Patient: Cuthbert Mould

Diagnosis: Acute psychosis incorporating hallucinations, delusions and paranoia, thought disorder and lack of insight.

Mould was admitted today alongside his acquaintances Dr Winstanley and Dr Quigley Wainwright. Mould’s physical presentation is poor, with hunched shoulders, a number of severe ticks (including rapid head movements) and an inability to fix his gaze in one place for any period of time. Mould’s hands move constantly, from pocket to pocket, as though he is looking for something in them. There are deep marks in his arms and side as though he has been stabbed.

Mould appears unaware of his surrounds and fails to respond to questions. He responds to external stimuli by crying out and curling up into a ball, but fails to answer any questions. Although his voice is hoarse almost as to a whisper he continues to chant to himself. Mould’s chanting consists of the same piece of poetry repeated over and over as follows:

“The stars that burn their charcoal death

shrink back, they feel the hoary breath

of he who ransoms great Carcosa.

He flees where queen and prophet met,

where twin suns fall but never set,

escapes the tomb of lost Carcosa.”

Mould is to be contained with physical restraints at all times and kept in isolation on the secure wing.

No change.

No change.

Mould stopped chanting today.

Mould appeared to become aware of the presence of a nurse when fed this morning. He asked where Dr Winstanley, Dr Quigley and Mr Keats were. The nurse informed Mould that Mr Keats was missing and that the Police were hoping that he could help with their enquiries. At this Mould held his head and howled. He briefly escaped his restraints and threw his food to the floor, yelling at the nurse to flee and pleading with him “not to look into the eye”. Mould began chanting again.

Chanting continues.

No change.

Mould had a period of near lucidity today. During my review he asked me where my mask was. I told him I did not have one. Mould asked me if we were in Carcosa and I told him we were in England. He looked puzzled and asked if I had been in Carcosa. I said I had not and asked him to tell me about it. Mould told me that it was a confusing place. Streets moved when you weren’t looking and you had to keep close to your friends to avoid being separated. He told me that they lost Keats when he went up some stairs and the stairs changed.

I decided to press Mould to find out what he could tell me about Keats’ disappearance. I asked him where he thought Keats went. Mould looked at me and said he met “Nos” and got drunk with him. Mould laughed and said how angry Winstanley had become when they found Keats again and he could barely stand.

Mould paused in his story and felt his own face. He asked me where his mask was. I told him that he had arrived here without it. Mould looked sad and told me that it was a nice mask that made him look like a cat. He would not talk any more so I asked the nurse to take him back to his room.

Mould and I spoke again today. I asked him to tell me more about what happened and where Keats had gone. Mould said Keats had been the only brave one amongst them. I asked what he had meant and Mould told me that Keats tried to stop the ceremony. I asked Mould about the ceremony and he said that the ceremony was at the palace and they had to stop it. Mould became intensely agitated at this point and I was forced to restrain him with the assistance of several nurses.

Mould would not speak to me today.

I tried a different tack today and asked Mould to tell me of the palace. He said that the palace was hard to find. The paths kept changing and no matter which way they went, they could not get closer. He said that Spence had helped them find Roby and Roby was the one who knew how to get there.

I was very surprised at the mention of Roby. Roby is a former inmate of this institution who was kidnapped some months ago and has not been heard from since.

Note: Ask Highsmith how Mould knows Roby.

I asked Mould who Spence was. Mould told me that Spence was an occultist who lost his nerve. He said Spence had shot at them while they were in an amphitheatre, but they had calmed him down. Spence told them that Edwards was attempting to summon Hastur by performing the play over and over again. I asked what play and Mould told me it was the one Estus wrote. I asked him to tell me what the play was about and Mould said it was about the coming of the King to Yhtll and how the city would become Carcosa. I asked what role Edwards played and Mould said that Spence told them Edwards played a sacrifice, but also that he was invincible and every time the Queen slit his throat the wound would heal.

I asked Mould to tell me about Roby. He told me that Roby was only there as a guide to Carcosa. He was the only one who knew the secret to the paths. Mould told me that he wondered if, in some way, Roby was Carcosa. Mould said Spence told them that Roby did not even know about the ceremony.

Mould told me that Spence led them to Roby. Roby was in a museum and in the museum there was a statue of Keats. Mould said Keats had become fearful of this and that Roby told him that someone in the city must have their eye upon him.

I tried to press Mould more about Keats and Roby, but he was caught in his story now and appeared to forget I was present. I asked a nurse to attend and to take down his words.

“We told Roby about Edwards plan and he did not believe us. He claimed the ceremony would result in the destruction of Carcosa and of Edwards. I told him what I had read and that I believed Edwards thought Hastur would reward him. Roby said this was madness but agreed to lead us to the palace.

I knew a spell and had the bell. If I ring the bell that can stop the ceremony.”

At this Mould paused for some minutes and searched his pockets obsessively. His search became increasingly frenzied and eventually I had to ask the nurse to put down the pen and restrain him. As soon as he did, Mould began to wail and cry. He spent some minutes sobbing but began to speak again, although his story became increasingly incoherent. I understood that there was a boat that he did not wish to sail on. He said the dreams had warned him about the boat but he had no choice because there was no other way to the palace. He said that something had attacked the boat in mid-channel and he had fallen in the water and lost the bell.

Mould has not calmed down. Take him back to his room and return tomorrow with pen and paper.

I asked Mould to tell me whether they reached the palace. He seems to have forgotten the bell and did not appear agitated as he picked up from where we left off yesterday:

“We could see byakhee circling as we came nearer. Hundreds of them. Thousands. It was hard to see them for the sky was black despite the two suns, but we could see the stars wink out as they passed.

We began to search the palace for Edwards, but it was vast and we did not know where to look. As we passed under a bridge we saw Coombs watching us. Soon we began to hear footsteps behind us and we began to run. The pace of the footsteps behind us increased. We rounded a corner and Quigley ran into someone. She was Yolanda, a courtier at the palace and as beauteous as she was kind. She told us that the ceremony was being performed in the courtyard and that she was worried about what it might bring. I was speaking to her when Coombs appeared. He lunged at me and stabbed me in my arms and side. Quigley, Keats and Winstanley killed him, but he did his job and held us up.

Yolanda led us to the courtyard and from a balcony above we could see Edwards and the others. They were performing the play and we watched as Edwards’ throat was cut, only to heal again. Hideous byakhee were settling around the courtyard. They hung like bats from the wall and their screams were deafening. They did not take much notice of us however so we began to run down the stairs towards Edwards. He saw us and gestured to the byakhee. Some of them began to flap towards us on their wet wings so we fled back up the stairs. Keats stayed on. He carried a rapier and we saw him cut one beast down, but more and more began to fill his path.

We left the balcony and went through a door, hoping the byakhee would not follow us inside the palace. But then one came through a window. Roby's face was white, but he told us that the byakhee would not harm him for he was Carcosa. He told us to sing Cassilda’s song as that would avert Hastur’s gaze, and then he asked for Quigley’s gun and walked towards the byakhee and the stairs down to Edwards. We began to chant and thought he was going to try and stop Edwards, but instead he put the gun in his own mouth and pulled the trigger.

As Roby slumped to the ground the byakhee at the windows screamed one last time and then flapped into the sky. I ran to the window and saw Keats’ body lying at the bottom of the stairs. Then the other byakhee began to take to the air and Yolanda grabbed me by the hand. She said we must run but I was transfixed. The byakhee began to fly skywards and then I saw Edwards and the other cultists torn from the earth as though the world had turned upside down. They fell upwards screaming. I could feel my mouth singing Cassilda’s song, but still my feet could not move. In the sky, above the spiralling byakhee was an eye. I felt it look upon me. I felt it slide across my soul. And then Yolanda was dragging me away.

We fled in Yolanda’s footsteps. She led us to a maze in the garden and through the maze to a stone archway. I could feel chips of marble scrunching beneath my feet. And then I was walking on stones. I looked up and I could see Lake Mullardoch. And I saw Quigley’s car. And I saw I was in Scotland. I turned but Yolanda was not there, only Quigley and Winstanley. I opened my mouth to say something to them. And then I remembered the eye. And then the blackness flooded into my mind.”

Mould spent some minutes moaning about “the eye” and then began chanting again. He has not stopped.