Of Worms and Men:
Friday & Saturday (Jan. 26-27, 1925)
With poor old Silas tethered to the wall above the pit, the gang (at Oscar's insistence) decides to move the eight-foot stone cover that seems to be keeping something down in that pit. Whatever it is, it's making a strange wailing noise, and the noise only grows louder and more strange when the cover is lifted. It takes two men on the pulley to get the stone cover out of the way. Mickey and Pancho choose not to be present and opt to guard the top of the stairs.
A flashlight reveals the source of what sounds like people wailing in torment, a horror beyond imagining: ten feet down, taking up almost the entire width of the pit, is a giant, translucent, undulating purple skin--like a huge alien worm, but when it moves, a dozen human faces push against the skin from within and scream, tortured mouths surfacing and then retracting into the bulging mass. Sanity is lost, and the sight is far too much for Hank, who loses control. Oscar grapples Hank into control before he is able to hurl himself into the pit in a mad fit. And the thing starts to emerge.
After a few seconds of heated debate, and bullet from Ambrosch that seems to do no damage whatsoever, the gang flees the Ju-Ju House basement, and with a final glimpse over their shoulders, they see the wormy horror rise up, and a collection of mouths start chewing into Silas.
On the way out of the building, Hank spots a worm on the ground, a phobia is born. Worms are now Hank's special nightmare. The group hails a taxi and ends up punching out the frenzied Hank so as not to attract too much of Harlem's attention.
The gang calls Tex, and speaks directly to him this time. He assures them of his support to continue the investigations. Things like that should not exist in New York City, or anywhere in the world. He will place a call to the authorities about what you saw, and he has offered to pay for the next eventual stage of the journey, to London, where he has contacts. He also promises to have one of the best psychiatrists he can find visit Hank tomorrow morning.
In the morning the psychiatrist comes and gives Mickey some sedative injections, to be given to Hank once a day, which will help keep him manageable. He explains, however, that Hank is incredibly fragile and will only improve with six months in a sanitarium.
Once evening arrives, the group taxis up to the Carlyle mansion north of NYC. They split up at the gala event and each find bits and pieces of helpful information about Roger Carlyle, his sister Erica, and his fateful expedition.
Erica Carlyle was horribly frustrated with her brother, who squandered their family's money and nearly lost them their fortune. His disappearance, which she blames on his infatuation with some African woman, provided her and the estate's secretary with great relief. Erica, a competent business woman, has not only kept the Carlyle textile and lumber business out of trouble, she has improved it since she took over, and the idea of her brother returning irks her greatly. When Dr. Finnegan (Mickey) suggests to her that her brother Roger might still be alive, she wants nothing to do with the news. "As long as he never returns to New York, I don't care what you discover about him. He always used to spend time reading those awful books. They're in the west library. Look for Poe."
A search of the west library, observed by some east-Indian gentlemen, reveals a book about Edgar Allen Poe, a combination for a safe, and then the safe itself. Four old, strange books. Oscar will be busy reading for a long time.
A flashlight reveals the source of what sounds like people wailing in torment, a horror beyond imagining: ten feet down, taking up almost the entire width of the pit, is a giant, translucent, undulating purple skin--like a huge alien worm, but when it moves, a dozen human faces push against the skin from within and scream, tortured mouths surfacing and then retracting into the bulging mass. Sanity is lost, and the sight is far too much for Hank, who loses control. Oscar grapples Hank into control before he is able to hurl himself into the pit in a mad fit. And the thing starts to emerge.
After a few seconds of heated debate, and bullet from Ambrosch that seems to do no damage whatsoever, the gang flees the Ju-Ju House basement, and with a final glimpse over their shoulders, they see the wormy horror rise up, and a collection of mouths start chewing into Silas.
On the way out of the building, Hank spots a worm on the ground, a phobia is born. Worms are now Hank's special nightmare. The group hails a taxi and ends up punching out the frenzied Hank so as not to attract too much of Harlem's attention.
The gang calls Tex, and speaks directly to him this time. He assures them of his support to continue the investigations. Things like that should not exist in New York City, or anywhere in the world. He will place a call to the authorities about what you saw, and he has offered to pay for the next eventual stage of the journey, to London, where he has contacts. He also promises to have one of the best psychiatrists he can find visit Hank tomorrow morning.
In the morning the psychiatrist comes and gives Mickey some sedative injections, to be given to Hank once a day, which will help keep him manageable. He explains, however, that Hank is incredibly fragile and will only improve with six months in a sanitarium.
Once evening arrives, the group taxis up to the Carlyle mansion north of NYC. They split up at the gala event and each find bits and pieces of helpful information about Roger Carlyle, his sister Erica, and his fateful expedition.
Erica Carlyle was horribly frustrated with her brother, who squandered their family's money and nearly lost them their fortune. His disappearance, which she blames on his infatuation with some African woman, provided her and the estate's secretary with great relief. Erica, a competent business woman, has not only kept the Carlyle textile and lumber business out of trouble, she has improved it since she took over, and the idea of her brother returning irks her greatly. When Dr. Finnegan (Mickey) suggests to her that her brother Roger might still be alive, she wants nothing to do with the news. "As long as he never returns to New York, I don't care what you discover about him. He always used to spend time reading those awful books. They're in the west library. Look for Poe."
A search of the west library, observed by some east-Indian gentlemen, reveals a book about Edgar Allen Poe, a combination for a safe, and then the safe itself. Four old, strange books. Oscar will be busy reading for a long time.
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