Part 34: Day Two- Page 34

Oh man! I didn't even think about the coffee!

So, alright. We finally have a use for this flask Miranda stumbled on.

>take flask
Taken.

>open flask
You open the flask, revealing about three swallows' worth of cheap whiskey.

>drink whiskey
You take a tiny sip, then shudder as the liquid sears down your esophagus and settles greasily in your stomach. It's so vile, you'd hesitate to even pour the stuff down your sink.

*cough cough sputter*
It's the good stuff!

>give flask to bum
His eyes burning with greed, the old man snatches the flask from your hand and tips it up into his waiting mouth. Trickles of pungent brown liquid ooze from the corners of his mouth as he swallows convulsively, his hands trembling, his eyes squeezed shut and streaming tears. Finally, he falls back onto his mattress with a beatific smile on his mud-smeared face, the flask dropping from his fingers.


Your score has just gone up by two points.

>ask bum about himself
The old man sighs. "I was a doctor, once. I was a very good doctor. But that was before Edward, you know. Little Edward and his..." His voice trails off to a whisper, but you could swear he mouthed the word "brother".

Wow. What a groove! The exact man we need to solve a Verlac mystery!

>ask about edward
The old man lets out a vicious cackle. "They got to him, didn't they? Maggots got to him good. Got into his head. The maggots got into his head, eatin' at him 'til he had to crack it open to get 'em out. Poor boy." He shakes his head. "Delivered him, I did. Pulled him right out of his mama. Him and his -- " Suddenly he stops, and will say no more.

What would Johny Carson say about now?

>ask about mother
Tears stream unchecked down the old man's face. "Shouldn't have happened to the girl. Only seventeen, she was, still a child when he... when that red-eyed monster took her... " His eyes suddenly darken, his fists clench. "HIS OWN DAUGHTER, GODS FUCK 'EM! SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT TO HIS OWN DAUGHTER! GODS FUCK 'EM ALL!!"

>ask about Anchorhead
The old man covers his face in his hands. "Not a town," he cries, "not a town -- a hive of BURROWING INSECTS! A SWARM OF MAGGOTS, THEY ARE!" He looks at you slyly. "But they can't find me, when the maggots come out. They can't find me in my hidey-hole."

And now Miranda lives here.
At least she won't have to worry about the property value getting any lower.

>ask about hidey-hole
The old man leans close to you, and you turn away to avoid his rancid breath. "Underground," he whispers, giggling. "Underground I goes, where they don't know where to look. Got me a key, I do." He holds up a small copper key, then jerks it away and hides it in his clothes. "I lock th'door behind me, and I'm gone."

>ask about verlac
The bum has better things to do.

LIKE WHAT?!
WHAT Better things?!
What could possibly be more important than talking about the family that broke his mind, Game?!

>ask about Julia
The old man screws his face up in confusion. "Don't know about that," he mutters.

I guess the good Doctor didn't get to know the family after Mordicai passed on.

>ask about Mordecai
The old man shrinks away from you. "Not here!" he hisses. "Not anywhere! Never speak it!"

>Ask about Croseus
The old man screws his face up in confusion. "Don't know about that," he mutters.

No way around it, Dr. Hobo. Let's talk about William, the devil child, and your feelings.

>ask about brother
The old man falls silent all of a sudden, and for a while he simply stares down at his hands, limp and open in his lap. Then, drawing a deep breath, he begins to speak, and for the first time his voice is steady, without the reedy whine of alcoholic craving.

"Ayuh, little Edward had a brother, so he did. And I know him. I know of William, so I do. I delivered the child. Anna Verlac was his mother. It... it was... "

He leans over and grips your arm with a hand that is suddenly steady and strong. "It was her father's poison seed, y'see. That evil bastard poisoned her womb and put a monster inside her. What she gave birth to... it was... it wasn't... oh, God, when I held that... that abortion in the shape of an infant, that thing with hooves for feet and its crown of writhing... when it looked up at me... It looked up at me with its father's red-rimmed eyes." The old man shudders convulsively, and it is a while before he can speak again.

"Anna and I decided between ourselves, we did. The... her child... it lived for a few years, but it was sickly, and in pain, and it could never be normal nor healthy. She brought it to me... I was her doctor, you see, I'd seen her through her child's birth, and she trusted me... and I put the thing down, softly and without pain, and they laid it to rest in the family crypt.

"And Anna thanked me for it, so she did."

The old man falls silent again, and his wavering, bloodshot eyes wander once more out to sea. And he is lost, once again, to the horror and pain of the memories that can only be silenced by drink.

Yeah, Miranda's see the coffin.
You guys could'a done a better job.

>Tell bum about coffin
The old man stares at you suspiciously. "William was buried in the family crypt, at his mother's request, so he was; what're you getting at?"

Well, I mean. You didn't have to bury his pet with him, too. There was just an animal or something in there.
I'm assuming that was William?

>Tell bum about skull
The old man bares his teeth. "You can't prove it! You can't prove anything, so you can't!"

>show bum skull
(first taking the animal's skull)
The old man grows sickly pale. He raises one hand, as if to ward off the sight of the skull, deny the truth one more time; then his hand drops, and he sinks down onto the mattress, groaning.

"Oh, it's true," he cries, "it's true, God help my lying soul. It was her father who wished to kill the thing, not Anna -- kill it to make way for another, he said, a 'more fitting vessel'. He wanted to try again -- Gods, the depth of his evil -- after the way the first one came out, he wanted to try again!

"Anna came to me and asked for my help, and what could I do? What could I do? It was her child, for God's sake, no matter what else it was, and she couldn't bear to lose it. But we had to weigh the coffin down with something..."

He sits up, suddenly, fastening on you with a sick, pleading look.

"I've told you too much, now," he whispers desperately. "They'll know; the maggots'll find out for sure. They'll find me; even in my hole, they'll find me." He lets out an eye-wateringly pungent breath, "P'raps it's best they do. I've spent so long drowning my sins, p'raps time's come to pay for them at last. This won't do me much good no more," he says, holding up his little copper key. "And yet..." He closes his fist around it again. "And yet, maybe there's a way... they say there's ways to protect yourself, wards versus the Evil Eye and such. " The old man stares greedily at the amulet around your neck. "Perhaps, if I could get me one o' those..."

What, this locket?
>open locket
You open the silver locket, revealing a boy's picture.

>show boy to bum
The bum makes no move to take the locket, but he stares at the boy's picture inside with something akin to fear. "Ayuh," he whispers hoarsely, "that's him, so it is. That's the boy. That's William."

>close locket
You close the silver locket.

>put skull in coat
You slip the animal's skull into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

Sure, you can have the locket.

>give locket to bum
The bum stares at the silver locket blankly, not sure what you want him to do with it.

Well. I mean...

If you don't want the locket...

then...






NOOO!


(next up, I don't even know. Something about Michael.)
(If you got suggestions, leave them in bold.)

Items


In Trenchcoat