Dermot attempts to talk to the two guards. They seem insane, rolling their eyes and gibbering strange incantations, but he manages to learn a few facts.

Down the stairs is a great cave, which goes on for who knows how far. There are great treasures down there, but great dangers also. There are many more men in the cave. Whistling demons haunt the darkness.

Huston is a great man, a visionary, directed by God. The guards attempt to convince Dermot of this fact.

Huston has made holy idols down there and, when the time is right, he’ll reach out to God, who will help him to open the Gates of Heaven!
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:20, Mon 20 July 2020.

In reply to GM (msg # 88):

Dermot assures them that we’re all interested in helping Huston open the gates of heaven.

"Here we thought ye were doing some illegal mining or trophy poaching-- can you imagine! ha ha!"

He turns his back for a moment to look at the group and make a “they’re crazy” gesture.

"Best be gettin on then. Huston won't wait forever!"

You spend some time grabbing whatever equipment and weapons you can find. The captured guards seem strangely calm and even smirk to each other occasionally. Professor Dodge is sketching the layout of the pillars and taking rubbings of some of the strange symbols on them. ‘This is going to make us famous, so it is!’ he exclaims excitedly.

Finally, you are ready to begin your descent. The sun is almost touching the horizon as you carefully walk down the stairs. You can feel the temperature fall, and for some reason you believe you can small cooked food from below.

The stairs go down, deeper and deeper. You must be at least 60 meters below the surface now. Electric lights, hung sparsely but regularly, illuminate the rickety wooden steps.

Suddenly, a dark shape speeds past you, heading up. Then another! And another! The air fills with the shrieking of thousands and thousands of bats, the noise of their flapping wings nearly deafening you!

The stream of bats is endless, the sheer volume of them pressing you against the stone wall and making conversation impossible. You almost lose track of time as what feels like millions of bats assault your senses.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:57, Tue 21 July 2020.

Art hugs the wall as the bats fly across his face and body “Good god what a bloody mess will this never end”

In reply to GM (msg # 90):

After the swarm of bats, TJ managed to find the two guards. He thinks that they may be fanatics, or maybe brainwashed by Huston.

"So, why do you two admire Huston so much? Do you worship him as a god?" he asked the guards.

In reply to GM (msg # 90):

Gustav after the encounter with the bats, grabs his pistol and a flashlight pointing to the direction of the bats.

well, if we were trying to be quiet about it... *winks at his companions*

hurry and lets find a safe place to hide in a bit

After the swarm of bats, TJ manages to find the two guards. He thinks that they may be fanatics, or maybe brainwashed by Huston. "So, why do you two admire Huston so much? Do you worship him as a god?" he asked the guards.

“He’s not a god, but as a High Priest to God”, replies one of them. “If you do not honour him, you are beaten, bound to the Stone, and given to the Sand Bat. He has found miracle machines and ancient books. He truly is powerful!”

You continue the descent, with the two guards tied up between you. You estimate that you are at least 100 meters below the surface above. At the bottom of the stairs is a backup electrical generator matching the one at the top of the stairs. Several 50-gallon petrol drums stand nearby. The lower stairs drip with guano (bat excrement); the stench of ammonia is nauseating and overpowering.

The first impression down here is one of coolness. The earth at this depth maintains a constant temperature of 57°F (14°C). There is a silence and a stillness beyond life and death. No tomb has ever existed for so long as these passages have, nor had such treasures in it. Beyond are great halls and thick dust, and the gleam of increasingly tiny light bulbs leading off into unfathomable eternal darkness.

It is possible to go in any direction, but the lights seem like irresistible beacons. Everyone notices that a trail has been pounded through the thick dust along the line of electric lights, and that elsewhere the dust is undisturbed. In the darkness, you see almost nothing of the extent of this place.


https://i.ibb.co/cQzR1NP/city.jpg" data-lightbox="images-msg-94">https://i.ibb.co/cQzR1NP/city.jpg" alt=''>

In reply to GM (msg # 94):

As the bats clear and Johan gets a good look at the room he falls to his knees quietly exclaiming, "Mein Gott...Mein Gott...I've been here...before.  When I was a child I had...such vivid dreams of such a place, this place....  How can this be?"

Shaking off the stunning knowledge that his dreams have been made real, suddenly great fear grips Johan as he turns to his comrade.  "We must travel here with great care there are creatures here that man has not seen before, we are in great danger.  Carefully where step...silence is needed."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Tue 28 July 2020.

In reply to Johan Braun (msg # 95):

Carefully indeed, thinks Dermot as he shakes guano from his boot.

Things have gotten out of hand. Who are all these people, really, who came together to avenge our friend and continue his legacy? What horrors will we continue to unearth? These psychic abilities and revelations... after all, they may be our only help against what timeless monstrosities we face. Though after what we've seen, is there really any hope?

He shudders as he steps quickly and quietly along the dimly lit passage, musing but alert.

In reply to Johan Braun (msg # 95):

Johan trying to explain a little more, trying to remember the dreams ...now real events from his youth,

"This place is a vast library...a city, if we can find one of the plaza's I can probably provide some direction.  When I was here, I was not..mich...me.  I was once of them, tentacled creature.  It's difficult to explain  I need to find what I wrote...to prove that I was here before.  I wrote down details of my life..."

You are on a level floor strewn with fallen blocks, shapeless fragments of stone, and sand and detritus of every kind. On either side—perhaps thirty feet apart—rises massive walls culminating in huge vaulted doors. That they were carved you can just discern, but the nature of the carvings is beyond your perception. What strikes you the most is the vaulting overhead. The beam from your torches can not reach the roof, but the lower parts of the monstrous arches stand out distinctly.

Great ramps inlaid with octagonal stones connect the buildings and structures of the alien city. These ramps are very wide. Bordering them, walls and fallen earth create corridors where there were none before. Distances and sizes are more gigantic than anything you have yet seen, except perhaps for the pyramid in Egypt. Curvilinear symbols are carved into most of the structures. At certain points rubble blocks the way.

In this pervasive alien darkness, the silence has no end. Who knows what once happened here? Who knows what might still be lurking in the depths?

You push on ahead, following the string of lights. Professor Dodge is looking around with wide-eyed amazement, occasionally stopping to jot down notes. Up ahead there seems to be a huge vaulted doorway, with more lights inside. A smell of cooked meat and tobacco slowly wafts your way, reminding you that it has been hours since you ate.

The wet, musky, and ammonia smell of the guano fills every smell receptor in Art’s nose. He begins to gag and fight back the impulse to vomit. ‘Feces... germs, infection, desease, ...and death always.’ Art thinks to himself. His phobia of germs and unclean conditions begins to get the better of him, however he manages to ground himself with the knowledge that he has a fully stocked medical kit.

As you hesitate and discuss what to do, one of the captured guards suddenly screams at the top of his lungs;

"MATES! HELP US! INTRUDERS!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:11, Fri 31 July 2020.

In reply to GM (msg # 98):

Dermot breaks out in a cold sweat as he has a flash of intuition about this place. The lore of the Pnakotic Manuscripts and other sources floods before his eyes. Tales of a gargantuan underground city build by an ancient race from outer space. Triangular, conical things, with all the googly appendages. He recalls that they kept a massive library, that this was perhaps a major function of the city. That these creatures of Yith were bent on preserving their race from an apocalypse thousands of years coming by projecting their consciousnesses into another alien race which would survive it. He's not sure if they're hostile by nature, but the sheer vastness of all this universal conflict is enough to make his head spin, as if the megalithic structures themselves weren't aggravating his existing phobia, brought on by an earlier mind-shattering adventure with this party. Shaking, Dermot turns to begin an attempt to communicate this information when he's cut off by the cry of one of their seemingly amicable prisoners.

The alarm is raised! Get ahold of yerself, Dermot auld boyo!

He takes a deep breath to steady himself as he reaches for his Webley and looks around for a convenient hiding place. He'll take on whatever comes from the safety of the shadows. Tactics and subtlety, that's right....

In reply to GM (msg # 100):

Out of panic and fear, TJ recklessly do a karate chop on one of the guards they are with. Luckily, it knocked him cold to the ground. Sensing the other one about to do the same, he used his mind to push him towards the wall, the impact also knocking him as well.

"Oh wow, I can't believe that worked," TJ whispered to himself. He looked towards the group and asked, "Mind helping me set this folks aside? Better if they do not get discovered for now..."

A minute or two after the guard shouting, a couple of figures appear in the doorway up ahead. They are both shining torch-lights around and walk slowly towards you. If you remain near the string of lights on the path, they will surely spot you soon.

You slip into the darkness to the side of the illuminated trail. As you watch, the two figures slowly approach, and you can see more details. Both look like typical Australian miners, bedraggled and thin.

One is holding a hunting rifle, but curiously the other is holding what looks like a camera in front of him. They come closer, nervously shining their torches into the darkness and stop a few meters in front of where your hiding.

“Wadaya think made that noise? A line-walker?” says the one with the rifle.

“No ideah. Maybe the bloody polyps got him. I'm not headin' into the bloody dahrk ta find out!”

The man with the rifle shines his torch right in David's face. "Professor Dodge? What are you doing here?"



This message was last edited by the GM at 18:33, Mon 03 Aug 2020.

"Martins, old cobber, is that you? Funny seeing ya out in the bush, huh? Didn't know you were working with these fellas, good on ya." Dodge moved forward a bit as if he was supposed to be here, talking with great mirth as though the man had a great effect on him when they worked together.

Martins nods and smiles like the whole situation is quite normal.

"Yeah, I wawrk heah, Professor. Was it one of yah mates that shouted eahrlier? This place can be a bit scahry. I suppose ya'ah all heah ta see Lord Huston?"

His companion with the camera is shining his torch in your faces with a puzzled frown.

"You know this bloke?"' he asks Martins. "They're fair dinkum?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:06, Tue 04 Aug 2020.

"Absolutely fair dinkum, mate. Hey, what's with you, always with the hard yakka, huh? And yeah, it was us, mate." Darcy moved around to position himself so that the others could move up behind these two. "Hey, what's this?" He gestured at the camera.

"That's a lightnin' gun", replies Martins. "Lord Huston showed us how ta use them. Crazy stuff. If we see a Polyp, this'll drive it away. And these ahah yah friends? Didn't know we weah expectin' visitawrs."

His friend is watching David with narrowed eyes, clearly not totally convinced.

In reply to GM (msg # 108):

From the shadows, Dermot nods subtly in response to Johan’s almost comical signaling. It seems this camera must be important.
At the mention of a “lightning gun” he raises a quizzical eyebrow. He glances over to catch the eyes of Gustav and TJ, then watches as Johan leans heavily over his cane and approaches the two Australian workmen.

(Dermot isn’t a brawler, but he’ll be waiting to snatch the lightning gun, or to attempt a melee attack if things get desperate.)


This message was last edited by the player at 14:53, Mon 10 Aug 2020.

From the shadows, Dermot nods subtly in response to Johan’s almost comical signaling. It seems this camera must be important.

Johan moves out of the darkness, using his cane a bit more than he actually would, to draw the eye of the two men.  He gets as close as he can, playing up his age and imaginary walking difficulties.

At the mention of a “lightning gun” Dermot raises a quizzical eyebrow. He glances over to catch the eyes of Gustav and TJ, then watches as Johan leans heavily over his cane and approaches the two Australian workmen.

Moving swiftly up behind the man with the camera, Dermot grabs him by the neck and pulls him down. It’s like the man is swallowed by darkness.

Martins doesn't even notice, he's still talking to David and nodding to Johan.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Mon 10 Aug 2020.

David sees Dermot creep up behind the man with the camera and take him down. He launches himself at Martins, throwing him to the ground and trying to keep him quiet.

Johan moves to assist but instead thwacks David hard in the face with his walking stick. Art joins the fray and soon the two men are subdued.

“Anywhere semi-fatal to dump them?” wonders Dermot. He tosses the ‘Lightning gun’ to Johan. "Cover me, y'auld geezer. Anything inhuman flits about, ye know what to do".

Johan although clearly not himself in these caverns, breaks a slight smile when receiving the lightning gun from Dermot. "Danke, mein Freund"

Johan and Dermot move further into the darkness, looking for a place to dispose the unconscious guards. Johan fails to spot anything, but he manages to slip on a pile of guano (losing 3 HP in the process). Dermot, however, sees something further along…

It’s a deep shaft about 15 feet (4 m) square, which completely blocks the dark path Dermot is exploring. Lights show no apparent bottom to the chasm. There is no way around it, although broken ramps and collapsed corridors once offered many alternate paths. The shaft is square and regular along its sides, plainly created for some kind of purpose.

On Dermot’s side of the chasm is a great, shallow box, approximately the size of the shaft’s mouth. A few minutes of inspection of the massive hinges along the shaft’s side and the elaborate alien latches along its far side make it plain that the thick box is actually a lockable lid to be swung over the chasm and latched, sealing the shaft and making a bridge.

Professor Dodge notices that Martins has a crumpled piece of paper in the front of his shirt pocket. He reaches down to pluck it out.

The typed and mimeographed note reads:

TO: Acolytes of the Great Sand Bat
RE: Our Recent Hunt

We still have not found our last two-legged deer. There is utterly no excuse for not being able to find an unarmed human who has neither food nor water, and who possesses none of our arcane, God-given powers. Remind the line walkers to be alert.

R.H.

Johan whispers... “That hatch should not be open...”

TJ adds "Guys, a little help?:" He's still covered by the two guys he knocked out.

One of the top-side guards wakes up as you're about to dump him in. He starts screaming! Dermot gives him a right hook to the face. The man falls down the shaft with no further noise.

“Don’t be dramatic, ye ponce.” Dermot spits into the pit after him. “Now then! Find somethin, professor?”

Lowering and locking the heavy lid will take some time,  for the alien latches are heavy, bulky, and conceived for other than human hands and minds.

As you struggle with the ponderous lid, you can hear faintly a whistling sound coming from the shaft…