My Dearest Evilyn,

My return to Arkham was long overdue. The cobblestone streets and aging, weatherworn brownstones of Miskatonic were a most welcome sight. Sadly, your sunlit face and starlit eyes were not there to greet me. I still miss you horribly.

Several months of papers and study awaited me, amidst the research that burdened me from the expedition to Tejas. We found what we had been searching for, but lost it to Alice, my fractured, ill sister. I am confident that we will recover it, as she will surely be on our trail to recover the next artifact. It is my intention to lay a trap for her with myself as the bait. This will take steel and fortitude the likes of which I haven’t had for a century. I pray I am steady at the mast and I do not falter.

I have labored earnestly for several months, for myself and my travelling companions – nay, dare I say friends – so that we may be better prepared for the next expedition to the Amazon Basin.

We have been tested and come out stronger and hale as ever – those of us that have survived. The count of those lost in our endeavors has risen rapidly, and I fear this next expedition will be yet another sore trial, for all of us.

We will discover this presently when I meet my friends in Brazil.

Sincerely yours, Craven Nathaniel Stirge