The party, patching itself up after the owlbear and the death of ...what was his name?...and now porting two baby owlbears (since...why not), move to the ground level cavern where they saw the wagon wheel (and not in a good way).
Balin leads the way - for 5 minutes anyway
The cavemouth stinks of rot, and is covered in malign looking fungus and
rotten plant life, ...but they go in anyway. Lighting a torch, and
keeping an eye out however, is not enough for them to see the floor pit
trap, with spikes and such...and Jeralt and Balin fall in...the
characters behind them narrowly avoiding the trap themselves...the fall
triggering an attack from the flesh eating creepers on one side, whilst Jeralt the Paladin, managing to get out of the pit trap, faces giant rats on the
other..
Creepers - who clearly have gym memberships
Now these guys seem easy to take down - until they don't. Balin, having
taken damage from the pit, is a 'bit' wounded. Bear that in mind.
Not this Balin...
The party move on to explore the complex, encountering the cannibal
creepers' 'larder' (ewww) and more of the warrior creeper types in
hidden chambers, at which point the wounded Balin is taken down in
combat...with two rounds to live; even the multitude of party members
that get to him, seem unable to save him as he bleeds to death...oh
Shadowdark, thou art a harsh gaming environment ;)
ummm man down!
Somebody save him dammit!
Busted up, the party elect to use Mountainholme - the magic shield - to
barricade their position, the shield now passing to Lidda the halfling
(whom its magic will turn into a dwarf by morning, meaning that she will
have to wear boots - it's complicated...).
Party of five - Dagmara, Karlyle, Jeralt, Bjorn and Lidda the halfling-uhh dwarf...
With McDaid safely ensconced 'on the inside' - even though it may be a very dangerous place to be, the remaining characters deliberate what to do, having received his letter from the American Magician - Will Crowther.
He tells them of strange crates which are to be sent to the show next day. Bearing in mind that they are now aware that the Prime Minister will be there...
'I'm sure McDaid will be fine working undercover...'
...they deliberate the following plans:
Plan A- Straight up assault on the house of the Chinese Magician - Ching Lung Soo, with the Lewis gun
Plan B - Disguising Sinead as Crowther (she rolls a 03) and getting her inside the house
Plan C - Again, a straight up assault on the house of the Chinese Magician - Ching Lung Soo, with the Lewis gun...um, it's a bit like Plan A
Plan D - Bearing in mind what the trucks might be carrying, possibly sabotaging them before they can leave the house (preferably when McDaid is not inside - although to be fair...he may be dispensable?)
Plan E - Another straight up assault on the house of the Chinese Magician - Ching Lung Soo, ...did I mention the Lewis gun? haven't we um..?
Plan F - Taking out the trucks en route with a planned 'accident' involving (1) a car crash, (2) Sinead's unstable 'devices' ...or, since said devices are beginning to 'weep' dangerously, a combination of both ideas.
'I believe that I can summarise these plans, as a load of these...!'
Watching the trucks at the back of the Ching Lung Soo's Surbiton townhouse, the characters note that there are two. Crowther informs them that they will be used to move crates to the theatre. Resolving to stop the crates en route, the party adopts 'Plan F'.
"Wait! That's your plan to stop me? Really?"
Clearly Ching Lung Soo hopes to summon something nasty - and it looks like the man they seek - poor old Phillip LeClair ...is done for? ...somehow part of the plan and already lost to fate...
They spend the day getting a university car for the 'incident' whilst Sinead gathers the components of her 'Crowther disguise'.
They outmaneuver the trucks as they leave, leaving Sinead with her special 'street package' for the second truck...which she lobs successfully into the back and it goes off in the leafy London street, shattering windows, NPCs, cultists, and the local peace,the Professor and McLeoud watch nonchalantly from a sidestreet, ready to slam into the first truck...when...a ghostly apparition of Phillip LeClair appears in the rear seat...on fire...and very briefly...oops!
'You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off...'
He warns them that:
'...you must help me...get me back from this accursed place...you must get me back...stop the Chinaman...BUT OPEN THE GATE!..OPEN THE GATE! for pity's sake!'
...oooh scary
They slowly work out, that the crates contain summoning obelisks, and that Ching Luing Soo is using the trapped Phillip as some sort of sacrificial medium to summon the evil Lan Shee entity...which means that Phillip might yet be alive, and somehow they have to interrupt the ritual to get him back? ...I mean that sounds plausible, right???
'Part 3, section 2.3 of Plan F (car whacks truck 1in side on London side-street)'...is therefore not carried out, and the party resolves to attend the Magic Show instead, hoping that somehow, they can save Phillip, and also ensure that the Prime Minister is not swallowed by something large and slimy.
On the way, Sinead and Crowther come up with a new idea for a trick - since she now looks like him - they could pull off a teleport scam!..I mean trick! They plan how it will work.
'Ta Dahhhhhh! Spoilers - this movie is ruined in the next line...'
Sinead smuggles Crowther in, outlining to the police outside the theatre that he is 'his' twin and obviously part of the trick ...it seems completely plausible.
McLeoud convinces the heavy police presence that he is a special investigator...and the show gets underway.
Ching Lung Soo announces with a special bang of the gong - that 'Tonight's show will be one that you will never, ever forget , Ladies and Gentlemen...'
...real time footage, of the actual gong...no kitchen appliances were harmed in the making of this programme
A few dodgy magicians present their tricks...and Crowther and his 'twin' go down a storm...proving that teleportation up the corridor from one box to another IS indeed possible...(as Crowther falls through the stage and the disguised Sinead emerges from the box she has been hiding in further up the aisle ..GENIUS! - definitely original, honest!). Even the PM claps.
A nervous Karl Weiss and 'the lovely Karla' then take to the stage, strangely not performing the 'vanish' trick that he stole from Leclair...
The lovely Karla...and some bloke.
...but it is almost time for the finale - the great trick of Ching Lung Soo...what could go wrong?
Having managed to persuade Karl Weiss, the suspicious German magician, that he knows a thing or two about magic...McDaid is brought to the house of Ching Lung Soo - the headquarters of the mysterious Inner Brotherhood of Magicians, with plenty of cult security.
'Show me the trick already!'
Whilst waiting for an audience, he meets a less than stalwart English magician, and a more proficient American - called Will Crowther - who tells him that he knew the missing Phillip Leclair, and was convinced that the German was up to no good, and was stealing Phillip's new 'vanishing' trick...which, now he thought about it, seemed to have something to do with a book that the German had shown him.
Invited upstairs now, and a little nervous, McDaid performs his card trick in front of the old Chinaman and his retinue.
'Actual Footage' from McDaid's magic trick. Now, I can not unsee someone saying: 'now that's magic!'
The Chinese Magician appears impressed ..., and invites McDaid to join the '1st level' of the order, and use the downstairs library and practice rooms, warning him...that one day soon, he may require a favour of his new found 'young apprentice'.
yeah - cuz that never goes wrong!
As he leaves, the Chinese guard is distracted as Will Crowther beckons him toward the '2nd level library', the thought that Philip might have found something he shouldn't , clearly on his mind.
There, McDaid determines further evidence of the mysterious 'Cult of Lan Shee', convinced now from his Cthulhu Mythos knowledge, thet the entity is some sort of Star Vampire. As Crowther tells him that not only had Phillip disappeared after determining how the new trick might work, but that also he has heard that the Prime Minister himself is to be at the charity Magic Ball, the night after next... Of course, he borrows a book before he leaves...
Uhhh...
McDaid slowly pieces it together, reasoning now that the heavy Police presence in Surbiton, has something to do with an unscheduled appearance...and the machinations of Ching Lung Soo...and the mysterious 'CULT OF LAN-SHE!'
Big trouble in little London...
He resolves to work on the inside, somehow trying to get a message to his friends...before it is too late.
Emerging over the top of the crest line, and presented with the cavernous valley below, the party lands along the lower treeline, hoping to stealth their way into the cave complex.
Darkness, stink and dank foreboding greet them...the first room turns nasty as they determine that it is the abode of a large and deadly 'grey ooze'...which leaves a nasty acid burn on Dagmara's (the half orc wizard) face...ouch.
Dagmara, Karlyle, Bjorn, Lidda Puddlefoot, Bernard, Jeralt the Holy and Balin
Simultaneously, the other end of the party is attacked by giant rats, meaning that they have to split their lighting - a spell at one end, and with Jeralt the Holy holding torch for Bernard the dwarf cleric, and Bjorn the mighty.
They're just giant rats right? What could possibly go wrong? ...Bernard, defeating the last of them, finds that his damage seems heavy - is that bite infected? ...uhh he does not feel well...
Electing to proceed rather than 'medevac' the 'unhealable' Bernard via the griffin currently holding top cover, the party proceed into the darkness..hearing the sound of wierd 'crying'...I mean most people would run away...
Having realised, too late, that they have disturbed the nesting area of an owlbear and its young, chaos ensues:
Bjorn, Lidda, Jeralt and Balin the thief - all attack the owlbear, launching their 'magic dwarven shield defence' whilst the clerics - being of the holy orders...uhhh - opt to 'steal the baybays!' (yep you read that right).
The noble clerics run for the door with 'playful' owlbears
The owlbear, neatly bypassing the shield-wall, decides to go straight to protecting its kin, slapping the already wounded Bernard (who is diseased and can not be healed right now) to the floor - dead as the plot of a commercial 5e D&D product! ...the opening however is exploited by the rest of the party who ambush the beast...
"Good thing we didn't lose anyone - ..Bernard? BERNARD!!!"
'What shall we call the cute owlbears?' is not a quote oft heard... after it's all over.
Finding their way back to London, Elaine, still at the
university, informs Professor Von Junzt that she is extremely worried about a
man whom she had been ‘seeing’.
Philip LeClair, a ‘stage Magician - ohh she is ‘sure’ he is
really French…honest’…, seems to have gone missing.
'Now madame, if I can pull an actual plot out of this scenario, that really will be magic!'
The party (minus Sinead, who has disappeared into the London
underground to meet her Irish contacts) determine to speak with LeClair’s agent- ‘Howard Horne – Theatrical Impressario’ of
Long acre, London.
'Can Oi 'elp?'
Horne talks the talk, but seems to know very little,
outlining only that LeClair had developed a very exciting new ‘vanish’ trick,
but since his disappearance,a rival
magician at the theatre – a German named ‘Karl Weiss’ (‘The Amazing Karl’)
seemed to have appropriated it. He also states, almost matter-of-factly, that both
men are involved with a strange society, run by a Chinese collective, known as
the ‘Inner Brotherhood of Magicians’ (it helps if you say it in the style of
the 1960s Fu Manchu movies).
Saruman's finest hour
The party suspect the worst, and interview Karl – pretending
to be Policemen, and of course benefitting from the ID that they …’borrowed’…last
week. The Prof (rolling a psychology of 01) watches as the nervous Magician,
who seemed very concerned at being watched by two Chinese thugs in the
audience, blurts out to the Prof that the aforementioned Magic Society of Ching
Lung Soo intimidated him into admitting that he had loaned Philip a book he
shouldn’t have. It was at this juncture that Philip was brought before Ching Lung
Soo – and he has not been seen since.
The two Chinese thugs in the audience try to gain access to Karl
as the characters are interviewing, but are shoo’ed away, at which juncture the
Prof and McLeoud decide to create a diversion, having them follow the Prof
disguised as Karl…they also notice an enlarged Police presence in London, perhaps in light of the charity performance two nights hence..where the magicians will appear...
McDade, a bit of a dab hand with magic himself, agrees to accompany
Karl to the society’s large house in Surbiton, where Karl tells him that if he
can perform a trick, he might be allowed to become a 1st level member
of the cult…I mean society…
Having acquired the 'purple stone of doom', the party explore the rest of the cavern, finding a giant spider guarding the exit ...seemingly infected by the purple stone of dooom in some manner (it can't be good). In bad shape, the party make for the spiral staircase in the hope of outrunning it, though 'mad Bjorn', with very few hit points left, decides to jump madly from the stairs onto it as it scuttles about in thick webs...eventually killing it.
Kicking the door in...uhh the webs in
Scuttler hangs about in the roof after each attack (the jar came in handy again)
Bjorn tears the spider a new web hole...
The party need a rest, as they are out of spells and low on hits, but
determine to push on, leaving the complex with the stone. Despite the
dryads' insistence that the way out is 'that way', and that they should
hand over the stone, the party tell them they will guard it to its
destination.
The dryads are upset, but obviously under the malign influence of something more powerful.
After travelling deeper into the forest, and narrowly avoiding a nest of spiders, they emerge into a small clearing, dominated by a three storey tiered and fortified tower, imposing in its obsidian majesty - and seemingly with a griffin either stuck, or imprisoned on top. They knock the door, though the dryads seem to gain easy entry, as a metal golem appears asking the characters what they desire.
As the characters state that they want to hand over the stone, they are informed that 'Lady Morgana will see them now' ...predictably, the dryads bugger off.
They start up the spiral staircase, shrouded in magical darkness, realising (with damage from a nearby warning statue) that spells do not work on this floor...Another floor, with a tame (for the moment) Otyugh hiding in the corner ready to strike...and they are presented with 3 stones in place in a statue, and a gap for a 4th. Obligingly, Jeralt the paladin places the purple stone...and immediately falls under the charm of Lady Morgana, who is also obligingly, just up the stairs.
The party emerge into her private chamber, and are invited to sit and eat, drink, though they hear both Otyugh and Steel Golem..making their way up.
'Oh I have just made tea? One lump or two?
Balin keeps climbing, determined to see what is in the roof, and tries to use his 'move stealthily' advantage roll - and fails utterly...as Lady Morgana says 'stop that young fellow' ...then follows it up with an acid bolt which almost kills him (he is one round from death at one stage until saved by Dagmara)... as her face melts away into the guise of the Weald Hag that she truly is...AAAAAAAND FIGHT!
"Uhhh...where'd everybody go?'
Lots of stuff happening now, as attacks go in, acid arrows flying everywhere from the hag, and the wily characters move tables to block the approach of the monsters from below. Bernard and Dagmara the sorceress race to the roof, to release the griffin which is slowly being sucked dry of its life essence on a sacrificial altar of doooom. The hag is eventually defeated, after Dagmara puts Jeralt to sleep lest he attack them and support the hag whilst ensorcelled in her charm.
Getting off the dang roof...
With one round before the monsters break through (d4 timers are superb ideas), they reach the roof...but now they have a problem in terms of getting off the roof three at a time as the monsters try to break through. They manage to move the altar across the roofhatch, with effort, delaying the monsters further, such that the griffin can ferry them from the tower to a safe area in groups...aaaand relaaax... until next week!
Resolving to finally investigate the dig site, where (1) Sinead had been consulted in an advisory capacity with regard to 'blowing part of the cliff down', and (2) the party have researched Roman remains, the group, with Fergus (of the witch cult) in the boot (trunk) of the car. What could go wrong?
Discovering Roman remains, and a deserted site, the party first check Henry and Adam's tent HQ.
Sinead has been here before, though of course at that time, it was tidy and ordered - by now, the former witch's minions have effectively destroyed the place in their apparent search for a fragment of the disc!
I bet he drinks Carling Black Label...
Searching through the wreckage, the eagle-eyed Sinead (05 on spot hidden) finds a crumpled fragment of notepaper. Henry has recorded that Adam...'worked something out' ...and not in a good way.
Continuing their search, the party realise that the ruins are in fact an old temple - Roman?...they guess, though the Professor (still recovering) manages to wake up just long enough to alert them to the fact that there are older, even pre-pagan writings at work on the architecture...and then, they find, the ruined temple.
Every Blakes 7 and Dr Who set from the 70s
Dominated by a blacker than black, almost but not quite obsidian, obelisk like altar, with an odd looking faceless sphinx,... McDaid realises that it represents the dark messenger (some might say 'admin manager') of the outer void...none other that Nyarlathotep...and within the body of the altar, lie the openings for three small blocks. A key mechanism? But to open what exactly?
'Yer gettin' better AI...'
McLeoud manages to work out that the symbols are related to alchemy, and the party decides to position the sun facing the east, with Earth to the left..however, the strange direction of the third symbol confounds them, until they use melted wax to determine the nature of the insert shape...as they place the final key ... and hope that nothing goes wrong...
'Oh yes, it all seems perfectly clear...'
A hatch opens in the base of the sphinx...to reveal the third piece of the sacred disk, most likely hidden there by Adam...although, far below, through holes in the base of the obelisk, something dark, viscous, malleable, big!...is stirring. The characters quickly pull the keys out. still hearing the surging blackness below...did it want a sacrifice?
Thinking upon the situation, they consider, that they still have Fergus, and he is evil...right?...Sinead speaks what everyone else is thinking...suggesting that he might be sacrificed to this 'thing that should not be'...what could go wrong? ...I am sure whoever makes the decision won't have any repercussions for sanity - (as all look at Sinead)...
The cover of the original 'Trail of Tsathoggua' - perhaps a little too 'human' in this case
The bound Fergus realises what is happening as he is dragged from the car ...as Sinead replaces the keys, and waits for the thing to engulf their 'offering'. As he melts, and Sinead remembers his terrified face as the last thing to be eaten...the black ichor like spawn of Tsathoggua..retreats back into its lair...and it is over. ...for now, as the Keeper of Arcane Lore wonders why so little SAN was lost in the entire encounter. Damn those dice.
...better...
End of the chapter? Not quite. They get the heck out of Dodge, or Cannich...getting the train to London after juggling their cars about. They realise however, that they are being tailed. Confronting the man in trench coat and hat, he reveals himself to be Tommy Hayes, of Scotland Yard, though of course, the characters remain suspicious - even more so when he seems un-phased by the deaths of Ian McDonald and his wife under horrible circumstances.
As McDade makes the witness in the carriage forever indebted to him (01 in fast talk), and takes her for tea and gin, McLeoud and Sinead watch as poor Tommy, 'accidentally' slips, falls, and bounces along the track for a bit. McLeoud even feels bad, for a minute or so. I am sure no one else saw it...
Excited passengers wait to see who the characters will get rid of next...
Arriving in London, the recovering Professor returns to his office, to hear that Elaine (from the first adventure) is worried about her stage magician boyfriend having disappeared, while the rest of the party go to the British Museum Library..and determine from an ancient map, that the island pictured on the disk, matches a mythical place, known only as R'Lyeh...
Not Dora's map
A telegram from Edward Call has also arrived, advising the characters to take the Liner Mauretania to New York in a week...giving them time to check up upon this stage magician...
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