It was past nine and darkness surrounded us but as the cultists past through the pools
of light thrown by pathside lamp posts I was aware of how many of them there were
and the fact that Heather and I were the only members of Cassandra 23 left on their
tail. My fears grew when they crossed a large open area that I took to be wasteland
until Scott told me that it was in fact the very spot where Agent Baines had perished,
not ten days ago. I didn’t fully trust her and the fact that she was my only help if the
cultists turned to attack was cold comfort indeed. As Lux and his followers reached the
edge of the ‘wasteland’ they appeared to meet up with two figures that passed them by
and began walking straight towards Heather and I. For a brief moment I feared that
we were about to be attacked by further servitors of the sinister Lux but, as they came
closer, we could plainly see that the two figures were none other than the missing
Irishmen.
Apparently Patrick and Billy had decided to try the same ploy as Jones, reasoning that
they should be able to get ahead of the cultists by cutting up the road rather than
turning down the alley after Heather and I. They planned to take the first right turn
they came to, believing that this would put them in front of our quarry – unfortunately
there were no right turns. Nonetheless they persevered, racing up the road and
eventually walking straight into Lux and the others and they turned the corner from the
Wasteland onto the main drag. The two Irishmen congratulated themselves on their
brilliant ploy, I personally felt that they been very lucky but, on reflection, it may have
been Billy’s psychic abilities leading him along the correct path.
After ascertaining which of the houses the cultists were headed to we awaited the
arrival of Jones and Fox.
When we all got back together Karl got out Susie Nichol’s diary and read it out to us. It
was a revelation, confirming our suspicions about the Church of the Inner Light and its
leader. The journal was a shocking account of an innocent’s descent into degradation
and sexual depravity and proved beyond doubt that West was involved in these dubious
activities up to his well-educated eyes. The diary also made mention of Alice, whose
role seemed to be that of acolyte or priestess to Lux’s Pontifex Maximus. It ended with
the once innocent legal secretary apparently praying devoutly for the coming of a
person or creature called the Yellow King who would release her from her worldly cares
and change everything. The Cell was, to a man, sure that the arrival of this King in
Yellow must be halted at all costs.
The diary showed that we had entered some Conradian heart of darkness, where the
promise of forbidden desires sated and terrible lusts fulfilled had stripped away the
veneer of civilisation from a group of seemingly normal people. Is that all it took to
regress these individuals five thousand years and send them screaming chants of
worship to the dark powers that dwelt in an unforgiving sky? What a terrible thought!
Pondering these disturbing thoughts we were led by Agent Scott back across the car
park. She pointed out to us the spot where Baines had been slain by the mysterious
Sebastian Lux. While Billy meditated in an attempt to regain some of his composure
the rest of us examined the scene. Unfortunately the fact that we had neglected to
bring torches with us made a detailed search difficult but we did eventually discover
that the ground had a fine covering of some form of dust, presumably the foreign
substance found on Baines’ body. It seemed clear that this was a component of some
form of weapon that had been hurled or projected at the unfortunate agent in order to
bring on a massive heart attack.