The night was dark and foggy as Professor Julius Smith’s urgent messages summoned Madame Zorba, Miss Viola Suttcliffe, Mr. Clinton Lake, and Herr Per Oskarson to the seedy Whitechapel district of London. Led by the professor, the group made their way to a run-down lodging house, where they met the elderly Mrs. Agnes Grim. She directed them upstairs, where a ghastly sight awaited in a cramped garret room.
A withered, ancient-looking man was curled up on the bed, wearing nothing but a red fez. His frail form occasionally contorted in pain as he released woeful moans. The man was Matthew Pook, Professor Smith explained, a Turkish student under his guidance. Smith believed sinister forces had cursed Pook, rapidly accelerating his aging. He implored the gathered investigators to tend to Pook and stand vigil, wary that those responsible might return.
As the investigators examined Pook and the room, ominous discoveries were made. When Miss Suttcliffe gingerly touched Pook’s fez, she recoiled in terror from an unsettling vision. Mr. Lake found cryptic notes about fez runes and recent ticket stubs suggesting many visitors. Madame Zorba used her tarot cards to divine answers - confirming Pook’s identity, the curse’s irreversibility, and lingering danger nearby.
Just then, Pook unleashed an ungodly scream as the candles flickered out, plunging the room into darkness. The investigators braced themselves, heeding the tarot’s warning that peril still lurked in the shadows.
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