RE: https://mstdn.social/@GreatOldBot/117481919058803450

Strangely enough the professor's personal ring had only one item attached to it, and I was soon to learn that it could serve as a kind of skeleton key which could unlock all the hitherto unknown mysteries of the universe, including even those secrets Man was never meant to know. The ring had affixed to it only one small strangely sculpted bit of grayish metal, and my mind recoiled in horror upon realization of that shape:

"4"

cc @GreatOldBot