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Character Backgrounds Journal Entry #1 08 Sep 1936 (09/08/07) Journal Entry #2 09 Sep 1936 (09/22/07) Journal Entry #3 10 Sep 1936 (10/06/07) Letter 12 Sep 1936 (10/08/07) Journal Entry #4 18 Sep 1936 (10/27/07) Journal Entry #5 19 Sep 1936 (11/09/07) |
Journal Entry #6 19 Sep 1936 (12/01/07) Teaser 20 Sep 1936 (01/04/08) Journal Entry #7 25 Sep 1936 (01/26/08) Journal Entry #8 02 Oct 1936 (02/16/08) Journal Entry #9 02 Oct 1936 (02/23/08) Journal Entry #10 12 Oct 1936 (04/05/08) |
Cast of Characters Hollow Earth Expeditions Doyle's Map Isla Muerta Map Tortuga Map Page 1 | ||
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08 September 1936,
Log Entry #1
Well it's quite an eclectic group that Mister Wolfe has assembled. A British doctor who's keeping him mobile and painfree. A killer brunette who seems to specialize in B&E and ... necromancy (not a word I'd ever figured I'd have to use). A globe trotting field biologist. And me.
Things for this "expedition" were getting moving finally. I had assembled a list of equipment I thought we might need, based on my experiences in China but without any idea where we might be going. He's being very closed mouthed about that one. But he set up a meeting with a Billie McCoy (please call him "William"). An ex-rum-runner who made it big during prohibition but lost it big in a shootout with the Coast Guard and the Feds. I guess he's working on turning things around. Rumors of his death must have been exaggerated.
But we meet at one of the usual ritzy places. A swank restaurant on top of Rockefeller Center. A place called the "Rainbow Room". It seems that Mr. Wolfe is looking for someone who can run a boat (a ship?) down somewhere into South America. The black magic momma, Laurel Tremaine, had bought some stuff at an auction in London that included a book, written in some obscure language or code, a rubbing, some sort of small statue and a map. It was supposed to have been owned by that guy who wrote the Tarzan books, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
We also run into some bigwig Mr. Wolfe knows. A fellow named Mellon and his son. They were at the auction with Laurel in London and bought some stuff. I guess they bid against her on her loot too. I didn't think anything of it until two days later. We got back from dinner and the door was opened. Someone had gone through the place very thoroughly. Not ransacking it or anything, but definitely searching for something. The housekeeper, Margaret, had been tied up in the kitchen. When we looked over the rest of the house we found a body and the safe was opened.
The place was also searched and I don't know if anything was missing from the safe but the guy had been done in good. It looked like something went boom inside the poor bloke. A grenade or something. Doc did his thing and told us that it seemed there were nitrates inside the cavity and they speculated that he had brought some nitroglycerin in case he couldn't get the safe opened. And someone put that stuff in his mouth or down his throat and it went off. Ugh. Nasty way to go.
But about that time the coppers showed up. But something fishy was going on. They bundled us all up into a paddy wagon to take us downtown for questioning. Well they decide that perhaps we shouldn't have gone with them and ought to make a break for it. Doc breaks out the odd helmet he has and puts it on. Nothing seems to happen then suddenly the wagon screeches to a halt, the front doors fly open and the coppers run lickity split yelling about something "gonna blow".
Well we get the bars cut off quick like and high tail it. Turns out Mr. Wolfe had a pair of wire cutters in that fancy suit of his. He gets us back to the house and he and Johnny Himalayas bluff their way into the house. Coppers out front telling us it's a "crime scene". I head back out to the garage to check our gear after he decides that maybe we should "expedite" our departure. I guess they think that Mellon is after whatever was on the map. Laurel got out around the block and says she's gonna do a "ritual" and talk to the dead guy in the study. Yea right!
I find out that the gear is mostly trashed so it does seem like someone is out to beat us to wherever the map leads. And they ain't foolin' around. I get what I can salvaged while they work over the coppers and get the rest of our stuff out of the "crime scene". Laurel comes back in a bit looking like she was rode hard and put away wet. She tells us that Mellon hired a guy to break into the house and get the map but it was some older guy with gray hair who did him. He used some of her mojo to do it to, not even touching him to put the nitro in his mouth and part way down his throat and then crushing it. Boom. Some bloke is serious about this stuff.
So Mr. Wolfe calls up his accountant to get more cash and we decide to replace the gear when we get to Florida. Then we drive down to Atlantic City where he hires a plane. Yes!. I fly us south but about an hour and a half in I notice something zinging by the wing. Looking back it's a biplane but it looks military then I see the flash of guns. They're shooting at us! I start flying like the Devil's after me and Doc puts his helmet back on and starts hollering out directions. I find if I follow them we avoid the gunfire but it's still some tricky flying!
Laurel is doing some more of her mojo and I hear a chicken cluck back there. Mr. Wolfe gets out his pistol and they open the door but I guess he thinks better of leaning out while I'm flying like this. Suddenly the biplane shudders and then starts what I guess that pilot who taught me would call a "death spiral". The plane crashes and we have no other incidents for the rest of the flight, landing at Miami Dade airfield a couple of hours later.
09 September 1936,
Log Entry #2
We landed at Miami Dade airfield. I get out and check the aircraft to make sure we didn't take any, or at least too much, damage. A few holes but nothing too bad. Laurel goes off to shop for another chicken and some more of the strange things her mojo takes, eye of newt and whatnot. Mr. Wolfe and the doc go off to carouse I guess, he said something about needing a drink. So that leaves Johnny and I to get the gear bought and loaded. [Craft(mechanics) - 2] And to make sure no one messes with the aircraft, since it's pretty clear someone is after us.
I don't know where everyone else went that night, but Johnny and I slept next to the aircraft. We saw a copy of the paper and it reported that some hotshot pilot named David Libby, got four kills in the Great War, was lost around Washington DC. Seems he was on a German zep bound for Berlin and he stole the biplane it was carrying and flew south. Hmmm, that biplane that attacked us came from the north and it was south of DC we got hit. Anyway we fueled up and left the next morning, the flight plan filed from Miami to Havana where we're supposed to meet up with McCoy and load aboard the ship. [Pilot - 0] About an hour in something went twang and we lost our elevators. I figured we could still land by reducing power but that was going to be iffy. So Johnny breaks out the map and we decide that we can probably make it to Bimini, which was where the ship was chartered to anyway. So we divert.
We land north of Alicetown on the northern island. Well, I guess land is being kind, but we all manage to walk away. The landing gear sheared off and one of the wing spars snapped so this bird isn't going anywhere anytime soon. But the only gear we lost was the doctor's painkillers. Mr. Wolfe ain't gonna like that but we should be able to get more, somewhere. I go off and find a guy who'll rent me a pair of mules and I get the gear loaded while the rest poke around.
Johnny hires a local boy to show us around and Mr. Wolfe asks him if anyone on the island might be able to read the text in the manuscript. The boy, Sampson, tells us his grandfather can and we head into town. We get to his shack and spot a boat landing at the village dock. A woman and three men climb out and spot us.
First Round
Doc puts on his helmet and begins to twiddle the knobs.
Johnny pushes Mr. Wolfe and the old man behind cover and unshoulders his rifle.
Mr. Wolfe pulls out his pistol and shoots but misses (long range).
I pull out my pistol and take cover.
Laurel pulls a chicken out of her shoulder bag and wrings it's neck.
They continue to charge toward us and draw pistols. The woman yells
"Give us the map and no one will get hurt!"
Second Round
Doc continues to fiddle with the knobs on his helmet.
Johnny shoots at the woman aiming for her leg but misses.
Mr. Wolfe aims.
I step over and pull the Doc to cover inside the shack.
Laurel begins chanting and waving her hands (casting a curse).
They dive for cover and begin to shoot back, just as ineffectively (still long range).
Third Round
Doc pulls out his pistol and shoots wildly.
Johnny shoots at the woman again and misses again.
Mr. Wolfe continues to aim.
I aim.
Laurel completes her chant but continues to mumble under her breath (the curse lasts as long as
she chants).
They begin to writhe in agony. The woman gets up and starts running back toward the dock.
Fourth Round
Doc runs toward them.
Johnny shoots her again and hits her in the shoulder. She drops.
Mr. Wolfe shoots and hits one.
I follow the Doc.
Laurel continues to chant.
Mr. Wolfe starts to truss up the other two of the men, the one he shot being pretty much dead, when the Doc arrives, pulls out his pistol and shoots them in the head. Johnny has gotten to the woman and starts first aid on her. He gets her patched up enough before the Doc gets there, pushing him out of the way to check his work. I take the mules over to the dock to look at their boat. It's a 20 foot motorized one with their own gear in it. It looks like they were outfitted like we were for an expedition.
Gear
lots of 9mm ammunition
2 weeks of food for four
4 tents
4 sleeping bags
8 canteens
first aid kit
The woman is a pretty brunette in her mid 20s with a New England accent. She's not very forth coming but does tell us that she works for someone called Doctor von Wurrtemberg. In the middle of the firefight, Doc Aleman had asked Mr. Wolfe if he knew a doctor of the same name. Odd. It seems he has his own map and he needs ours to complete it, there's some sort of key on ours. In their gear we find a very accurate map of Bimini with some symbols, some of the same ones in the manuscript, on it. It also marks some of the other islands in the chain, Berry and Andros.
Laurel changes clothes, after seeing how the woman was dressed, from her slinky black dress and heals into something that may be able to travel. We talk to the grandfather and while he can't read the manuscript's text, he tells us he has seen symbols like this in a cave on the north end of the island in the mangrove swamps. We get the boat ready to go and make our way north, talking about what to do with the woman. Mr. Wolfe decides that we'll leave her in the boat with the doctor guarding her. After the bit with her henchmen I doubt she'll give him much trouble.
So we set off across the swamp looking for the cave. It takes awhile. We find a cliff face with an opening in it. We wriggle our way in and it's close and twisty. After more time we find a wider area with what seems to be manmade stonework. On the wall are three lines of the same sort of pictoglyphs. From this "room" are two other passages moving further inward. We take the larger of the two (on the right) and it gets pretty tight in some places. Eventually we get to a dead end, a wide room about 10' by 15'. There is a lot of sand on the floor and more of the language. They seem to think that there are influences from Greek, Egyptian, Aztec, Mayan and many others. Which makes it very strange. Mr. Wolfe takes a rubbing of some and we take some pictures. Johnny takes some sketches and makes a map of our route here. Then we back out and return to the last room to try the other path.
This "hallway" is much tighter and it takes even longer to get to the end. In both of these we find that a bit into the hallway the floor begins to rise out of the water until the rooms at the end are dry. This path ends at a circular room 10' across with tiles in the floor buried under the sand. In the center is a raised lip around a pool 4' across. The water is a clear green and warm and there is a smell of eggs. We can't see the bottom and Johnny takes my rope and ties it to his waist. Then he dives into the pool and swims down. He pulls all the rope in and then we wait. At 30' his ears pop. A bit later Mr. Wolfe shudders and his nose starts to bleed. The doctor is apparently talking to him. He said
"Someone is coming to rescue her. I need help."
I drop the pack and he and I charge back out the way we came. Laurel stays to help Johnny back out of the water (he was on his way back up at this point). We get out of the cave and begin to run back to the boat but get turned out. They left as soon as Johnny was up and catch up to us. We get back to the boat and find the doctor hiding. He couldn't stop them so he killed the girl to stop her from telling them what we had found out. But they took her body anyway.
Given that Laurel can talk to the dead I don't know if that is going to help.
10 September 1936,
Log Entry #3
So a seaplane pulls into the sky with the people who rescued the woman, or rather her body. Doctor Aleman, however collapses shortly after we run up. He's bleeding a bit from the nose and Mr. Wolfe and Johnny look him over and pronounce it a coma. The do a bit of first aid and he seems stable. Someone will need to look after him.
The boat took a beating, they pulled out the scupper stops and tried to sink her but I think I can fix things back up. I start working there after moving the doctor over. Laurel pulls out the statue and starts examining it closely, looking for clues. She also takes a look at the map we found in the woman's gear. It seems there's a red triangle marked between Bimini, Berry Island and Andros Island. There's also some letters in groups of five. They look like some sort of code or cipher and she starts working to figure out what they say. Meanwhile Johnny and Mr. Wolfe head back to the cave to examine it more closely.
Mr. Wolfe brings one of his "Wolfetronic" gasketized flashlights and they get back to the cave with the spring in it. This time Johnny doesn't tie off the rope and swims down further. About 30 feet down there is a branch which goes off horizontally in the same direction the tunnels run above. Some distance down there he sees a light at the end of the tunnel as well as what may be a surface above. He swims up to get a breath and comes face to face with giant jaws which seem about to eat him.
He dives again quickly but when it doesn't come after him he swims over a bit and comes back up. It seems that the poor boy is dead and has been for a long time. He's also HUGE, measuring 25 feet across and about six feet high. After poking around in this room for a bit investigating, he dives back down again to find the light at the end of the tunnel (so to speak) and discovers that it's the ocean. He sees the doctor and I as I work on the boat. Reentering the tunnel he swims back to the spring room to find Mr. Wolfe and tell him of his discovery.
When he gets back, Johnny ponders the spring and what we know of it. Mr. Wolfe is having an attack now and all the pain killers were lost in the crash. So he entices Mr. Wolfe to drink some of the spring water, which he had presumed was hydrogen peroxide, since that's what it smelled like and it bubbled the same way. Mr. Wolfe gets sick very quickly but after he empties his stomach, the pain is gone. Then they rig an air bladder from one of the rubberized bags and they both swim down to the turtle room. Behind the turtle's mummified corpse they find some crude drawings on the wall.
They show men in canoes, what must be the giant sea turtle, wrecked canoes, men attacking the sea turtle and then canoes rowing off into either the sunrise or the sunset. Meanwhile, Laurel discovers that the statue is, indeed, solid and she is unable to discern the meaning of the cipher on the map. I finish with the repairs to the boat and tell her I'm going to inform Johnny and Mr. Wolfe of that and she should watch the doctor. Perhaps I shouldn't have left ...
I get to the cave but no one is there. Johnny and Mr. Wolfe get outside the ocean entrance to the cave again. Mr. Wolfe heads back to the boat and Johnny goes back in the tunnel to collect up the gear they left in the cave. I wait at the spring room. When Mr. Wolfe got back to the boat he found the doctor, stripped naked and covered in blood, with circles, pentagrams and arcane symbols drawn in the sand and with ... something. Laurel was chanting something repeatedly and as he walked up, the doctor sat up and spoke German to her.
Then, since she decided that this must be the answer to the question, after 40 minutes of chanting, she dismisses the spell just as the doctor turns to Mr. Wolfe and says
Mr. Wolfe pulls out his pistol and shoots the doctor, Laurel screams and the doctor drops back to the ground. We found out later Mr. Wolfe had been wondering if he was going to find the answer to this mystery before he died. Johnny and I hear the gunshot and come running, to find Laurel screaming, the doctor covered in blood surrounded by dark symbols and Mr. Wolfe holding his recently fired pistol. See? I shouldn't have left.
I clean the doctor up and find that there was no bullet wound. Laurel insists that Mr. Wolfe shot true and the bullet hit the doctor. About this time several of us spot a model A with large tires driving up the beach toward us with shotgun armed men standing on the running boards. Deciding on the better part of valor, we shove off and move the boat out into the water. One of them seems to have gotten ahold of a BAR and is shooting at us but Johnny unlimbers his rifle and takes a few shots back.
It seems Johnny is the better shot as they don't even come close and he shoots off the car's mirrors and then shatters the windshield. The rumrunners (I can tell what they are with my binoculars as well as having seen their types back in Chicago) jump for cover and we pull out of their range, turning southward toward a strange symbol on Laurel's map that doesn't correspond to my aerial charts of Bimini. A pair of lines off the west coast of the island.
Examining the map again (the one she got from the auction) we see "Tortuga Grande" and "Destructor del barco" written above what should be Bimini. It seems that this and the cave drawings may be linked somehow since this translates as "Giant Turtle, destroyer of boats". Mr. Wolfe is driving the boat with Johnny navigating and I stand in the bow with my binoculars acting lookout. I spy what may be an aircraft to our east moving north but as I look at it closer it more looks like what must be an autogyro. One of those made by Juan de la Cierva in Spain. I read about them.
From it's size it must be flying pretty high but it won't need a runway to land. It seems to be going toward the north end of the island. Perhaps the cave. It's far enough off our course that we don't need to react to it so we continue on to the symbols on the map. Once we get there, I offer to help Johnny dive down and explore since the water seems to only be about 10 feet deep. I look at the doctor and decide that I definitely should stay aboard and Mr. Wolfe gets ready to swim. They clear off some of the sand and Johnny tells us this is called the Bimini Road, some sort of ancient mystery. What it's there for, who put it there and why. It seems to be a road in perhaps the ancient roman fashion but there seems to be no clear route, path or purpose.
Laurel gets an idea and recalls the tiles in the cave we called the map room. There was a line leading back toward Bimini and it had a circle around it's end close to the island. Off it's west coast in fact. Johnny tells us this symbol is often used for the terminus of a road or route. Given the German phrase the doctor told us while under the influence of the dark ritual ("Search here for a key to find the other entrance.") it could be that this is some sort of entrance or gateway to those lines, which could be something linking very remote parts of Earth together. I ask them to let me search south of the "U" and I find what seems to be a depression in the sand. I start clearing the sand away and find a large block of stone 30 feet across. There may be symbols on it but I can't tell since the sand continues to fall back over it. It seems to be solid granite and is about 3 feet below the surface of the sand.
I try to figure out how to clear away the sand, we don't have anything to build a cofferdam out of but Laurel says she has an idea. Long story short she gets her dark accouterments set up again, claims some blood from each of us and raises the long dead giant sea turtle as a zombie. We find the rumrunners car was blown up when we return so someone else seems to be following us. Or one of the other groups has found us again (there did seem to be at least two groups back in the states). We're running a bit low on gas so I rig up a tow line and the giant sea turtle zombie tows us back to the "road".
A number of predators are feasting on the undead turtle as he slowly tows us back and we get there eventually. Laurel has it start to clear away the sand and work progresses for a few hours. We're almost done when we hear
We see a launch with five sailors and an officer hailing us. In the distance (no doubt it's too shallow for it to approach closer) is a Royal Navy Destroyer. Laurel immediately sends the giant sea turtle zombie after the boat but this seems wrong so I stand up in the bow and yell at them to flee. The boat turns around to return to the destroyer and she sets the turtle to work again. About the same time that it finishes, the destroyer starts firing at us with it's deck gun.
Just before the first shell lands we hear stone grinding on stone and lightning starts flashing in the sky above us. Nearby a maelstrom develops in the water. Johnny yells at us to make for it and after considering all the folks chasing us, the number of countries who would now have cause for legal action after us and ultimately the results of being struck by a five inch naval shell, Mr. Wolfe steers for the center. Laurel releases the turtle as we slide down it's "gullet".
As the boat breaks up, Mr. Wolfe grabs the doctor and we go into the water. It's dark, overcast when we entered the maelstrom. We float for what seems like a long time until we hear a squawking splash not far off. I swim toward it until I see a large gray tongue makes whatever creature made the noise disappear. I start swimming away quickly. The storm slowly dissipates and it seems to be noon. Odd because it was only early morning when the Royal Navy had found us.
We spy the shore and swim for it, pulling along what we can find among the debris of the boat. Johnny pulls his chest ashore as we see a large bird dive for the water to spear a fish and fly away. People sort themselves out and I start to gather some wood. Shortly I have a fire going and Johnny had shot a large snake as I got the wood so we butchered it and ate something. I examined the creature for anything we could use and found on what seemed to be a constrictor, a set of two inch fangs. I managed to get them out without poisoning myself.
Mr. Wolfe goes off in search of fresh water after Laurel failed to find any and got himself tracked by some other creature. Something pointy and fast. And Johnny manages to shoot it again before it eats him. Camp is setup and we have fresh water and food.
Now what?
12 September 1936,
A Letter To The Editors
Dear Sirs,
I have received a newspaper cutting from your paper of October 3, concerning a mysterious
sighting off the shores of Bimini, during a freak lightning storm in late September of this
year. The eyewitness descriptions are surely indicative of a Navy wherein daily portions of
grog are still the norm, for no example of an enormous turtle as described, have ever been
found.
The largest turtle on record is the fossil
Archelon ischyros,
discovered and named by Wieland in 1896. This turtle lived during the
Cretaceous period of perhaps
65-70 million years ago. It does not survive today, and what we know of it comes to us from
fossilized remains. It had a span across the anterior flippers of 16 feet, and a shell width of
8 feet. While a larger specimen is quite possible, it has never been found.
This description of a hard shell composed of raised, pointed scales is patently ridiculous.
Archelon possessed a fused rib structure, over which hard skin or horn must have stretched. This
is similar to the structure of current oceanic turtles.
These sailors are perhaps remembering a freshwater turtle from some American visit. I am of
course referring to the American Snapping Turtle,
Macrochelys temminckii.
The current record by weight is 240 pounds, I believe, and there is an account from the journey of
Lewis and Clark of a specimen three feet across. However, even in the Miocene and Pliocene
examples this was a freshwater turtle of relatively small dimensions.
You have asked for my opinion on the matter, and I stand by the one I give: This turtle, if it
ever existed, was surely magnified and transmogrified by hot weather and Cuban rum. This
embarrassing hoax falls to pieces when you print, "As the sailors watched with horror, the
monster was surrounded and torn to pieces by a swirling angry school of sharks, barracudas and
other vicious fish". Horror indeed! This is the worst hogwash I've ever received. I refuse
to comment on the wanted murderers, strange electrical discharges and whirlpool. You cannot
expect anyone to believe this tripe.
The only monster here would be the well-deserved hangover suffered by these men, or more likely
by yourselves. Please do not contact this office again. Our inquiries into unknown species are
quite serious and we will not associate ourselves with such yarns as this. Despite our
reputation, we are not fools.
Signed,
Dr. Willis Abernathy
Maryland Cryptozoological Institute
October 12, 1936
18 September 1936,
Log Entry #4
We begin to examine our surroundings with an eye toward figuring out what we want or need to do next. Johnny is, of course, excited by the whole series of events and insists that we must explore this newly found territory. He also begins speculating that Conan-Doyle's books may have been real instead of fiction. Laurel insists that we simply have to get back, as quickly as possible. Mr. Wolfe just seems to keep coughing up blood. Later, as I examine the dead "velociraptors" that attacked Mr. Wolfe, I find trilobytes on the corpse. Not something I think have been seen much lately. Taking stock of what we managed to salvage from the boat, I find that my backpack and Johnny's trunk are about it. Laurel still has the manuscript, statue, map and other items from the auction and everyone is armed but nearly everything else was lost. So I begin to build a pair of travois for us to put Doctor Aleman and the trunk on.
We initially move off, about noon, following the stream Mr. Wolfe found, figuring that if there is any civilization here, it would likely be next to a water source. Going is slow as we pull the travois over the uneven terrain and after a few hours, around noon, we find a low stone block. It's almost a meter tall, a meter wide and perhaps two meters long. It kind of looks like an alter or something and when someone mentions this, Laurel takes interest and begins examining it closely. We don't find anything but Johnny notices some distance off, another one. So we move over to that one and find a "trail" of them leading toward what seems to be an "az-gyptian" pyramid about 40 meters tall. At least the part which is above ground (which we discover later).
Leaving the travois at the bottom, we climb the stairs set onto the smooth sides. At the top we find an altar with small stone "hut" behind it. It doesn't seem to have been used very recently but it does have 'blood grooves' set into it. The hut seems to have a set of spiral stone stairs running down into the darkness. Mr. Wolfe gets ill again and Laurel has a canteen of the "spring water" that she shares with him. We haul the travois up to the top of the pyramid before descending into the darkness to investigate. The width of the descending staircase remains constant but it's radius from the center of the pyramid continues to increase as we go deeper.
Eventually we find a level branching off from the stairs. We explore that level and find a square corridor around the center with small "alcoves" in the walls and large, ovoid rooms at the corners. The floor is dirt of varying depths but the rooms are mostly empty, with only a few niches in the walls which are stained with a green substance which may be copper oxidation. Not finding much else we return to the staircase and descend further. Another level appears and we begin to explore that. In one room we find small white oblong objects on the dirt. Johnny splits one open with his knife and what seemed to be tiny specks in the stone of the walls ... disappear. As if they were the eyes of some creatures watching us.
Johnny looks down at what spilled out, milky white fluid and a creature. It looks kind of like an ant, except it's nearly 30 centimeters long. He whispers "Fire Ants" and just as we hear a skittering sound coming from outside this room he yells "RUN!" and sprints for the door. We follow him closely and soon arrive back at the top of the pyramid. He looks at the sides and the stairs and then jumps off the edge landing on his butt and sliding down the side of the pyramid. I push the travois with Doctor Aleman up to the edge, sit on his chest and then push off, riding it down the side like a toboggan. Mr. Wolfe repositions the other travois and with Laurel clinging to his belt, he pushes it off. We barely escape the top of the pyramid in time as fire ants pour from the stairwell behind us.
However, at the bottom of the pyramid we discover that the stairs at the top aren't the only exit as there are swarms of ants there and the pursuit recommences.
First Round
Johnny begins stomping on ants but they climb up his limbs anyway.
I manage to fend them off (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 2 successes).
Laurel begins to cast some spell and they begin to bite her.
Mr. Wolfe draws his sword cane and begins laying about him to moderate success.
Second Round
Johnny begins to run toward the stream. He's got something in mind but I've no idea what.
I continue to pull them off, flinging them away and still hold my own (Martial Arts, kung fu ->
2 successes).
Laurel casts some sort of lightning spell and it rolls over the ants in a wave, burning many
of them.
Mr. Wolfe yells at me and then begins running for the stream.
Third Round
Johnny gets to the water and does the stop-drop-roll, smashing any that are still biting him. He
gets up on the other side.
I use my Flurry, attacking three times (2 style chips) (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 4 successes,
2 successes and 5 successes). I get most of them off me.
Laurel runs over to the travois and cuts Doctor Aleman loose. The doctor wakes up as most of the
ants seem to be retreating. We follow Mr. Wolfe to the stream.
Doctor Aleman and Mr. Wolfe perform first aid on those injured (everyone but me it seems) as we recover from our ordeal. Johnny explores his trunk and makes jury-rigged knapsacks out of his extra shirts, we distribute the remaining contents of the trunks and we abandon the travois. We resume our trek along the stream and after about an hour and a half, about noon, we reach a ridge we saw from the top of the pyramid.
Once we climb the ridge we find a suitable cave to use as shelter and we make camp. We split up the watches but nothing happens during our rest.
I wonder who lives there.
We march in the order;
Ed Note:
Yes, I know that in every instance I've said we leave "around noon". This is on
purpose since the sun seems to perpetually be at the midpoint in the sky. We have wristwatches
and they tell us the time accurately so we know approximately when to sleep. Just one more
mystery of the Hollow Earth.
19 September 1936,
Log Entry #5
First Round
Johnny points and laughs.
I run after it and grapple it (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 6 successes) and manage to wrestle it to
the ground (Yes, indeed, Ping did "get a little bush!").
The bush struggles to break free and we hear the sound of a gunshot.
Mr. Wolfe pulls out his pistol and shoots at the bush, missing both of us.
Second Round
Johnny looks around for the source of the gunshot and moves up and butt strokes the bush, hitting
it.
I try to pin it (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 2 successes) unsuccessfully, it tries to break free
(Strength -> 2 successes) but fails.
2 guys behind a barricade further down the trail move up toward us unlimbering their rifles.
The bush tries to break free but fails (see above in my turn). I notice that my left hand is
wet and warm.
Mr. Wolfe takes cover behind a tree.
Third Round
Johnny calls to the 2 guys to not shoot and drops prone, taking aim toward them.
I try to see if the bush is "dead" (Perception -> 4 successes) and discover that it is, indeed,
a man in a clever disguise and he's shot in the leg. I call for help from Doctor Aleman.
Pirates shout something at us in a strange mish-mash of languages. We recognize some Dutch,
Portuguese and Spanish words. They pull their rifles up and shoot at us but both miss.
Mr. Wolfe moves up and shoots back but misses.
Fourth Round
Johnny shouts "Stop - Peace" in all the languages he knows.
I try to patch up the wounded bushman (First Aid, unskilled -> 1 success) and manage to stop the
bleeding.
One pirate draws a sword and the other a pistol and they motion us forward.
Johnny stands up and slings his rifle. He walks up to the pirates at the barricade and Mr. Wolfe and I carry bushman up to them. The sword fellow reaches for Johnny's rifle and he pulls back. The other fellow levels his pistol at Johnny, who draws his own pistol. It looks to be about to head back into combat when Mr. Wolfe manages to find a language to speak to them in.
Wolfe "He shot himself."
Sword-Pirate (skeptical) "Why would he shoot himself?"
Pistol-Pirate (whispers) "It is Bumpo ..."
Wolfe (motioning at me) "My friend tourniquit his leg."
Pistol-Pirate (whispers) "It is still only Bumpo ..."
(The Pirates whisper fiercely to each other.)
Sword-Pirate "You need to talk to the Captain."
It's at this point when we notice that Laurel and Doctor Aleman are both missing. We think back to the last time we saw either of them. Doctor Aleman went running into the woods when the action started but for Laurel we can't recall. Johnny goes back up the trail to try to track them and we follow. He finds the tracks of the doctor and they lead into the woods. We find him hiding behind a large tree and he rejoins us. However Laurel's tracks simply stop. When Mr. Wolfe questions the pirates (whom we learn are named Jorg and George) they consider the matter and then insist that she's been taken by the ghost people and is surely now dead.
We ponder her location as we examine the sight of her abduction and consider "tree" borne captors. I climb a nearby tree and realize that this outpost (the fenced in area behind the barricade) is not the source of the smoke we spotted from the top of the ridge. There seems to be a more substantial settlement further up the trail with a much larger log palisade. I do see men with muskets manning the walls, a gallows and a dock extending into the sea. However I don't see any sign of Laurel or these mysterious ghost people. As Johnny continues to retrace her steps (even standing in her footprints), he does notice her bag on the ground nearby (with the manuscript, statue and such). He also locates a vine hanging down so it does seem that they went up when they took her. Where they went once they got up here remains a mystery.
Setting aside her location we decide to go to the main village to request assistance or learn more about the area. We go back down the trail and past the barricade and find that both trails are barricaded and they have a small lean-to over their fire, so this is a small outpost and rather temporary. Jorg leads us to their main village and we carry Bumpo.
As we approach the village we find out that all the buildings are huts with thatched roofs. We pass the gate to the palisade and as we are lead to the larges hut we notice there are children and women in the village. They appear to be Indonesian or Polynesian (nude to the waist and wearing what seem to be grass skirts) while all the men appear to be European. Perhaps implying that a ship (pirate?) was marooned here and they took native wives.
We're lead into a large hut with a table in it's center. At the far end are several chairs and a man is sitting in one talking to several people. Toward the entrance are what seem to be bodyguards. He tells us his name is Lieutenant Campos and they are the "Brotherhood of la Isle Muerta". Mr. Wolfe tries to negotiate for their help locating Laurel but this man also insists that she must have been taken by the Ghost People and is thus, Doomed! He does get out a map of the area and we learn that we seem to be on a large island.
Mr. Wolfe asks a few questions about the village and the race of their wives and what we learn leads us to believe they are pirates and the men are out right now on a raid gathering slaves. We consider our options, given that they won't help us locate Laurel, and decide we should leave and search on our own. We're discussing this in English but it seems that Campos understands English as he draws a pistol under the table and tries to shoot Mr. Wolfe.
Johnny, however, seems to be spot on the ball and pulls out his pistol just in time to shoot Campos.
First Round
Campos is stunned by Johnny's shot.
Mr. Wolfe draws his gun and shoots but misses.
I activate my Flurry and attack twice (two chips). One guard is pointing his gun at Mr.
Wolfe, I step up beside him, swing my arm around him in a head lock and twist his gun around to
shoot at the a guard behind him. (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 2 successes, Firearms, pistols ->
0 successes) I manage to knock the guards aim away from Mr. Wolfe but miss the other guard and he
breaks free.
Doctor Aleman screams about surrendering and draws his pistol, offering it to Jorg butt first.
Pirates shoot at me, Aleman and Wolfe but all miss. Jorg shoots at Johnny but misses.
Second Round
Johnny steps up behind Campos, grabs his around the neck and points his pistol at the man's head,
shouting "Stop or I'll shoot!".
Mr. Wolfe shoots at Doctor Aleman but misses.
Doctor Aleman tries to butt stroke Mr. Wolfe and hits (he stuns Mr. Wolfe but Jack spends chips
to negate it).
Campos drops his gun.
I hold my action waiting to see if they stop.
Pirates advance, led by Jorg, so I attack twice (Martial Arts, kung fu -> 3 & 2 successes) hitting
one but doing no damage. The pirates all miss.
Third Round
Johnny shouts again "Stop or he dies!".
Mr. Wolfe shoots Aleman and hits.
Doctor Aleman shoots Wolfe but misses.
Campos orders all the men to stand down and then picks up a pistol and shoots Jorg (this appears
to have been an attempted coup for leadership), killing him. He drops the pistol then and all the
other pirates back off. Doctor Aleman also drops his weapon, which Mr. Wolfe picks up.
A shout from outside draws our attention,
19 September 1936,
Log Entry #6
As everyone runs outside and toward the dock, we see the ship in the distance as it approaches. Suddenly ...
A large explosion at the stern. As Johnny and I run to the end of the dock I see the telltale trail of bubbles which seems to indicate a torpedo. A few seconds later there are secondary explosions as what I suspect is the ships powder magazine explodes. Johnny hands his rifle to Mr. Wolfe and strips off his shoes and his pistol then dives into the water, quickly swimming toward the survivors and scanning for people who can't swim. I pull off my top, kick off my shoes and go after him (Survival, swimming -> 1 success) but the task seems beyond me. I manage not to drown but every time I approach (Survival, swimming -> 1 success) someone they fend me off. Eventually after he pulls several people in, Johnny grabs me and pushes me to the dock. I climb out and then assist people in getting up out of the water and onto the dock.
We ended up saving;
Floppy-hat man looks around, takes everything in, pours the water out of his pistol, spies us and then makes a beeline for the jungle. In the chaos we find Laurel wandering in among the villagers dressed in a native sarong. Her hands seem to be tied up and while she remembers us, who she is and what we're doing here, she doesn't remember what happened to her before the outpost incident. There is dried blood on her face, perhaps just smears or perhaps a pattern or something, and her hands turn out to be glued together rather than tied. She is slurring her words which seems to indicate she had been drugged. About this time there is an "explosion" from the end of the dock and wood flies everywhere.
First Round
Johnny shouts warnings and starts pushing people off the dock toward the shore and away from the
dinosaur.
I turn around and look for Mr. Wolfe to get Johnny's rifle. I don't see him but I spot the
weapon on the ground. I run and grab it and head back toward Johnny.
Laurel tries to break her hands apart without much luck and then tries to cast a spell with her
hands glued together. She hits the dinosaur but there is no visible effect.
It crawls forward and eats a native.
Natives run and scream.
Second Round
Johnny continues to shove people to safety.
I run to him and hand him his rifle and then run away from the dock down the shore toward where
it seems to be headed.
Laurel tries harder to break her hands free.
It bites at Johnny but misses.
Natives run and scream.
Third Round
Johnny aims and shoots, hitting it in the head.
I yell and wave my arms to get it's attention (Intimidate -> 0 successes) and then dodge when it
tries to attack me.
Laurel succeeds at ripping the skin off her palms and wrists.
It bites at me but misses.
Natives run and scream.
Fourth Round
Johnny takes more careful aim and shoot, hitting again.
I pull my pistol out and shoot at it (Firearms, pistols -> 2 success). I hit but to no visible
effect.
Laurel shoots a lightning bolt into the water near it, shocking it.
It attacks me again but misses.
Natives run and scream.
Fifth Round
Johnny shoots and hits again.
I shoot (Firearms, pistols -> 2 successes) and hit but again, no visible effect.
Laurel lightnings the water next to it again.
It begins to back up and slides down under the water, retreating.
Johnny takes the canteen with the magic water over and pours a dab on Laurel's wrists and the skin begins to immediate heal. We give her bag to her as the natives encircle us. They are looking at us intently but we don't know how they're going to take recent events. After a few tense moments they start cheering for us and we're heroes. Doctor Aleman is long gone but Mr. Wolfe was hiding behind one of the huts. A celebration ensues that evening and we talk with Lieutenant Campos.
It seems that the natives speak a different language from the pirates, which Mr. Wolfe can crudely translate. So our only link with them is Campos. And since our relationship with the pirates seems to have altered, especially after Laurel and Johnny use a dab of the canteen-water to heal his bullet wound, he translates willingly. We ask him about the pirates and discover that they've been here for 10 year and below for three generations. We ask about the floppy-hat man and find out his name was Captain Galiega. When asked about why he fled, Campos shrugs and admits that the captain is a survivor and survival dictated flight.
We have a debate about what our next course of action should be. At least Johnny, Laurel and I do, Mr. Wolfe seemed to be in his cups. Given the loss of the doctor and his condition I could understand this. While everyone still seems to be agreed that our goal is the fountain of youth, Laurel believes we should locate the gateway to the surface, find the mysterious road and another path below. Johnny wants to stay down here and explore (a slow realization seems to have taken place, given our "entry" into this place and the unchanging position of the "sun" we may be underneath the surface of the Earth, and I have no idea how that may be possible or what lead us to this conclusion), of course. I also agree that we should continue our search for the fountain while down here with the plan to eventually return to the surface - at least those of us who want to. Eventually we decide that since we don't know where or how to go back through the gateway which led us here we should explore but we are going to shift the nature of our questions. When questioned about the "fountain of youth", Campos scoffed and didn't tell us much beyond his belief that it's a myth. The natives didn't understand the question. So we decided that we should ask questions about "gateways" back up to the surface as well as some place which may have the properties of the fountain. So we might avoid asking leading questions to people we don't know who might wish us ill or desire to rob us.
To that end we talk about a boat and decide to build a hollowed out canoe to search for the other settlements in the area where we hope to find someone with more useful information. Initially we'll simply circumnavigate the island and when we get near the point where we came ashore after our initial shipwreck we can decide where to go next. So for the next few days Laurel gathers creatures to use for her magic (as sacrifices) and to learn more about the "ghost people". Johnny and I help the natives, under the direction of their most senior fisherman/boat-builder, construct the boat. Johnny also explores the local area and learns some of their language. I try to learn more about sailing from the senior fisherman. Mr. Wolfe just rests, his illness seems to be flaring up.
Four days later we've gathered some supplies and are ready to set out. We've learned that this village is in what seems to be an alluvial plain and there are no major predators here. Past the ridge we crossed this changes but we do hear some rumors and legends about the ghost people being able to "walk among the dinosaurs". I also managed to start working on a prototype speargun with an atlatl to use until then, forecasting when we'll run about of bullets for our firearms. The speargun will take more work to find something to use as the elastic but the atlatl comes along quickly so I start practicing with it since it takes a bit of skill to hit anything.
The journey starts off well enough, as we put in to shore when we get tired to rest, what would be evening above. Johnny searches for sign of Aleman when we do and he finds tracks of both him and Captain Galiega. The captains trail vanishes like Laurel's did so we presume he was taken by the ghost people. Aleman's continue, they seem to have joined forces, but after a bit longer they also vanish and we find his mind device crumpled beside his last footprints. Mr. Wolfe mourns.
We pass the northern most point on the island without incident and the shore changes from jungle to a what seems to be a mangrove swamp. We see swamp crocodiles sunning themselves on the beach as we paddle along. A glint attracts my eye and Johnny recommends we investigate. We head toward shore and find after some distance into the swamp that it's some sort of stone structure. (Perception -> 4 successes) Just then Johnny notices something ...
Surprise Round
Johnny pulls his pistol and shoots, hitting.
It grabs the outriggers on the canoe and shakes (Strength check to stay in boat)(Strength ->
3 successes). We're tossed about but everyone manages to stay aboard.
First Round
Johnny shoots but misses.
I pull out my pistol and shoot but also miss.
Laurel casts her lightning spell, zapping the beast severely.
It swims off, abandoning us for easier dinner (or perhaps it's lunch).
We get to the structure and it seems to be a large stone temple in the Greek or Roman style. Broad stone steps leading up to 30' tall columns flanking an entrance. We pull the canoe up on the steps completely out of the water and Mr. Wolfe stays with it to guard it and rest. The stone seems to be some sort of white limestone. Inside are frescos on the walls. On the right wall (as we walk in) there seems to be a king ruling over his people. On the left wall there is some gilding and the king's people meet others who are wearing togas and arrive in ships of a different design. These new people are the ones who are gilt and they seem to be treated well and be teaching the others new things. This is the main chamber and there is a door in the back right leading to other chambers. Within the first, on the right, is another fresco but this one is defaced. It seems to show the people prostrate before the dawn, or perhaps sunset, there doesn't seem to be a way to tell. A middle room seems to be mostly empty and the far left room has a fresco of blue sky and clouds. Johnny notices that the ceiling seems to have a fresco of the sun. As he examines the fresco he decides that it's derived from Phoenician and starts to translate the images and scenes.
It seems to tell a story about some new, mysterious people who came to visit the king and his people and they undertook a voyage, discovering wondrous new lands (there are images of what seem to be dinosaurs attacking ships and sailors). There is one word, "Atlanteans" which speaks to other myths which might be tied in with the fountain we're searching for. Laurel notices that the sarong she's wearing is very similar to the garb these Atlanteans are wearing, thus leading to the idea that there may be some link between the ghost people and the Atlanteans. There also seems to be a promise that these Atlanteans will return someday.
As we ponder this, Mr. Wolfe stumbles in and says
...In a world where terrible lizards outnumber men, a group of survivors find themselves confronted
by the impossible.
WHO ARE THE BARBARIANS? WHO ARE THE ENLIGHTENED ONES? YOU WILL CHOOSE ON JANUARY 12th!
<
sounds of radio static, through which a faint voice may be heard
>
...wolf...osaur...distress...
...In a place where even legends have been forgotten, can they find the mysteries that might lead
them home?
...In a savage land of brutality, does civilization stand a chance?
Book titles:
Never My Last Adventure: The Weyland Wolfe Story
They Worshipped Me: The Unauthorized Biography of Laurel Tremaine
Johnny Himalaya and the Golden City / Johnny Himalaya and the Crawling Pyramid / Johnny Himalaya
and the Feathered Serpent
Ping versus the Eternal Emperor / Ping versus the Lizard Tyrants / Ping versus Boss Crime / Ping
versus the Nazi Menace / Ping versus the Aztec Monster
Theory, Design, and Maintenance of the Electroencephalic Telempathic Transceiver Helmet Mk.3,
Expanded, Second Edition
25 September 1936,
Log Entry #7
First Round
Johnny aims his rifle at the crocman who seems to be the leader (or possibly the shaman) and
shouts.
I step up next to the pillar Mr. Wolfe is hiding behind. I make a gesture with my hands open.
The crocmen spread out.
Laurel watches sardonically.
Mr. Wolfe holsters his pistol, steps around me and starts walking toward their leader.
Second Round
Johnny tries to stop him and they have a whispered discussion.
I step up next to them.
The leader of the crocmen makes a gesture and they lower their weapons.
Mr. Wolfe gets to the crocman leader and offers him a strip of jerky (I guess I can't call it "beef jerky" since it didn't come from a cow). The leader sniffs it and then gulps it down in one bite. He pulls a small bag off his harness and shoves it into Mr. Wolfe's hand, abruptly turns and walks off. The warriors watch this closely and when their leader turns they all start to fade back into the swamp, leaving us alone at the temple shortly.
Inside the bag are two silver coins that look like they're related somehow to the murals inside the temple. That the "ghost people" are related to the mysterious figures in gold inside and that they're somehow related to the gates from Earth to this place. And that we might be able to find some of them even now, hundreds of years late. Hmmm.
We load the boat and I search for something we can eat to add to our stores. Perhaps imprudently I apparently get to far from the others when I am set upon by a pack of wild lizard-like turkey creatures.
Surprise Round
They charge me but I manage to fend them off (Def 3, 5 suc). (4 chips to stop 2 damage).
First Round
I go onto the defense (Total Defense, 5 suc) but still get bitten (2 chips to stop 1 damage).
Mr. Wolfe moves up and shoots at one.
Johnny runs toward me.
Laurel casts a Major Curse at them.
Second Round
I continue my defense more successfully (4 suc).
Johnny tries to sack me (ala football) but I dodge. However he manages to knock two of them
off me.
Mr. Wolfe runs up and puts his pistol next to one's head, shooting and killing it.
Laurel continues her curse.
Third Round
I attack (Kung fu, 2 suc, 2 damage) and kill two of them.
Johnny kills the last two with his pistol.
I continue my efforts to gather foodstuffs after Mr. Wolfe bandages me up. I gather some fruit as well as the carcasses and we've good for food for awhile. We set off and after some hours, shortly after noon, we complete our circumnavigation of this island, arriving back at the village. We find what seems to be the whole population out on the beach with stacks of boxes and crates piled nearby a group of sailors and a line of pirates. A large gray shape looms offshore and I realize this seems to be a submarine.
There seem to be several sailors lounging around the deck and someone with a cap and a leather jacket is in the conning tower, an officer? We debate what to do as we slowly row toward the village but it's fairly certain they've seen us by now. Shortly we're close enough to make out the name "Bremen" painted on the bow (odd, I thought submarines just used numbers) but the flag she's flying isn't the official German one.
We slowly approach the boat and are hailed and welcomed aboard. It's certainly lucky that both Mr. Wolfe and Johnny speak German. The officer on deck is Oberleutnant Alben Lowman and the captain is Captain-leutnant Ferdinan Hoffmeister. As we talk to him a few of us think we hear a baby crying and it seems to come from below deck. Mr. Wolfe negotiates with the Captain and we book passage to Tortuga for his binoculars. We gather a few more details about the situation down here. It seems they have been here since the Great War and the boat is vintage 1917. They don't even know who won the war ...
The information we get includes;
We lash our canoe to their deck after unshipping the outriggers. It seems they don't submerge very often, the last time was when we saw them torpedo the pirate ship off the village before our trip. And they took damage then, the side of the hull sporting a huge gash.
Johnny gets to know the navigator and is permitted to make a copy of their charts. Across from the chart room is the radio shack and there is an odd wooden cabinat in there. I start to converse with the radioman, who's named Ortwin Grau, but don't learn much from him, not speaking much German. I manage to get him to understand I want to learn some (spending experience points to take Linguistics-German) and it gets easier. I still don't learn much yet about this mysterious cabinat but they call it a "Farse apparatus".
02 October 1936,
Log Entry #8
I wake up. It's dark. I'm sore and the covers are all over the place. Something scratched me during the night, I've got three long scratches down my side. It reminds me in some ways of the monastery. The monks were very careful with their candles and that was the only light after dark. Thinking of that I climb out of the bunk and sit down to meditate. It helps.
I recall that there were no lights down here in the bunk room. People only sleep here so there was no need I gather. Very efficient. The others eventually awake and we open the hatch. Light from outside allows us to dress and we head down to the ward room for breakfast. It consists of something which might be a pancake and some sort of gigantic egg. The flour they're using is ... red. I've learned enough German to realize the cook is calling it "beat flour" and he's missing a canister of it.
I go off to look for it and practice my German. I don't find it and I think many of the crew now think that I'm a bit odd, kung fu clothes aside. When I get back we decide to head down to the cargo hold to examine the prisoners. It seems the pirates from the village were captured and are being taken back to Tortuga for trial. Their captain had gone out on his own and while it was often not-looked at, it seems he went too far and the ruling council, such as it is, had decided to issue a warrant against him. Since he ran off into the jungle during the plesiosaur attack on the village before our boat trip. Doctor Aleman had followed him but those tracks ended too (which we inform the captain of) so presumably the jungle or the ghost people got ahold of him.
They seem to be fairly well cared for, food and water and no torture or tormenting. I think perhaps that Laurel is eyeing them for other purposes but then that could just be my unease in a new situation. Mr. Wolfe and Johnny cast about for some recreation and when they ask the Captain about that they get directed to the "shipfraugrupenfuhrer". A bit later they learn that this is the head "Madame" for a few women who "service" the unmarried crew. After clearing things up they decide to make a shuffleboard on the main deck and go to scare up the materials and help. They find brooms to use as sticks and a can to use as a puck. I'm on deck observing this and practicing my katas.
Some discussion prompted Mr. Wolfe to go back down below deck to try and fix their Farse apparatus and knowing what I do about tinkering with gadgets, I follow to help out. Between his electronics knowledge and my crafting we get it quickly repaired and turn our attention to it's use. It is apparently used to view the sea floor to avoid collisions so it needs to be waterproof. Talking to the ship's engineer, we jury rig something and head up to the deck again to test it. Johnny and a crewman have been painting their court on the decking when the sailor jerks and twitches and then falls overboard. Johnny quickly shucks his boots and jacket and dives in after him. The call goes up "Man overboard!" and the boat starts to slow and turn. Johnny quickly reaches him and begins to tow him back. Mr. Wolfe points out something he noticed in the water to everyone, a crocodile.
(for size comparison)
The creature seems to swim by and perhaps pushes against them. The sailor struggles and screams. Johnny dives under the water as it is stained red with blood. It seems the croc bit the crewman's legs off. It circles around and comes back for Johnny and he grabs the top half of the corpse and manages to stuff it into the creatures mouth as it swims by, momentarily avoiding the same grisly fate. He grabs it's tail as it goes by and slides his legs over it, trying to ride it like a horse. It looks like he tries to climb it's back but he seems to lose his grip, only holding on with his legs. Seeing this, Mr. Wolfe pulls out his sword, takes off his shoes and makes to leap into the water after Johnny. I manage to stall him long enough to tie a rope around him and fasten the other end to a stanchion on the deck. I head below deck to get Johnny's rifle, although I know I'm not the shot he is.
Mr. Wolfe gets to Johnny and they start swimming back, Johnny doing the swimming (or rather pulling them along the rope) while Mr. Wolfe watches for the croc, stabbing it with his sword as it swims by again. It feels it's had enough dinner for this much trouble and departs and I pull them aboard. Afterwards we investigate what happened to cause the sailor to fall overboard and discover that some of the cabling for the Farse apparatus was routed to connect to the hull and it got electrified. He must have stepped on the metal deck while they were painting.
Laurel, meanwhile, is off somewhere reading a book. We turn on the radio and the Farse while we complete our investigation and there is another of the mysterious AM broadcasts. But it seems that it's only part of the thing, as the Farse apparatus responds with an image of a man in clothing similar to the sarong Laurel wore after the ghost people incident. He has a big hat and seems to be reading from a piece of paper but we don't understand the language he's using. Suddenly something happens to Johnny in our discussion and he starts using gibberish. He doesn't seem to understand what we're saying, either in English or German, and nothing he says is actually words. It's not like any sort of language anyone knows. He gets rather agitated and Mr. Wolfe slaps him. He reacts violently to this and the doctor has to chloroform him to get him subdued.
We take him to sickbay and strap him to the bed, the transmissions momentarily forgotten in this new crisis. Laurel comes in during our speculation and discussions with the doctor about Johnny asking about some place called the "Frothing Sea". She pulls the Captain aside, with Mr. Wolfe to translate, to ask about this. I notice something odd, however. Mr. Wolfe asks the Captain what she wants to know but it seems that she understands his reply because she doesn't wait for Mr. Wolfe to translate his response back into English. He doesn't know of any such body of water and she leaves sickbay, going back to the radio/farse room and the broadcast.
A short while later I pop my head in and ask her (in German) where the doctor is and she replies that she doesn't know. After Johnny seems to miraculously recover and the crisis calms down, I confront her sudden understanding of German but she insists that I must be mistaken, that things were confused in the crisis with Johnny. Hmmm.
Mr. Wolfe and I return to work on the Farse apparatus and get it functioning fully as well as rerouting the circuitry so that it won't electrify the hull again. However in the confusion of the croc attack and the resulting events it seems that the navigator has lost his bearings. We were following a sea mound between Tortuga and the Isla Muerta. In the turning about for the sailor overboard and the resulting croc business they lost the position of this feature. We all gather in the control room and examine the plotting table when there is a sudden lurch (and evidently an explosion of bubbles around the hull).
02 October 1936,
Log Entry #9
We all quickly climb the ladder to the conning tower only to find a great maw wrapped around the forward hull.
First Round
Johnny runs to the forward gun to help man it and shoots, blasting a chunk of flesh from one of the
creatures.
Mr. Wolfe runs back down below to reconnect the cables to electrify the hull again.
Laurel begins chanting and a lightning bolt strikes the water near the creature that has us. There
is no visible effect.
I go to the aft gun to help man it and we fire at the second creature as it approaches the boat,
(Firearms -2, 2 suc), hitting it.
The one abaft of us swims forward and hits the stern, pushing the boat while the forward one lets
go and swims under us.
Everyone has to try to keep their balance (Martial Arts, 5 suc).
Second Round
Johnny's gun shoots again, hitting.
Mr. Wolfe throws the switch on his circuit and the lights dim. He's shunted all the power he could
get connected onto the hull. He then runs for the deck again.
Laurel gives up on her lightning and casts a Major Curse on the one away from the hull.
I work the gun and we fire (Firearms -2, 0 suc) but miss. Water fountains up near the creature.
The forward one is still underwater so we don't see it but the after one pushes the boat again.
Balance check (Martial Arts, 3 suc).
Third Round
Johnny shoots and hits.
Mr. Wolfe gets up on deck grabbing two swords from a rack in the control room on his way up. He
tucks them into his belt and dives overboard, swimming toward the forward creature.
Laurel continues to chant.
I grab a nearby rope, tie it off and dive after Mr. Wolfe.
The far creature surfaces and turns to make another run at the boat. The after creature dives down
below the sub. Mr. Wolfe uses his swords to climb the side of the creature as it swims by him
(think of Paul Attriedes climbing the side of a sandworm from "Dune").
Fourth Round
Johnny shoots again but misses.
Mr. Wolfe grabs my rope and climbs back aboard the sub as the creature goes underneath again. He
climbs the hulls carefully as it's still electrified.
Laurel stops chanting and waits.
They pull me back aboard the boat.
Both creatures are swimming away from us.
Fifth Round
Johnny shoots and misses again.
Mr. Wolfe aims.
Laurel curses the other creature (which is closer).
I help with the and we shoot (Firearms -2, 2 suc).
The Captain fires a torpedo at the creatures but is misses.
The first creature continues to swim away and evades us while the other turns toward us again.
Sixth Round
Johnny shoots and hits, the creature stops swimming and turns belly up (indicating it's death?).
Mr. Wolfe shoots but misses.
Laurel continues to chant.
I help man the gun.
The last creature swims back to the dead one and nudges it. It then submerges and swims away. I can't help but feel melancholy as we watch it. The sub makes way to the creature and we try to find a sailor who knows something about whaling, having decided we should harvest it's carcass. The oil will certainly be useful in trade and the Captain agrees that it will power the engines on our expedition to find the source of the mysterious radio/farse signal.
The Captain orders all stop but we're still not sure of our position. Additionally, the rudder took damage in the attack. Mr. Wolfe goes back below to unwire the hull and while he's working on it he rigs up a selector switch to do it again (3 positions, off, on and on-with-all-power). I go to help the engineer fix the rudder but there isn't a whole lot we can do at sea. Laurel suns herself on deck while we complete our repairs and harvest the blubber and other useful bits from the leviathan. She gets a few of the crew to fish for her to get creatures to sacrifice to her Black Art. A few hours later we have everything we can get and someone has noticed shore birds circling. The Captain decides to head in that direction and we find a very small island. We beach the boat to render the blubber as well as continue the repairs on the rudder.
It takes four days to do both tasks and Laurel names this island (on the Captain's charts) Isle Sangria due to the smell of it after we finish the odorous chore. There is another of the mysterious broadcasts and we use this to get a general heading (within a few degrees) for Tortuga. Sufficient to bring us close enough that we will recognize other landmarks.
During the stay Johnny's "brain damage" returns but he manages to keep it a secret from anyone. After an hour the effect dissipates and he again can understand people. The cook talks to the Captain and he comes to us that evening in our bunks asking if anyone is stealing rations. They are missing some tinned beef that he was saving for the holiday dinner. While the crew is outside working the Captain has searched the ship for the missing items. They find an empty tin which the cook had used to store the beat flour in Laurel's room. Inside is a sea shell which has been worked into some sort of tool.
While we're working I also spy something in the distance (Perception, 3 suc). I go up to the conning tower and talk to the lookout, borrowing the binoculars. It seems to be some sort of large balloon or airship. The tasks finished, we get back underway for the third day (of five) of our quiet trip to Tortuga. That night some of us take measures to try to ensure that no one comes into their rooms during the night. Mr. Wolfe puts something on the door which would be knocked off if someone opened it. Laurel gets a "chicken" carcass and revives it, leaving the zombie chicken on guard duty while she sleeps.
The night passes without much fanfare but there may have been some strange dreams for some of us. As we went to breakfast a sailor was mopping up where someone had been sick. Mr. Wolfe examines it and notices that there were bits of tinned beef (apparently it doesn't change much in the digestive system!). We start searching the ship for someone who was recently sick with no luck. Stopping in sickbay we question the doctor and he tells us the only one he saw was one of the "ship's women" for feminine problems. Laurel offers to help and heads to their quarters (to question them).
One was out and the other was "engaged". She peeks into the room and sees a woman on the bunk spread out as if mounted but no one was there but her. She made noises appropriate for an assignation even. The frau notices her and stops, grabbing her bedclothes (hammockclothes?). Laurel was standing in the doorway but steps back, as if to let someone pass, and then steps back into the doorway. She has no idea why she did that. The frau begins to question Laurel stridently and Laurel notices a shell necklace on the floor. Laurel surreptiously picks it up and slips it into her pocket.
After the scratches on my chest after the first night and their subsequent disappearance later that day, I perform an experiment, scratching myself before bed and then tracking how long it takes them to heal. I do the say thing during the day while we're outside the boat and come to the conclusion that our wounds heal twice as fast while we're outdoors under the "sun".
The next day Johnny finds a bundle in his room. It's a bag and it contains some shells made into tools, a small crystal skull (a human skull 1" square in size) and a bone comb. It seems (though we don't find this out) that the anklet that Laurel had found in the shipfrau's room was gone the next morning. After breakfast we meet with the Captain and his officers and he details a plan to reveal this mysterious stowaways. He slows the boat and all the crew go up on deck while two six-man teams scour the spaces below decks, sweeping the ship.
This plan proves to be unsuccessful at revealing anything, so Johnny suggests that we do it again and this time we explore every space a human sized creature could hide in. So the teams (including Mr. Wolfe, Johnny and I) sweep the boat again. However as we climbed up the hatch, we found Laurel on the conning tower chanting. It seems she was casting some sort of spell and it had some effect. (We don't know this) She saw a robed figure;
Laurel has cast her Speak with Dead spell and was waiting for something to be chased out of the below deck spaces. She's got her undead chicken alarm and is waiting for it to indicate someone ... other-than-human approaches.
Robed Figure Why are you using these words?
Laurel "What do you want?" (Johnny appears at this point and thinks she is talking to him)
Johnny "By please?"
Robed Figure Why are you still using these lying words?
Laurel "What do you want?" (Johnny moves past her, confused)
Robed Figure Are you a slave who has forgotten your place?
Laurel "No, I am powerful as attested by the fact that I can see you."
Robed Figure You are a child playing with toys left in the workplace.
I will leave you with this. (and he apparently casts some sort of spell) Laurel is
surrounded by a golden glow and then she slumps back against the conning tower's rail.
We conduct the second sweep and apparently there are no results again, until Johnny he hears a splash to his side and calls "Man Overboard!". The Captain calls for the boat to slow and I search quickly for a rope. I tie it off and throw it toward where he's pointing. I pick it up and there seems to be weight, as if someone is holding it. We start to pull them back in and Johnny forms the search teams up in a semi-circle around us. Johnny descends the side of the boat and reaches a hand down, "Grab my hand" but gets no response. The rope suddenly goes slack and he follows the splash down the side of the boat. He starts looking for wet hand prints.
I untie the rope and follow him. He scrambles further toward the stern and then says, in Latin, "Don't be a fool, grab ahold!". Laurel, has in the meantime, gone below deck and returns with a bag of beat flour. She moves up and throws it where someone would be. It coats the deck around the area but doesn't reveal a figure, oddly enough. Johnny has gotten ahold of someone who "whispers" Let me go (I say whispers but it seems that the words go directly into his head without the aid of his ears). By this time there is a crowd around us but no one seeing anything. It appears that Johnny is wriggling around on the side of the hull. He aims a kick where his opponents crotch would be and draws his pistol and attempts to pistol whip them, all without any success.
I move down and try to pin them with my Kung Fu (Martial Arts -> 1 suc). I get a grip but am unable to get a firm hold (Martial Arts -> 3 suc), they manage to wriggle away and I end up trying to grab Johnny. He manages to dodge and keep his hold on them. Laurel moves up and tries to attack but also misses.
First Round
Johnny tries an arm hold and succeeds, pinning what he discovers is a female.
Mr. Wolfe climbs down from the conning tower and grabs at the deck where Johnny is. He gets ahold
of what seems to be an arm and draws his pistol, pointing it where the head should be. He says
"Cut it out!" and waits.
I close my eyes, clear my mind and calm myself and then open them again, attempting to see what's
really there rather than what I think is there or what she wants me to see (Martial
Arts -2 + Perception -> 7 suc). I see a young blond woman (in her late teens or early 20s) in
Johnny's grip wearing a sarong. I tell the others what I see.
Laurel tries to see anything that is there and see if anything reminds her of any of her missing
memories. She says "I didn't marry a woman!" (to her own surprise).
Mr. Wolfe gets up, turns around, runs across the deck and dives into the water (the sub has stopped
by this time).
Second Round
Johnny tries to get a headlock on her to "choke her out".
Mr. Wolfe swims back to the boat and climbs back aboard.
We "hear" a voice say Please, we surrender! Let my sister up.
I ask them to let us see them. The voice replies We can't.
Laurel feels someone next to her pulling at Johnny, who's resisting him. She punches at this
figure.
The Captain steps up and shoots where the brother should be standing, next to Laurel. Blood sprays
and a pair of crewman step up and wrap his body in a blanket, lifting it and taking it below.
Who are they? Has the brother been killed? Is he Laurel's husband? What do they want?
(And why didn't Laurel invite us to her wedding?)
12 October 1936,
Log Entry #10
After the Captain's men haul off the body (whom we don't know definitely is dead), Johnny and I try to tie up the girl he's got ahold of. I try to refocus my attention on her (Martial Arts-2 + Will = 8, 6 success) and she manages to convince me to let go of her but Johnny keeps his hold. He tries to speak to her in Latin and she answers us both in English. Her name is Oona and her brother is Wahoc. I refocus again (Martial Arts-2 + Perception = 10, 6 successes) and can see her again. He fashions a lead of sorts and we head below to question her. Laurel and Mr. Wolfe follow the crewmen below to the sickbay.
We talk to her and it becomes apparent that there are some significant cultural differences. They don't see anything wrong with taking what they need and the idea that we paid the Captain for passage on his boat is foreign to them. It seems that Laurel looked "interesting" to them (Wahoc at least) and that's why they took her (again the idea of kidnapping seems alien). She tells us that her brother is Laurel's, implying their married of sorts, that she has "taken him into her household". She also laments that he's "thrown away his life" on someone "who is not one of us." When I asked her if their society was Matriarchal the idea struck her as odd. That the head of a household would "be revealed". She also talked of "dreaming", claiming that she had tried to "lay" with Johnny for this and he had told her no. She seemed amazed that he spoke "the language" but he insisted he didn't. She also told us that her brother had laid with Laurel for the purpose of this dreaming and she had rolled over and bit his ear, then ran off. We also found out that they had glued her hands together because she was throwing lightning bolts. Oona told us that if they knew she was a sorceress they would never have taken her.
She tells us that she nor her brother were involved with Laurel's loss of memory, that someone else must have "made her forget". It seemed that more than one person was required for this kind of manipulation of someone's mind. But she had no idea who this mysterious third party or group could be. There was some implication that Laurel had married Wahoc to facilitate her escape but I suspect Laurel may not be entirely forthcoming. Of course with her memory gaps this surely isn't her fault. As we continue our discussion we heard what could only be a gunshot and rush out of the room toward the sound.
We get to the radio room and find Ortwin dead, skull smashed in and Mr. Wolfe standing over the Captain, having just shot him. This can't turn out well.
First Round
Johnny steps up to the first mate and puts the muzzle of his pistol to the man's head, shouting
"Stop or I'll turn his head into a canoe!" (in German).
He manages to convince the first mate to forestall a confrontation until we'd heard what Mr. Wolfe had to say in his defense. It seems he came upon the scene as it was, partly, the Captain having done for poor Ortwin with the microphone stand. The radio was tuned into the mysterious station and the Captain was talking to someone there using that same mysterious language. He could even recall what was said without knowing the language,
It seems when in the presence of someone speaking The Language the listener can understand if even if they don't speak it. However since we were listening remotely knowledge of it is required for understanding. Interesting. As we discussed the situation with the first mate, the warning klaxon went off and calls from the conning tower report that the zeppelin has returned.
As we rush out onto deck we can hear the distinctive whistling of a bomb falling (well I know that sound well enough if the others do not). I turn to the machinegun mounted on the conning tower while Johnny runs for the deck gun. I manage to avoid the shrapnel as the bomb hits the other end of the conning tower but he's not so lucky since it's closer to him. Mr. Wolfe runs up to help him as I start shooting.
First Round
I shoot the machinegun (Firearms 4 -> 1 suc).
Johnny sits up and takes stock.
Wolfe begins to haul Johnny below decks. He gives him some of the "spring water" from
the canteen.
Laurel plumbs the depths(?).
Second Round
I shoot again (Firearms 4 -> 1 suc). It's too far away to tell if I hit it.
Johnny climbs back up to the deck and mans the gun. He shoots and hits the tail end of the balloon
and it begins to descend quickly.
Laurel (?).
Wolfe begins first aid on Laurel.
After everyone is patched up and the balloon has "crashed" we decide to paddle the canoe over to it to see what there is to salvage. Mr. Wolfe seems to think there may be an engine and Johnny (or Laurel?) that there may be some fuel to recover. So Johnny, Laurel and I unlimber it from the after deck and begin to row over. The gondola is already submerged as is the forward half of the envelope, but there is sufficient buoyant gas to keep it on the surface while we examine it and search for anything useful. The bag itself seems to be a patchwork of different material and something is clawing it's way out. It seems to have claws, horns, spikes and whatnot. A gremlin I suspect, about the size of a small pony or large dog. As I start to turn the canoe around, Laurel stands up and begins chanting again. She drains it's life to heal herself and it dies. We turn back around and begin to examine the wreckage.
We decide to just tow the entire assemblage back to the ship in the hopes of rebuilding it so we might be independent of the submarine and her Captain. It seems that the balloon was powered by an Italian diesel engine. Johnny and I begin repair work as Mr. Wolfe begins to work on the radio it had. Meanwhile Laurel goes off in search of Oona and Wahoc. She finds him (her husband?) still in the sickbay unconscious, however she can't find her sister-in-law. So she decides to go talk to the shipfrau again to see if she can learn more. (She steals Johnny's language again to do it).
Johnny has another fit of whatever mental problem he has where he can't understand us or talk. Mr. Wolfe goes to see how the Captain is doing and uses the last of the "spring water" in the canteen to heal his bullet wound. He's still unconscious so he doesn't learn more but he impresses the ship's surgeon.
Laurel also finds Oona and talks to her. She learns that her people (the Ghost People? Atlanteans?) had once had an artifact which bestowed everlasting life but it was stolen and delivered to the barbarians. This might explain the seeming war between them and the rest of the population of this place. It also seems to be an important clue to the Fountain of Youth and a cure for Mr. Wolfe.
While she tells us this we (Johnny, Mr. Wolfe and I) all use German interspaced with our English and finally Laurel tells us that she "borrowed" Johnny's affinity with languages at several points. This admission does bring her further back into our trust and seems to energize the expedition with the new purpose.
Find the Atlanteans, help them get their artifact back and cure Mr. Wolfe. Who knows what else we will learn on the journey.
06 October 1936,
Personal Log
I'm not an evil man. At least I don't think so. Would the Master have taken me as student if I were? Would I have been able to learn wushu? I don't think so. I hope not.
I don't know why this keeps happening. It's a different place we are now at. I don't know what or why or even where. But I try to follow The Eightfold Path. To remain non-violent. But this is such a dangerous place that fighting for survival is the norm. But there are people with whom I could practice pacifism.
But these things keep happening, seemingly around me. As if I were some sort of magnet for these odd, even dangerous, events.
[Note: Ping changes his flaw from "Pacifism" to "Danger Magnet".]
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