Overture

Transcript made and edited by jack

CWs: sounds of drinking

(BEGIN Overture.)

(Clock ticking. Footsteps. A door opens.)

GRUFF MAN: Mr. Gilbert.

UNKNOWN MAN: Please, Leonard… (The door shuts.) The Great. (He chuckles.)

GRUFF MAN: This way. (Fabric shifting.)

LEONARD GILBERT: So are you, then… Mr. Sinclair, eh? Beautiful mansion you have here. Elegant, simply divine. In most every way, I am quite floored. I don’t usually do house calls, but I must admit… you were quite… persuasive with your offer. More than the…

GRUFF MAN: Here.

LEONARD GILBERT: In here? T-This is…

GRUFF MAN: The drawing room. (He knocks on the door. Slightly louder.) Mr. Puckett.

LEONARD GILBERT (disconcerted): Eh.

GRUFF MAN: The Mystic is here.

MR PUCKETT (gravelly, muffled): Send him in.

LEONARD GILBERT: Ah. (The door opens.) So you are not... wait – mister, mister…?

GRUFF MAN: Go in.

LEONARD GILBERT: I-I-I-I-I… (Footsteps.)

MR PUCKETT: Come on in. Sit down. (The door shuts. A melancholy melody begins.)

LEONARD GILBERT: I-I-I-I’m so sorry, but… oh, wow. This is quite a nice room you have.

MR PUCKETT: Yes. Thank you.

LEONARD GILBERT: I’m terribly sorry, but are you… Mr. Sinclair? I thought I… I thought I heard the man there call you…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Puckett. Robert Puckett. (Footsteps.)

LEONARD GILBERT: R-Robert? (A fragile tap, like glass.) The… t-then you are… you are t-this…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Puckett, yes.

LEONARD GILBERT (flustered): Oh, my, Mr. Puckett, I… I dare say I-I-I… I don’t know what you heard or who has been spreading lies, but I swear to you, I… I swear to you that I…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Relax, Leonard. This is not a professional call.

LEONARD GILBERT: O-Oh. I-It’s not?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Not for me. It’s more of a… personal call, if you will.

LEONARD GILBERT: I-I-I’m sorry, I… don’t quite follow.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Sit down, sit down.

LEONARD GILBERT (nervous): Sure, sure. (Fabric shifting.)

ROBERT PUCKETT: Can I… offer you a drink? Something strong, perhaps?

LEONARD GILBERT: E-Eh, Grape Juice Rickey, perhaps?

ROBERT PUCKETT: No.

LEONARD GILBERT: T-Then I’m fine. (Glass and metal shifting. Puckett grunts.)

ROBERT PUCKETT (emphatic): So. You are the great Gilbert, master of the mystic. (Liquid pouring.) Reader of palms. Expert of psychoanalysis. Prodigy of numerology, virtuoso of reading tea leaves… ace at astrology. And, uh… (He snaps his fingers repeatedly.)

LEONARD GILBERT: Eh. Fortune-telling.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Genius fortune teller, right! Right. (Ice clinking.)

LEONARD GILBERT: I… well, I-I don’t…

ROBERT PUCKETT: That is what your ad said. (Footsteps.) Did it not? (Shifting. A soft tap.)

LEONARD GILBERT: My ad?

ROBERT PUCKETT: I saw it in Mystic Magazine.

LEONARD GILBERT: Oh! Listen. Mr. Puckett, I…

ROBERT PUCKETT: I’ll stop you right there… and save you your breath. I don’t go in for this… nonsense you have cooked up here, Lenny. You mind if I call you Lenny?

LEONARD GILBERT: Mr. Puckett, you may call me whatever name you wish, I…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Wonderful. I don’t go in for this… this… mumbo-jumbo. This magic. This… mysticism. (Fabric shifting.) It’s hogwash. The whole lot. (Sounds of drinking.)

LEONARD GILBERT: And yet?

ROBERT PUCKETT (grunting): And yet. I suppose I’ve run out of options.

LEONARD GILBERT: Options?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Yeah. See. I run… well, quite a large part of the city. As you know.

LEONARD GILBERT: Of course. You are Mr. Puckett, the entire east side of Arkham is your –

(Puckett growls.)

ROBERT PUCKETT: Oh, I can’t keep… I don’t have the means to explain… (He sighs.) A little while ago, I started getting the sense… that I was being… followed. Not unusual for a man of my position. Of my power. Some want a shot at the top. Rarely does anyone try and take it, though. I had my boys keep an eye out, on high alert, so to speak. But there was… nothing they saw. Just a, um… presence.

LEONARD GILBERT: A presence?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Only I was the only one who felt it… that sensed it. Like a shadow from my past, and boy… do I have shadows in my past. It got to me, it really did. So much so I ended up… well, I’ve been talking to a head shrinker about it. About some things I regret in my past, and… well. In my line of work… there’s much to regret. As you can imagine. (He grunts, then chuckles.)

LEONARD GILBERT: I… can. I’m still not sure I –

ROBERT PUCKETT: I spilled my guts to the head shrinker. Even trying to make a few amends, here and there. You know. Believing it could be some form of guilt, but still, somehow this shadow… still haunts me. It’s still following. It’s still… hunting. I’m afraid, Lenny… I’m afraid that if I can’t stop it… it’ll kill me. I’m convinced that this is a shadow from my past, one I thought long behind me, and I think… I know who it is. And I need your help to stop him.

LEONARD GILBERT: Well, Mr. Puckett, I… I’m not sure who… referred you to me, but… I-I’m not sure what I could do to help.

ROBERT PUCKETT: What can you do? What can’t you do? Numerology… mysticism…

LEONARD GILBERT: But those are just…

ROBERT PUCKETT: What, tricks? (Fabric shifting.) This… This is a thing from beyond the grave, stalking me… getting closer… and closer to my home. To my throat. This is exactly the kind of thing you’re supposed to be a self-appointed expert at.

LEONARD GILBERT: I understand your frustration, I… I understand your fear –

ROBERT PUCKETT (furious): You don’t understand a thing! (Glass shattering. Clattering noises.)

LEONARD GILBERT: You are convinced that this is from a memory, a past experience, a-a ghostly apparition from a deed you did long…

ROBERT PUCKETT (forcefully): Yes.

LEONARD GILBERT: Well, p-perhaps I can aid you, shed some light on that… memory.

ROBERT PUCKETT: What do you mean?

LEONARD GILBERT: I-I-I don’t know, I’m… I’m grasping at straws a little, here.

ROBERT PUCKETT: No.

LEONARD GILBERT: I’m not…

ROBERT PUCKETT (earnestly): No, what do you mean?

LEONARD GILBERT: I could… hypnotize you. Perhaps reveal more from that memory.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Reveal more?

LEONARD GILBERT: You said a shadow from your past. Shadows are hazy, unclear. Perhaps some clarity could…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Could…?

LEONARD GILBERT: Clarify.

ROBERT PUCKETT: You think… you think that could work?

LEONARD GILBERT: Yes, yes! Most certainly, our minds are very great and powerful things. Tools so enormous –

ROBERT PUCKETT: Cut the sales pitch.

LEONARD GILBERT: Very well.

ROBERT PUCKETT: I’ll try anything.

LEONARD GILBERT: Um, w-why don’t you… (Wood creaking. Fabric shifting.) Why don’t you lay down, here?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Here?

LEONARD GILBERT: Yes, yes. (Puckett grunts in exertion. Fabric shifting.) I’m still… getting paid, yes? (Puckett grunts.) Yes, I assumed, I just… right, right. Okay, now, let me just see here… (A metal chain clinking. A mechanical squeak.) Ah! Ah. This… pocketwatch, here… is an old family heirloom. (Enigmatically.) The symbol upon its brass surface is one you’ve never seen before. An ancient and powerful sigil, capable of resting your mind on the shoulders of the almighty —

ROBERT PUCKETT: I said cut the act.

LEONARD GILBERT: Gah, v-very – very well. Just… look at the watch, please.

(Mechanical clicking. The sounds of a watch ticking.)

ROBERT PUCKETT: Fine. What is that symbol?

LEONARD GILBERT: Gibberish, I think. Alright. I want you to listen to the sound of my voice. I want you… to follow it. (A delicate melody begins.) Through the moving watch… across my arms… and over my shoulders… as I begin to put you… in a trance. Just… relax your breathing… let the stillness in the air wash over you. You are… entombed… in a blanket of pillows… comfort surrounds you. And the air is unmoving, as is your body… and yet!

(In control.) You are free… freer than you have ever felt… capable of sailing beyond these walls that confine you… both moral and man… sail away, my dear. (His words start to echo.) Robert… sail beyond… and close your eyes. Feel the weight of them sink… deeper… well past where the lids close… and carry you through… to the realm of dreams. Now. When I say the word… ‘cosmos’... you will fall into a deep, deep slumber… and you will be brought back to the memory… which so haunts you.

The memory… you believe stalks you now. The memory… you dare not confront. Are you ready? (Deep echoing.) ‘Cosmos’.

(A faraway creak.)

ROBERT PUCKETT: There’s four of us, four of us…

LEONARD GILBERT: F-Four of you?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Bury him, bury him…no.

LEONARD GILBERT: Bury… bury who?

(Puckett mumbles under his breath.)

LEONARD GILBERT: What? What was that name? (Puckett continues to mumble.) Interesting.

ROBERT PUCKETT: No!

(An otherworldly howl. The cuckoo of a clock starts to chime.)

LEONARD GILBERT (scared): And when I snap my fingers, you are released! (Puckett growls. Gilbert sighs in exhaustion.) Well, that was very brief…

ROBERT PUCKETT: Jesus.

LEONARD GILBERT: But very intense!

ROBERT PUCKETT (groggy): What? What did you…? I was there… I remember. I remember all of it. (Fabric shifting.)

LEONARD GILBERT (pleased): Wonderful, wonderful.

ROBERT PUCKETT: No. It’s not. (He grunts.)

LEONARD GILBERT: Oh, well. Then I’m sorry.

ROBERT PUCKETT: I can’t run from it. I can’t…

LEONARD GILBERT: The name you mentioned –

ROBERT PUCKETT: I don’t think I’ll be needing your services after all, thank you.

LEONARD GILBERT (flabbergasted): What, what? But my pay?

ROBERT PUCKETT: Johnny will pay you at the door. Thank you.

LEONARD GILBERT: Oh. Well, then I helped.

ROBERT PUCKETT: No, this was a waste of time.

LEONARD GILBERT: Well, understandable. (Footsteps.) Desperate times and all that. Either way… it was lovely to meet you.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Please. (The door opens. Louder.) Johnny!

LEONARD GILBERT: Yes, well. Look, I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help. Honestly, if there was anyone that I… could, I… well. (He sighs.)

ROBERT PUCKETT: What? (‘Faroe’s Song’ starts.)

LEONARD GILBERT: That I could, that… you know. I may know someone. I worked with him on a case. A rather odd one he was investigating about a month or so ago. In fact… I think I still have his card here. (Sounds of rummaging.) Ah! Here.

ROBERT PUCKETT (reading): Arthur Lester. Private investigator.

LEONARD GILBERT: He only takes certain cases that fit his… specific requirements. But I’d be hard-pressed to find a more suitable case for his skills… than yours.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Is that so?

LEONARD GILBERT: Yes. If you’re desperate, give him a call. He may be exactly what you need.

ROBERT PUCKETT: Alright.

LEONARD GILBERT: But! Maybe don’t mention you’re one of Arkham’s crime bosses. (Footsteps.)

JOHNNY: Let’s go, Mystic.

LEONARD GILBERT: Oh! And, uh. Don’t mention my name.

(Footsteps. ‘Faroe’s Song’ begins again and plays in full.)

(END Overture.)