At the Kovacs House
Sam, Eric and Mookie returned to the Kovacs house at 3:00. Otis was already there, and had brought coffee and sandwiches from the church, as well as an agricultural sprayer that he said was full of holy water. They ate the repast. Then he informed the group that he could not in good conscience take part in the ritual itself. Otis said some prayers for their success and left the house.
Sam, Eric, Mookie and Arthur packed Arthur’s car with the silver knuckles, the shotguns loaded with silver dust, the mystical powder, the sprayer of holy water, the box with the amber, and a well-stocked first aid kit. Then they left for Stuckley.
In Stuckley
Stuckley consists of a few tired buildings and homes. The prosperity of long farms has long been in decline. No more than forty people live here. A church and a combination general store, post office, gas station, and milk depot are the community’s centers.
The party needs to stop at the general store to refuel their car and ask directions to the farm. Inside the store, Wilson Longborough is at the counter inquiring about the old farmhouse. There was tension between them. Sam noticed Wilson as he entered. Longborough’s son said had heard that the investigators were going to the farm, and he was going as well to ensure that they did not break anything before his attorney could establish that his father was not in his right mind when he gave them the deed.
Sam was initially hostile, but Ken noted that they would need a replacement for Otis, and Arthur agreed, adding that it would pacify Wilson. The investigators made a good impression on Ma Samuels, who ran the general store. She ignored Wilson and confided that last night a local woman disappeared, a middle-aged farmer’s wife who went out after dark to check on the barn and who had not been seen since.
Ma Samuels told them that the children said it was haunted, but she dismissed those stories because the taxes were always paid on the place. A Mr. Longborough in Westland had owned it for years and done nothing with it, as nearly everybody knew. Sam told her that they had recently come into possession of the farm and were looking to restore it. This mollified Ma Samuels and she provided directions. Sam purchase a gas can and cigarettes, and filled the can with gas.
The Farm
The Pike ran north out of town and was easy to find. The old farm lay to the north. The ancient house sat atop a hill, visible from the road and about a hundred yards east of it. It had a high peaked roof and windows sealed by sagging shutters. Its single story had two rooms, with a windowless attic overhead and a root cellar below. A huge brick fireplace stood at the end of the front room. The roof was bowed, but all the shingles were intact.
Wilson’s Information
Wilson’s mother remembered some recurring things his father had said in his sleep over the years referring to “the Dark Lord,” “the Demon-Priest Nophru-Ka,” and “the Black Man and his minions throughout the ages.” During all these episodes, Jason was invariably prone to a cold sweat and often was taken ill the following day.
Jason never admitted recollection of these phrases in his waking hours, but his mother said that she was aware that he was concealing something. The episodes were infrequent and occurred perhaps ten times over the course of their thirty years together.
The phenomena was so distressing to Jason this last time, about three months ago, that he even went to New York City to have a session with David Teplow, the spirit medium. He went alone and never told Wilson or his mother what had occurred, but when he returned, his father had a look of resignation on his face. Like he had come to terms with something long worrisome or dreadful. He would not discuss it, and his mother said that the talking in his sleep had stopped.
Shortly after that trip, Jason received a telegram informing him that Roger Furlong had died. He was hospitalized that day.
Wilson said that he provided this information in good faith, and in return he would stay to ensure that the farm, as it was, was intact when they all left. Eric told him that they had come to perform a ritual at his father’s request, and if he wanted to be present they required his assistance. Wilson reluctantly agreed. Eric handed him a pair of silver knuckles. Wilson was incredulous, but Sam told him that they were for his protection should it be needed.
They all drank some of the poppy juice that Sam had procured. They found that they all felt a momentary vertigo, but passed quickly. Mookie and Sam readied the shotguns. Eric mixed some of the revealing powder into the poppy juice before he drank it. His intention was to cast the rest on the entity when it appeared.
The Farm House
On lintels over all the doors and windows were carved symbols of a strange nature. The locked front door opens easily with the key which accompanied the deed. The back door was unlatched and stood a half-inch open.
The Front Room
The wooden floor was badly warped and stained, the result of water leaking through the roof and ceiling. Rot had eaten away at an old couch and matching wing chairs. Perhaps they were the source of the faint foul odor in the room. Near the front door was a trap door leading down to the cellar. Another trap door was set in the ceiling overhead leading to the attic. The wooden frames surrounding them were decorated with the same occult carvings seen over the doors and windows of the house. The large fireplace dominated in the room. Wilson noticed that there were no runes around the fireplace.
Evidence pointed to recent occupation. The dust had been kicked up, and fresh footprints could be seen. The large fireplace contained the embers of a fire not long dead. On the table was an empty can of Campbell’s pork-and-beans. Traces of the sauce were still liquid.
Nearby was a penny box of wooden matches, half empty, a can opener whose cutting edge approximated the sharp edges left on the pork-and-beans can, a dull jack knife, a dirty spoon, the stub of a candle, and wrinkled pictures of various attractive young ladies in advertisements. Eric noticed an old wooden cigar box and a thin sheaf of yellowed papers on top if an old cupboard.
The Back Room
The back room of the house was dirty and long untouched. Dust lay thickly on the mantel and empty shelves, while dead leaves and detritus covered remains of the floor. The center of the floor has collapsed. Mookie discovered that there was a dead body in the cellar. It was evident that the man had fallen through the floor. He appeared to be no more than a day or two old. Eric noticed that there were no flies of other signs of decay.
The Cigar Box
The sheets of paper glued on it were peeling and yellowed. Inside was a small metal canister coated in the inside with a coarse, brownish powder similar to the Xanth root mixture. There was also a small wooden box with a sliding lid coated with a small amount of a silvery, talc-like substance. Assuming that the talc was the revealing powder that the Cabal had used, Eric poured a small amount of water into it and gave it to Sam to consume so that he might be able to see the entity as well when it appeared.
The Sheaf of Yellowed Papers
Eric studied the papers in the box. They were hand-written notes dated March, 1882. All the sheets were in a large, flourished hand, unlike the neat, crabbed script of Jason Longborough.
- There were six copies of the same Latin chant—separate copies for each of the members.
- Three other sheets identified the chant as having been copied from a book called Inviolati Conditori Pueri written c. 1564 by one Aldric Drust. They contain notes about the book and its history, and comment in passing that the chant “could be used to release the spirit trapped inside the ancient amber.”
- The tenth sheet includes a description of the pentagram, the symbols to be drawn, and the combination of chemicals to be burned in the fire.
- The last three sheets discuss the ritual. They indicate that to dispel the spirit, the chant should be reversed, but that everything should be done the same, whether invoking or dispelling. A two-hour ceremony, begun under the light of the full moon, will drive off the unwanted spirit.
- Although the ceremony could be performed by one person, Durst suggested that the use of several chanters, allowing individuals to occasionally interrupt their chanting without disturbing the potency of the casting. If the chant is continuous for two hours, at least one person at all times maintaining the rhythm, the spirit must succumb. But even the slightest disruption of the chant results in failure; another ritual must commence on a following night.
- Durst suggested that during this time—as during any summoning—that a “watcher be posted, lest the sorcerers be disturbed by the nuisances and distractions of malevolent spirits.”
Eric suggested that Arthur watch over them during the ritual, but Arthur said that with five, the original ritual resulted in two being dispatched. All of them would be needed if they wanted to keep control of events.
Eric suggested pouring some of the silver from their shells in front of the hearth to block access. Wilson suggested redrawing the pentagram with the silver powder. Sam was hesitant as it might affect the performance of the spell.
The investigators readied their equipment and set up for the ritual as the sun set behind the mountains to the west.