417: Believe in What You Want

Synopsis

The investigators return to the Arkham Sanatorium. Little John searches them, flips through Confessions of the Mad Monk Clifanus, and lets the book through as research for Dr. Simeon's new book on Corbitt. He takes them back to the common room in the maximum security wing and turns on the radio before bringing in a handcuffed Bernard Corbitt. The medallion supplies, smuggled in inside the investigators' mouths (including a whole chain the Major pulls out), are handed over along with the book. Corbitt finds the page he needs and says he can have the medallion finished late that night. Fearing what else he might learn from it, Tallahassee rips out only the pages Corbitt needs and keeps the rest of the book. Corbitt explains how the medallion works. It must touch the target's skin while the incantation is spoken precisely. Once sealed it cannot be broken, even if removed, and it cuts its wearer off from magic completely.

Dom asks Corbitt about the Order of the Scorpius. Corbitt says it is just another esoteric order obsessed with the occult, one that has been around a long time, and that he once bought books and arcane items from them. He refuses to say how to contact them and tells Dom to walk off the end of the longest pier. Dom warns him he will regret that answer. As Corbitt studies the pages, those who succeed at their rolls notice him glancing and nodding toward the shadow that watches the group, promising it would take him "a couple of weeks." Dom's extreme psychology success convinces him that Corbitt is trying to throw the watcher off, not the investigators.

Outside, Tallahassee bribes Little John with $1,000 from Corbitt's lockbox money. John will leave keys in a drawer under the ledgers at the unattended front desk: one for the maximum security wing, one for the third floor and one for the target's room, plus a key to Corbitt's first-floor room. He will try to have a couple of guards pulled off the third floor. The best time is the 2:30 a.m. shift change; the room is third floor, hallway D, room six.

The group rests at Simeon's house, where Simeon fails to patch up the Major. A heated argument breaks out over whether to kill their quarry once he has been cut off from his magic. The Major and Simeon want vengeance, Dom insists that would be revenge rather than justice, and Tallahassee sets the terms because he made the deal with Little John: if they go in with him, there is no killing. Tallahassee goes home to feed his new pet, Necronomidog. At the appointed hour, the investigators step out of their homes and nod to one another, hoping it will finally be over.

Funny Moments

Simeon's string of jokes about "a monk with a dirty habit."
The Major smuggles the medallion chain into the sanatorium in his mouth, and Simeon pulls it out link by link.
Tallahassee's opening attempt at bribery goes so badly that he "melts back through the doors like Homer Simpson's through the hedge."
Corbitt tells Dom to find the longest pier and "just keep on walking," and Simeon fist-bumps him.
Corbitt explains that the medallion "castrates his shadow."
Tallahassee's spider-dog is named Necronomidog.

Notable Quotes

"I need you to walk out to the end and just keep on walking." —Bernard Corbitt
"I think you're going to regret that answer, Corbett." —Dom
"We're not in the revenge business." —Dom
"So if you're coming in with me, there's no killing." —Tallahassee