While it was only this morning that we lost Collin, the package and possibly even Cole, so much more has happened. We drove the truck back to the Speakeasy but it seemed the police were raiding the joint - looks like Collin's luck ran out in both ways on the same night. Unfortunately for the police, they'll never find McCloud. We dropped the truck off around the corner and walked back to Ringo's place where we slept until midmorning.
Determined to track down the package, we hit the library to locate a map of the nearby docks on the way back to Boston Harbor. While we noted that the nearest large ports were Lawrence, Danvers and finally Kingsport, we were startled by Professor Von Buren - an adjunct at Arkham and acquaintance of Ringo. He apparantly had heard about our search for Professor Dunham and was surprised we hadn't checked his seaside estate in Kingsport. He agreed to head out there with us (I could certainly use a visit back home). Our trip first to Lawrence was unproductive but at Danvers, we had to grease some palms to learn that a boat passed by twice last night (once up river and once back down) - the witness claimed the ship was weighted down in the water and he heard the sounds of screaming on board. Further along the way to Kingsport, we noticed a small private dock in Beverly with something clearly off in the river. We rowed out to the crate and confirmed it appeared to be our crate, but it was sunk into the muck and impossible for us to move. It radiated steam because it was so clearly cold that ice was literally spreading from around it! God, Ice, I can't stand the sight of it anymore. Just the thought of it is terrifying. We decided that we would need a bigger boat to extract the crate. We headed to Kingsport and followed the directions of Von Buren to Dunham's cottage.
Up the cliffside, the small cottage had a spectacular view of the harbor but no sign of Dunham. Naturally we entered anyway, found his office filled with books of various contents about Indian weapons - Ringo noticed that the books were hiding a strange piece of wood with an eyehole - it actually seemed to be giving off a static-like energy to the touch. Looking through the eyehole seemed to distort things - Ringo looked up at the overcast skies and could see stars and constellations - clear as night! It seems like Von Buren may now have no choice but to believe our fanciful stories now. I located Dunham's journal and it included pages of incessant babble about time and realities! In the midst of the writings, Dunham mentions the Icy Wind!
We drove to rent a boat from an old acquaintance, Aaron Knox. After some effort, he and his boat hands extracted the crate and dragged it back to load it on Ringo's truck. It was etched with strange writings that I am sure are familiar from the book. I am convinced they indicated something about protection but I fear they are keeping the outside out rather than the inside in. I studied the runes through the lens of this new artifact, and they vanished! I am starting to believe that perhaps this artifact allows you to see things in different times and realities - Dunham seemed convinced that time and realities are different - that events don't happen in the order we believe they do - time travel seems possible in his eyes.
The crate, still radiating horrifying cold, dragged down the truck and allowed us to notice that we were being followed. We pulled over and let the tail keep going. Nothing is surprising at this point, but rather than go back to the cottage, we drove to my home. We didn't want anyone following us to know about the cottage just in case. In the driveway of my place, Ringo used his crowbar to open the crate! A huge block of melting ice contained a creature beyond description. I knew immediately we were in trouble. It was a Kor Dral Kay - a terrestrial beast of evil power. They worship this Icy Wind and are extremely powerful - even more frightening, this one was but a young form.
Acting without hesitation, Ringo fired two shots into the head of the beast- smearing its essence all over the truck bed. I risked looking through the artifact at the creature's remains - and it is clear the creature is coming back for us - biding its time but it will be back!
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