Poseidon Tablet

Poseidon Tablet
Use:	Summoning Poseidon
Appeared In:	Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Ghostbusters

The Poseidon Tablet is a charged relic originally from a temple on Atlantis dedicated to the worship of the Greek god Poseidon.

History

In ancient times, the state of society on Atlantis became "sick." Priests from a temple dedicated to Poseidon begged to god to help. Poseidon caused an earthquake that destroyed Atlantis. Many thousands of years later, a tablet from Poseidon's temple was part of a shipment of recently acquired antiquities sent from the Mediterranean to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Dr. Abner Polk was hired by the museum to appraise the shipment. The Ghostbusters got wind of it and filed for a court order to confiscate the tablet as a precaution. One morning, Dr. Polk arrived at the museum on time and met Peter Venkman and Ray Stantz. Peter handed him a court order telling him to grant them custody of a tablet from the shipment. Polk didn't understand what was going on nor the terminology in the court order. Ray informed him he had a potentially powerful psychokinetically charged artifact on the premises. They went into another room. Ray saw the tablet and confirmed it was what they were looking for. Polk insisted they couldn't have it and it wasn't even documented yet. Ray tried to explain what was going on, they had to make sure there wasn't any god-like being planning on using the tablet to as a gateway to their plane of existence. Peter warned Polk that Ray was only going to talk faster and he didn't need that. Peter assured him they were doing him a favor because the last time there was an artifact like it in a museum, it did not go well for the staff. Two days later, Ray and Egon Spengler hit a dead-end in trying to identify it. There was no mention it in Tobin's Spirit Guide, Spates Catalog, or any of the dozen books they amassed for research. Ray reminded him they were dealing with a time bomb. They couldn't make out the etchings on the tablet either, initially thinking they were Greek. Peter carried in more books that just arrived. He wondered what happened to the interns that did the menial work for them. He tipped Egon's water bottle by mistake. The water oddly flowed in a circle around the tablet. An Atlantean Priest Ghost manifested and spoke in an unknown language. Ray guessed it was Italian. Egon had no idea. The ghost suddenly possessed Egon and asked what happened with the cataclysm of Atlas' Land. Peter deferred to Ray. The ghost decided to see for himself and flew through the window into the city with the tablet. He deemed the world was still sick and the message of Atlantis' demise was ignored

The next day, at dawn, the ghost concluded its prayer. He begged Poseidon to use the tablet as a beacon and come to show mankind the meaning of fear again. Peter whistled to his confusion. Egon, Ray, and Winston wrangled him then Ray readied a Trap. Winston was concerned the tablet was still glowing. Ray assured him it should be fine then trapped the ghost. He picked up the tablet and confirmed the negative P.K.E. readings were almost completely discharged in the manifestation of the ghost and with it trapped, the tablet was a completely average artifact. He failed to see a column of water rise up behind him and kept on talking. Ray wondered why it got cloudy all of a sudden and turned his head. Poseidon stood behind the column. He reached forward with an open hand. Winston deduced he wanted the tablet. Ray wasn't so sure. Peter asked him if he thought Poseidon wanted a tip and ordered him to throw the tablet. Ray was confident they could figure out a way to get rid of Poseidon. The ground rumbled. Egon pointed out Poseidon was also the god of earthquakes and he was clearly sending them a warning. Ray still insisted. Egon yelled his name. Ray sighed and threw the tablet to Poseidon. He caught it and vanished. The column of water and fish washed over them. Peter conceded they may have lost a chance at a bonus but he thought Egon and Ray could make some money from writing a book on Atlantis using pictures of the tablet. Ray admitted everything happened so fast, he forgot to document anything.

Powers

For many millennia, the tablet was drenched in high-spectrum negative psychokinetic energy. The majority of it was discharged after the priest ghost manifested in the presence of water. All remaining energy was dissipated after the ghost was trapped. Before that, Poseidon was able to use the tablet as a beacon to teleport to Earth.

Appearances

• IDW Comics
  • 35th Anniversary: Ghostbusters

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