January 31, 1965 - February 5, 1965
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Sunday, January 31th, 1965
Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into with the Promethean Foundation and all of these white people. The day started off strange and only got worse as the hours ticked by. Early in the morning, there was an earthquake, but I managed to go back to sleep after it subsided. We received a phone call from Kuranes a few hours later, a phone call from Kuranes. This guy never used the phone and always used magical communication. That was the first tip-off that something odd was afoot. It turned out he was in Bishop, California, and wanted us to come pick him up in a car. I found it strange that he did not simply teleport back, so I decided instead of spending hours in a car to just transport myself to Bishop and find out what was going on.
Kuranes was at a farmhouse having breakfast with a local family. The family members were preparing for church. Kuranes was eating. I was invited to breakfast and accepted, being sure to stash a biscuit for Genda. After we ate, Kuranes and I made our way off the farm and into a copse of trees. I took a few minutes to recuperate my energy then sent Kuranes to the beacon by the pool in the Alden House. I soon followed. We both made it home safely. We inquired with Kuranes what had happened, but he was vague. It seemed that something had gone awry with his induction, but I don't know what happened. Genda informed me, too, that Kuranes had arrived back home with some sort of spiritual companion. I said he always had a spiritual companion - that strange little monster that lurks around invisibly - but Genda indicated it was a different spirit this time, that the other creature was not present with him.
In the late morning we received a phone call from someone affiliated with Anaximander. He had a package for it. Elaine took the call then later took delivery of the package, a book of maps. The book was magical and had powers useful to us, powers that could help us learn about random places that we might end up, and also locate people of interest to us. Anaximander did assure us, however, that it could not be used to find him. That's not surprising, especially seeing as how he likes to hide out in magically void spaces. Right around the time the book arrived, we had a meeting in the library. Kuranes confessed to us, upon some prompting from Genda, that, in fact, Kuranes was a spirit entity that had somehow merged with Chet. Chet and Kuranes were two entities all along, two minds, but they had somehow been separated during his induction ceremony (or so I speculate). It makes sense now that Kuranes's mind and magical abilities always seemed so vast; he was two people in one! I must admit that now it all seems a little less impressive. The Kuranes spirit is evidently some entity from the Dreamlands, perhaps even the regent of a domain. He claimed to be the creator and ruler of some sort of Cloud City. I didn't exactly follow where.
While this was interesting to learn, what came next was disturbing. Apparently Kuranes, in his time away, had learned that one Xavier Hellestromme had raised an army of demons and invaded the Dreamlands. We could not guess his precise purpose, but does it matter? A deranged mage and an army of demons anywhere is not a good thing, and if he can use the Dreamlands as a cosmic nexus to reach into other realms - our own included - that just makes matters worse. We decided that we would need to find help dealing with this problem, that we would not be able to deal with him on our own. The others felt that Marjorie and her magical child may be relevant to stopping Hellestromme, but Marjorie has made it clear time and again that she has no interest in Hellestromme, so I don't know if we can rely on her. I know the real answer to the Hellestromme problem, and the answer is Kitab al-Babi. I will need to redouble my efforts in deciphering it.
I took it upon myself to return to the Pasadena Mystery House to speak with the entity there. I wanted to discern if it would have any interest in helping deal with the threat in the Dreamlands or in seizing power from Hellestromme in the Abyss. It gave no response. Whatever its motivations, they are alien to our world and perhaps even to our entire understanding of everything. For all I know, the Abyss and Dreamlands are meaningless to it. It was a longshot, but one I thought worth pursuing. I should note that on my way out to the house, I ran into Holmes in the garden. He was out there meditating and performing some magic rituals. He ended up being out there most of the day, distant and not quite himself. It only made the day all the stranger to have him out there doing that.
Shortly after our meeting in the library, Kuranes and/or Chet invited Gardner Graves over to the house, unbeknownst to the rest of us. Mr. Graves arrived while I was preparing lunch. I made us a small feast of Indian food and noodles. I never knew it before, but bhindi and chow mein go together well. And, of course, samosas are good with anything!
Mr. Graves joined us for lunch. He was guarded, and seemed a bit paranoid. He took to drinking a fair amount during his visit. He would not offer up much information about what had happened to Kuranes or who he was working with in the Choronzon Club or anything else, except that he was apparently ousted from the Choronzons. He was similarly unhelpful about giving us information we could use about the Red Hand. It's quite possible he actually knows who their leader is, a potential weak point that we could exploit. He indicated he was going to find a different residence. It sounded like he had intentions of going underground, and keeping low.
After he left we got in touch with Marjorie. She and Genda spoke for a while on the phone, and she agreed to come over to the Alden House in the afternoon. She arrived about a half hour late, as expected. She was standoffish and arrogant, also as expected. She was dismissive of the threat that Hellestromme posed. All this time we have known that Hellestromme could not just be discounted, yet everyone we ever run into seems to think he is inconsequential. A guy like Hellestromme is never inconsequential, no matter what form he takes, and no matter what plane he is in. No matter what, as long as he is alive in some form in some place and still has access to his magic, he is a threat and always will be. Why everyone is so smug about how he does not matter is beyond me. All the while that they were blithely going about their business thinking that he would not be a problem for them ever again, he was plotting against our entire realm of existence. I am prepared to go to the Dreamlands and battle these demons one-by-one if needed, but it could be that Marjorie's child presents an alternative. We agreed to conduct the ceremony tomorrow night. Marjorie insisted that her child is like a god compared to Hellestromme and could smite him with but a thought. We'll see about that! Most mothers tend to overestimate their children; if you were to believe mothers then every child walking this earth is a perfect being.
This is where things fell apart. Right as Marjorie was making her way to her car, men in suits came rushing into the house. I glanced down the hallway then ducked behind a column as one of the men pointed... something at me. I'm not sure what. Elaine was the next target, and I saw her freeze up, stunned. Whatever he had done had incapacitated her. Genda came rushing out of the kitchen and Chet drew his gun. I could hear more men coming up from outside, and they shouted that they were federal agents. I wish I had a better mastery of Gate magic! I could have gotten us out of this scrape. But, I don't, and I couldn't. I considered trying to transport Elaine out of harm's way, but I knew it would be almost impossible. Instead I hopped down to the temple to retrieve Kitab al-Babi and get away. I know the temple is supposed to be safe, but I also knew that if anyone could get in, it would be these OSI guys.
I hopped back out to a park with a view down the hill over the Alden House. I could see federal agents streaming in. Multiple black sedans were in the driveway. Marjorie and her goons had already been detained. Within about a minute I could see agents escorting Chet, Genda, and Elaine out of the house and into separate cars. The cars drove off, and I could not sense them anymore after a few minutes. Kuranes spoke to my mind, indicating that he had taken refuge in the temple, that he had Anaximander's book.
I watched the scene until sunset, then made my way to Chinatown. I found a small one-room unit. A weekly rental. It was little more than a bedroom with a lamp and a bathroom with a tiny shower. It would have to do. I had little cash and I did not want to chance using the Promethean card. My plan was to speak with the lawyer for the Foundation first thing tomorrow. I have warded myself against scrying and traced a pentagram around the entire room where I am staying. I absolutely must find a way to unlock the secrets of Kitab al-Babi, and I started on this by spending the rest of the evening studying Persian. The others may believe that Marjorie's child can save us from Hellestromme, but I know the answer is Kitab al-Babi. Hellestromme can be captured and imprisoned. The evidence is in the Pasadena Mystery House. Not only was a middling magician able to use Kitab al-Babi to summon the giant brain, but he was also able to entrap some cosmic entity in the double pentagram chamber. I believe we can use Kitab al-Babi to trap Hellestromme in a similar fashion. It's not something I could likely succeed in alone, but perhaps with the book I will find a way.
Monday, February 1st, 1965
I slept well enough in my tiny unit in Chinatown, despite the raucous nature of the community this time of year. Tonight will be much noisier, it being the eve of the New Year. I started the day with a bit of meditation then looked in on my teammates. I sensed that they were being held in a new district on the Westside called Century City, and it seemed that Genda was in what amounted to a prison cell. Chet's room looked more like a standard non-descript holding room. I decided to make some breakfast, and I sent some to Genda. I felt there was no way those government goons were feeding him sufficiently, plus I wouldn't want them to try to use that against him. So I sent him a big plate of samosas. Following breakfast, I phoned the foundation's lawyers and brought them up to speed on the raid. They took all the information, asked me a few questions I didn't feel like answering, and told me to call again in about two hours.
Two hours left me enough time to jog out to Century City and make preparations in case things did not go well for us. It was nice to take a break from things and have a run. When I was at about Robertson and Olympic I felt Kuranes contacting my mind, asking me where I was. Needless to say I couldn't answer right away. I found a park in Century City and set up a beacon for teleportation. If the government would not release my friends, I was going to have to get them out another way. I spoke to the lawyers again and they sounded confident that they were going to have everything handled. There was a hitch, though, that Genda had assaulted a federal officer and would be facing serious charges. In the meantime they felt confident they would have him out on bail. He was to have a bail hearing tomorrow morning. While I was in Century City, I tried locating Marjorie and found that she was not at the same subterranean holding center as Elaine, Chet, and Genda. She had evidently already secured her release. Not long after the phone call, I sensed that Chet was being moved; shortly after that, I received word from Kuranes that the agents had left the house and that Elaine and Chet had returned.
I hopped back to my place in Chinatown, had a shower, gathered my belongings, and made my way back to the Alden House. The house didn't have the same sense of security that it used to, and I doubt it ever will. Between Graves and now these agents, it is quite clear the premises are very much "on the map" when it comes to our adversaries and rivals, but it was also nice to learn that the agents had not found their way into the temple or into Mrs. Carter's office. It restored my confidence in the temple, and I returned Kitab al-Babi to its former hiding place.
I learned from Chet and Elaine that the agents were after two specific artifacts: the statue of a corvid and a brass head. These were alleged to be Italian cultural artifacts and for some reason the FBI/OSI wanted to get them and hand them over to Italian authorities (or so they claimed). I looked these things up in the library and did find a brass head meeting the description. It was something that could be used to divine information about the future, by contacting a sort of shade of your future self. The information I found made it seem of dubious reliability, but it was of occult significance nonetheless. I went to the temple and used the illustration and information about the brass head to see if I could sense it somewhere. Sure enough, it was in Mrs. Carter's office. The agents had tried and failed to get in; they had the right place. It makes me think they will be back. Our lawyers can only prevent them from taking a wrecking ball to Mrs. Carter's office door for so long. I don't know why Mrs. Carter has that head and statue stashed in her office, but it seems to be unrelated to what we're doing.
It turned out the lawyers were right to be confident about Genda's release; he was out on bail by the end of the day.
I took the rest of the evening to study Persian in the magical library then went down to the temple to sleep.
Tuesday, February 2nd, 1965
The real new year has at last arrived! Unfortunately, I would not be able to spend the day engaged in festivities. I did take the opportunity to prepare traditional food for my fellow New Prometheans, which left me in the kitchen most of the day. Potstickers, fried rice, dumplings, wonton soup, rice cakes, and so on were on the menu. I had time to reflect on how things have progressed for me since the occidental new year, where we all met a little over a month earlier.
Really, so much has happened so quickly. Before joining with the New Prometheans, I was struggling to pay the rent for my tiny apartment, trying to scrape together money from Cantonese lessons and calligraphy classes at SMC, spending most of my free time with beatniks and layabouts who weren't really going anywhere. Most of them probably didn't even know I was 10 years older than they were. Now I am embroiled in some sort of underground magical holy war that spans multiple planes. I have gotten tangled up with ghosts, master sorcerers, organized crime, the Queen of the Universe herself, ancient artifacts, assassins, unaging scientists, a titanic Indian actor, a sharpshooter with an extradimensional grab bag, tomes of untold power, a giant brain, and the federal government of the United States of America. Not to mention nefarious billionaires, glassware so ugly it leads to suicide, cults, teleporters, and a perverse wizard who insists on living in areas devoid of mana. On the plus side, I have finally found a talented teacher to study under, my first since leaving San Francisco.
As the day drifted well into the afternoon hours I dressed in my finest traditional silk outfit, an black dress embroidered with silver leaves and purple flowers. Genda helped me select some shoes and a sash to go with it, and I'll admit this is one of the few times of the year that I wish I could afford a new handbag. Maybe someday, if this whole Promethean thing works out. Just after sunset we made our way up into the hills, to the house where we had followed Marjorie before, where she conducted the induction ritual of various persons in her cult. There were no bodyguards present. She was as welcoming as she could be, and, as per Genda's request, she served us dinner. I did not partake. She wished me a happy new year, which felt forced, but at least it showed some cultural awareness. Or perhaps she had selected the lunar new year as an appropriate day for her ritual. It would make sense, as the lunar new year is a magically potent time. Even the Yellow Emperor himself was said to have communed with the spirits on the lunar new year, to seek guidance for the trials that awaited him in the upcoming year.
After dinner Marjorie took Genda inside her ritual chamber. They were in there for over an hour. I used this time to "make myself at home" by scouring this place for secrets and magic. There were none. Not one single interesting thing, not even a book. It was just a big, empty mansion that was clearly mainly used for parties and entertaining. It had the feel of a vacation home. After my fruitless searching of the place, I joined Elaine in front of the house, where she was standing watch. We chatted a bit. I like her. I feel that she is young and impulsive, and still finding her way. She's clearly a great shot - with a camera and a gun - but I can tell she still holds on to some of her youthful angst. I think this work with the foundation is doing her good. I can only wonder where she would have ended up otherwise.
We departed soon after the ceremony and returned to the Alden House. Genda informed us that he had made contact with Jack Parsons in the astral plane. The details were sketchy, but Genda had learned that Marjorie and Jack's child was in danger, that demons had invaded the astral plane. That is most distressing, as demons are under no circumstances typical in the astral plane. In fact, they don't really belong there at all. I think that the very presence of demons in the astral plane is a threat to the metaphysical balance of the cosmos. Undoubtedly this is related to Xavier Hellestromme and his newfound demon army. He has unleashed the legions of the abyss on the Dreamlands and now the astral plane. And that's just what we know about. He could be sending them elsewhere, and from everything I know about him, I feel certain he is going to try to bring them here, to our world.
Jack gave Genda one clue, to "look beneath." We debated the meaning of this, and decided it could have something to do with the earthquakes, and maybe even the depths of the caves in Cave City, where the wendigo now roamed. Just to rule other things out, I had a look at whatever was hidden under the pool at the Alden House. I peered through the ground down into the depths, where I saw a large metal egg. Whatever that was, I didn't think it was related to what we needed to do, and neither did anyone else. We decided to depart for Cave City in the morning, even though the whole area was warded off by the National Guard, and there was no way into the area via the roads. We could find another way though. Honestly, I have no idea what to expect when we arrive. I don't know if we are any match for a wendigo or if there is anything we can hope to accomplish there. I would like to save Freddie Gumm and question him to find out what he really knows. Perhaps he will be more forthcoming than Gardener Graves, and perhaps he has learned something from his experience with the hungry ghost.
Wednesday, February 3rd, 1965
We planned to head up to Cave City today to "look beneath" and perhaps confront the wendigo. The others made preparations and went out to buy supplies. I elected to use the time in the morning to try to scry the creature with the crystal ball in the temple. I had never attempted such a thing before, but the device was well made, and it was easy enough. I sensed that it was out in the forest, sleeping. I felt it was good news that it was not down in the caves; dealing with it and the entity in the caves at the same time seemed like a dangerous proposition.
The trip up to Cave City was uneventful. We posed as scientists with the NSF, using badges Elaine created for us. Genda was easily able to talk us past the guardsmen at the roadblock along the highway leading into Cave City. We found a parking lot and allowed Kuranes to go into the caves to do some reconnaissance. After some exploration, he found the whereabouts of the entity, deep within the caves, past numerous checkpoints and research stations.
We considered our options on how to proceed. We knew we had to get Genda down into the caves where the entity was. We ultimately decided to try to fast-talk our way in, just as we had at the guard post along the highway. Genda could be very convincing. As proof of this, he managed to dismiss some guardsmen who came poking around the van as we discussed our plan. We waited until nightfall, when the activity in the caves had died down to a much lower level, then made our way to the cave entrance.
Sure enough, Genda was able to talk us past the guards at the entrance, and we were able to make our way all the way down to the platform beneath which the entity lay. We had to try to snow a couple of the guards down there, and we managed to prevent them from making any calls. We found a secluded location in the cavern chamber, and Genda began his ritual to commune with the entity. The entity seemed to resist communicating with him, but I could see that Genda was being affected by it. At one point he even froze up in horror for a few moments, before returning to his trance. All the while, the entity's activity set off tremors which, in turn, caused the scientists at the platform to phone up to their superiors. This was bad news for us, as it meant their superior would now know that an interloping band of "scientists" was down here. Genda was able to glean that the entity was as old as Earth itself, and that it was going to return the "waters of chaos" and the "airs of power" to the world.
It was at this point that we decided to make our exit. We headed back toward the cave entrance, but there were now more people present, including the man with the OSI who had interrogated Elaine and Chet in Century City. We doubled back to another cavern to find a hiding place, but it turned out to be useless to try to hide Genda. I attempted to grant him etherealness so that he could escape through the walls, but the incantation failed - I'll have to practice that one more. We hid, but the man and his compatriot (a Chinese woman, no less) spotted Genda and then Elaine. The man was threatening and unfriendly. He kept sending the Chinese woman out to find me and, when she eventually did, I hopped back to the chamber where we had conducted the ritual.
The group eventually filed into the same chamber, and the man led them to the platform. I couldn't hear or see much, so I decided to make my exit. I moved quickly through the caverns, back to the place where we had first spotted the man from OSI. I could see there were more people gathered there, guardsmen and agents. I ducked around a corner and granted myself invisibility. I snuck back up to the base of the platform where the agents were standing and saw there was another party of guardsmen coming down from the path towards the entrance. It seemed that a lot of help had been summoned.
I waited for the new arrivals to join with the others atop the platform then made my move. I started down the hall and glanced back to see that I had, in face, been noticed. The agents were wearing optical devices on their heads that no doubt allowed them to see me. I heard a series of loud pops behind me as the agents pursued and fired their weapons. I picked up the pace, running as fast as I could. The agents could not keep up, but they did keep firing at range. I narrowly ducked another volley of darts as I started up the steel stairs. They fired again as I rounded the corner of the stairs, missing again. I managed to get out of sight of these agents, though I could hear their noisy footfall at the base of the stairs behind me.
I ran ahead in the dimly lit passage. Two more agents stepped out from the shadows, catching me by surprise. One hit me with his darts, but I shook off the pain and delirium. I made a beeline straight for them and cartwheeled between them, dodging aside as they turned and fired at my back. I glanced back before sprinting ahead. The entrance was just around the corner. Another volley of darts ricocheted off the wall beside me as I turned the final corner.
A large group of guardsmen was positioned just outside the cave entrance, their rifles trained on the opening. None of them had the optical devices the agents did, however, so I just exited the cave and made my way around their left flank. I hurried out into the forest. I took a few moments to gather my thoughts and recuperate from the mad dash I had just finished. I was lucky to have escaped these agents yet again. Kuranes had asked me if everything was alright right in the midst of my run. At last I was able to respond to him, informing him that "No. Everything is NOT alright."
After a brief time had passed, I decided to hop back to the temple at the Alden House. I made it with no problems. I then used the crystal ball to watch what was happening to my friends. The OSI man had them at the platform and appeared to be speaking with them, perhaps interrogating them. Other agents were around as backup, their weapons trained on their captives. I could not hear what was being said, but I could tell that, while the threat of violence was there, no violent acts were happening. I felt confident that Genda would manage to use his powers of persuasion to keep everyone alive and, if need be, I could rescue them later. The conversation lasted a while, and at one point it looked as though Genda's head snapped back and a peculiar expression came across his face. He appeared to stare straight ahead and say the same thing over and over. After that, Elaine grabbed a glass of water from... somewhere... and threw it at Genda's face. The man in the hat seemed amused.
At the conclusion of the discussion, Chet, Elaine, and Genda were taken away. They were placed under arrest, their hands cuffed and their heads covered with bags, and led off premises. Genda ended up back in Century City, but Chet and Elaine ended up on planes. Kuranes informed me of what had transpired, that the man, Mr. Wells, had essentially strong armed them into joining OSI. Within a few hours I could hear agents coming into the Alden House again. No doubt they would try again to get into the sensitive areas. It seemed that our stint with the Promethean Foundation was drawing to a close. It was only a matter of time before the agents disabled the magical wards at the Alden House. I gathered what useful items I could from the collection in the temple - Kitab al-Babi first and foremost - that I could fit into my backpack, then hopped over to my tiny unit in Chinatown.
I didn't know where things would go next, but I felt that I had no choice but to contact this man, Mr. Wells, and go from there. I learned that his offices were in Washington, D.C., so that was my new destination.
Thursday, February 4th, 1965
I wasted no time getting to Washington. I made a series of hops through the American Midwest, then on to the eastern seaboard. I found a motel in Arlington, VA that required no identification and was more than happy to accept a cash payment. I took the room farthest from the front desk. The motel lobby had a number of brochures and maps of the D.C. metro area, which I studied briefly to get a feel for where everything was.
I caught a bus to Chinatown on H Street for lunch at a restaurant with private dining rooms and booked a room for myself. From there, I began magically surveying the area to see if I could find where my fellow Prometheans had been taken. No luck. The Office of Scientific Intelligence had an address and phone number listed, with absolutely no more detail available anywhere about the facility. I had heard the office was in some larger government building, so I decided to make the walk over to check the area.
As I exited the restaurant, I heard the tell-tale sounds of a Harley Davidson accelerating. I turned and look down the street to see two men in leather vests on motorcycles bearing down on my position. One was reaching into his vest as they were weaving through the afternoon traffic. I ran for the nearest alley. I don't know how they found me, but they did. My mind was racing, but it seemed possible that a rival Chinese gang member to the San Francisco Tongs saw me and informed the local Hells Angels chapter.
I rushed into the alley and I heard them veering in a few seconds behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see them screeching around the corner, the front rider now holding a pistol in his hand. I looked back forward just in time to sidestep a man hurling a garbage bag out of the kitchen entrance to a restaurant at a pile next to a dumpster. I stumbled and rolled to the ground. I heard pistol shots as a rolled behind a stack of wooden pallets piled next to a fire escape. I focused on my motel room and teleported back, just as the riders were rolling up to the other side of the pallets.
I arrived in my room flustered and on the floor. The light was on. I looked up to see Gardener Graves sitting at the table, reading a brochure about the Smithsonian with a smirk on his face. He lowered the brochure and looked down at me on the floor. I looked back, wondering how he had found me.
"I sensed a disturbance in the force," he said.
"What?"
"Nothing... you'll understand someday. But, I digress. I have come by way of a proposition that we may both help one another," he replied.
I collected my thoughts, then pulled myself up to the edge of the bed to listen to his story. He told me that he needed my help with a ritual to escape our time and universe. He explained that Alexander Tophet was leading the Red Hand, and that he seemed to be on Tophet's radar. He suspected I was as well. He clearly feared for his life, and went as far as to offer me several chapters from the Book of The Gates that would get me closer to completing his edition if I were to help him. He said as well that he would be able to help me evade Alexander Tophet and the OSI via a certain ritual and his discrete methods of paperwork manipulation.
I knew he was less interested in helping me than he was in making sure my portion of the Book of The Gates did not fall into Tophet's hands. He must have thought (and I agree) that, even though he had been able to evade Tophet and his agents thus far, that a Tophet armed with the vast power and knowledge of the Book of The Gates would be far more threatening to him. I shall not dare commit to writing the time or the place that we agreed to meet to undertake the ritual to send Graves to a safe place far away, but after about 30 minutes of conversation, I was in possession of several new chapters of the Book of The Gates, and we were slated to meet again when we were both ready for the ritual.