Melody Cartwright

**Melody Cartwright** (1999 - April 2020) was a student at University College London (UCL). Through her mother’s side, she was a part of the Ipqu-Aya bloodline, as her grandfather was Joseph Curwen.

## Early Life

Melody was born three years after her mother, Destiny, got married to a man named Cartwright. By the time Melody had completed her compulsory education, her father appears to have died, and she explained to Matthew Heawood in 2020 that she and her mother had been estranged for three years.

It’s unclear whether Cartwright was referring to her biological mother or perhaps a stepmother, as Destiny had died in a mysterious car accident at some point before 2018. It’s possible this might have happened after Melody and Destiny had stopped talking to each other and therefore Melody was unaware of her mother’s death. In any case, given that Destiny was abandoned as a baby on the doorsteps of a hospital, it’s very unlikely that mother or daughter had any knowledge of their occult genetic heritage.

Cartwright proved herself to be quite academically competent, learning French and Spanish by the age of 19, and being sufficiently strong in her secondary schooling to earn a place to study at the prestigious UCL. Before being dragged into the machinations of Obed Marsh and the Esoteric Order of Dagon, Cartwright was reading for a degree in archaeology, specialising in the Middle East, and shared a room in halls of residence with a woman named Akuma.

Apart from her academic interests, Cartwright was a keen table-top gamer, particularly Dungeons & Dragons.

## Kidnapping

In 2018, Cartwright was approached by two people, a man and a woman, claiming to be Matthew Heawood and Kennedy Fisher, and was asked for an interview. Melody was convinced to leave her friend Akuma and take the ‘podcasters’ up on their offer. Soon after this, she was handed over to Barbara Sayers and Dr. Allen and transported against her will to Iraq.

While in Iraq, Cartwright was moved from location to location, starting in Baghdad and then moving to Mosul. In Mosul, Melody was kept imprisoned in Apartment 6 of a grey concrete apartment block near a mosque and a muezzin’s call to prayer. In this apartment, there was a small box room, about 10’ by 6’ with an iron bed fixed to the floor and a small shuttered window. Most of the time the shutters were kept closed but when they were occasionally opened to let air in, a bag would be put over Cartwright’s head so she couldn’t see outside. Her captors often restrained her with ties or even chains. She was never allowed out with the exception of one time when she was taken to a café under the supervisor of Sayers.

Most of the time, Cartwright’s only contact was with Allen or Sayers, but she was aware of the other people, such as Daisy Marsh, who would occasionally visit the apartment.

## Escape

After a number of months, Barbara Sayers became disillusioned with what Cartwright was being subjected to, realising that the Ipqu-Aya rituals were going to be forced on the young woman whether she consented or not. This was counter to how Sayers had understood vessels of Ipqu-Aya needed to be treated, and thus she secretly began to frustrate the plans of her associates. Now working with the Department of Works, Sayers first endeavoured to sabotage the placing of Ipqu-Aya into Cartwright. After this, Sayers released Cartwright from her restraints one night and led her out of the apartment block.

After Cartwright was free, she immediately went to the local police but operatives for the Department of Works quickly took custody of her and detained her in a safehouse elsewhere in Mosul. In providing medicine and food, the Department likely saved the now sick and malnourished woman from dying. However, their main concern was in determining whether or not Sayers, who was now dead for helping Cartwright to escape, had successfully prevented the transfer of Ipqu-Aya. Therefore, Cartwright was held at the safehouse for some time, being repeatedly interviewed by the Mystery Woman.

While transferring Cartwright to another location, the convoy of Department vehicles was hit by an IED attack and Melody took this opportunity to flee. Not knowing anywhere or anybody in the city, she tracked down the café she had once visited with Sayers, and it was there that she found Matthew Heawood.

## Joining Matthew Heawood

Having been made aware of Heawood through conversations with Barbara Sayers and during interrogation by the Mystery Woman, Melody Cartwright initially just followed the podcaster. However, when Heawood stumbled upon an underground ritual being conducted by members of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, it was only Cartwright’s quick reactions that saved him and she guided him out of the tunnels and through the backstreets of Mosul to evade their pursuers.

Heawood was initially very sceptical of Cartwright; she was associated with Allen and Sayers, she was connected to the Ipqu-Aya bloodline, and even her academic focus on the archaeology of the Middle East suggested she was not simply an innocent victim in all of these events. However, as Heawood and Cartwright got to know each other better, and once they discovered the apartment where she had been held captive by Allen, Marsh and Sayers, Heawood decided to trust her.

On a flight arranged by Heawood’s friend, 'Jasper', Cartwright and Heawood left Mosul and travelled to Paris, following evidence that connected Dr. Allen to the Levesque Institute of Paranormal and Parapsychological Research. Cartwright’s skills in French were very helpful in progressing Heawood’s investigation as far as the archives at the Levesque Institute. However, she objected when being, as she saw it, held prisoner yet again when Heawood suggested they self-isolate within a Paris apartment in response to the developing Coronavirus pandemic.

After napping for a few hours, Heawood found the Cartwright had left their rented apartment and disappeared.

## Becoming Ipqu-Aya

While searching for Cartwright, it was revealed to Heawood by John Silence that both of them had been under continuous Department surveillance. It emerged that Barbara Sayers had only been partially successful in preventing the transference of the Ipqu-Aya personality in Melody Cartwright’s body; Ipqu-Aya and Melody both shared the Cartwright body, having control of it at different times and being unaware of the other’s presence.

The disappearance of Edward Landsdale’s journal from the apartment indicated that Ipqu-Aya had taken control of Cartwright and had reclaimed the detailed notes about the Melusine ritual, written by Ipqu-Aya when inhabiting Landsdale in the 1910s.

By the time Heawood and Fisher next met Cartwright, in Pleasant Green, she had been completely taken over by the Ipqu-Aya personality and was keen to help Obed Marsh use Kennedy Fisher as a blood sacrifice in order to open a portal for Azathoth to emerge from the Dreamlands. The ritual in Pleasant Green was unsuccessful and caused the disappearance of a number of participants, including Cartwright, ‘Jasper’, Daisy Marsh, Obed Marsh and Matthew Heawood. While Obed Marsh had a history of surviving such events, it’s unclear whether Melody Cartwright survived; the fate of Edward Landsdale, the Ipqu-Aya vessel at the time of the failed Melusine attempt a century earlier, would indicate that Cartwright was killed during the Pleasant Green ritual in April 2020. However, it’s likely that the personality of Melody Cartwright had already been wiped out by Ipqu-Aya.

## Appearances

* *The Lovecraft Investigations*
	+ The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
		- "Episode 10" (mentioned)
	+ The Shadow over Innsmouth
		- "Haumea"
		- "Apartment 6"
		- "Melusine"
		- "Harlequin"
		- "Pleasant Green"

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 TCoCDW: ”Episode 10”
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 TSoI: "Apartment 6"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 TSoI: "Melusine"
4. ↑ TSoI: "Haumea"
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 TSoI: “Harlequin”
6. ↑ TSoI: "Pleasant Green"
7. ↑ THoTD: "Episode 3"