Pickman’s Student: part 2
Extracts from the Personal Diary of Dr
Elisa Jamieson MD
As
the mask was still in my flat I took
Upon
returning to the hospital
We
made our way to Mr Blake’s room, keeping a wary eye out for Dr Jones. Finally,
as we arrived at the room, it became very clear that Mr Blake’s condition was
still deteriorating and also that Miss Tilstrom was
certainly not doing herself any favours by her vigil either. She was starting
to look rather ragged and appeared to have begun muttering incoherently to
herself. Her condition may also need to be looked at if she does not take
better care of herself. The woman was clearly deluded as she was still
convinced that Mr Blake is getting better.
The
nurse is another issue; she is still sharp but my hope of distracting her was
helped when she asked to have a word with me in the corridor using a tone of
voice that would imply that something quite serious is involved. Once we got
outside she first of all said that it is not her place to order me about but it
appears that Dr Jones has stressed upon her that I should not be allowed to see
his patient at all and that I should be concerned with my own duties. I informed
her that I don’t intend to get her into trouble and that I am presently off
duty and that I was only looking in as I had hoped to use this case in my final
thesis. The nurse took this on board but informed me that Dr Jones is displeased
with my actions and is threatening to bring up my involvement in the case with
the hospital board. She also claimed that she felt certain nurses would clearly
take Dr Jones’ side in this argument. She also informed me that while she would
not go out of her way to inform Dr Jones that I had visited Mr Blake she would
not be able cover up my visit if asked with this in mind. I decided to wait for
When
When
we arrived at MI13 we found the rest of the team already in attendance and observed
that James Elliot was on duty. Belinda appeared to me too be very tired and I
can only hope she is all right. Mind you, with her phobias, the mere fact she
has been sleeping under canvas for the last few weeks may have put a strain on
her resolve for, as I recall, she is not too keen on either dark confined
places or earthworms, both of which she would have had close contact with
camping on a dig in Northumberland.
Alec,
I noted, appeared convinced that Mr Stimson, the
gallery owner, is clearly a person of interest, as he asked James Elliot to
start a file on him but I am unsure as to why? Is he a suspect or a possible
recruit? (Mind you, if Alec was to think about recruiting then his fame could
be a stumbling block.) James Elliot’s research revealed nothing major in Mr Stimson’s past but he does have two outstanding parking
violations against his name and there also is a reported incident about a
misdemeanour upon Hampstead Heath, which was not acted upon by the authorities.
James
Elliot reports that Mr Stimson has also been rather
successful in his running of the Stimson Gallery and
has worked tirelessly to improve its reputation following the alleged
mismanagement of his father. The gallery has clearly changed direction while
under his tenure and now displays more outré artists such as Robert Pickman and as such the gallery is now doing well. Anyway
this is a matter for another time.
After
It
was decided that the best course of action for this would be to contact someone
better equipped to give us a lead on this and we had the very man for the job
in Ezekiel Corathan, the sage we had met upon our
last visit. The last time we had seen him was in King Kuranes’
court in Celaphais so we all focused our minds on Mr Corathan and, with the aid of some of the strange leaves we
had got from Jimmy and by employing Alec’s Chains of the Pilgrim spell, we
entered the Dreamlands to find ourselves appearing once again in Celaphais, and as it turns out within five feet of Ezekiel Corathan, as luck would have it! It was Adam who attracted
his attention, the only member of our party to have not met him on our previous
visit. I also noted that Belinda had changed back into her warrior persona in
the shape of Gloriana.
Mr
Corathan instantly recognised us and invited us to
come and join him for a drink at a nearby street café where he swiftly informed
us of what had happened to him while we were away. It appears that he had found
a home in Celaphais and he now has a role as a sage
attached to King Kuranes’ court where he is the
source of knowledge in regards to the Elder Gods.
We
quickly informed him that unfortunately this was not a casual visit and that
things are afoot within the waking world, going over everything that had
occurred in the last few days, including the descriptions of our dreams.
Finally, when Adam described his dream, Mr Corathan
reported that this was reminiscent of the
Ezekiel then informed us of the way religions work here. There
are a number of gods within the Dreamlands and that their positions vary in
regards to the number of worshippers each have at any one time. They appear to
be split into groups: the Elder gods, the Great Ones (not to be confused with
the Great Old Ones) and the Lesser Gods. He had never heard of Ghadamon so he suspected that Ghadamon
was something else, a Great Old One, possibly – though the Lesser Gods are very
numerous and Ezekiel doesn’t know them all.
Elder Gods (including Great Ones and Lesser Gods), it appears, initially cross over from the waking world. Many of
these gods have been forgotten in the waking world. There are always seven Elder
Gods; presently named Vishnu, Hypnos, Bast, Poseidon, Nath-Horthath, Dhégom Mátar and Nodens, the most recent. Sarnath
is a perfect example of a god loosing worshippers as once he was one of the Elder
Gods but now it appears he shows up as a Lesser God. A god’s power is entirely
dependent on the number of his worshippers.
After
hearing this we were taken to King Kuranes in hope he
could assist us further. Well I suppose if nothing else at least we would have
the pleasure of his company again and at least we could discover how Mr
Springfield and Miss McDougal are faring. King Kuranes
was only to happy to welcome us back to his court with fresh stories to tell
and we swiftly discovered that Miss McDougal has
settled in well to courtly life and was being courted by a number of nobles. In
the meantime Mr Springfield has also prospered well. I suppose it helped him
being a sportsman before he came here, for he is already on the verge of
becoming a knight.
On
the political front, however, it appears that there has been some realignment
within the Six Kingdoms but thankfully
There
were also rumours circulating within the court that something else was growing
in power and was possibly moving towards breaking into the waking world from
down in the Underworld. These rumours appeared to be originating from the
ghouls. King Kuranes himself claimed to know little
of the Underworld but pointed us in the direction of one of his sages who is an
expert in the area, named Malachi ‘the Wise’. King Kuranes
also allowed us access to his library in hope that this would aid our quest.
Once
out of King Kuranes’ presence we made our way to the
library where we indeed found Malachi and were able to ask about the ‘Herald of
R’yleh’, which I note he struggled to recall
reference to, that is until we mentioned the name ‘Ghadamon’,
which triggered a memory within the sage who then found the following excerpt
within one of his tomes…
‘…and
beneath the Ocean that lieth in ye Netherworld in ye
Lands of Dreams of Men, there shall lieth Ghadamon until such time as the innocent shall come unto
him in his lair. And by said innocent shall Ghadamon
pass in to ye Waking World and the innocent shall taketh
his place. And Ghadamon shall come unto the Seas of
the Waking World, to growe until that time he shall
call upon ye City of
(I
don’t know about everyone else but that to me pretty much sounds like species
extinction at the very least. To think I have existed for twenty-eight years
without really living and could all end in the next few days. One thing is for
sure if we live through this I am going to change.)
While
we are in the library we came upon a pencil drawing of Mr Blake’s painting
‘Karl Marx Lies in
Malachi
is also able to feed us quite a bit of information regarding the
The
ghouls themselves are, of course, barbaric as they devour the flesh of the dead.
Yet Malachi claims to have contacts within their ranks, which he still
continues to build. Carter, he claimed, had a silver ankh, which we are led to
believe allowed him some control over the ghouls. Malachi also told of a place
of great evil that should be avoided at all costs within the Underworld, a
place named the ‘
Malachi
felt that if we wish to get down to the
As I awoke my blackberry began to ring. I checked the screen;
it appeared it was unable to identify the caller. I answered anyway but was met
with a deathly silence, quickly followed by the click of disconnection. This
was rather odd. Anyway it was late and I had work the next day so I put it to
one side. However, when I arrived home I observed what appeared to be the same
silver grey car that I had observed that morning hanging around near the park where
I do my morning run. It was parked in my spot but as I arrived it moved off.
Fortunately I was able to gain the registration.
This was getting a little to much for me so once I got
inside I contacted Alec to see if he could help me by maybe arranging a PNC
check. He instead advised that I should put in agent at risk claim with MI13. Following
his advice, I contacted James Elliot and he stated that he would get GCHQ to
check into it. Maybe he isn’t such a pain after all, or is it just that the Alderley Edge incident has changed his views regarding what
we trying to achieve here?
The following morning we needed to check a couple of things.
First, how did they get this all fixed the last time this occurred, which would
probably mean contacting Lionel to exactly what happened to Toby Higginbotham?
Secondly, how much does Mr Adrian Stimson actually
know about Mr Blake’s dreaming activities?
Alec contacted Mr Stimson about
this second matter and we later discovered that he too is a dreamer and has
knowledge of some of the other areas of the Dreamlands, most of which appear to
be to the west of Ulthar. It also appeared that he was
the one who introduced Mr Blake to dreaming. Yet while Mr Stimson
is aware that Mr Blake has also been to the dreamlands, he appears unaware of where
he has travelled. Mr Stimson appeared to be convinced
that Mr Blake has no affiliations to unusual groups but that is not to say he
was not assimilated into a cult while within the dreamlands.
Before any of this can come to fruition, however, I have to
report to work. But as I am reaching for the door I receive a call from MI13
with the report in regard to the strange car and mysterious phone call from the
previous day.
It appeared that the phone was a cheap pay-as-you-go phone,
akin to one a terrorist or counter-intelligence group would use, so it is
virtually untraceable. The car was hired from top class hire company
and with their confidentiality agreements then this too would also mean that it
is virtually untraceable. But we had GCHQ on the case and they were able to
find out who precisely hired the car via their own avenues.
In the end it all tracked back to a certain Lieutenant James
Doolittle. When they checked further they also found that he also had a certain
Doctor E A Jamieson listed as his next of kin and as a result of this they had
printed ‘Do not waste our time’ in red ink over the report. I was under the
impression that James was still in
Fortunately the rest of the day was fairly standard for the
time of year and the time really seemed to drag. Of course there would be the
usual rush just after eleven - I know it’s Wednesday
but some idiots just can’t control their drinking. I decided that at least for
the time being it would be best if I tried to appease Dr Jones and stay on
station and instead try chatting and getting friendly with the nurses and
orderlies on duty. So that if Dr Jones chose to have a go for me then I would
at least have some people on my side.
Around
Fortunately for me it had been a relatively uneventful shift
so far, so my scrubs and white coat were still clean. As I arrived I was
surprised to find it was Alec Douglas and Adrian Stimson.
They inquired if I had been to see Mr Blake that day but I informed them that I
had not as I have been warned off by Dr Jones. Upon which they stated they had
visited him and it appeared from their description of his condition he had
deteriorated even further.
From their description it appeared Mr Blake’s skin was now
virtually completely black. That the splits in his skin appeared to have
expanded and he was also seemingly continuing to weep the clear slightly sticky
fluid from his injuries.
The brainwave monitor still appeared to be showing very
little in the higher brain functions bracket but quite a lot of activity in his
lower brain functions. Also it appeared he is now coughing up more clear liquid.
Mr Stimson informed me that once
again Miss Tilstrom is of the belief he is getting
better. This delusion on her part is getting rather serious. Anyway they then
asked me what time I get off. I told them
Fortunately my gaff didn’t bite me in the backside as the
day remained uneventful. Anyway, at just past eleven I was stitching up some
idiot who decided to have an argument with one of the shaved gorillas in a suit
outside a local club. I heard a scream from outside. I finished my needlepoint
then, after advising the nurse to see him on his way with his police escort and
telling her I would sort the paperwork when I got back, I quickly make my way
to the front door to find Nurse Mary Winton entering in what appeared to be a
state of shock. An orderly named Kevin Francis was holding onto her and one of
the onlookers was just about to offer her a drink of what I assumed was tea
when I stepped in and stopped it. I then begin talking to Mary to ascertain why
she screamed.
Mary informed me that she had just finished her shift and
that she was on her way home. But as she turned the corner, some big idiot in
what she described was a ‘fish mask’ leapt out at her from the bushes. Upon
hearing this I advised Kevin to go and get the two police officers as
fortunately they had not yet left the hospital. The police took the report as I
calmed Mary down.
It appeared the figure was somewhere between six and seven
feet tall and was wearing what she described as a weird wetsuit with bits hanging
off it and a rubber fish mask with big eyes. Dawn also claimed that he smelt
terribly of fish. The police suspected it was probably a student from the
University (there are still a few in houses of residence even during the
holidays) doing something for a bet. They filed the report but reported that
the case would probably go no further.
However, something about her description of her attacker
caught my attention and a name popped into my mind, ‘Deep One’! I felt that I
should remember to tell the rest of the team about this (with the possible
exception of Mr Stimson as he has yet to have his
epiphany) once I met with them again at Mr Blake’s.
Surprisingly, I checked out on time, despite my gaff with
‘Q’ word. Mind you, I was a little concerned about getting to my car as it was
right on the far side of the car park and there was that Deep One/student
character possibly lurking in the bushes. With this in mind I took a careful
look around before I made a dash for my car. Clearly either the Deep One/student
was not interested in me or had gone home as I was able to head to Mr Blake’s
flat unmolested. When I arrived I noticed that Mr Blake’s flat is much larger
than my own and is in a nicer area.
The team were holding a discussion with Mr Stimson as I arrived and I noted that the apartment itself was
fairly minimalistic but did contain all the usual
bells and whistles. Everyone was grouped around the sofa, which was in the
centre of the living room/studio. I observed there appeared to be a large
visible damp patch on the cushions likely due to this being the location of Mr
Blake when he was found.
Behind the couch there was also a covered easel where I was
told Mr Blake’s unnamed and unfinished work resided. I was about to uncover it
when the team advised me not to look so I relented. However, judging from its
positioning and angle it had clearly been positioned so that it could be
observed without obstruction from a reclining position on the sofa.
Note: as Mr Stimson was present in
the room I chose not to reveal the incident in the hospital grounds at this
time. The group appeared to be perusing two letters that the police had
initially taken away into evidence and Alec handed these to me to read. (It
appeared that the Police had already closed the case, with the presumption that
Mr Blake’s condition is due to the results of a failed suicide attempt.) They
had returned all the items they took away in process of their investigation.
Of the two letters themselves, the first is clearly either
typed or word processed while the second was handwritten in a poor hand. Alec
also informed me that one of the items listed by the police had clearly been
mislabelled as a silver cross as when he checked he had found that while it
still was silver it was certainly not a cross but was in fact an ankh. Anyway, that to one side the letters’ contents are detailed below…
Dear Nelson,
Really, I can’t believe you take all this
dream stuff seriously. I’m sure we’ve all, at some time or another, used dreams
as inspiration (in fact my latest line of statuary is inspired by a dream) but
I think it a mistake for a serious artist to rely on dreams as his sole source
of inspiration. And what’s this talk of Pickman? You
write as if you’d talked to him only yesterday. We both know the man
disappeared more than eighty years ago. Even if he hadn’t committed suicide or
‘eaten by ghastly creatures from the underworld’ he’d be long dead by now. As
for dreams foretelling the future – that sort of New Age stuff is for hippies
and circus attractions. You’ve been reading too much Stephen King, old man.
Yours scientifically,
Robert Baldridge
The handwritten letter read (note: no sender’s address in
the top right, likely indicating that this was not posted and was in fact
handed personally to Mr Blake)…
Dear Nelson,
Thank you for your charming letter and the
specimen of your work. It has been a long time since I went upstairs and I
recall Boston only distantly but it is good to know my work is still
appreciated after all these years. I would be delighted to meet you in the
flesh. If you bear the sign of Aegyptus openly, the
brethren will know to treat you with the respect an artist deserves and convey
you to my humble domicile where I will show you my latest crass dawbings and we can discuss how art has progressed in
recent decades.
R.U.P.
Reading this second letter, I think it could prove useful if
we could find out how exactly Mr Blake was able to send the initial letter
mentioned in this letter to RUP. We may also need to check out this Mr Baldridge as he was clearly in contact with Mr Blake before
he was struck down. Anyway, as I understand it, supposedly the Dreamlands are
amorphous and can be altered by people’s conceptions, and maybe Mr Blake’s
paintings have actually created some very dangerous changes.
Mr Stimson at this stage informed
us that there are five pictures in Mr Blake’s so called ‘Ghadamon
cycle’ and these are: ‘Elder Yuggoth’ (which depicts
the original home of the Mi-Go, which was apparently destroyed before they
transferred to Yoggoth/Pluto); ‘Karl Marx Lies in
Highgate Cemetery’ (which depicts the tomb of Karl Marx in Highgate but
coloured pink instead of granite grey – possibly a ghoul location); ‘Fate’
(Which depicts a large four-poster bed with closed heavy duty curtains standing
in a dark wood panelled room); ‘R’Lyeh Rising’ (Which
depicts R’yleh rising from the depths) and finally
the unfinished and unnamed work standing within Mr Blake’s apartment.
Alec did not give me any real information other than it was
Mr Stimson who introduced Blake to dreaming to
inspire his art and that he loaned him several books written by H P Lovecraft to aid him with his dreams. It appeared the team
and Mr Stimson had decided they were going to stay in
Mr Blake’s apartment that night and maybe gain some insight by the use of
dreams.
They had begun sorting out the sleeping arrangements just
before I arrived. Barbara had, of course, exempted herself from this
arrangement and was planning to go home. Which left myself, St John, Alec,
Adam, Belinda and Mr Stimson to spread themselves
across one king sized bed and one sofa (still showing a tide-mark) with a
sinister picture hanging over it, where I understood Mr Stimson
had agreed to sleep
I suggested that I had
a spare room at my place and Belinda was only to happy to agree to come with
me. I said that I also had my two big lazy boy chairs and a three-seater settee back at my place, which were all very
comfortable but no-one else seemed interested. So Belinda and I wished the boys
a good night and made our way back to my place.
As we left, Mr Stimson stepped
into the other room for a moment and I was able to recount the incident with
the fish-faced man to the team without him overhearing. One of the team also linked
the name ‘Deep One’ to the creature described. Alec asked why I had not told
them of this when I arrived. I indicated with my head in the direction of Mr Stimson, he then nodded in acknowledgement. Does this mean
that once again something supernatural is skulking in the bushes behind the
Royal Berkshire? It will be starting to get a reputation!
During the night I was awoken by Belinda’s screams and when
I checked on her I discovered that she had suffered a nightmare, which she
claimed remained very vivid in her mind when she awoke. She seemed a little
shaken up but I calmed her down and offered her a glass of water and a mild
sleeping pill to tide her over till the morning.
The next morning we discussed what she saw as I prepared breakfast.
It appeared to involve Belinda digging within an old dark graveyard built
around a large dark tomb. She was digging away when suddenly a deep hole opened
up and from the depths she observed eyes looking up at her from the depths!
Belinda then claimed she felt a driving urge to run to the
tomb. Yet she did not want to turn her back on the hole. With this in mind she
began to back away from the hole in the direction of the tomb. Unfortunately,
as is the case with a great many of these things, she caught her foot and
stumbled over one of the graves, ending up on her back as a strange bipedal
doglike creature rose from the hole, licking its lips and looking hungrily in
her direction!
At the sight of this Belinda chose to forgo backing away and
instead fled in the direction of the tomb. She saw the door was slightly ajar. The
ghouls, in the meantime, were in pursuit and she could hear their whooping
cries. Belinda, feeling it safer within the tomb, then attempted to enter, only
to find the door was not open enough for her to gain access. She worked
feverishly, pushing the door as the ghouls closed in. Finally it gave way just
enough for her to gain access; she ducked inside and quickly pulled the door to,
leaving the ghouls whooping outside. (I suspected that this way have been why
Belinda screamed, knowing of her fear of dark confined places but I was proven
wrong.)
Belinda continued her tale, informing me that she felt
somewhat surprised when she closed the door as she was not enveloped in inky
blackness and it appeared the interior of the tomb was lit by a number of
tallow candles burning in brazen candle sticks standing on the shelves lining
the tomb. This also allowed her to see a large obsidian sarcophagus at the far
end with an open book resting on the shelf above and old bones scattered on the
floor around its base.
Belinda could still hear the frenzied scratching of the
ghouls from outside and felt that the door would not hold them for long. In
hope more than anything else, she then chose to approach the sarcophagus where
she observed it bore a clear crystal glass top and within lay a beautiful young
woman with long dark tresses, seemingly asleep within the tomb, reminiscent of
a fairy tale princess.
Belinda was not the handsome prince however. She chose to
make a move for the book on the shelf but as she did so the crystal lid slid
off the side of the sarcophagus and a hand emerged to grab the book. This arm
was still attached to the girl in the sarcophagus but was clearly not hers for
it was more akin to a witch’s wicked claw!
Belinda attempted to retreat but the claw of the previously
beautiful maiden gripped the book with her left hand. The maiden now arose from
the sarcophagus and in doing so she transformed into an aged hag. Belinda
attempted to wrest the book from her grasp but she held on tenaciously. As she
could not wrench the book from the hag, Belinda thought about grabbing a
candlestick to beat the hag with but in doing so released her own grip on the
book only to find the hag also released her grip.
The book fell to the floor and Belinda reached for it only
to find the hag mirroring her actions. In fact it soon appeared clear to
Belinda that the hag was her own dark reflection. Suspecting that there was a
mirror before her, she attempted to break through the said mirror, initially by
kicking at it, which appeared to have little effect. She then grabbed one of
the candlesticks from the nearby and hurled it at the hag with all her strength
only for the hag do the same. She then saw the two candlesticks strike into
each other and suddenly, with a loud resounding crack, the world around her
shattered into a thousand pieces, bringing her back to reality with a scream - the
very one I had heard during the night!
I did not really know what to make of this but we finished
breakfast and, after cleaning up, I took my usual run, leaving Belinda to take
a quick shower when I returned I too took a shower before we made our way to
meet the others at Mr Blake’s.
Once with the others Belinda once again recounted her dream,
which caused a few questions as to why she experienced this at this time as it
appears far removed from the present case. Yet it appears everyone experienced
a dream last night with the exception of myself. Alec
and Adam were fortunately able to guide their dreams and returned to Celaphais, yet
In
He really would have liked to have gone back out of the wood
but felt obliged to continue plus his rods indicated to him that the item for
which he sought was just ahead. So he carried on, the ground becoming soft and
spongy beneath his feet. The trees were now getting very close together and
turning in to enormous toadstools!
Then he passed a perfect ring of large toadstools. At its
centre sat what appeared, at first glance, an old man but
A short while further on he came
upon a clearing. As he approached he saw two old women gathering mushrooms.
Suddenly his dowsing rods crossed. He glanced down
at his rods for less than a second and the man was gone. Now he was alone he
looked down to see a delicate pale blue puffball and knew instantly that this was
what he had come seeking. All he knew is that the puffball was vitally
important but he couldn’t remember why. (You never know, it could have been a
representation of the Earth, a delicate blue sphere hanging in an empty void?) All
he does know is that when he awoke he had the empty feeling that usually come
as the result of a terrible loss. This may be nothing or it could have also
been a representation of the so-called sinister