Argfest

ARGFest-o-Con was held July 18-20 in Boston. Shortly before, Mikey Surry received a message to meet someone in Boston who could help him. Delirious, Mikey did travel to Boston but was not contacted.

On Saturday during the event, Jonathan received a message to Mikey accidentally slipped under the wrong hotel door, requesting that he visit THE TOMB attraction Sunday. Two items were found planted at the location, a cipher wheel and another letter to Mikey.

The Cipher Wheel

Dionysus found a wooden wheel consisting of rotating columns of letters and a single number on the professor's skeleton in the attraction.

Each column of letters begins with a number. Aligned, the numbers on the wheel are: 1208473659

The wheel seems to be a smaller version of the Jefferson Wheel. The wheel was later used to encrypt and decrypt messages between Amun and Mikey Surry.

The Letter

The second item, another letter to Mikey, was found behind a statue. The message had two parts: an introduction from an individual using the name Amun, and instructions for a ritual that would prevent Mikey from dying.

The introductory letter

By the hand of Amun, this seventeenth day of the month of Julius, greetings.

Mr. Surry, you have unwittingly stumbled upon a matter of great mystery, and we take this opportunity to hope that your natural curiosity and your sense of justice will allow you to be open to our cause. The children you encountered have stirred a hornet's nest of trouble, and we need you to help restore the balance. Our children are our future, and I know from your website and from your background that you share this belief and have made it your cause.
I apologize for the use of subterfuge in our first interaction, but I assure you it is necessary for both your safety and ours. You must be seen as a tourist. I must not be seen. The reason for this secrecy will become apparent to you as you learn more of our cause.

We are a diminished people. Once, the Awlyn - not one species, but many - roamed the earth freely and openly. We lived in our separate tribes, and our species did not mingle. We warred with one another. We sometimes formed alliances; we feared and fought the Great Ones who sought to dominate us.

And then a thing happened that was unexpected. Humankind ascended. These were new beings, not of our nature. They had no magic; they seemed at first little more than animals. Many of us took them as pets. They amused the Great Ones, who taught them about fire. But humans were not animals. They watched. They learned. They ascended in truth, multiplied and were many upon the Earth - and they turned against us who had lived on this world long before their dominion.

We were hunted, our children killed, our lives shattered. For many centuries, this went on. At first, we thought to be patient, to wait. Humans would die out; their lives were so short, so fleeting, they would surely extinguish of their own accord, as the great brush fires do eventually. Then we saw — they multiplied so quickly, far more quickly than long-lived or even immortal creatures could do. They were outstripping us. They evolved, and we diminished.

Finally, the Great Ones acted. They took on the form of humans and met with them. They gave riches to the powerful and bestowed upon them the burden of obligation. Deals were made with human governments - kings, emperors. We - the Awlyn - would take the form of humans and live among them in secret. So long as we did not reveal our true nature, we would not be persecuted. And so it has been for many centuries beyond the telling.

The Great Ones formed a council to oversee the Awlyn, whether the other species would have this or no. Yet, to survive, we followed their lead - the hour of persecution appeared to have passed, in some parts of the world, at least. And so we took up our lives among the humans, and many species became one people - the Awlyn. The Others.

Today, we teach our children to blend, to assimilate, to conform. The council of the Great Ones holds dominion over our lives. They mete out punishment unchecked; they wield power over us without our consent. I do not have to tell you that humanity's greatest invention was democracy, in any form - this, the Awlyn do not possess.

The Shadows of Man, my organization, seeks to restore balance and equality within the Awlyn. One day, we will reveal ourselves to humankind, once more in our true forms, and we will be welcomed. THis is what we work for, what we strive for - to overthrow the oppressors, and take our place WITH humans as the inheritors of this world. We are not human. But we exist, we think, if you prick us, we do bleed. We do not threaten humanity, nor do we seek its approval, but we do seek to stand with them as people, as beings of this Earth, in our own right. To do this, we must first overcome those within the Awlyn who, gorged with their own power, would stop this revelation, this new era, from taking place. That is our mission.

We ask for your help. We have need of your skills, and we, too, have a need and a will to protect our children. In asking for your good will, we make you an offering of the cure you seek.

One among our number is a healer and has knowledge of the unfortunate mystical event that you experienced during your pursuit of the children. Enclosed in this packet is a healing ritual that will help restore you to your full mental capacity. There may yet be lingering effects from your encounter with the child. However, I my colleague has assured me that, unfortunately, if you do not proceed with this rite, you may very well die or become irreversibly insane.

The rite requires at least four other people to perform it with you. They do not have to be near you, so long as their thoughts are bent on you. Others may gather the material components for you as well, if you are unable to do so yourself.

My agents will contact you and keep watch. Our communications are encoded, as always, and I am providing you with the means of encoding and decoding messages. Keep this safe and do not let it fall into hands that may be unfriendly to our cause.

Forgive me for the necessity of saying that, should you prove trecherous - should you betray us - your life is forfeit. If you do not wish to accept this burden, destroy the encoder and burn these messages, and we will leave you in peace. The ritual, we give you freely.

Be well. Ex Obscurum, Lux Lucius.

Amun

The ritual

Gather these things:

A candle lit once and then snuffed out by a woman
A black feather held by a man
A pebble held by a boy
A vial of sand or a shell gathered from a body of water by a girl
A re string knotted nine times by a mother in the morning
A clipping from a sapling tree gathered at noon
A rose in bloom plucked at twilight
A piece of bark from an oak, gathered at night
A spray of pine

With the spray of pine, inscribe a circle around you. Put the candle at the south, and light it. Put the Feather at the east, pointing east. The pebble to the west, the sand or shell to the north. Lay the other items on an altar before you, inside the circle, facing the south. Make sure each item is separate from the other. Sit with the alter between you and the candle. Chant, and if possible, have others chant with you.

Psyche, guardian of souls, here me.
These offerings of life are laid before you.
Life paired with death;
youth to age;
child to mother;
male to female;
light to dark.
Fire, water, earth, and air, consecrated to you.
Bless me. Bless me. Bless me.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.
Restore my soul, my wholeness, my oneness.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.
Restore my balance. Heal my mind.
I am my self. I am my self. I am my self.

Repeat this chant three times. Then, pick up the items on the alter, and crush them together in your hands.