Shades of Gray (audio story)

Shades of Gray was the sixty-first Bernice Summerfield audio story released by Big Finish Productions. It was the second story of the Legion series.

Publisher's summary
"They used to say this house attracts nothing but evil. What are we all doing here, I wonder?"

Many years ago, in an old and dilapidated house, a priceless and powerful artefact was hidden: an item that has long since been forgotten...at least until Bernice, Ruth and Jack were sent to collect it.

In the depths of Triptic House, Bernice and her friends find themselves at the mercy of an ancient and ruthless entity, one that has been yearning for escape, biding its time and going mad...

It has lived so very long now, with so many stories to share — tales of haunted mental institutions; tormented tapestries; living nightmares — and through each of them now, its stories shall be told. They shall be told, lived, suffered, shared...and ultimately, concluded.

Plot
Benny, Ruth and Jack arrive at the dilapidated Triptic House in a supposedly uninhabitable part of Legion in search of a work of art that Benny has been contracted to collect. In the basement, they find a hideous portrait which seems to be wet until Jack tastes the paint and realises that it is bleeding. He uses technology to release the brainwaves stored inside the portrait in a process that he likens to a séance, causing the stirred memories to pass through the three of them in turn.

Taking the role of Dr Hawk and Dr Warrilow respectively, Benny and Jack meet Dorian Gray and ask him to investigate a supposed ghost, Caitlin, whose place is taken by Ruth. Dorian works out that Caitlin was the imaginary friend of the cell's former occupant and that Caitlin made her commit suicide so that she could live. She tells Dorian that somebody is coming for him and that he ought to run; he does so and tells Hawk and Warillow to stay on Caitlin's good side in order to survive but, after he leaves, Caitlin's new friend kills the two doctors.

In another memory, Benny is Jennifer Alford, an art dealer, who declines to sell a tapestry to Dorian. He is insistent, however, and returns day after day with an offer to buy it until she shows him to her private collection. He tells her that the tapestry has been absorbing the souls of the dead, but she says that she does not believe it and locks him in, revealing that she is a con artist and that the collection belongs to somebody else. A collector pays her for her services and warns her that Dorian, whom he once made a deal with, will be coming after her. Days later, after the collector has stolen Dorian's portrait from his home, Dorian returns to the art dealership and is told by Sam, whose role is taken by Ruth, that Jennifer has died. He notices her likeness in the tapestry.

In a third memory, Jack is Spencer Price, Dorian's lover. He has a dream in which he is lured by a voice to Dorian and his portrait and is strangled by him. At a party, he is possessed by the collector, who has been haunting his dreams and is finally escaping, and Dorian kills him to keep the collector being permanently taking his body.

Benny, Ruth and Jack awaken and find Dorian with them. He reveals that he is the one who contracted Benny to recover the portrait and explains that it is hideous because it has been ageing instead of him. After telling Ruth that he knew her before she was remapped and that she was both "revered and reviled", he asks her, Benny and Jack to leave him alone with his thoughts.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * Ruth - Ayesha Antoine
 * Jack - David Ames
 * The Collector - Richard Franklin
 * Dorian Gray - Alexander Vlahos

Worldbuilding

 * Benny did not ask Peter to join her, Ruth and Jack.
 * Rumblings have been heard in the Charybdis Cluster Spiral about Triptic House.
 * Jack finds wine in the basement.
 * Amelia Blythe, also known as Millie, has died.
 * Isabella Klemp was a cell mate of Blythe's. She died a fortnight after Caitlin told her her name.
 * Dr Kristoff works at the hospital.
 * The tapestry was commissioned by Lord Elliot Marwick in 1759.
 * Sam works at the art dealership.
 * Victoria taught Dorian to love life.
 * Elizabeth Winthrop is a friend of Victoria's.

Continuity

 * Ruth mentions Antonio. (AUDIO: Vesuvius Falling)
 * Benny exists as both the start and end of time. (AUDIO: Judgement Day)