There wasn't much more Gehrman was able to glean from the people of Innsmouth after witnessing the Great Monsters.
It was as if, now that their guide had returned to the Fishing Hamlet he had become more lost in his own mind.
Now, Gehrman and Maria were walking away, his protegee kept a close and fierce eye on his every move.
"You disapprove of my actions," Gehrman said eventually. He kept his eyes straight ahead as they foraged onward, back to the forests where they would find a path, and then a carriage back to Yharnam.
Maria's eyes darted downwards and away.
"No Master, your reasoning was sound. I only…I don't see how we gained anything from this. All we did was lose the element of surprise and receive some nonsensical ramblings."
Gehrman was silent for a few seconds, trying to figure out how best to word his response.
"The loss of surprise is not entirely detrimental, nor is it truly gone forever. If we return just as peaceably, we may still have a great opportunity to strike," Gehrman paused and turned to look Maria in the eye. "And those ramblings were not complete nonsense. At the very least, they may have some knowledge hidden within them."
Maria frowned.
"Who could possibly-" then she cut herself off, blinking and letting out a disgruntled sigh. "Caryll."
A small knot Gehrman didn't know was squeezing his heart came undone at the casual mention of the great Runesmith's name.
He knew, of course, that logically she would still be alive in this Nightmare. But the image of her being shot down so unceremoniously in the last Nightmare, her eyes going lifeless before even hitting the floor.
But of course, the Nightmares were not connected to the same timeline, and even if they were, Caryll would have yet to die since they were now further in the past.
"Yes," Gehrman nodded. "If you don't mind, I'll make a stop at Brygenwerth before we report to Laurence."
…
"So there's this other Great One. Except it's greater than the Great Ones. And that thing created a Dream that is a copy of Yharnam. And this Great Great One managed to seal off the voices of the cosmos!? That makes perfect sense!"
Gehrman raised an eyebrow and dug through his memories.
"That's…exactly what you said in the other Nightmare," Gehrman said with a smile.
He had made it to Brygenwerth, and under instructions to fetch Master Willem, Maria had left him alone with Caryll.
There weren't many people he could trust in this Nightmare, but he firmly believed Caryll was one of them, maybe even the only one.
This genius could instantly understand and believe the impossible situation after all.
In order to not waste any time, Gehrman decided to quickly replay what happened to her in the last Nightmare.
Caryll nodded along to Gehrman's explanation. But at one point she stopped him.
"Wait, wait, did you say that I believed you before because the Great One's mutterings stopped? Like completely?"
Gehrman's brow rose.
"Yes? Though I was still able to commit some Runes to memory. You theorized that it was because they represented cosmic concepts not tied to any Great One. Such as the [Clockwise Metamorphosis Rune] and the [Eye] Rune."
"No, yeah that makes sense but," Caryll paused, her face scrunched in confusion. "I…still hear some mutterings. Not all of them, but there are a couple voices still rattling around in there."
Gehrman's heart nearly stopped in his chest.
The hair on his arms stood on end, scratching the inside of his coat and sending tremors of unease throughout him.
"That's…impossible. The Moon Presence is sealed within me. And the Ebrietas here is just a recreation, so-"
He stopped himself then.
Of course, there was one more. Another Great One whose level was on the theoretical level as The Moon Presence and the Greater Amygdala.
One whose form had been recreated perfectly.
Kos.
The corpse of the Great One had been recreated, that made sense. It didn't have to actually create a being on the level of Cursed or Unholy god.
But then, who was whispering to the abominations of the Fishing Hamlet.
Could the Spell have recreated Kos on a higher plane, or perhaps when the Nightmare started, The Moon Presence was able to create an error in the generation of the Nightmare, thus making it so the real Kos could infiltrate.
Though the Great One was "dead" both in Old Yharnam and here, she existed on multiple planes of existence, and could potentially project herself, or at least some of her essence into this Dream.
It was a radical thought, but it would explain the additional mutterings that only now just appeared.
Wait a moment.
Gehrman's eyes widened.
"Hey, if the Great Ones that relate to certain Runes are now here, wouldn't that mean more of the Caryll Runes will have an effect, not just the original three?"