Scrolls & Skulls

To Robin Quill
The Scroll & Skull Society will host a Samhain

Gathering at the house of Phillip A. Canaan at 34 Carus

Avenue on October the 30th at 8 o’clock.

All will be explained on the night.

Sincerely,

Emmett R. Darrow
You are Robin Quill. Your mother was a playwright, and
your father owned a theatre company.

Your parents were talkers, but you never saw too much
use for words until you discovered poetry in high
school. Finally, they were good for something.

In your poems you could say everything you found it

difficult to communicate to the people around you. All
the powerful thoughts and deep feelings you’d kept
locked inside.

And finally, people began to understand you. No one did

more than the Society. Friends that you could converse
with, that listened to you and read your work. That
showed you what it meant to have fun, have experiences
worth writing about.

Friends that helped you. Like Emmett.

Emmett.

Your father’s gambling addiction tore your family

apart. By the time your first semester of university
was done, your family was deep in debt, and you’d never
have been able to pay for school if it weren’t for
Emmett.

He enticed you to join the Society with the promise of

a grant, sponsored by the Society so that you could
continue your studies and your work.
But that never seemed to come through, although Emmett
did supply a loan, thousands of dollars to pay for your
tuition.

The Ritual.

It was Emmett’s idea. He’d found it in some old book. A

demon summoning ritual. He didn’t seem to really
believe—it was just a bit of fun.

The seven of you drew a pentagram in the earth, lit a

fire in an old brazier, drank ritual wine from a
chalice. Emmett cut his hand, cast the blood into the
fire and Charlie, the “sacrifice”, did the same.

Emmett spoke words from the book in an ancient tongue.

Then the fire snuffed out, and a shape stirred in the

ashes and shadow. The sky seemed to darken and billow.

A voice spoke back, dark and unknowable, and blood

poured over the lip of the brazier.

Then it was gone. An empty brazier. Smoking candles.

And the seven of you.
The Invitation.

You’ve been trying to write your first poetry book and

prepare it for publishing, though you’re constantly
throwing out poems and drafting new ones.

You’re still living off the money Emmett lent you,

since you need all your time to dedicate to writing.

When the invitation arrived, your heart sank. You can’t

afford to pay him back. He knows powerful people. What
if he tries to collect?
Secrets:
o Your father has a terrible gambling addiction and
has put our entire family in debt.
o The only reason you were able to keep going to
school was that Emmett lent me thousands of
dollars for tuition, money you were never able to
pay back. He enticed you into joining the Society
with the promise of a Society grant, but instead
made you indebted to him.

Goals:
o Convince Emmett to give you more time to pay him
back.

Clues:
o In your artistic circles, you've heard that L
Grimaldi's been erratic ever since the ritual and
the disbandment of the society—not delivering for
shows she scheduled, becoming an unhealthy
recluse.
o You found a love letter half-burned in the fire
last Samhain weekend. It was addressed to Jules,
but you don’t know who it was from.
Emmett R. Darrow:
o President of the Scroll & Skull Society
o Controls the Society accounts
o Charming, intelligent, devilishly adventurous and
eccentric
o Old money, came from vast family wealth
o Formed a romance with Jules, although to what
extent you do not know
o Had a passing interest in the occult, but never
seemed to take it seriously
o Disappeared after the ritual, never heard from
until the invitation you received

Phillip A. Canaan:
o A former member of the Society
o An occult expert, widely dismissed by the
mainstream academic community
o Was a mentor and friend to Emmett