Part 6: The Esoteric Order of Dagon - Documents
The Order of DagonFebruary 9, 1922
Night
That was one big explosion in the refinery. One moment I was running for my
life, the next I was face down with a mouthful of dirt. I just hope everything
inside was destroyed.
What the hell was that thing in there? Some kind of monster jellyfish? How
could it move out of water? How could it even exist? My ears are still ringing
with the screams of Hoover's men as the acidic slime engulfed them.
Despite the casualties, though, the raid hit paydirt. The Feds recovered a
briefcase with some very incriminating papers. It seems that among other
things, the Marsh family - Sebastian in particular - has been trafficking with
enemies of the State.
He's been offering a contagion - some kind of germ weapon - to the highest
bidder. This is in violation of all kinds of international treaties, but that
didn't surprise me.
Even if the Marshes care about such things - which I doubt - I could well
believe that news of the treaties hadn't ever reached Innsmouth.
But I know there's more to the story. Like that shrine on the lower floor of
the refinery. The carvings of those hideous gods are one more thing that will
probably haunt my dreams for some time to come. Why did they seem familiar?
In any case, the evidence of arms dealing gave Hoover the what he needed to
bring in the big guns - literally. Innsmouth is now under martial law. A Coast
Guard Cutter is stationed in the harbor, with a company of Marines on shore.
Led by Robert Marsh, the surviving members of the Esoteric Order of Dagon are
holed up in the old Masonic Hall. I suggested pounding the place to dust with
the Marines' artillery and the cutter's guns, but Hoover wants Marsh alive.
That's not going to be easy. The Marines who attacked the main entrance to the
building went into some kind of psychotic seizure before they could reach it.
The brass thought Marsh had laid down some kind of gas in the area, but gas
masks didn't help the second storming party.
That was when Hoover remembered a report of an old smugglers' tunnel, close by
the banks of the Manuxet River, that was said to lead into the building from
below.
It seems my good luck just never ends. With so many agents killed and wounded
in the refinery, Hoover has decided that I'll have the dubious honor of
representing the FBI in an attack through this secret entrance, in company with
a squad of Marines.
I have to meet up with a Sergeant Carter and his men by the refinery gates;
then we'll set out along the frozen river looking for the tunnel. I may never
sleep again.
Not that it would make much difference - the waking sounds and visions are
getting worse all the time. Though if they are linked with the events here in
Innsmouth, maybe getting to the bottom of this horror will help me recover my
lost memories.
Diary of Robert Marsh
The translation of the tablets is progressing well. Soon, the Word of Father
Dagon shall be known to us in its entirety, as it is to those below in Y'ha-
nthlei.
Then, armed with knowledge of the Divine Purpose, we shall be able to take our
place beneath the waves on equal terms, and the Great Design set in motion more
than eigthy years past shall draw toward its completion.
I'a Dagon! I'a Hydra! I'a! I'a!
Poor Darwin - to be so completely wrong! For the higher forms of life are those
who return to the sea, not those who forsook it for the land!
And in generations to come, as the last remaining taint of human blood leaves
our strain, we shall ascend to true knowledge, and true power, in the love and
service of Father Dagon and Mother Hydra.
But there is much still to be done, before that glorious future is assured. The
outsiders could still ruin everything. The one will be sacrificed, but the
other who has come looking for him must be dealt with.
Innsmouth must remain undisturbed until everything is complete. That which
eluded my ancestor Obed on his death in 1878 shall not escape me.
If only Sebastian understood things as I do. His science - his meddling in the
surface world - how meaningless they all are! Once we take our place alongside
the Elder Ones, how small his endeavors will seem!
But he has been deaf to the word of Dagon, no matter how I have tried. Perhaps
upon his return, with the translation so much further advanced, I can make him
see the truth.
I'a Dagon
This scroll of paper holds a prayer to Dagon, translated into English. It
reads:
'In thy name let us behold the father.
From the depths of the waters I come,
And from the depths the Deep Ones also have come.
Hail to the ancient dreams.
Hail to Dagon.'
Ponape Scripture
This heavy, bound manuscript is embossed with the word "Ponape." It claims to
be a reprinting of an original manuscript written by Captain Abner Ezekiel Hoag
in 1734, describing his encounters with a strange cult in the islands of the
Pacific.
Hoag claims that the islanders worship - and even interbreed with - strange
beings from the sea, and reproduces much of the lore of this unspeakable
religion.
There are harrowing passages that tell of unspeakable sacrifices by which these
"Deep Ones" are appeased, and of objects cast into the sea to summon them.
By means of the correct rituals and offerings, they can be induced to bring
fantastically-worked jewelry of gold for the islanders, although this conforms
to their own strange anatomy rather than that of any human being.,
Hoag recounts the islanders' tales of fantastic underwater cities constructed
according to some obscure and inhuman laws of geometry and architecture.
Some legends tell of islanders transforming into sea-creatures as they grow
old, and going to live forever beneath the sea.
The greatest of the Deep Ones, Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, are said to be
fantastically old, hailing from a time before the first human walked upright.
Strangely, he stresses that these stories are not primitive metaphors for an
afterlife, like similar tales from other island cultures, but recounts them as
actual fact.
He claims to have seen and conversed with these creatures himself, and
witnessed several of the islanders' ceremonies and offerings to them.