Post by TheUdjat on Jan 9, 2008 8:45:53 GMT -5
[Japic – The symbols are unfortunately too blurry on the slides to clearly identify. It is possible that Thurman might be able to recognize them if he had a firsthand look at the stone blocks. All that can be told from the photos is that they are definitely deliverate markings of some kind, and that the stone blocks are undoubtedly old – ancient, even.]
You discuss plans and theories, but there are still many questions. Cowles’s lecture appears to have no apparent connection to Elias’s dealings or the police’s theories about the murders. Jeremy repeats the name ‘Silas N’Kwane’, the very name scrawled across a business card for Emerson Imports in Elias’s own handwriting. Could this be important, or the ramblings of a strange street urchin, rattled by the loss of his friend?
It is suggested that perhaps Emerson Imports is the place to check out, before the police track down this Silas N’Kwane themselves. Sam also mentions contacting Jackson’s publisher. [Prospero House is the name of his publisher, and Jonah Kensington the chief editor there, if Sam or Rebecca wish to disclose this information.] Elias was not known for telling many people about his works-in-progress, but perhaps his publisher would know something.
But in the end, the night is late, and your leads will have to wait for the morning light. You retire to your separate homes or hotel rooms, to rest and regroup [at Sam’s?] in the morning. [Is somebody planning to house Jeremy for the night?]
But even this late in the night, sleep is hard to come by. Images of Elias’s gristly, mangled body surface in your dreams, haunting them, reminding you under no uncertain terms what is at stake here – for Tommy, these images mix and mesh with memories of Mary and her similarly grim end. The two faces stare at him blankly, but somehow full of desperation, full of a need for revenge and vindication. The symbol on their foreheads is identical, just like the rest of their demise. But there was no connection between the two in life, and their murders were separated by such a length of time...
There is something unfinished here, for Tommy.
Sam is taunted by images of his old friend more than the others. He knew the man better, had spent more time with him. Who would have done this to Elias? Jackson had sat down and interviewed cult leaders, infiltrated dangerous death sects, compiled stories on some of the most dangerous people in existence. But never had it gotten to him – never had it rattled his demeanor, made him ramble and speak in hushed confidence like he had on the phone. Never had it made him a target.
There is something more here. And most maddeningly of all, Elias was trying to tell Sam about it; he was trying to tell you all.
Rebecca has her own twisted dreams about Jackson, but these involve endless letters – letters written in blood and gore, and signed in Jackson’s elegant penmanship, and the symbol carved on his forehead. She can’t even remember what he said, but it was nothing happy, nothing of the excited, dashing author that he was in life. There is something tortured in that sickening death, made clear in the ghastly expression frozen on Elias’s face in death. A silent scream that would never end.
And Jeremy dreams of Samuel. He dreams of Samuel going missing, of symbols appearing on his head like poor Mr. Elias. He also dreams of Silas N’Kwane, but in his dream the man looks like Edwin, and then like Mr. Shaw, and then like Tom Mailer. There the image stays, and Tom Mailer scowls at Jeremy, telling him to get back to the poorhouse while he carves a fresh symbol in Samuel’s forehead.
But eventually, for all of you, the night passes and daylight finally comes.
January 16th, 1925
Morning
The morning is nothing special, despite the nightmares that have plagued you all. [No sanity loss, by the way.] You meet at the prescribed place, rubbing sleep from your eyes, ready to face the mystery of Jackson Elias’s research and subsequent murder.
In short order, your remaining leads are laid out for you:
- The letter from Faraz Najir to Mr. Carlyle, dated 1919.
- The letter from a Miriam Atwright of Harvard for Jackson Elias, about a book he sought.
- A business card for Edward Gavigan, Director of the Penhew Foundation
- A business card for Emerson Imports, with the name ‘Silas N’Kwane’ written on the back.
- A photograph of several Chinese junks at a port, and an English yacht in the background.
- An empty matchbook from the ‘Stumbling Tiger Bar’ in, presumably, Shanghai.
- The name ‘Kensington, Jonah’ in Sam’s address book, on hand in case he wishes to seek out Elias’s publisher.
There is also the bulletin from Cowles, a possible red herring, and the familiar mark seen on Elias’s forehead which none of you will ever forget.
Where will you start?
You discuss plans and theories, but there are still many questions. Cowles’s lecture appears to have no apparent connection to Elias’s dealings or the police’s theories about the murders. Jeremy repeats the name ‘Silas N’Kwane’, the very name scrawled across a business card for Emerson Imports in Elias’s own handwriting. Could this be important, or the ramblings of a strange street urchin, rattled by the loss of his friend?
It is suggested that perhaps Emerson Imports is the place to check out, before the police track down this Silas N’Kwane themselves. Sam also mentions contacting Jackson’s publisher. [Prospero House is the name of his publisher, and Jonah Kensington the chief editor there, if Sam or Rebecca wish to disclose this information.] Elias was not known for telling many people about his works-in-progress, but perhaps his publisher would know something.
But in the end, the night is late, and your leads will have to wait for the morning light. You retire to your separate homes or hotel rooms, to rest and regroup [at Sam’s?] in the morning. [Is somebody planning to house Jeremy for the night?]
But even this late in the night, sleep is hard to come by. Images of Elias’s gristly, mangled body surface in your dreams, haunting them, reminding you under no uncertain terms what is at stake here – for Tommy, these images mix and mesh with memories of Mary and her similarly grim end. The two faces stare at him blankly, but somehow full of desperation, full of a need for revenge and vindication. The symbol on their foreheads is identical, just like the rest of their demise. But there was no connection between the two in life, and their murders were separated by such a length of time...
There is something unfinished here, for Tommy.
Sam is taunted by images of his old friend more than the others. He knew the man better, had spent more time with him. Who would have done this to Elias? Jackson had sat down and interviewed cult leaders, infiltrated dangerous death sects, compiled stories on some of the most dangerous people in existence. But never had it gotten to him – never had it rattled his demeanor, made him ramble and speak in hushed confidence like he had on the phone. Never had it made him a target.
There is something more here. And most maddeningly of all, Elias was trying to tell Sam about it; he was trying to tell you all.
Rebecca has her own twisted dreams about Jackson, but these involve endless letters – letters written in blood and gore, and signed in Jackson’s elegant penmanship, and the symbol carved on his forehead. She can’t even remember what he said, but it was nothing happy, nothing of the excited, dashing author that he was in life. There is something tortured in that sickening death, made clear in the ghastly expression frozen on Elias’s face in death. A silent scream that would never end.
And Jeremy dreams of Samuel. He dreams of Samuel going missing, of symbols appearing on his head like poor Mr. Elias. He also dreams of Silas N’Kwane, but in his dream the man looks like Edwin, and then like Mr. Shaw, and then like Tom Mailer. There the image stays, and Tom Mailer scowls at Jeremy, telling him to get back to the poorhouse while he carves a fresh symbol in Samuel’s forehead.
But eventually, for all of you, the night passes and daylight finally comes.
January 16th, 1925
Morning
The morning is nothing special, despite the nightmares that have plagued you all. [No sanity loss, by the way.] You meet at the prescribed place, rubbing sleep from your eyes, ready to face the mystery of Jackson Elias’s research and subsequent murder.
In short order, your remaining leads are laid out for you:
- The letter from Faraz Najir to Mr. Carlyle, dated 1919.
- The letter from a Miriam Atwright of Harvard for Jackson Elias, about a book he sought.
- A business card for Edward Gavigan, Director of the Penhew Foundation
- A business card for Emerson Imports, with the name ‘Silas N’Kwane’ written on the back.
- A photograph of several Chinese junks at a port, and an English yacht in the background.
- An empty matchbook from the ‘Stumbling Tiger Bar’ in, presumably, Shanghai.
- The name ‘Kensington, Jonah’ in Sam’s address book, on hand in case he wishes to seek out Elias’s publisher.
There is also the bulletin from Cowles, a possible red herring, and the familiar mark seen on Elias’s forehead which none of you will ever forget.
Where will you start?
