The Journal With No Name
The following are journal entries by The Stranger (the Man With No Name) as adventure summaries and line up with the Journal for the character on Demiplane
August 2025
Work was continuing as usual, but Phoenix Foundation got hired on by city council member Gregory Darius Hume to provide protection for an exhibit of ancient artifacts he helped bring to the city, called Echoes of Ur: The Dawn of Civilization. Now he’s one of our main suspects in a missing item from that exhibit. If so, his little public relations stunt with us being there - plus a power outage and a ghostly visitor to another exhibit as well - may all be the misdirection needed for the theft.
The missing item is a fragment of a tablet talking about another tablet, the Tablet of Destinies, that is important in Ancient Sumerian mythology and involved in both creation and later myths. It is supposed to hold all of supreme authority, the power of kingship, the ability to have power over the world, and the ability to see past and future - there’s a lot about this thing. Maybe in collecting all of the tablet about it there’s a way to find or use the tablet itself.
Hume worked to get this exhibit to the city, and he also worked on the neighboring exhibit. The exhibit across the way from it was on women important to the city of Atlanta over time. It was not expected to bring in many people, didn’t do so on opening day, and was talked down when compared to the baby exhibit of ancient civilization. Turned out objects included belong to the ghost of a woman from 150 years ago. She’s still around, somehow both alive and dead, and referred to as the Belle Witch. She crashed the party. Looks like her neighborhood had targeted advertisements listing an original photo of “a witch” in order to play her into coming.
Hume’s assistant, Elena Markou, called up Zilla, and the contract was generous to offer protection during the opening gala. She expressed that the police had tips and shared concerns about possible super villain activity, but Wiretap looked into it and discovered any thoughts were solely off of our experiences last month. Visiting the attraction and talking to security led to some doubts, and Elena finally admitted on the day of the gala that it was a two-birds one-stone situation to protect the space and people, and also a stunt to show Atlanta (and the world!) that we have both culture and a team of supers. Oh joy.
Hume had us up on stage to introduce us and we were instructed to schmooze (glad I found a good suit and had two weeks to do so). It did give me the opportunity to talk to a couple of people of interest. Of interest mainly because in the process of researching the exhibit I discovered I could read the cuneiform writing on the ancient artifacts. Fluently. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Facts first.
After the Belle Witch arrived, there was palpable panic. Security wanted to get folks on the floors out through the fire escapes, but so many guests were in front. An electromagnetic pulse device later found in the basement took down the power in the building. This increased the panic. The Engineer and I worked to open the front doors to prevent a crush.
I was the last to get up to see the Belle Witch, who seems from another time but completely cognizant of everything going on (calling phones talk boxes, for example). She came for her photograph, but was not antagonistic and willing to talk to us. Hell, when I spun around the corner, she complemented my jawline so it can’t have been that bad. (Said god spent extra days on it, ha!)
But, while talking to her, the tablet was taken. This action woke up a temple guardian, a lamassu. They are carved from stone and have bodies of bulls, heads of men, and great wings. Apparently usually in important gateways and hallways - entrance protectors. This one was unique in not having been built from a wall. Two of the people I talked to, the curator, Dr. Elena Kouris, and an occult specialist, Elise Devereux, were most knowledgeable. I picked up her book, and it has some information and theories in a level sort of way about how what we know today about science, magic or super powers, and gods from other realms can explain things in the past that might have been overlooked as myth and legend. I figured the two of them might have some insights into my tablet reading.
The writing on the side of this lamassu pointed to a command to guard a temple, and we just saw confirmation that it was.
I could understand it and it could understand me. Do I need to remind myself to stick to the facts again?
I heard it say, in my head and not aloud, that a tablet had been taken from the temple. This must’ve been its activation. It looks like the others heard it, too, but I heard it in my own language. It could be a part of its magic, or if we think of it like a device, how an ancient Sumerian god might have programmed it in a way to be understood.
I first spoke back in that language, rather shocked to hear it. But it didn’t respond, so I switched to Sumerian. It listened to the Sumerian. At least it gave me a minute to drop down to the floor (I need to practice that more). It seemed to not want to bother anything else, and just want to get the tablet. I may have made a terrible move in wanting to let it go to follow it, but honestly, I was thinking that if it could even understand a little, then I needed to go with it as the only fluent speaker of the dead language in the room. I let this get in the way of asking our experts about a way to shut it down - Ms. Devereux confirmed there would’ve been such a command.
But I didn’t want to shut it down. I didn’t think it would be as destructive as it was. Thought it might fly. I was wrong.
Eventually it shut down on its own, which has some implications for the tablet being untraceable. Hidden? Ported off to another dimension? Or for a horrific thought, returned to a temple priest or ancient god?
I at least owed Ms. Devereaux and Dr. Kounis apologies and went to check on them after. I left them to the team. I also owe Dr. Kounis a coffee at some point. I owe a server named Ashley a burger - asked her to keep an eye out and she turned it into a little more.
Other people of interest:
- Cassandra "Cass" Vane: Event Coordinator. was on the 2nd floor with Dr. Kouris. She was up there most of the time and may have seen something or could corroborate the assistant's story in when Hume had his backpack
- Meredith Crane: Reporter. Not favorable to us, but might have seen something. Was on 1st floor.
- Silas Redd: Antiquities Dealer. He got out of the building quickly. Not sure where he was, but could have seen something. Might have leads for buyers or people interested in the tablet.
- The rest of the list of guests could tie up loose ends - many present may have interests in the exhibit or know something on the outside that could help.
Okay, time for speculation. Sumerian and cuneiform writing.
That’s a bit to unpack. They’re telling me this is from thousands of years ago. Knowing common languages makes sense but ancient ones? Where and why do I know this? Faceless complemented my academic nature and said he had learned Greek and Latin as scholarly pursuits but those sound to have been more common and learnable both today and over modern history than Archaic and Old Sumerian - and later languages in the script too - which I can read easily.
Here I am telling the curator her translation is correct. That’s bold.
In the moment it feels so natural, though. It rolls off the tongue. I don’t have to translate the writing into language. I just know it. But after?
It’s a head scratcher.
I should not be able to read it that easily. From what I gather, the keys to deciphering it are pretty recent, say a lot of development over the last 100 years. Of course, Faceless probably thinks I am similar in age to how I look, so this would be more in reach today with online dictionaries than if it was, say, mid last century. I would’ve had to have been a serious scholar during that time, or helping one at least because I do not see myself as a serious scholar. That feels somewhat laughable. Yet, here I am reading myths, singing hymns, and uncovering boring ass farming information off of clay tablets from as deep as five thousand years ago.
Just add it to the list.
Other notes:
I let the Engineer see the energy trying to open the door - we had to take down a steel shield- but after the door was open thanked him for letting me borrow one of his tools.
Faceless mentioned the Austro-Hungarians in relation to his past and World War One. Something to look up.
July 2025
It’s been an interesting last couple of days. I’ve looked through what journals I’ve had and I don’t see any indication of working in any sort of team. Oh partnering up for a job maybe, but I mean a super hero team here. This could be new, or I could be blowing smoke.
Nick Fury (THE Nick Fury Jr. of SHIELD) pulled a few of us operating in Atlanta together to try working together, hoping on a long shot it would stick. I don’t blame him for either the sarcasm or the long shot remarks. I know one of them, but no one else, so it’s a bit like a hope and a prayer that we all agree to protect the city.
Wiretap’s the one I know. He’s good with tech and reliant on his phone, and look, if I am reading this to myself in the future, we’ve worked together in his regular job, too. He’s on the right side of things, discreet, and trustworthy. The Engineer has a public persona, he’s not hiding his identity and has wealth and a research budget at his disposal. He’s working on teleportation devices and other tech. Zilla is a rather famous personality and a giant alligator, not the smartest but somehow incredibly socially adept.
The Faceless Hero’s old, though; he has a history of crimefighting but made it clear that the public identity is always a new edition of him to hide the fact that he has had an incredibly long life. It sounded like the First World War in the early 1900’s, but he could be older, no idea. If he was a war experiment, I want to pick his brain so bad. He calls me dear boy, but pretty sure I’m at least 50 years or so older than him.
Fury tipped us to investigate something going down in Little Italy, and it looked like a sort of property scam to acquire a square block and force out the occupants. Some of the neighbors were afraid and more resistant to us, and others were resistant to them. The initial poke turned into a bit of a shoot out with mafia goons overwhelming us. The dark shadow psychic they had didn’t help. I wound up drained - don’t remember anything like that before. I told her she should’ve bought me a beer or dinner before sliding into my mind like that.
Anyways, we went to stake out the place and, yeah, there’s something going on in the courtyard and basement. They were building some strange devices that we recovered part of. They were using college students for help, students of a Professor Hakim al Mufti, so The plan was then to go back in, try to go undercover and pose as hired up grad students. I know have a hat decorated in the college branding and colors because of this.
It was a portal. They were building a portal device underground that would shake the whole block. The professor was on tech, but the New York Maggia played a part (guess no one would look around here) and some local petty criminals were used as backup.
They got the portal device fired up, and people tried to enter from some other version of Earth. Foremost was that Earth’s version of Captain America, who gave a warning and died from terrible injuries. This Earth had a number, Earth 56438. Clean up of the operation was a bitch.
They also shouted out “Hail Hydra!” at one point, and truth be told I was so confused, I yelled back “Who’s Hydra?!” Which actually gave them pause. Hydra must be common enough knowledge and the guys (especially Faceless) have told me to look up both Hydra and some folks called Nazis.
The lady who toyed with my mind is code named Madame Masque. She’s going back to do time in New York. I hear it’s more of an embarrassment because her family will need to bail her out.
The locals hired on aren’t at fault for the portal. Still, we got to collect a couple of bounties. Big Billy King had unpaid fines and a no-show warrant. Jackie Esposito had unpaid alimony. Mickie Mooney had a big rap sheet, but no warrants out for him, so it is just hs involvement in this property and portals game. And then there is Bambi.
Bambi Libertini clearly has met me before, been turned in by me before, and did nothing but flirt and want my hands on her. She’s got some assault no-shows and bar fighting. Given her modus operandi, I fully believe we will see her again.
Oh, and we have a name. We chose The Phoenix Foundation. The Phoenix has been a symbol of the city, so it’s got a nice touch. I am completely in agreement with the simile or metaphor here, but we know why.
Addendum
World War Two was an absolute horror. I read my earlier note about not knowing what I did then, and that’s a sort of sinking feeling when you know something must be terrible. There’s no being ready for things like this. The war, the Holocaust, the atomic bomb. There’s a soul crushing weight to it, and not being able to do anything in the present. It’s done something complex with my emotions that I don’t like or know what to do with.
There are lots of Nazi information on the History Channel, it seems to be a primary focus plus people looking at old items and whether or not aliens took part in ancient civilizations (a debate). Although they apparently claim some ancient origin, Hydra had big Nazi and Imperial Japanese support at its modern foundation, so it’s necessary to understanding the current organization in its fundamentals. The Nazis at it’s head, were one Red Skull and a Baron von Strucker, who was also head of the Nazi Thule society, a group obsessed with science, magic, and a quest for immortality, adding a more specific flavor to the quest for world domination and spread of terror.
There’s a lot that’s not declassified, and there’s a lot of speculation, and I admit a strange eerie fascination with it. Did they succeed? If so, how?
Was I an earlier war experiment, before them or Faceless, but moved out to the Rockies to be safe from prying eyes? Was I chosen or a volunteer? Why is the cost my memory?