The dark winter nights have closed in and icy weather grips the West Country. Roddy and Arabella Sinclair, his affianced, repaired to Bath to organise a small and very low profile wedding ceremony. The party received a letter from William Chubb, gentleman farmer, last seen in Cheddar trying to organise a witch burning. Chubb wrote that he is in Bristol but no longer trusts his ally Dr Hiram Quill, and that the plague of Asian cholera now gripping the city is not of a natural origin.
Chubb appealed to Dr Cedric Fitzpatrick, saying that the dead walked in Bristol again. He also mentioned he had seen William's supernatural double - "He walks freely, yet he is not free." He also hinted at a secret cabal, of a crown, and "a king wronged." He suggested the party ask for him in the docks district (the pubs in this area have now been closed due to the cholera).
An invitation was also received from Roddy to his wedding in Bath. There was also news from Fallowdrake's lawyers that the law suit from Charles Dodgon (aka Lewis Carrol) had been dropped. Before leaving, the group consulted their occult library.
- In relation to Mordred, Merrow's diaries mention him as lying "where Roman stone binds British bone" and that he is a not a revenant but something older, a sovereign without a kingdom.
- Merrow also writes about the Crown of Hollow Iron, an artefact that was buried deeply during a pestilence along with sacrifices "to seal kingship below the earth." He adds that "if raised again it must be fed with plague, sorrow and betrayal."
- Hints are made about a Circle of Six fascinated with the history of plagues in Europe who may exhibit rodent-like traits, whom Merrow refers to as "kings of the gutter" seeking a "king of bones."
- Most disturbingly, his diaries reference a ritual of coronation the Circle of Six may be planning to conduct - if Mordred should be crowned as the climax of this ceremony, doom could come to England. The stakes look high.
Lord Fallowdrake also conversed with the spirit of Merrow, who seemed distant and faded in the mirror when summoned, and could only confirm what he had already written in his notes. He did say "I fear the Hollow Wight bound upon the moor was not merely a spirit, but a shadow cast backward by this Broken King. If so, then the work is unfinished." It seems he is becoming harder to reach than back in July.
The party proceeded on to Bath where they celebrated the wedding nuptials of Roddy to his beloved Arabella. They decided it would be better for the new Mrs MacLeod to remain in Roddy's apartments in Bath rather than return to Harrow House where she would only have the half-mad crone Oonagh for company. Dr Fitzpatrick bought a new pistol while in the city.
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| The new Mrs Roddy MacLeod |
Taking the train to Bristol, the group booked into the imaginatively named Bristol Hotel. The area around the docks was in quarantine as the Asian cholera continues to spread in the city. There is snow on the ground and the night time temperature is 3-4 degrees below. Smoke rises into the wintry air from the fires burning at the entrances to Bristol's dockside slums, set there to try to stop the spread of the miasma.
The group met with their ally in the Bristol police, Constable Pike, who was able to tell them that the battle against the spread of the plague was being conducted by Dr Emrys Carfax, who had been appointed to the position by the city council. He has not seen anything remarkable in the plague zone, other than what you would expect, but remarked that some of his police colleagues have reported strange swarms of frogs, especially bizarre given the freezing conditions. He has not seen these amphibians himself.
Pike knows of Quill but does not know him well, other than that he is a respected physician and pharmacist. He said the quarantine barrier was porous as people were still being allowed out of the closed district to buy food. The authorities seem to be relying on the citizenry to act responsibly, and only breaking up large gatherings of people. Pike said the party could reach him by leaving a note at the police station. He is also happy to help them to enter the quarantine zone if they so wish.
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| Bristol harbour district, 1865 |
At the House of Dr Hiram Quill
With their identities hidden by scarves and cotton masks, the team headed to Quill's mansion, which lies outside the quarantine zone. They broke into an empty house adjacent as it was too cold to stay out on the street, in order to wait for Quill's servants to leave. They estimated there were still at least two people moving around in the house. Once the lights went out, they broke into the house via the entrance to the coal cellar. From there they entered the kitchen and then the dining room. Here they found a fragment of carved stone that looks like a broken altar or colmun section. Covered by canvas, it was revealed to have Latin lettering, a relief of a hunting god (a man with a stag's head), and a floor plan scratched in chalk showing a central dais, six standing points, and a pit.
The team now crept into the main hallway of the house, which was overshadowed by a huge marble statue which they recognised as a portrayal of Mordred himself. The floor had images of knights as inlaid bas reliefs. While they were marvelling at this they were attacked by three huge rats the size of large dogs, which were rapidly and bloodily dispatched without recourse to firearms (axe and cudgel work). Hoping they had not awoken any of the other denizens of the house (Fitzpatrick sensed the presence of a vaesen and there was a bad smell in the air), they explored further and discovered a large study/library area.
Rummaging around here, a locked cabinet was found and duly forced open. It revealed a ledger tracking payments for things like iron fittings and lime delivered to a warehouse in the Floating Docks area, as well as boat hire. "Deliveries must avoid daylight," says a note. "Rats grow restless."
A map of the Bristol sewer network was also discovered, including notes around an access point near Bristol Cathedral ("Old stone below newer brick - access still possible.") Quill has also received correspondence from an antiquarian in London about a lost 'hypogeum' (temple or tomb complex) under Bristol which might have been a temple to the Roman god Nodens or possibly Lenus.
Snoring has been detected coming from an area of the house the team believes to be the servants' quarters.
Next time: The Iron Crown of England!
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