Whose bright idea was it to have a "what I did on my summer
  vacation" log entry anyway?  Must have been Mr. Gerard.  Anyway, I 
  can prepare no further for what comes next, so I may as well oblige...

  What I Did on my Manhattan Trip, by Andrew Mathers (Templar).

  I've been agitating (as I'm sure the current members of the group
  can attest) for us to be more proactive in our efforts.  Waiting
  until supernatural incidents become crises might be good publicity,
  but it is bad form.  This last time, we barely managed to stop the
  Crimson Claw by the skin of our teeth, and even then we couldn't
  save Captain Thunder, and almost lost a few of our own in the
  process.   The next time we might not even be that lucky.  Thus, I 
  thought the time was right to get the Knights onside in heading off
  the next visible threat to the world.

  People think they know what reality is, what life's about.  They
  think they know because they can think. 'I think therefore I know.'
  Their attitude is, 'I'm at the top of the food chain, so I get to
  decide what's real and what's not.'

  What they don't want to be simply does not exist.  Except, perhaps,
  in their dreams.  Or nightmares.  So they end up watching the
  shadows on the wall of the cave, thinking that's how the world
  _really_ is.  They never look at the things throwing the shadows.

  That's my job, and my curse.
  
  Now I must admit here that my sense for these things is very rough.
  While it doesn't take a genius to realize that whatever caused the
  Hero Collective to go bad is a major threat to the well-being of the
  world, I cannot swear that Avatar's Jade Skull is the source of that
  effect.  It seems likely to me - the Hero Collective were already
  behaving a little strange when they somehow liberated Avatar from
  the statue she had been.  Likewise the actions of Wraith after he
  took possession of the Skull is easiest to explain if the Skull
  mentally influenced his behaviour.  Thus it is my studied opinion
  that to stop this threat we need to regain, isolate and somehow
  destroy the Skull.  I don't like the shadow it casts.

  That is what I went to Manhattan to do;  consult some sources there
  on that artifact.  Unfortunately this all went for naught.  Certain
  key tomes were missing, and a number of my contacts likewise
  impossible to trace.  Devon Moon, who is known to the group, was
  last seen heading towards the last place I know the Skull - and
  Wraith - to have been, in upstate New York.  His last message was
  that he "had a date with a dead man".  I hope the reason for my
  urgency in investigating further is now clear.  The shadows are
  getting darker.

  Besides this largely fruitless activity, we also had that meeting at
  the Empire Club.  I'm not going to mention much of what went on
  there, however.  Our discussions on the political state of things
  did not change anyone's opinions, I don't think.  I regret any
  alienation I may have caused with Agent DeSalvo - both before and
  after the attack by the PureBlood freaks - only in that he can make
  my job harder should he decide to withhold certification from us.  I
  need allies, damn it, and not obstacles.

  If you could see what is casting those shadows, you'd understand why.

  Templar out.