Eric Coligny's diary of events in TheTownOfUnity
<<< Can I ask if you make an edit you leave a yellow post it to tell me what it is. 'Cos I usually can't see otherwise. I'll hack 'em out when I've seen them. Thanks -- MikePitt >>>
1922
No entries
1923
The SandersonGhost
Friday January 12
Went to 122 after work. A new member, RebeccaSwarovski was being introduced by LisaDaVinci. She's a photographer and new in the area. There was much discussion of a headline in TheUnityReporter about ghost activity. This caught Lisa's imagination and she arranged for a group to go and investigate tomorrow. I am working though.
Monday January 15
At 122 HayesWebster told me the ghost was in fact just someone hiding stolen goods.
Thursday January 18
It appears, following the arrest of BenCohen that the ghost that people were discussing on Friday was in fact the efforts of Ben to hide stolen goods. (or if not him someone else).
Sunday January 21
No work so all day at 122. On arrival saw Mr Flanagan washing front of the building, it had been splashed with some sort of Salmon pink colouring. RebeccaSwarovski arrived at much the same time as me said it was some sort of dye. She went to fetch her camera and on her return to the society told us that there was a lot of this dye on buildings. Mr Flanagan phoned the police but they weren't too interested. Hayes and I did wonder if it was just a mob from Brown or Jenkins.
HayesWebster, RebeccaSwarovski and EthanLocke started playing with pins to mark on a map where there were stains. I suggested we use the cars to drive round OldUnity to look for others. Incredibly it was all over the town -- I must have been half asleep when I cycled from home to 122! We looked at the pattern of stains. I suggested it could be an astronomical symbol as a joke. Everyone ummed and ahhed and said no.
Dr RobertJohnson said it looked like a theta and went to the nu-theta frat house, and returned later with a flyer for "the Ring of the Shadow King".
Monday January 22 More stains! When we checked the map it formed a pentagram centred on the hall where the play Robert mentioned is playing. He went to investigate that and get us tickets. It's on Sunday.
Tuesday January 23 At work. Stayed in Worcestor.
Wednesday January 24
Went to 122 after work. Long chat about the NYNHH tickets with RebeccaSwarovski, she seems to find them artisitically interesting. RobertJohnson also told me that the colour appears to be (a -- ed.) ScandiumOxide. I said I'd check for recent shipments and report back tomorrow. Julius explained a bit about the chemistry of Scandium. Sounds extremely involved, and interesting. Also it is expensive but not used much outside laboratories.
Thursday January 25
Checked on ScandiumOxide shipments a at work: a load of Scandium ore was delivered to Unity Hills station and picked up by someone! The records are incomplete but we have a lead on identifying the vandals. RobertJohnson told me some information he'd found out about the play: the Shadow King is a precursor to Loki, a Norse god of mischief: and Scandium comes from Scandinavia! None of the other lines on enquiry found much out. RebeccaSwarovski telgrammed the mine.
Friday January 26
I am writing this at just after midnight. A lot has happened today and I shall try and get it into some sort of order. Firstly I got to the club early evening -- I had an early shift today. To find RebeccaSwarovski poring over a reply to her telegram. I was surprised but pleased to hear they'd replied so swiftly. The telegram just increased the mystery though: no shipment of Scandium ore of that size has left Norway in the last couple of years. After discussion we decided we really needed to speak to Dr Merritt, so Rebecca came up with a cunning scheme to find him. She invented a petition and went to all the Merritt households in the phone book.
The result was she discovered the body of Dr LyellMerritt! His apartment (down near Seventh) was on fire and he has apparently killed himself. Some of the member of the club think he was murdered. AlsoudHassam went to speak to FrankShort about the case and later returned with the text of the suicide note. I think Dr Merritt had gone mad and did kill himself. While Alsoud was talking to Short the rest of us went to the theatre. Most of uswalked, and on the way saw RobertJohnson and JuliusErlich waving a script from their car as they drove past. So we turned round.
When we got back Robert was busy reading the script HayesWebster was confused by his requests for coffee. Julius explained that they'd just been able to wonder into the theatre and pick up a copy of the script.
Alsoud returned about then and was quite insistent that we not read the play, but Robert continued. Alsoud described the suicide note. As I said it sounds like Dr Merritt was quite mad, but it did suggests strongly that ReeseLyndon paid for copies of the script and he was very disturbed by the book he translated. Lyndon could have paid for the Scandium according to those who know the family. Just. It also told us that HilaryMerritt gave his cousin the book. I got involved in the hysteria on hearing this and observed that Hilary was rich enough to afford Scandium! The letter seemed to suggest that Lyndon was planning a ritual summon some sort of demon, and people seem to believe it! Still the police are aware and can do the right thing. They referred to the event surrounding TheCasket, which I was not here for.
Saturday January 27
I am reading Dr LyellMerritt's translation of the play. Very spooky, I think I shall have nightmares! I worked the morning again. Quiet shift. The went to 122 in the early evening. RobertJohnson had finished a quick reading of the script: he said it contains descriptions of a summoning ritual involving human sacrifice. It had really shaken him up. And from my initial reading he does seeom to be right. I need to read more though. Everyone thought we need to find Lyndon and stop him, I remained unconvinced at the time. HayesWebster had a nasty turn in the attic, saying that the marks joined up, but none of us seemed to see what he saw. I hope he isn't under too much stress. People went to various places, and so I took the script home to read overnight. I was interrupted a short way into my second pass through, trying to work out what it is really saying by RebeccaSwarovski. She wanted to take the script to the police. I asked why and tried to talk her out of it, but went with her EthanLocke and BenitoTorelli to the police. Ethan then decided that we didn't want the script at this point. Bentito and Ethan went in to speak to the police, and came out a bit later with the news that what became apparent was a riot of Brown students was happening near Jenkin. By a biazarre coincidence a whole group of us met up at the theatre. After searching again we decided we needed to take the theatre out of action, some suggested extreme measures, but I insisted we, at worse, disable the boiler which I did safely. (Note: in fact Eric botched, but he is convinved he did it safely). After which we returned to the club, and I got a cab home to finish reading.
Sunday January 28 3am -- Just been woken at my desk by a noise from the north. Some sort of explosion. I fell asleep with the script. I think I'll go to bed now.
Evening -- I finished reading the script. It was disturbingly well written (Note: Eric made his SAN role, and lost 1 point of SAN).
Went to the club to find that 3 students (at first it appeared Brown students, but later it became apparent they were in fact Lyndon and two of his actors) were killed in an explosion in the theatre. Possibly someone fiddled with the boiler, I have supsicions that a Brown rioter, or Benito may have returned. Possibly it was the actors trying to fix it, but they shouldn't have done so. Gas is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. RobertJohnson had been interviewed by the police about his use of his gun.
Dr Johnson also had some news on the rune in the book from Symbolica (a book in 122's library that had been borrowed by DrGarfieldParrish).
Monday January 29
To 122 after work. AlsoudHassam and RobertJohnson said they saw a strange shadow rise up from the theatre, but at least the ritual didn't complete. I had a strange hollow feeling of failure on hearing this. Maybe someone should read the script or the source material and see if we can work out what happened. But the immediate threat is gone.
Sunday February 11
I am actually writing this on (date to follow) as I spent Sunday night in part at 122, and in part at JuliusErlich's clinic. Rest to follow.
1924
Wednesday April 16
I have been remiss. I have not written in my jounral for over a year. This is because I almsot do not believe myself what I have seen and can hardly bring myself to write it down. It has been a strange year. However the mutterings of some of members of TheClub about werewolves is a bit much even allowing for what we have seen. Anyway I resolve to keep my journal better.
There is a strange advert in TheUnityReporter for a freak show. It is oddly compelling and I haven't been to the circus in ages.
Dogsitting Henry while Rebecca Swarovski is in New York visiting her agent.
Friday April 18
Duty inspection at Unity Hills goods depot today. A very odd day: T P Burnham's circus arrived today. They were careful to hide everything and not let us see what was in the crates. I think the freak show was amongst them. I think I'll go and see the shows. My curiosity has been piqued, I shall go. I wonder if Hayes has considered Circuses as a distribution mechanism...
Tuesday April 22
Well it must be Wednesday by now, but... Today was interesting. We were just heading off home from 122 after what had already been an interesting day when there was a pounding at the door. OK lets start at the beginning. Visited the club early as I was working afternoons. There was a new member there DavidSchreiber, so I introduced thim to those from the crowd who were around (Benny, Al, and Jack). David was told of the club by UnknownPersonInTheSynagogue and knows AaronCohen. When the papers came round TheUnityTimesChronicle had an article about an escaped goat headed freak. At the time I thought it was the Times falling for a marketing ploy. David shamed me a bit, as he explained how the freaks were exploited. After some dicussion I offered to get tickets (Railroadman discount!) for the circus, and we went that evening. The show was disappointing, but for some reason I felt compelled to make an extra donation afterwards. $20.
The side shows were fun: the guess the weight guy failed miserably with Henry. The hall of mirrors was good though.
The freak show on the other hand was disturbing: especially considering what we later found out. Three animal headed people: the goatboy (who had been recaptured they claimed), a rabbit headed woman and a fish headed man. Oh and a white ape who caused us lots of problems. If only we'd known it was just an ape T P Burnham might still be alive. Still he misled us. After some study we returned to the club. David worked on his paper on the exploited freaks. I had a cup of tea and read the later editions of the paper. When we were all about to depart there was a banging on the door of the club: as I mentioned earlier. It was (we thought) the goat headed (and cloven hooved) man from the freak show, but not quite: he was bigger. After some mild confusion we got a pad and pen and he could communicate by writing. His story was terrible and fantastic.
Apparently Burnham has a machine, now locked safely at 12 Devon Lane, that can turn people into freaks (and thankfully back again). The man was a member of the club Dr Joseph Carey some years ago. I'd met him a few times before the war. He and his wife had been kidnapped and turned into freaks for the circus when he left Unity to go to New York in 1914.
I don't wish to dwell on the details (see TheGreatestShowOnEarth page for them.) but we took action. Now Burnham is not a threat, Benito wasn't too forthcoming on the exact details but the remains of something unpleasant suggest something very nasty happened. However the ape is at large. It caused us problems in the mirrors which Burnham used to try and escape. Damn him, still it did lead to his downfall. Carey turned the freaks back: his wife was the rabbit lady. The fish headed man was David Watkins, a now reformed drunk. I got him a job at the railroad. Finally the new goat man was a child who'd been kidnapped from the poor house, called Oliver Dylan. Benito took a shine to him. I feel better knowing we've taken action to stop a monstrous kidnapper. The real monster wasn't the freak but the normal looking circus ring master.
Saturday 17 May Finally a day off after a long few weeks of overtime. We've been short staffed for years, but since Zeke's death it seems even worse. The wolves are back -- the paper says wolves are active again. At the club there were Saturday papers (a bad sign) talking about large wolf sightings in Woonsocket. David Schreiber was curious about the large wolves, but ridiculed Benny, Jack and myself for talking about werewolves. He doesn't understand that Mr Swarovski and the rest wouldn't lie to us. We went up and had a look at the town before returning home. Woonsocket is a small town (large village?). The pastor at the church was a nice old man, and he let us look out from the spire of the church over the surrounding town. David talked to a shopkeeper and found out that the hunters who first reported the large wolf were "Jake and Bob". He asked her to tell them we were looking for them at church the next day. I had a chat with the station master and then we drove back to Unity. Plan is to meet at 6am tomorrow to drive to Woonsocket to meet Jake and Bob.
As I write this (10pm) Henry is behaving very oddly.
Midnight
Sunday 18 May
7pm
We decided (again to David's ridicule, but he is still here) to stay at the club tonight. Secured Henry and Martha in the library, Henry in a newspaper lined basket.
8pm
9pm
I took such careful aim. Was I distracted by the mutilated body of the victim? Was the creature protected in some way? Is the rifle damaged? Does Silver just not fly true? <<< Am I turning into StevenKitson? (I can't believe I rolled 69 or above 4 times in a row... -- MikePitt >>> First shot missed. The wolf turned and looked at me. The hunters were right: its eyes do glow. It padded slowly towards me and I took careful aim between its eyes. How I missed I'll never know. We retreated into the house: David taking a pot shot on the way with the shotgun. Benny was in his car outside, we missed that in the confusion. Jack apologised for his gun jamming, he didn't get a shot off. I blame the silver ammo. The wolf tried to hunt us and hit our door which held firm. We fired a rifle shot through the letter box but it had gone. Benny has just re-entered the house. Apparently he was watching the wolf in his mirror when he blinked at it vanished.
10pm
<<< The times may need manipulation... -- MikePitt >>>
Midnight Nothing has happened. Beginning to calm down. Playing cards. Phone line still dead -- can't get the operator or indeed any signal at all now.
Monday 19th May
4am
4pm
A Romanian Dr Voinea has arrived in Unity. Jack heard him talking about Wolves at the station whilst he thought he'd like to send MarthaLandsmann away. We talked to him and took him back to 122. We met David there who'd read an article by Dr Voinea. What a strange coincidence. He told us some stuff we didn't know and confirmed some things we'd kind of worked out. We divided into teams to deal with the menace and help the police. I will go up with Benny as a spotter and sniper, provided the bullets work. We have a fuel bomb too which should help.
Monday 26th May I think I have recovered enough to write this up. I spent most of the last week either working or drunk. It is amazing how quickly the town has got back to normal despite the death of over 130 people. I don't know how many "Wolves" I shot. But I know each one counts on me a little. There was no alternative though, we did the right thing and we've at least controlled the problem in Unity.
Jack is still very ill. We don't know if he'll survive the next month. He lost a lot of blood when attacked by a Wolf. Dr Voinea says he may be safe, but is unsure. OfficerDown (who was working with David) took a nasty blow to the head from a shotgun. Many officers were lost on VillersHill.
VillersHill took a bit of a torching as well. I won't write any more. Best not to.
There are several ripped out pages after this