Under the Library – A Call of Cthulhu Podcast
We begin with Beau in the square, having just heard a drunken voice slur "I'm your huckleberry." Is it Jack Crabbe?! Beau claims to be the ghost of Beau (since Jack thinks he killed Beau). Beau moves in and fires his shotgun, and the body flops to the ground [as Jaker, watching from a safe distance, thinks he hears a voice cry "don't shoot!"]
Beau flips the body over and for a moment the face looks unfamiliar, but then looks like Jack Crabbe. However, Jaker runs over to the body and recognizes Jason Dudley, a man who works at the local stables. Jaker tries to speak reason to Beau, reminding him of his experience with the strange book, but Beau remembers nothing. Finally, the man seems to change form in front of Beau's eyes, and he realizes he shot a stranger. Red Wellerton, the town physician and coroner, arrives with Jason's wife. Red is obviously drunk and belches whiskey fumes on the prone Jason. He and Jaker transport Jason to Red's Health Emporium. Together they treat Jason, first by removing buckshot with a device of Harold's, then cauterizing the wounds, and finally performing a blood transfusion from Jaker to Jason. Jaker leads an unresponsive Beau back to Seraphim Falls and sits him in a corner, removing the book and his gun. Exhausted from the transfusion, Jaker leaves a note on the door to warn Florence/Harold/Quentin to return in the morning and goes to bed. Beau sleeps as well, dreaming of shooting Jack over and over - each time he has killed another innocent person. After an uneventful trip back to town, Florence returns home and Quentin spends the night at Harold's place. Quentin dreams of Melville, battlefield medicine, tentacles, and flashes of the creature that had controlled his mind. Before sleeping, Florence tries to break the code of the book language but fails. However, she does see some strange pictures of a device shooting lightning towards humanoid figures. Beau, Jaker, and Harold gather at Florence's shop and discuss plans for the day. Harold wants to rescue the animals, Beau wants to search for the people that were snatched, and Florence realizes that it's Thursday, the day she always visits her sister. Rather than joining the party at Florence's, Quentin heads to the general store to buy some supplies. It's only 5:30am and the place is dark and empty, emanating a spooky sensation. Peeking through the glass of the front door, Quentin sees a pile of 15+ cats writhing in a frenzy. He enters and shoos them away to find a body, clothes shredded, with massive chunks of flesh missing from the face. Quentin promptly loots the store, grabbing a satchel, aspirin, and some food.