. There has to be some room. Can I sit in in the storage box or? Dad, just get off this island. This is not you're not on an island. You could take the road. Back I am so bad with the land geography. Sorry. OK, How far is the road? What am IA map? Get out of here you bum. I'm a gentleman. All right? Fine. Stay. I mean you could try to make like a interpersonal like spend to try to get onto the boat here, but they are full. I used all of my good stuff and I'm not going to intimidate someone. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. I can do a scuffle and I'll drive the boat. OK, OK, I, I have one.

1:43:45 I'm gonna bargain. So I'm gonna pull out the pills that I pilfered and be like, I do have some high quality medicine. If you can allow me and my friend here, Helen, on to the ship. We could fit one more person on I'm sorry lady it we are just at the we're stuffed in like sardines. If you would like, you could spend a point of bargain and all three of you can go, or I guess all four of you. Yeah, I'm gonna spend a whole point of bargain. OK, OK, Actually I'm gonna spend 2 because it'd be one for me and then one for Helen. I guess so, Yeah. So you're gonna use up the your bargain. OK, Well, try to spookily split up the party. Is is not happening yet. That's cool. Whatever. Mission failed.

1:44:26 You'll get him next time. Should I have spent points on reassurance previously? No, no, generally you just can do it because you have it. If you're trying to do something in like hard, you have to spend a point. OK, you are really packed in here on the boat, but you do eventually make it back to town, the larger town of Kenswick anyway, and you bring him over to the hospital and he is admitted. What do you do in the what do you try to do in the hospital? How do you approach this? I guess we go to emergency or whatever the analogue is. Yeah, as as you bring him in, they're sort of like, Oh yeah, sure. Come at.

1:45:09 You're met by a doctor Rossdale who you actually, because you are a doctor. You have heard of him before. He's an older guy, but he's, you know, this guy knows his his stuff. You may have read a paper that he wrote one time. He's there's nothing anything extraordinary about him. But he's also, he's like a good doctor. He's like a very good doctor. He says, oh, OK, I'll take care of your brother. Don't work. Don't work. I'd say he's in capable hands. He's got a fever of 10. What? He's he's pretty cold right now. Oh. OK, I wouldn't hold that A yes. OK, nurse, get him in there. And he is taken to a room. He's sort of groaning a little bit, but he he says he's going to, you know, take a look at it and he says are, are there any other symptoms? What's what's wrong with them?

1:45:57 Real loose skin and no heartbeat. What? I know that sounds insane, but I can attest to that. The man who as you can see is moving and talking and breathing does not have a pulse. Good luck. Absolutely not. You must be mistaken I that that can't be correct. Well, I always value a second opinion. OK. Are there any? Is there anything you'd like to say to him to maybe convince him to take that seriously? Check him yourself. Yes, I I guess I'll, I'll, I'll check myself. Oh God. Something wrong with him? Something. Definitely. OK, well, I'll try to figure this out.

1:46:40 You might have some sort of records about this. And he he spent some time looking at him, examining him and says, my God, it's it's just like in the Eddie trails off and he actually runs out of the room. Are doctors supposed to do that? I've never seen one run out the room. We we should, we should follow him, yeah. Good idea. You see him run to like an office and that you see him like looking through his bookshelf and he pulls out an old book and then runs back to the oh, no, it it, it's right here. It's right here, Doctor. Actually, have you introduced yourself as a doctor? Doctor Laws.

1:47:23 I glossed over it, but I think I would have. OK, Doctor, Mr. Laws. Or I guess Doctor Laws. He wouldn't say Mr. There is something that I've seen before, something like this in the old hospital archives. There's one other case that had symptoms similar to this. I thought it was so strange. I was going through the hospital history and nobody ever figured out what happened to her. I have an inkling who it was. A woman named Betty came in goodness, it must have been in the 181816 it says here 1816. A woman named Betty came in, had the same symptoms and nobody knew what to do. She became rather agitated.

1:48:03 Well hopefully that doesn't happen to my brother. He's generally a level headed sort. Yeah, well, Betty was apparently a level headed sort too, but then she she started screaming and and fighting back against the folks here and then eventually jumped out the third story window. Nobody ever saw what happened to her after that. They couldn't find a body. Yeah. I think we can probably guess though. Yes, though, of course, of course, But it's there. We weren't able to do an autopsy, is the thing. Of course, I hope that we won't need to perform an autopsy on your brother, but this is fascinating. We'll need to take a look at this, figure out what happened. As you're looking at the book, you see that the records are for a Betty Waring from 1816.

1:48:44 So. So not Jack then Betty. Curious, Sir, and curious Sir. Yeah, well, this was almost 100 years ago, actually more than 100 years ago. This is 1816. Right now it's 1935 so I doubt this could have been Jack. Oh, right. Unless Jack is very very old and also I guess he would have to be a time traveller if he died in 1816 and then bothered you like. Lovecraft. These are all possibilities. These these this could be possibilities, yes, yeah. You guys were all born around like 19119 O 4 or so, so it's night time. What would you guys like to do this eve? Also, as you are going, as you're leaving the hospital, once again you are hearing a radio and the static is getting louder and.

1:49:37 Louder. Who has the radio on? It's so loud. Sorry, the the people like to to listen to some music. They're they're playing some classical music that helps calm folks down. What, like in the outside you can hear outside the hospital, We're walking out, we're outside, right? Yeah, no, but there's like radios outside the hospital as well, but yeah. Man. I should note that every single time they're describing this as music and you guys are not hearing. Yeah, no, trust me, that fact has my full attention. You know, it's been a strange day, but I think I'm finally starting to understand music. What is wrong with you?

1:50:29 I should note just a little bit about the static that you keep hearing. Do either, do any of you guys have physics? One point in physics, OK, this is sort of like maybe what's happening is somebody has like a transmitter that's like shooting out white noise, and that would sort of drown out all the other radio signals and make it so that you can only hear static instead of the actual radio. But that doesn't really explain why only a few people can hear the static and other people seem to hear them. I've also got 2IN languages if that's relevant. Not really. Again, as you, I mean, do you want to try to listen really closely to it to try to see if you can understand the language? Definitely.

1:51:18 OK, that sounds right up my alley. Yeah, again, you just hear whisperings here and there and then at one point you are certain that the voice says Michael. It's time, Michael and you hear drumming about. Well, I hope my brother's all right. I think I'll need him later. Oh. God, by the way, definitely hearing your name in the static is going to be a three-point possible split plus. All right. I will spend a point this time, OK?

1:51:58 Nice. Nice. OK, you don't fail. This all seems above board. I mean, to be clear, you know it's not above board when you're you're making these checks successfully. Does that mean that you are foolish? It just means that you are trying to make it through here. What is your stability at then? Did you spend a point? Oh right, so that puts it in 0. OK, yes, you are shaken. You are no longer able to spend ability points for investigative skills. You can only just use them, so you can't get the greater successes and all of your difficulties are going up by 1. All right.

1:52:39 If you would like to use investigative abilities, you'll be able to make a stability test. Like if you want to actually spend, you'll, you'll have to make a test. Also, you start checking your own pulse. You just feel the desire, just a little bit of a compulsion to start checking your pulse and maybe the pulse of people around you. Hey, Jonesy, come here. How can I help you, doctor? And just hold still for a second, I'm going to check something. OK. His pulse seems to be beating. All right, everything seems OK here. Hey, Helen. Why do you need to check my pulse?

1:53:22 The doctor, just in case, you know, these things can be contagious. I don't know. It's it's a pretty mysterious illness. She does offer her arm. Her pulse seems weak and slow, but it is still there. Oh. I'll give a look like could be better, Helen. There, there's a third person you need to check their doctor. Well, well, no, I can't check my own pulse. That's that's physically impossible. They've tried. What? Doctor, may I check your pulse? Oh absolutely. Only way to do it. Have someone else do it.

1:54:02 Yeah, I just placed my fingers on his wrist. For just a moment it seems like he doesn't have a pulse. Oh, but that it starts, it's very slow. So how am I doing? Your pulse is unusually slow. May have jumped the gun when I told that ferryman that that wasn't catching. Today has been a very eventful day for all of us. How about we just get one drink, process everything that's happened, and then get some sleep? I like that plan. I like most of that plan processing what's happening and take it and leave it. I feel that.

1:54:52 Thanks for listening to our remastered first episode. Danielle was our GM for Trail of Cthulhu. Dominic played Jonesy and also originally edited the episode. Nathan played Helen and Russell played Doctor Laws and did the remaster. Daniel's Dread Tail's cover art is by Trinity, the T tab Witch. Our main theme is by Claire LW on SoundCloud. You'll also hear music from Isaiah Brighton at the top and some snippets of random jazz by Imagined Dragon. On pics of it. Any other music you heard was by me. We're all learning as we go here, and I wanted to update our first episode. The first episode a lot of people will hear from the show to reflect what's been learned. For instance, I no longer use push to talk whenever we record. That's what the clicking sound was. I know I missed some. Anyway, if you want to hear the whole learning curve, we welcome you to do so.

1:55:36 We had a lot of fun making every episode and we hope you enjoy. If you'd rather jump ahead to where it started to become more polished, It's the End of the World is a personal favorite. Again, thanks for listening and until next time, this is the first episode and it will always have been the first episode.