London 1802: Fitful Slumber

The group stood in the dimly-lit entrance hall of Foley Manor. There was light coming from beneath the doors to the left and right but the stairway ahead of them was darkened. Figuring that the room on the left - the one to which they had been directed - was where the "other guests" were gathered, they decided to investigate the door on the right - the one to the East Parlor.

The door to the East Parlor, however, was locked. The entrance hall in which they stood was rather bare of furniture, containing only a small table on which a candelabra stood. The table contained a small drawer in which they found a tarnished gold key, but it did not fit the lock on the East Parlor door. The key had been wrapped in a fragment of old parchment which contained a few line fragments from a letter:

est fear is
discovery would shatter
more important. nothing
my love, Sophia


After a few moments consideration, Robert pulled out a lockpick, which he was able to use to force the lock open.

Upon opening the door, whatever light had been shining from inside was suddenly gone. The room inside was dark, illuminated only by the candelabra they had retrieved from the small table in the hall and a faint bluish glow coming from the two windows in the room. The sheer curtain in front of the window on the left fluttered a little in a gentle breeze coming through the window which must have been open.

The room contained some large pieces of furniture which were covered by canvas cloths as well as a number of smaller end-tables, chairs and stools which were scattered haphazardly around the room. The north wall contained some displays of archaic weaponry and some free-standing suits of plate armor on display. Opposite the door between the two windows was a large fireplace with a mantle which contained a long, rectangular display case. A coffee table in the center of the room contained a single large book.

The group hesitated a moment before entering the room, examining its contents. They found the display case on the mantle housed a long, glass rod with a ball at one end. The book turned out to have been hollowed and contained a wilted flower and a scrap of newsprint. The newsprint had a printed address, next to which were handwritten words which read "Miss Diana is no longer there". The silence of the room was broken when Kathrine screamed - having seen a large rat near a corner of the room. It was only a moment later when a strong gust of wind blew in through the open window, extinguishing the candles and causing the door across the room to slam shut. Molly screamed. The chair on which Kathrine had been standing after seeing the rat was suddenly jerked from beneath her and she fell backwards, hitting her head on the floor. Gerald felt something slam into the side of his knee, sending pain shooting through his leg.

What ensued can be looked back upon only as chaos and confusion. There was some malevolent force present in the room - and more than a single hostile entity - but for some reason, the four were unable to perceive exactly what it was. For a few dramatic moments, the group alternately took cover from and lashed out at their shadowy assailants, continuing until the door to the entrance hall suddenly opened.

In the doorway stood a well-dressed man with a curious and confused look on his face. He introduced himself as Sir Barnabas and recommended that the group proceed over to the West Parlor, suggesting that plenty of food from the banquet would be left still. When the group hesitated, he began walking around the room - examining it and making idle conversation with the group until one of them mentioned the hidden message and the "secrets" he seemed to wish to discuss. At that point, he invited them all into the and addressed them.

The next morning, the group awoke in their own beds. Their memories of the past evening were curiously fragmented. They remembered discussions of strange histories and mythologies taking place - often including as facts things they would have chalked up to legend or superstition - but they couldn't remember exactly what was said. They also felt that they had witnessed inexplicable things - even things that shouldn't have been possible - but they couldn't remember any real specifics on those either. At some point during the evening's discussions, Sir Barnabas had seemed to become more sullen and disappointed. He had suggested that the group return to the Manor at a later time and had handed them each an invitation envelope, similar to the first one they'd been given, then showed them out of the manor.

The group met up at Molly's bathhouse over breakfast. The "invitations" they had been given contained a rather strange message:

Perhaps your dreams are not as lucid as I suspected. You should see this as a merciful blessing - your eyes being closed to the darkness as tightly as they are.
If you are still intent on prying them open, I've heard a man called Hannington can tell some interesting stories about the streets near his residence. Most evenings he can be found in The Mitre. I would be very interested to know what you find.


In addition, Robert pointed out that the address they'd found on the newsprint in the hollow book was that of an old cemetery in the north of town near the Foundling Hospital. The doctor was deep in thought over what chemical effect they must have been under to account for the previous evening's hallucinations and fogginess, but the other three decided to travel to the cemetery and have a look around, planning to meet up and head to The Mitre that evening.

The cemetery in question was old, disused and only occasionally cared for. There were a few people in the general area, but it was fairly deserted. After some time wandering amongst the scattered stones, they were able to determine that the cemetery was probably around 100 years old, but had been in regular use up until the last 5 or 10 years. They also happened upon a particular stone which caught their attention as relevant to the message they'd found:

Diana Foley
1775 - 1791


As they were looking at this stone, a young boy (perhaps 14 years) wandered up to them with a handful of wilted flowers, which he placed carefully on Diana's grave. Then, he looked up and asked them "Were you friends of Diana's?" When they admitted they hadn't known Diana, he mumbled "I was her friend, I miss her...". His voice trailed off and he began to wander away toward a small copse of trees. They called after him, but he didn't seem to pay any attention and slipped into the grove before they could catch him.

Robert followed him into the trees and shortly called for the others to join him. There was no sign of the boy, but within the trees there was an odd clearing overgrown with red and yellow flowers. After looking around for a few moments, they found a simple well-worn gravestone buried in the grass:

Thomas Landor
1675 - 1689

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