L-III-17

A short snippet from an unwritten story

ULTRA-VIOLET RESTRICTED EYES ONLY

L-III-17

NOTICE: As of 12th April 1951, records of L-III-17 to be placed under ULTRA-VIOLET Security Clearance, RESTRICTED EYES ONLY. All other references to L-III-17 to be purged.

NOTICE: As of 7th October 1945, records of L-III categorisations to be placed under ULTRA-VIOLET Security Clearance. All other references to L-III categorisations to be purged.

NOTICE: As of 23rd February 1940, all references to Island to be categorised L-III-17.

NOTICE: As of 14th May 1932, Island to be placed under INFRA-RED Security Clearance.

NOTICE: As of 9th June 1928, Island to be placed under GREEN Security Clearance

Report from Extraordinary Defence Executive Coordinator Sir James Ackerman to Order of Merlin Liaison Sir Harold Foster - 2nd March 1940

As mentioned in my previous report we have categorised the unnamed Island near the South Pacific - in the region of 48°52.6�™S 123°23.6�™W - as L-III-17. My reasoning is below.

As far as we are aware the Island was first noted by sailors in 1912, but nobody actually landed until 1923. Several other civilian explorations were attempted in the subsequent years; however all of them were cut short. Each individual who has set foot on the Island has reported feelings of unease. This presence seems all pervasive, and although it is subtle enough not to raise significant alarm it is also strong enough that the lay person is hesitant to step onto the island at all and those who do can rarely stand to remain for long.

Of note is that no two reports from separate explorations agree completely on the layout of the Island. Although the Island is primarily barren rock with no sign of current life, all the reports make mention of distinctive and unusual landmark features, and several make note of what appear to be stone ruins. However the reports differ on where these features are, and what form they take. Similarly each expedition reports finding the Island in slightly different locations each time. Whether there is some outside force affecting our ability to chart the island, or whether the Island is actively changing between visits is unknown.

As you know the Island first came to our attention in 1928 when we were attempting to chart the movements and settlements of N-I-4 in the South Pacific. The project was partially successful and identified two distinct sub groups of Deep Ones. The First group is that which is more accurately described by the name, spending almost all of their time at great depth and thus proving extremely difficult to track. Although it proved impossible to fully map their locations and transit routes, it was noted that N-I-4 were detected virtually all over the South Pacific, except within the region of the Island. In multiple cases tracked specimens made detours of several hundred miles to avoid the waters nearby.

The second group - and the one it was far easier to observe - have been observed to prefer shallower waters, often making their home in the underwater shorelines of similar islands. But once again their presence is conspicuously absent around the Island. All attempts to communicate with this group in an effort to determine the reason have failed.

Thus alerted, the Executive began to take an interest in the Island, diverting civilian attention away from it and trying to discover its secrets for ourselves. Although manpower shortages �" exacerbated by the war �" have made this difficult, we have been able to send multiple expeditions of Sanctioned Warlocks to the Island.

Our attempts have been for naught. So far we have still been unable to properly explore the island, while one expedition will map out large sections, and uncover what appear to be remnants of some ancient civilisation, they will ultimately be forced to retreat. On the next attempt there will be no sign of what they once saw.

The one concrete, consistent report by all Sanctioned Warlocks sent to the Island is that the entire place is saturated with the same distinctive aura surrounding L class Abominations. Initially we simply assumed it was once the site of some mass summoning. Worryingly though, the recent translations of the books of Azziz Alrezin that the Order has supplied us with make note not only of L-III class entities in outer realms, but of their presence here on Earth. In particular he speaks of “a mountain of madness that roams from world to world, a font of power and intelligence greater than any I have yet witnessed”.

I recognise that much of Alrezin’s work is of dubious quality, but if there is any truth in his words I feel the Island must be placed under L-III classification and considered an existential threat. However the Executive simply does not have the resources to monitor the Island. I recommend the Order immediately prepare a force of Knights to deal with this. Otherwise I may be forced to take the matter into my own hands.

ADDENDUM: Sir James Ackerman personally charted a ship to L-III-17 on 4th January 1945. When it returned the ship’s Captain claimed he asked to be left behind on the Island. Follow up expeditions have found no sign of him.

Reviews

[Trigorin]

The main danger when writing faux official reports is that there is a tendency to get too caught up in the formal language and the 'officialness' of it to tell the story properly. I think there are parts here where you might have lapsed a little in that regard. It's still a good concept, I just think there ought to be a bit more meat to it.

[Fennius]

Valid point. The idea was it would just be a thing found as part of a larger story, in which the shear lack of any concrete information would itself be cause for concern. you're right it needs a little more story to stand on its own