SPOILERS BELOW - SPOILERS BELOW
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Sunday, Sept. 18
After the morning interview with Eric Ralston, the maimed survivor of the 1914 Chapel Raid, the investigators lunch and plan a shopping expedition.
The investigators purchase gasoline in a can, carbide lamps and extra flashlights, as well as shovels and other digging tools…
Research continues but an expedition up Red Rock Hill is put off till Dr. Marsh can obtain dynamite.
Monday, Sept. 19
Dr. Marsh obtains half a case of dynamite which he is assured is of good quality (apparently there were some “sweating” sticks, but the artillery Sgt. Got rid of those by tossing them over the Presidio cliffs into the sea). Included are blasting caps and all that is needed.
Sarah and Sophie have gotten more information out of their mound of books and notes.The two are attempting to figure out what Father Kolvenbach tried to use as a spell of Dismissal. It seems that the Father was placing faith born of desperation in his use of the Elder Sign, which does appear in some of the Dismissal and protective spells. The Elder Sign is occasionally referred to in the text in terms which suggest that it has great significance as a protective symbol. However – the Cultus Maleficarum (A translation or derivative work of the Necronomicon), which Kolvenbach did not have access to, presents what appears to be a spell to “render puissant” or“activate” “Ye Sign of the Elder Ones”. And the inescapable meaning is that the Elder Sign, absent a rather involved spell, may be no more potent than a copy of the Chapel’s triskelion as drawn by one of the investigators.
Unfortunately the language of the Cultus Maleficarum is elliptical, contains annoying apparent omissions… It’s not a bit like reading instructions translated and arranged by Father Kolvenbach.
Example from the text -
Capitulum xxxvi
Now, O Acolyte, ye friend of darknesse who have learnt ye these sekrets off our holie Order that ye may seek perfekt knowing of things forgot and forbade, may ye know the armour that shielde the seeker. Herewith Ye Signe of ye Elder Ones, howe it be mayde puissant.
With ye well known words of the Sage shalt thou begin. Thereafter, make certain purgations lest thy inward and outward meine make affront unto those forces needfully channeled. Next with beeswax, most pure, though there are sundry alternate material, render a solide yet malleable forme of fiste size to shew ye signe as drawne below. [A familiar image of the Elder Sign accompanies the text – this one the star with branchy thing in an ellipse] … Or, as maye be, this simpler forme shale suffice. [A drawing of the Elder Sign as a a simple seven branched “twig”]. A true Acolyte will knowe the better of the two or a third which must be found in the Booke known to hym.
That evening the investigators speak with Jessie Cook at the hospital. Cook tells them that he is going to have Det. Sgt. Gregory go back to the Gonzalez shack later in the evening and look for Hector. He has asked Gregory to cooperate with the investigators…
When the investigators contact Gregory, Sophie manages to use her charm to get him, more or less, on their side and they are allowed to follow along. Gregory has gotten a couple of young uniformed cops from the shotgun squad and the plan is for them to walk in from the west and be at the back door of the shack when he drives up and enter the front. The time is set for 9 o’clock exactly.
Everything goes as planned. The two shotgun squad officers are somewhat disturbed by the “devil worship” evidenced by the altar in the back room they enter through and there are signs that somesort of magic circle was being created in the main room. Jiman is cuffed, having apparently been engaged in carving a new stone disc . Tom and Dr. Marsh out back of the shack hear something. The pair and Gregory split up, going after someone who is moving about on the hill overlooking their position.
Meanwhile Sophie tries to question Jiman who is handcuffed in Det. Gregory’s car. This prompts responses, partly in Spanish and partly in English to the effect that his father is with Drood and that Drood will be back in a month… Jiman winds up by bitting his tongue or his lip and bleeding profusely.
Up on the hill, by the old brick works Marsh and Tom hunt an armed man wearing a trench coat… Inspector Gregory catches the man, who turns out to be a United Service op. assigned to bodyguard Jiman…
Jiman, bleeding all over himself, has been muttering something suspiciously like an incantation and Sophie is relieved when one of the shotgun squad officers whacks him in the head with his gun-butt.
It’s around this time that the tingling sensation, known to arise from an active triskelion symbol is felt on the hill and by Sarah, and later Sophie on the road. …Then Marsh finds himself unable to resist an influence which makes him try to shoot Tom. He is stopped by Gregory … Gregory recognizes the effect from the Chapel raid. As Gregory escorts the handcuffed PI down the path, Tom and Dr. Marsh discard their firearms and attempt to examine three large cylindrical constructions set in the ground as part of the brick making or quarrying apparatus. They discover a suspicious lock holding a lid on one of the… bins…
Everything is abandoned when Gregory shoots his prisoner dead –apparently against his will.
The retreat turns hasty. Sarah has already driven away to make a call to Jessie and she noted the dropping off, gradually, of the tingling effect… Now some minutes later the effect simply vanishes, as mysteriously as it began. Walter Gregory seems a bit distressed but the investigators agree to go along with his story that the prisoner got loose with a handcuff key secreted on his person and pulled a concealed gun (Gregory is carrying a second gun which seems well suited to this purpose…).
Tuesday, Sept. 20
A call from Walter Gregory brings the news that Jiman has been discovered to have triskelion tattoo on his chest… covered in the blood from the previous evening. Gregory, not any kind of fool, has checked the records on Hector Gonzalez. Since Gregory was not present when the elder Gonzalez was searched, he was unaware of the fact that he too had a triskelion tattoo on his chest… This may, somehow explain the mysterious escape of Hector Gonzalez
Tom and Dr. Marsh go up the hill during the day and manage to open the lid of the center bin in the old brick-works/quarry. The moving patch of black twenty-five feet down the shaft, thus revealed is merely rats… The creepy hollow voice barely audible from below is… unsettling… The fact that Tom is impelled, simultaneous with a renewal of the tingling, to attempt to brain Dr. Marsh with a crowbar, causes the two to abandon the investigation and leave… discussing, as they go, the certain danger of bringing dynamite near the place.
Bits of information suggest that Gray… (Well, the dead George Gray, anyway) had a means of protection from the mind controlling effect which the mysterious “D” was able to use. The effect seems to have been a spell of some sort, known also to a few of the other Chapel members.
Wednesday, Sept. 21
The investigators research the Gray Mansion at the corner of Pacific and Laguna. It turns out that the plans are available but, probably as a result of three separate renovations or modifications since the turn of the century, the basement plan is missing.
Surveillance of the house shows that Gray does come and go - not every day but in normal business hours when he does so. He has servants, including someone who appears to be a butler and they leave at night. Two United Service operatives patrol the property twenty-four hours a day… but with some degree of regularity.
Tom manages to pick the pocket of the butler for what seems to be the single important house key and the key is copied and returned without arousing suspicion.
Thursday, Sept. 22
Gray stays home. Plans are made…
Friday, Sept. 23
Gray is watched and that night, all proceeds as expected. Gray retires. The servants depart. The United Service men patrol.
And at 4Am on the morning of September 24, Tom slips in through the garage and into the basement.
The basement is clean and nicely wood paneled. Tom discovers a locked room which tturns out to contain, scrap wood , old furniture and some locked metal boxes, two of which seems to contain something heavy --- papers or (clink) gold coins. Another opens to reveal a fumbled shower of gems and jewelry… But this is not what Tom is looking for.
Tom discovers that the central bulk of the basement is inaccessible and searches out a secret door in, hidden by the paneling. Through considerable luck, Tom finds a key and enters the secret room.
The secret room contains:
• An unadorned altar
• A gong
• A floor painted with a very traditional looking magic circle
• A large bas relief of a squat toad-like, somewhat anthropomorphic figure
• A curtained wall featuring the familiar circle of symbols which appear to be a Gate – This one intentionally damaged.
No triskelion is in evidence.
There is a yellow draped table on which are found a number of objects:
• A large (pewter?) cup like the one found at the Gonzalez shack. This is also stained within and carries the stench of blood.
• A dagger, a small bell with what seems to be a plasticine handle and more plasticine within and a curious abstract-looking plaque of gold wires – about palm size.
• Various small pots of what might be sand or moss or ash… One vial is definitely that same Black Lotus powder which has turned up before.
• A small, red leather book. It is handwritten, and begins: “This book holds some of the works most likely of success for one of limited ability. If ever needful, Harold, do not seek to use any others. For needs not covered, speak with Drood. But never trust him fully.” Next Page”A sovereign protection against domination of the mind may be had through use of the device….” There are drawings of hand gestures, magic circles, and a figure which looks just like an odd, spherical iron cage.
• There is an artifact just like the one described above. The cage is about 6-8” in diameter and Tom removes from it and damages another of those small (1 ½”) stones with a triskelion etched into one face
• Under the table is a small wooden sea chest containing a hank of black hair and some oriental tissue paper which appears to have wrapped a missing object smaller than a shoe. There is also a sheet of paper dated Feb3 – 1881 or 2 on which is a drawing of a simple figure of an inverted L or broken C with a circle in it’s open end over a triangle. The circle is described in text as being “…a faceted semi-precious stone – green in color” The remaining text states: “This is the key to contacting those that are able to provide us access to almost unlimited knowledge and, therefore, almost unlimited power. The purchase or other acquisition of this artifact is paramount for with it D. may well be able to attain his purpose, and we, ours.”
Heavily burdened, Tom makes his escape
