File #7777 - The Seven Pillars
Filing Organization: Omniscient Dawn
File #: 7777
Class: Cataclysm
Containment Procedure(s): Reinforce existing containment. Pray.
Description: The Seven Pillars are a collection of Old World containment procedures scattered across the continent. Each “pillar” is a metaphysical manifestation of a specially designed prison that restrains an entity from the ███ █████ from breaching the Mortal Realm.
Each entity (designations 7777-1 ██████████, 7777-2 ██████████, 7777-3 The King in Yellow, 7777-4 ██████████, 7777-5 The Blue Veil, 7777-6 ██████████ and 7777-7 ██████████) is an unknowable force bent on consuming, awakening, subjugating or otherwise transforming the Mortal Realm and those within it.
The mere echo of these entities’ presence is enough to ███ reality around these pillars. Agents stationed in the area are instructed to maintain an exclusion zone of at least 100 miles, breaching perimeter ONLY after obtaining Nephilim Council permission and under Class 5 psionic protections. The area is unstable and subject to change with little or no warning.
It is unknown who constructed the containment protocols for these entities. While the surrounding █████ are unmistakably Old World, it is theorized that they ███████ ████ the Old World, and are from a ████ █████ ████ these entities walked among Mortals. Readings suggest they contain an enormous amount of trapped souls that in their conglomeration are effectively both consumed and stored by the entity at the same time.
At the time of this report, only one of the Seven Pillars has been discovered, in ██████ (see File #7777-5 or 7777-E1 Logs for further details). The Order will continue communication with 7777-5 to press it for more information concerning the other six pillars.
As it stands, 7777-5 has only revealed that there are seven of its kind that have a presence in Andali, and more in the ███ █████ that wish to join them. This is inadvisable.
Addendum 7777-A: All logs from Researcher Adelgard, save his first (Log #22) and his last (Log #42), are to be struck from the record by order of the High Nephilim.
Expedition 7777-E1 (Logs #1-#21)
Log #1
I have made a discovery. Beyond the Horizon Line, there is a city that rises occasionally, when they night is empty and Aurora is quiet, there is an alignment of lights in the sky that lead to a clouded mass beyond the Line.
I’ve been granted leave to follow them by the Nephilim Council and will be leaving with a team of six fellow researchers in the morning.
Log #2
Departure inventory from the ledger of Agent Beholli, Expedition Accountant.Agents: Lieutenant Harriet Marigold (Head Researcher), Agent Nolan Beholli (Expedition Accountant), Agent Burgemund Venilier (Quartermaster), Agent Gerard Bukowski (Medical), Agent Thomas Anderson (Researcher), Initiate Ranvi Qolec (Research Assistant) and Initiate █████ ███████ (Research Assistant).
Food and water for fourteen (14) individuals for twenty-one (21) days.
General Fund appropriations: 5,000 gp
Travel Fund appropriations: 2,000 gpComponent request: denied
Log #3Arrived at the southern bend of the Thunderer’s Coast. Local fishermen have strange local legends surrounding the island. They say if we want to get any closer, we should plan to stay at the island of Ponape, the closest to the Horizon Line you can get without crossing it.
But we should not stay long; locals are isolationist, follow a religion not taught on land. An effect of the island?
Log #4
From the ledger of Agent Beholli, Expedition Accountant.Ship Charter: 1,600 gp. Paid to Captain Eamonn McGreggor from Travel Fund.
Note: This ship charter has exhausted our travel budget, but this captain was the only one willing to take us beyond what the sailors referred to as the “Ghost Line.” Local superstition is going to force us to use the Pathways to get back. Might as well throw myself in the sea now.
Log #5The locals were about every bit as welcoming as the mainlanders said they would be. They can keep their distance; their pale skin, sunken eyes, and pallid demeanor make it a welcome gift. Though if my researchers ask how long we will stay here again, I will threaten to establish a permanent outpost. But in truth I do not wish to stay here longer than is necessary.
I have begun to have dreams of the island, R’lyeh it is called. I had them before, on the mainland, when I first discovered the █████, but they are occurring with increasing regularity as we get closer to the Horizon Line. Anderson is experiencing them, too. Something calls to us.
Log #6We lost Agent Venilier. As we left the island for the island, he leapt off the boat, falling to the dock, claiming his “ancestors begged him to return to the mainland.” Godblind fool has tied himself to his family’s gravestones and will be dragged under for it.
We’ll pick him up on the way back, if he’s still on the island when we return. I wouldn’t be if I were him. Not only are his odds of court martial guaranteed, but I don’t like the way the locals were looking at him as we pulled away. Hungry.
Log #7Spent the entire week at sea. If my calculations are correct, the ████ will open the path tonight. We are adrift just before the Horizon Line. It’s beautiful, in it’s own strange sort of way.
Many have described it as a mist, but I find it more complex than that. There is a shimmer to it, almost like the fog and the Line itself is a mirage, a Veil to what lies beyond.
Log #8I was right! The way is open, little lights be my guide.
Log #9Made landfall in the morning. Ship is moored offshore, had to take the dingy in to avoid rampant coral growths. Set up forward operating base on the beach, Anderson and Initiate Qolec are taking soil samples. Initiate ███████ and I will be exploring the architecture on the island shortly. Weather is inclement, to say the least, though we have found a beach safe from the gales.
This is a monolithic find that, if it truly appears on a schedule, could reshape our understanding of what is beyond the Horizon Line. The island itself is large, made of worn gray-green stone encrusted with fossils of various sea creatures, the smallest of which barely perceptive to the naked eye, and the largest of which (thus far) is of a cartilaginous creature over 10 meters long. Despite my urgings, Anderson has set his camp up in the creature’s exposed rib cage; says it will enhance his ability to commune with the nature of the island.
The beach sand is coarse, unpleasant. The entire island is covered in slimy sea growths, presumably from regularly submerging. It carries an unpleasant scent with it of dying sea life.
What remains is a skeleton of the architecture I’ve seen in my dreams, non-Euclidean in nature. A city of spires and empty citadels reaching to the sky. Initiate ███████'s geological surveys report there are a number of subterranean vaults beneath the surface as well. He and I will investigate soon, after base camp is fully established.
The dreams are coming with increased frequency, and they persist as echoes in my waking moments, superimposing themselves over what I see to show me the majesty of this island as it was at the height of ██████'s power.
Log #10Substituting for Lieutenant Marigold as she tends to Agent Anderson. Our exploration of the cavernous vaults beneath R'lyeh was cut short when Initiate Qolec recalled us to tend to a medical emergency.
As Agent Anderson was communing with the nature which grows on the island, he began convulsing, shouting that there were “too many voices.” Initiate Qolec moved to assist, but was attacked by Agent Anderson. Agent Bukowski administered an arcane sedative, and is monitoring Agent Anderson as he sleeps.
Agent Anderson has begun to mutter in his sleep.
Log #11
Excerpt from the autopsy of Agent Anderson.-Deceased displays bloating as if corpse suffered prolonged underwater exposure, upwards of three months. Should be noted the deceased has been dead for little under eight hours and stored in a cool, and as dry an environment as one can find on a haunted beach head.
-Deceased has three 2-inch, gill-like incisions on each side of the neck, perpendicular to external jugular veins, presumably the cause of death.
-There is no blood in the body, replaced with some sort of saline solution of an unknown source.
-Prior to death, the deceased became increasingly agitated, with elevated heart rate and body temperature, though in an induced slumber.
-Though deceased, the body continues to speak, repeating: "Iä! Iä! █████ fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh █████ R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!”
Log #12While the loss of a fellow dreamer is unfortunate, the expedition will not wait for us to mourn. ███████ and I are descending into the vaults, leaving Qolec to continue taking samples alone, as Beholli refuses to get his hands dirty and we can’t risk our only medic Bukowski injuring himself.
███████ and I are making good progress. Though the vaults reek, there is otherworldly mosaics on the wall that I’m taking a note to make rubbings of. There is knowledge here, even if ███████ can't see it.
Log #13Night has fallen but Lieutenant Marigold and ███████ are not back yet. Bukowski and Beholli are arguing about what to do; Beholli finished inventory of our supplies and found that, though we had supplies for a party twice our number and for three times the planned expedition length, we’re down to a week’s worth of rations for the five of us remaining.
I’m tired, but I don’t want to sleep. I don’t want to see the nightmares again.
Log #14
Excerpt from Agent Bukowski's medical report on injuries sustained by Agent Qolec.Agent Qolec, while gathering flora samples from one of the spires, slipped and fell down the length of the rocky terrain. Fortunately, I had ignored Beholli’s orders to stay put as he does NOT outrank me, and was accompanying Qolec.
I was able to administer first aid, deeming arcane healing unnecessary for the situation, and assessed her state. She may have a mild concussion, but is otherwise unharmed save for a scrape on her hand that I have cleaned and bound. There was an unusual algae around the wound that she insisted I take a sample of. I said we should burn it, but she’s the researcher.
Addendum: Though I have made several attempts to purify it, this DAMN green algae has resisted mundane and arcane methods of cleaning. Ranvi told me to leave it, but I’m beginning to worry about her. If I hear a single “Iä!” slip from her lips, I’m calling it. I like her, but I won’t be the victim of some eldritch transformation.
Log #15That seditious captain left! He left us! He took our gold and left! No word, no warning, just gone. The sun is setting, Qolec’s condition is worsening, and our supplies are GONE. Bukowski is debating the merits of cutting off Qolec’s hand to prevent the spread of the algae, which is in her veins, because that’s normal, that’s what algae does.
I told them! I told them there was something off with this captain, I didn’t like the look of his eye, but no, no the only option must be the best option, I--
I hear shouting.
Log #16Bukowski is dead. Anderson killed him. Beholli and I escaped on the dingy left by that bloody captain after he absconded into the night and left us with nothing.
The creature that was once Anderson rose up from our makeshift morgue and attacked as the sun was setting. More creatures like him emerged from the depths. Bukowski shoved me into the dingy, Beholli was already rowing away, before he was pulled under.
We have less than a week of rations, which won’t last us to the Horizon Line, presuming we even left the island in the right direction. And Monarch’s light preserve me, my hand hurts.
Log 17I found him, my Great Sleeper, dreaming beneath the vaults! I left ███████ behind, this is not for him, though I can hear his voice echo from the walls, searching for me. He will not find me.
Log #18Iä! Iä! █████ fhtagn! Ph’nglui mglw’nafh █████ R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
Log #19██ is ███████.
Log #20I found Marigold’s pack and journal at the threshold of a sealed door. Leafing through it, she speaks of dreams, visions, and murals which she did not mention to me and I cannot see. These vaults have been endless caverns of empty walls and seawater.
This is the only wall that seems to actually have a mural. It depicts a being of deific size standing over the spires of R’lyeh, holding them in his grasp. Two terrific wings make up the arch of the door, held aloft over this entity’s terrible, squid-like head. Smaller versions of the being are depicted carrying humanoid creatures towards it, and a mass of cloaked figures gather at the gates of R’lyeh.
The whole thing is unsettling to look at. If I stare too long… well, let’s just say I can understand how Marigold started seeing things. It looks old, old as the rest of the system, but well preserved. Like someone cleans it every time the island rises.
I can hear water filling the lower vaults, the island must be sinking again. I think I should be able to force open a door to the Pathways before it sinks but I’m placing these notes in Marigold’s expedition pack and activating the beacon, just in case.
Stranger guide me.
Log #21
Excerpt from Recovery Team Log for Expedition 7777-E1Initiate Ranvi Qolec was found by Recovery Team 7777-E1 four weeks after her alleged departure from R’lyeh. She is in poor health, suffering from malnutrition, dehydration, exposure and an infection of her left arm, but she is alive. Found with her in the dingy were the logs and journals from each of the expedition members save Lieutenant Marigold and Initiate ███████, and the personal effects of Agent Nolan Beholli.
Initiate Qolec was recovered alone. All other members of Expedition 7777-E1 are presumed dead.
Log #22Following the disappearance of Lieutenant Marigold, it has fallen to me to continue her research into the Seven Pillars. The Nephilim Council have afforded to me all of her notes and data, but frankly I am astounded at what little remains. From what I can decipher, it looks as if Researcher Marigold was not conducting research, but worship.
Her notes brought back from the island by Agent ███████ upon his return from the Pathways are near unintelligible ramblings and I’ve requested they be sealed for posterity, but I will continue to untangle this knot. For her.
Log #30Ancestors protect me, but this is not what I signed up for. Adelgard, I'm leaving this for you: get out. The ██████ know what the Seven Pillars contain.
Log #42I am sincerely grateful that Elaria did not live long enough to see her organization for what it has become. What was once an altruistic academic endeavor to uncover the secrets of the Call and arcane magic has been twisted by the devices of power-hungry husks of ambition.
I have found the purpose of the Seven Pillars. Though I should not say I found it, as it has been known by our organization for longer than I’m sure the Nephilim Council would like known. I imagine they learned of their purpose when they began communing with the Dark.
I have already expunged our records of any clue leading to the discovery of more of the pillars. Only R’lyeh is revealed to the Order, and I will keep it that way. I am burning what remains of my research on the other Seven Pillars. Do not look for me.
Comments