Thomas Villiers

This English artist was encountered in Milan, where he had travelled with his friend Malcolm Quarrie to join the Brothers of the Yellow Sign after they both left Lawrence Bacon's circle in the aftermath of events at Springer Mound.

• Encountered at the offices of Giuseppe Colombo, Villiers was initially very forthcoming with information and explained the strange theology of the Brotherhood to the investigators.
• He took them back to his studio, where they saw his disturbingly dark abstract paintings, and he offered them all drinks. Then, inexplicably, Villiers mood changed. He seemed to realise that the investigators were not his friends and so he unleashed a bound Byakhee upon them.
• The Byakhee slew Dr. Bartlett as Villiers fled.
• The police were hunting Villiers for the murder of Bartlett when they found his body floating in the canal 24 hours later. He had either jumped, or fallen, or been pushed.
• Notes for an unpainted tryptich depicting the Hasturian Trinity were discovered in his studio, and these notes were a major lead pointing to the true destination of Quarrie's expedition as the kingdom of Mustang.