In reply to The Keeper (msg # 527):

"I believe the masks are representing Anubis, God of the dead, and Sobek, perhaps. He is the box traditionally portrayed with a crocodile head. Chi-yin whispered, keeping her voice as quiet as possible.

"How shall we free those poor people?" She added, after looking around and sighting the cages.

Cynthia cracks the door open, until the figures are visible, then pauses, gauging the distance, the likelihood of making a solid shot, and whether the crack of a gun would be audible by the cultists down the distant corridor.

"Lets try and get closer...." was all Mr. Perkins said as he readied his hand gun.


-

The door seemed solid enough that if it was closed behind them, gunfire might well not alert anyone in the noisy ceremonial chamber so far away down the tunnel. Perkins slipped in.

Keeper's Note: I'll let you decide if others come in. Everyone going beyond just the door (like sneaking closer) needs to make a Move Silent checK.

“I don’t think my creeping like a mouse will work. Here, let me look through our things again. Perhaps I can play to my strengths while you line up the shot.”

Cynthia pulls through the packs until she finds something in the current fashion, pulling on the robes and concealing her face. Once she feels suitably dressed, she’ll walk in and find something mundane to do out of the way. Her gun is under the robes, hopefully she can maneuver to shoot from the hip, either holding the gun through the fabric or sliding her hand underneath the clothing.

She isn’t sure what language to expect, so is listening for that before providing whatever seems like an appropriate ‘oh Monday’s’ cults response.

Through the crack between the doors, the others saw Cynthia waltz right by the guards, seemingly invisible.

In costume, Cynthia slipped into the cell block. The jailers took no notice of her, concentrating on their prisoners. Hiding her shotgun under her robes she was startled to not that the costume animal heads were very good. Almost too good! For one, there was no noticeable seams where the animal heads met the necks and shoulders of the cultists who were wearing them, blending smoothly.

She received another shock when she recognised one of the prisoners. It was Agatha! Despite their warnings and the ruse to get her to the British embassy in Cairo, the Englishwoman had been somehow waylaid and transported here. Despite her advanced years and breeding she looked on her captors with considerable venom and hatred. An alligator-headed man-beast smiled a terrible grin, showing off his long toothy snout. He muttered something in an ancient language, then laughed!

In reply to The Keeper (msg # 534):

Lady Agatha looked up. She spotted Cynthia, as well as Chi-Yin, Count Bathony and Mr. Perkins, all disguised as cultists using their stolen robes.

Eyes filled with pain and despair she whispered, "I... I know you! You're Cynthia... Chi-Yin? Is that you? What are you doing here, child?"

In reply to Lady Agatha (msg # 535):

"We came to stop these evil people." Chi-yin whispered back. "How did they capture you?"

The Count kept watch at the door for anyone else that may come a looking.


-

The Mr Perkins watched over Cynthia and Chi-yin as they conversed with the prisoner. he was ready with his handgun under his robes should the "guards" make a move towards them.



-

This is too much. There's no way Cynthia is willing to proceed on with Agatha in such danger, not to mention the foolishness of leaving these... creatures behind her.

She flashes Agatha a glower, a move practiced on many a foolish servant intended to turn veins to ice and, hopefully, drive Agatha to silence. She engages in some minor activity appropriate to a mindless cultist, then wanders behind the alligator-head beast. She, ever so carefully, lifts her shotgun until it's level with the man's mask, then reconsiders, remembering how hard alligator skulls are, and levels it with the man's chest. She takes a moment to suck in her breath... and pulls the trigger, twice.

In reply to Cynthia Jane Holloway (msg # 539):

The alligator-masked man was facing away from her. He turned around and his eyes focused on her. The eyes on the mask, that is. And there was no place for someone who was wearing a mask to see out the neck. She realised that this wasn't a mask, this was really some form of horrid man-beast fusion!

Her double-barreled 20-gauge shotgun roared twice in the confined space, buckshot chewing a gaping hold in his chest. He stumbled back into the cage, blood spraying everywhere, dropping his curved Khopesh.

Keeper's Note: Everyone can attack now with surprise, getting in a first shot.

George fired on the nearest guard to where he was currently standing. Pulling the trigger several times on his FN automatic.

George Perkins rolled 21 using 1d100 with rolls of 21.  Handgun = 67%.


-

Chi-yin looked about for something to get the cages open while the guards were distracted. There should be a key to these things, she thought.

The Count turned back in time to see one of the guards take a blast from the shotgun and Mr Perkins to engage the second guard. Seeing there was a third the Count raised the handgun in his hand and fired on him.

The blast from the Colt New Service revolver was intense with such a short barrel, but the Count would continue to fire until the guard dropped.


Count Sigismund Bathony rolled 36 using 1d100 with rolls of 36.  Handgun = 70%.



-

The room thundered with gunfire. All three guards went down immediately, collapsing in awkward death poses. Their blood began pooling on the floor. Chi-Yin immediately found a set of iron keys hanging from a hook on the wall that fit the locks on the cage doors. Everyone's ears were still ringing as the prisoners clamoured for release.

Quickly, the cage doors wee unlocked and the prisoners freed. Among them were seven Egyptians (three men, four women) plus Agatha. Agatha hugged Chi-Yin. Hearing started to return, she sobbed in relief. "Please... get us out of here! I don't know what you are doing here, but thank you! Thank you!"

They had a couple choices now. Whatever action they would take would need to happen soon. Obviously, at or near the climax of the foul ceremony someone would be sent to gather the sacrifices and the carnage would be revealed. They could send the prisoners back alone, send someone with them of bring them along when the final confrontation at what was likely a large underground ceremonial chamber, if the faint sounds of chanting they'd heard earlier could be believed.

In reply to The Keeper (msg # 544):

The stout outer doors opened and one of their crew, an ex-RAF pilot John-Mark, poked his head in. <Blue>"No one is coming, yet. If you like, I can lead the prisoners back out to the surface. That will leave the Basara Brothers with the Dynamite, Mills bombs and Stielhandgrenates, plus Roger and Karlheinz to manage the Lewis gun."</Blue>

"Yes, yes perhaps. We can escort you back to the exit tunnel and then it should be a straight run into the desert. Fire on anything that looks to be an enemy and don't worry about the noise." The Count tried to give a smile of sorts.


-
This message was last edited by the player at 23:51, Mon 16 Oct 2023.

"You want us all to go?" Cynthia checks her pocket watch. "I don't want those beasts to finish whatever it is they're doing. Perhaps some of us can set the dynamite to bomb the tunnels. Then when the prisoners are escaped, we can throw a few party favors into their ceremony and blast anyone who tries to chase us."

One of the Basara Brothers, Faruk, said,

"I sense time is of the essence here. Haji and I, we can lead them out if you like. We know the way. The rest of you may carry on. We have the Dynamite and other explosives, someone should take them and use them."

In reply to The Keeper (msg # 544):

Chi-yin patted Agatha on the back. "Don't worry, dear. I promise we'll get you and the others out."

"Thank you, my dear!" Miss Agatha said, tears streaming down her face. "I was so frightened! These people, if you can all them that, are so wicked. Please, let's go!"
This message was last updated by the GM at 23:15, Mon 06 Nov 2023.

Before they left they made sure the guards were dead. Fearing what they might find, they ensured most of their party remained outside for this lest they be shocked or unnerved by what such an examination might reveal. And they were right. As suspected, these were not simply cultists wearing masks, but instead some kind of unholy fusion of the actual head of an animal to the body of a man. It was impossible to say if this was the result of science or magic, or something else.

They dragged the bodies of the hideous guards out of sight down a dark side corridor and cleaned up the blood in cells as best they could. Still, the wet floors might be a giveaway!

It was a long and arduous trek to the side corridor they had turned on to this main corridor, then all the way back to their starting point. Although because they were backtracking and had a route marked on the map, far faster than the trip in.

When they got back to the entrance, they signalled for the "stay-behind" party to come help. The prisoners were all spirited away by Alexander's men to safe houses that had been pre-arranged.

All told, the round trip back to the start cost them about an hour, considering there were a few false turns and pauses to let noises of movement ahead subside. From Agatha's dream-journal and Dr. Khafour's information about what to expect from the ritual ceremony of the Black Brotherhood they probably had not progressed to the part where the sacrifices would be needed. Which would be good as their disappearance and the killing of the guards would certainly be cause for alarm!

Eventually, they came back to the central-seeming wide corridor. To the right were the cells where they freed the prisoners from. Hopefully their actions had not been discovered yet. There was only one way forward: turn left, then proceed down the main corridor towards the underground temple where the ceremony was to take place.

After ten minutes or so they were nearing the location marked on the dream-map that was the sacrificial chamber. All three of the Count, Cynthia and Chi-Yin heard sounds of several men coming towards them at a slow pace. Thankfully, the corridor was twisty enough that they were not in sight, yet, but soon would be. There were shadowed side corridors they could duck down, allowing them to hide and the oncoming group pass them by. Or they could try to brazen it out, but while they had about a half-dozen cultist robes and ankh symbols, there were not enough for everyone. Plus, they were lugging around a Lewis machinegun plus ammunition. Along with satchels and cases of explosives like grenades and Dynamite!

A final consideration would be if this group was going to fetch the prisoners to bring them back to be sacrificed, they would soon discover the prisoners gone and guards missing and raise the alarm. But there wasn't much they could do about that. This gave them about fifteen minutes to find some way to cause as much damage as possible to stop the ceremony and (presumably) kill as many attendees as possible.
This message was last updated by the GM at 23:40, Wed 15 Nov 2023.

"Lets hide, let them pass then set up the Lewis gun next to handy corner and bring the cult and the ceremony to an end ?" If they could find suitable cover perhaps they could end it once and for all.

Should they go forward and try to take out the leaders and draw the followers towards the machine gun he asks.



-

In reply to Count Sigismund Bathony (msg # 552):

First, they quickly hid down a side corridor. The narrow twisting passage was pitch black without their electric torches and they were able to hide most satisfactorily. The only response he got to his query was some shaking of heads from Roger and JM. Everyone else was occupied with moving weapons out of sight. Likewise, they could no longer see the main corridor itself.

The sounds of tramping feet got louder, then passed them by, growing dimmer. There was still an opportunity to spring out and ambush the group from behind.