Cherub murders Longfoot for Avery’s gold
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Cherub, failing to get the information about Avery's gold from the dying Longfoot, decides to pursue the Doctor, believing he now possesses the knowledge they seek.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
A mix of defiance, fear, and resignation—knowing his past has caught up with him but refusing to yield to Cherub’s demands. His final curse is laced with venom, but there’s also a sense of tragic acceptance.
Longfoot emerges from the crypt drunkenly, initially rambling to himself, but quickly sobers as he realizes Cherub is present. He defiantly rejects his pirate past, insisting he is now a 'Christian man' and churchwarden. When Cherub presses him for the location of Avery’s gold, Longfoot refuses, calling it cursed and denying any involvement. His attempt to reach for his flintlock pistol is thwarted by Cherub’s knife, which strikes him fatally in the back. As he dies, he curses Cherub, but his secrets—including the one he whispered to the Doctor—die with him.
- • To protect the secret of Avery’s gold (even at the cost of his life)
- • To distance himself from his pirate past and maintain his churchwarden identity
- • That Avery’s gold is cursed and should never be found (superstitious but sincere)
- • That his whispered secret to the Doctor is safe (a fatal miscalculation)
Coldly aggressive, with a undercurrent of impatience. He derives satisfaction from Longfoot’s suffering but remains focused on his mission—finding Avery’s gold at any cost.
Cherub enters the vestry as a predator, his demeanor calm but his intent lethal. He taunts Longfoot with memories of their pirate days, invoking Captain Pike’s authority to demand the location of Avery’s gold. When Longfoot resists, Cherub’s patience wears thin, and he accuses him of betrayal, suggesting Longfoot may have shared the secret with the Doctor. His knife finds its mark with deadly accuracy, silencing Longfoot permanently. With Longfoot dead, Cherub shifts his focus to the Doctor, vowing to 'get his hooks into him' next.
- • To extract the location of Avery’s gold from Longfoot (or kill him if he refuses)
- • To eliminate any threats to the *Black Albatross*’s claim to the treasure (including Longfoot and now the Doctor)
- • That the treasure is rightfully theirs by pirate code (no room for curses or morality)
- • That Longfoot’s secret is the key to finding the gold (and now believes the Doctor holds it)
Unaware of the danger closing in (off-screen), but his earlier interaction with Longfoot has now made him a marked man in Cherub’s eyes.
The Doctor is not physically present in this event but is indirectly central to its outcome. Longfoot’s dying interaction with Cherub reveals that he had whispered a secret to the Doctor earlier, making the Doctor the unwitting next target in Cherub’s ruthless pursuit of Avery’s gold. The Doctor’s accidental involvement in the pirates’ conflict is solidified here, setting up his forced role in the treasure’s mystery.
- • To escape 17th-century Cornwall unnoticed (unaware this is now impossible)
- • To protect Ben and Polly from the escalating pirate threat (implicit)
- • That his interactions with locals are temporary and inconsequential (misguided)
- • That historical conflicts can be observed from a distance without personal risk (naïve)
Not present physically, but his influence is felt through Cherub’s actions and threats. His authority looms over the scene, driving Cherub’s violence.
Cherub is the only physical participant in this event, but his actions and dialogue implicitly reference Captain Pike and the Black Albatross crew. He speaks with Pike’s authority, threatening Longfoot with Pike’s wrath and implying the crew’s collective obsession with the treasure. His violence is not just personal but an extension of the crew’s ruthless methods.
- • To reclaim Avery’s gold for the *Black Albatross* (through Cherub’s actions)
- • To eliminate anyone who stands in the way of the crew’s claim (Longfoot, and now the Doctor)
- • That the treasure is rightfully theirs and must be reclaimed at any cost
- • That curses are superstitions that shouldn’t stand in the way of pirate justice
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Avery’s gold is the unseen but all-consuming force driving this event. Though never physically present, its legend looms over the confrontation between Cherub and Longfoot. The gold’s curse is invoked as a reason for Longfoot’s refusal to cooperate, while Cherub dismisses it as superstition, insisting the treasure is 'rights' by pirate code. The object’s absence makes it more potent—its location is the secret Longfoot dies protecting, and its pursuit is what shifts Cherub’s violent focus onto the Doctor. The gold is both a macguffin and a moral compass, testing the characters’ loyalties and fears.
Cherub’s long knife is the instrument of Longfoot’s death, hurled with lethal precision as Longfoot lunges for his pistol. The knife’s sudden appearance—drawn from Cherub’s belt and thrown in a single, fluid motion—embodies the pirate’s ruthlessness. Its burial in Longfoot’s back is both a physical and symbolic act: it silences him permanently and shifts the narrative’s focus to the Doctor, who now holds the secret Cherub seeks. The knife’s role is purely functional, yet it carries the weight of the pirates’ curse and the inevitability of violence in their world.
Longfoot’s flintlock pistol serves as a symbol of his dual identity—churchwarden by day, former pirate by night. He reaches for it in a desperate attempt to defend himself against Cherub, but the pistol remains unused. Its presence underscores the tension between Longfoot’s past and present, as well as his inability to escape his violent history. The pistol’s failure to save him highlights the futility of his defiance and the inevitability of his fate.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The church vestry serves as a battleground for the clash between Longfoot’s past and present. Its dim, musty confines—once a sanctuary for a man trying to escape his sins—become the site of his violent end. The vestry’s sacred symbolism is perverted by the act of murder, turning a place of reflection into a tomb. The location’s atmosphere is thick with tension, the air heavy with the scent of liquor (from Longfoot’s crypt refuge) and the metallic tang of blood. The vestry’s role as a threshold between the church and the crypt below mirrors Longfoot’s own liminal existence—caught between redemption and damnation.
The church crypt is Longfoot’s hidden refuge, a place where he can drink and ruminate on his past in private. Though he emerges from it drunkenly at the start of the event, the crypt’s role is largely symbolic—it represents the secrets Longfoot has buried, both literally (the treasure’s location) and metaphorically (his pirate identity). The crypt’s darkness and isolation mirror Longfoot’s internal struggle, but its physical presence in the scene is fleeting. By the time of his death, the crypt is already a relic of his failed escape from his past.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Black Albatross crew is the driving force behind this event, even though only Cherub is physically present. Their influence is felt through Cherub’s threats, his invocation of Captain Pike’s authority, and his ruthless methods. The crew’s obsession with Avery’s gold is the catalyst for Longfoot’s murder, and their collective greed ensures that the violence will not end with his death. The organization’s power dynamics are clear: Pike’s word is law, and Cherub is his loyal enforcer, willing to kill to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs. The crew’s internal dynamics—loyalty, betrayal, and the curse of the treasure—are all on display in this event, even if only indirectly.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"A dangerous figure appears and enters the church vestry. This causes Longfoot to be confronted and questioned about Avery's gold."
Longfoot’s cryptic warning and the Deadman’s Key"A dangerous figure appears and enters the church vestry. This causes Longfoot to be confronted and questioned about Avery's gold."
Assassin enters church after Longfoot’s warning"Both Longfoot and the Doctor are questioned about Avery in the vestsry (07a835efda93a5c3 & 62f2f0559ce94215)."
Longfoot warns of Avery’s lingering threat"Both Longfoot and the Doctor are questioned about Avery in the vestsry (07a835efda93a5c3 & 62f2f0559ce94215)."
Longfoot’s fear exposed and fragile truce formed"Both Longfoot and the Doctor are questioned about Avery in the vestsry (07a835efda93a5c3 & 62f2f0559ce94215)."
Longfoot warns of rising tideThemes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"CHERUB: It's nice to see an old shipmate again, eh, Joe? We had good times aboard the Albatross when you was mate, ay?"
"LONGFOOT: I got naught what his. If you ain't got it, you knows it's whereabouts. Avery's gold."
"CHERUB: Where's your friends now, eh? Gone? The old man and his two lads. What does he know, ay?"
"LONGFOOT: (dying) Avery's curse on you, you black villain."
"CHERUB: Speak, damn your eyes! It wouldn't be like you to go to Davy Jones' silent, matey. So I reckon we best get on to that old fella and get our hooks into him."