Ghouls of the Miskatonic/Chapter 4

Arkham. Professor Oliver Grayson is delivering a lecture on Polynesian Anthropology at Miskatonic University. He delves into the concept of shamans, present in many primal tribes, who seemingly possessed knowledge of a "sea devil" inhabiting a sunken city. Oliver explains that while some shamans sought to prevent this entity from rising to the surface, other shamans actively attempted to summon it. He also recounts the mystical disappearance of the Yopasi tribe, a subject he had studied for years, whose vanishing had tragically halted his research and publication efforts. After the conclusion of the class, Amanda Sharpe, one of his students, approaches him, claiming to have seen the sunken city.

East River Shipyard. Charles Warren, one of the overseers of the DVC Matilda Rose deepwater vessel, is furious. He has received news of the theft of an item identified as "the Traveler's Device". The loss of the device seemingly renders the entire construction vessel useless for its intended purpose.

Back at the university, Amanda details her recurring nightmares to Oliver where she has seen the sunken city. When asked to describe it, she tells of massive, faceless statues. Oliver shows her sketches of the statues, made by an Yopasi shaman, which matches Amanda’s description. When asked of the beginning of her dreams. Amanda explains that they began after she got lost in the University at the start of the semester while looking for his class. She stumbled upon a particularly disturbing painting of the sea, with the nightmares commencing soon after. Oliver reveals that the painting was drawn by David Rosen, the university's "artist-in-residence," who started exhibiting strange behavior years ago and produced many unsettling canvases. Amanda shares a growing sense that she is being watched, and Oliver reassures her, promising to help her the best he can.