Under the Library – A Call of Cthulhu Podcast
We begin with Philip, walking a slow six hours back to town with his injured horse Priscilla ("Pris"). As he walks, he examines the melon-sized rock Cash gave him at the mine.
About halfway home, Philip stops for lunch. A rider approaches and Philip hails him. The man introduces himself as Jack Willis from back east. Philip shares food and some Banshee Bitch and discovers that Jack is a mean drunk. He becomes progressively more antagonistic, insulting the hooch and calling Philip's blackened lips a mark of Satan. Jack refuses to answer any of Philip's questions but instead asks pointed questions about new people in town. Philip awkwardly evades, but when Jack puts a gun to his head he offers up Quentin and Beau, using puns in lieu of their last names. Finally, Jack takes his leave with the final words "I"ll keep an eye on you". Philip, offended, yells after him "No thank you?!" Jack draws and shoots a warning shot, and Philip returns fire with intent to hit. At the end of the fight a badly injured Jack is dragged off, hanging from his horse by a foot in a stirrup, and Philip has a leg wound. At the same time, Florence, Harold, and Quentin continue to explore Gerald's house. Harold examines the strange blender-like electrical device in the kitchen and, distracted by Millie's scream, loses the tip of a finger. In the bedroom, Quentin and Florence slide the bed over and discover a rope ladder leading 15' down into the basement. Florence descends, and as she nears the bottom she hears a crack like the sound of a watermelon breaking. Quentin fails to draw Harold away from his ongoing whisper-fight with Millie and joins Florence in the basement. Tunnels lead both right and left. At the end of the right tunnel they find a room full of mechanical devices connected to a main unit by a mass of wires running across the ceiling like spider legs. The main unit glows green and emits a continuous hum. Even Harold, who finally joined Quentin and Florence in the basement, can't fathom how it works. On the other end of town, Beau and Jaker decided to leave most of their things at Seraphim Falls and pack for a night outdoors, hoping to track down Philip. By chance they come upon him in the wild outside of town, dazed and speaking oddly, with a marked limp. Philip tells the story of his encounter with Jack Willis, who Beau suspects is actually the hated Jack Crabb. While Philip blathers on, unaware of Beau's growing frustration, Beau abruptly leaves to follow the blood trail of Jack and his horse. Philip and Jaker insist on accompanying him, but for Beau this is a personal matter and he rudely refuses, shooting a warning shot to make his point. Beau leaves alone, follows the trail for an hour, and eventually finds a horse on the ground next to a body. The head is greatly disfigured and hard to identify. Beau hopes instead to identify the man by the boots that kicked him.