Sandman Role Playing Pubcrawl General Note This is one of a series of role-playing pub crawls written for meetings of the Oxford University Douglas Adams Society and possibly of general interest to others. All are based on various works of literature in different media familiar to members of the Society. Of course the originals involved are still in copyright, so the author of these pubcrawls has no right to profit from the use of the material, despite the large amounts of original writing that have been put into them. We can only say that anyone who performs these pubcrawls is very welcome to do so. This series includes many other pubcrawls. These pubcrawls were written for performance in Oxford, and thus if they instruct participants to visit particular pubs, these pubs are generally found within quite a small area of that city. This can very easily be altered to fit in with any location in which the pubcrawl is per formed: other details can be similarly altered (times changed to suit local licensing laws, for instance), and usually any Oxford-specific references can be excised, adapted or else conveniently ignored. The exception is the Sandman pubcrawl, which has a note appended explaining the options, but can still be performed elsewhere with ease. If the number of people available for a pubcrawl is not identical with the number of characters listed in these texts, the pieces can be adapted accordingly: several have "extras" (usually found at the end) who are unnecessary for the plot but can be added to make up the numbers; in others, certain characters can be removed without grave detriment to the plot, at the discretion of the organiser (who may wish to edit the other characters' intructions accordingly). The Hitch-Hiker pubcrawl, in particular, was designed for a society Freshers' event, at which the number arriving was utterly unpredictable, and so is written for a number of participants from ten to about thirty. Inserting new characters would also be a viable approach, if anyone were feeling creative... Standard practice has been to give each participant a copy of the title page (if any) and introductory sheet (if any), and a copy of one character's instruction sheet(s). A map, with the pubs marked on it, may be a useful aid, unless enough players know the pubs in the area well. Participants are given the instructions that they are to play the roles allocated to the best of their improvisational ability, and (usually) to drink a lot as well. As observed in the introduction to the Hitch-Hiker pubcrawl, the comedy effect arises when obeying the latter instruction renders people unable to carry out the former. Organiser's charts are provided so that the person mounting the pubcrawl is able to tell who should be where at any particular point. The organiser may participate or observe as he/she wishes; sometimes there is an obvious part for the organiser to play if he/she does take a role, sometimes it may be amusing to take one of the more minor ones. The important thing is that the organiser does not use his/her superior knowledge to bugger the plot. You are encouraged to pass any of these pubcrawls on to any contacts you may have who you feel would be interested, by email or post or any other medium that entertains you. If anyone organising one of these events were to feel moved to send a gratuitous and quite unnecessary present of money as a contribution to DougSoc funds (say a pound, dollar or nearest local equivalent collected from each participant) to the society, we can be reached at this address:v The Oxford University Douglas Adams Society c/o University Offices Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JD UNITED KINGDOM I mention this merely for information. SHARE AND ENJOY. Author's note Not being a comic freak, my contact with Neil Gaiman's Sandman series has been limited to the stories published in graphic novel form. Thus this pubcrawl, though original, is intended to be consistent with the Sandman books published before 9 June 1994 ( Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House, Dream Country, Season of Mists, A Game of You and Fables and Reflections, and the Death novella The High Cost of Living). Any inconsistency between "Electric Dreams" and these is therefore entirely my responsibility: any inconsistency between it and Sandman comics not published in book form at that stage, or indeed published since 9 June 1994, is nothing to do with me and should be taken up with Neil Gaiman. Any inconsistencies with other areas of what I believe comic-spotters call the "DC Universe" are, I assure you, not something that concerns me in the slightest. And yes, I do know John Constantine appears in non-Sandman comics like Hellblazer and Swamp Thing, I'm not stupid you know. Like many of this series of pubcrawls, "Electric Dreams" is intended to take place in Oxford; it is also intended to be performed on a very specific date, 9 June 1994. While in most cases, changing either the date or the city in which the pubcrawl is located (and using different pubs as appropriate), is perfectly reasonable, this particular one relies on meticulous historical research that established (with disturbing synchronicity, considering the date for the pubcrawl had been set three months before, without any knowledge of this), that according to some sources Roger Bacon died in Oxford circa 11 June 1294, that Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay was published in 1594, and that Samuel Taylor Coleridge was in Oxford just before mid-June 1794. In view of this, my advice to anyone performing it after 9 June 1994, or in another location than Oxford, would be to pretend that the place and time were as they were when we did it, though obviously changing the pubs is probably unavoidable. Supplementary note for anyone unbelievably stupid: In this pubcrawl, John Constantine and Lady Johanna Constantine are intended to be played by the same participant. Number of characters 18+ Male 10+ Female 6+ Other Desire is intended to be hermaphrodite; John/Johanna Constantine has to change sex halfway through. Either can be played by anyone suitably androgynous. Number of Pubs 5 or 6 Props A brass head, or something that can appropriately symbolise it. Otherwise, as appropriate to character, eg various sigils for the Endless, cigarettes for John Constantine, pouch of sand for Dream, etc. Organiser's Chart In terms of Oxford pubs: The Dreaming = The Chequers 1394 = The Bear (interior) 1594 = The Old Tom 1894 = The Wheatsheaf 1984 = The Blue Boar 1994 = The Bear (exterior) Character 8:30- 9:00- 9:30- 10:00- 10:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 UNA Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994 Dream Dreaming 1994 1594 1794 1994 dream dream Death 1984 1294 1594 1794 1994 flashback flashback flashback Desire 1294 1794 1994 1994 1994 Despair 1294 1794 1994 1994 1994 Delirium 1294 1794 1794 1994 1994 Shelley Isaac 1984 1994 1994 1994 1994 Belcephon 1984 1294 1994 1994 1994 flashback Roger Bacon 1294 1294 1594 1794 1994 ghost ghost ghost Miles 1984 1294 1594 1794 1994 flashback flashback flashback ghost Hob Gadling 1994 1994 1594 1994 1994 dream Constantine 1994 1994 1794 1794 1994 John John Johanna Johanna John Mad Hettie 1794 1794 1794 1994 1994 Coleridge 1794 1794 1794 1794 1994 dream Cain Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994 Abel Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994 Lucien Dreaming 1994 1994 1994 1994 Morningstar 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 sandman ELECTRIC DREAMS featuring characters stolen from NEIL GAIMAN, SAM KIETH, MIKE DRINGENBERG "I WOULD LIKE TO ASK A QUESTION." "WHAT IS IT?" "WILL I DREAM?" "OF COURSE YOU WILL. ALL INTELLIGENT CREATURES DREAM - BUT NO ONE KNOWS WHY." Arthur C Clarke (born 1917), 2010: Odyssey Two, 1982 I'M SORRY, YOUR MAJESTY. THE BASTARD HARD DISK'S CRASHED AGAIN. BUT THIS HARDWARE'S STILL BETTER THAN ROGER BACON'S MECHANICAL HEAD. Hob Gadling (born c.1360) in conversation, 1990 Slips for Advance Notice of Character (for clothing/makeup purposes) UNA An android, but since this is Sandman, not a tacky android with silver eggboxes stuck to her head or anything. Wear stylised, simple clothes (eg white T-shirt and skirt). Perhaps, if you can get some appropriate makeup, paint your skin some metallic colour, but this isn't necessary. Professor Shelley Isaacs Seen first as a vaguely hippy student in the 1980s, later as a cybernetics professor in the 1990s. Either wear something appropriate for both, or else bring a quick change of clothing... Roger Bacon (Doctor Mirabilis) Thirteenth century divine, scholar and magician. Dress in friar's habit, make up (if possible) to appear eighty years old. Miles A magician and scholar from the thirteenth century. Currently immortal, but appearing around forty. If you can arrange some kind of clothing that can be subtly altered to suggest 13th, 16th, 18th and then 20th centuries, this would be ideal. Come in 20th century mode at first. Hob Gadling Peasant from the fourteenth century, currently immortal and working in computers. Ideally, seen first in 1990s and, later, Elizabethan costume. John Constantine/Lady Johanna Constantine You play both John Constantine, a slightly sleazy twentieth-century London magician, and Lady Johanna Constantine, his aristocratic eighteenth-century ancestor. Wear an old raincoat, T-shirt and jeans at first, but ideally bring an eighteenth-century dress to change into... Mad Hettie Two hundred and fifty year old London baglady and prophet. Wear tatty clothing, including an old green duffle-coat and a wide-brimmed hat with a flower in it, covering most of your face. Also a battered old bag. Belcephon A demon. Come dressed and made up however you wish, as long as it's suitably horrific. Cain Story-teller from the Dreaming, and brother of Abel. Usually appears wearing a casual suit and round glasses. Brown hair and beard, both enormous. Abel Story-teller from the Dreaming, and brother of Cain. Usually appears wearing an old-fashioned suit and lace bow-tie. Black hair and beard. Samuel Taylor Coleridge The eighteenth-century poet, seen at the age of 22. Ideally, should wear a frilly shirt-front, black tailcoat, black knee-breeches, white stockings. See what you can do. Lucifer Morningstar The devil seen as fallen angel - tall, red-blond, beautiful. Wear ordinary twentieth-century dress. Death Of the Endless. Long black hair, white face, heavy black eyeshadow with small spirals below the eyes. One of those sleeveless tops with straps off the shoulders, jeans, pixie boots, all in black. Silver ankh on a chain. Dream Of the Endless. Long black hair, white face with eyes in dark shadow. Small leather drawstring pouch, full of sand. Black or purple T-shirt, black jeans, black boots, black cloak. Think imposing. Desire Of the Endless. Androgyny is the main thing to project. White face, black hair, considerable makeup. Some kind of outrageous basque with suspenders, fishnets and assorted items. Probably an earring. Some kind of heart necklace (the heart being Desire's sigil) is probably appropriate. Despair Of the Endless. White skin, black hair in a sumo wrestler's bun, and tusks (try wearing joke vampire fangs upside down). A ring with a hook on it is vital (one could be easily made from wire or something). As far as clothing is concerned, there are a number of options: 1) Ideally, come naked. It is doubtful that you could get away with this, even if you wanted to... 2) Try and give a stylised impression of nakedness, either by wearing very little (a monochrome bikini, for instance), or else by combining white body makeup with a white leotard or something similar. 3) Assume that Desire is trying to appear in a human context without being outrageously conspicuous, and wear the clothing you think she might in these circumstances. Ripped T-shirt and jeans, probably grey rather than black, spring to mind, but use your judgement. Just don't wear anything cheerful... 4) In the original performance, the person playing Desire wore jeans and a grey sweater on which she had drawn a pair of breasts. Hmmm. Delirium Of the Endless. "Her appearance is the most variable of all the Endless", so anything goes within certain boundaries: Like the others, her skin is usually white; her hair is either shaven, dyed in startling ways or a combination of the two. Outrageous punk or bondage gear are both possibilities; fishnets often appear prominently. Just as long as it appears insane, chaotic and rather tragic. DREAM He began to talk, very quietly, in that strange voice of his, that sounded like you were hearing it in the back of your head. I'd heard the people talk about Murphy before, but I'd never imagined he existed. It was like meeting God, or someone like that. You don't figure they're ever actually going to show up. He was very tall, and very beautiful, and very distant. A Game of You 8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming You are intrigued and disturbed by the arrival of a new type of creature in the dreaming; Una is a dreamer, but neither human, god nor demon. You first talk to her, to find out what she is, and then ask your servants for their opinion. You come to the conclusion that she is an artificial human being, a robot or android, and determine to find out her origin. You suspect that there may be some involvement by other supernatural powers, and you fear for the vulnerable android should some more malevolent entity find out her existence. When she wakes, you follow her, and take the unusual precaution of bringing with you into the waking world those of your servants who are present. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 7 June 1994 Arriving at the presentation of the android to her creator's colleagues, you encounter your old friend Hob Gadling, and the man John Constantine, whose ancestor you knew well and who once helped you recover something of value to you. Observing the proceedings, you are disturbed by an unnaturalness which may be that of cybernetics, but may equally be that of magical manipulation. Both Hob and Constantine seem troubled by nagging memories which they feel are relevant, so you decide to accompany them into dreams to examine those memories. You explain that you will be observing them,but they will be unaware of you throughout. Leaving your servants to observe and to protect Una if necessary, you follow Hob and Constantine into dreams. 9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 7 June 1594 Hob Gadling returns to the age of two hundred and thirty or so, and relives an encounter with another immortal human. You are surprised but gratified to meet (on this threshold between present and past, fantasy and history, the dreamed and the dead, that humans call Memory), your sister Death. She is following the memories of the other human, Miles, whom she has taken in 1984. She tells you of the curses that keep Miles alive and his mentor, Roger Bacon, a ghost, and she tells you of the relic that Miles carries. You watch as Hob refuses to lift the curse from them; then send him back to the waking world as you and Death follow Miles on into Constantine's dream. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 7 June 1794 John Constantine has regressed to the life of his ancestor, Lady Johanna Constantine, who once tried to kidnap you and once helped you to recover the head of your son. The time you are observing is prior to your second meeting, however, and you are surprised to see her in the company of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet who was once the lover of your sister Delirium. You observe as Miles once again begs for the curse to be lifted, and Johanna and Coleridge refuse. You feel a sudden strong compulsion to return to the waking world, and, sending Constantine ahead into his own persona, you urge Death to accompany you. 10:30onward The Bear 7 June 1994 You arrive in time to see Una destroyed by a demon; she passes into Death's protection. You are furious to see your sister Despair and her twin Desire, and to be told of their interference, and that of poor, cracked Delirium; this is, however, nothing to your anger with the demon, a particularly repulsive specimen called Belcephon. The demon has the power of Hell behind him, however, and you will be powerless to prevent the forces of Hell from destroying the whole pub, as they apparently intend to. Apart from the Creator Himself, only one being would have the personal power to repel the forces of Hell. Fortunately, he turns out to be sitting in the corner having a quiet drink, so everyone is saved. Belcephon demands his right to the soul of the android's creator, but he is even denied this. You return, with your servants, to the Dreaming. DEATH Anyway: I'm not blessed, or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to do, and I do it. Listen: even as we're talking, I'm there for old and young, innocent and guilty, those who die together and those who die alone. I'm in cars and boats and planes; in hospitals and forests and abbatoirs. For some folks death is a release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them. Dream Country 8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984 You arrive at the death of a man named Miles, who is killed by a young student for a relic he is carrying. You are surprised at his age, and his having missed you for so long. You talk to him, and use the final picture of their life that the dead are given (for even the living know that their life will flash in front of their eyes on the point of death), to investigate his past. You bring the now-ignored relic with you, too. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 Watching Miles' remembrances of his life, you are brought back to the deathbed of Roger Bacon, a man you knew as you know everyone at the end. You watch, with a mixture of compassion and exasperation, as they curse each other, Miles to wander the earth without the respite of death, Bacon to be summoned as a ghost at Miles' pleasure. People's ability to be horrible to each other, when they all have the potential to be so nice, constantly amazes you. You take Bacon when the time comes for him to die, though you know now that neither he nor Miles can rest for centuries. 9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594 Following Miles through the next three centuries, you are pleased to meet (on this threshold between present and past, fantasy and history, the dreamed and the dead, that humans call Memory), your brother Dream, who is searching for the origins of an android built in 1994. He is watching, in dreams, his friend Hob Gadling, the man you agreed not to take unless he asked it. Hob and Miles meet in a tavern in 1594, and Miles begs Hob to take the twin curses from himself and Bacon by relieving him of the relic he carries, the remains of a mechanical head, but Hob refuses. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 Together with Dream, you both observe a meeting between Miles, Lady Johanna Constantine (whom your brother is watching through the dream of one of her descendants), and Samuel Coleridge, whom both of you remember as a lover of your sister Delirium, whom you had eventually to take from her when he died. Neither of them lifts Bacon's curse from Miles, or Miles' from Bacon. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 At Dream's suggestion, you come with him to 1994, where you meet Una, Dream's android friend. Indeed, you find you have business with her, since soon after you arrive she is killed by a demon. She is vulnerable and sweet, and you are pleased to be able to look after her. The demon's presence disturbs you, and you are worried that you may be forced to take all the people in the pub, but help comes from an unexpected source. You reunite Miles and Bacon, liberated by Miles' death so that both of them can now rest, and finally be at peace together, and you take them and Una with you. DESIRE Desire is of medium height. It is unlikely that any portrait will ever do Desire justice, since to see her (or him) is to love him (or her), - passionately, painfully, to the exclusion of all else... Desire smiles in brief flashes, like sunlight glinting from a knife-edge. And there is much else that is knife-like about Desire. Never a possession, always the possessor, with skin as pale as smoke, and eyes tawny and sharp as yellow wine: Desire is everything you have ever wanted. Whoever you are. Whatever you are. Everything. Season of Mists 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 With your sister Delirium and your twin Despair, you arrive to dole out the delicious torture of desire to a man dying of fever. He is a magician and scholar who has bargained with Hell. You whisper to him of all the things he wanted, his thirst for knowledge and his secret lust for power, his loves and pangs and urges. You leave just as he is about to die... 9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 Five centuries later, you are summoned by Delirium, who has fallen ecstatically in love and asks your advice. You know from experience that the loves of the Endless are of more subtle and exquisite consistency than of mortals, and the young man in question seems as aesthetically sensual as you could wish. Naturally you urge her on. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Two further centuries pass, and the humans create a new degree of being; an artifical woman, the first of her kind. You realise the opportunities for anguished yearning such an entity presents, and with Despair you go to find her. You tell her of the happiness she has not known, of the joys of a community and of others of one's kind. You tell her of the tentative thrill of love's first perception, the agonised longings of love's pursuit, of the dazed rushing wonder of love's acceptance. You tell her of the warm comforting presence of another's body, of the violent exultancy of sex, of the gentle caresses of intimacy. You bring her to the very threshold. You watch while she asks her creator to build her a mate. When she is refused, Despair tells her of pain and of the rejection of love, of misery and loneliness and isolation. Then, with Despair, you summon Delirium. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 While Delirium brings the android finally into the realm of insanity, you observe the others present - the poor tiny humans, some very old, some mad, all utterly manipulable - and the demon who one of them has summoned. You move among the humans, talking with them as if you cared about them, showing them their desires. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Your older brother and sister arrive, and the android's journey through life is finally ended by Death. Dream has a terribly amusing argument with the demon, and things end in a manner that takes even you considerably by surprise, though naturally you are uninclined to admit this. DESPAIR Despair, Desire's sister and twin, is queen of her own bleak bourne. It is said that scattered through Despair's domain are a multitude of tiny windows, hanging in the void. Each window looks out onto a different scene, being, in our world, a mirror. Sometimes you will look into a mirror and feel the eyes of Despair on you, feel her hook catch and snag on your heart. Her skin is cold and clammy; her eyes are the colour of the sky on the grey, wet days that leach the world of colour and meaning; her voice is little more than a whisper... Despair says little, and is patient. Season of Mists 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 With your sister Delirium and your twin Desire, you arrive at the bedside of a man dying of fever, a magician and scholar who has bargained with Hell. While Desire whispers to him of all the things he wanted, his ambitions and urges and lusts, you tell him he can never accomplish any of these now. He is dying, his soul is destined for Hell, he has no hope. You leave just as he is about to die. 9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 Five centuries later, you are summoned by Delirium, who believes herself in love and asks your advice. You know that love, though it is the province of your sibling Desire, leads to despair more often than any other emotion, and you see in her lover the potential for melancholy beyond imagining. You urge her on. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Two further centuries pass, and you become aware of a new degree of being, created not by gods but by the humans; an artifical woman, the first of her kind. You realise the opportunity such an entity presents, and you go with Desire to find her. You bide your time while Desire tells her of happiness, of community and companionship, and of love. You watch while she asks her creator to build her a mate. When she is refused, you tell her of pain and of the rejection of love, of misery and loneliness and isolation. You bring her to despair. Then, with Desire, you summon Delirium. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 While Delirium brings the android finally into the realm of insanity, you observe the others present - the humans, some very old, some mad - and the demon who one of them has summoned. You move among the humans, talking to them, trying to bring out their despair. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Your older brother and sister arrive, and the android's journey through life is finally ended by Death. Dream has a violent argument with the demon, and things end in a manner that takes you considerably by surprise. DELIRIUM Her appearance is the most variable of all the Endless, who, at best, are ideas cloaked in the semblance of flesh... Some say that the tragedy of Delirium is her knowledge that despite being older than suns, older than gods, she is forever the youngest of the Endless, who do not measure time as we measure time, or see the worlds through mortal eyes. Others deny this, and say that Delirium has no tragedy, but here they speak without reflection. For Delirium was once Delight. And although that was long ago now, even today her eyes are badly matched: one eye is a vivid emerald green, spattered with silver flecks that move; her other eye is vein blue. Who knows what Delirium sees, through her mismatched eyes? Season of Mists 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 With your sister Despair, and your sister-brother Desire, you go to visit a man called Roger. While the others tell him about everything he wanted once, and how he'll never have it all now, you tell him about pretty things and terrifying things and strange things, and worms and stars and windows. He is going to die soon. 9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 You remember visiting the dying man five centuries ago when you come back to Oxford this time. There is a man, a student from Cambridge. You know he has potential for delirium, that he could be great or insane or a poet or all three. You have told a mad woman, someone who belongs to you called Hettie, to meet this man and call you to him. When you come, you meet him. His name is Samuel, and he is as beautiful as madness. You fall in love with him soon, but then you worry. When your family fall in love, it's not always good. You nearly got married once. Your big brother had a son, and now he's just a head. Shit happens. You can't always tell. So you call Desire and Despair to help. They tell you to go ahead and love Samuel. You can make him a poet or an addict or a lunatic, whatever you want. Your servant Hettie asks you to release her, but she's mad. 9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 You tell Samuel about love and about snakes, about graves and albatrosses and waterfalls and slimy things. A woman arrives and tries to take Samuel away from you, but Samuel loves you and she can't. She says someone's coming. You know it is a man with a head, and you tell Samuel: this man will be in his greatest poem, his most famous and beautiful poem, of ships and salt and madness, will come from meeting this man. Then you leave. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Now it is two hundred years later again, and a hundred and sixty since your oldest sister finally took Samuel away from you. You are in Oxford again, remembering him, and remembering Roger, the man who was dying once. You meet Una - a robot, a living doll, a model human being. She is nice. You talk to her a lot, about terror and flowers and butterflies and quasars, and about Samuel. She is your friend. Hettie, the woman who was your servant once, turns up and talks to you. She laughs at you and makes you angry. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 A demon kills Una, and your oldest sister takes her away like she has all the humans you've known. You feel sad and angry and you shout a lot. Then some weird shit happens and you feel strange. You forget what you were talking about and then you go away. HOB GADLING The only reason people die, is because everyone does it. You all just go along with it. It's rubbish, death. It's stupid. I don't want anything to do with it. The Doll's House 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 The latest stage in your six hundred year business career has been with a small computer hardware firm, which with your usual acumen you established shortly before Clive Sinclair had the brainstorm which led to the ZX80. The firm has brought you a considerable amount of profit in the last twenty years, but you are looking to branch out, and the rumour of astounding breakthroughs in cybernetics technology have brought you to Oxford for the unveiling of a prototype android, supposedly far more sophisticated than any robot yet created, by Professor Shelley Isaac, widely acknowledged as a genius in the field. While waiting for the arrival of Isaac and her colleagues at the occasion (which, for the best of reasons, is to take place at a pub), you meet John Constantine, who reminds you strongly both of a Jack Constantine you met in Queen Bess' day, and a Lady Johanna Constantine, who tried to hold you up once when George III was around. You are fairly used to meeting descendants of people you knew by now, but Constantine appears more sinister than most; bearing in mind the supernatural predilections of his ancestors, you are suspicious of his motives in attending a scientific gathering. You try to draw him out. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 When the android, Una, is unveiled, her sophistication appears to amount to an independent emotional life, which you know should not be even remotely possible with current computer technology. A vague memory which you are unable to capture, begins to nag at you, and you wonder if the presence of the shifty Constantine may be even more sinister than you thought. You are startled when your friend, the pale stranger who first offered you immortality in 1389, and whom you have met at hundred-year intervals since, appears. You begin to realise that more is going on here than you imagined, and confide your suspicions to him. He appears to know Constantine as well, and decides to return both of you, in dreams, into the past, to discover the secret behind the android's existence. 9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594 Your dream returns you to 1594, when you were working in shipping, but had kept your interests in publishing and printing from the previous century. A publisher's in which you have a partnership has published in the last few months a play called Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, by Rob Greene, whom you knew and who died two years before. You know vaguely that this play is about a legend popular even in your youth, of Roger Bacon, "Doctor Mirabilis", the Oxford scholar who sold his soul to the devil in order to create a talking mechanical head. You considered this only slightly interesting, until you received a bizarre message asking you to meet one Mr Miles this evening, at a pub in Oxford. Fearing that he may be accusing Greene of plagiarism, you have marshalled all your arguments and come to meet him. The tale he tells you is extraordinary, but you utterly refuse to accede to his terrifying request. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 You awake, and remember that you are in the twentieth century, and what you are there for. The android UNA is behaving with increasing strangeness, and you are disturbed by the supernatural air surrounding the proceedings (in all your six hundred and thirty years of life, you have never been tempted to play with magic). You wish your friend would return, but, since Constantine is still asleep, you assume he is still with him in dreams. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Constantine awakes, your friend returns, and several extremely strange things happen. You have a drink and think about perhaps leaving the computer industry and going into tourism instead. JOHN CONSTANTINE Have you ever had one of those days when something just seems to be trying to tell you somebody? There was a smell of magic somewhere, like the blue-sparks smell of smoke at a funfair. I'd just had this nightmare. These things with faces like appendectomy scars were crocheting my intestines into body bags for the blind and dead. I told myself it was only a dream, but it didn't matter. The bastards just kept on bloody knitting. Preludes and Nocturnes 8:30- 9:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 You have been intrigued recently by rumours of the achievements of Professor Shelly Isaac, who is said to have created a working android. Your usually infallible nose for magic tells you that this is more likely to have been achieved by demonology than cybernetics, so you have resolved to gatecrash the unveiling in Oxford of Isaac's creation. While waiting for the beginning of the event, you start talking to Robert Gadling, a representative from some big computer firm. Your instinct tells you he is unusual, though you cannot feel anything magical about him. You feel strongly suspicious of him, particularly when he tries to draw you out about your interest in the occasion. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Sure enough, when the android is unveiled, it stinks of Hell, and of a memory you cannot catch. Things are complicated, however, by the arrival of the being you know as the Sandman, whom you once did a favour. He, too, is deeply suspicious of the circumstances, and has decided to regress you and Gadling into the past, in dreams, to find out about the android's origin. You find yourself in the persona of one of your ancestors, but are unnerved by her gender... LADY JOHANNA CONSTANTINE Thus it was I found myself immured in the Palace of Luxembourg. My Plight was not cheerful, and in my Younger Days I might perhaps have dropt a few tears in the Tumult of my Senses; but I had been hardened by the Years, and was content to wait. It is forever a matter of Amazement to me what trifling Consolations the Mind will sieze upon, in times of Misery. Myself, I sought Refuge at this Extremity in tabulating what I had so far accomplished. Fables and Reflections 9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 You have come to Oxford in search of a vagrant woman who is rumoured to be a prophet; your instinct for magic is as efficient as your descendant's, and you are seeking enlightenment about a supernatural being whom you encountered in an inn five years ago, a gaunt stranger who faced you with the nightmares of your past. You track down the woman, but find her with a young poet and student of your acquaintance, one Samuel Coleridge, and with a pale-faced and apparently insane woman who appears to be of the same ilk as your inn acquaintance. You warn Coleridge against entangling with such dangerous spirits, but he is besotted with her. You beg the seeress to tell you about the identity of the beings, and she does. Your instincts suddenly warn you of more magic approaching, and you advise Coleridge to go. He refuses. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 The prophetess and the spirit of Delirium leave, and a magician arrives. He tells you a story that horrifies you and moves you to sympathy, but, despite being sorely tempted, you refuse the unusual offer he makes you. Coleridge, as you feared, has retreated entirely into a delirious world of his own, and cannot be reached. You take your leave of the magician, resolved to return to Wych Cross and think on this... JOHN CONSTANTINE (contd) 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You awake in your own body once more, to find that Hell seems to have taken firm control of the events in twentieth-century Oxford. You watch as the Sandman tries to deal with this, but are shocked at the turn soon taken by the circumstances. You have another drink to recover. MAD HETTIE Now you lissen ter me, John Constanteen, you littel prick! I sed the Sandman, and I meant the bleeding Sandman! 'E's back, John. And 'e wants 'is own. I know. I'm two 'undrid and forty-sevvin years old and I know! 'E's back! Preludes and Nocturnes Ah, but this is the life, Mad Hettie me pet, and who's a clever old biddie? Indeed, 'tis yerself and no mistake. Now all we needs is a cuppa and life's a merry fing indeed. Any minute now they'll be returnin' wiv our heart, me deario. And then I'll dance. Oh how I'll dance. Oh but when and I was a tippy tiny girl Singin' rats an' mice and daisies-oh With eyes of blue and pretty yellow curls Singin' newts an' toads an' snakes an' squirrels an' bats an' herrings and daisies-oh... The High Cost of Living 8:30- 9:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 In 1794 you are fifty-two years old and, in your own words, "Mad as a porridge-knife". Already your gift for prophecy has led you, first to lose your sanity, and then to wander England as a tramp, muttering dark predictions to yourself. You are particularly prone to the promptings of Delirium, whom you recognise as one of the Endless (you know of them and their little ways, oh yes you do), but whom you tend at the moment to obey, since she can use your mind to make life so unbearable otherwise. She has warned you that you are to be visited by a young man, a poet, and you are waiting for him when he arrives. He calls you Sibyl, which isn't your name, and asks you about the future of some movement called pants-and-socks-racy, but you know that isn't what he really wants. What he really wants is to be told about his poetry, and you know it. You tell him in ten years' time no-one will have heard of his pants idea, but he'll be one of the most famous poets in England if he behaves hisself, and stops writing the crap he is know. You don't tell him any more, except that you've got a friend for him to meet, who may feel like helping with his poems if he's lucky. 9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 You call Delirium, and she comes. She calls two of her family, Desire and Despair, who you know as well. You are terrified, but sharp enough still to beg Delirium to release you from your madness. 9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 A fine Lady turns up, who you can tell is a witch. She starts asking you about a tall gaunt white-faced man she met in a pub, so you tell her about Dream, and about the Endless, and about Delirium. She warns the young man off Delirium, but he's hooked. Delirium refuses to release you, and vanishes. You go, leaving the young poet and the witch-lady together to wait for a magician, or some such type. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Two centuries pass; you hide your heart and you find it, you miss Death and you meet her, you meet the witch-lady's descendant and go to New York. And now you come to a pub in Oxford again, oh yes. You know who's going to be there, you know about the robots and the devils and the ghosts and the dreams, but most of all you know Delirium is there. And you want to show her you've beaten her, that you've discovered how she's wrong, and how madness can keep you sane, you and all the others. And you tell her. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You meet the witch-lady's tall thin man, and you meet Death again, though again she has no business with you. And a lady Professor cries on your shoulder. And lots of things happen, but you're not surprised, because you're a prophet, you are. And then you go away and sleep in a church doorway, like you have done lots of times before. CAIN Why, bless my boots and chin-whiskers. Do my eyes deceive me? Could it be? Is my beloved brother actually having a party without me? Oh be still, my trembling heart. Fables and Reflections 8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming When a robot, a type of dreamer you have never encountered before, arrives in the dreaming, you take the opportunity to tell her a story, as is your function. She is distracted, however, by the arrival of your master, Lord Morpheus, and you take out your frustration on your brother, Abel, by killing him as usual. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 You accompany your master into the waking world, with the intention of observing Una, the new dreamer. Your brother accompanies you, and the two of you try to entertain the humans present, with tales of Pygmalion and Galatea, of Frankenstein and his Creature, of Dr Chandra and HAL 9000. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Mightier things are afoot, and the humans are soon distracted. You take advantage of Lord Morpheus' absence to kill Abel again, in whatever manner seems to you amusing. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 In boredom, you wait for Abel to revive before killing him once more. You realise, however, that unnerving events are underway, involving three members of Lord Morpheus' family, and, remembering your instructions to observe, you and Abel summon him to return. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Morpheus returns, and the subsequent events are apocalyptic and surprising. You have another drink and kill Abel interestingly again. ABEL It's a story of two brothers. And they, uh... they loved each other very much and they were always nice to each other. And the elder brother would never hurt the younger brother. Never. And they lived together in the same house. And they were... Hnh. Uhah. Th-they were, uh, v-very happy. I'm sorry. I wasn't - I'm n-not crying. I'm really not crying. It's only blood... Preludes and Nocturnes 8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming When a robot, a type of dreamer you have never encountered before, arrives in the dreaming, your brother Cain takes the opportunity to tell her a story, to which you listen. They are distracted, however, by the arrival of your master, Lord Morpheus, and Cain takes out his frustration by killing you as usual. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Revived again, you accompany your master into the waking world, with the intention of observing Una, the new dreamer. Your brother accompanies you, and the two of you try to entertain the humans present, with tales of Pygmalion and Galatea, of Frankenstein and his Creature, of Dr Chandra and HAL 9000. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Mightier things are afoot, and the humans are soon distracted. Cain gets bored, and takes advantage of Lord Morpheus' absence to kill you again. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Cain waits for you to revive before killing you once more. You realise, however, that unnerving events are underway, involving three members of Lord Morpheus' family, and, remembering your instructions to observe, you and Cain summon him to return. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Morpheus returns, and the subsequent events are apocalyptic and surprising. You have another drink and get killed again. LUCIEN Oh, yes. But unusual books. You'll find none of them on earth. In this section, for example, are novels their authors never wrote, or never finished, except in dreams... I am the keeper of the library, Matthew. Without it I am nothing. Were it to be destroyed again, it would destroy me as well. Season of Mists 8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming You and your lord witness the arrival of a new type of creature in the Dreaming: a dreamer, but one of no species you have encountered before. You can find no references to her in your library, except in the fiction, where there are many references to artificial people, unhallowed creatures built from the contents of graves, or robots and mechanical men. You can only conclude that she is such a creature. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 You accompany your lord into the waking realms, following the robot, Una. You pretend to be a scholar learned in the art of cybernetics, as indeed (thanks to the cyberpunk dreams of a million adolescents) you are. Your lord asks you to observe the occasion of Una's introduction to the human world, while he investigates her background, and to do your best to protect her if necessary. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 You are disturbed when two of your master's family, the rulers of the realms of Desire and Despair, arrive and take an interest in Una. You are uneasy about interfering in his family affairs, neither do you have the power to do so, so you try to avoid being recognised, and observe unhappily as they try to interfere. The arrival of a man you recognise as being a disguised demon does nothing for your composure. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Your master's youngest sister, the lady of Delirium, arrives and influences Una in her turn. This development, together with the increasingly sinister behaviour of the demon, forces you, diffidently, to introduce yourself to the three Endless, point out that Una is under your protection, and ask them their business. Their unsympathetic response prompts you to call for your lord to return (the name "Morpheus" summons him across any distance). 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You are relieved at the reappearance of your master, but distinctly unnerved by the events which follow. LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR LUCIFER: But there is only one that we have ever owned to be our superior. There is but one greater than us. And to him... To him we no longer speak... Still, "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." Eh, little brother-killer? CAIN: Suh-certainly, Lord Lucifer. Whatever you say, Lord Lucifer. LUCIFER: We did not say it. Milton said it. And he was blind. Season of Mists 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 Since your retirement from ruling Hell, you have been taking a holiday on Earth, generally relaxing, enjoying your freedom and mingling with the natives. Being over ten billion years old already, you are in no hurry, and after a few years in Australia, you have come to Europe, and are currently visiting Oxford, which you find almost painfully reminsicent of Heaven. You are drinking at a pub, talking on equal terms with the human clients, and you are extremely happy. You have no intention to reveal your identity to anyone. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 The increased activity attracts your attention, and you begin to realise that the artificial human being who is being demonstrated can only have been animated with the technology of Hell. You are interested to realise that the minor demonkind are continuing to traffic in souls since your the instatement of the unfallen angels Remiel and Duma as the viceregents of Hell, but you keep the information to yourself, reflecting that it's no longer your problem. The arrival of the Dream King intrigues you, however, but you ensure that he is unable to recognise you. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Others of the Endless, Desire and Despair, arrive and begin to display an interest in the artificial woman. You disguise yourself against them also, and continue to observe, even when a demon arrives whom you vaguely recognise as one of the lowest-ranking of the millions you once commanded, summoned by the woman magician, Isaac. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 The youngest of the Endless, Delirium (for whom you have always had a certain fondness) arrives, summoned by her sister and sibling. You pay close attention to the conversation between Isaac and the demon Belcephon, as you realise that the magician's mental state is becoming more unbalanced, and that the demon is capable of taking advantage of this for apocalyptic purposes of his own. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 Belcephon finally destroys the mechanical woman, as the Dream-king returns, accompanied by his sister Death. When you realise that the demon is intent on destroying all the humans present, breaking down the peace and enjoyment you have found here, you intervene, making yourself known to him, to the five Endless, and to Isaac. Your intrinsic powers are undiminished by your retirement, and you are able to paralyse Belcephon with no more than a thought. He pleads his right to the soul of Isaac, but you see that the woman is an emotional wreck, and a repentant one at that, and you deny him this right. You banish him to Hell empty-handed, and have another drink. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Delirium is the youngest of the Endless... The poet Coleridge claimed to have known her intimately, but the man was an inveterate liar, and in this, as in so much, we must doubt his word. Season of Mists Background A 22-year old poet, currently at Cambridge, you have come to Oxford on your way to a walking holiday in Wales, to stay with your friend Bob Southey. You are obsessed with Pantisocracy, a plan you have to create a community of poets and philosophers in the political freedom of the United States, but your direct obsession is with poetic inspiration, as you are aware that your previous poetry has been far from good. 8:30- 9:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 You have heard that there is an old vagrant woman in town, who has the reputation of being a Sibyl, a prophet, and you seek her out to ask her about the future of Pantisocracy, which you see as becoming one of the great political movements of future centuries. She dashes your hopes, but perceptively sees that your real ambitions lie elsewhere. She gives you hints about your personal future, and offers to summon up a spirit to inspire you. You agree. 9:00- 9:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 The Sibyl succeeds in calling the spirit of Delirium, with whom you fall in love, forgetting your old love, Mary Evans, instantly. She summons in turn the spirits of Despair and Desire, who advise her to form a bond with you. 9:30-10:00 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 An aristocratic lady with whom you are slightly acquainted, Lady Johanna Constantine, suddenly arrives, urging you not to become involved with the spirits. She argues in vain: you are enamoured with Delirium, interested not at all by Pantisocracy. Lady Johanna warns you that she has identified more magic approaching, but Delirium promises you that the man you are about to meet will provide the inspiration for your greatest and most famous poem. Delirium vanishes. The Sibyl leaves you alone with Lady Johanna to await the approaching magician. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 The stranger whom you meet tells you an astonishing story, but it is the manner of his telling it that strikes you: he is as a man driven, a man who can only repeat his story again and again to the exclusion of all other function. You begin to try and imagine such a figure as the central figure of a poem: a man who would approach a complete stranger and force him, by the power of his personality, to listen to his tale... You vanish in a happy daze, leaving the stranger with Lady Johanna, and think about poetry and Delirium. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You fall asleep, and dream. The many wonders you have encountered this evening - prophecy, ghosts, immortals and your beloved Delirium - combine and rebuild themselves in your mind, and you find yourself observing a scene two hundred years hence. UNA Background An android created only days ago, you know nothing of life, of people, or of the unique status you hold. You have no knowledge of cybernetics and cannot understand your origin. You feel towards Professor Isaac, your creator, as a child might feel towards its mother, but you have not even the knowledge to make such an analogy. You are curious about the world and about your place in it. 8:30- 9:00 The Chequers The Dreaming You have been deactivated by Professor Isaac prior to your first appearance in public. You did not expect to undergo any experiences while deactivated, but you find yourself with people in a place you do not recognise. A tall man in black tells you that you are dreaming, and asks you who and what you are. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 You are activated by Professor Isaac, and tell her of your experience. You can see that the tall man has followed you, but since you assume that Professor Isaac knows this you do not mention it. You meet many new people. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 Two more people arrive, and talk to you, though you are beginning to realise from Professor Isaac's responses that there are people in the world she cannot see. One of the people, on whom your programmes for gender recognition will not work, tells you about all the things you could have, which you haven't got. Of these, you like the idea of a mate the best, as you begin to realise that you are the only one of your kind anyone knows. You ask Professor Isaac for a male android to be your mate. When she refuses, the other new person, a large woman, tells you that the world will always be like this, that you will never have any of the things you want, and that the life you have been created for is terrible. You believe her. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Your two friends introduce you to another new person, a woman with strange hair who they say is their sister. She shows you many interesting and beautiful things, and tells you things you choose to believe. You tell Professor Isaac about all these things. Professor Isaac tries to deactivate you again, but your switch does not seem to be working, so you are able to stay and talk to the people. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 One of Professor Isaac's friends does something to you, and you are finally deactivated again, this time permanently. Again, you find that your consciousness does not stop. You meet another of the strange people, a nice woman wearing black. She asks you to come with her and you decide you will. PROFESSOR SHELLEY ISAAC Background As the story begins, you are a young and rather mystically-inclined 1980s Oxford undergraduate. Your violent and overriding urge for knowledge has led to a developing interest in demonology, the works of Aleister Crowley and Roderick Burgess, and legends such as those of Faust or Roger Bacon, who made bargains with the devil. 8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984 You meet, as you have so often longed to do, with a mysterious stranger, who tells you his story and offers you the remains of a demonically-animated brass Head from seven centuries before. When you accept his offer, he becomes defensive and refuses to give it to you: knowing that he is telling the truth and that you must have this relic for what it can tell you, you kill him and steal it. A demon appears to you and offers to help you construct a similar mechanical device yourself. You toss the relic negligently onto the stranger's corpse and agree. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 Ten years' study in cybernetics, with the supernatural knowledge given to you by the demon Belcephon, has led to a Professorship in the subject at Oxford, and a fame as a scholar rivalling that of the Head's original owner. Tonight, as Professor of Cybernetics, you are unveiling your first creation, the android UNA, who only you know to have been given life by the aid of demons. You activate the android to rapturous applause. UNA tells you that she has been dreaming while deactivated, which disturbs you greatly. Among those observing are several students and computer specialists, including a representative, Robert Gadling, from a major computer firm, and a man whose cybernetics qualifications you are hazy about, John Constantine, who keeps asking you particularly awkward questions. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 You are even more unnerved when UNA starts displaying signs of an independent emotional life, for which she is not even remotely programmed. She requests you to create a male android to be her mate, and appears to be depressed when you refuse. You worry that it may be a demonic trick, and summon Belcephon (instructing him to disguise himself as a don to avoid panic), asking him to stop it. You are pleased, if a little surprised, that Gadling and Constantine both seem to have fallen asleep and are missing your humiliation, however. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 The situation gets further out of hand as UNA appears to undergo fevered hallucinations. You try to shut her down, but are unable to. Belcephon offers to kill all those present, to preserve your reputation, but you find this thought horrifying. You watch the old baglady who has arrived, and all the others present, and you think of the value of life, which you have so negligently created. You remember the murder of the stranger ten years before. You feel sick with guilt. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 In desperation, you instruct Belcephon to destroy UNA, but this in no way ends your guilt and despair. You feel you can never work again, never consort with demons or the Endless, or occupy yourself with magic or cybernetics. You feel strangely drawn to the old tramp, and throw yourself onto her mercy. ROGER BACON Background Thirteenth-century Oxford friar, scholar and magician, you have been credited during your life with the ability to control the weather, to transmute base metals into gold and to summon the spirits of the dead. What is true beyond doubt is your ability to control and instruct demons, particularly Belcephon, the servant whom the hierarchy of Hell have assigned to you. A number of years ago you were prevailed upon by King Henry III to construct a strategic computer, with the purpose of making England secure from foreign attack. This you created in the form of a brass head (inspired, rather whimsically, by the emblem of your College, Brazen-nose) which you brought to life by Belcephon's agency. You were told it would speak within a day of its construction, and watched it in shifts with your servant and pupil, Miles. While you were asleep, the Head said "Time is". Miles thought this unimportant, and failed to wake you. The Head added first, "Time was," and finally, "Time is past," before crashing from its pedestal and being irretrievably damaged. You awoke and cursed Miles for failing to wake you when the time was right for the Head to speak. You condemned him to walk the earth in misery, carrying the Head with him always, until he could persuade someone to take it away from him, in full awareness of its nature and the curse attached to it, which would then fall on them. Someone, in fact, whose search for knowledge is as urgent as your own. Hell has never allowed you to repeat the experiment with the Head, and the failure of it haunts you even now, at the age of eighty. 8:30- 9:00 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 You are eighty years old, and are dying of fever in Oxford. You are torn between your desire for greatness in story and legend, despair at the failure of all your ambitions, and your fevered delirium of brass heads, ghosts and poets. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 The tormenting feelings leave, and you feel the approach of Death. You summon your familiar, Belcephon, for a final leave-taking, but are interrupted by the arrival of Miles, the servant whom you cursed, bearing the brazen Head. Miles commands you to lift the curse of immortality from him, which you firmly refuse to do. Miles curses you in turn, with Belcephon's aid, as you die. 9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594 Belcephon's betrayal means that the contract you have made for your soul is invalid, and you do not go to Hell. Miles' curse means, however, that you are humiliated many times in the next three centuries, being called back from the dead to do the bidding of your servant, just as you once called the demon Belcephon to carry out your whims. Like a good ghost, you come when he summons you now, and wearily do his bidding. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 Once again you are called, to obey your ex-servant and perform to impress a gullible poet before being relegated, exhausted, to the spirit realm once more. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You have not been summoned for ten years, and secretly hope that Miles has finally found death, although by the terms of your curse he cannot have done so unless he has finally found someone to relieve him of the Head. You find yourself summoned to Oxford once more, and find the circumstances startling. MILES Background In the thirteenth century, you were the pupil and servant of Roger Bacon, the friar, scholar and magician of Oxford. With the aid of demons, your master constructed a brass head which, you gathered, would teach him how to build brass walls around the whole of England. You were told it would speak within a day of its construction, and watched it in shifts with Bacon. While you were watching, the Head said "Time is". You thought this too unimportant to bother Bacon with, as he was a fussy master, and did not wake him. The Head added first, "Time was," and finally, "Time is past," before crashing from its pedestal and being irretrievably damaged. Bacon awoke and cursed you for failing to wake him when the time was right for the Head to speak. You were condemned to walk the earth in misery, carrying the inert remains of the Head with you always, until you can persuade someone to take it off your hands, in full awareness of its nature and the curse attached to it, which will then pass to them. At first you continued your magical studies, but found you would never be able to lift a curse that another magician had laid. You cursed Bacon in turn on his deathbed, when he refused to lift the curse himself. Many things have happened since then, and you have wandered the earth for more than seven centuries, carrying the Head. 8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984 You meet a young woman student, Shelley Isaac, and try to persuade her to take the Head from you. You try to interest her, as always, in its history and its original powers, before mentioning the curse (as you are obliged to do). You are wary when she appears to be interested in spite of this, and you find yourself unable of giving it up after all this time. This is when she attacks you and takes the Head from you. You finally meet Death, and the whole of your life begins to flash before your eyes... 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 Six hundred and ninety years earlier, you arrive (with the Head, which you will need to have brought with you) at the deathbed of your old mentor, Bacon. You find him with his familiar demon, Belcephon. You tell him of the powers and knowledge that you have acquired through your magical studies, and threaten to curse him eternally unless he lifts the curse from you. He refuses, and you use your mastery over the demon to inflict a reciprocal curse on him: you will have the power, for as long as you live, to summon Bacon's ghost for your amusement or service: as long as you are wandering the earth, he too will never achieve rest. He dies, and you leave. 9:30-10:00 The Old Tom 9 June 1594 Three centuries pass, and you have summoned Bacon many times for his humiliation: you have still never been able to rid yourself of the Head. If you throw it away, it returns; if you give it away without explaining the curse, it returns likewise. This 300th anniversary of Bacon's death you meet a publisher in Oxford: he has just printed an account of your master's history, as written by a man named Greene and based on a history you yourself told to a man a century before. All mention of your fate, or Bacon's, has been eliminated. You try to tell him the real story, and to persuade him, for pity's sake, to relieve you of the Head. To prove your veracity, you summon Bacon's ghost and have it relate its story too. The man refuses your offer. 10:00-10:30 The Wheatsheaf 9 June 1794 Two centuries pass, and the curse still holds. In Oxford once more, you meet with a young poet and an aristocratic adventuress. You tell them of your plight: to the poet, who seems interested in the supernatural, you emphasise strongly you fate of walking the land, telling and retelling your story again and again as a warning to others. Neither of them wants the brazen Head, but you realise afterwards that this probably wasn't the best sales pitch. You summon Bacon once more (on this the 500th anniversary of his death), but both are still uninterested. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 You are unexpectedly brought forward by Death, whom you now realise has been observing your memories throughout, to a time ten years ahead of your death, where you witness a marvel, and are reunited in Death (since both curses are now invalid, finally at mutual peace) with Roger Bacon. BELCEPHON Background A very minor demon in the hierarchy of Hell, malicious and petty, not a rhymer or anyone of rank, you were once Roger Bacon's familiar spirit, and animated for him a mechanical brass head, which human incompetence caused him to waste utterly (he slept through the time when it would have spoken to him, his servant failing to wake him up). You have observed with amusement the mutual curse which has caused the servant, Miles, to walk the earth carrying the inert remains of Head for over seven centuries, while Bacon has been constantly recalled form the dead to gratify his whims as you were once summoned to gratify his. At the moment, Hell is still in a state of disorganisation following the retirement of Lucifer Morningstar four years before, and the new rulers of Hell, the unfallen angels Remiel and Duma, are unaware of the petty trafficking for souls that still goes on among the minor demonkind. 8:30- 9:00 The Blue Boar 9 June 1984 You are interested when a Shelley Isaac, a young student whose interest in demonology is known to the servants of Hell, encounters Miles in Oxford. You observe as she kills him, able to do so only by relieving him of the Head. Impressed by her determination and lack of conscience, you appear to her, and offer to help her construct a similar magical mechanical being herself. 9:00- 9:30 The Bear (interior) 9 June 1294 Helping Isaac with her project brings you such gleeful memories that you revisit the scene of Bacon's deathbed curse. You arrive as he summons you to take his final leave-taking, and help Miles to curse him, knowing the fate that awaits both of them for the next seven hundred years. 9:30-10:00 The Bear 9 June 1994 The project is completed: the animated mechanical woman whom you have aided Isaac in constructing has made her the wonder of modern scholars, as Bacon was the wonder of his age. She summons you in panic, however, as her creation takes on an emotional life of its own. You recognise the actions of the Endless in this, and, calling on the powers of Hell to make them visible to you, recognise that Desire and Despair are present. You are unable to stop their assault on the creature, but pretend you can, wishing to make Isaac beg you in desperation. 10:00-10:30 The Bear 9 June 1994 Delirium, the youngest of the Endless, arrives also. You cannot hope to prevail against any of them, let alone all three, but to appease Isaac you offer to destroy the mortals who are present, so that no-one will know of her failure and her reputation will remain intact. When Isaac tries to stop her creation from functioning, you ensure magically that she is unable to do so, to increase her desperation. 10:30onward The Bear 9 June 1994 At Isaacs' instruction you destroy the mechanical woman. You prepare to destroy all the mortals present (including Isaac, who will certainly go to Hell if she dies immediately after making such a request) - you have the ability to do this, with the powers of hell at your disposal, and, as you gloatingly point out to Dream of the Endless (who has also arrived) he is powerless to stop you. To your surprise, however, you are rather terrifyingly thwarted, and though you point out that Isaac is your lawful prey, the superior powers present send you empty-handed back to Hell. Excited engineering student Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor, Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited engineering student. Excited computer firm representative Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor, Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited computer firm representative. Excited engineering don Boring pseudy type on left Dream Country All evening The Bear (exterior) 9 June 1994 You are here to observe the unveiling by the cybernetics Professor, Shelley Isaac, of her prototype working android. It's rumoured to be the most exciting cybernetic event of the century. Act like an excited engineering don. ROBERT SOUTHEY Background Boring minor Romantic poet, of interest only to a few obsessive postgraduates, and to Byron, who took the piss out of him mercilessly. Seen as an Oxford undergraduate at the age of twenty. You are in constant awe of your friend Coleridge, who is a much better poet than you and generally wonderful, even though he's at Cambridge. Follow him wherever he goes and agree sycophantically with everything he says. Gawp inanely at anything remotely interesting.