Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor
TimBarnes
2011/06/21 20:03

Table of Contents

ACT I, SCENE I. A deserted place. Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches First Witch - ”When shall we three meet again. In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” Second Witch - ”When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.”Third Witch - ”That will be ere the set of sun.” First Witch - ”Where the place?” Second Witch - ”Upon the heath.” Third Witch - ”There to meet with Macbeth.” First Witch - ”I come, Graymalkin!” Second Witch - ”Paddock calls.” Third Witch - ”Anon. ALL - ”Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
Sunday
Depart Dover... Marco and Nell take a brief detour through Sussex to visit the retired Consulting Detective, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is now 61 but still astute and very aware that there are many things beyond the existing ideas of science. He agrees to help plan and organise support against both the criminal and political elements allied to the Golden Dawn. Holmes is intrigued by the sudden surge in criminal activity associated with the cult… The Golden Dawn currently provides support and information in return for ‘assistance’ and a few acolytes are using their powers to augment the atmosphere of fear around key underworld figures… Holmes is keen to discover the spider at the centre of the web… Holmes also gives Nell the name of a “reliable” contact in the underworld, an ex Baker Street Irregular…   
Monday
The party convened at the Theodoran Club where the inner council and the Craven Foundation are based. Sherlock Holmes decides to visit the townhouse of his old companion – Edward Craven. Note - this period is dealt with in Laurie R. King’s ‘The Beekeeper’s Apprentice’ (based on the adventures of Holmes’s Dr Who style assistant, Mary Russell)…   London - Craven Foundation and Theodorans meeting. Sophie sends a letter to the Theodorans suggesting that they keep an eye on the Golden Dawn and hint that the cult was involved in the Whitby attack. All agree to work together to destroy the OGD. Vernon Kell (of Mi5) is already suspicious about the motives of the cult but he hasn’t rated them as DB (Damned Boche) yet. The Craven Team are asked to find out more about the re-formed Hellfire Club – particularly as the Prince de la Malfice was involved in the Eighteenth Century version. Holmes advises on Marco’s intended sting – involving Algernon Blackwood – and suggests a banker…  Felicity (the Foundation’s librarian) confirms that Gabriella Volpe has a palazzo in Venice and a flat in Mayfair. Marco meets Gabrielle at the Café Royale. He presents Gabrielle with a red gold and ruby necklace that has two settings so it can be worn by a fox or human… Gabrielle and Marco enjoy testing each other’s blades while dancing…   Lyris and Felicity research the Stone of Scone… The original chronicles are held in the archive at Glasgow University… The Lia Fiall was hidden by Macbeth’s adherents after the Battle of Lumphanan in 1054… The Battle of Lumphanan in 1057 AD is where Malcolm III of Scotland defeated Macbeth of Scotland… Macbeth was mortally wounded on the north side of the Mounth in 1057, after retreating with his men over the Cairnamounth Pass to take his last stand at the battle at Lumphanan. The Prophecy of Berchán has it that he was wounded at Lumphanan and died at Scone, sixty miles to the south, some days later. Mac Bethad’s stepson Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin (son of Gruoch) was installed as king soon after.   Nell & Carlos pop off to see Albert Spear (Professor Moriarty’s lieutenant) and discuss collaborating against the Golden Dawn and their sinister allies. Sal Hodges (Moriarty’s notorious mistress) advises Nell on a range of practical disguises suitable for her build and appearance… 
Tuesday
The party depart for Glasgow and head for the University to see if there are any leads… Angus Matheson suggests asking Henry Charles Jones, a talented young archaeologist who accompanied Hiram Bingham on his expedition to Machu Picchu. He appears to have many of the skills required having worked on Pictish tombs and rituals for his PhD.
Dr Jones was invited to lunch - as they discussed terms Nell gazed in awe at the massive shipbuilding on the Clyde she could see from the window. Jones was initially reluctant but eventually agreed to join the group as a consultant for an obscene amount of money and the option of quitting if it got too dangerous.
With Jones’ help that afternoon they followed a line of enquiry looking for recurring great leaders in a loaction. As sometimes happens, this proved fruitless but in the process they came across some interesting information about the Campbell clan. The Campbell Clan are notorious throughout Scottish history. They have produced a number of heroes but also spawned some of the country’s classic villains – particularly in their feuds with the McGregor and McDonald clans… Amongst these are Sir Robert Campbell, who initiated the order to commit clanocide on the MacDonalds of Glen Coe in 1692, the pro-English John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and Field Marshal John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll. Most famously in literature, Colin Roy Campbell of Glenure, known as “The Red Fox” - on 14 May 1752, the Government-appointed Factor to the forfeited estates of the Stewart Clan in North Argyll, Scotland, was shot in the back by a marksman in the wood of Lettermore. The search for the killer targeted the local Clan, the Jacobite Stewarts of Appin, who had recently suffered evictions on Campbell’s orders. (Immortalised in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped but better known to historians as ‘The Appin Murder’)… (There is also a James Campbell but I couldn’t find him!).
Digging deeper, they found a recurring theme of a member of the Campbell clan being approached on the moors by a demonic figure who offered power in return for their service. These peopel were invariably assoiciated with dark deeds which enabled the party to look for present day Campbells that might be the latest in the line.
Lady Margaret Campbell had already disposed of two husbands in accidents that were suspicious but very difficult to engineer without supernatural powers! Lyris suggests investigating a stone circle on the Campbell estate where they have been several mysterious events reported in the press…  
After researching the Campbell’s and their role in hunting down the clans responsible for protecting the Lia Fiall, Lyris decides to investigate the graves of some of their confederates. She meets a werewolf in the first graveyard she visits and barely manages to evade being the creature’s supper and dashes back to the party! Music fails to calm the beast… The party head for the graveyard… They find Rory McPharlan’s grave… Johan destroys the headstone and the fog clears – enabling the werewolf to flee into the night… There appears to be a Loch Lomond Beast associated with the McTavish family (Campbell’s other ally vs the McDonalds)…
(Lyris bites Johan when he suggests that she has become a lycanthrope!)  Lyris has a Domnu inspired vision of the werewolves gathering at the Valley of the Gate (00) and Johann suggests that she consult Liadan… Circe/Liadan recognises the images Lyris saw and tells Johann and Lyris about the story of Hel (see below); a legend that pre-dates and may explain the context of the first forging… Very few Fey alive remember the events the legend describes and most remember the legend and the prophesy rather than the truth…   The outcome of Liadan’s discussion is the realisation that the less savoury members of the Campbell Clan laid waste to the highland communities for a reason (400 houses were burned on one day after the rebellion of 1745)… They were hunting for something… Almost certainly they were searching for the Lia Fiall…   
Research leads to the discovery that Lumphanen has an association with James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose (1612-1650), the Scottish general, poet and Royalist hero who won a series of spectacular victories in Scotland against the Covenanters for Charles I, but was finally betrayed and deserted by Charles II. Montrose’s descendents are said to dwell near the broken stone circle…  
The party check the houses near Lumphanen for signs of an immortal and their only clue is the weave trace at the Douglas house… The most likely ‘hero’ is the laird’s ward, Morag, but her weave glow is unusual… Robert Douglas clearly loves the girl (in a cold morose sort of way) but there is something peculiar about their relationship… According to the records, Douglas ruined the Montrose family and took in the daughter as his housekeeper and Morag is the result (she has her grandmother’s startling green eyes)… She is kept in the house most of the time but Nell (on sneaking in) discovers that the girl has hidden a number of adventure novels in her room… Nell leaves red silk heart as book mark…  In the study there is a painting of the Fey Aspect of the valley and a picture of Morag’s grandmother in medieval dress… The office also has a ledger and the Grandmother’s diary… There is a record of meeting Robert Douglas (she wasn’t interested but he ruined her husband and took her house to possess her) and her version of a fateful meeting with three witches on the moors…   Marco sends his card and arranges for the party to visit the house…Nell leaves four tokens (1/day)…  Lyris chats with the ghost of James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose but gets spotted (00) by Lady Margaret’s agents (who turns out to be a necromancer who uses ghosts as spies)… Lady Margaret also decides to visit the valley – the appearance of a skilled abhorsan intrigues her… Douglas is amazed by the rapidly expanding house party… Business discussion with Marco before dinner (Douglas is impressed and is keen to invest – he suggests a number of improvements)… Margaret is unable to spot the unusual nature of the party… Marco hints to Morag that he is behind the love-tokens left in her room… After the ladies retire, Margaret unleashes her ghosts in the hope of finding out why the abhorsan has come to the valley… Both she and Lyris sense the presence of an incredibly powerful ghost in the valley (in the area shown in the picture)…  While Morag entertains her guardian and his guests with her piano playing, Margaret’s ghosts close in on Lyris… Prof Jones is stunned by the evidence of magic in the house… The chained ghosts encircle Lyris… Lyris disrupts their necromantic spells… Marco heads for Margaret’s room while Nell dashes to deal with the ghost compass (via the window)… Lyris is aided by the Professor while Johan prepares to destroy the device…  Marco turns up with a hot toddy and Lady Margaret is more than a little flustered by his attentions – giving Nell a chance to slip in and open the octagon shaped box and give Johan the opportunity to shatter her necromantic focusing device… Johann succeeds but is very lucky to survive the experience… Morag heads for her room and dreams of adventure… 
At the shooting party the next day, Marco proves to be an excellent shot… Margaret’s bodyguards both have accidents… One get hands damaged by a shotgun shell bursting while he is loading while the other gets his hand smashed while repairing her car… Nell and Johann the poltergeists… Margaret’s nerve finally broke after so many unfortunate events had happened to her without any sign of an enemy and decided to leave. Marco escorted her to the station and en route gently threatened her with worse outcomes if she continued her current path. Looking into her eyes he could see her scared for the first time in a long while. Until that afternoon, she was the one that ruthlessly used her powers to get her way.....
Morag takes Lyris some tea after her ‘bad night’ and they quickly make friends…
Campbell agrees to let Marco and his companions investigate the stone circle… Johann conducts a gate survey but Lyris slips through and finds herself in Caith Ciaran… One ghost haunts the valley… A woman muttering to herself…   ACT V, SCENE I. Dunsinane.
Out, damned spot! out, I say! One: two: why, then, ‘tis time to do’t. Hell is murky! Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account? Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.  The party realise that Gruoch herself is the heroine and she is trapped by the weave created by Shakespeare’s unintentional malice (thus creating a Black Annis curse)… The only way to free her is to shatter the immortal bard’s warped version of the story… Morag assists the party as they enter Shakespeare’s dream-world to shatter the cyclic curse… Morag sleeps (peyote) while the party meet with Macbeth and Banquo (Lyris and Nell as Greymalkin and Paddock kill Banquo) and then murder Duncan (Marco frenzy) and Macduff (killed by Lyris) and report their demise to Macbeth…
Once the Annis has faded, Marco visits Douglas… He explains that he has nothing to gain from his business venture as he has only a few months to live… He tells Douglas that he needs to free his daughter and rebuild the stone circle (01)… Douglas is impressed by Marco’s determination to do the right thing and agrees to allow Morag to attend university and also to convert the house into a rest home for injured soldiers.
As the party departed, they felt the gloom lifting from the valley and family Douglas.
Back to London to help out the Hellfire club....
The legend of Hel… 
The Elder Gods (the creatures that manifested when the first Black Druids meddled with powers they did not understand) were cast down by an alliance led by by the most powerful of the Winter Sidhe heroines…
The legends remember her as Kali, Hel, Hecate, Selene and Coyolxauhqui and she was the companion and equal of the gods that appeared during the war against the Black Druids (in the ancient legends Meilikki/Tabiti/Domnu called her ‘sister’)… The oldest Winter Sidhe still remember her by her true name, Kalys Arshan… They claim that she created the first dragon egg from the ancient predator spirits of the Red Weave realm, a maelstrom elemental of unbelievable power (note the Chinese/Vietnamese/Philippine belief that such a dragon will one day eat the moon) – thus becoming, in the most ancient and hidden stories, the first dragon…
After scattering the Black Druids of the Cruachan and burning their temples, Kalys destroyed all of the gateways they used to commune with their demonic masters… For a short time she was worshipped as an aspect of Domnu but when the Lords of the Winter Sidhe and their human allies discovered that Kalys was using dragon magic to take control of one of the mysterious gateways that survived the war the oracles warned that her activities would lead to the deaths of countless millions… She was betrayed and cast into her own creation – thus creating the Valley of the Gate…
After centuries of fearing her return, the Winter Sidhe agreed to the forging to seal the gateway forever but they were themselves betrayed when the Sidhe lords seized power during the ceremony… Since the first forging, the ancestral Scythians, the Ashkuz, were Kalys Arshan’s followers in the distant past (hence the unsliegh taint and the alliance with Balor) and have sent their best warriors through the gateway to serve as her bodyguard for centuries (most except the tribal shamen have forgotten why)… It was a warped version of a ceremony for the dragon goddess, being conducted by Black Druids, during the calends of 600BC, which Balor interrupted… The Black Druids successfully drew a tiny droplet of Hel’s blood from the gateway-link made at the spring calends and this infected the Formorian warlord when he slew them… His dragon’s egg appeared in the Red Weave Realm and the second Prophesy of the Eternal War was fulfilled… If the prophesy is correct then Kalys survived the attempt to destroy her and is destined to return and exact revenge on humanity… 
Prophesy of the Eternal War (a mad Sidhe oracle possessed by Domnu muttered this death poem shortly before Kalys was cast into the void)… 
· 	The Moon will fall into darkness and the world will be thrown into chaos until the song of the queens calms the storm
· 	The dragon’s eye will bring forth fire and bathe the world in blood but from this conflict will rise a thousand heroes
· 	Red fire will face its sire on a field of tears and the bitter price of betrayal will last a thousand years
· 	A demon will sire the herald of the enemy and one by one this child will gather the enemies of our world
· 	The sign of the ending of the age of kings will be when the realms sleep but the heroes awaken
· 	The world will stand in peril until the great Stone is re-forged and the last heroes ascend to face the eagles of the Black Sun
· 	The son of a golden king of kings will conquer a world and re-align the stars and a the gift of five thousand years will forge a million swords
· 	Out of the darkness will come countless demons… The final war will be heralded by the death of a Red Star…
· 	A million worlds will fall into shadow when the Moon returns
· 	Liadan was not alive when these events took place but she knows the Valley of the Gate leads to another world and that various versions of the prophesy are in the secret archives of every Sidhe ruler…