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wontforbidtherainAphra is cold, in a way she hasn't felt in any of her memories, like the cold is coming from inside her. She's actually wearing a proper coat (though Caleb isn't) that she had to borrow from Trumbull. The wind and snow is bad enough that classes are canceled on Miskatonic, and they are driving in Trumbull's car. Spector, Caleb, Audrey, Charlie and Professor Trumbull are present.
They arrive at the library, and Spector knocks at the door. A man with a gun answers and tells Spector that someone named Mister Barlow asked not to be disturbed. He does address Spector as sir. Spector tries to persuade them, and it's clear the guard and Mister Barlow are part of his organization, but he can't circumvent things.
Audrey steers them to a side entrance with the implication that they had used it before. They have to clear snowdrifts from the door to use it, and Caleb has keys (for some reason). Aphra complains about the cold, and it's clear that she considers this new: she grew up here, but now wonders about why people live in 'New England' in the winter if it feels like this.
Trumbull stops to call them out on terminology. From the context, it's clear that this is the mind who belongs in Professor Trumbull's body, and the Yith is not there. She's cranky about hearing things ascribed to her when it was the Yith's doing. (She knows the Yith's actual name, but can't pronounce it with a human throat.) It's clear the professor has partial amnesia, and Caleb mentions that the legends of Atlantis come from an island that tried to use Yithian knowledge from such a partial memory wipe. Spector notes that knowledge doesn't have to be esoteric to be dangerous.
They find a room on the second floor with a bunch of people: two women and several men. One of the men and one woman are college-aged. The leader gets up, with hand on his gun, and calls out Spector for bringing these people here, but he also calls Spector 'Ron' and the two clearly know each other. The man (Barlow?) calls them saboteurs, and accesses Trumbull of playing with their minds 'again' to get in. Barlow basically orders one of the men to grab Aphra, and she has to will herself not to fight back, and signals Caleb to stay out of it. She's clearly afraid, but mostly that Caleb will do something stupid and get shot.
Spector basically says that they aren't responsible for the other team's problem, and that they have two women hurt. One of the women (the younger one), who looks ill and is shivering objects: she's fine. The other woman wants to know what Spector knows.
Aphra explains: apparently Barlow's group was doing 'an unshielded summoning' last night, and their group caught on. Something came through that wasn't supposed to. She adds that the non-shivering woman's alexia is probably due to backlash from the ritual, especially because they weren't using traditional methods, which have protections. Aphra's group helped shut it down, but it left a piece of itself in 'Miss Winslow and Miss Ward'.
Barlow is skeptical, but the ritualist woman thinks they have a point: they know that sloppy researchers can end up in asylums. Anyway, Aphra's group want 'Miss Ward' (the shivering woman) to come with them. (Presumably 'Miss Winslow' is in the party already, which means she's probably Audrey.)
Barlow threatens Aphra one more time with arrest, and the guard releases her. She asks Miss Ward directly to come with them, but the other woman says that now that they know there's a problem, they can solve it on their own. The college-aged man also affirms that things will be okay for Miss Ward.
Barlow and Spector have their own 'why won't you trust me' moments, alluding to a prior case involving taking superstition seriously. (Given they mention that Hilter had the same sources, and that if he had learned anything, it could have meant an invasion on US soil or worse, people who are not Cat will infer that this was around WWII.)
Aphra leaves with the note that they will be with her family, and that the other group knows where that is.
Things Learned
• Screw the government, seriously.
• Summoning spells have risks, and while Cat (well, Aphra who has all her memories), can work within those, these jerks can't.
• Her fears while being in a headlock from one of the guards was less for her own safety than that everyone had guns and Caleb might do something stupid to assist and get shot. So she was strong or trained enough that physical combat with a larger man wasn't a problem.
• Feeling that cold is unusual and has something to do with this trouble with Miss Ward and Audrey.
They arrive at the library, and Spector knocks at the door. A man with a gun answers and tells Spector that someone named Mister Barlow asked not to be disturbed. He does address Spector as sir. Spector tries to persuade them, and it's clear the guard and Mister Barlow are part of his organization, but he can't circumvent things.
Audrey steers them to a side entrance with the implication that they had used it before. They have to clear snowdrifts from the door to use it, and Caleb has keys (for some reason). Aphra complains about the cold, and it's clear that she considers this new: she grew up here, but now wonders about why people live in 'New England' in the winter if it feels like this.
Trumbull stops to call them out on terminology. From the context, it's clear that this is the mind who belongs in Professor Trumbull's body, and the Yith is not there. She's cranky about hearing things ascribed to her when it was the Yith's doing. (She knows the Yith's actual name, but can't pronounce it with a human throat.) It's clear the professor has partial amnesia, and Caleb mentions that the legends of Atlantis come from an island that tried to use Yithian knowledge from such a partial memory wipe. Spector notes that knowledge doesn't have to be esoteric to be dangerous.
They find a room on the second floor with a bunch of people: two women and several men. One of the men and one woman are college-aged. The leader gets up, with hand on his gun, and calls out Spector for bringing these people here, but he also calls Spector 'Ron' and the two clearly know each other. The man (Barlow?) calls them saboteurs, and accesses Trumbull of playing with their minds 'again' to get in. Barlow basically orders one of the men to grab Aphra, and she has to will herself not to fight back, and signals Caleb to stay out of it. She's clearly afraid, but mostly that Caleb will do something stupid and get shot.
Spector basically says that they aren't responsible for the other team's problem, and that they have two women hurt. One of the women (the younger one), who looks ill and is shivering objects: she's fine. The other woman wants to know what Spector knows.
Aphra explains: apparently Barlow's group was doing 'an unshielded summoning' last night, and their group caught on. Something came through that wasn't supposed to. She adds that the non-shivering woman's alexia is probably due to backlash from the ritual, especially because they weren't using traditional methods, which have protections. Aphra's group helped shut it down, but it left a piece of itself in 'Miss Winslow and Miss Ward'.
Barlow is skeptical, but the ritualist woman thinks they have a point: they know that sloppy researchers can end up in asylums. Anyway, Aphra's group want 'Miss Ward' (the shivering woman) to come with them. (Presumably 'Miss Winslow' is in the party already, which means she's probably Audrey.)
Barlow threatens Aphra one more time with arrest, and the guard releases her. She asks Miss Ward directly to come with them, but the other woman says that now that they know there's a problem, they can solve it on their own. The college-aged man also affirms that things will be okay for Miss Ward.
Barlow and Spector have their own 'why won't you trust me' moments, alluding to a prior case involving taking superstition seriously. (Given they mention that Hilter had the same sources, and that if he had learned anything, it could have meant an invasion on US soil or worse, people who are not Cat will infer that this was around WWII.)
Aphra leaves with the note that they will be with her family, and that the other group knows where that is.
Things Learned
• Screw the government, seriously.
• Summoning spells have risks, and while Cat (well, Aphra who has all her memories), can work within those, these jerks can't.
• Her fears while being in a headlock from one of the guards was less for her own safety than that everyone had guns and Caleb might do something stupid to assist and get shot. So she was strong or trained enough that physical combat with a larger man wasn't a problem.
• Feeling that cold is unusual and has something to do with this trouble with Miss Ward and Audrey.
