Dom Druncard

Played by: Pete Morrison

First appeared in: Mister Corbitt

Also known as Prospero.

Dominic John "Dom" Druncard is one of the neighbors who gathers at Tallahassee Turner's house in Mister Corbitt and gets pulled into the investigation of Bernard Corbitt. He is the investigator who suffers the most at Corbitt's hands: he is chanted into helplessness, kidnapped, forced into an attic, and later attacked by the thing that lived there, before finally getting a measure of revenge. By the end of the story he has, for the first time in a long while, found people he can trust.

Season 1: Mister Corbitt

101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Dom is one of the neighbors enjoying "non-alcoholic water" and jazz at Tallahassee's house when Corbitt arrives with his wrapped packages. His attempt at baking cookies for the visit produces charred sludge that the group insists on calling "crumpets". Inside Corbitt's house he snoops "under cover of bathroom breaks" and finds only a closet containing an extremely excellent hat, which fits so perfectly that he throws it out the guest room window for later retrieval. When Major Bakersfield repeats the idea with another hat and a pea coat, the pile of outerwear on Corbitt's lawn is what nosy neighbor Tom Barber reports to Corbitt.

102: Neighborhood Watch

During the nighttime surveillance of Corbitt's yard Dom fumbles his climb and falls off the fence, injuring himself; the group then remembers it owns a ladder. When Corbitt's light comes on, Dom hides against the house, then finds the back door unlocked and slips inside. He overhears Corbitt on the telephone reporting prowlers, slips past him, and goes upstairs. In Corbitt's bedroom he finds the book Plants and Fungi of the Amazon Basin by Dr. P. D. Florence in the nightstand. He then pulls down the squeaky attic ladder and sees a woman's face staring down at him with long dark hair, lifeless eyes and a hanging mouth, which costs him Sanity. Corbitt appears behind him, chanting strange syllables, and Dom fails his POW roll (a running gag has him trying to substitute "handsome" for it). A scream from upstairs ends the episode.

103: Usual Suspects

Dom is missing for most of the episode while the others are questioned by Detective Frank Kovach and Detective Burke. He wakes with a pounding head in the trunk of a moving car, hands tied and pockets emptied, and uses a heavy metal bar to lever the trunk open. When the car stops he attacks the driver, a tall, wiry, mean-looking man with a switchblade, in what the table calls the wimpiest fight imaginable. He bull-rushes the man into the car, knocking the switchblade away, and runs. After a chase through the industrial streets he reaches a shop, gets a perfect look at the pursuing car's license plate with a Spot Hidden roll, writes it down, and calls the police.

104: Attic Window

Kovach brings Dom to Dr. Simeon's house the next morning, and Dom recounts the escape and the license plate. He and Billy McConnell try to watch Corbitt's house from a window, and Dom crashes into the window while trying to stay stealthy. The plate leads them to Randolph Tomaszewski, an orderly at Central Hospital who had been questioned over pet mutilations. When Tallahassee's developed photograph shows a woman's face in Corbitt's attic window, Dom's memories return: he had been in the house, seen the face, and been forced into the attic by Corbitt's chanting. He sat there for hours while his friends and then the police searched below without opening the attic door, and he remembers something else moving in the attic with him.

105: Radical Medicine

Dom explains that after seeing the face he heard Corbitt chanting and lost control of his body. He and Billy visit Central Hospital, where they speak to nurse Miss Witherspoon and the superintendent, Dr. Doyle, and learn that Tomaszewski was fired after being linked to the pet mutilation case and that he used to dispose of amputated limbs in the hospital incinerator. Doyle supplies Tomaszewski's address, 143 Crenshaw, Apartment 4B.

106: The Miskatonic Mangler

Dom, Billy and Major Bakersfield track Randolph Tomaszewski to Crenshaw. Dom recognizes him the moment he opens the door as the man who abducted him, and when the Major nets him in the alley Dom delivers a "deeply personal revenge kick" to the ribs. Tomaszewski confesses that Corbitt ordered Dom's abduction and murder and that he is the Miskatonic Mangler. In his apartment Dom recognizes the book True Magic by C. Adolphus Renwen as a real and serious work on occult rituals rather than the usual fraud. He and the Major bring the book and the purple vial to Simeon's house.

107: Fates and Retribution

Dom is one of the three investigators (with Tallahassee and Major Bakersfield) watching over Simeon after he drinks the purple vial, and he witnesses the invisible wounds that tear open Simeon's body. He is present the next morning as the group debates how to get at Corbitt, and the plan settles on breaking into the house once Corbitt leaves.

108: Head of the Beast

During a thunderstorm Dom picks the lock and the group breaks into Corbitt's house. He returns to the attic despite his earlier trauma, pushes a Listen roll by closing his eyes to "listen real hard", and the woman's severed head drops onto his scalp. It has been turned into a spider-like creature with bony arm-legs. Dom tears it off his head, Tallahassee rips it off his chest, and Dom destroys it with a point-blank .38 shot, adding his catchphrase "Dutch, no way to get ahead in life." Because he has killed the source of his terror, the Keeper lets him recover 3 Sanity. Dom then spends half an hour searching the attic and finds only puncture marks on the walls and ceiling, bags the head-beast, reads Corbitt's first 1911 journal aloud to the group, and is part of the party when Bakersfield finds the hidden basement panel. Dom solves the lock with his lockpicking skill, narrowly beating Tallahassee's plan to shoot it open, and the basement door clicks open.

109: For Whom the Dice Rolls

Dom and the others take Corbitt into the basement, where they find the hidden laboratory and the monstrous child. When the creature seizes Major Bakersfield, Dom, with Simeon out of action and Billy unconscious, rushes forward and fires his revolver point-blank into its mouth. As he fires he hears the names "Fiona" and "Sam" ring in his head and cries out Sam's name with the final shot, which finally kills it. Afterward he goes back to Bakersfield's house to wash up and drink from the Major's nice glasses. In the epilogue he realizes that after years of wandering alone he has found people he may finally be able to be honest with, and who may help him in his search for the truth.

Notable quotes

• "It was like, you know, I had a fair amount of spirits."
• "All pockets from all dead people in the room are being searched by me."
• "Dutch, no way to get ahead in life."

In 203: A Night With No Moon he loses Sanity on seeing the dead light in the hallway, is trapped in the basement when it pours down the stairs, and is pulled out of a window by Billy McConnell. The light burns his ankle for four points of damage before he dodges a second tendril. He then runs for the truck, looking for a flamethrower the group does not have.

In 204: Night of the Living Dead Light he dodges the dead light, fails, and runs around the far side of the truck, and later gets a hit point back from the Major's first aid. At the cafe he points out that the sack-headed man's wallet held a picture of Mary, and theorizes that the two were connected.

In 205: Lights Out he shows Mary the photograph from the wallet and tries to talk her down with a charm roll. He tackles her to the floor with an extreme success, runs out into the storm for the silver coffer, and brings it in open. He fails his POW roll and is drawn toward the dead light until the Major knocks him down, and once the light is back inside he slams the lid and seals it with wax.

In 301: No Rest for the Wicked he appears dead in a Spanish uniform in Tallahassee's nightmare. Awake, he laments that the truck holds no flamethrower, and he reminds Tallahassee how many people the dead light might have killed if they had not stopped it.

In 302: The Huggening he goes with Billy to Denny's Tavern, asks Ezra Denny for "possessed waters," and keeps the drinks flowing to old constable Robert Morgan, who repeatedly calls him "baby boy." He worries that no one has seen Mordecai Shep for weeks and suggests checking his shack.

In 303: The Grand Slam the Keeper notes that Dom is the sanest of the investigators, which Dom credits to "all the drinking I do." He pushes for a visit to Mordecai Shep's shack, listens at its door, and pockets the roughly $400 and the .38 revolver from the hidden box.

In 304: Pet, Cemetery he buys round after round of scotch in Denny's Tavern and slams the campsite photograph down in front of Percival Warthrop to watch his reaction. While Percival keeps watch that night, Dom tells him about his wife Fiona and son Sam, who vanished from their London home 13 years earlier and left a strange symbol burned into the sitting room floor. Percival recognizes the symbol as belonging to the Order of Scorpius and the Devereaux family of witches, who have ties to Salem, and asks whether Fiona's maiden name was Devereaux. Dom refuses Percival's advice to let it go, saying that he is too far down the rabbit hole, and Percival promises to ask his contacts.

In 305: The Shining... Skin he helps try to force open J.G. Faust's tomb and asks Percival Warthrop whether he recognizes the gouges in the stairwell. In the laboratory below, he works out that the "phantom fire" probably smothered itself after the tomb door swung shut, which is why no one could find it.

In 306: Cellar Door he admits that he is terrible at research and joins Tallahassee Turner and Major Bakersfield in searching the Russell farm. In the barn's storm cellar, he is frozen briefly in shock by the headless creature, then rushes in and buries his machete in its back as it bites Tallahassee. The blow snaps Tallahassee out of his delusion.

In 307: Smooth Criminal he presses Percival Warthrop with questions about the creature's missing anatomy. He fumbles his search and gets lost on the way to the barn. He suggests that Percival's autopsy reveal where the creature's vital organs are so the group will know where to shoot.

In 308: Infestation he successfully charms Goodman Gray by arguing that neither group benefits from the creatures rampaging across the countryside. His argument leads Gray to propose working together to cull them. He then joins the rush into the sanatorium and the escape that follows.

In 309: Boom Goes the Dynamite he prepares more Molotov cocktails from his smuggled booze. He follows Percival Warthrop around the Adams and Kedridge farms and agrees that the attacks are getting more recent closer to town.

In 310: Salem's Lot he finally gets his hands on a flamethrower, handed over by Goodman Gray's men during the fortification of Denny's.

In 311: Beefing the Defenses one of Goodman Gray's men teaches him the basics of the flamethrower. He then stages a brawl with Percival Warthrop to pin down Gray's driver.

In 312: Edge of Sharkness he takes the front door of Denny's with the flamethrower and shares a few swigs of whiskey and some gloomy advice with Robert Morgan.

In 313: The Arrival he scouts the creatures' advance with the flamethrower, then brings down a ten-foot adult creature with three shots from his M1911, taking out both of its eyes before the third shot spills its insides.

In 314: The Siege his flamethrower malfunctions when a creature smashes the barrel, setting Denny's Tavern on fire. He abandons it and wounds a creature with blind shots through the back door as the group retreats upstairs.

In 315: Legends Never Die he blows up his abandoned flamethrower tank beneath the alpha, then takes control of the creature through its carved runes after recognizing among them the symbol he found when his family disappeared.

In 316: The Last Stand his control over the alpha is broken by an explosion behind Denny's Tavern. He lights the dynamite for the group's last stand and helps finish off the surviving creatures.

In 401: Static Prevails he checks the dead man's pockets at the Riverview Apartments and finds a fully loaded, unfired snub-nosed .38 revolver but no ID. He asks whether the wounds could have come from a Freddy Krueger glove and joins the plan to check out the pawn shop.

In 402: Criminal Energy he breaks open the locked drawers behind the Pawn and Prawns' counter with a brick, fumbling the first try and smashing his own hand, until he finds a fine wristwatch with a black leather band engraved "RG." He wipes down the drawers, takes the brick with him, and takes only that one item so that the shop will look as if it was robbed for a single piece.

In 403: I Will Steal You Back he offers Hiram Hopkins, the owner of the Pawn and Prawns, his knowledge of the less respectable people in Arkham in exchange for the full truth about John Johnson. He keeps hold of the stolen watch, saying he is not letting it out of his sight and asking whether anyone has any idea how much booze it could buy. He then goes with the Major to take the watch to Cortex Studios.

In 404: Episode IV he and the Major drive to Cortex Studios, where he suggests that they say they are with the police, which he says is technically true. He charms the owner, Jelty, with a hard success, shows him the watch, and says it was involved in a crime earlier that morning. After Jelty's records name the watch's owner, Dom asks about the Goddard family, John Johnson and the boatmen. On the street, he suggests checking under the car for bombs.

In 405: Be Sensible he and the Major drive to Raymond Goddard's house, where he tells the Major he is worried about him and suggests opening with the pawn shop break-in and the missing watch. When the man at the door claims to be Raymond Goddard, he says they are consultants with the police, and a Psychology check shows that the man looks genuinely confused when asked about the watch. After the Major's license check turns up the name Devin Black, Dom presses him to come clean, quietly draws his gun, begs him to tell the truth and asks whether he works for the mayor. He says he suspects he knows who John Johnson is and that Devin could identify him, and the Keeper tells him the octopus dog tag matches the bodies in the tomb.

In 406: Pain he answers the knock at the door of Raymond Goddard's house while the Major carries Devin Black out of sight. He talks to the neighbor, Bryce Gantt, saying that Mr. Goddard has returned from his holiday and wants his new furnishings and that furniture fell on a tender part of the body. A Charm roll gets an extreme success, and he shuts the door on Bryce. He then slaps the Major in the face for torturing Devin and argues with him about it, saying that he will keep both eyes on him and hopes that the Major will stop him if he ever does the same. At Pizza Dragons he says that they will not tell the others about the torture or the tying up, only that they leaned on Devin and that he went pale at the name Goodman Gray. He goes with the Major and Tallahassee to O'Malley's.

In 407: Coffee & Cigarettes he goes with the Major and Tallahassee to O'Malley's cafe, where he tells the barista Sheamus O'Malley that Harman Vance did not demise himself. He says that Harman was killed the same way his dear beloved wife was and that they want to find out more, and the Keeper offers him the Charm roll. He describes Harman's apartment full of radios, locked up with no sign of a break-in, and notes that the place where they found him was not a ground-floor apartment. He asks Sheamus for Harman's address, and the group finds a note signed RG in Harman's jacket and heads for East Water Street.

In 408: In the Same Room he goes with the Major and Tallahassee to the house on East Water Street and knocks on the front door with Tallahassee. Inside, he picks up a piece of mail addressed to John Johnson (the fake name Harman Vance used), helps the group find an electric bill for Anna Fairbanks, and searches the living room with the Major. He asks whether the house has been empty for a while and learns that it is dusty, then finds a business card for Ricky Dubois of the Arkham Gazette in the desk. When the runner carpet will not move, he pulls it up with the Major's help and finds that it is glued down over smears of blood. He tells Tallahassee about the blood and glue, then calls Ricky Dubois from the phone on the desk to ask whether he knows Anna Fairbanks, and the phone is ringing when the scene moves on.

In 409: Pass the Baby he phones Ricky Dubois at the Gazette from the house and, after the receptionist shouts for Ricky, tells him that Anna Fairbanks is in serious trouble. He asks when Ricky last saw her and what she told him, and when Ricky says that her maiden name is Tomaszewski, he answers that her brother is the Miskatonic Mangler. He asks whether the coffee shop where she meant to meet Ricky was O'Malley's, warns him that he may also be in danger and urges him to seek protection, and they agree to meet at O'Malley's at 8 a.m. the next day. He then phones the police to report gunfire and violence at the address, which the Keeper says sends them straight to the house. When the men outside advance, he draws his 1911, warns them that the only river they will be crossing is the river Styx and shoots first, killing the nearest gunman with a roll of 1 for 16 damage. He is shot in the hip for 7 damage, takes a major wound, spends Luck to stay conscious and fires back from the doorway, hitting twice for nine damage. He cannot move well, so the Major carries him to the boat, where the boatman swaddles him in a blanket while he insists that he is fighting like a man.

In 410: Just Watch the Fireworks he is badly wounded, and the Keeper says he is no longer bleeding out after the Major's first aid. He asks to be carried into Simeon's study "like a baby" and is tucked in on the couch. After the others compare notes, he lays out his theory of the case: he names the victims as Elizabeth Bakersfield, John Johnson (the fake name Harman Vance used), Dr. Doyle and Raymond Goddard, says "Anna Fairbanks is the key that unlocks this entire case," and says the only person with a motive is Randolph Tomaszewski. He warns that Ricky Dubois may be the leak, since Anna told only him. Dom later asks Runch to carry him up the stairs "like a baby," and says "I'm just going to rest my eyes for just a moment" while Runch rocks him. Near the end of the episode Runch drags Dom out of the room by the feet, and Dom's condition is left unclear.

In 411: Higher Devotion he recovers enough to join the discussion in Simeon's bedroom. Asked whether he knows any hobos, he says "Oh, I know a hobo. He's right here," and is told to use his "hobo powers."

In 412: My Enemy he regains one hit point from a night's rest, visits Corbitt at the Arkham Sanatorium and asks about the mayor's part in it all. He then goes with Tallahassee and Billy to dig in Corbitt's basement.

In 413: Your House he lets the group into Corbitt's house through a broken window and is the first to hear something moving upstairs. When the creature appears he charges after it, losing 4 sanity, and chases it into the backyard before it escapes over the fence. Coming round to the front, he finds that the car and Billy are gone.

In 414: Delivery his gunshot wound stops him getting over the fence after the creature. Walking back through Corbitt's house, he finds the front door locked again and Billy and the car gone. He goes with Tallahassee to look for Billy.

In 416: Feeling Lucky he picks the lock on Corbitt's lockbox. Inside he recognizes the symbol of the Order of the Scorpius on a velvet bag holding a small black mirror, and he secretly pockets the box's $20,000 in one-dollar bills.

In 417: Believe in What You Want he questions Corbitt about the Order of the Scorpius, reads that Corbitt is trying to deceive the watching shadow, and argues against killing their quarry: "We're not in the revenge business."

In 418: Here it Goes he picks the lock to an exam room so the group can hide from a guard, then fumbles at Corbitt's door and snaps his only pick.

In 419: Through he joins the climb to the sanatorium's blood-soaked third floor.

In 420: Clarity he breaks open the door to room six and pins their quarry down, narrowly escaping possession as the medallion is applied.

In 501: Training Day he takes the train from Arkham to Salem with Billy, Simeon, Timeon and Ezra Denny, following the first lead he has had in years: Percival Warthrop recognized the symbol of the Order of the Scorpius and asked whether his wife was related to the Devereux family. On the way he tells the group how he met Fiona in London, where she studied literature while he worked in a pub, how she never spoke of her family, and how she vanished thirteen years ago this spring. As he dozes off in the warm passenger car, he looks up to see Fiona's old friend Hannah Baker sitting across from him.

In 502: The Last Lighthouse he dreams of Hannah Baker and a blast of fire, then wakes to see Fiona watching him through the window of the next train car. He chases her through the train, but she vanishes when it passes through the dark tunnel under Washington Street, leaving him visibly shaken and unsure how much she had aged. In Salem he asks the porter Mitch Larsen about lodging, and the group takes rooms at the Last Lighthouse inn.

In 503: A Mitch Ain't One he stays behind at the Last Lighthouse inn while the others chase down the man following them. As he unpacks, he has another flash of Hannah Baker, this time getting off the train at the Salem station and looking around the platform.

In 504: Witch Repellant he hears the group's report: Garibald John Daly was sent by "Constance" and claimed Fiona is "in the stars," and Daly's note mentions finding "Grayson" at the Hawthorne Inn. He is the first to notice the sheen of poison on Daly's dagger, and he sets out with Billy and Timeon toward the train tunnel.

In 505: Manifest Secrets his magic mirror reveals the glowing symbol of the Order of the Scorpius, constellation and all, carved into the wall of the Salem train tunnel. This is the group's first confirmation that the Order has been in Salem. At the train depot he wins over the attendant Rochelle Bisson by pleading about his missing wife, and in the 1914 passenger records he finds Fiona arriving on June 21. Four days later, on June 25, 1914, he finds the name "Mr. Dominic Druncard."

In 506: Baggage he finds that he is listed as "Mr. Dominic Druncard" on the same train as Hannah Baker, which arrived in Salem on June 25, 1914, the day of the great fire. In Hannah's unclaimed suitcase he finds his own unopened letters to Fiona and a letter from Fiona to Hannah. In it, Fiona writes about a place called "the hollow," asks Hannah to find Dom and gives the Last Lighthouse inn as her address. Dom explains that Prospero and Ariel, from The Tempest, were their pet names. He then has a vision of Hannah rocking and singing, and he recognizes her song as the one he heard through the walls of the Last Lighthouse.

In 507: The Hollow Endless Night he finds Hannah Baker living in the Last Lighthouse inn, where its innkeeper, Emily Marnsarn, has cared for her for twelve years since finding her in the ruins of the great fire. Hannah, vacant and singing the lullaby from his vision, briefly seems to recognize him. Emily recalls that Hannah came to meet someone that day with a man who looked like Dom, only younger. A recent letter signed "Constance" names Dom as the group's best route to what they seek, so the group gives him the alias "Adam Blackwood." In the inn's ledger, Timeon finds Fiona Druncard's long-term check-in from February 1914.

In 508: The Pilgrim, viewing the inn's ledger through the black mirror, he sees Fiona's hidden check-in and suffers flashes of fire and a green rift. After reading Fiona's letters, which beg him to hold on until she and Sam are safe, he is dropped into the dark space inside the briefcase. A glance through the mirror there drives him into a panic until Ezra brings him around. He escapes with a journal whose title page, in handwriting he recognizes, reads Proverbs of the Never-Whence Pilgrim.

In 509: The Hollowed Man he studies the Proverbs of the Never-Whence Pilgrim and Fiona's notes in its margins, which reveal that she sought the hollow to free Sam from the Order. Suspecting the hollow has taken his memories, he lets Billy use Command of the Wizard on him. He recalls only flashes of light, shouting and his train arriving in Salem, and realizes he came to Salem in 1914 with Hannah Baker, days after Fiona arrived.

In 510: Segway he is troubled that Fiona might have had a part in the great fire. With Ezra and Timeon, he hears Luke Renz's two-fire theory at the Widow's Wake and follows a line of melted holes from the statue of Major Absalom Dexter to a storm drain on Devereux Street.

In 511: The Ritual Room he uses the mirror to find a hidden, fire-scorched ritual room beneath Devereux Street. In it, he sees and hears a vision of a struggle, including his own voice shouting "Fiona, look out!" Constance Venus, who resembles Fiona, then confronts him. She says the Order has been paid for him and that Fiona owes the Order a debt. Dom answers her with open defiance.

In 512: Two Scoops of Danger he shoots one of Constance Venus's henchmen. Afterward, he reads Fiona's margin notes on the Unbinding of Remembrance, which suggest she tried to cut herself out of the memories of everyone who knew her. The group suspects this explains Dom's hollowed memories.

Appearances

• 101: It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• 102: Neighborhood Watch
• 103: Usual Suspects
• 104: Attic Window
• 105: Radical Medicine
• 106: The Miskatonic Mangler
• 107: Fates and Retribution
• 108: Head of the Beast
• 109: For Whom the Dice Rolls
• 201: Wrong Place at the Wrong Time
• 202: The Good Doctor
• 203: A Night With No Moon
• 204: Night of the Living Dead Light
• 205: Lights Out
• 301: No Rest for the Wicked
• 302: The Huggening
• 303: The Grand Slam
• 304: Pet, Cemetery
• 305: The Shining... Skin
• 306: Cellar Door
• 307: Smooth Criminal
• 308: Infestation
• 309: Boom Goes the Dynamite
• 310: Salem's Lot
• 311: Beefing the Defenses
• 312: Edge of Sharkness
• 313: The Arrival
• 314: The Siege
• 315: Legends Never Die
• 316: The Last Stand
• 401: Static Prevails
• 402: Criminal Energy
• 403: I Will Steal You Back
• 404: Episode IV
• 405: Be Sensible
• 406: Pain
• 407: Coffee & Cigarettes
• 408: In the Same Room
• 409: Pass the Baby
• 410: Just Watch the Fireworks
• 411: Higher Devotion
• 412: My Enemy
• 413: Your House
• 414: Delivery
• 416: Feeling Lucky
• 417: Believe in What You Want
• 418: Here it Goes
• 419: Through
• 420: Clarity
• 501: Training Day
• 502: The Last Lighthouse
• 503: A Mitch Ain't One
• 504: Witch Repellant
• 505: Manifest Secrets
• 506: Baggage
• 507: The Hollow Endless Night
• 508: The Pilgrim
• 509: The Hollowed Man
• 510: Segway
• 511: The Ritual Room
• 512: Two Scoops of Danger