ph_logs | [Closed] Inner Sanctum

[Closed] Inner Sanctum

Who: Dr. Elias Coldwood (

arcanegrasp) & Shen Qingqiu (

xiaoxiuya)
What:The investigation of Dr. Coldwood's home
When:Early December
Where: The Lighthouse
Warning(s): [ Will add as they become relevant! ]

"...No, I understand completely, ma'am, but surely you can just tell them it's a bad idea, couldn't you?"

Dr. Elias Coldwood paces the living room of the lighthouse, sending stone in hand and brows furrowed so deeply that it looks as though it could give him a headache, growing more exasperated by the minute. Adventuring parties, goddesses mercy, he thought he'd be free of the scourge of adventuring parties getting tangled in anything they could find in such a small town, but apparently he'd have no such luck. It seems like the off-worlders have been inspiring the locals to take up arms and carve their own paths where they're able. Where there is danger, there are people who want to face it, and where those people are, there is a desperate need for information so they don't get themselves killed for no reason. Even in the evening hours, apparently.

"Right, of course. Yes, no, I understand," Elias sighs. "I'll be there shortly. ...Yes, yes, I'll bring the antivenom, just in case. Goodbye."

The sending stone dims, and Dr. Coldwood lets out a short groan that is nothing short of profoundly irritated.

"When it rains, it pours, does it not?" He half-jokes, tugging on his coat and collecting things off of a cluttered end-table, snagging a few journals off of the bookshelf. "First the roof leak, now the adventurers... I swear, they can't leave well enough alone with that goddesses-forsaken wyvern. I suppose that's what happens when a small town gets one, though. No one knows how to behave when megafauna get involved."

The ins and odds are stored in his satchel, which is slung over his shoulder. An apologetic smile back towards Shen Qingqiu follows it.

"Feel free to take the rest of the evening to yourself, if you'd like. We'll pick back up where we left off tomorrow. Just be certain to lock the door behind you, if you don't mind. Enjoy your night, my friend!"

And, in his great hurry, he barely waits for a response before he's out the door. Boot-clad footfalls fade distantly once they're off of that first stone step.

-

Without Dr. Coldwood's presence inside of it, flitting about to and fro amid all his work, the house seems shockingly still. A long couch and aged armchair sit before a fireplace, old embers hidden behind a short metal screen. The dining table, mostly cleared through the help of his assistants in organizing, sorting, and filing his collection of notes away, bears a single magically-lit lamp. To the far end of the room, round stairs begin to climb the wall upwards, towards the lighthouse, to Dr. Coldwood's private dwellings, then further up to the lighthouse's lamp itself. On the other end, a sloping stairwell to the basement descends into darkness, a lamp sitting on a short shelf to be taken down when something is needed.

The entire cluttered-but-comfortable home is, for one of the first times that isn't fleeting moments, left open to prying eyes. The only question is the same beckoned by an empty canvas to its artist: where to begin?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Silence falls in the house, in spite of the struggle behind the door, and the stillness returns. The atmosphere of the home sinks, coziness lost beneath the weight of dread and the unknown, but the upstairs, up and up those curling stairs into the lighthouse, put some much-needed distance between visitor and disturbed secret.

The first level of the lighthouse bears a small personal library, not dissimilar to the several shelves of books within the first level. More aged books line the rows, if their wear and tear are anything to go off of. Just above that is a bedroom, notably tidier than the rest of the home, with a desk, several drawers neatly closed. A chest sits at the end of the bed, draped over with blankets, and assorted personal writing lie scattered over the desk, Dr. Coldwood not yet having taken the time to sort them away.

There is, however, one witness to Shen Qinqiu's snooping: a little glowing mushroom watches him wander from atop a small terrarium on the back of the desk, its black dot eyes tracking his every move. At least it doesn't bother to try to stop him?

After the encounter in the basement, Shen Qingqiu is jumpy, nearly twitchy with nerves; he eyes the little mushroom right back, musing out loud, "Hi there. Are you a nice Pokemon, or are you a little criminal mastermind like Meowth from Team Rocket?"

He keeps an eye on it as he approaches the chest of drawers. It might just contain more blankets and clothing, but it might also contain the kind of secrets he's looking for.

"Mrrmrrlull," the Morelull says, plaintively, with nothing more than a little sway to an invisible breeze. It sees no need to hop down from its terrarium, even with the rummaging at hand.

Shen Qingqiu's assumptions are met by the drawers. One by one, down further to the floor, there are shirts, sheets, and trousers, folded in varied stages of neat to not at all, depending on how far down the drawers are, and what level of hurry he'd been in. The lowest drawer seems to be older clothes, smaller or tattered, sentimental items that he couldn't part with.

At first, it seems like the drawers may be a wash - that is, of course, until, at the back of the lowest drawer, there's something distinctly more solid than the rest.

A heavy thunk sounds against the hollow wood as the item topples over within its cloth bag. When it's pulled from the drawer, it scrapes softly; it has a reasonable weight to it, a distinct handle clear on the object even from just lifting the bag.

Even a brief touch will ping similarly to Shen Qingqiu's senses as the hungering beast downstairs, but sharper, clearer. Forged with purpose and power in equal parts, neither of which faded with however much time there's been since it's been stored away. If pulled from the bag, the handle shines with a deep crimson - and, upon the blade, there's an inscription, boldly etched. It depicts strange, jagged text that appear to be some manner of rune or unknown language. Too clean to have done by hand but too resonant with power to have been the work of a machine. Magic, perhaps?

Oh yes, it must be. He's seen magic-etched tools before -- and by the aura surrounding it, this blade must be a powerful one. He carefully wraps it back up in its bag and stuffs up his sleeve. What to do next...?

His gaze falls on the desk with a thoughtful hum. He doesn't recognize the runes, but perhaps Miss Dahlia would. And the handle...red, like the cultist's robes. Would this, plus the beast in the basement, be enough to tie Doctor Coldwood to the cult of Nyarlathotep?

He steps towards to the desk, meaning to search it as well.

One drawer, then two, then three, open and reveal little more than jumbled messes of paper, pens, and other tools, clearly placed within with little care for their continued organization.

There is only one thing that could raise any eyebrows; a leather journal is shoved into the bottom of one, old and worn, dating six years prior. Some pages are torn out, others smudged, illegible. The ones that can be read are personal in nature, small anecdotes from his day-to-day life, putting mundane stress into written word to manage all of it.

Towards the back of it, the writing grows messier. Several pages teeter on incoherent, sounding more like notes of attempted new spells rather than any writing. Several of the same bear prints, of both fingers and palms in various places, gently stained with blood.

A final page is scrawled in a way that one can feel the urgency of the words, the desperation to get them onto paper.

LAND SEA SKY BEYOND

UNBROKEN CIRCLE EVERLASTING

FRACTURED PIECES SNAPPED OFF - ONLY BEYOND REMAINS?

NO MORE GODDESSES, EMPTY THRONES ETERNAL

WE SHALL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO CREATE OUR OWN

"Orrrmorelull," the Morlull drawls, almost warning, if one could call its sleepy little babble that.

It seems it isn't without cause, though; downstairs, in the home, the front door opens, and then closes. Boots against creaking wood pace to and fro, muttering barely heard beneath those footfalls and the sounds of shuffling objects.

Dr. Coldwood's forgotten something, and he seems to be in a great hurry to find it.

...Well! He's definitely taking that.

And not a moment too soon, it seems. Shen Qingqiu flinches at the sound of the front door, hastily closing up the desk and casting about for a window. It might be cowardly, to simply flee without confronting Elias -- but the simple truth is that he just doesn't care to risk facing the man who most likely sealed that beast inside the basement. Not without Valdis by his side, anyway.

He leaps out the window, drawing his sword on the way down and neatly flipping it into place, riding it like a skateboard as he speeds back towards town. He reaches for his sending stone and speaks Valdis's name; hopefully she'll answer quickly. Hopefully she doesn't have anything else planned for today!

Luckily for Shen Qingqui, Valdis is not currently busy, but she’s certainly not expecting him to call with such urgency in his voice.

“I’m here. Are you alright?”

"Oh, I'm doing amazing!" Shen Qingqiu responds, laughing with just a trace of deflating hysteria in his voice. "I have evidence that Elias Coldwood does have ties to the cult of Nyarlathotep! And! He's keeping some kind of eldritch monster in his basement!"

He laughs a second time, psyching himself up again. "Where are you? We should make our next move as swiftly as possible, he's home right now and I might have left a sealing talisman in his basement to keep the beast from getting out. I don't think we want to give him a chance to go into hiding!"

She can’t sense his emotions from this distance, but his voice makes how he is feeling pretty clear. Half panicked, maybe a smidge of excitement.

“I’m just leaving the Enforcers headquarters, but I can meet you fairly quickly.”

She feels a knot winding in her chest. A little fear and excitement of her own.

“You’re certain it’s the cult and not something else?”

"Pretty certain! I've got a knife and a journal with me with creepy text on them, I'll show you when we meet up! The knife's also red, like the robes the cultists were wearing in that flashback-dream sequence!"

Sometimes he has to just step back and wonder how the fuck this is even his life, speeding through the air on a magical sword to meet up with his immortal shapechanging grim reaper coworker so they can arrest a lighthouse keeper for ties to a murderous cult devoted to an HP Lovecraft character. Not even a Chinese literary figure, he's stuck with repressed American fever dreams!

He silently promises himself that later on, after Elias is behind bars, he'll pack up some of his best tea, go over to Anzu and Lev's place, and scream into their vulpix's fur.

"I'm almost downtown! Wave or something so I can find you, please?"

Valdis immediately heads toward the center of town, keeping an eye out for Shen Qingqiu as she moves.

“I’m headed toward city hall.”

She wants to see that journal and the dagger as soon as possible. But red…she’s not a fan of the comparisons being drawn here. She’ll need to take a look at the text and see if it matches the pages that Neil has.

A small course correction and Shen Qingqiu is alighting onto the pavement in front of town hall, his sword hovering in mid-air until he puts a hand on it to return it to its sheath. He scoots over to Valdis, his hands tucked up his sleeves.

"Inside?" he asks her in a low voice, tilting his head towards hers. "I suppose we ought to control how many people see these things, at least for now..."

Valdis senses him an instant before he appears in front of her. He's rattled, and she's not used to seeing that from him.

"Yes."

If these are truly what he thinks they are, she doesn't want to risk anyone seeing them.

"I'm sure there's an empty office we can use for a moment."

She turns to head up the stairs and into the building, luckily she doesn't sense many people inside.

Indeed, he's having a hard time keeping up the aloof and serene immortal master look right now. But how can he not be excited, when after so many months of secrets and observation, things are finally moving? This might bring them one step closer to exposing Nyarlathotep!

Shen Qingqiu follows Valdis closely, and once the office door has closed behind them he immediately pulls the dagger and journal out of his sleeve, arranging them on the desk for her viewing. "Here we are. I took these from Dr. Coldwood's bedroom," he explains.

Valdis closes the door and turns to find Shen Qingqiu has already pulled out the journal and the dagger. She takes a look at the dagger, noting the writing, and then flips open the journal to see what is written there as well.

She bites her lip and looks up at her friend.

"It's the same as in the Necromicon. That writing is on the pages that Neil has."

As Shen Qingqiu isn't an enforcer, she can take this evidence and use it.

"I suppose we should go and speak with Dr. Coldwood."

Bringing him into custody would look very good for her and what she has in the works.

"Indeed." Shen Qingqiu nods. "And as quickly as possible. I'm not comfortable leaving that creature in his basement unsupervised..." He stops, grimacing. "Should we ask Dr. West to come with us? It might be difficult for him, considering his history with Coldwood, but he might be able to tell us what the beast is and how to keep it contained."

"Neil can't read the writing, why do you think he would know what this beast is?"

The idea that Neil would know something isn't exactly wrong, he had been married to Elias, but if he knew of Dr. Coldwood's involvement with Nyarly then he likely would have said something.

"If he knew about this, he would have told us. Unless you think he's been lying this whole time?"

The flippant way she says the last part implies she's not going to entertain the idea.

"We'll go now."

Luckily she has Revelations with her today so there's no need to stop and get it before heading to the lighthouse.

"I...I'm not sure," Shen Qingqiu says, mystified. One of his hands unconsciously moves to his temple, fingertips pressing and rubbing at the skin as though he feels the beginning of a tension headache.

"I just thought, as a mage, Dr. West might know something about the creature...but you're right, of course. He and Dr. Coldwood have been divorced for years, there's no reason to suspect he has any idea what Dr. Coldwood's been up to."

And he nods, tucking the items back into his sleeve and making to follow her out of the office. "Yes, let's go."

Valdis pauses, considering his point for a brief moment, she doesn't know much about magic, so a mage might be useful, but Neil's compromised by his past relationship. Fever would be the better choice if they needed a mage.

With a nod, she leads him back out of the building and takes off for the lighthouse. Shen Qingqiu can keep up, so she doesn't hold back in calling on her own powers to get there faster. They can't allow Elias the chance to escape and go into hiding, or to unleash whatever creature he is hiding.

They make it to his home in record time and Valdis reaches out with all her senses and magic, finding the beast hidden within, and Elias himself.

The two make it back well in time that, from any supernatural senses, Elias is still within the home, as well as the "other resident." After all, what rush is there? He hadn't heard anyone leaving his house, of course; he'd only found an opened window that, in this lighthouse's old age, surely must have swung open on it's own.

He'd just begun to leave, with his bag in tow, when he spots the hasty approach of the two enforcers. Dense brows crumple in confusion and surprise in equal parts, especially as they draw closer to his home, not bypassing it for something deeper within the Bluffs.

"Hello, constables!" Elias calls over, shifting his bag to his shoulder to wave as he pulls the door closed behind him. "What's the hurry? Is everything alright?"

For the second time today Shen Qingqiu alights from his sword -- and this time he leaves it hovering in mid-air, while he himself approaches Elias. "Dr. Coldwood," he says calmly, his face stern. "It is with great regret that I must inform you that you are under arrest, on suspicion of ties to the cult of Nyarlathotep."

Valdis isn't quite prepared to do anything yet, even after confirming there is some sort of weird creature in the house and would have preferred to speak with Elias before doing anything hasty, but it seems Shen Qingqiu has other plans as he immediately steps forward and declares he's arresting Elias.

She's not sure he has the authority to do that since he's not an enforcer.

"Hold on a moment," she says. "Dr. Coldwood, it has come to my attention that there is a strange creature in your basement, and artifacts were found containing the language of the Chaos God. We are hoping to question you further, but first I need to know if the creature presents a danger at this moment or if it is contained."

"Wh--- you can't possibly---"

Elias sputters, alarmed, but tries to settle to listen to Valdis. None of what she says soothes the nerves whatsoever, though; the confusion stays just as present, but the notion of a creature seeps something much more bleak into his expression. His hand on the strap of his bag tightens firmly.

He looks to Shen Qingqiu for a moment. Try as he might to give him a scathing, irate glance, all it manages to be is deeply, utterly betrayed.

"...She's contained," Elias answers, after a moment of distinct hesitation. "I haven't got any idea what artifacts you mean to tell me you've found, but--- there is no danger present at this moment. I've got her well under control."

To his credit, Shen Qingqiu does lower his gaze in response to that look, acknowledging the betrayal. He maintains, will maintain, that it was necessary for the safety of the town, but it cannot be denied: he did Elias really dirty on this one. That's just something he's going to have to live with!

"What is she, exactly?" is the question he's been burning to ask. "Where did she come from? And what is that language she speaks?"

She. The creature is female, which seems more important than the fact that Shen Qingqiu betrayed Elias, or at least that melancholy that comes from Elias implies this quite heavily. Still, Elias isn't acting like he has something to be ashamed of, if anything, he seems concerned about the creature he has contained.

"If she's safe, and we are safe from her, then I see no need to continue the conversation here."

She eyes Elias.

"Should she become a threat to the town, I will not hesitate to kill her."

This is the truth just as much as it is said to see how he reacts.

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