In which the characters witness the death of Frank Charlton and follow a trail of clues that lead them inexorably to a ruined farmhouse just outside of Arkham…

• Logan is absent for two weeks, off with his family for their annual autumn trip to the Catskills.

• Enid has overcome her bout of mononucleosis, and is feeling well enough to join Florian, Gladys, and Lois at the Delta Phi Halloween party. Florian previously found an art student to emulate the Church Street house painting on his own face, and is going as the Sanity Loss Man.

• At the party, Florian is relegated to serving drinks, as he is still rushing Delta Phi, while there Enid learns from Dr. Wingate Peaslee, a handsome Psychology Professor, that a Parapsychology study will be taking place soon, and applicants will receive compensation. Florian and Gladys agree that it would be a lark to join in with the study, which will be headed by Associate Professor Alex Warden.

• Eventually it gets late, and Florian walks Enid and Lois back to their dorm, accompanied by Stanley and Gladys. As they approach the plaza, Enid notes how it has been passing strange that Frank Charlton has been absent from the group for so long. The group is given little time to ponder this as they reach the plaza and see a body fall from the bell tower. It lands on the steps below, accompanied by the sickening fleshy crack of bone and muscle on concrete. Florian and Enid rush to the body, and are horrified to see that it is Frank, lying face up, his body broken from the fall. He is unquestionably dead.

• Enid suffers a great strike to her composure upon this discovery, while Florian rushes to the top of the bell tower, a wild theory rushing through his head that Frank had been pushed to his death by some assassin. He finds no one at the top of the tower, and the bell strikes 2am, startling him. Returning to the base of the tower in time to see the night watchman come running towards Enid’s screams, the group give a brief explanation of the night’s events before the watchman ushers them back to their dorms.

• Before retiring to his room, Florian (still in full makeup!) visits Biff, Frank’s roommate, and informs him of the suicide. Asking about Frank’s mental state before tonight, Biff discloses that his roommate recently posted a letter to Asenath Waite Derby, one of Frank’s former lovers who recently married one Edward Pickman Derby. He finds an initial draft of the letter in the wastebasket with a single sentence: “Asenath, I am encountering difficulty investigating the Eye of Amara society.”

• Sleep comes with difficulty for the Miskatonic freshmen.

• The next morning, Enid and Gladys are questioned by the police as to the night’s events, and Florian is awoken by a knocking at his dorm room door by none other than Scott Whidden, editor of the Miskatonic University Crier. He drills Florian about the Frank’s suicide, promises anonymity, and leaves in a hurry. This rush is explained by a special one-page edition of the Crier, released a little after noon, which details the ghastly events of Halloween, beginning with Florian’s statement, but also detailing an incident occurring to a female music student, one Vittoria Nangelo, who is currently confined to bed at St. Mary’s.

• Investigators visit Vittoria in St. Mary’s; she is comatose, but has organic material under her fingernails. Gladys and Stanley go to investigate this. They discover that the organic material is flesh with heavy traces of formaldehyde.

• Florian obtains Frank’s home address and composes a letter of sympathy to his deceased friend’s family. He also learns that Dr. Morton Waldron of the medical school will be performing the autopsy in Salem. Florian telegraphs his grandfather, and successfully wheedles a promise from the elder Dr. Gaines to forward a copy of the autopsy report back to him on Monday.

• The party visits Asenath Waite Derby in her married home in north Arkham, they find her in a drafty attic room, the floor covered in ottomans and cushions, some barely covering chalk scrawls of arcane circles on the floor. They question her about Frank’s state of mind, his communiques with her, and the Eye of Amara society. Asenath promises to tell them all she knows of the society if they attain for her the Necronomicon, a book in the Orne library that has recently been put under heavy security.

• Gladys and Enid break into Vittoria’s room for any clues they can find. She is a music student, and a lover of opera. Nothing else exciting is found. Her room mate Amanda Waters is not in.

• Gladys, Enid and Florian go to the library to see what can be found on the Eye of Amara Society. Florian finds one passing reference to Jason Gaspart, of 131 E. Saltonstall St. They head over there to quiz Mr. Gaspart. He has a fancy doorknocker with a pyramid and an eye. He is not forthcoming about much, although he is friendly, but Enid infers that Associate Professor Alex Warden, who is conducting the upcoming parapsychology study, is a part of the group and that Asenath Waite Derby is not.

• At the Library, Gladys asks about the madwoman who continues to circle around her, randomly picking up books and the librarian Lois tells her that this woman is named Amanda, but that no one knows why or what her last name is. Amanda holds an alumni card, and has rights to use the library.

• Going to the Desolate Highway Cafe where Frank Charles Charleton was known to hang out, we find Reed and Josh slinging french bread and strong coffee. A group of bohemians take a liking to Florian and give him the information that Frank and Claude Owen were fighting very recently. Also, it is dropped in the conversation that Private Ronald Sprague was saved from death by a bullet glancing off a coin. This coin is related to something called, “The Great Game.”

• Enid finds boxes of notes that Claude has been referring to in the St. Mary’s Hospital basement. These notes are those of one Herbert West, and are regarding the reanimation of dead flesh. They make no scientific sense, but Florian proposes to read them. There is an underlined address at the bottom of a note, Box 2, RR7.

• The team breaks into Claude’s room and finds a reanimated dog, jars of liquids and unpleasant materials, and other horrid stuff. Seeing something sparkling under the bed, Enid finds a half-full bottle of chloroform and a rag. Papers are strewn all around the room, most detailing the insane work Owen was attempting, others were various scribblings, some of planned revenge against Frank Charles Charleton.

• Florian proposes that the troupe contact the police at this time and direct their suspicions toward Claude Owen. They inform the police of the various encounters between Frank and Claude, and hint that Owen vowed revenge.

• The team is unstoppable now, and goes to the house on Rural Route 7, to find that it is a charred ruin. Enid spots a glint from an old Ford in the bushes. Someone is here! They begin to descend into the root cellar that seems to still be intact, but Florian slips on the mossy stairs and slides down the stairs, landing in a heap, severely injuring himself. Barely conscious, he picks himself up off the ground as his sister administers what first aid she can. Together, the group approach the heavy wooden door in the cellar, but find it locked! Inside, they hear the steady hum of a generator, and Gladys proposes that they find the exhaust and block it, so that they can bring Owen up to the group.

• The plan works perfectly, the group finds the exhaust and blocks it, and soon the sound of coughing can be heard from the cellar. Owen bursts from the door and rushes up the stairs, encountering Florian, Gladys, and Enid. He attempts to speak, but Florian, seeing his friend’s murderer before him, rushes Claude and swings wildly with his fist, missing by miles. Owen takes Florian hostage with a syringe to his neck, and entreats the group to leave and allow him to finish his work. Gladys and Enid, furious at this turn of events, pelt Owen with rocks, and Florian manages to escape from his grasp, pushing Claude down the stairs. Claude fares no better than Florian, and is unconscious when the group examines him.

• They debate whether or not to turn him into the police, but in the end agree that his evil would have to be destroyed forever. They bring him back into the cellar room and prop him up on a chair. Florian steals some notebooks from a shelf nearby, and the group close the door to the cellar again, allowing it to fill with smoke and asphyxiate Claude Owen.

• Returning to Miskatonic, Florian makes an anonymous phone call to the police, informing them of signs of smoke on Rural Route 7. The police find Claude dead, and no mention is made of his experiments, instead the next day’s paper lists Box 2, RR7 as Owen’s alchemical laboratory, which suffered some kind of explosion.