The Devil's Dreams, Chapter Five

[Adam]

Bennedict, upon acquiring and quickly rifling through Theophile's notes, learns what he can learn from the small amount of research Theo had completed before his death. Then, somewhat disappointed that there was no "Here is the secret weakness of the fungus" section in the documents, he returns them and makes his way towards the front, seeking for Everline's voice. When he finds her, he gives a quick "Hsst" to get her attention and gestures to a secluded corner.

"Theo discovered the fungus, but he didn't know much more about it than we did." He says if and when she joins him. "But he did say he sent some of his observations to Rotwang. We can only hope that he knows something we can use." He looks grave. "I wouldn't mind speaking to him, but we need to get the others together soon and decide what we're doing with Ferenc. If we're going to make a move, it sounds like he has some manner of reinforcements upstairs with him."

[ewancummins]

Everline-

Benn's words degenerate into gibberish. He fades away like a lost dream, and the scene fades with him. You find yourself standing in the grassy yard before the manor house. The sun is up ,weirdly enough, although it is low in the sky...

After the group has returned to the estate, Everline immediately tracks down the Sheriff. She does first tie a handkerchief across her mouth and nose, however.

'It'd be a rum do if I poison someone by talking to them because those Hell-spawned spores are in my lungs now...'

"Sheriff!" she calls out as soon as she has found the woman. "We need to talk. There's a good chance everyone in a radius of miles around this estate is in danger of a hideous death."

Margrethe reacts immediately. She steps closer to Everline, her eyes fixed on the girl's eyes.

''What? Explain. Now."

"We went into the caves beneath the 'ouse," Everline says, "wit' young Mr. Gauderic's help an' blessin'. The whole place is lousy wit' a poison fungus called 'devil-horn'. We know this 'cause someone's been growin' it on purpose; we're all sick wit' it now an' we may be dead afore dawn. The blighter who done it 'as some business with Ferenc - but more'n that, the poison spores are runnin' down the river. When we came out, we saw a doe what drank the water, an' she keeled over in seconds. If'n those spores spread inta the country by gettin' inta the groundwater, everyone fer miles around is gonna go insane an' dead."

Everline lets this sink in for a moment before she continues: "Ye can't let Ferenc go, Sheriff. The 'ouse an' land around it need ta be evacuated ta save lives, but Ferenc 'as ta explain. Someone wants him dead mighty hard, hard enough ta go ta all this trouble, risk all those lives. At the very least, he needs ta explain 'imself; somethin' is mighty fishy 'ere."

''Poisoned water? That is bad.Hmmm.... I cannot arrest him just because there are poisonous mushrooms under his house, girl. I'll advise him to leave, and take his household and guests with him. I'll also ask him why anyone would want to harm him, and if he'll allow your party to go back down into the caves 'neath the house. That's all I can do. "

"Sheriff," Everline says, and takes the Sheriff's hands if she'll allow it. "Whoever seeded that fungus has Gauderic. As a father, Ferenc has a duty to stay and see this through. As a nobleman, he has a duty to stay and do what he can to protect the people on his land."

Everline's blue eyes bore into the Sheriff's. "I do not want to tell you your business, Sheriff; honestly I don't. But if the law does not require that Ferenc explain his part in this, then it should. For the sake of all the people already dead or in danger of dying, he has to explain himself. And here and now, you are the Law. I do not say this just because I'm likely to be dead before morning, I swear I don't."

The girl's voice is completely sincere, as is the look in her eyes. "Shield of the innocent and the helpless," she says, as if quoting something. "Scourge of the evil. Light that exposes the truth in the tangle of lies and obscurities."

''Master Gauderic stayed behind! Ah....Ferenc will want to help us, then, I'm sure. I'll inquire of him, and get answers, girl. You and your friends take care of the infestation in the caves. Clean it out. May Ezra watch over you and protect you."

[ewancummins]

Benn

While you are talking to Everline, her eyes glaze over and she swoons.

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain arriving back on horseback with the sheriff after escorting her to the site of the infected deer . Having a tied a cloth across his face to reduce the chance of infecting any one else in his presence . Having talked to the sheriff on the way there and back about what the party has encountered at the conclave and under the mansion .

[ewancummins]

Alain

You find Benn and Everline behind the manor home. Everline lies on the ground- she appears to be asleep.

[Adam]

Benn drops to one knee, waving over Everline's face, giving her face a light slap. If she does not respond, he turns toward the new arrival. "Go and find Dorgio," he says, "I'm not sure I can wake her."

[ewancummins]

Everline-

The scene blurs and fades once more, and then resolves anew. You are now a ghostly figure that glides along in the wake of your fleshly body, joined to it by a slowly unravelling silver rope. You watch your corporeal self move about inside the guesthouse. Try as you might, you exert no control over its actions. It seems to be repeating your recent actions at that location. You can feel what is happening to your fleshy body, but the sensation is delayed, and has a curiously distorted quality. The whole sequence has the queer feeling of someone else's stolen memories...

Everline makes a beeline for Professor Rotwang's room - but not before making a few simple precautions. To be specific, she ties a handkerchief across her nose and mouth. Once at the ageing academic's room, she raps her knuckles sharply against the door and calls out, her voice a little muffled by necessity: "Professor Rotwang, it's Everline Vaughn here. I urgently need to see you and your guest. Please open up."

The door opens a hand span. The Prof.'s bearded, wrinkled face, framed by candlelight, appears in the gap.

''Eh? Oh, you. Yes, yes- come right in, dear girl."

Rotwang opens the door wide to admit Everline.

Inside his cluttered room, he sets about lighting more candles and clearing a space for the girl to sit.

''Here, sit down, make yourself comfortable. Now, how exactly can I help you?"

"The caves a'neath the 'ouse are lousy wit' devil-horn fungus," Everline says in a blunt tone of voice. "Someone's bin growin' 'em, an' we've all been infected wit' the spores. I'd like ta know whither you have an antidote, but even if ye don't, I need ta have a chat wit' the thinkin' fungus. Maybe it does."

''Devil-horn? I don't think I know that one. If you left me a sample, I might be able to cook up a treatment, given time. It could take months. I do hope that's not too late for you."

He coughs a little.

''Wait- you don't mean the same dangerous species your friends had inquired about earlier today, do you? "

"The very same," Everline replies in a bland tone. She gives a quick description of the devil-horn fungus. "Unless you have something that can help, I'd like to talk to the thinking fungus now. I'll cough you up a sample of the fungus in a moment, if you like; someone should start working on an antidote. There's tons of that fungus under the house, and its poisons are leaking into the ground water."

''I see!"
Rotwang quickly retrieves from his bureau a cheesecloth mask. He ties it around his egg-shaped head, snugly over his wrinkled face.

''"Communicate with the fungus as you please. I will take notes.''

Everline securely blinds all the windows and locks the door against intrusion - even going so far as to jam a chair under the door handle in case of very determined attempts at entry.

With all of that done, she uncovers the fungus and carefully removes the panel that allows for contact between the two of them. As soon as the being exhales its spores, Everline projects her thoughts at it: "I am poisoned. Bad fungus" - here she projects an image of the devil-horns - "in my lungs, making me mad, making me die. Help?"

Everline feels the wooden floor lurch beneath her body. In the twinkling of an eye, she is transported to a subterranean realm of creeping leprous growths, eerily glowing spore clouds, and vibrating limestone walls.


The voice in her mind is weirdly distorted. It echoes in her mind, growing louder and louder still. The cavern walls vibrate in tune with the voice-


down
Join the circle.
Join the circle.
Take this one.
Dreams of the earth...
Take this one.

Join the circle!
Contact breaks suddenly and painfully. The girl falls to the floor, once more in Rotwang's room.

The Professor leans over her. His lower face is covered by the mask, but Everline can see that his eyes are wide with alarm.

''You are bleeding from the nose and mouth, child! It's discolored. Are you well enough to speak, to walk? What happened?"

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain gathers all other party members together to start on there trip to kill the crazy old man from the road .

[ewancummins]

Alain-

You find Thom wandering the pastures. He doesn't seem to notice you, not even if you speak to him or touch him.

Dorgio is lying on the ground nearby, curled up in his cloak. He makes eye contact if you get close to him. He doesn't reply to questions- he only moans and gibbers like a madman.


Thom-You are lost. The estate seems to be abandoned. All the lights have gone out, except the glimmering cresent moon and a few cold stars. A thick fog rises from the damp earth...


Dorgio

You failed. Both Weathermay girls are dead. Jon killed them both. He killed all your friends, too, one by one. Now you are the last one left. His knife has crippled you. You cannot walk.

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain procedes to slap and jostle his companions back into some semblance of awareness for there trip back into the caves .

[ewancummins]

Alain's rough actions have little visible effect on Thom's condition, and seem only to further confuse and frighten poor Dorgio.

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain will stopping doing these things and then just bring them back to rest of the group, hoping they snap out of it .

[ewancummins]

Alain brings Thom and Dorgio (the priest cannot walk, despite a lack of visible injuries, and so must be transported on horseback) to the yard behind the manor-home. He finds Benn by the edge of the house, hunched over Everline's prone form. The Lamordian is still trying to rouse the girl from her fever-dreams. The girl stirs and groans, as if returning to consciousness.

A door in the rear of the house swings open. Light shines out of the gap. The sheriff, Margrethe, emerges with a lantern in her right hand.
She spots Alain, and tells him-

''I've spoken with Ferenc Delapore. He has agreed to let your party into the cellars- but he isn't happy about all this. He won't see you. This is the best I can do, friends. I'm going to make certain the guests are sent away to safety. May Ezra guide you in what you have to do."

[RocEter]

Snapping out his dream Thom looks around his eyes going wide in shock as he finds himself outside. "I-I uh.." He starts then trails as he coughs in a silk kerchief. Thom sits on the ground and tries his best to gather his bearings. "Wh-what happened? How did I get out here?" He asks.

A door in the rear of the house swings open. Light shines out of the gap. The sheriff, Margrethe, emerges with a lantern in her right hand.
She spots Alaion, and tells him-

''I've spoken with Ferenc Delapore. He has agreed to let your party into the cellars- but he isn't happy about all this. He won't see you. This is the best I can do, friends. I'm going to make certain the guests are sent away to safety. May Ezra guide you in what you have to do."

"Ferenc.. Yes.. He has a couple of armed fellows with him upstairs. Nasty type of fellow, so I am told, the kind that send shivers down a man spine and will do anything if the coin is right. The horse loaned to Zandor has returned but no one has seen Zandor. I'm thinking the bard might have met untimely fate.." He says and shakes his head. "Now what's this business about entering the cellars?" He says as he slow stands up.

"We are in no condition to go into back into underground." He says indicating himself and the others. "I hope you plan on taking the Delapore with you. Otherwise.." Thom tries to act as the voice of reason, though both are horrible ideas one has to be better then other.

[ewancummins]

The sheriff steps away from the door, closer to Thom.

The lantern light exaggerates the lines in her face, making her look older than she really is.

''He won't see any of you. He was clear about that. I don't think he means to go down with your friends."