Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the Adventures of the Nth Doctor! I'm going to try and create a schedule of publishing the parts soon, but until then I hope you stick with it. Make sure you follow the story if you really like it, review it so I can make it all the better, and enjoy THE ASSEMBLY OF PHANTASMS!

If Edgar Allan Poe was being honest with himself, he was quite sick of people coming to him with their ghost stories.

Every day someone new would come onto his doorstep, complaining of orangutans and other anomalies that they expected him to solve. They would plead with him to contact his creation, C. Auguste Dupin and solve the mystery. Every day he would turn them away.

"Go away, I am very busy," he would say not too politely, his cold eyes bearing deep into the soul of the demander enough to make them scamper away. He gained quite a reputation from that.

However, one day someone came to him with a rather intriguing proposition.

"You are familiar with Castle Island, yes?" the person asked, prompting Poe to nod solemnly.

"Yes, I served at Fort Independence on the island when I was enlisted. I hated it there," he replied gruffly. The person grew nervous, unaware that Poe hated most places he had been to.

"Well, there are rumors, stories of an unknown evil plaguing the fort. A terror to rival your stories." Poe looked the man over contemptuously. There was no evil that could match his pen. He was incensed.

"I don't believe you," he said pointedly, taking the nearby bottle of whiskey and pouring himself a glass. The visitor looked longingly at the bottle, but Poe did not offer him any.

"We will pay you handsomely to come and see for yourself," the man desperately added. Poe took a swig from his glass, sighed, and looked at the man.

"You're lucky I'm currently bored."

Soon Poe found himself back on the island he had considered his prison, the island that had actually served as inspiration of The Cask of Amontillado when he heard stories of an officer who was walled up in the fort. He looked over the stone walled structure with absolute disdain, why did he agree to come here.

"The spirit usually resides in the supply shed," the man yelled over the wind from the sea, and Poe allowed him to lead the way. As he made his way into the fort, he noticed the strange lack of life besides their own within. This was supposed to be an active fort; why were there no guards stationed at the entrance? Someone should have noticed their presence and stopped them, and yet no challengers approached them.

"In here," the man said, holding open the door to the shed. Poe stared at the man, who looked nervous and yet strangely gleeful as he gestured inside. Poe walked into the shed, immediately taken aback by the coldness that resided within.

He searched for a lamp, hoping to shed some light in the shed, but found nothing. However, he noticed a strange ambient light was allowing perfect vision within the supposedly dark room.

The door slammed shut behind him, and Poe ran to it and found it still unlocked. The man was nowhere in sight, having fled the scene. He gave a silent curse at his foolishness; of course there wasn't a spirit here. It was another prank by a young fool hoping to tell a tale about the time he trumped the great mystery writer. He was about to leave when he felt a cold dread clench his heart. He turned around, and saw a looming figure appear from nowhere.

The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. His vesture was dabbled in blood -and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

"The Red Death," Poe whispered, as he turned to run from the shed. The figure followed him, slowly but menacingly. As he looked back at his creation come to life, he tripped and fell, hitting the ground with enough force to daze him.

"Well, I think I need to procure some help in this case," he said dazedly as he thought of the one man who could save him.