Ervil's disturbing dreams

At least one night each week, Ervil LeBaron continues to experience his awful, recurring dream....

Ervil is walking the streets of Innsmouth, passing hybrids and normal citizens. Whereas before the hybrids would stare suspiciously, now they pay no attention. The normal residents, who were merely skittish before, are now almost openly fearful. Passing by a store window, Ervil catches his reflection in the glass: to his horror, his own features are distorted by prominent symptoms of the dreaded "Innsmouth Look"

At this point, Ervil always wakes up sweating, often screaming. He wishes he had never learned about his cursed family heritage. And the mysterious second wife who produced 3 children for his great-grandfather. Could he himself really have the Innsmouth taint?

Innsmouth Harbor (Blackcloud's demise)

Captain Slayhab is horribly upset and distraught at the loss of his old Navy buddy Willy Harsen so soon after their reunion. Feeling somewhat responsible for his friend's untimely demise, Slayhab is determined to solve the mystery of his death. Slayhab and Jack Blackcloud decide to walk down to the Innsmouth Harbor waterfront to search for answers, arming themselves with harpoons.

Seeking to solve the mystery of Harsen's poisoning, the duo meet and question neighborhood residents Dewey Smith and Kermit Rawes. Although not particularly cooperative, Rawes eventually points them towards the residences of two shady local fishermen previously mentioned by Doctor Bloom -- Harris Jakes and Sandy Lanier.

Finding the fishermen out to sea, Slayhab and Blackcloud wait for Jakes and Lanier to return home from fishing whereupon they confront the big, mean, hybrid-looking characters.

Refusing to answer questions, Jakes draws a large Bowie knife and attacks Blackcloud, striking a fatal blow. Dodging knife attacks, fists, and claws, Slayhab is somehow able to spear one fisherman and then the other with his harpoon. Slayhab then proceeds to drag his friend's blood-covered body from the scene.

At that moment, Constable Nathan Birch arrives with two deputies and pronounces Slayhab under arrest for murder. Slayhab resists, punching out Birch who drops his shotgun. Slayhab quickly grabs the gun and kills the two deputies.

With all the commotion and gunfire, denizens of the Harbor's rundown, shuttered houses begin pouring into the streets in numbers, making gutteral cries, and shambling towards the scene. As they see the dead bodies, they begin howling and eye Capt. Slayhab with evil intent. Several of these local residents look decidedly subhuman and very menacing.

Slayhab, thinking fast, commandeers Birch's police car, deposits Blackcloud's lifeless body into the back seat, and jumps into the driver seat as the Harbor residents close in and begin to encircle the vehicle. Thankfully the police car is running with keys in the ignition. Slayhab hits the gas and begins driving like a maniac with shotgun pointed out the window. Mostly using the car as a weapon to run people over, Slayhab kills five more harbor residents / hybrids before finally breaking clear and speeding away towards Rowley hospital, thankful to have escaped with his life....

Willy Harsen's death

Capt. Slayhab is contacted by Willy Harsen, a friend from his U.S. Navy days, who seems to be in some distress. Accompanied by Jack Blackcloud, Slayhab journeys to Harsen's house outside Rowley, near Innsmouth.

After a night of conversation and a fitful sleep, they find Harsen near death the next morning, foaming at the mouth, apparently a victim of poisoning?

Hearing scurrying noises outside the house, Blackcloud investigates and is attacked by large crustaceans. He is eventually able to fight them off but loses some blood in the process. Frantic to save Harsen's life, Blackcloud runs for help and hails one of the neighbors who is outside chopping wood. Nick Casper -- a seemingly friendly outdoorsman -- says he doesn't have medical training but refers them to a Dr. Bloom in Innsmouth.

When Slayhab and Blackcloud arrive at the elderly, bespectacled Doctor's office, Bloom makes a quick examination of the now-immobile and lifeless body and pronounces Harsen DOA -- Dead On Arrival. Doctor Bloom apologetically explains that nothing could have saved Harsen, but Slayhab is extremely distraught at losing his old Navy buddy. Apparently someone has contacted the local authorities as shortly thereafter, a Constable Nathan Birch arrives at Doctor Bloom's office.

With his stooping gait, heavy trenchcoat, and devious grin, Constable Birch appears somehow subtly misshapen and untrustworthy. But Slayhab and Blackcloud nevertheless tell him what they know about Harsen, and the Constable promises a full investigation into Harsen's death. After Constable Birch leaves, Dr. Bloom confides his suspicions regarding two local fishermen of ill repute -- Harris Jakes and Sandy Lanier....

Jack Blackcloud

The Crawford House

Ervil LeBaron is contacted by a relative and finds out he is heir to the Crawford House, located on several acres just outside the town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts. Accompanied by Capt. Slayhab, LeBaron journeys to New England and eventually locates the house.

Seaching the old residence, they find two journals (the Diaries of Jeremy Crawford and Elizabeth Crawford). Following a lead, they then do some research on the family's legacy in the area -- which leads them to former house servant Richard Manning who implies irregularities in Crawford family death records and points them towards the South Woods Memorial Cemetery. LeBaron and Slayhab attempt to exhume ancestors from the Crawford family plot at the graveyard, but some bodies are missing??!?

Over the next several days, a series of killings occurs in the area -- first small pets, then farm animals, and finally a neighbor's young child. Looking for clues outside the Crawford house, LeBaron and Slayhab encounter a monster (Deep One hybrid?) which calls out hideously to Ervil (somehow recognizing him?), but which they summarily kill.

Ervil begins having particularly vivid and disturbing dreams relating to Innsmouth....

Captain Slayhab

Ervil Lebaron