The Arkham Historical Society

Arkham Historical Society. 1300, Thursday, 25th August 1921.

"Yes! I found it, Len." Doc Slade exclaims. "It's the testimony regarding the Disappearance of Sermon Bishop." Len leave his study of the maps and peeks over Doc’s shoulder while Doc read. Finally Doc says, "The lengthy document is mostly useless, dealing as it does in times, places, and accusations. However, I notice that seven men most offer most of the testimony. Their names are Peter Ames, Jeremiah Crane, Jebel Noyes, Elibu Phillips, James Pierce, Allen White, and Ethan Williams."

Doc Slade asks the librarian, "Do you have detailed genealogies of the town's former inhabitants preferably indicating descendants, and also do you have a copy of the Carnamagos."

"The Carnamagos book. I've never heard of that, and am positively certain that we don't have this book in the library. What book is this?"

Doc Slade responds, "A book that I found reference to, associated with this trial, the research I am looking in to."

"Ah", the Librarian says and continues, "We don't have detailed genealogies. Are you aware of how impossible task it would be to make a genealogical table for all of Arkham’s inhabitants and their ancestors? If you are lucky, the curator, Lapham Peabody may have been made a table of descents some of the families that you can use.

The Librarian will fetch the records you need to do a research into the families.

Doc Slade: "That would be useful."

The Librarian fetches the records you need to do a research into the families. Doc Slade also asks for the local newspapers for the period covering and just prior to the events mentioned during the testimonies. He then asks, "Len, any luck with the maps yet?"

"Not yet, as I told you Doc I am no Academician or researcher but I am trying. We need you to be successful and get all the information on the descendants of those men and then we can use that to find Bishop, as he is obviously going to try and seek revenge on them."

Doc Slade replies, "It is possible, but one death is not conclusive. Still I agree, we need to find out what we can and then act on it."

*****

Arkham Historical Society. 1615, Thursday, 25th August 1921.

The closing hour is approaching and even if Charles, Pierre, and Penny have joined the search, the result so far is nothing. The index of Mrs. Williams’s library didn’t mention the Carnamagos book.

"I’m a archaeolog not a genealogist", Charles waves his hands in hopelessness."

"And we ain’t cartographers", Pierre adds.

"We are getting nowhere", Len contributes with, "and with the second murder this morning, we don’t have that time. In one hour they close this place.

"I think I can convince the curator, Lapham Peabody, to let us stay after closing hour. The society has aided in police investigations before."

"Wait, wait a minute. Did you say Lapham Peabody!" Pierre exclaims. "Wasn’t it he who wrote the article in the Arkham Advertiser about the Bishop Bridge and the Eminent Arkhamites, Sermon Bishop."

Charles claps his hand to his forehead, "Kick me behind. What am I a doing as an investigator? What are we doing here, we must talk to Mr. Peabody."

"Why don’t you kick me in the back and I’ll kick you afterwards", says Doc Slade. "Mr. Peabody has already done a lot of research into the Arkham families. I didn’t go straight to him because I wanted to prove to you, and myself that I could find the descendants myself."

-----

15 minutes later.

"Mr. Cochroft, come in, come in. What an unexpected pleasure. I have followed your career closely, and I’m proud of what you have done on behalf of the city."

"What brings you here? Maybe you want to lecture at the next meeting in the society? I see you have brought some friends with you"

"I’d love to do a lecture, but I am here in a grave matter. I’m, we are investigating the recent murders and have come here seeking information."

"Information", Lapham Peabody chuckles, "You have come to the right man. What is it that seek information about."
E. Lapham Peabody

Charles takes from his list of names. "We believe that these persons living long ago are somehow connected to the victims of the murders, and to a person, a rumoured wizard, Sermon Bishop. We believe that the victims are the descendants to the people who were responsible of the disappearance of Sermon Bishop."

Mr. Peabody reads the note. "I think you better sit down and shut the door. I recognise the William’s name. I helped a man find it on Tuesday morning!"

Charles jaw drops. "What did he look like?"

Mr. Peabody describes a man who could very well be Henry Atwater. He describes the young man’s rapt interest in genealogies of certain families and also mentions that the young man had an archaic Scots’ like accent. "Not heard hereabouts for two hundred years, I reckon. The students clothing was rumpled and slightly soiled, but I put that down to academic neglect."

"I helped the man locate materials, and the student seemed to eventually find all that he wanted. I have forgotten just what they were – genealogical records about a variety of Arkham families.

"This is important", Charles says. "Do you remember if this man asked for or find any others of these names.

"I’m sorry. I was so busy that day, but I do very well remember that he showed a surprising amount of knowledge about mid 18th century Arkham, and that he even pointed out two errors in the records.

At that moment Charles rises and moves quietly over to the door, which he opens with a yank. In tumbles a man. Doc Slade and Pierre recognizes him as the janitor they saw when the came.

"Mr. Berone. What are you doing?"

The janitor quickly picks himself up off the floor and grips the rag in his hand tightly, "I...I was just polishing the door handle, Mr. Peabody", he says taking furtive glances towards the genealogically inclined group. He looks down at the floor for a second, then looks back up at the group. "I did overhear what you were saying, though. Not intentionally, of course. I heard you say something about a wizard. You gotta tell me his name, Mister. I gotta know!" He says with a pleading note in his voice and a white knuckled grip on his rag.

"Who the hell are you?" yells Len, as he rises from his seat, "and why were you spying on us?"

Len moves threateningly toward Berone but Pierre moves quickly in between Len and Berone, holding Len back. "Wait there Mr Len, lets let him speak before we resort to fisticuffs."

Len's eyes seem to clear and he smiles a little, "Okay Pierre but he better have some good reasons...."

As Len rises from his chair and moves towards him, Nick unconsciously sucks in a little air to inflate his chest. His other hand balls up and he bends his knees easily, moving his right foot back a step. His hands don't rise, but his half-step back is obviously not a prelude to retreat. As Pierre steps in front of Len asking for an explanation, Nick's posture relaxes, and he stands up straight.


"Well, I ovaheard ya talkin' about some wizid what lives aroun' here. My pop always tol' me stories about my great-grandpop. Tellin' me how he lived down here in Ahkham. He tol' me how my grandpop went crazy livin' down here. Said dere was a wizid what did....tings to 'im. Makin' 'im see tings what weren't dere, dat kinda ting. Said dat's why we moved to New York. So now I saw something back in New York, a while back, and dat got me thinkin' about comin' down here to see what I can find out about dis wizid. Maybe he done somethin' to my whole family. If he did...I'm gonna make 'im pay."
Nick Berone

The janitor’s New York accent is thick and obvious. Standing at his full height of 6' 2", one might easily believe that he could make someone pay. Finally having said his piece he looks at the group, "I just wanna get a crack at dis guy. If youse know 'is name, I'd like ta have it so's I can find him. Or 'is family. If I can help youse find 'im, I'll do dat too."

Doc Slade replies, "Revenge is not a healthily motive to have. We are searching from him to prevent him from harming others and the rectify of a wrongdoing. Unless you are willing to let reason dominate over your desire for revenge, I do not want your assistance. Secondly, a man's crime is his own, not his family's. If he has a family, it is by their actions that they are judged, not by the ancestry."

The janitor, Mr. Berone, paws his rag again and opens his mouth as if to speak...then shuts it again for a second of thought. He sighs as if coming to a conclusion and opens his mouth again, "I didn't say I's gonna kill de guy's family. I jus' said I's lookin' for 'em. I jus' wanna find out why dis' guy put such a hurt on my family. Killin' other folks' family...naw...dat ain't good business," he quirks up the side of his mouth in a half smile and shakes his head, "but if I actually find de guy what did dat to my family...well...let's jus' say I'd wanna have a chat wid 'im." With that he nods his head curtly, emphasizing his speech. "And another thing, if youse guys think I'd jus' walk up to a guy who made my great-grandpop go crazy I dunno how long ago and give de guy a shiner...well...youse are de crazy ones. How was you guys plannin' on takin' him out?"

Doc Slade replies, "It is not a simple as that, for the wizard apparently has stolen a body, and we would like to restore the body to its rightful owner. Then we have to find a way to neutralize him so that this sort of thing can not happen again. At this time, I have no idea on how to do this."

Berone shakes his head slightly and holds up a finger, "Wait, wait. You mean he's got a hostage, 'r somethin'? Dis is why I gotta fin' dis guy. So's he don't do like he did to anyone eltse." At this he throws his rag to the floor and looks Slade in the eye, "Okay...if youse guys c'n fin' dis guy, I wanna be a part a dat. I don' want 'im doin' anything eltse to anybody. I'll do whateva you say, long as I get my shot at 'im. Whadaya say? C'n I help youse?"

Doc Slade replies "If only we were so lucky. It appears that he has changed bodies with a boy, placing his mentality into the boy's body and the boy's mentality into his old body. We need to find a way to reverse this exchange of mentalities. Thus we need to keep the body he is occupying in good shape so that we can return it to its proper owner without harm."

Penny eyes the so-called janitor with more than a little suspicion. Turning to Len she says softly (but everyone can hear), "Can we trust him? He looks a little more than rough around the edges. I can't believe that this guy is really a janitor, but I'll keep an eye on him."

Doc Slade watches his companions carefully, giving them the time to speak in reply to the janitor's request. After it appears that they have said what they want, he speaks, "Nick, I generally accept all the help I can get, but before doing so, I like to have confidence in their integrity. Currently, Nick, I am not impressed with what I have heard. I want you to carefully think it out and be straight with us. From what I have seen so far, associating with you would be more harmful to our purpose then helpful. You would bring trouble upon us."

Doc Slade replies, "As you wish."

The curator looks at Nick, evidently not pleased, but says, "You can talk privately in the archives", and points at the room on the opposite side of the hall.

As he moves to meet with Berone in the other room, he whispers to Len, "Be ready to come quickly to my aid if you hear screams or crashes". He follows Berone into the other room carefully leaving the door partly open.

"Merde, this caretaker or whatever is hard to understand. Mr Len, you are used to this, but what sort of accent is that. Sacre Bleu, I know that being a French Canadian that I have an accent, but I hope it's not as bad as that." Pierre says.

"He's pure Bronx my friend and none too educated neither. I've met some people from the Bronx before and they were all as tough as nails and twice as mean." He pauses, "Course they were baseball players..."

"Len," Penny says softly. "I'll distract the curator if you wish to listen at the door."

"Well we trusted you Penny or have so far but as to whether we can trust Mr Berone, I have no idea. I do trust Doc Slade though so if he says Berone's okay I guess we have to go with that, to my way of thinking too many people know about us and this already for us to be safe...oh well...." Len nods, "I also want to know what this janitor is up to. What it is that is so secret that he can’t talk to us about. I hate secrecy when I ain’t among the initiates."

Penny points a picture hanging on the wall behind the curator’s desk, "Is that the old man professor Bunberry, standing beside you on that picture. Did you know him well? He had some interesting theories."

"Do you know of his work, young lady?"

"Yes, I read his work on semantics last semester, but I say I have to disagree with him on …………"

Under the cover of the scholarly discussion between Penny and Mr. Peabody, Len disappear unnoticed.

The hallway is empty and Len listens through the opening. He hears nothing and tries to with the other ear." Len concentrates but can’t hear anything than muffled voices. That is until Nick raises his voice.

"I ain't crazy, mistah. You should talk! Talkin' about some damn wizid who's usin' someone else's body?! HA! Now, dat's crazy. At least in de tunnels o' New York dere's ting's like allagators'n ting's dat could get real big. I ain't crazy'n I don' need no shrink."

Then Nick lowers his voice again and Len can’t hear what they say again. Len opens the door a bit more and hears:

"No, I was not saying you were crazy, rather emotional disturbed and that consoling would help. Remember that a lot of things, which seem unbelievable, actually happen in this world. Being emotional disturbed is something that everyone experiences from time to time. It helps to get professional help to deal with it so that it stops dominating and interfering with the rest of your life."

"I am willing to help you live with it, and provided that you start to work with me on dealing with your suppressed feelings, I am willing to permit you to assist us in our search."

"Well...I don' know 'bout no suppressed feelin's, but if I gotta do what you says t'get yer help, den I'll do dat. I c'n take de orders, if I gotta. Whatever you says, doc. Yer de doctah." He smiles, starting to get friendly, "So...what c'n I do ta help, mistah?" He holds out his hand, expecting Slade to shake, "I'm Nick Berone. What's your handle, mistah?"

"I am Stuart Slade, but most people call me, Doc. We will schedule you two one-hour sessions each week to deal with your suppressed feelings. Now, we were in the middle of doing some research about the wizard's past in these archives. Let us rejoin the others."

Len jumps up and hurries back to the others. He’s just back in the curator’s office, when he hears Doc and Nick in the hallway. The curator didn’t notice what Len did.

Doc Slade and Nick return to the others in the other room. Doc Slade explains, "I am willing to let Nick assist us on a probational basis. His curiosity may be useful. He tends to prefer field work over library research."

Charles smiles wide and friendly. "Doc’s word is good enough for me." He clasps Nick’s hand in a strong grip. "I am Charles Winston Cochroft. You are welcome in our group. If you pardon us, we’ll tell you of our past experiences later and we’ll present ourselves to you. But before we go on, I’d like to hear a few words about yourself"

Nick smiles and shakes Charles' hand with a firm grip, "Gladdameetcha, Chuck. No worries about yer innerducshuns. I'm Nick Berone. If ya couldn't guess I's from de Big Apple. Born'n raised." He chuckles a bit and nods in Doc's direction, "I tink de Doc here's lettin' me help youse cause he'd rathah keep me close den lemme go my own way. Tink's I'd do some dammage'r sumthin'. So who's de resta ya?" He smiles with a playful glint in his eye and adds, "And who's de little dames?"

Grimacing slightly at the word 'dames' Penelope looks at the newcomer who is obviously rough around the edges. "Penelope Pritchard," she says with an air of dignity attempting to put herself above the oaf. "I am a student at the local University."

When Nick has introduced himself Charles takes on a serious voice and speaks to Mr. Peabody. "Mr. Peabody. I must ask you to keep secret what I tell you and we later disclose about this case. Mr. Peabody nods. "We believe that the man who came to you is the culprit of the two recent murders and that he plans to kill all the people on the list you made for him. It is of the greatest importance that you can reconstruct the list. The killer can strike again, even as we speak.

"I understand." Mr. Peabody understands. You will have my fullest co-operation and promise of secrecy. This is not the first time I’, involved in such things. The staff and I will give you whatever help you need to find this murderer and solve this case. That includes working overtime – and Mr. Berone. I think we can say that your work here today is finished, but I count on you continued effort with us?"

"I prefer working alone and undisturbed when reconstructing this list, but may it be other things you want to search for in our library, while I work?"

"Yes Mr. Peabody" Len says. "I, on my part, would like to use the opportunity to look at the New England oddities."

"A brilliant idea" Charles adds. "Let’s all do that. I propose that we have a look in the History section to."

-----

30 minutes later.

The New England Oddities section contains books filled with stories about haunted houses, witchcraft, and other myths and legends pertaining in the Massachusetts north shore area. Nick reveals book called Strange Legends of New England, by Wheeler Jenckes, 1916.

One story, "Miskatonic’s Witch Bridge", draws the eye. The entry positively identifies the bridge as the one called bishop’s bridge and is accompanied by a pair of photographs, one, which offers a full view of the bridge before it collapsed.

The article claims that in 1752 a local wizard was entombed in the central pillar of the bridge. The stone facing was then decorated with a magical sign supposedly keeping the wizard from returning from the dead. Before he died, the wizard placed a curse upon his persecutors and their descendants.

The second photo shows the center bridge support from the south side. The magical sign decorating the stone can just be seen. The photograph is taken from the riverbank, of course, and requires the aid from a magnifying glass to read the magical symbol properly.

-----

15 minutes later.

With the help of the librarian, Lester Ropes, it is Charles’ turn to hit the bull’s eye. In the book "A History of the Arkham Township and Its Neighbours", in four volumes from 1903, he finds an interesting passage.
The passage

*****

Arkham Historical Society. 1815, Thursday, 25th August 1921.

"This is it." Mr. Peabody hands over a list of names to Charles. "Complete with name, age, and address."

Enod Ames, age 44, house at 406 W. Miskatonic Avenue
Benson Crane, age 32, house at 132 E. High Street
Nina Williams Hope, age 81, house at 374 W. Curwen Street
Jeffrey Noyes, age 55, house at 115 E. Curwen Street
Retribution "Grampa" Phillips, age 100, house on Sutton Road off the Aylesbury Pike
Alexander Pierce, age 62, house at 648 Federal Street
Humphrey White, age 47, apartment at 223 Parsonage Street

At the same time you can hear knocking on the door from the ground floor. "Who can that be?" Mr- Peabody says. "Lester, would you open the door?"

When Lester Ropes returns, Daria is with him. She is furious. "So here you are. How nice of you, leaving me out. I was waiting for you at the restaurant, we had an appointment, REMEMBER!"

"Ah sorry Miss Daria." Len says. "You know that reminds me Charles. Doc, we haven't eaten all day perhaps we should retire to Anton’s restaurant, eat and contemplate our next move?"

Doc Slade responds, "That seems like a good idea to me. We need to share what we have found and bring everyone up to speed."

Illustrations are from page 78 of the Arkham Unveiled. Art copyright Chaosium Inc. for Tim Callender.

Please read the Carnamagos Book or go back to the table of contents.