1 May 1941
At the Farm
- When Simon and Marie Claire arrived at the Farm, there was a commotion inside the farmhouse. The door to the basement was burst inward.
- Suddenly, Millard flew out through the basement doorway. Simon dismounted and ran toward him.
- A giant rag doll emerged from the basement and advanced to examine Millard’s still form. Simon shouted at it, but it did not seem to notice.
- Talon emerged from the basement with a rifle in hand and fired at it twice. He hit it once in the leg, but it did not seem to notice. Instead it turned and hit him, breaking his leg. Simon knew that the gunshots would attract the attention of the Germans.
- Simon threw a log at the thing and hit it in the chest. The thing was not affected, but upon seeing additional opponents, ran off around the side of the house. Simon pursued it, but when he rounded the corner, there was no trace of it.
- Simon found the rifle and buried in the wood pile. Marie Claire ran up to help Millard, but he was dead. Marie Claire helped Talon into the kitchen. Simon carried Millard into one of the bedrooms. Marie Claire splinted Talon’s leg, but it was clear that he needed a doctor.
- Talon said the rag doll thing was after the small box wrapped in an old prayer shawl that they dug up in the tunnel. It appeared a minute after they found it. Simon collected it, covered over the tunnel entrance and replaced the barrels. Then he moved the displaced dirt to the barn.
- In the mean Marie Claire gave Talon some brandy and readied the wagon. They loaded up Talon and returned to town with the box hidden under the seat.
In the Village
- Arnou had been home and sitting before the fire in the kitchen when Antoinette returned upset and distraught. She told Arnou about the sketches Marlon had shown her.
- One showed a neglected warehouse or storeroom. All the windows had been bricked over. There was a corpse tied to a chair, its flesh branded with bizarre glyphs. The corpse was Antoinette.
- Another showed a derelict building. There were several corpses chained to the walls, mutilated almost beyond recognition. One of them was Oberleutnant Fischer.
- Arnou told her to have a seat and compose herself. He said that he did not trust Marlon. Antoinette told him that she thought Marlon was legitimate and that he foresaw the Germans’ arrival.
- His warning caused the Jewish doctor to leave the night before the Germans invaded.
- She also mentioned that he saw the same vision that M’s people had seen.
- She said that he was an asset they needed to keep close in order to keep the Germans from learning anything from him.
- Arnou said he had been tempted to question Marlon when they were walking to meet the blacksmith. He did not like the way Marlon was treating Antoinette. But he decided against it at the time.
- Antoinette said that she needed to take a look at the sketches once she had calmed down. She told Marlon to hide them, but she was thinking that they should get possession of them.
- Arnou said that they should contact N about Marlon and get some insights about his visions.
On the Road to the Village
- On the way back to town, Simon continued the conversation regarding tradecraft with Marie and Talon to help take his mind off the pain.
- They crafted a cover story about how Talon broke his leg falling from the attic ladder.
- Simon heard the approach of vehicles and they stopped their discussion as a German armored car and a truck approached from the direction of town. The vehicles stopped, blocking the road.
- The sergeant and a soldier emerged from the truck. They demanded to know why they were on the road. Simon said that Talon had fallen from a ladder and was hurt. The soldier examined Talon and agreed. The sergeant summoned some more soldiers with a stretcher.
- The Leutnant from the café emerged from the armored car and demanded and update. The sergeant filled him in. The Leutnant interrogated Simon about the shots. Simon did not reveal anything. The Leutnant was suspicious. He had his men load Talon onto the back of the armored car and ordered the wagon to follow him back to town with one of his men. He sent the truck to investigate the farm. The soldier did not find the box under the seat of the wagon.
In the Village
- Two soldiers banged on the door. Arnou answered and the soldiers demanded that Dr. Berger come with them. She asked what was wrong. They replied that there were wounded and the doctor was needed.
- She packed a heavy bag and had Arnou carry it.
- As they walked through town, they noted soldiers entering every house, and saw four people being hauled off toward the center of town. They were protesting.
- The old woman was arrested for striking a German soldier
- The men were arrested for violating the curfew
- As they approached the Doctor’s house, the armored car whizzed by. When they arrived, the Leutnant informed them that there was a soldier who had been stabbed with a knitting needle. Marlon was there and terrified.
- Antoinette thanked Marlon for prepping the soldier and the Leutnant ordered Marlon to treat the villager in another room.
- Antoinette did masterful treatment of the soldier’s multiple stab wounds. She then treated Talon, but his condition was much more serious. She ordered the guarding soldier out of the room and had Marlon give the sketches to Arnou to take away with him. He hid them under his clothes and took care to hide them discreetly.
- At that point, Simon and Marie Claire arrived. Arnou noted that the soldiers had rifles and bayonets as well as a couple of stick grenades.
- The Leutnant interrogated Simon and Marie Claire.
- He asked where they were and what they were doing when they heard the shots. Simon and Marie both said that they had been responding to Talon’s accident when they heard the shots.
- Marie Claire said the shots sounded like rifle shots, but she could not determine how far away or from what direction they had come.
- Simon said that the three of them and Millard were at the farm when the shots were fired. He said that Millard was still there.
- The Leutnant was satisfied with their answers and ordered them to stay at the infirmary since it was past curfew.
- The Leutnant told the doctor that she was responsible for the patients and if anything happened to them, she would be held accountable. Then he and two of his soldiers left, leaving three soldiers behind.
- Marie Claire went to the room specified for her and the doctor. She had the box concealed in her coat.
- Antoinette, Arnou, Simon and Marlon were alone in the room with Talon.
- Antoinette asked Marlon if he had had any more visions. He had not. The last vision was the one with the Oberleutant. He said they come to him in his sleep.
- Antoinette asked him if he would be willing to dream to help them get ahead of events. Marlon was reluctant. The dreams were unpleasant and he did not get much sleep in the first place.
- At that point Marlon saw Simon for the first time and recognized him as in one of his drawings.
- Antoinette and Marlon left and made some ersatz coffee. They offered some to the Germans as well. One of them doctored the pot with schnapps saying that the coffee tasted horrible without it.
- Simon and Arnou exchanged information. Simon told him about the giant rag doll. He said that they needed to establish some kind of communication between the farm and the village.
- Antoinette and Marlon returned with the doctored coffee. Marie Claire arrived a moment later saying that the Germans were getting suspicious. She told Antoinette that Simon said that she would be interested what they brought from the farm.
- Marlon said that he should watch over Talon first and suggests taking shifts. Simon took one of the cots.
- Arnou went to the kitchen and asked the soldier where he could smoke. The soldier told him to smoke by the fireplace and joined him there. They made chit-chat.
- Antoinette and Marie Claire went to their room. Marie Claire produced the bundle and handed to Antoinette.
- The Stars of David on the prayer shawl had been recently (compared with the garment) augmented with embroidered swastikas in the center of each.
- The box was locked with a star shaped key hole. No key was present.
- Antoinette determined that the inscriptions on the box were Aramaic.
- Antoinette hid the box in one of the footlockers in the screened area.
- Then she went to bed.