the story thus far
Book 1 (07.07): The Providence Prophecies
". . . but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." - H.P. Lovecraft, 1926.
Kevin's suicide left us all in disarray. Even B.A.'s nightmares became darker, menaced by a figure we called Harrisonburg Man. We began to suspect that figure, who was always associated with bits of the same horrible prayers found in the server infection, was also the person responsible for both the strange packages we received and for the note signed "DC" left with the finger in New York. "Extend to me your protection, Saint Feline," he wrote in that note, "from the suffering at the end of all things." In the nightmares, he seemed to challenge her to action.
Some Sentries were conspicuously absent, like Art, the security consultant. Old tensions, aggravated by grief, turned into outright conflict. Art, suddenly back, accused one of us of being involved with these hackers, feeding them information about us. He pointed his finger directly at Stu, but there had always been critics of Art in the Outpost, as well. We tried to not let these conflicts distract us, as Marie and the Sentry dreamers began to bombard B.A. with communications meant to bridge the gulf between nightmares.
One of those dream images, of a casino, seemed to resonate with B.A.'s dreams. Her next set of personals were dominated by promises of luck and a visit to a dream casino. Not soon after, Stu made a startling discovery: Lucky 5, a piece of parasite software that promises to increase your luck, yet seems to interact with server infections.
Perhaps it was the power of that finger that gave one dreamer such influence: B.A. was compelled to stare at the horrible truth behind the nightmares. Her absence from the city of dreams was apparently noticeable to other dreamers, who began responding in Craigslist, looking for their lost Saint Feline. The truth was becoming clear to us, as well. We had mapped out Lucky 5 so well that we could build simulators and look at the schedule of what it would try to hit next. We began to worry about the significance of the lunar eclipse in the early hours of August 28th, when Lucky 5 would attempt to hit a machine in Cambridge, not far from where Howard lives.
Saint-Feline returned a week later with a new clarity we hadn't seen since we followed the trail to Alphabet City, and not a moment too soon. When Lucky 5 went off a day earlier than we expected, aimed at a machine in Atlanta, one of us volunteered to explore the public storage facility that the dream trails lead to. There, we interrupted something horrible, but we weren't the first interruption and we weren't the last. Sapagoo had survived his brush with the unspeakable, and taken from the scene a cryptic ritual hard drive.
Other Sentries weren't as lucky. We heard rumors that Alan had disappeared before we heard about the home invasion and murder that took Jen's life, followed by Stu's senseless death in the hospital. We never did hear from Marie again, and only have B.A.'s dreams to suggest the fate that faced her in the end.
The Sentries aren't giving up; we're more dedicated than ever to unravelling the strange secrets we've uncovered and somehow avenge the loss of people we cared deeply about.
You're one of us now.
A Sentry. Providence.
They have no idea what they're up against.