Pickman’s Student: part 3

Selected extracts from the Personal Diary of Adrian Stimson

Friday 29^th August 2008: I was the first to awaken this morning of the group who slept in Nelson’s flat. With the dream from last night still fresh in my mind I secured the cover over the unfinished work and documented the dream in my diary (see last entry). I then began to make breakfast and the rest of the group soon awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon! While we were breakfasting Eliza and Belinda arrived having spent the night at Eliza’s place in town.

I described my dream from the previous night and then showed the painting to the assembled company, some of whom had not yet seen it in its full glory! This was a disturbing experience for some though I expect it will be more so when we return there as I fear we must at some point.

Belinda then described a dream which she had the previous night which sounded even worse than mine. She dreamt of a graveyard through which she was pursued by shadowy monstrous figures. There was a tomb within the graveyard with the door open so she fled inside for refuge. Inside the tomb was a sarcophagus with a glass lid and within lay the perfectly preserved body of a beautiful raven-haired woman. When she looked closer she saw that the woman was, in fact, herself. On a shelf behind the sarcophagus was a book which Belinda reached for and as she did the glass broke and the woman immediately transformed into a hideous decomposing corpse. The corpse grabbed Belinda and they struggled at which point Belinda realised that the corpse was mirroring her every move and also that she seemed to have transformed as well into a mirror image of the corpse!

It was at this point that I stopped listening to the description of the dream as it was too disturbing. It may be somewhat unchivalrous of me, but I am glad that it was Belinda who had that dream and not me! Though my own dream had a distinctly unsettling atmosphere at least I was not chased or attacked by horrible monsters or transformed into a walking corpse!

After the discussion of dreams Adam called another member of the investigative team, one Barbara Smythe, who made her way to Reading to join us at Nelson’s flat. I am still unsure as to the relationship between all these disparate individuals but I am increasingly of the opinion that they are a special investigation team attached to Special Branch under the direction of Alex Douglas. Alex is certainly the only one I have so far seen to produce any official documentation or identification and the others occasionally make oblique reference to a higher authority, ‘the agency’ or ‘the company’ – that sort of thing, which is obviously known to them all and not to me. This is fine, whatever their allegiance they all seem intent on stopping what is happening to Nelson which is all I am interested in at the moment. They also all seem to be experienced dreamers, at least as much if not more so than I, which it appears will be essential for the task at hand.

When the whole group had assembled at Nelson’s flat we began to discuss how we should proceed with the investigation and came up with a few avenues to pursue. We began by reviewing the list of works which were designated as part of the Ghadamon Cycle. To recap, in no particular order, these are: ‘Elder Yuggoth’, ‘Fate’, ‘Karl Marx Lies in Highgate Cemetery’, ‘R’Lyeh Rises’ and the unfinished and unnamed work in Nelson’s flat. Due to the peculiar nature of these works it seems they may be of great help with the investigation enabling us to enter Dreamlands with relative ease at pertinent locations. It was decided that we should cross reference ‘Eibon Saith on Dreams’ with the ‘Book of Eibon’ to determine whether there was more information about Ghadamon to be gained from these works. This task was assigned to Eliza, but the complex nature of these works means that we are unlikely to see results from her investigation any time soon.

Adam made arrangements for Belinda to visit someone called Toby who may know about Ghadamon. Apparently Toby is in a mental institution!

In the letters from Nelson’s flat which we obtained from Thames Valley police there was mention made of visits Nelson had made to Dreamlands to visit with ghouls. It seemed also from these letters that Nelson might have made contact with Pickman or someone pretending to be him. We decided that we should attempt to make contact with the ghouls ourselves using the silver ankh which had been amongst Nelson’s personal effects. It seems that this ankh is some form of talisman which identifies the wearer as a friend of the ghouls.

It was decided that the best way of attempting contact with the ghouls would be to use ‘Karl Marx Lies in Highgate Cemetery’ to enter Dreamlands. Of course this would necessitate access to the work itself, so I contacted Mike Jones at the TUC headquarters to see whether I could arrange to acquire the painting if only on a temporary basis. Mike Jones is the Facilities Manager at the TUC and I was not surprised when I spoke to him again to discover that the organisation was not willing to part with the painting. They are aware of its value, particularly given Nelson’s current condition, and Mike was not happy that there appeared to be renewed interest in the work. I informed him that Alex Douglas wished to view the work as part of an ongoing investigation and as such he could not refuse as long as the appropriate paperwork was in order. I informed Mike that we would be calling on him later in the day and Alex called his office to arrange for a court order to release the painting into our custody for a prolonged viewing.

With the various investigators having their assigned tasks we set about our duties. Adam, Barbara and Belinda all went to see Toby to ask about Ghadamon. I was not privy to the details of the meeting or the circumstances surrounding it – apparently Toby’s presence at the mental institution is at the behest of the organisation for which the team works and something to do with an earlier episode which the team investigated. Whatever the background story is, it seems that Toby was not forthcoming with the information for which the team had hoped. However, I did discover later that Toby said that Ghadamon is an ‘artificial god’ (whatever the means).

Alex Douglas, St John and I went to the TUC HQ, Congress House, to speak to Mike Jones. Mike told us a little more about the history of the TUC’s relationship with ‘Karl Marx Lies in Highgate Cemetery’. Apparently a TUC official was at Nelson’s exhibition and purchased the work to hang in Congress House.

The painting depicts Marx’s gravestone with the stone itself in red instead of its actual grey colour and a dog curled up at its foot. The work it seems was initially interpreted as honouring the communist ideal and the spilt blood of left wing revolutionaries due to the red colour of the stone. This would be most unlike Nelson whose work has never been politically influenced and is usually far less obvious in its overtones and so it proved to be when Nelson provided a letter of attestation to accompany the work.

The letter stated that the work depicts a dream of Marx’s grave which explains the differences between the painting and reality. Furthermore Blake declared that the dog-like figure at the foot of the stone was in fact Marx himself and his essence is no longer buried in Highgate, but walks in dreams still.

Unsurprisingly these assertions caused considerable offence to the TUC hierarchy which, coupled with the fact that the painting itself caused distress to several viewers, resulted in the work being removed from display and stored in the vault as a mere material asset.

Alex produced the court order and we arranged to have an overnight viewing of the painting in a private room in Congress House. The rest of the group then arrived at Congress House, barring Eliza who was on night duty at the Royal Berkshire. After the building had closed for the night we were left alone in the conference room in Congress House, the only other inhabitant of the building being the night guard on whom we could call if necessary but who would otherwise leave us alone. We each had an ankh which Alex had obtained from the British Museum gift shop! Alex himself carried the silver ankh which had belonged to Nelson.

The assembled investigators settled down in the unsuitable surroundings of the conference room and attempted to sleep. One by one we all nodded off, apart from Adam and I who were forced to resort to dream dust in order to sleep.

Thus, one by one, we found ourselves in the dream of Highgate cemetery as depicted in Nelson’s work. The dog-like figure in the painting proved to be a ghoul who was soon joined by others from the woods behind the gravestone. The first ghoul was Karl Marx and the others who emerged from the woods were the Pearly King and Queen and the 35^th President of the United States, otherwise known as John F. Kennedy.

By the time Adam and I arrived, being the last to fall asleep, the ghouls were in conversation with the party, warded from attacking us by the silver ankh which Alex bore. It was at this point that I realised that Belinda was not quite herself. It seems that she has an alternate persona which she can assume when dreaming – a noblewoman by the name of Gloriana. Though Gloriana seems to be a distinct individual there is enough similarity that she is recognisable as a facet of Belinda. This is a phenomenon which is new to me and as such I do not know the nature of the relationship between the two personalities, but the situation bears further observation and investigation.

After a brief exchange we managed to persuade the ghouls to take us to see another of their kind who purported to be Pickman. The ghouls led us through a series of tunnels that were very extensive and pitch black with many twists and turns. Without guides it would have been impossible to find our way in or out.

Eventually we emerged from the tunnels at the base of a mountain in the Underworld of the Dreamlands. We climbed a path to about halfway up the mountain where there was a cave and outside the cave was another ghoul at work on a painting. This ghoul was introduced to us as Pickman. He was painting with rough brushes constructed of bone and hair and using homemade pigments in bowls made from skulls.

When we introduced ourselves as friends of Nelson, Pickman asked us what we thought of his latest work. I stepped forward and cast a critical eye over the work in progress. Honestly, it was an almost pathetically childish attempt at art, but one must consider the terribly poor quality of the materials available to the artist. But on closer inspection it was clear that the artist had something of Pickman’s eye about his work. Under the circumstances I did not wish to cause offence (or become dinner!) so I offered a generous assessment.

Pickman expressed his desire to visit the waking world and paint again under the natural light of that world and I offered to attempt to procure some proper materials for him. In all honesty, under different circumstances and with appropriate tools this ghoul might produce some work of genuine quality. What price a Pickman original? An ‘undiscovered’ work (or series of works) of the great man? Such a thing could make my name and fortune – certainly worth the danger and discomfort of another trip to this place or even the risk of allowing Pickman back to the waking world! I will keep this in mind and see what can be arranged if and when the current crisis is resolved.

Pickman took us inside his cave which was decorated with painted stones and artists’ gravestones. Someone asked about the nature of ghouls – why it is that most are unintelligent beasts intent only on consuming the flesh of sentients yet some (like those present) are intelligent beings with personalities. Pickman informed us that ghouls can perform certain rituals in order to gain thoughts and personalities at which point they take on the personae of those they eat. This explains Karl Marx and his friends!

Pickman then told us that he had been visited by Nelson who told him that he had to complete the Ghadamon Cycle. Pickman offered some advice to Nelson which enabled him to continue with the Cycle. Apparently an ancient sorceress used to visit Ghadamon in the Underworld Sea and she knew of protective magics which enabled her to do this. The ghouls know of tombs and knew of the tomb of this sorceress where lay her spell book and were persuaded to show it to Blake.

After further questioning Pickman revealed that Ghadamon was created by the Fungi from Yuggoth. This leads me to wonder again about ‘Elder Yuggoth’ and what may lie within the tower at that location. I am again relieved that I was prudent enough not to investigate the tower alone, but it may prove necessary to visit that place once more, in the company of my new allies, to explore the inside of the tower – could it be that this is where Ghadamon was made?

After his creation by the Mi-Go Ghadamon was placed in the Underworld Sea to mature, but is now in Blake’s mind. Armed with this new information we managed to persuade one of the ghouls to lead us to the tomb of the sorceress Talia after agreeing in principle to offer assistance to Pickman in his efforts to revisit the waking world.

With the Pearly King and Queen as our guide we returned to the tunnels and were led again a great distance until we reached what appeared to be an exit. The Pearly King and Queen refused to leave the tunnel, but informed us that our destination lay just ahead – what is so bad that it can scare a ghoul? That is a truly terrifying thought!

We emerged from the tunnel into an empty grave in the middle of a large graveyard. A low silver mist covered the whole graveyard, through which poked obsidian gravestones inscribed with runic symbols. About 100 yards away was an obsidian tomb with the door slightly open.

The scene was eerily familiar from Belinda’s description of her dream of the night before and almost immediately upon viewing the scene Gloriana transformed into a hideous hag just like the one described. To say the least this was somewhat disturbing! St. John was especially terrified and collapsed instantly.

The party recoiled from the hag which fortunately did not attack us. Instead the hag made for the tomb with Alex (clad now in armour and bearing a mace!) in pursuit. I reasoned that I would be safest remaining as close to Alex as possible so I followed, leaving Adam and Barbara to tend to the gibbering St. John.

The hag entered the tomb with Alex on her heels and I remained in the doorway to observe. The tomb was as described in Belinda’s dream, complete with glass covered sarcophagus and beautiful woman within. Alex manoeuvred to grab the spell book from the shelf as the glass shattered and the woman arose, now looking exactly like Gloriana! At this point we all fled, Alex carrying the book, and as we exited the tomb the Gloriana hag shut the tomb door trapping the sorceress hag inside.

As soon as Gloriana had the door closed something very odd happened and she seemed to collapse in a fleshy heap as though she no longer had any skeleton! Alex thrust the book at me telling me to keep running (as if I needed to be told!) and turned back to try to help the Gloriana hag.

It was at this juncture that possibly the strangest thing yet happened, when the Gloriana hag changed again, this time into a shoggoth! As all semblance of sanity had apparently disappeared by now, everybody fled from the shoggoth and we all returned to the ghoul tunnels with the exception of St. John who recovered in time to see the shoggoth and seemed to develop an unhealthy fascination for it. As the rest of the party fled, St. John approached the shoggoth and only entered the ghoul tunnel when the shoggoth had already!

The Pearly King and Queen led us through the tunnels again and we made good our escape from the graveyard. At some point during that journey the shoggoth must have transformed back into Gloriana as we all emerged from the tunnels more or less ourselves and in one piece. The place where we emerged was Mount Ngranek in the Dreamlands. Following the lead of my more experienced and more widely travelled companions we headed for the town of Baharna and took ship for Celephäis.

Celephäis is a place very familiar to my companions and is ruled by a king with whom the party seem to have good relations and an arrangement of mutual benefit. Given the fragile mental state of the rest of the team it was decided that I should be the one to read Talia’s grimoire and discover what secrets lay within for dealing with Ghadamon. The others seemed to have business of their own to attend to in Celephäis so I sat down for several weeks in that pleasant town and read Talia’s book.

Within the book were several magical incantations, including one in particular which will almost certainly prove effective in freeing Nelson if it can be applied in time. There was also information about a blue mushroom which grows within the Fungusl Forest. If this mushroom can be obtained (a process involving the appeasement of the Forest God) it should provide protection from the waters of the Underworld Sea in which Ghadamon resides and where we think Nelson’s dream form is now captive. I will need to read the book again to learn the spells so I arranged for it to be kept in safety within the library of the King of Celephäis.

Saturday 30^th August 2008: After a total of about two months in Dreamlands we awoke back in Congress House after only one night had elapsed in the real world. Alex, St. John and I returned to Reading where we heard that Eliza had been attacked the previous night in the hospital grounds. Alex went to the local police, St. John and I went to the Royal Berkshire to check on Nelson.

We found that Nelson’s room had been sealed in quarantine and nobody was allowed access. The nurse to whom we spoke and Dr. Jones were both totally closed off on the subject and would offer no information at all. St. John made a call (I assume to Special Branch) and discovered that Nelson was extremely ill and should be moved to a special unit, but that this was ‘physically impossible’. There was no sign of Penny and no answer from her mobile and the staff would not even discuss her whereabouts.

St. John made arrangements for special dispensation to be granted for us to see inside Nelson’s room. When the orders came through from the Home Office to allow access, St. John was kitted out in some sort of total body suit. Then Dr. Jones, similarly attired, opened the door to Nelson’s room for St. John to see inside. Dr. Jones made a point of not looking inside himself and I can only guess why because St. John took one look at what lay within and froze completely as his mind finally unhinged! Dr. Jones dragged him away from the door and sealed the room again, still not looking inside.

I asked Dr. Jones to put the catatonic St. John in a temporary bed, assuring him that we would soon be out of his way. I called Alex to tell him what had happened and arrange for St. John’s removal. I write this now whilst sitting in the hospital room next to St. John’s bed awaiting a pick up from Alex and contemplating what I have got myself involved in and how this situation can be resolved. I fear that the longer I associate with these people the more of my mind I will lose until I am in no better state than the unfortunate fellow in the bed beside me! I have never been a religious man, but now might be a good time to start.