Part 11 - oppramsing, oppramsing, oppramsing

 Lars

  • The SS Arab (that's racist!) går i rute mellom Southampton og Cape Town, skipet vi må ta nedover. 
  • Vi rekrutterer Dr Pembrook (Staale) via majoren sitt okkulte nettverk, og captain Jack Sterling (Kai) via de miltære. 
  • Majoren forteller om Alice (Lars), som kommer fra et sted nært Victoria Falls og har sett majoren i drømme. Hun har lært seg nødvendige spells selv, og har en kopi av den rare boka. 
  • De tre over blir introdusert til hovedplottet, sånn mer el mindre. 
  • Nash og Phillip rekrutter Mad Floyd McLoyd (Haaken). Han får en noe mindre ekstensiv versjon av plottet. 
  • Fast forward, vi kommer til Cape Town 2 dager etter the dickheads. De var 15 sivile og 30 militære, under ledelse av Chief Dickhead McCallum. 
  • De hadde med 3 vogner fulle av utstyr, så ut som de skulle grave. 
  • Vi tar toget til Kimberley. Alice, Floyd og Dr P går av utenfor, de andre drar inn for å kjøpe hester. 
  • Vi møtes nord utenfor byen. 
  • Vi kommer til en liten landsby hvor det var en syk fyr. Dr P amputerer foten, han dauer dagen etter, whoops. 
  • Drar videre og ser en brennende village og raiders som gjemmer seg, vi rir rundt, de følger muligens etter. 

Frode

We went around. They were about 15 warriors. On towards Mafeking. Damned hot.
No more trouble in night. Grassy plains. Not much water but we navigate to the ones
that exist. Horses need to drink.

Approached by warriors. About 20 armed with spears and shields. Barolong. Alice
communicates and is confident they will not attack. They ask questions about who we
are and where we are going. Alice charms them a little and they are content. We offer
one of our rifles as a peace offering. We get a warning that there are bandits about.

Boer are looking for English.
We cook up a cover story if asked again. We are visiting the mission and also
prospecting for anything valuable.

As night falls again we are attacked by the same Barolong warriors. They try to steal
our horses. Capt. Stirling scares them off with a warning shot. Stirling ab Nash then
sneak out and discover that they are regrouping. Cheeky bastards. In order to
disperse and scare them off properly we take one of them out. Serve them right.
They were not keeping their part of the deal.

We finally reached Mafeking. Mix of Native, Boer and Englis. Many different
ramshackle houses and most notably an English looking saloon /pub on the Main
street. We rent rooms here and it is fortunately run by an English fellow.
Possible to trade an restock here. We replenish our supplies.

Chief Montihika rules this place. A lot of savages about with Mauser rifles. A lot of
Boer, French and German.
We learn that Fredrik van Merve, a local bandit, is looking for us. He has 15-20
soldiers, heavily armed, on horseback.

He is friendly with the chieftain. Unfortunately, the savage we shot the other night
turned out to be the chiefs nephew. He is looking for revenge. Best not to stay too
long. We leave at first dawn. Pressing on we develop a routine of setting traps in the
night. The trip is uneventful.

Kalahari Desert. Estimated 14 days to cross. The doc develops a fever and seems to
be infected by the sickness. Increasing fever. Fades by day 2.
!0 days form Victoria falls we reach the trading post. Home of Alice. We spent a
couple of days there plotting and planning. We decide to talk to the local witch doctor.

He lives half a day north. Muptumi Shikore. Shona Nga is in the village and in his hut.
He dreamt of Holcomb. 1 month ago, he left for the falls and sensed that there was
evil there. There is an evil tribe settled there now, worshipping the evil god below the
roaring water. The tribe does however not live in the real world but more a in between
world. They are twisted and stunted. Note that they can be wounded in our world but
can only be defeated and killed in the in-between world. The rock must be found.
Nga mentions Holcomb as a “deathless master”.


We learn a ritual that will take us to the in between world.
Spending days in the village we play with the children and have carefree days. But at
night we dream vivid disturbing dreams of the ocean of boats and the sea.
Alice and I learn the ritual. Alice also knows the ritual that can secure the stone.
We hack ourselves through the jungle to the falls.

About four days from the falls the dreams become more vivid. Stronger. Ocean, smell
of the sea and seaweed.
2 days out the dreams are intense and we awake wet. Drenched in what appears to
be seawater. Creepy.

Alice has a clairvoyant ability. She uses it towards the falls and learns of a force that
beckons and warns at the same time. Many forces at play.
½ a day away we are attacked by 30 pygmies armed with spears and blow darts. Evil
fuckers but we decimate them. Zealots. We reconsider and debate our actions.
There is a plan to cross over into the shadow world and from there press on to the
falls.

We do so. Approaching the falls from this end we see 100s of pygmies living in a
village at the falls. They are worshipping a huge totem with a weird humanoid statue.
The head is twisted with tentacles and it has wings. Uncertainty as to where the
stone is hidden. Alice cannot sense it from this side. Everything is twisted and
opposite somehow.

Our options are behind the falls in a cave or underneath the totem.
Observing the village for a while we see that there are no children. No food. There is
a strict hierarchy.

While scouting we are suddenly attacked by huge, winged beasts with tentacles. We
fight back fiercely but, in the process, alert the village and 100s of pygmies’ rush
towards us.

We flee. After a while they lose interest. Alas, a gigantic flying creature has spotted
us. A dragon like beast. Horror. It swoops down. Oh, the terror. We try to hide. It
almost takes me. Somehow, we manage to defeat the beast. But once more we alert
the pygmies.

We flee.
Capt. Stirling is fatigued and thoroughly succumbs. Floyd carries him to safety. Cold
and tired we stop and make camp.

Intense discussion as to how to proceed. I perform the ritual enabling us to return to
the real world.
Alice and Doc remain. They want to converse with the evil buggers.
We later learn that thy sneak back up to the falls and Alice spots a gigantic being that
rises from the lake at the base of the falls. The pygmies commune with it through a
priest. The being or monster, vaguely reminiscent of the figure on t hen totem, eats
15 pygmies as if they were a handful of nuts.

Back in the real world we are constantly under attack from pygmies. We fight them
back.We give Stirling some Gin and he manages to join the fray.

Alice communes with the being but with little result. Pygmies will attack regardless.

We move camp further away from falls.

Alice communes with the pygmies priest and strikes some form of deal with him. She
is allowed to “protect’” the rock for a price - one of us needs to to remain in the shadow lands forever.
Alice is needed to perform the protective ritual so she volunteers the doctor.
He is taken into captivity by the pygmies.
Alice returns to the real world and discovers the stone behind the waterfall. She
performs the ritual and secures the stone. Success!!
Meanwhile we are waiting. Alice returns to camp and explains what happened-
The good doctor is gone! Marooned in the shadow world. Should we attempt a
rescue?
While thinking we decide to approach the falls once more to try to seal and cover up
the cave in which the stone is hidden. We find it and hide it. No pygmies in sight.
However, we discover the good doctor wandering around! What is going on!!!??


He was held captive in a shiny cave . Within he suddenly met a bearded fellow telling
him there are more stones. 3 in all. The stones form a prison containing a great evil.
We mut stop this evil and we must stop the person trying to break open this prison.
After filling the cave entrance with stones we discuss or next move.

Kill Holcomb?
Find the three remaining stones and seal them/protect them.
Who is this bearded fellow?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Part 5, where we learn what we're up against

Part 8, where we marshal our strength and resolve

Part 1, in which we learn who is brilliant at breakfast.