FINAL REPORT: Bleeding Darkness

 Parts One, Two, Three, and Four

This report details the events of sessions five, six, and seven. "Of Bethany", "The Castigator", "Save Your Servant" respectively.

The agents return after having tailed Father Yohn and the priests, secure in their judgement that he and his posse must be somehow responsible for Father Szary's death, and in some way, responsible for the mystery affliction at the Kings County Medical Centre. INDIGO does more digging in what she recovered from Gleeson's personal computer, including her research into the occult, on Szary's advice. Her research focused on the history of the Gowdie family line. Her research revealed that the Gowdies were once of Scotland, and that an Isobel Gowdie had been tried for witchcraft there in 1662. Further research indicated relatives of Gowdie relocated to the colonies in New England, and later on were tried again on suspicions of witchcraft in Salem, records name a "Tabitha Gowdie" who was said to be a member of Abigail Prinn's coven. Of note is a curious bauble discovered during Isobel's trial that is again mentioned later during the Salem witch trials, described as "high quallity, likely of foreign make, with strange filligree and patterns which the woman claims was a gift fromm the deville for her servise". It stated that the bauble, along with much of Gowdie's other belongings, were seized by the church. Reports claim that the Gowdies bore a "foul reputation" before the trial and since, though it appears their reputation was saved somewhat for "heroic action" during the revolutionary war, allegedly luring a band of Redcoats to lodge in a root cellar they had dug before "taking arms and dispatching of the loyalists, using the night to their advantage". For this, the family was awarded their possessions. The most recent research indicated that sometime during the great depression, the family split, with one group going south to New York while the rest stayed in Boston. 

Research on Abigail Prinn revealed the existence of a "Witch House" which was the subject of much urban legend in the 1930s and 40s. It was purchased by the occultist "Michael Leigh" of San Francisco, who had bought it off a novelist who lived in the house only briefly before vacating, citing "ill health". A rare archived interview with Leigh published in the Miskatonic university newspaper, taken by students of the Folklore department, vaguely detail some of the mystery, though Leigh refuses to talk specifics on Prinn or her practices, saying "I could stand here and recite it to you here but frankly, gentleman, it's not worthy of printing in any papers. What I'll say to your readers is this: If you truly need to know, "Unspeakable Cults" by Friedrich Von Junzt contains a great deal on the topic of witch-cults and their protocols. But read cautiously, the book is a twisted thing, does no favours for sleep." INDIGO figures this is where Gleeson learned about the book. 

IAGO arrives, bringing suitcases and lockboxes. He pours himself bourbon before he begins, opening by doling out "Packages from the top". He hands NANCY a leather-bound book, obviously hold and heavy. The cover reads "Dreams of the Changeling", of note is that it has been firmly sealed inside a bag marked "CDC - BIOLOGICAL HAZARD". IAGO and NANCY take turns warning I-Cell that only NANCY is cleared to handle and read the book. A locked suiticase for I-Cell is presented and opening, inside is a paper bag containing a VHS tape and a few vials of a chalky, bone-white powder. IAGO debriefs the agents, and reveals that no action is needed with regards to Gleeson and CMDANDCTRL, indicating that it is a honeypot scheme by Delta Green ran out of Fort Dietrich - he makes note to tell them to stand down from Gleeson. IAGO takes in the STOKER team's debrief. He directs them to meet with Dr. Wu - apparently he has news - and to watch the tapes, as they detail A-Cell's study of the "Thralls" and countermeasures to use on them, and leaves. 

The tapes explain that the Thralls, true to the rumours, are hyper-resistant to traditional attack. Guns, knives, freezing cold and burning hot. They are shown to be virtually indestructible. A substance is tested on the Thrall sample by the Friendly conducting the experiment, "Dr. Grant". The substance, which Dr. Grant jokingly refers to as "Uncle Al's Special Spice", dissolves the thrall sample quickly and effectively. The "dust" is present in six vials, measured to have adequate potency to dissolve a person-sized Thrall. I-Cell partitions the vials and goes to check in with Dr. Jensen Wu at the AMNH while NANCY holds down the fort and studies her book. They arrive and Dr. Wu tells them what he has found. 

Wu details his findings. In The Sussex Manuscript, an old english translation of The Necronomicon (itself a translation of "Al Azif" by the mad poet Abd Al-Hazrid), describes Nyogtha, "the Haunter of the Red Abyss, the Thing That Should Not Be", a "Loathsome excretion of the Great Olde One known as Tsathoggua, the dread slumberer of lightless N'Kai, borne of far Kythamil", alternatively referring to it as an "excretion" and "scion". Abd Al-Hazrid describes "The Vach-Viraj Incantation", an ancient spell "passed down through time from antique Mu-Thulan" which wards away Nyogtha and its Thralls, and the "Tikkoun Elixir", an esoteric compound which destroys its flesh, and which can be used in concert with the Incantation to dismiss Nyogtha and its thralls. Al-Hazrid details an "abominable" cult of Nyogtha in Syria that pursued immortality through an alchemical ritual that replaced their tissues with the foul essence of Nyogtha. Al-Hazrid claims that the thralls could be "brought low into a torpor" by driving a wooden stake through their heart. I-Cell transcribes the relevant passages and leaves. 

After the meeting with Wu, I-Cell met with Nancy's cohort in N-Cell, who had arrived to help. N-Cell and Nancy surveil the priests while I-Cell collects materials and prepares the Tikkoun Elixir, testing it on the captive Thrall in their freezer. N-Cell reports on the security of the Rectory at St. Augustine's, which they have been led to believe is where the Nyogtha Priest-Cult is headquartered. NANCY was able to infiltrate it at night and search it, discovering a secret hatch behind a refrigerator that led to a secret tunnel dug under the rectory, given the Sussex Manuscript's description of temples to Nyogtha normally being located in caverns and ravines, I-Cell deduces it must be the location of the cult's hideout. Before they can plan their raid, however, I-Cell has another matter to settle. 

11:30 PM 12 MARCH 1999.

I-Cell enters the New York Chief Medical Examiner's office, prepared to give Father Casimir Szary his last rites. They're greeted at the door by an NYPD officer sprawled face down on the floor behind the security desk. Up the stairs, another officer lies dead, having been strangled to death. Through security cameras the agents spy something that makes their hearts sink, in the morgue, Father Szary's locker hangs open. They run the footage back and see his awakening. He exits the morgue and chokes the officer at the front desk unconscious, then proceeds to the security desk and does the same to the officer there, although in his inexperience, it appears he's accidentally killed the second officer.

Father Casimir Szary, Reanimated by Nyogtha

I-Cell dives into their car and beelines for St. Augustine Roman Catholic churcg, where they believe Szary is headed. NANCY opts to chase him on foot. After a frantic half hour, they locate him at a bus stop and are able to "detain" him, luring him from the bus and into the back of their car, promising to deliver hi, to Father Yohn to be given his rite of exorcism. They drive him to Our Lady of Czestochowa. I-Cell prepares the Tikkoun Elixir and attempt to administer the dose. At first, Father Szary is confused and betrayed "No..." he says. Running. IMOGEN speaks to the priest, convincing him that he's being freed from his unlife to join the lord in heaven. She's able to persuade the priest, who prays one last time as the dose is delivered, and Father Szary dissolves and crumbles like carbonized paper. I-Cell rest in the empty church at midnight. IMOGEN weeps. They leave with a new resolve. The Leviathan has to die. Every one of them has to die.

13 MARCH 1999.

At the safehouse, planning begins in the morning. N-Cell unloads their gear. They've brought enough for themselves and their allies, including a small case full of Polish PM-63 "Rak" submachine guns, stun grenades, body armor, and medical supplies. I-Cell prepares vials of the Tikkoun Elixir and doses of the Dust of the Thresholds, and prints copies of the Vach-Viraj Incantation for all to keep on their persons. NANCY leaves to scout for an "entrance", coming back in next morning and informing the STOKER team that she's managed to find a New York City Metro service tunnel that runs close to the Rectory, and that she's managed to tunnel from it to the cult's subterranean hideout. I-Cell decides not to ponder how the fuck she did that. Ignorance is bliss. 

N-Cell's black-ops-assassination-weapon-of-choice. The PM-63 "Rak".

11:55 PM, 14 MARCH 1999. 

N-Cell and I-Cell form up along the wall of a freshly dug tunnel branching out of a disused metro service tunnel, NANCY backs up the entrance of the tunnel and takes a runner's stance, then breaks into a full sprint. She beelines for the end of the tunnel, then ploughs clean through a rock wall into a candle-lit chamber. Expressions of shock and confusion down a branching tunnel can be heard. NOLAN hurls stun grenades down the branching tunnel and the STOKER team enters. 

The raid is long and messy. IMOGEN pretends not to witness NANCY maul one of the priests to death, impaling his head on invisible claws. Father Yohn touches the Gowdie Shape and vanishes into it as his thrall reforms to take on the priest's likeness, grasping an antique bayonet and a steak knife before lunging at her. NICK and NOLAN mow down the cabalists as they feebly attempt to invoke the wrath of Nyogtha. In the chaos, The Yohn-Thrall buries his bayonet to the hilt in Irena's stomach before I-Cell intervenes with the Dust of the Thresholds. The putrid blackness of the Yohn-Thrall boils and dies, screaming. In the centre of the bubbling, dissolving foulness is the Gowdie Shape. They confiscate it and leave. 

Father Gustav Yohn, Heretic Catholic priest, High Priest of Nyogtha, Leader of the Leviathan

N-Cell arranges with a contact in the city, a retired Delta Green operative working as a veterinarian. They call up other contacts and put together a motley surgical team that performs off-the-books surgery on IRENA. The stab wound leaves an ugly scar, and in the weeks afterwards, IRENA is plagued with horrific dreams of lightless tunnels and a roiling, bubbling, foul darkness; and sickness, coughing up black phlegm. The team performs the Vach-Viraj incantation and display the Ankh at her. That night she rushes to the bathroom and vomits out a pint of the blackness. The next morning she is healed. 

N-Cell buy the I-Cell a shot and wish them farewell. They'd stick around, but NANCY is needed in St. Louis is two days. I-Cell is debriefed by IAGO, who congratulates them on a job well done. The Gowdie Shape is remanded to Dr. Jensen Wu for study and holding. IMOGEN makes last-minute arrangements for Coney Island Carpets to destroy the bodies of the priests and seal over the engraved iron plug in the floor of the temple of Nyogtha. 

Thanks in part to N-Cell's cover-up, the deaths of the six priests is blamed on a gas leak and insuing fire that destroyed the Rectory.