The Mystery of the Twice-Dead Professor!

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The Mystery of the Twice-Dead Professor! was a virtual representation of one of Jacob and Evie Frye's genetic memories, relived by a Helix initiate in 2015 through the Helix Navigator.

Description

Jacob or Evie met with Arthur Conan Doyle and Henry Raymond in the Strand, where they were presented with another murder case.

Dialogue

• Henry: Here's an especially exciting one! Perfect for a penny dreadful!
• Arthur: A famous professor dies twice!
• Henry: That's once more than usual! Twice as many sales! My name will soon be known across the nation!

Jacob or Evie started their investigation.

Interrogations

Byng's home

• Emmett (Byng): It's unthinkable. Such a great man. We were still in mourning from the burial! He was buried yesterday in the family plot.
• Emmett (crate): My father was an eminent anthropologist and something of an explorer. He made his name by investigating the practices of a small village in the Congo. His colleagues at the university often send him trinkets from abroad.
• Emmett (will): This is no time to talk about the will! It is true that my father and my fiancée didn't get on, but I'm confident that once he got to know her as a daughter-in-law, they would have become friends.
• Angela (Byng): It's so very awful! The Professor died of a heart attack just days ago. Then tonight I hear poundin' at the door! I open it to find him bleedin' and in pain! He tried to say somethin' then collapsed dead. Again!
• Angela (crate): He got that a few days ago. Inside was a statue. I thought it was a marvel, but he told me it was quite common. I dunno who sent it.
• Angela (spider): Spider? Best get that out of here. Emmett is deadly afraid of spiders.
• Angela (last words): He kept repeating, "bah kesso, bah kesso." Over and over. What does it mean?

Cemetery

• Beswick (Byng): He showed up again? First time that's happened in thirty-five years of gravediggin'!
• Beswick (tomb): I saw the son lock the tomb meself.
• Beswick (money): It's plain that seven guineas is a lot for a bloke like me. I'm careful with me pennies and save for a rainy day.
• Beswick (grave robbery): Body snatching? That is an insult. I'd be in the slammer quick as that if I got caught.
• Beswick (body-snatching proven): So I sell a body or two on the side—man's gotta eat, ain't he? I broke the lock and left him on a barrow just behind his tomb. Was dark, couldn't really see, but some fella come by and carted the ol' professor off. It's muddy back there, you can likely still see the tracks.

University

• Silas (Byng): The anthropological sciences have lost a great mind. He revolutionized the field. It is my fond hope that I may inherit his mantle.
• Silas (Byng's book): Which one is that? Sorry, difficult to read. I've lost my spectacles somewhere.
• Silas (travels): I recently traveled to Africa in order to continue studies on the indigenous tribe Professor Byng discovered some time ago.
• Wilson (Byng): An eminent colleague. He wrote prolifically—probably no one will ever amass the amount of knowledge he acquired.
• Wilson (empty box): I'm most vexed about that! A rare specimen of the sort I've been studying for years. It escaped a few days ago, no doubt due to that scatter-brained assistant, Virginia.
• Wilson (spider): My thesis subject. My South American colleagues tell me that this particular arachnid is only found in the Bolivian Andes. Fascinating subject.
• Virginia (Byng): A lovely man. And quite wealthy! I only wish he had lived to bless my alliance with his son.
• Virginia (will): I'm sorry to hear about that. Do you know whether that change was actually made?
• Virginia (handkerchief): Yes, that's mine. I misplaced a similar one, possibly at the funeral. I was so upset.
• Virginia (receipt): I hoped you wouldn't find that. I'm afraid several of the faculty purchase cadavers for research purposes. It's a fact of university life.

Clues

Byng's home

The African sculpture

• Dead spider – A large distinctive spider, curled up in death.
• Prof. Byng's body – The body shows evidence of having been in a terrible struggle. There is a deep cut to the forehead that appears to be surgical: the cut goes into the skull itself.
• Crate – An open wooden crate, shipped from within London. It is clearly marked: "To be opened only by Prof. Byng personally".
• Sculpture – An intricately carved sculpture evidently of African origin. There is a small recess where something could have been hidden.

Personal letter

My dearest love. I do not understand your father's antipathy towards me. I fear that he will take steps to disrupt our engagement. Please obtain his assurances that, no matter if you marry me or no, he will render you your due when the time comes. – Your betrothed, Virginia

• Legal letter – A recent letter to Prof. Byng from his attorney.

Legal letter

My dear Byng, I can certainly amend your will to discourage the marriage of your son with the young lady in question. An annual allowance that will be suspended in the event of such a marriage should serve the purpose. If, as you suspect, she is driven by love of money, such a provision should considerably dampen her ardor for your son.

Letter from colleague

Esteemed Prof. Byng. My research trip has been a great success. I have been able to verify personally several of the unusual customs that you chronicled in your brilliant book. Once again I am humbled by your genius. – Prof. Silas.

• 
  Prof. Byng's body
• 
  Personal letter
• 
  Sculpture
• 
  Legal letter
• 
  Dead spider
• 
  Letter from colleague
• 
  Crate

Cemetery

The broken vault

• Byng family vault – The lock is broken. The door is ajar. Prof. Byng's casket is empty.
• Gravedigger's coat – An old, worn coat. One pocket contains a crumpled note: "Here's the sum agreed upon for last night's transaction."
• Handkerchief – A lace handkerchief with red embroidery.
• Money – Seven pounds sterling.

• 
  Gravedigger's coat
• 
  Byng family vault
• 
  Handkerchief
• 
  Money

University

• Book written by Prof. Byng – "The Intriguing Customs of Deepest Africa." An entire chapter is torn from it.
• Bookcase – A well-stocked library of anthropological books. A significant number of them are by Prof. Byng, all well-thumbed.
• Treatise by Prof. Wilson – On the topic of an unusual Bolivian spider. One passage notes that the venom "produces a state resembling death" and that "some Andean tribes use the venom during a rite of passage in which initiate boys experience a symbolic death lasting two or three days."
• Small box – An empty box labeled Arachnid Harpadectus.
• Spider illustration – An illustration of a spider resembling the dead spider found in the Byng home. A note describes it as a rare spider found in Bolivia whose venom is a strong tranquilizer.
• Pedestal – A pedestal with nothing on it. However, on a descriptive label is written: "Bagesu tribal mask: a jackal."
• Handkerchief – A lace handkerchief with red embroidery.
• Receipt – A suspiciously non-descript receipt for seven pounds.

• 
  Book written by Prof. Byng
• 
  Bookcase
• 
  Treatise by Prof. Wilson
• 
  Small box
• 
  Pedestal
• 
  Spider illustration
• 
  Receipt
• 
  Handkerchief

Abandoned house

• Mask – A wooden, carved mask of a jackal.
• Ashes – A small pile of cold ashes giving off a perfumed odor.
• Tools – Includes a saw and a small hammer. The saw is bloody.
• Ripped chapter – An entire chapter ripped from Prof. Byng's book, "The Intriguing Customs of Deepest Africa." The chapter describes an ancient custom whereby members of the Bagesu tribe ceremonially ingest the living brains of respected elders in order to obtain the knowledge of that elder.
• Single page – A single page torn from a book on the Bagesu tribe. It describes ceremonial rituals involving sacred masks, incense and chanting.
• Spectacles – Standard eyeglasses, broken in two.

• 
  Tools
• 
  Single page
• 
  Ripped chapter
• 
  Ashes
• 
  Mask
• 
  Spectacles

Dialogue

Silas being arrested

Professor Silas was accused of the murder.

• Silas: I required his knowledge in order to become the greatest anthropologist in the British Empire! And his beloved tribe of savages provided the method.
• Arthur: That Professor Silas was particularly cunning and gruesome. Mr. Raymond will be thrilled!

Outcome

Spoiler

The murderer was Professor Silas, who wanted to gain the victim's knowledge through an ancient ritual which involved eating his brain. Case Summary The esteemed Professor Byng was the victim of a diabolical plot confected by his colleague and erstwhile acolyte, Professor Silas. Using a powerful spider venom, Silas put his mentor into a deep coma. He went so far as to attempt to eat Byng's brains in an effort to ingest his knowledge! All this was inspired by the very African tribe Professor Byng had himself discovered. No doubt Silas's mind was unbalanced, as he believed he would surpass all anthropologists by absorbing his mentor's cerebrum. Rest in peace, Professor Byng; The Royal Anthropological Society mourns your passing. – Henry Raymond

Behind the scenes

Despite following the conventional binomial nomenclature for taxonomies, the species Harpadectus does not exist in the class Arachnida.

References

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate – The Dreadful Crimes