Resurrection City IV: Et In Arcadia Ego

[Andrew D. Gable]

Great Pan, God of the wild
We honor you, ruler of the sky
sea and earth, Light
ensouling all.
~ Orphic Hymn to Pan

Their things packed, the three men arrive at the Abersyonan train station. Stepping up to the booth, they purchase their tickets and wait for the train, due to arrive shortly. As they stand there, a small, portly man walks out of the ticket booth and up to the companions.

"Inspector Jamison Diggory and party, sir?" he asks. After receiving affirmative nods, he passes an envelope to Diggory. "A telegram for you, sir." With that he tips his hat and walks back into the ticket booth. Diggory opens the envelope and removes the message:

INSPECTOR JAMISON O DIGGORY STOP DOCTOR THOMAS BOND DEAD IN FALL FROM OFFICE WINDOW STOP APPARENT SUICIDE STOP WHITECHAPEL SLEEPLESSNESS PROBLEM CONTINUES STOP SPREADING THROUGHOUT EAST END STOP INSPECTOR JAMES M LONGTREE

There's a telegram office here at the station, should you wish to wire DEDI, or anyone contact other friends; or you can return to London.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Diggory sighs, handing the telegram to Walsingham and then Hewitt. "Bond's dead, and things have gotten worse in the East End. I'm going to post DEDI. We should go to London briefly first, I think, get an idea what we're up against -- gather proper equipment. We can follow EIECET from Avebury if need be -- maybe we should send him a telegram, express interest in the whole bit."

At the telegraph station, Diggory posts the following telegrams:

William Butler Yeats STOP Heading to Avebury but stopping in London STOP Would like to see you briefly STOP Most important STOP Jamison O F Diggory

Jonathan Wield Metropolitan Police STOP Need to see you about recent suicide STOP Very important STOP Will be in London shortly on way to Avebury STOP Inspector J O Diggory

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

The train pulls into the station, and the three men get on board. The three day trip back to London is an uneventful one. During the trip, the conductor brings Diggory a telegram from Yeats. He says he will meet you at Paddington Station upon your arrival.

At about 3:00 PM on the first of September, the train arrives at London. A quick survey of the crowd on the platform reveals Yeats standing back near the ticket booth. He greets the men as they approach. "Baron, doctor," he says, shaking the hands of each in turn. "The train platform likely isn't the best place to discuss... important business."

I forgot to tell you earlier, but in the remainder of the trip, you can level up your characters. I'm playing around with timelines a little bit. Dr. Thomas Bond did kill himself in reality, but it wasn't until 1902.

 

[JimAde]

"I agree," Walsingham says. "Why don't we retire to my townhouse and discuss the matter in comfort?"

[OOC: Cool! Levels are good. I'm not sure what class I should level in, though. I may PM you for an opinion.]

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"I agree," Walsingham says. "Why don't we retire to my townhouse and discuss the matter in comfort?"

"Capital idea," he says as he hails a cab. "Charles Street," he calls to the driver after they've gotten in, tapping his cane against the side of the carriage. The cab clops off along the streets. "I'd been at the British Museum," he says, "with another of the Order. Ms. Florence Farr, you know her, correct?"

Within several minutes, the carriage stops on Charles Street near Trevor's townhouse. Yeats tosses a coin to the cabdriver, who gives a little half-bow and drives off. After waiting for Trevor to open the front door, Yeats turns to Diggory. "So what's this all about, then?"

Jim, I'd actually rather you e-mail me about that (dragonfire0129 at yahoo dot com). I can't send PMs and I'm not 100% certain I can receive them. I'm thinking of just handing out levels every 1 or 2 chapters, depending on difficulty.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"Well, we seem to have finally found yer man EIECET. He's in Avebury with a carnival. He and his accomplices, which include Edward Langan, a relation of Mary Kelly, late of Whitechapel, and one Ann Harrington, a woman with rather interesting hands. Apparently, they're going to resurrect Pan." Diggory pauses. "I was wondering if ye could tell us any more about EIECET, Harrington, or Pan."

Jamison holds off on informing Yeats about Bond and the East End until a bit later, as he wants to cover the most important information now, just in case proceedings are interrupted.

OOC: Will level up and post results in the OOC thread.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"I was wondering if ye could tell us any more about EIECET, Harrington, or Pan."

Yeats nods as Diggory begins his explanation, furrowing his brow at the mention of Ann Harrington. "Well, there's really nobody who could tell you much of anything about EIECET, save the man himself. He's the kind of fellow nearly everyone in the Dawn knows about, but one which none, to my knowledge, have ever met.

"Pan... he is a schizoid entity. In fact, his nature is one reason why he was so often shown, by our Gaelic antecedents, as possessing stag's horns. The many branches of the horn represented the many facets of his character. He has been worshipped throughout history, and maybe even before that. The alchemists of Medieval times knew of him, and they believed that by understanding Pan, they could understand natural processes, and thus accomplish their transmutation, their changing lead to gold.

"So, at any rate he's very much only a neutral entity. His manifestations and personalities run the gamut from benevolent protector to wild, slaughtering beast. The demeanor of Pan depends very much on the state of mind of the summoner.

"Ann Harrington is known to London society as Madame Sosostris. A supposed mystic, a fortune-teller. I believe she has a boat in Limehouse, of all places."

 

[JimAde]

Walsingham nods. "Lots of unusual folk down there." Turning to Diggory he says, "If you'd like I can try to find out some more about her. Get a feel for whether she might be someone we can deal with."

 

[Old Fezziwig]

"Depends on the summoner? Then we're in a wee bit of trouble, I'd say, as Ann Harrington said that they're bringing him back to return the earth to a more innocent form, punishing us for the damage we've done to it be building cities and factories."

Jamison turns to Walsingham. "That'd be good, I think. I should contact Inspector Longtree, let him know we've received his telegram, find Jonathan Wield, and then, perhaps, a bit of research?" He pauses, and then says to Yeats, "Inspector Longtree works for the Metropolitan Police; we met him after our experiences out at the Pellgraine Estate and found that we had similar interests. At any rate, he tells us that Thomas Bond has killed himself and that the whole of Whitechapel and parts of the East End are having nasty problems trying to sleep. I'm curious to see if I can't figure out how this is connected to EIECET, Sosostris, and Pan."

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"Yes, Baron, that sounds like a solid plan. Thomas Bond? The coroner? Ahh, now your mention of Mary Kelly earlier takes on another meaning. And..." he sits, staring at nothing, obviously running through things in his mind. "You say that Miss Harrington had 'interesting hands'. Just out of idle curiosity, how so?"