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KING: Pity any poor bastard who hauls that bucket up hoping for a refreshing drink . . .
PATRICK: Barnabus has a flash of insight. He takes the container of oily liquid found in the strange pentagonal structure and douses some of the sporocysts with it--they quickly melt as if sprinkled with acid, and a narrow path opens up. Barnabus and Pete clamber up the rope and manage to pull up Sister Olivetti without being infected, but Dr. Konig is not so lucky. He can literally see the sporocyst under his skin, crawling up his arm. He goes almost mad trying to remove it, stabbing himself with a knife and clawing at his skin with his nails. He finally manages to tear the creature out, but the experience certainly leaves him shaken.
CANNON: If no one minds, perhaps we can gloss over the next scenes and get to the climax? The protagonists emerge at an abandoned farm. It takes them some time to work out where they are, but eventually they realize they're just a few miles from the Prescott farm. They head there planning to have some words with Jonah Prescott, but he's away. More ominously, Zeituni Wanjiku is nowhere to be found.
BLOCH: Meanwhile, Scarlet Warren has been continuing her search for Hoyt Symmes. She's found the "place of power" Symmes was headed to--a set of ancient stone cairns near Squaw Creek south of Dunwich. At the site, she finds a partially painted pentagram, Symmes' book (Damanomagie), and traces of what looks like fresh blood on one of the cairns. She visits a local tourist attraction named Martin's Acres, and learns that the Potter boys were seen passing by soon after Symmes. Worried that the Potters may have kidnapped him (or worse), Warren decides she needs to find the rest of her companions immediately. She returns to Dunwich and sees Jonah Prescott coming out of Osborn's. She asks whether her companions used his entrance to the cavern, and discerns that he's acting nervous. With a clever combination of persuasion and threats, she extracts a crucial bit of information: the Potters showed up at Prescott's farm barely a half an hour after Gallowsong and Dr. Konig went inside. The Potters forced Prescott to seal the entrance and, at gunpoint, made Wanjiku come with them. The timeline may seem a little confusing, as some of what Warren is doing appears later in the chapter but actually takes place before the spelunkers emerge from the caverns--I've taken a careful look, however, and it all makes sense.
KING: In other words, that little altercation in the swamp had some major consequences!
CANNON: Suffice it to say, Warren reunites with Gallowsong and Dr. Konig at Prescott's farm and they immediately set about planning a rescue of their missing allies. Warren tries to convince some of the locals to help, but even the village constable seems afraid of the Potters. The protagonists leave a thankful but still groggy Francesca Olivetti in the care of Dr. Littlestreet and prepare for what could be their last night on Earth.
KING: I think what happens next is the first big "action scene" since Chapter 1, and I have to say it had me on the edge of my seat. Barnabus, Warren, and Dr. Konig convince Dr. Littlestreet's assistant to drop them off near where the Potters live and act as a getaway driver. Pete, the drifter, is persuaded to serve as a lookout, but is too frightened to do much more. Conversation with a neighbor reveals that the Potters make use of an abandoned barn for a still, so the protagonists ready their weapons and decide to search it first, hoping to find their missing companions inside. Unfortunately, the trio of would-be rescuers are spotted approaching the still by Jed and Jubal Potter, and shots ring out. Darkness and some cover from nearby trees means the battle is inconclusive, but the Potter cousins realize they're outgunned and decide to run away in order "to fortify the house." Feeling momentarily flush with victory in scaring them off, Dr. Konig heads to the front of the barn and pulls open the doors--only to take the full brunt of a shotgun blast! The Potters' still was booby-trapped to keep out intruders, and the good doctor is dead before his body even hits the ground. The worst part of it is that there's nothing in the barn besides the still.
PATRICK: Shocking, and a little sad--I thought he was an interesting character, with great potential to develop.
KING: And if that was shocking, just wait. Pete hears the sound of the shotgun blast and, fortified by some whiskey illicitly provided by Malcolm, decides to lend a hand. He picks up Dr. Konig's hunting rifle and vows vengeance. The trio approach the Potter farm and manage to sneak up to its back door without being seen. Surreptitiously peering through the windows, they see grisly sights--human body parts in the kitchen, a lampshade made from the stretched and dried skin of a human face, and more. The Potters are serial killers and cannibals, and it may already be too late for Symmes and Wanjiku.
BLOCH: The need for urgent action is clear. Barnabus adroitly scales the wall and decides to drop down the chimney, taking advantage of his diminutive size. Meanwhile, Pete and Scarlet break a back window to provide a distraction. As guns a' blazing rescues go, it wasn't exactly SWAT team tactics; but it didn't seem unreasonable either. These aren't soldiers, they're ordinary people who happen to be put into a terrible situation.
JOSHI: Quite so.
KING: And the plan might have worked, had their aim been better. Warren and Pete have clear shots at Jubal Potter but can't bring him down, while Barnabus, stealthily emerging from the fireplace, draws a bead on Temple Potter's back--but still misses!
PATRICK: And within seconds, it's all over. Jubal (only wounded from Warren's derringer) drops her and Pete, while Temple's shotgun takes care of Barnabus Gallowsong. Mercifully, the chapter ends there, and we can only shudder to think of what happens next.
JOSHI: And so gentlemen, we return to the question raised at the beginning of our discussion--how can the story unfold after this carnage? The manuscript still contains several chapters we've yet to decipher, and story has not been brought to a satisfactory conclusion.
BLOCH: I for one would like to see the overall plot pick up a little. Hints, ominous signs, strange dreams, and such are important for setting the mood. But now I think it's time to get down to brass tacks. What are the Harbingers? What do the strange markings mean? What role, if any, does the Gilchrist Trust have to play in all of this? Lovecraft is going to have to show that he can continue the plot after killing off several key characters early on--no mean feat even for a writer of his skill.
PATRICK: I suppose all we can do is wait and see.
10:20 Motion to Adjourn [UNANIMOUS]
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