My Humblest Apologies

I am so very sorry for being out of reach for the past several days. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do, as I have been remaining "underground," so to speak. My altercation with the last "recruiter" for the Listeners sparked an idea, and I recently joined them. It took some time to convince them that I was not an agent of the Church of Simplification, but seeing as how I'm not, it worked out to my advantage.

I have since been working with them in an attempt to destroy said Church, though I am positive that they have a secondary plan. You see, the Deep's pulse was right on schedule, and now it has returned to sleep. However, from circumstantial data and a few scattered references, it seems that they plan to raise the Deep again. I'm not sure when, or how.

However, I do know one thing: It would be a disaster. The Cancel is not here to send the Deep back into sleep, and, unless I am very much mistaken, the Deep's thoughts will cause the same effects as the Pulse, but on a far larger scale.

I need to meet with Dewart as soon as possible. Hopefully he is still near the Reactor.

Regards,
Mr. Benzene

Investigations

I've been investigating the Reactor more thoroughly for Mr. Benzene, and needless to say, I'm very thankful that I was pointed in this direction. As I proceeded down into the Reactor, I discovered what appears to be a place of worship. It was empty at the time, but showed recent signs of traffic. I planted a camera and retreated, then checked it later.

Apparently, it's a meeting place for something called the Church of Simplification. I assume they worship the Cancel, as evident from the Empty Set and the theme naming. 

I'm not overly sure how they worship, or why, but they seem to be preparing for some big event.

I shall attempt to gather more information.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Contact

We've received contact from Mr. Benzene. At about 6:30 this morning, Dr. Evans received a letter. Most of it is for Evans's eyes alone, but there was one thing he told me that I think should be shared:

... in addition, I've run across something else in the City that has made me greatly uneasy. Something, or someone, I should say. The mere sight of a person in the City itself is cause for alarm, as this area tends to be completely secure, certain events not withstanding.

However, this person was marked with "dB" upon a tattered sweatshirt on his back, a bag with the same mark on one shoulder and a large set of headphones was nestled on his head. His attire made me investigate more thoroughly, and I'm afraid that I grew too bold and he discovered me. We had a short altercation, and after mere moments, he was retreating  with several large cuts. 

However, I cut the strap of a bag and recovered it, which was my end goal of the fight. I investigated the contents more thoroughly and discovered something to set my hear ill at ease: pamphlets. Recruiting pamphlets to the homeless and "forgotten" youth of the outside world, encouraging them to join the "Listeners." 

This can mean only one thing: the followers of the Deep are more than just a possibility. I don't know what they intend to accomplish, but I'm not going to let them reach their goals, whatever they are. 

Ever your servant,
Benzene

P.S. Tell Dewart that I found the Empty Set marked in the Reactor. He might be able to dig something up.

Well, he is correct. I shall be investigating on the morrow.

Regards,
Mr. Dewart

Retreat

Several events have come about to prevent me from returning to the cavern where I discovered the disease and to cause me to retreat back into the natural reality.

Firstly, Herr Doktor has returned to Lacuna Urbis. This alone was enough to make my survival instincts go into overdrive; I remember vividly what it was like the first time he came.

Secondly, we've lost contact with Mr. Benzene's submersible. His submersible has been in constant video contact with Dr. Evans's lab since the beginning of the descent, but as of 21:45 of last night, we have been unable to contact him. In addition, the remainder of his crew, five in total, have not responded to any sort of attempt at communications, from phone to telegraph (you might laugh, but we must be prepared for any possibility. Also, don't ask how we got a line to the submersible. You don't want to know.). 

Thirdly, and perhaps finally: the Hum seems to be distorting Lacuna Urbis. Buildings have been decaying and rebuilding themselves, and birds have been sighted throughout the city closest to the Door.

Needless to say, I'm leaving for the time being. I'll report back later.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Conclusions

I must admit that it took me longer than I thought it would to come to this conclusion, but once I arrived, it was obvious beyond belief.

The mark that we found on the wall, the circle and line (Ø), the deterioration of our instruments. If we take these factors into consideration, they point to one conclusion: We are dealing with the Cancel. The Cancel is an entity that has remained mostly unknown in the face of the other Beings that we deal with. Because of its nebulous nature, it is often relegated to the background.

Now, for those of you unaware, the Cancel is less of a Being and more of a force. It has the strange ability to literally erase anything from existence, including the memories regarding that object. There are, however, a few exceptions. Those touched by another Being tend to be able to resist the effects on their memory from the Cancel, which is how we know it exists at all.

The Cancel is probably the most terrifying of everything we face, for, from what we have been able to find, it has already consumed one reality.

Not just a planet, or galaxy, but the reality of that universe. 

However, we have discovered something that may bring hope to your hearts, or strike deeper terror; the Cancel refuses to try and devour our solar system for one reason: there is something that resides in our ocean that the Cancel is afraid of. 

We have named this Being "the Deep." And, as far as we are aware, it is the thing which caused the Pulse, which launched this venture. The Deep seems to be largely uncaring of the world, but it seems to have one motivation that one could deem "human:" It hates the Cancel. We've recorded several Pulses over the last few years, and all of them align perfectly with something we had never really considered comparing them to: influxes of the Cancel. The Cancel will extend "tendrils," for lack of a better term, towards the earth every few years. It has always withdrawn them, and we have never really been able to find the reason for said retreat.

Well, we now know. And the truth is more terrifying than anything I could have invented to cover it up. 

Regards,

Mr. Benzene

A Strange Phenomena...

For the last few days, I have felt nervousness and tension steadily growing in me, and I think I have finally discovered the source. I proceeded back through the Door into Lacuna Urbis and shut it temporarily. Immediately, I felt a cessation of most of my negative feelings. 

I proceeded to test this several times, finally using an audio recorder to test. In every audio recording I made, a quiet, but persistent Hum could be heard. I capitalize it because I believe it to be a subset of the Pulse which we heard earlier. 

I'm not overly sure what this Hum does, but I feel it significant enough to report to Dr. Evans. Hopefully he can figure it out.

Regards,

Mr. Dewart

Stationed for Further Observation

We reached our target late last night. We were descending for several hours, but were slightly sidetracked by what appeared to be a mark, scrawled on the side of a shelf. How did we find it, you ask? Well, it made our instruments go haywire the closer we got to it. We studied it by sight alone for several minutes, but that was all we were able to fit in before our instruments began permanent shut down.

It looked like a circle with a line scrawled through it: Ø

As some of of you might know, that symbol represents about three different things:

1. A letter in the Scandinavian alphabet
2. A zero, marked to differentiate it from the letter O
3. The empty set, a mathematical term.

I think we can rule out the first one, which leaves 2 and 3. This is somewhat disconcerting, as both of those, mixed in with those creatures we both know exist, leads to one conclusion. I'd rather not speak the name, though I'm sure that you can figure it out.

But I digress.

Continuing with the original story, we arrived at the rift last night and have remained here for about twelve hours so far. Evans has been collecting data and will notify us when we are able to move.

Regards, 
Benzene

P.S. Dewart, mention the Reactor again and we'll see how gentlemanly we can be with a knife in your guts.

What Have We Here...?

I have rather depressing news to impart. You might recall the disease that Herr Doktor was experimenting with, and how it seemed strange that he should be experimenting at all.

Well, I believe to have discovered the cause. I have in my possession a sample of this disease, yet it did not come from Herr Doktor. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

As I passed through the Door, I was deposited in a cavern that, as far as I can tell, is either beneath the ocean or just above sea level. There is a well, for lack of a better word, near one side of the cavern. I explored it for some length, but I could not find the end. This leads me to believe that I am actually beneath the ocean, as the tunnel kept getting darker and darker as I proceeded. Eventually, I turned back and returned to the cavern.

I've been exploring it for quite some time, and there seems to be the ruin of a rather large facility here, from ancient times. There are half collapsed buildings, all made of the same rock which forms the cavern, which leads me to believe that it was reached through the Door and that this whole cavern is artificially made.

But again, I'm getting getting sidetracked. My purpose is that I have discovered several large containers of some sort of stone, marked with strange writings. Inside, I discovered a sample of the plague that Herr Doktor was using in Lacuna Urbis.

This leads me to conclude that Herr Doktor didn't have knowledge of this disease originally, which further leads us to two questions:

1. Why didn't the Lord of Disease know about this disease, and
2. Why was he experimenting with it? What did he hope to accomplish?

Alright, that was technically three questions, though one is more of a follow up question.

Hopefully this mystery can be cleared up soon.

Regards,
Mr. Dewart

Found it!

Greetings! I haven't yet posted on this blog, though Dr. Evans granted me access several days ago. I am Blake Dewart. For the last several days, I have been assigned to Lacuna Urbis in search of something, which I am glad to say that I have finally discovered!

You see, I have been in search of a particular Door, which I finally discovered, lurking in the basement of a house near the old Reactor, which Mr. Benzene may remember. This particular Door is special, you see: it was left open.

Through this Door lies a cavern. From the dampness and smell of salt, I judge it to be near the ocean. However, even more importantly, this is the Door through which the Pulse was let into the city, which, as you might imagine, has created some rather unusual phenomena.

For example, every few hours, the city will wobble, for lack of a better word, but the ground will stay completely still. It's quite disconcerting.

And now my orders tell me to go through the Door. Very well! We shall see what awaits us on the other side.

Regards,
Mr. Dewart

Surfacing

I believe that this current trip has felt like the longest I've ever taken. Dreadfully dull, I must say.

However, the monotony was broken by our arrival at our intended destination. We're currently in the Atlantic ocean, up north near Greenland, near where a large spire of rock rises out of the ocean. It's about twenty feet above sea level, and, as far as we are able to ascertain, it is situated directly above what we came for.

You see, we believe that the Pulse originated from exactly below where the submersible is now docked: a rift in the ocean floor. We will be descending tomorrow, after an airlift of a few essential items. 

Regards,

Mr. Benzene

Complete

Reconditioning is now complete. Dewart has joined me as my personal assistant. For his first assignment, I've sent him back into Lacuna Urbis. We've received a tip that Herr Doktor has been spotted inside the City once again, and we're slightly concerned with what he might be up to.

Luck, Dewart.

Regards,
Dr. Evans

Verified

I have verified Mr. Dewart's story, which has suddenly opened avenues of possible inquiry.

However, before we continue, I'm afraid that Dewart has to be reconditioned.

Regards,
Dr. Evans

Analysis of Dewart

As Mr. Benzene noted earlier, my colleagues apprehended a certain Blake Dewart, who attempted to waylay Mr. Benzene on his way to the submersible.

This is a rather interesting fellow, I must admit. Or, at least, his claims are interesting. See, he claims to have been present in Lacuna Urbis during the period when Herr Doktor was conducting his experiments on the flesheating bacteria.

I will be attempting to validate this story before continuing interrogation.

Regards,
Dr. Evans

Detained

We left off kind of late. To my great embarrassment, it was my fault. I was on my way to the dock at about 5:45 this morning, when I was set upon by the most uncouth fellow I've encountered in quite some time. He grabbed my shoulders and started screaming incoherently. One thing led to another, and it ended with him laying on the ground in a pool of blood with my knife sticking from his stomach. I think I nicked his guts, poor sap.

Anyways, I had to wait while my superiors came by, so I didn't actually make it to the dock until about 7:00.

Ah well, life goes on. As I speak, we've been under the ocean for several hours, heading towards where our instruments last picked up the noise. I will post again when there is more to say.

Regards,
Mr. Benzene

A Fond Greeting

Gentlemen, it's been some time since we've corresponded. Unless I am very much mistaken, the last time you saw me was when I was apprehended by Dr. Evans inside the WEF facility. Since then, you'll be glad to learn that the air between us has cleared. They saw a use for my talents, and offered me employment.

It was an offer I could hardly refuse. I now serve as the personal assistant to Dr. Evans, and have for quite some time. I've spent most of my time in Vienna, though, recently, I was recalled. Dr. Evans informed me that he believes that he has finally tracked down what he's been searching for over a period of three years.

You see, we've had several instruments set up in various locations of interest over the last several months. We've recorded an influx of Doors that are manifesting, and also an increase in the number of birds being assimilated into the Convocation. After thorough searching, we think we've discovered the reason. On September 22nd, 2012, at about 7:52 in the evening, our instruments recording a bloop.

It's an odd word choice, to be sure, but I feel that it described what we heard the best. It wasn't loud, nor was it overly harmonic or discordant. It was simply there.

And it came from beneath the ocean.

Tomorrow, at 6:30 in the morning, we'll be taking a submersible from a classified location in search of this noise. I'll be reporting my findings here, properly censored, of course.

Tomorrow, we might find what Evans believes to be the beginning of the End.

Regards,
Mr. Benzene