australia

Session 61: The Shores of Australia

Trying to keep a lower profile, Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis found passage to the port of Perth on an industrial steamer - working and relaxing as crew mates over the next 21 days. When then arrived in Perth, Sayed had a telegram from Dr. Ali Kafour wishing them well and telling them that though the group disposed of him before leaving Egypt, Omar al-Shakti had been sighted at some cultural events. He also had a telegram from Prof Anthony Dimsdale Cowles saying that he would still be at Miskatonic University until October - but to seek out Prof David Dogde, a colleague at the University of Sydney specializing in Aboriginal studies. He was staying at Cowles home while he was away and could give them access to Arthur MacWhirr's diary (the man who discovered the freestanding stones covered in faded decorations in the Outback that he mentioned in his lecture). The group made arrangements to travel to Sydney a few days later and took their time in Perth to do some research in the local libraries - finding some references to an immense city that existed under the sands of the outback and finding a petroglyph depicting a great entity with bat-like wings and a three-lobed red eye referred to as the Haunter of the Dark - and also to stock up on some modified weapons for the upcoming adventure. 

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Session 62: The Cult in Sydney

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis arrived at the train station in Sydney. While deboarding the train a young man named Bruce bumped into Sayed while handing out religious flyers. Bruce invited Sayed (and the group) to visit one of their nightly meetings down by the docks. Harley noticed that Bruce had an odd symbol tattooed on his person - that matched a symbol on the flyer he was giving out. Everett spoke to Bruce and learned that their organization invited 'lost' individuals into their group and help them to find meaning in their lives through devotion and hard work for "Him".

 

After checking into a hotel, the group decided to seek out Prof David Dodge at The University of Sydney. Sayed's telegram from Prof Cowles got them his address from the University secretary. After meeting Dodge and talking with him about their purpose in Australia - he told them about the Alcheringa. Sayed told Dodge about having a vision of a woman named Yindi that he had seen when looking into The Mirror of Gal and focusing on what would help to heal the group. It turns out Yindi is Prof Dodge's contact in a tribe that lives not too far off from Darwin. Dodge pulled out all of the research that Cowles had left behind, which included MacWhirr's Diary and a photo of MacWhirr's Discovery. After reading through everything, Dodge said he would take them out to see Yindi and then help them plan and execute a trip to find and explore the location mentioned in MacWhirr's Diary - he would just need a few days to make plans and pitch the expedition to his department head to see if they could provide funding.

After leaving the group decided to check out the meeting that Bruce had invited them too. Lee and Jean Luis entered the meeting and were brought to an underground tunnel system by Bruce and woman named Malory. There were several 'lost' individuals there as well. When the meeting started and Bruce began to lead them all in a prayer in an odd language, Lee faked being sick and Malory helped him up to the main level to get some air. Lee snuck the others in and they listened to the ceremony from the stairs until they heard the word "Nyarlathotep" as part of the prayer. Lee flung himself into the room cutting Bruce's head off and wounding Malory as Jean Luis helped some of the innocents escape. Harley finished off Malory as chaos erupted from the meeting's attendees. Finding their home addresses and keys on their person Lee and Harley went to check out their apartments - finding both of them lived in but sparse and 2 cultists robes. Bruce was also in the midst of writing a letter to a Mortimer Wycroft in Cuncudgerie saying that "a new batch of recruits would be setting out soon to be brought to Him."

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Session 63: The Randolph Shipping Company

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis spent the next few days preparing for their trip to Darwin - researching some more about the Alcheringa rituals, buying supplies and trying to route out other members of the Sandbat cult that might be in the area (though they found none). Prof David Dodge was able to convince the college to fund a preliminary expedition - enough to get them out there and verify that there was something worth excavating - and booked the groups passage to Darwin via Steamer. 

 

When they arrived Dodge set about securing the cars and supplies necessary to venture out into the Outback to meet up with Yindi, the custodian (Alcheringa master) of the Larrakia tribe. Jean Luis headed to the bar to find out some local news but ended up just getting drunk with Prof Dodge once he'd returned. Jack, Harley, Lee & Everett went to visit the Randolph Shipping Company under the guise of shipping a painting they bought at a local antique shop to Madam Swallow. They spoke with Toddy Randolph, the owner, about making sure that the shipment would be 'unmolested' for a few extra dollars - to which Randolph was very amenable. While they were arranging the shipment and boxing up the painting with Billy Burraglong, one of the 2 employees who works with Randolph, Everett saw the other employee moving a box out to the docks that was marked with the Symbol of the Bat Cult they had run across in Sydney. Lee decided to stay behind and stakeout the place for the rest of the evening. The others would join him later so they could get a better look around.
 

Meanwhile Sayed stayed behind to read more of the Book of Dzyan. He'd become very interested in the ritual called Consult the Wisdom of The Void - and decided to attempt it. After perfoming it he became very disoriented - and one of the hotel maids knocked on his door. When he answered it an unnatual wide smile was wrapped around her face and her pupils filled her entire eyes. She told him they had met before. She also told him that he and his friends were providing great entertainment for the one who sleeps but that their adventures would soon come to an agonizing end. And then she offered to restore his Chi - if he promised to do one favor for her. She said the favor could come at anytime in the future and he would have to obey. Sayed accepted and his full POW was restored to him during a convulsive fit. When he awoke - she was gone.

 

The group sent a drunk Dodge off to bed and met up with Lee who had seen Bill and the other employee head to one of the bars - followed by Randolph - but after a few hours a drunk Randolph returned and locked himself inside the building (there were obvious living quarters curtained in the back). Sneaking up to the back entrance on the docks, Jean Luis picked the padlocked door and let the group in - while Everett stayed out on the docks to open the crate he had seen (which was being shipped to The Penhew Foundation). Inside ithe found a large wooden effigy of Cthulhu - and started to come up with a booby-trap plan. Inside the building, Lee found several shipping logs showings the bat symbol going back the past 4 years - and Jack discovered a 2nd box that was marked with the bat symbol. Inside that box was a Device of Rods Wheels & Mirrors. The group decided to take the device (to study) and the effigy (to burn) and set an explosive trap for whomever opened the crate that was headed to the Penhew Foundation. While everyone was loading things into the van (which they had lifted from the drunken Dodge) - Jean Luis set up the trap - which exploded the moment he replaced the lid.

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Session 64: The Tale of Bigibilia

As Jean Luis moved away from the booby-trap he had set, it exploded - flinging him into the sea and rousing the locals. Everett and Lee brought his burnt body back to the truck where Jack and Harley waited. They sped off towards the hotel - using the first aid supplies in the truck to patch up Jean Luis. At the hotel they gathered Sayed and a hung over Prof Dodge - convincing him that they needed to leave town that night instead of in the morning. While they waited for the Professor to gather his things, Lee figured out how to manipulate the Device of Rods Wheels & Mirrors - when he looked into it, he saw a strange kaleidoscope effect that he almost lost himself in - but was able to resist its pull. Instead it seemed to show things like the effigy to Cthulhu as a void and other things shining in brilliant light. The Professor and Harley drove the 2 trucks into the Outback - taking a little longer than they had anticipated as driving at night in the Outback is slower than daytime travel. 

 

When they reached Yindi's village, Professor Dodge introduced them. Yindi sat and listened as Sayed and Jack and the others explained their reasons for wanting to align with the Alcheringa. Everett brought in the statue of Cthulhu - which seemed to strengthen Yindi's resolve to help them. She told Everett to place it in the center of the fire pit as she talked to the village elders. A vote was taken - and Yindi told them that they would perform the ceremony that night. Everyone spent the day preparing - and gathering obra’an stones that would be used to make a drug to help them cross over. Yindi gifted 2 of the stones to Sayed to use with The Mirror of Gal. At dinner, Yindi told them the story of Bigibilia: While gathering the meal for the tribe, a group of warriors was approached by warriors of a neighboring tribe - telling them that a woman from their group had gone missing. While the warriors returned to their village with their meal - Bigibilia, an old man who never contributed to the tribe but was always first in line for food or handouts and always seemed lithe despite the village denying him sustenance, was seen attacking and eating the neighboring tribeswoman. The Village Elders decided that their warriors should kill Bigibilia - so they all crept into his hut and simultaneously stabbed him with their spears and broke his bones. His body was thrown out into the Outback. His widow, stricken with grief, beat her head in until the blood flowed down her chest - and the gods eased her suffering, turning her into the red breasted robin. Though they thought he was dead, Bigibilia's unnatural diet kept him alive and he crawled into a hole where the spider demon Murga Muggai lived. Murga Muggai nursed Bigibilia back to health and the 2 wreaked havoc until the warriors were called again to bring them both down.

 

Then the ceremony was performed and the group found themselves in the dreamworld of The Alcheringa as tribal warriors. They did their best to follow the story, though their sense of justice almost unaligned them from the living dream when Sayed, Jack and Everett tried to attack Bigibilia without the help of the other warriors. However, Lee and Jean Luis searched Bigibilia's hut and found evidence of his misdoings and the Village Elders were convinced that Bigibilia had to be killed. After he was laid to rest, they witnessed the suicide of his widow - and Harley had to restrain himself from coming to her aid. Then several weeks passed and the group fell into tribal life until rumors reached the Elders of children seeing a spiny demon on the outskirts of the village - and a report that one of the village children had gone missing. The Elders charged the group with finding and killing this demon.

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Session 37: The Alcheringa Demons

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis (in their Alcheringa alter egos) set off to find the spiny demon who'd been seen by the tribe's children. They searched the cave where they'd left Bigibilia's body and found a concealed entrance that lead down into the Earth. Following it, they came upon a huge spiny creature with Bigibilia's eyes eating a lump of flesh. They snuck up on the creature and killed it - though Jean Luis took a minor leave of his senses and fled the confines of the cave and Everett developed a fear of being eaten. With the party regrouped, they were set upon by the monstrous spider demon, Murga Muggai. It succeeded in webbing up and biting Everett (giving him more reason to be afraid of being eaten) but was eventually speared through the face by Sayed.

 

Having completed their cycle through the storyline - the 6 were transported back to this plane where they all felt very refreshed. A celebration was thrown to honor their successful journey, but during the proceedings the group (along with Prof David Dodge) followed Everett's instincts back to the cave where they had found the entrance to Bigibilia's lair on this plane. Inside they saw the story of Bigibilia drawn out on the walls - but nothing more. The next day the group traded with some of the locals for spears and weapons they had learned how to use in their dreamquest and then headed back to Darwin to make travel plans for Port Hedland. They found that the Randolph Shipping Company was temporarily closed bc law officials had found some 'off the books' items when they were investigating the explosion on the docks. 

 

In Port Hedland, Prof Dodge took them to meet Robert B. F. Mackenzie - a friend and executor of Arthur MacWhirr's estate. He told them that a man named "Houston" had inquired about MacWhirr's discovery about 3 years back and had made off with all of the research that he had lent him. MacWhirr and Mackenzie had planned to explore the site further themselves, but then MacWhirr passed away and life got too busy for Mackenzie to do it on his own. He seemed glad that someone was following in MacWhirr's path. The next day the group boarded an open cart train bound for Cuncudgerie. On the trip over Everett caught sight of some incredibly large birds off in the far distance of the Great Sandy Desert. They arrived in town around early evening and checked into their hotel. As they couldnt' secure their gear until tomorrow, the group headed out the local pub, The Cuncudgerie Grand. Everett noticed some men talking about acquiring some gear - his friend told him to head over to Wycroft's first thing because he saw Mortimer packing up his truck and that he may be gone on one of his 1-2 week trips. Sayed and the others noticed a man sitting off by himself and went to talk to him. His name was Mad Ginger Muldoon. He told Sayed about an experience he had a few days ago in the desert. He had stopped for the night at Dingo Falls. While he slept by the fire, he thought he was going to be accosted by a local man named Slattery but instead awoke to the sight of "a man, glowing white and red, its flesh running off its bones, its staring eyes cooking in its skull, its mouth wide open for a scream that was all the more terrible for being silent." While the guys talked to Muldoon - a beautiful young woman at the bar had caught Lee's attention. When he went to go introduce himself, he noticed that she had the Symbol of the Bat Cult tattooed on her - just covered by her blouse. She flirtingly introduced herself as Janice Wycroft.

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Session 66: The Family Wycroft

Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis continued to chat with Mad Ginger Muldoon while Harley and Jack worked at calming down some rowdy locals who wanted to start a fight and while Lee flirted with Janice Wycroft. Janice very assertively invited Lee to spend the evening with her and and cook some steak out in the desert. Lee accepted but told the others to follow along to make sure this wasn't a trap and to see what information he could get from her. Janice took Lee over to Wycroft Outfitting to pick up some sleepingbags, where he met her middle sister Shula Wycroft and eldest sister Gertie Wycroft - who was engrossed in a book. After grabbing supplies, the two (plus the group following behind) found a secluded spot out in the desert. Lee used the howl of some dingos to excuse himself to "make sure they were safe". When he came back Janice had passed out from the alcohol so he searched her - only finding her key to the store.  The others took the steak and set a trap for the dingo - and then Lee covered Janice in the dingo's blood before waking her up to tell her that he'd saved her life. They went back to the store and explained things to a very worried Gertie (who was still reading her book). Gertie thanked him and promised that her father would give them a good deal on supplies the next day - and cook the dingo for breakfast. Lee decided to use the Device of Rods Wheels & Mirrors to look at the sisters as they slept - and found they produced black voids like the effigy of Cthulhu had.

 

The group, with Prof David Dodge in tow, came to Wycroft Outfitters the next morning and purchased all the supplies they would need for about 6 weeks in the desert. While they were loading things into the trucks - Lee told Jean Luis where Gertie's prized book (she told him it had belonged to their mother) was hidden and he retrieved Wonderous Intelligences and hid it away in their supplies. Once things were packed, the group sat down to a dingo breakfast and talked to the Wycrofts for a bit. After breakfast, and fearing retribution if they discovered the missing book - they all decided to make a trip to Dingo Falls to check out the validity of the ghost story that Mad Muldoon had told them before trying to follow the Wycrofts into the desert.

 

They set out and arrived at Dingo Falls as the sun was starting to set and began to make camp.

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Session 67: The Ghost of Dingo Falls

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett, Jean Luis and Prof David Dodge continued to prepare the camp sight at Dingo Falls. Everett spotted 2 young boys over at the Slattery shack about 2 miles away - Jacko Slattery was playing harmonica and Frank Slattery was admonishing Jacko. Reading their lips he found out that their father would be home from the mines soon - and they went inside to make diner. Not long after, they spotted Vern Slattery stumbling home drunk. Everett decided to sneak up to shack and see what was inside. Through the window he saw a hovel littered with trash - basically one main room and 3 bedrooms (outhouse behind the house) - Vern was drinking a beer while Frank made dinner and Jacko drew disturbing drawings of a large bird-like figure with a tri-lobbed red eye.

 

As the sun set, the group had dinner around the fire while Jean Luis told some ghost stories of his own - but Everett heard someone walking near the other side of he structure and went to investigate with Lee. They found Jacko watching the others and invited him to the fire to eat. He told them that Bill Buckley had been his father's partner but had killed his mother few years back and run off. He also told them that recently he'd been having dreams about weird large birds chasing him through the desert. The dreams started about a week ago after he was playing down in Dingo Falls. Sayed noticed that his harmonica had the name Buckley engraved on it. As he went to leave, Jacko seemed to have a seizure of some kind and when he recovered, demanded that the fire be put out and started to throw sand on it. When that didnt work - it looked like he was going to douse the fire with his body - but Sayed stopped him and the others put out the fire. Jacko seemed to return to normal but didnt remember what he had done. He thanked the group and went home.

 

The group decided to sleep in shifts. During the first shift, Lee and Harley saw the flaming figure of Bill Buckley's Ghost outside the center cave. It began to howl as Lee felt something overcome him and he began to put out the fire. He also didnt remember what he was doing when he came to after the ghost had vanished. The group proceeded into the cave that the ghost was in front of - and found burnt bones and scraps of clothing with the name Buckley on it. Lee took a bucket of the Pond water and put the bones and reamins into it. They decided to confront Slattery immediately and took one of the cars over to his shack. They blinded the family with the lights of the car and questioned them at gunpoint - ratteling Vern. When Frank ran into the outhouse and produced Buckley's boots, Vern broke and confessed to coming home to find that Bill Buckley had discovered the stash of gold that he had hid from him and was threatening him. He tried to shoot Bill but the bullet went clean through him and also hit his wife, killing her. In a rage he drug Buckley to the caves at Dingo Falls and set his body on fire.

 

Not sure how to proceed, they all decided to search the remaining caves - with Vern. Lee remained down by the Pond with the bucket of Bill's remains. The first cave was empty. As they moved toward the 3rd cave - Everett felt something overcome him - and through him Buckley tried to take several shots at Vern who went falling into the 2nd cave. Sayed and Harley restrained him and took his gun while Jean Luis knocked him out. During the struggle Lee began to frantically bury the bones, finishing about the same time that Everett was knocked unconscious. They retreived Vern and moved him and Everett down to the pool. Sayed and Lee decided to check out the 3rd cave. As they were looking around Sayed noticed a nest of 5 Death Addlers just before they were about to strike.

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Session 68: The Death Camp Dreamer

While Harley, Jack, Everett, Jean Luis and Prof David Dodge waited with Vern Slattery - Sayed and Lee faced the 5 death Addlers who's nest they had just disturbed. Then the group returned Slattery to his hovel - checking on the boys and finding that for the first night since they started, Jacko Slattery had not had the dream of being chased by a giant bird through the desert. They decided to leave the Slatterys to their own devices and followed Prof Dodges' suggestion to veer south toward the Canning Stock Route and follow that until they were south of the coordinates before heading north. The traveling was long and uneventful - except a Sandstorm that caused them to be delayed for an extra day. When they reached the halfway point between the Mallowa and Nibil Wells (about a days journey from their original turn North point - they noticed car tracks heading north in abundance forming their own road. Lee used the Device of Rods Wheels & Mirrors to evaluate the route shown by the tracks - but fell into a small coma-like state before reviving and resting (under the watchful eye of the rest of the team) the rest of the day. The group decided to continue traveling on their original route.

 

When they finally turned North towards the coordinates, they came upon a deserted Mining Camp. They found a car that had been smashed in line with what appeared to be very large (6 ft wide) tracks that seem to start and stop without a trace. Lee was able to repair the mechanical winch used to go down into the mines but they discovered the way had been blocked by a cave-in. Near the entrance to the empty Explosives storeroom they found human bones that had dog-like teeth marks and a half buried club embedded with bat teeth. Exploring the area further, they came upon a cold spring of water pouring out a rocky wall that flowed into a white porcelain water basin. Everett found tracks leading from the basin back to a lived-in tent filled with canned goods and supplies. Jake and Everett worked to install a nearly invisible tripwire near the basin. Later as they were coming out of the Mining Shed, they heard the sound the tripwire going off and found a naked wide eyed man disposing of the trap. When they approached him, he called them Demons and started quoting the bible as a pack of large Dingoes ran into view, surrounding him. They tried to approach him but he ran with Dingoes in tow - but Harley's quick thinking and bible quotes stopped his departure. 

 

They seemed to make friends with the man, Jeremy Grogan, who joined them (with his Dingoes) for a gourmet meal cooked by Jean Luis. Over dinner he told them his story. He had been hired with about 20 other men by a man name John Carver to do so excavation work in the desert. Once Carver's money ran out the men threatened to leave - so Carver promised to show them something to make them stay. Fortunately for Grogan, he was away from the rest of the group watching from afar when Carver summoned some large winged creature that ripped apart 2 of the men before the rest of the group fell to their knees and them followed Carver into the desert. Grogan decided it was better to break away from them and found this camp and his Dingo companions and had been living here for several years. At first Carver sent some men to kill or capture him but the Dingoes took care of them and he has been left alone since then.

 

The next day Grogan pointed the way that Carver and his men had traveled and bid farewell to the group, declining the opportunity to join them - only asking that they take care of Carver.

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Session 69: The City of The Great Race

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett, Jean Luis and Prof David Dodge set out in the direction that Jeremy Grogan and pointed them. Before they reached the coordinates, Lee told them that there was another entrance that might be more secretive about 4 miles west. Suspiciously, they followed his directions and found a cave with some scattered monoliths with strange carvings on them. Lee was able to read the carvings - and told them that it marked the edge of the Great City and told of a war between the Yithians (who inhabited the Great City) and a race called the Flying Polyps that eventually ran the Yitihians out of the city. Wondering how Lee could read the ancient language - they confronted him. He admitted to actually being the consciousness of a Yithian called Rattaktaka. Lee's and his consciousnesses switched temporarily when Lee used the Device of Rods Wheels & Mirrors. Rattaktaka has intimate knowledge of the city, Yithians and Flying Pylops. He said that he was searching for a fellow Yithian called Kakakatak who was removed from his time.

 

Following Rattaktaka, the group camouflaged the cars and descended into the steep sandy cave. They eventually came to a 15 ft wide chasm that had a large metallic cover attached to it. Using all of their strength, they closed and locked the cover (Rattaktaka told them that it lead to the home of the Flying Pylops.  About a mile later they reached the outskirts of the city and found a string of electric lights forming a path. They were connected to a petrol generator. Kakakatak lead them away from the lights and into the city itself. He found a building that contained 3 objects that looked like cameras - but was actually a Lightning Gun. He showed them how to use them with Sayed, Rattaktaka and Jack each taking one. While they were practicing, they heard the sound of an approaching Flying Pylop and took positions around the street (hidden in buildings) to attack it. At the sight of it, Professor Dodge went mad and ran out into the street where he was ripped into many pieces. The lightning guns eventually brought down the creature.

 

They made their way back to the lights and generator and set up a booby trap to blind whomever would come by to fix it after they turned it off - causing a blackout. When 2 cultists appeared and tripped the booby trap - they killed one and questioned another. He told them that there were about 20 or so worshipers in the City doing all fanatically following the lead of a man named Huston. He said God spoke through Huston and had led them here to better mankind with their findings and help to open the way. He offered to take them to Huston ("in the North Eastern part of the city") but instead they knocked him out, tied him up and drug him off into the shadows where he would not be seen. On him they found a note from Huston. Reading it, they began to make their way on their own following the trail of lights.

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Session 70: The Two Legged Deer

Harley, Jack, Rattaktaka, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis began to follow the trail of lights through the underground city. It took them through a huge domed plaza with iridescent blue floors that stretched about half a mile from side to side. Not far passed the plaza, the group heard the female voices and a dragging sound. Sneaking up for a better look - they came across Gertie, Shula and Janice Wycroft dragging an aboriginal woman along the ground in a wrapped up cloth. Rattaktaka called out to them (not knowing that they would recognize Lee) and Janice pulled out her knife and dashed towards him. Janice was gunned down as she ran towards Rattaktaka/Lee - and immediately her sisters began to run. But they were also stopped short. Jean Luis carried the woman back to the Blue Plaza with the others in tow as the sounds of the gunshots had aroused the attention of people further down the path. Jean Luis stabilized the woman, who had been hit in the head, and watched over her near the back of the Plaza while the others took up defensive positions within the blue room. Several waves of cultists poured into the room - some sporting guns and others with lightning guns. One group used several shambling aboriginals as a wall of cover - but they were wiped out with some hidden dynamite. During the waves Jack took several injuries - including a horrific blast from one of the lightning guns - but miraculously survived.

 

Once things had calmed down, the party revived Alinta, the aboriginal woman. She told them that she had been kidnapped near her village by some horrible faceless bat creature and made to work mining down in the city. She said there were cages of men and women - some workers - and some whom had things done to them. She mentioned a woman pregnant by some inhuman being. The man in charge uses a piece of technology to wipe their minds and make the workers compliant - but it had not worked on her. She feigned her zombie state and then escaped at the first possible moment and had been wandered in the pitch black ever since. The Wycroft's came upon her and attacked her. The group, not wanting to backtrack, gave her directions back to the exit near the cars and as she started to leave - they decided to forge on past the bodies of the earlier fight and taking 2 more lightning guns from their fallen enemies.

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Session 71: The Yithian

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis made their way along the trails of lights. Rattaktaka/Lee begin to recognize where they were and moved them in the direction of one of the smaller laboratories (and away from the sounds of far-off miners. The group came to an area that was blocked by the rubble of a falling building so Rattaktaka, Everett and Jean Luis scouted beyond the wreckage. They found a large pit, up from which rang the cries of infants - both human and not. Beyond the pit the lights continued in the direction they were heading, so the 3 returned and crafted a pulley mechanism that would help the others over the wreckage. After walking several more miles the party came to another Great Plaza - this one with a red luminescent floor which was filled with small one-room buildings. Exhausted from the adventure so far - and with several people needing to heal - Everett found a place in one of the buildings where they could safely hole up. 

 

The group slept in shifts. While Sayed slept, he dreamt of an older African man with many piercings who seemed very interested in the books Sayed was studying. He asked how his 'friend' was and when Sayed didn't understand he replied "Ah, we must not have met yet." He told Sayed that when he come to visit he should tell Okomu the name of his mother: "Alenta". During Harley & John Luis' watch one of the Flying Polyps passed by the entrance to the Plaza. It wasn't drawn inside but John Luis was unfortunate enough to be smoking and caught a glimpse of it, which caused him to go a little mad and malfunction his lightning gun that knocked him out. Harley brought him back to sleeping party and when he woke up he couldn't remember how he'd been injured. 

 

The group continued along the path until they found a small lab and storage area filled with electrical parts and machinery. They also discovered Kakakatak, a Yithian that had been kidnapped from her time and space. She told the group that Dr. Robert Ellington Huston, under the guidance of Nyarlathotep, had used a combo of magic and technology to remove her. He has been trying to get her to help with his experiments with Mind Control and had rewired much of the electronics in the room. The group decided to set a trap for him - Kakakatak would need to reconfigure the room's control panel so that she could probe his mind to find out how to send herself home. Then she would disable the machine's remote so that it gave an electric jolt to whomever tried to use it, hoping it would knock Huston out the next time he brought one of the prisoners in for experimentation. They worked and waiting for the next 12 hours. Huston finally arrived with his victim and 2 guards. The boobytrap worked and they secured Huston to a table with restraints, killed the guards and freed the prisoner. The prisoner ran out into the hall and screamed as they group heard the flapping sound of wings descending upon him.

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Session 72: The Menagerie

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis watched as the Aboriginal man they had just rescued was swooped down upon and carried away out in the hall and took defensive positions. When the 2 Guardian of the Sand Bats flew in - shots rang out from all directions ending them almost immediately. Kakakatak went to work extracting information from Dr. Robert Ellington Huston with the control panel she had rigged as the 3rd Guardian burst in. It was also dropped before it could do any harm. Kakakatak told the group that she required Huston's manuscript because it contained detailed information about how the technology crossed over into the ritual that she could not pull from his mind. He keeps it in his office in his quarters. Lee asked her to probe his mind further about what the groups of cults were doing and where it would take place in the City while they went to retrieve it.

 

In Huston's 3 story-quarters they found a large storage are of mining equipment, explosives and generator parts & fuel on the first floor. The second floor contained 7 large cages with intricate magnetic locks that were filled with people. In one of the cages a woman was giving birth so they broke open the door but were rushed by the escaping prisoners until Harley quieted everyone down. Lee coached the woman through the birth - only to find that her baby was a large squirmy maggot (very similar to an oversized Kharisiri Larva). They killed the mutant offspring and explained to the group that they would free everyone but needed to locate the key to the cages. Meanwhile, Jack crept up to the 3rd floor to find Huston's living space. Among ancient blueprints, and notes on excavations happening around the city he found a large ongoing manuscript by Huston entitled Gods of Reality. The group joined him upstairs and they skimmed the material - which talked of Nyarlathotep's Great Plan. During the eclipse Penhew was meant to fire the rocket he was building and stuffing with explosives. Groups located at the City of the Great Race, Grey Dragon Island and the Mountain of the Black Wind would conduct a simultaneous ritual that would be timed to culminate with the exploding of the rocket - cause a rip in our dimension that would allow the Great Old Ones to return to Earth and rule again. It also detailed the ritual which brought Kakakatak here. Performing it used a great deal of magical & electrical energy and required a large sacrifice of blood. The group debated on whether to bring this knowledge to Kakakatak - knowing that her race would then not only have the ability to mindswap with individuals throughout time and space - but also remove them from time. Ultimately it was decided (though not unanimously) to send Jack and Harley to obtain whatever information she had acquired from Huston's mind and then the rest of the group would arrive and ambush her.

 

Kakakatak told them that the cult's ritual space was prepared in the Purple Temple located at the top of the Great Archives. They had set up a series of statues of the Elder Gods and created one of The Sand Bat out of bones and debris that absorbed spiritual essence. Sacrifices were made to it weekly to store up enough power to be released at the final ritual to be held during the eclipse in January. She was unsuspecting as the rest of the group arrived and surprise attacked her - and though she dove for cover behind some equipment, when the smoke of the shotguns and lightning cleared - she lay dead on the ground.

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Session 73: The Purple Temple

Harley, Jack, Lee, Sayed, Everett and Jean Luis ventured through the city towards the Purple Dome Temple that was referred to as the place where the Great Ritual would take place. When the group arrived - Everett scouted out the entrance and while temporarily under the influence on a cultists spell led the group into an ambush. As they entered the dome shots rang out from behind large stones of rubble and shadowy corners throughout the room. Everyone took cover and a gun battle (with a few sticks of dynamite) with the final of Huston's followers played out. After the last of the cultists had been dealt with they explored the temple and its blasphemous series of statues. Sayed found that he was able to access the energy (MP) stored in the large effigy of the Sand Bat aspect of Nyarlathotep and was tempted to use them but as the Eye of Light and Dark required other versions of sacrifice - he left it be. 

 

Having retrieved the lock for the cages in Huston's HQ, the group decided to release the prisoners and let Harley convince the group to assist in the ritual. Lee described to Sayed some of the imagery from when the City of the Great Race was populated and used that along with other magical influences from the Necronomicon to devise the "eye" for the ritual.  The ceremony was performed successfully - and while arrangements were being made to move the prisoners to Jeremy Grogan's abandoned mining camp they noticed that the statues were slowly falling apart of their own accord under the watchful eye they had created. 

 

With the prisoners en route to safety the team rigged up several of the power generators to explode and close off both known entrances to the city. Then they started the week long journey back to civilization. They notified the University of Sydney about Prof David Dodge's demise and told them that the expedition had been a failure - there was nothing to find. Traveling back to a Port City where they could make arrangements to sail to Kenya took some time but eventually the group found themselves on board a passenger liner headed to Mombasa. They spent the near month long journey resting, reading and refocusing their minds and efforts towards locating the Mountain of the Black Wind - knowing that they were about to follow in the actual footsteps of the ill-fated Carlyle Expedition.