Quote:There are things I need of you. Things you may not understand, and may not wish to do, but please, do not make the same mistakes I did.

My father, Howard, deserted me before I was born. I could claim the loss of my mother, and the letter I received after her funeral, blinded me to what I had to do. It would be a lie:

Human nature sealed my downfall.

My name is Philip. If we are lucky, then by the time you receive this, I will be dead.

If fate frowns, we all perish.

Quote:As I stepped off the boat, setting out into the blizzard that had formed around me, I realised how utterly devoted I'd been to the discovery of my father's past. I had no idea what to expect.

Soon enough, my concerns were justified. I don't know whether I lost my orientation, or my spirit, first, but I lost feeling in my extremities soon after, and knew hypothermia was setting in. I started looking for shelter.

Quote:Whatever I was descending into, it was a hundred feet below ground, protected by two solid, metal hatches, located in a remote, arctic wilderness, and buried beneath the snow. I didn't know what to expect, but it made me feel something I hadn't felt since I was a child.

I'd never given it much thought before, but I realised that our entire society is a network of safety nets: emergency services at the end of a phone line; health and safety in the workplace; friends; family; lovers. All there, if something goes wrong, part of a carefully designed structure to prevent all but the most mundane of emotions.

Once again, I felt like I did when I was in school, surrounded by a closing ring of older kids, knowing anyone that might help me - friends, parents, teachers - were too scared, or too far away.

Quote:When I look back, I can't think what spurred me to go deeper into the mine. Perhaps it was arrogance at still being alive; or something as ridiculous as facing adversity, and coming out on top.

Now, I know I would have been better off starving, or being mauled to death, than kick starting the chain of events that lead me to end up here, writing to you. I just hope, once you understand my story, you will have what's necessary to put an end to this tale.

I certainly didn't.

Quote:It seems so strange now, to have been guided like a blind man, by a faceless stranger whose sanity was clearly waning, disposition unknown. For all I knew, this 'Red' didn't even have a disposition to speak of, just a seething mass of conflicting emotions.

I knew that my radio reliant friend must have been cocooned nearby, and perhaps in finding him, I would find myself one step closer to understanding what was going on. In just a couple of hours I would find what I was looking for, and with it would come answers.

I didn't realise at the time, but the answers I found would be for questions I hadn't even asked.

Quote:As I stepped into the mouth of the underground facility, there should have been questions, fears, doubts running through me. Instead, I was torn in two.

Part of me, I felt, had died, along with my only ally, and friend. His final words had raised more questions than they'd answered, and I couldn't get his screams for help out of my head, despite knowing, deep down, that the pain I had caused Red was, itself, all the help I could have offered him. I was alone again, but I had nothing to do, other than press on into the unknown.

If I'd felt so bad about Red, I should have listened to him and stayed where I was. I would trade his fate a hundred times for my own.

The other side of me was looking forward, to what might await me in my continued journey. I felt sure that I would soon find some clue or other to my father's fate, and that he was inextricably linked to everything that was happening.

I also couldn't help but suspect that everything I had seen up until that point was just symptomatic of whatever lay beyond the threshold.

I know now, I was right.

Quote:A man. An old man, clutching something unseen. He is strange, and yet, he is no stranger. Never seen before, still I know, this man before me is Howard. I call him father.

Quote:The man still clutching, still looking, for what? Before him lies metal, jutting awkward from earth. A hatch, a portal, a hole, a door. Unfamiliar text. Who are these figures, huddled around? What secrets are hidden behind the faces of men?

Quote:From out the door rises something vast, something terrible. It strikes a man, knocking him down, and those standing by him wither, into the darkness. Screaming begings, still father looks on. Is he bringing this? Father, what have you done?

Quote:A cohort, a man with no name. It is he who opens this gateway to hell. A grin on his face, he is terrible indeed, he watches the men writhe, and turn. Still, father looks on, something vital in his hand.

Quote:The chains on his arms are visible now. Not there out of choice, father looks on aghast. He clutches some notes, shaking hands. He knows! He knows what has come, what the man has released. The only one who could stop it, Howard knows the real fear.

Facts: (unproven, but heavily logical)
So, Howard ISN't the person that "Opens the gateway to hell". He knew what was going to happen, or at least part of it.
"The only one that could stop it" I think is directed at the "the man", and not at Howard.

Opinions:
The notes probably prove this, and as a consequence the superiors "Punished" the people that knew.

A hatch, a portal, a hole, a door.
The hatch probably implies to the way Philip came into the mines. The portal; I don't know. A hole, possibly the hole you went into after clearing it of rocks with TNT early ingame. "The door" might be 'red's door' which he didn't want you to go through. However, since these are in past tense, it's probable that they refer to things we'll experience in Black Plague.