Some time after the incident with the Mahogany automatons, Jago and Litefoot get caught up in another mystery. A group of soldiers, returning from the Indian subcontinent, face some trouble with their captain, who has been infected with lycanthropy. One of these soldiers contacts Jago and promises him an sideshow attraction more lucrative than anything else England has ever seen. Jago is wary of the proposal, especially considering the man demands money upfront and will only show his elusive creature in a back alley behind King's Cross. But, after Jago asks Litefoot to possibly fund the project, neither man can set aside their curiosity and they decide to take a look. Litefoot had recently been presented with the confounding case of a man drained entirely of blood, and becomes eager to see what manner of low-lives might be roaming around in London at present.
The sideshow "monster" does indeed turn out to be the captain, infected with lycanthropy (through a scratch) and chained up by one of his soldiers. Another soldier, the brother of barmaid Ellie, valiantly fights his captain, but is bitten by him and rapidly begins to transform as well. Jago is forced to put the man out of his mysery and has a brief Heroic BSoD. When the man is returned to his natural form upon dying, Jago and Litefoot vow to never tell Ellie what had happened to her brother, and to hail him as a hero who fought bravely against his rabid captain. Intimately involved with it all, though, appears to be once again the mysterious Hollander, Dr. Tulp.
Tropes:
- Breakout Character: After one Companion Chronicle, this was the first episode of the Jago and Litefoot spinoff series.
- The Bus Came Back: PC Quick from "The Talons Of Weng-Chiang" is back! With a Rank Up! And still played by the same actor!
- Drowning My Sorrows
- Gothic Horror: Good old-fashioned classic Gothic Horror.
- Manly Tears: Jago has a lot more trouble coping with death than Litefoot does.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: They're from India.
