IC: Scene 13b - Arkham Historical Society

[amarriner]

Arkham Historical Society
Wednesday June 8th 1927, 9:30am



Donald hails a cab from the site of the murder and spends the next few minutes winding southwards through the tight, bumpy streets of Arkham. Presently he finds himself again in front of the Historical Society. Once inside, Mrs. Putnam fetches Peabody who returns and greets Donald.

[zielonobrody]

Hello sir. Can we go somewhere more private? After sitting down... I couldn't help wondering sir, after seeing the body of the poor Mrs. that there's going to be more than one dead body at the end of the day. I may be jumping to conclucions here, but would you mind telling me who else you interviewed in the case apart from Mrs. Hope? I won't go as far as suggesting you as a possible target, but I think you should be prepared just in case. Is there anything else you could tell me about this magician?

[amarriner]

Peabody leads Donald into a room off the main foyer which must have been a living room at some point. Beautiful sofas on a plush carpet adorn the room. Many paintings of the original owner of the house as well as ships of various sizes and kinds hang on the wall.

Mrs. Hope was really the only one I interviewed. Much of what I correlated for that article was from discussions with her and from research I'd done. She had quite an extensive library upstairs in her house, actually. I used some of the books she had for that research as well as some from the library here at the Society. Oh, I do hope the murderer didn't steal any of her books. Some of those were quite valuable!

I see what you're getting at, too. The number scratched on her forehead is quite concerning. I'm not entirely sure what it means yet, but it does sort of imply that this is the first in a series, doesn't it? The question is, who might be next?! I appreciate your concern over me, but I must say I can't imagine why I'd be a target. Then again, I can't imagine why poor Mrs. Hope was a target either. At any rate, we don't even know who this madman is, do we?

[zielonobrody]

Donald Lutherhagen
I guess you're right. But please keep an eye out for anything suspicious Sir. Now, on to the magician and the bridge. What more can you tell me?

[amarriner]

Donald Lutherhagen
I guess you're right. But please keep an eye out for anything suspicious Sir. Now, on to the magician and the bridge. What more can you tell me?

Alas, not a whole lot more than was written in that article. The bridge was destroyed a while back, of course, and only that central pillar was still standing. Used to be called Bowen's bridge, but the locals all called it Bishop's Bridge for reasons made apparent in my article. Used to be some kind of design or symbol on that central pillar, but I suppose with the lightning strike, it's gone to the bottom of the Miskatonic.

As far as the magician goes, Sermon Bishop was his name. Everyone said he made some deal with the devil to live forever. Left his body bruised and crippled, but he wouldn't die. He was blamed for all the malady's of the surrounding area. Crops dried up, cows wouldn't give milk, must've been Bishop's doing. So a small group of folks got together--led up by Elithu Phillips--and capture him. Put a symbol around his neck ostensibly to prevent his power and cemented him into one of the Bowen Bridge supports while it was being built. They placed the same symbol on that support. I'm guessing it was that central support that just crumbled recently.

Also of note is that the reason Mrs. Hope's ancestor was one of the men who helped subdue and imprison Bishop. None of those who helped were ever arrested or even brought up on charges for what they'd done. Everyone felt it was for the greater good that it was done.

[zielonobrody]

Donald Lutherhagen
Well that's some nice information there. I'm sure it's possible to find descendants of this Elithu Phillips still in Arkham. If you have any other names from those times that may have taken part, I'd love to have them. Do you maybe know what symbol he had around his neck? or maybe have a copy of the symbol that was on the pillar?

[amarriner]

Donald Lutherhagen
Well that's some nice information there. I'm sure it's possible to find descendants of this Elithu Phillips still in Arkham. If you have any other names from those times that may have taken part, I'd love to have them. Do you maybe know what symbol he had around his neck? or maybe have a copy of the symbol that was on the pillar?

Unfortunately, that's about all I know. There might be more in the library upstairs or perhaps Mrs. Hope had some information about that at her house. As far as the sign on the pillar goes, too, alas I'm sorry to say I don't have a copy of it. Nor do I really know what it was supposed to do or represent other than it was said to keep Bishop's power at bay.

[zielonobrody]

Donald Lutherhagen
I guess I'll have a peek in at the library upstairs since I'm already here. Maybe there's some pictures of the old bridge from the times it was built, and some information about mr Bishop.

[amarriner]

Peabody shows Donald the way upstairs to what he refers to as the John Halden Library. It contains over 1500 books about Arkham and the Miskatonic Valley, you know. You won't find any greater repository of data outside the MU Library. Obviously he's quite proud of it. Showing Donald through the door, he also introduces the coach to the resident librarian Lester Ropes. An older man, who quite obviously loves being one in charge, shakes Donald's hand briefly before going into a recitation of rules and regulations about the Library.

No fountain pens allowed in here. Leave 'em outside. Only pencil. Don't bother reshelving the books, probably won't do it correctly anyhow. We'll do it for you. You'll have to check your bag if you got one. Oh and there's a 50 cent fee to peruse the stacks. After Lester finishes, Peabody just smiles at Donald and heads back downstairs. Stacks and stacks of books line this room on the second floor of the Society. They're roughly ordered by category (History, Genealogy, Folklore, etc). Ropes offers his assistance in looking up anything specific.

[zielonobrody]

So what Donald would like to look for:
History and Folklore around the time of the building of the bridge.
Genealogy of any of the people that might have had anything to do wih the burial of the mage.