(CoC) The Snake Pit

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"Agatha? Agatha!" Eugene says suddenly, and scrambles out of his chair as fast as his old bones will allow. He kneels with some difficulty next to her and places his hands on her shoulders. She shakes her slightly to get her attention. "Agatha, there are no demons here, no demons here, no demons here..." he repeats over and over, a mantra that he had used in the past to bring Agatha out of the spirit world.

 

[Hrothgar]

Adon turns to Eugene and Agatha, readjusts his small spectacles, and notices Agatha's new demeanour for the first time. "Agatha? Eugene? I...was it something I said?" Adon walks over to the pair. "Agatha, I am so sorry." Adon stands awkwardly, his face drawn tight in helpless frustration.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"I'm sorry Adon, she has her own demons and sometimes things can set it off, things I don't even fully understand. I think she'll snap out of it in a few minutes," Eugene says softly. "Please, try to make heads or tails of the files if you can. I'll try to calm her down."

 

[Hrothgar]

Adon nods slightly and sits back down. He looks at Agatha with his hand over his mouth, obviously disturbed by what he sees. Adon turns and starts sifting through the files, a troubled look on his face.

 

[Ashy]

Agatha's mouth trembles when the Doctor begins speaking her mantra. Slowly, the word 'demons' merges and mumbles into 'no...demons', and finally, 'no demons...here'. She speaks this mantra for a few times and then her eyes lose their hazy film and she blinks rapidly.

A look of fear overcomes her features and she looks to the Doctor. She collapses onto his shoulder, sobbing, "Oh, Doctor...those...those...things.... They...they...said that should should give up...that we're doomed to fail... They said...", she points to the book she just found, "they said that those....who...read...the...book.....will surely die!" Again, sobs wrack Agatha's petite form.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"There there dear, there there. You know they have no power if you don't believe in them. And if they are too strong to be unreal, know that you are stronger than they," Eugene says softly.

 

[Ashy]

"They're real - the voices tell me so, Doctor! The...the ancients speak of them and the Goddess too! The Goddess never lies, Doctor, never! Even she speaks of them and their power!" Agatha speaks with the conviction of one who has seen a light (albeit a light that perhaps none others can see), but her words are not those of a raving lunatic, but rather of a converted believer...

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"Shhh, shhh... you're stronger than them, you know you are," Eugene says comfortingly.

Adon and the others, if they care to look through the box, can discover what Agatha saw within. Adon's scholastic eyes see that several of the journals and pictures resemble some of Eugene's collected works on the occult, albeit fragmented. Arthur notices a curious pattern in the deaths. He can't quite put his finger on it, but it almost seems that the causes of death are in some kind of cycle... like the records were doctored somehow. It's not very clear, but it does ring some bells.

Daisy finds a mostly-intact journal and begins to leaf through it. However it's not what's on the inside, but what's on the outside that catches her attention. The book has spots of mold on it, and has a curious flat imprint on the front. It tickles her brain for a moment, and then finally she has it! She once filched a box of jewelry that bore the same marks on its top. It was hidden in a basement, shoved behind a loose brick in the wall.

 

[Ashy]

Agatha puts her pretty face in her hands and sobs quietly as the others look through the boxes' contents...

 

[Hrothgar]

"It seems the good Dr. Wilson had an unhealthy appetite for the occult. Excuse me, Eugene. Are any of these collected documents yours? Anything you might recognize?" Adon's brows furrow together as he surveys the collected works intently.