The Killer… Revealed! The plot…thickens! The characters… are THE LEAGUE of EXTRAORINARY GENTLEMEN! The part… is number four!

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: <b>Improbably Not: <I>The Story of Mr. Anderson Pollock</I> : Chapter Four: The Night of Lost Souls</b> : : There were few clouds in the sky when Dr. Hakenfakir and Colonel Blanchford Bertram had returned, not twenty minutes before. Now there were horrendous, howling winds, huge raindrops bombing all in Parodiopolis, and, of course, the lightning. Dramatically lighting the sky with thunder booming at the exact same instant, inseparable pronouncements of the city’s pain. : They also allowed for a most dramatic entrance for Mr. Lucius Faust, : Senior Librarian Emeritus, and Sorcerer Supreme. : Jakes had just opened the door, revealing Faust, who carried Hagatha Darkness’s limp form, when the lightning flashed and the thunder roared. : It was all very Dramatic. : : ############################ : : The men of The League of Improbable Gentlemen and their guest, Anderson Pollock, gathered round the conference table for Faust’s lecture. : “As you know, the Parodyverse is… a special place. There are many… qualities which set it apart from your average universe. One of those qualities is a looseness of barriers between the different realms, dimensions, and realities. Around Earth there a particularly weak barrier to the Death Dimension.” : “So… If you went into space, it would be easy to get into hell?” Colonel Bertram checked. : “No!” Faust and Quimby said in unison. : “The entrance to hell is always a cave or a tunnel.” The EccentricEtherInvestigatorExplorer! said with authority. : “True enough,” Faust confirmed. “The Death Dimension is a remarkably similar place. It was carved out of the fabric of the multiverse as a refuge from Death. But it has always been used has a Demon’s private playground for lost souls… : “One of those souls was a dark magician. Particularly nasty one, too. But he got his on Earth, as they always do… but that was three hundred years ago… ever since his rotten little soul has been trapped by… the Enemy who controls that place. : “In the last three hundred years the dark magician has been driven more insane and homicidal by constant torture. Unfortunately, he hasn’t forgotten all of his power. : “The barrier between the dimensions is closely related to the lunar cycle. It just so happens that right now that cycle allows for the weakest barrier in three hundred years… won’t be that weak again for another hundred and thirty… : “So this Dark Magician is able to cross the barrier… right into downtown Parodiopolis… give or take, mind you… two nights ago he turned up on a farm…” : “So, this killer is a dead, evil Magician who was shanghaied on his way to hell?” Mumph clarified. : “Yes.” : “Does the maniac have a name?” : “Erik the Ripper!” Hagatha Darkness recounted as she walked in, looking very pale. : It was all very dramatic. : : #################################### : : The team agreed that with dawn approaching and time required to make preparations, it would be best to wait until the following evening to confront Erik the Ripper. Hagatha agreed, but was very uneasy at the idea of allowing the murderer to be at large at all. : “You need rest, and if you wish to stay at the clubhouse I’ll stay in an adjoining room to protect you…” Mumphrey was quick to suggest. : “thank you for the offer Mr. Wilton, but I feel a strong compulsion to be at my ancestral home…” : Quimby was eager to start work on a dimensional gateway. : “Go to, go to, good sir! Proper equipment is essential to stopping undead slasher magicians!” Bertram applauded. : “Hmm… undead doesn’t seem appropriate… that’s usually vampires or zombies… we’ll have to coin a new term… Slasher Soul? Nahh…” the EccentricEtherInsetigatorInventor! knew that he’d spend more of the next day considering that then working on the device he had to make… : Dr. Hakenfakir had spent the entire meeting considering the implications of a dimension free from death. He also watched Hastings Vernal and Anderson Pollock. Both were equally mysterious, despite Vernal having been a member of the League for quite a while. The doctor from Bombay watched their faces and wondered how much of the lecture they already knew. Probably most. : The meeting over, Hagatha walked Faust to the door. : “By the way, Mr. Faust, I really must thank you for saving me from…that butcher. I was in no shape to convey my appreciation, until now.” : “Miss Darkness,” Faust said seriously, his face now shadowed. “I did not save you from the Ripper, and I think that you know who did.” : The Sorcerer Supreme left quietly. : Hagatha left soon after, without a word. : Though no one witnessed it, the short exchange was, in fact, very dramatic.

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