Thu 7 Jun 2012 Session

As he was such a useful fellow, and also normally lives in London, we invite John Browning to join in our further escapades back in London. We travel back by train, whilst John travels in his car.

Our first order of business is to further investigate the book written in French we recovered from the caves. Fortunately, the new bookshop employee, Austin James, speaks French quite well, so we set him to work. Firstly, the letter we found in the book is apparently from Louis De Castris to a "Mr Sharpe" at a London address, dated February 1848, and says in summary:
 * My good friend Augustus.
 * Woden might be Byatis by another name.
 * Louis sent a book about Woden to Augustus.
 * Louis speculated that they may be able to harness some of Byatis' power.
 * "Hopefully we will be able to find the book."

This last point might refer to the book we found in the caves, or the Cadis Urbi Verae Claves, or something else.

The book from the caves itself is entitled "Secrets of Woden", dated 1830. We assign Austin to read the book, summarise it for us, and bring any points of particular interest to our attention.

Research by Father Fabrizio at local government offices and British library reveals that Augustus Sharpe was a sole-trader accountant. We speculate that he may look after Louis' financial affairs in London, and possibly other matters also. He married Julia (nee ) in 1842. They had a son, also called Augustus. Further investigations by Compton reveals that Augustus jr died very recently, and the disposal of his estate by his son, Thomas, is due to take place by sale at his North London home shortly. Apparently, he was an accountant like his father, a recluse, and a collector of taxidermy. We further speculate that Augustus jr may have taken over from his father the handling of Louis' London affairs.

We attend the estate sale. There we bump into Aston Drummel, who is buying many of the books on old religions. He mentions that Baron Von Kant was recently killed by Nazis, and that his widow Bridgette Von Kant is moving to London to live, possibly buying this very house.

Compton asks the estate sale manager if there are any other items they haven't seen. She says that there are several taxidermy pieces that have been held back, and directs him to an upstairs corridor to view them; Fabrizio goes with him. There they find several taxidermal statues, all of which are large cats - tigers, lions, etc.

At the end of the corridor is a door. Fabrizio opens the door, which leads into some kind of dimly lit study. After a moment we notice a fellow kneeling behind the desk, apparently rummaging at the bottom draw. The fellow remonstrates with us in what sounds to us like French, and eventually physically ejects us from the room. Compton watches and listens at the door whilst Fabrizio runs to the estate manager and determines that the Frenchman is an intruder. Fabrizio returns with the manager, and they all once again enter. The Frenchman attempts to flee, there is a protracted scuffle during which John and Alexander Hengst arrive and join in, and he is eventually restrained. The manager meanwhile has gone, presumably for the police. Searching the Frenchman reveals absolutely no identification whatsoever.

Before the manager returns we search the study. Fabrizio forces open the desk draw, within which are apparently letters, which he takes. We also discover a bizarre composite taxidermal statue of a female humanoid figure, made of mostly large cat parts, but with hooved feet, labelled "Byatis". After the police arrive and take the Frenchman into custody, we adjourn to the bookshop.

Looking through the letters from Augustus Sharpe's desk, we find 3 of particular interest:
 * 1) A copy of a letter from Augustus Sharpe to Louis De Castris, dated 4 July 1932, says that Augustus has discovered another Byatis "cultist", called Paul Fletcher, from investigations at the Royal Astrological Society. BookHoundsVesicaPiscis.jpg that Fletcher claimed to have discovered a great eye nebula that he wanted to name "Byatis", and ranted about it to some length at the society, resulting in his ejection. The nebula looks like the Vesica Piscis, but with an eye at the centre.
 * 2) A letter from Louis De Castris to Augustus Sharpe, dated 2 August 1932, says Louis believes Jack the Ripper was an agent of "Nodens". He says "the book must be found soon" and "the shackled powers of Byatis cannot sustain them forever".
 * 3) A copy of a letter from Augustus Sharpe to Louis De Castris, dated 3 January 1934 (shortly before we were engaged by Johnstone Dives.) This informs Louis of the impending sale of the Cadis, and tells him to come to London.
 * Is the book that must be found soon the Cadis?
 * Is the "them" that cannot be sustained forever Louis and Augustus?

We ponder this new information for a while, before retiring for the night. However, on his way home, Father Fabrizio hears a strange sound from an alley as he walks past. He looks and sees Louis De Castris appear from a solid wall! He seems weak and much more normal/human than our previous encounter in the church in Whitechapel. Fabrizio is alarmed and seeks to flee, but Louis calls to him, begging him for help, saying he was wrong and should never have done what he did. He says he was possessed by the spirit of Jack the Ripper! He reveals that is was his blood we found in the alley at the location of the 5th Jack the Ripper murder. He warns that Jack the Ripper is strong in Whitechapel, that he wants to permenantly close the Eye of Byatis, and that he has been watching all of us (by his minions, perhaps.)

Fabrizio runs back to the bookshop in time to catch us all, but when we return to the alley, Louis is nowhere to be seen. However, on the wall he appeared to walk out of we do find that characteristic door shaped scorch mark we have seen before. We decide to all spend the night together at the bookshop.

TEST