Torg literally said he locked the door when they were watching him leave before. How the heck have they not even looked for a key in his dust yet?

Anyway, dollars to donuts Meander just got herself locked in a room with the Ferryman and if both of the people in there with her aren't already possessed, I reckon the other one's about to be shortly.

Whoa. Totally missed the obvious in favor of conjecture -- thanks for setting me straight! :D

Back to Meander... I'm pretty concerned about what just happened. It seems like a variation on several con strategies.

Of course Pete could be about to pull a fast one on us, based on our suspicions so far... but this does look bad.

Came out of lurking to share my big theory: manifestors don’t necessarily have to manifest as people. What if the *whole house* is the Ferryman? That might explain why the doors and windows are behaving so weirdly without a visible spell circle, as well as why we’re having trouble pinning down who the ferryman must be: Meander, Torg et al keep looking at people and not at what has always been there every cycle: the house itself.

I had wondered if the record player was the manifestation (due to the Charon icon on it, playing vinyl techno Nickleback, and scratching/stopping on its own) but that seems less likely to me now that we’re seeing more decorations involving Charon in the hotel room in the latest strip.

Interesting theory, but it seemed to me the Ferryman, was the demon who was possessing the guy who fell in dust once he was free.

Not likely. He left before people were possessed or at least it seemed that way. And Zoe didn't think it was the ferryman either. Also, the Intel could be faulty, but it said that the ferryman gets a new host each time, and presumably the ferryman has to go somewhere to pick up more demons. Seems like that dusted guy was probably possessed for ages. Probably through multiple trips of the ferryman. My guess is he was more like a facilitator for the ferryman.

I agree. Also, the demon that possessed the old guy did not have a very "ornate" border in the Book of Ughlëë, suggesting (s)he was a relatively low-rank demon.

I'm just putting it out there that I'm still not convinced neither of them in that room with Meander is possessed and they may just be pumping her for information to find out exactly how much she knows, what she can tell them about the people outside who they may or may not have witnessed exorcising a demon and putting him into a book (probably not, but who knows what kind of eyes the demons might have), and what buttons to push to torture her. It was pretty clear even before they got her there in the room that Meander knew more about what was going on than your typical partygoer and probably enough to make the demons uncomfortable, so it makes sense that they would want to figure out exactly how much and how she knows what she does before they spring the trap.

I also got odd vibes from the conversation today. And I'm wondering if Meander is the Ferryman. She still seems connected to the demonic ...

Well, that would be an insane twist.

I'm gonna guess Meander's dialogue gave a hint about how she knew. I spec that Meander has been left with a sort of demondar that manifests as a buzzing sound.

That was my guess too. Her demon sens was tingling.

I almost posted this in reactions because it's "just" stating things that have happened already, but let's just play this definitely fair.

So, about how Meander knew Brielle was possessed.

There might be other factors, but this is something we can see. Meander never said they will end up possessed or sacrificed. Specifically, she didn't mention the sacrifice part.

Good catch!

Ok, for an even kookier theory- what if Ferryman is a play on words or mistranscribed,, and the creature bringing demons from the other side is actually a Faerie Man (I.e. a fae creature like the mushroom dryad?). Maybe Symachus is involved in his role as Lord Ebon? And that’s the reason the magic around the house isn’t working as expected

Well spotted.