From the Underworld - Treatment
CAULDRON OF CHANGES: EPISODE 1 – FROM THE UNDERWORLD
Pitch black.
A flame appears in the darkness and rapidly grows as the fire takes hold. The figure of a woman can be seen tied to a stake, surrounded by the growing flames. She is about to be burnt alive and once she starts to scream there’ll be no stopping her until the flames suck the last breath from her lungs.
A Land Rover hurtles out of the darkness and as it screeches to a halt a powerful looking woman, CATHERINE WILLIAMS, leaps out and runs towards the fire. She’s tall and thin with long white hair, almost athletic in her movements even though we can see she’s in her 60s or 70s. Before she can reach the burning figure another woman steps out of the darkness, directly in her path. ALICIA GABRIEL is as tall as Catherine, dark-haired, her beauty marred by a scar on her forehead and a cruel set to her lips. She’s dressed in a long leather trenchcoat, immaculate in contrast to Catherine’s jeans and sweater. As soon as she speaks we can hear her strong American accent. Catherine’s far too late if she thinks she can save her friend from the flames.
Alicia holds up her left hand. We can’t see what she’s holding but when she starts to squeezes Catherine drops to her knees and clutches at her chest. She has just enough breath to tell Alicia she isn’t powerful enough to stop her but Alicia just smiles in response. As her smile broadens other figures all dressed in the same uniform of leather trenchcoats and boats step into the light. One by one they emerge – man, woman, man, woman - forming a ring around Catherine. When they’re all there Catherine is surrounded by thirteen people – a regular coven. Each holds something in their left hand. One by one they begin to squeeze. As they squeeze Alicia speaks an incantation in a language we don’t recognise. Catherine tries to stagger to her feet but as the spell travels around the circle and Alicia’s powerful voice rises to a howl she is forced back to her knees. She is choking, rolling in the grass in agony.
The fire is at its fiercest. The staked woman is dead. Catherine, realising she is finished, makes one last effort. She speaks to someone unseen, calling out to Owen, telling him that it is his time and that he must find the Cauldron. She falls back, dead. Alicia nods to her companions and one by one they open their hands to reveal that they are holding … nothing. Alicia is the last to open her hand which contains a crushed and bloody animal heart. She drops it to the ground and grinds it into the mud with the heel of her boot. She drops a single white rose on the bloodied remains. She says she’s glad the old bitch is dead and now she’s gone there’ll be no helping the others, Crows or Magpies. Soon the New Golden Dawn will be ready to crush them and all of the others like them.
Night in the jungle. A young man, OWEN, is flat on his back. He’s covered in mud and daubed in paint from head to foot. Nearby an ancient shaman keeps watch by the light of a fire. Owen’s twitching, talking in his drug-induced state. He’s a huge black crow soaring and sweeping above a forest canopy but in his vision it’s an evergreen forest not the jungle he’s truly in. In a clearing he sees Catherine beckoning to him. He flies to her arm and perches there. “Owen – my time is over. You must find the Cauldron before it’s too late.” Suddenly the sky is black, his grandmother is receding, the forest is fading into the dark. Owen wakes, sitting up, perfectly sober. The shaman tries to restrain him but Owen is determined. He leaves the site at a run.
An autumn day in WHITBY. In the harbour, waves crash onto the pier and sweep along the walkways. It’s too dangerous to be out walking here. In the railway station a young woman, MAYA, is sitting drinking coffee. At first sight she looks look a Goth girl but on closer inspection she is wearing dark makeup and is dressed more like a forties film star. She is as glamorous and cool as it is possible for a young woman to be. It’s time for her to catch her train and she gets up to take leave of her companion. It’s Alicia, the woman who killed Catherine. “The New Golden Dawn won’t help you if this goes wrong. Are you sure you can go through with this?” Maya is certain she can.
Owen, back from the jungle and looking tanned and fit, is walking amongst the gravestones in Newtown cemetery. He stops at a fresh grave and places a single white rose on the earth. An older woman, CERYS, appears behind him and puts a hand on his shoulder. When he recognises her they embrace but the gesture is an awkward one for both of them. Formalities over, Cerys launches into Owen. Why wasn’t he around to help the Coven when his grandmother died? What the hell did he think he was doing in Brazil? Why on earth did his grandmother want him to take over when she is the natural choice?
Owen gives as good as he gets. Cerys needn’t worry if she wants to keep the old coven going – they are just a bunch of losers. What he was doing in Brazil is his business but she can be sure it’s connected with magic. He intends to keep his grandmother’s heritage alive but he’ll do it his own way. Soon the two are toe to toe, each resenting the other but there’s a spark between them too.
Cerys suggests that Catherine was murdered, maybe by a rival coven, the Magpies. This calms Owen but he doesn’t buy it. He agrees there is something odd about his grandmother’s heart attack and disappearance of another coven member. When he says he’ll get to the bottom of it Cerys gets angry again. It’s as important to her as it is to Owen. He also knows that it’ll take the two of them to find the Cauldron. He knows she is right.
Neither of them notice what is happening to the white rose that Owen laid on the grave. One by one the petals are turning a deep red before withering and falling from the stem.
Daytime on the outskirts of a busy town. A hearse is travelling along the road. It is being driven fasten than usual for a hearse but not excessively so. The driver is a beautiful young woman, LUCY. She has long flowing black hair and is wearing heavy Goth makeup. The hearse brakes and takes a left turn into the drive of NEWTOWN UNIVERSITY.
In NEWTOWN GYM Cerys is leading a martial arts class. She’s still angry, coming on too hard with the others in the class. It’s clear she outclasses everyone else there. There’s a young Chinese guy, OLIVER, at the rear of the hall. As a new member he’s floundering to follow the moves but he has a very determined air about him.
Lucy gets out of the hearse, her heavy velvet coat and full skirts trailing behind her. She enters the university atrium where the Societies Fair is in full swing. She heads for the Goth Society stand.
Owen’s in the crowd at the university, alone. A blonde girl, SANDY, approaches him and hesitantly kisses him on the cheek. He remembers his old girlfriend doesn’t he? He hesitates but then embraces her. What’s he doing here? He’s going to study for his degree like his grandmother always wanted him to do. Sandy is so glad to see him. He must come and meet her friend Lucy.
Lucy’s seated, tarot cards spread out in front of her. Other Goths are clustered around clearly in awe of her. Sandy introduces Owen. She’s sure he’d like a reading. He sits down reluctantly. He’s shuffling the cards as instructed but his hand touches Lucy’s when he gives the pack back. It’s like an electric shock to her. She drops the cards and they scatter everywhere. She grabs his arm and seems to convulse. “It starts with a pig and a woman but it ends death.” Owen is trying to pull away but she won’t let go. “You must find the cauldron and finish it.” Her grip is like iron. “You’ll need an army. You’ve got to start right now. She says you have to finish what you started.”
People are stopping what they are doing and staring now. An older man, PROMETHEUS, seated at the Anthropological Society stand, is taking a particular interest. A tall blonde American girl, CRYSTAL, dressed in a cheerleader outfit, comes over to the table. Lucy is shouting but it’s with Catherine’s voice. “Now, Owen, now! You need to find the gatekeeper.” Lucy falls to the floor in a faint. Crystal kneels and puts her in a comfortable position. There’s something in her touch that has an instant effect. Lucy opens her eyes and speaks to Owen in a croak. “Then there’s us girls. You’ll be needing us too.”
Prometheus is sitting in a comfortable armchair in the library at CRENDON HALL. In the matching chair is ROWAN, head of the Magpie coven. They are discussing the scene that Prometheus witnessed. Too bad Owen was back to interfere with their plans. But Rowan can see the advantage of letting Owen do the hard work of finding the Cauldron – once they get their hands on it there’ll be no limit to their power. Prometheus tries to change the subject to a young man he’s been grooming from the Goth Society but Rowan instructs him to make sure he finds out what Owen and his friends are up to. Then there’s the problem of who killed Owen’s grandmother, and why, to be solved.
Owen is in his grandmother’s cottage. Sandy is in the kitchen making tea. Owen’s few belongings are unpacked and he’s exploring. His grandmother’s cat, VAN HELSING, is sitting on the sideboard staring at the wall. Where there’s a huge patch of flaking paint on one wall. Damp? Owen begins to pick at it and sees there is something underneath. He starts pulling away more chunks of paint until he’s uncovered a painting of a naked woman riding on the back of a pig.
Owen stands back to admire the painting. A voice says “Cool.” Owen hasn’t heard Oliver enter the room. He explains he’s there to find out about the room to rent. Owen’s not sure the room’s free anymore – maybe his old girlfriend is moving in instead, maybe his lifestyle would be too weird for just any lodger. But Oliver’s already taking a laptop computer out of his shoulder bag and looking for a telephone point. Searching on “naked woman” and “pig” is going to bring up some interesting results but he knows he can track down the painting.
The painting is Cerridwen, fabled keeper of the Cauldron, but Oliver doesn’t know the significance. Owen does and he thinks it’s connected to the task his grandmother set him many years earlier. He was supposed to go naked into a cave and recover something but he just pretended to do it. Now he has do it properly if he wants to find the Cauldron and head up the new coven. Oliver says “Why does everyone I meet think I know more than I know myself?”
Driving into the countryside in his grandmother’s Land Rover Owen explains the significance of the Cauldron to Sandy and Oliver. It is such a powerful occult artefact that anyone who controls it has almost infinite power for either good or evil. Suddenly there’s a BANG as something hits the windscreen but afterwards all they can hear is the sound of magpies, like demonic laughter fading into the distance. Owen explains that the Magpies are a rival to his grandmother’s coven. They’d love to get the cauldron and Owen must get to it first if only to stop them.
Night in the forest. A huge fire is burning in front of a low limestone escarpment. Oliver, still wondering how he got into this, is tending the fire with Sandy’s help. He’s no idea what a gatekeeper has to do but Owen is explaining. Oliver has to stand guard and make sure no-one goes into the cave whilst he is inside. This time Owen has to do it right. He strips naked because the ritual demands it. Cerys steps out of the darkness. She recognises Oliver. “I thought the old coven was full of losers”, she says. Owen’s a bloody fool if he thinks he can pick a gatekeeper out of nowhere and succeed. It should be her job.
As the naked Owen argues with Cerys there’s more commotion in the background and both Lucy and Crystal stumble into the circle. How could they possibly have found the site? But Lucy was the one who had the vision in the first place. Cerys is wild with anger and seems more concerned to shield Owen’s nudity than he is himself. But the opening spell has been cast and now no-one can leave without breaking it. They’re all stuck here until Owen succeeds or fails at his task. He heads for the cave and enters.
He’s allowed one candle and he lights it as he enters the cave. He begins to creep forward, shivering with the cold.
The four women and Oliver sit around the fire staring at the flames. The wind begins to pick up and soon it’s causing the fire to roar and leap into the air. The trees seem like they could crash to the ground at any moment. Both Crystal and Oliver are getting to their feet, alarmed. Cerys speaks to Oliver “Sit down! The gatekeeper has to hold the ground. I don’t care if anyone else wonders into the dark and gets killed but you must stay. If you leave the circle before Owen succeeds then you will both die!”
Owen doesn’t see the floor dropping away and he falls badly as he comes into a huge cavern. He curses the stupidity of being naked in this place but a voice whispers back “How else could you be born?” He gets to his feet and goes on – when he’s faced with a choice of exits he follows the direction of the candle flame.
There are voices, whispers, sobs and laughter in the trees around the campfire but no one there.
Owen comes to a blank wall with a pool of water at its base. He stares at it for a long time but he knows what has to be done. He places the candle down and dives into the sump.
The howl of a lone wolf can be heard at the campfire. It’s joined by another and another until the night seems full of their sounds. Crystal says “Look guys, even I know there are no wolves in England.”
Gasping for breath Owen emerges into the inner cavern. It’s a small chamber bathed in phosphorescent light. There’s a series of natural shelves which cascade to the pool. He climbs them until he comes to the header pool where he plunges in his arm and pulls out a carved statue of Cerridwen riding the pig.
As he enters the main cave once more, candle in hand, Owen is confronted by the figure of a man with the head of a stag, towering above him. He claims to be the God Cernunnos and demands Owen hand over the statue and go back into the other unexplored passage to finish his initiation. Reluctantly Owen agrees.
Out in the forest a boar ceases its restless search for food and breaks into a run. Those around the campfire hear it run by them but they do not see it. Cerys is all for going into the cave but Oliver stops her. “He said let no-one past who is seen.”
Owen’s in the second passage but something’s bothering him. He stumbles, nearly plummets into a huge pit that opens in front of him. Something’s definitely wrong. He races back to the main cave and demands the stagman to stop. The man laughs and removes his mask to reveal he is Prometheus. How could Owen be so stupid? But Owen knows he’s on top now.
If Prometheus doesn’t give back the statue he’s in mortal danger. Prometheus begins to laugh but the sound is drowned out by the thunderous sound of something charging down the passage. The boar runs out of the entrance passage. Prometheus is holding the statuette. It dawns on him what is going to happen but it is too late.The boar hits Prometheus in the midriff with its tusks and pushes him to the cave floor.
Owen calmly approaches and takes back the statue but Prometheus has a serious wound. Owen faces the boar and offers the statue but the boar turns to leave as soon as he sees this.
The boar exits the cave, approaches Oliver, looks in his eyes, sniffs him. Oliver extends an open hand. The boar considers it then quickly nicks it with the edge of one tusk. Blood wells in the wound. Somehow Oliver knows not to flinch or cry out.
The boar backs away then saunters towards the woods as Owen dashes out of the cave. He doesn’t know how serious Prometheus wound is but it looks bad. Sandy uses her mobile phone to call for help. Lucy insists Crystal goes into the cave and use her “healing powers”. Cerys mutters about “new age crap” but she’s beginning to see there’s something about this group who’ve already coalesced around Owen.