I think that the setting affects the mood of the story because the setting is a dark place, so that also makes the mood quite shady. Normally Chris, Nora, and the others met up in the office, Hoff's office, to decipher the latin language in all of the letters that Hoff obsesses about. It was a dark office, it was in a church but there was nothing holy about it, there was an old couch in the corner too old for the grim reaper, and a desk at the other side of the room so full of stuff it was like nothing would ever overcome it.