Thu 24 May 2012 Session

Tuesday Night / Wednesday
Take Compton to a hospital and then return to the bookshop with the still unconcious Bowers, the Cadis and Bridgette's money.

Compton rests whilst Hengst starts to examine the book with Fabrizio. It is written in Latin, which they struggle to fully understand, but the gist of it seems to be that the book describes with words and diagrams, 50 ways to manipulate the energies of a city. The Vesica Piscis diagram is in the book, and also the Eye of Byatis, which strongly resembles the chalked eye we saw in a Whitechapel alley.

The Cadis is also annotated in english, apparently by someone called D'Onston, about 40 or so years ago. The annotations are mostly about the Eye of Byatis and the Vesica Piscis with regard to London. He seems to have been looking into opening and closing the eye, which we think is a portal of some sort. It would seem to open the eye, 7 virgins must be smoothered, drowned or burned. To close the eye, 7 harlots must be slaughtered, which we presume were the Jack the Ripper murders, indicating that D'Onston was probably Jack the Ripper, and he was trying to close the eye. The question remains, was Jack/D'Onston trying to close the eye to prevent something getting through (for a possibly good motive), or to prevent him being sent back through it?

After studying the Cadis for hours, Hengst has an alarming paranoid episode (significant SAN loss.) We enforced a short break from his studies on him, and he mostly settles down.

Apon questioning, Bowers indicates that as a child he had seen D'Onston, as his mother had worked for him, and that D'Onston had died in the 1910s. Bowers says that Louis De Castris had the same unmistakable look in his eye's that D'Onston had. We surmise, rather fancilfully, that perhaps some kind of evil spirit came through the Eye of Byatis and possessed D'Onston, and now was in Louis!

We dispatch Bowers from London on a train, with a small sum of money for his troubles.

=== 18 months later in 1935===

With his new found wealth from the Cadis escapade, Alexander Hengst hires another assistant, Austin James (an American), to look after the shop in our absence.

Compton receives a letter from an old aquaintence, Prof. Robert Baxter White, an expert in medieval history. It seems he is now living in Somerset, and has discovered a cave he believes to be of great historical importance that may contain important old books. Having heard Compton worked often for a bookshop specialising in historical and mystic books, he invites Compton and his bibliognost companions to join him investigating the caves. We accept his invitation and make arrangements to take the train to Somerset.

We arrive at Prof. White's cottage in the village of Priddy in Somerset, and take rooms at the local inn / post office / general store / only business in the village. Over dinner, Prof. White tells us how a farmer had discovered a huge flat stone in a field whilst draining a ditch. The stone was faded and damaged, but it could be seem to have early Anglo-Saxon Christian engravings refering to St Swithin possibly hiding something there. Nearby, is a deep shaft called Swildern's Hole that leads down to caves. The shaft was discovered in 1901 by a farmer, who also found bones and a Saxon sword.