A Shadowy Cult

[RAVEN]

I have nooooo idea what is happening with your new little bundle of joy, Ron-Esis. Frankly, I don't know that I care. Charles Fort is more my thing than Ian Flemming.

I do, however, care very much about those cultists and their ceremonies. Can anyone here provide some more details about what happens at these events? What language do they use when they chant? Do they wear costumes or generic robes from Cultmart? Is there any iconography present? Did anyone mention a flying spaghetti monster?

[Grace]

I have nooooo idea what is happening with your new little bundle of joy, Ron-Esis. Frankly, I don't know that I care. Charles Fort is more my thing than Ian Flemming.

I do, however, care very much about those cultists and their ceremonies. Can anyone here provide some more details about what happens at these events? What language do they use when they chant? Do they wear costumes or generic robes from Cultmart? Is there any iconography present? Did anyone mention a flying spaghetti monster?

Eh, you're one of those people that combine peoples names when shipping a couple.

I'll try to answer your questions anyway.

I only speak English though I have picked up a smattering of Gaelic here and there. They weren't speaking either of those.

Cynthia doesn't know it either but said it was one of the languages of darkness, whatever that means. I asked her what she meant by that and she shrugged and told me she had an affinity for shadows and night.

Their robes all seemed to be homemade affairs and weren't uniform. Like they were told, "Come on down for this ceremony, semi-formal robes." Honestly, I have no idea how they determine who wears what. Could be some hidden heirarchy structure that I'm not initiated into.

Cynthia informs me that they were all just big stupid heads who don't know real power, except the master of ceremonies. She also mentioned something about a lot of them being cloaked in shadow.

I don't know Iconography from Greek so again I asked Cynthia. She told me that was how she could tell they were all big stupid heads that didn't know real power. Apparently they were mostly meaningless. Except of course the master of ceremonies.

No mentions of flying monsters, spaghetti or otherwise.

[Ronin]

I've been holding back much of what I know, sharing with a few select trusted friends. I hoped to gain some measure of surprise against a foul traitor but he has gone to ground and is out of my grasp for now. Much as I am otherwise loathe to publicly share too much information, in this one case I feel the need and urgency is great enough that some personal security must be compromised.

Cessiel did indeed provided me with the locations and identities of the various cult members and I spent a busy night rounding them up. They do not fear death at all. Pain is another story. Though even then, the higher echelon members are quite intractable.

First what I perceive of them. Each of them has something very wrong with their ki. It is as though there is something there, siphoning it off. I wish I was more of a ki master so I could perceive and describe it better than that. The higher echelon members that are so intractable? Their ki is even more disturbed as though they are in the process of becoming monsters.

The whole lot of them are a collection of emo, depressed little bitches. They welcome death and even the idea of the end of the world. Still, apparently cutting is only suitable to them if they're doing it themselves.

I have learned that each cult is a cell like structure that only knows the members of their own cells. Even the cell leaders only communicate via magical or psionic means that does not require that they know the identities of the other cell leaders. Apparently all cell leaders are taking orders from the abomination I saw summoned.

I do not know if this covers all their operations or not but I have learned that there are cells in the following cities: New York, Washington D.C., Winnipeg (neutralized), Las Vegas, L.A. (neutralized?), Vancouver, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bagdad, Berlin, Paris and London. There may be more. This information was gleaned from maps I found in the cult leaders home along with phone records and flight receipts.

I have returned home to deal with the threat these cults represent there. Before I go however, I must pass along one more warning.

Cessiel killed Bokkai. I have proof. You see, Bokkai received warnings from both Darcy and Matt to be on his guard against Cessiel. So he arranged to have a couple of friends with video cameras to follow him from a distance. They were undetected by Cessiel as that monster ran my friend through with his claymore.

Based on the broken dialogue that the camera's were able to pick up, Bokkai was indeed possessed by some possessing entity which was part of Cessiel's plan. Immediately after my friend was possessed, he appeared on the scene and ran him through saying something about how he was of course immune but thanks to Bokkai's sacrifice, the monster now inside him would be consumed for all time. That Bokkai's soul would also be consumed was apparently a regrettable necessity.

It does not end there. The 'consoling' he provided my friends widow? He subverted her mind and essentially raped her repeatedly. She remembers it all vividly, including being fine with it at the time but now she is left with an overwhelming sense of guilt and disgust. Disgust at herself and at what he did to her.

You may wonder why I do not hunt Cessiel down and slay him. As great as my anger is, I still realize that the cult poses a greater threat than he is, that in his perverted way, he is working against. For now I stay my hand. There will be a reckoning, though it may not come directly from me.

For now, I recommend you also focus on the greater threats while keeping in mind the threat that Cessiel represents. If and when the time comes to cut down this beast, call on me. If I cannot come directly, a member of my family better suited to wreak our vengeance upon him shall.

Seal away your anger my friends. Let it motivate but not rule you. Move with caution and act with wisdom.

[Ron Caliburn]

Gone to ground has he?

Well I'm sure he's going to be in for something he should have seen coming, soon.

[Grace]

It would seem that not all as gone as he has forseen.

[Hannah]

Darcy, no kidding.

Anyone who gets you, Dad and Ronin mad at them at the same time?

I predict very bad things happening to Cessiel.

Hannah

[Grace]

Hannah, that is probably the most accurate prediction made on this site, ever.

Still, given any thought to why things haven't gone the way he saw? Everything seemed to be going, for lack of a better word, to plan. And then it all went haywire. Because I'm thinking that if he could see the future, but it's not always working then we may have found an achilles heel.

We just need to figure out what it could be that's messing with his sight.

[Hannah]

I have a few theories, but of course nothing I'd repeat out here.

Hannah

[Grace]

Good policy. We'll talk about it later.

[RAVEN]

Ronin wrote:

New York, Washington D.C., Winnipeg (neutralized), Las Vegas, L.A. (neutralized?), Vancouver, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bagdad, Berlin, Paris and London

Wait a minute. I have contacts in all of those places. I am sure I should be able to uncover something. It would help immensely if I could pass along instructions of what we should be looking to find. There was a Meso-American connection mentioned very early in this thread. Is it associated with any particular god, goddess, or temple?

[Tms3]

Also some one should check out Cincantty as well as Louisville, I should also check out the Lexington area there is a lot of lay lines in southern Ohio, Kentucky west Virgina and Tennessee. I an best set up to keep an eye on central and eastern Kentucky but the rest of the area is a bet much. of course it would be form a pantheon I know next to nothing about...

[Ronin]

Ronin wrote:

New York, Washington D.C., Winnipeg (neutralized), Las Vegas, L.A. (neutralized?), Vancouver, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bagdad, Berlin, Paris and London

Wait a minute. I have contacts in all of those places. I am sure I should be able to uncover something. It would help immensely if I could pass along instructions of what we should be looking to find. There was a Meso-American connection mentioned very early in this thread. Is it associated with any particular god, goddess, or temple?

I am currently in Kyoto and my investigation skills are not what they should be. If you could hook me up with a name, that would be of great assistance.

For myself, I can't speak overly much about the Meso-American connection. As you can no doubt understand, my expertise lies on the other side of the Pacific. However, one of the cultists in Winnipeg had a medallion that looked a lot like this. Does that help?

[RAVEN]

That medallion is definitely Mayan, not Aztec. Perhaps I can consult with some anthropologists who can narrow down its origins to a specific Mayan city.

Ronin, to answer your question, I do know someone in Kyoto. She teaches English and Spanish at a private high school there. She sends me articles from time to time about Japanese hauntings or sightings of Kapans to supplement her teaching salary. I don't think she has a lot of street smarts, but her language skills and her being a local, she might be helpful to you. More importantly, she probably knows some local occult-watchers who can help you directly. Her name is Yoko Hanaba, and she teaches at the Kyoto Central School for the Gifted (a loose translation of the school name, I am afraid). I will tell her to expect a visit from you.

[Gotham Witch]

Well that particular image is of a Mayan calendar. Traditionally the Maya calendar works off of two rounds - the 260 day Tzolkin and the 365 day Haab (broken into 20 units, with 5 horribly unlucky days added to the end). Each one cycles through for 52 Haab years until it starts anew. Certain groups in Guatemala still use this one.

However, the Aztec calendar works in the same fashion - a 260 day calendar against a 365 day one for a 52 year cycle. The video and evidence I've seen of rituals done by this group so far seem more Aztec than Mayan (for example, Mayan human sacrifice came late and was never as prolific as Aztec).

As an amusing asid,e The whole ridiculous Maya 2012 thing is based on the Long Count, which is based upon a fixed date in the distant past (August 11, 3114 BCE), which is far before the Maya would have considered themselves a people. The Long Count mostly fell out of favor in Mesoamerica after the fall of the Classic Maya city states, even though most groups still used the calendar round.

[RAVEN]

To what extent the Mexica Alliance (a.k.a. the Aztecs) practiced human sacrifice is a matter of more than a little scholarly debate. I think they were all over that sacrificial action. Nonetheless, I am willing to believe your analysis, Gotham Witch. After all, you have access to evidence which I do not.

On a much lighter note, it appears that I was incorrect in one of the details which I gave to Ronin. My contact in Kyoto is not a highschool teacher as she lead me to believe. She only came clean with me after I informed her to expect Ronin to come see her at her school. It turns out that she is actually a stripper. Nonetheless, her English skills are impressive, and she informed me that could be as helpful for him as I had promised. I do hope things go well for him in the Land of the Rising Sun.

[Gotham Witch]

It would be difficult to really say how 'authentic' this cult is regarding their trappings. Although they use Aztec iconography, the historical connection to the real Aztecs is likely limited - by that I mean I kind of doubt very many of those involved are heavily invested in Aztec ritual tradition or are themselves Azteca. They may simply find benefit (aesthetically or functionally) to making the ritual 'Aztec' - ie, they might find a certain additional effectiveness that brutality of these rituals brings about.

I would go on a limb however and say that even if these rituals aren't historically authentic, there is nothing yet to suggest they don't work. Sometimes it isn't about the historical authenticity but the belief and the mechanisms.

As an update, I've had two separate run-ins with these cultists in the past month in two very different places. I'm uncertain if it's because they are that prolific or because I'm just that lucky. In one of these cases they infiltrated an old German esoteric society. The other seemed to be members of the New York group trying to accomplish a few things before going incognito.

[Ron Caliburn]

Before more pressing matters came up, Darcy and I had a good lead on the DC branch of these folks.

Unfortunately, after our aborted mission, they closed up that lead.

[RAVEN]

I will check with my sources in D.C. and Virginia. Perhaps all of the trails are not yet cold. Ron, should I turn up anything warm, would you like me to post the information here or send it to you by PM?

[Ron Caliburn]

I'd prefer to not give them too many heads up, they seem to read what's going on here at least a little, so private message and watch your back.

[Hannah]

Hey folks,

last night Clarity, Cynthia and myself got chased out of my apartment by some of those shadowy things that Matt, Mel and I dealt with on the first night of Winter.

A few notes on what we learned in the process.

1) These things are tied to the cult, but in the past the cult has worked with the Foundation.

2) They seemed much more interested in Cynthia than myself. Also they more or less kept their distance from Clarity, not sure why.

3) I was able to use my gifts to burn one up, but that just seemed to attract more. Given that the Holly King's power was driving the cold magic I used against them on the Solstice, it seems that magic can damage them in either situation.

4) There are also magics that can be used to bar their entry into places or hold them at bay. These same magics work against an entity that Cynthia refers to as the 'Dark Lady.' Other than being 'dark' and spirits, there seems to be no specific connection between the two entities.

5) They can arrive in very large numbers in a short period of time, as in dozens by the time we'd run a few blocks.

Watch yourselves.

Hannah

PS: We also learned that Clarity should never drink two mugs of hot chocolate in a single sitting.

[Hannah]

Quick update.

Seems like the shadowy things, which we are tentatively calling Shades are some variation of a possessing entity. They first latch on to their target then over time they slowly work their way into control.

In the past we've seen that these things don't mind their host dying either.

They may be active in daylight, but tend not to be. Light based magics should be particularly effective.

Hannah

[RAVEN]

A-ha! I think I have a lead not very far from District of Columbia. Ron, if you see this first, please have Nemesis check her messages for a PM from yours truly.

As for the shadows, that is an unexpected twist. I love shadow people. I will begin investigating this new angle.

[Celeste Darken]

Your “daughter” uses blood magic? That’s very . . . interesting.

[Gotham Witch]

Perhaps, but no more interesting than her ability to use magic, Miss supposed vampire. Blood is an oddly practical medium for magic. Ive sometimes used smidges of blood for casting - never so much though.

[Ron Caliburn]

Stop pretending I know you Darken.

The real Darken's been gone for years now.

[Grace]

Interesting is what will happen to anyone who gets any funny ideas about my daughter.

[Gotham Witch]

Thanks for saying what was in my head, Darcy,

[Hannah]

Another update.

I guess the shades told their mortal allies where to find us because a bunch of them showed up the other night. Fortunately for us they weren't really prepared to handle what they walked into.

Now the pair that showed up from the Hourglass Foundation, they were a bit readier for what they found. Luckily the cavalry arrived just in time and can shoot straight.

Hannah

[RAVEN]

What is this talk about the Hourglass Foundation? Hourglass is a charity which builds children's hospitals. I have personally hosted a local telethon to benefit them. It took place at the Saint Louis Hourglass Hospital. I have met a few of the vice-presidents and department heads and more employees than I could count at all lower levels. If there were anything occult-like or magick [sic] happening, I would have known.

Regardless of distractions, this news of the involvement of shadow people might be the missing piece of the puzzle we need. I have my journalists double-checking all shadow people sightings for connections to the as-of-yet-unnamed cult.

[Grace]

Your “daughter” uses blood magic? That’s very . . . interesting.

Yes I do.

Why is that interesting?

-Cynthia