Note: Marian was not present for this run. Voronika was played by Will.
| Dramatis personae: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Don | Benjamin Steele | Former airship steel mage, now enlivening the Naysmith machine. |
| Barry | Arvy Penrington | Avaricious ex-military man "out of Africa" . |
| Marian | Voronika Costorari | Lovely gypsy bargainer; seer of spirits. |
| Will | Maxwell Ramsey | Egyptologist and sharp-shooter. |
| Sunny | Andrew Forester | Graduate student, radiologist, chemist, photographer, and tutor. |
| Mike | Mortimer Homme | Forester's Cambridge roommate; walking dead man. |
| Sheryl | Sister Sunshine | Lame druidess-healer, companion to the Tibetan pony Lungta. |
| NPC | Lungta | Pony avatar of Annapurna, mountain of Life. An Old One. |
| NPC | George McGregor | Surveyor for Prof. Challenger; admirer of Miss Costorari. |
Synopsis:
A series of murders related to a supposed Katabet Tomb mummy's curse is ruining the career of Mr. Ramsey's uncle, an airship captain who brought to Anglia from the tomb a peculiar mechanical scarab with a Swiss makers mark. Penrington captures the Times reporter Travis as a possible culprit. Even closer to "home", Mr. Forester's new roommate is viciously disemboweled by something unknown but brought back to a semblance of life by Lungta. The mysterious visitor Mr. J.A. Smutts (of the triangle-eye symbol and the plain ring) introduces the concepts of Nosophorous, the plague carrier, once known as Katabet, and the possible counters of the long-lived Count de Saint-Germain and the Dagger of Tihuta (the latter believed to be en route to the Ottoman sultan) The Party now believes Travis is an insane agent of Nosophorous, "the Master." The Party travels to Amsterdam (to get a gem) and Eckrenford, to get St-Germain's assistance, unsuccessfully, although they learn that someone by that name follows the Paris-Vienna-Berlin social circuit. (The "plain ring" has been seen on Smutts, Homme's uncle Detective Gregson, Druid Woodward, and a painting of an early Eckrenford baron associated with St-Germain. It seems to have some association with the Tibetan "White Lodge".)
Following St-Germain to Vienna, Our Heroes meet an imposter. They also learn of a rich industrialist, Karl Kellner, and his friend, Lord Theodore Ruess, who seem to have strong interests in theOrdo Illuminatus. In an attempt to meet these two, Our Heroes attend a symphony performance and follow Herr Kellner to a magic portal under the stage.
Homme stepped through the glowing archway with a ripping sound. He turned and saw his body left behind, a silver cord between it and his present self. However, there was no sign that Kellner had left his body on the far side of the archway.
The armed ghostly warriors, lining the path as though as an honour guard, turned towards him, exhibiting the indistinguishable visages of living mannequins. Taking advantage of his superior speed, Homme hastened down the path to Kellner. The industrialist stood before a figure in a deeply-hooded, crimson-lined, black cloak. Kellner extended his left hand towards the figure; he held a slim, ornamented dagger.
Morty: "Sorry to intrude, but is everything all right here?"
From the cloaked figure came an icy female voice, "Kill the intruders!" She stepped away, raising an alabaster-white hand towards Mort.
Steele passed through the portal and, noticing that he was no longer mechanical, wrenched a spear from the nearest warrior's hand.
Penrington followed and smashed a warrior on the other side with his cane, doing no damage.
McGregor stepped through, stood beside Penrington, and shouted, "Mort, get back here!"
Voronika, too, slipped in behind Steele's opponent, hoping to pick up a weapon.
Lastly, Forester went through the portal and stood between Steele and Penrington.
However, Sister Sunshine stopped and tried to cast a Bless on her friends through the mystic opening. She found herself uncertain as to the spell's effect.
The mannequin warriors attacked. Steele was hit by a shield bash from the one he had disarmed [20,3]. Forester dodged an attack, using his formal dress cane as a shield. Mort, too, dodged two attacks. The other attacks simply missed.
The unidentified woman backed away and started chanting.
Mort attacked the warriors near Kellner, hitting one [35,9] and nearly breaking his stick. The object of his attack crumpled with a splatter of silvery, mercury-like liquid.
Kellner himself slowly turned and started back towards the Party, dagger still in hand.
Steele stabbed his opponent with the spear [10,30] in the chest; silvery liquid flowed from the wound.
Penrington tried again, also hitting his opponent in the chest [21,6] and cracking his cane.
McGregor again shouted for Mort.
Voronika positioned herself and appealed to the former steel man, "A little help here?"
The druidess stepped through the portal.
Various attacks were dodged, but a spear went through Forester's shoulder [7,21]. [The pedagogue found that his Body stat had been replaced by his Ego stat.] Sunshine stared aghast as silver fluid spurted from the stunned radiologist's shoulder. Behind her, back in the room she had just left, she heard the door open.
The ground next to the cloaked woman formed itself into a large and gnarly figure behind which its summoner took refuge. She started chanting again.
Steele told the gypsy, "If I can get this one down, take its spear." He hit her attacker in the shoulder [18,6] and Voronika grabbed the spear but failed to wrench it from the warrior's grasp.
Penrington exerted his strength and smashed his stick against a warrior; the stick exploded into splinters as the warrior collapsed. "Vicious, I say, vicious!" he crowed as a spear dropped in front of him.
McGregor swung his heavy cane against one of Forester's attackers, felling it. [32,5 in the 12]
The druidess called upon the energies of Lungta and cast a Heal on Forester [2, 13]; behind her she heard a small snort.
Unfortunately Forester was hit again, this time in the arm. [4,8]
Mort attacked McGregor's opponent, breaking both his stick and his target's arm. Another warrior closed on the undead student and speared him in the arm. [7,14] Mort, who by that point faced the portal, could see a snowy white horse head emerging from the blue glow and inclined towards Sister Sunshine. He gasped: "I'm back. Grab Kellner and run!"
Penrington: "Yes, yes! Get out!"
Voronika disengaged and ran to the archway straight into a white horse's flank.
Steele: "I'll hold them off. The rest of you get out," as he swung and missed his attack.
McGregor warned, "One behind you, Mort."
Sunshine retreated through the arch, drawing her pony back with her. (Lungta was her normal brown/tan color in the room.) She saw a man standing by the door.
Forester followed the druidess and found himself rolling off the top of a pile of bodies.
Penrington retreated next, only to find himself at the bottom of the pile of bodies, next to Mort's still form.
Back in the portal dimension, Mort turned to partially face his attackers and saw that the cloaked woman had summoned yet another monster of earth.
Steele's attackers missed.
Kellner exited the portal and collapsed onto the floor.
Both McGregor and Mort protected Voronika as she exited. Then the final three returned. Fortunately, as had been the case once before, the stabilizing mechanisms in the mechanical body had prevented it from falling and crushing the other human bodies when its spirit was removed.
The Major
Sister Sunshine faced the newcomer, recognizing him as the ornately dressed, beribboned and begemmed, military man that Penrington had learned was Major Lasher. His mellow voice commented, "It's not every day you see a Tibetan pony staring at a door like a cat, waiting for it to open." Involuntarily, the druidess smiled at him.
As the others pulled themselves erect, Sunshine's attention was drawn to more immediate needs. "Healing. I'm sure there's a need for healing." Penrington had already taken an engarde position directed towards the portal.
Lasher: "They can't step through."
Mort: "Even the big things?" He looked relieved when the Major nodded.
Penrington: "Major Lasher, I believe?"
Lasher: "Indeed." He drew the dagger from Kellner's limp hand and tossed it back through the portal.
After healing Homme and Forester, Sister Sunshine turned to Major Lasher. "I can't discover what is wrong with Dr. Kellner," she admitted worriedly.
Lasher: "When he completes his studies with the Maharaja Runi, he'll be less vulnerable to Her."
Someone: "Was that Nosophorous?"
Lasher: "No. It was Lady Kira."
Penrington: "Who is Lady Kira?"
Lasher: "The lady on the other side of the portal."
Penrington: "Why did she make the portal?"
Lasher: "To get Kellner to come to her so that she could give him the dagger to assassinate the prince." He looked speculatively at the portal. "It is too bad that I do not have a blue aquamarine of between 30 and 35 carats on hand so that I could close this thing."
Voronika smiled broadly and produced her gem. Then she found herself impressed and breathless as he accepted the offering with princely grace, lingering over her hand. [He has a staggering PRE when he chooses to use it.] No one noticed if McGregor attempted to glower at the major. The uniformed man reached to his full height and placed the blue gem at the top of the portal which glowed with an even more azure light. "It will close during the Second Act," Lasher said with satisfaction.
Penrington: "Does it bother you that others are going by your name?"
Lasher: "What? Lasher?"
Penrington: "No. St-Germain."
Lasher, dismissively: "Who's to say that they have no right to the name? I have not paid mind to the hereditary disposition of that title."
Penrington: "We were told to tell you that you still owe Mr. Smutts twenty pounds."
Lasher, smiling wryly: "The cheek of the man! Let him collect it from one of the other St-Germains."
Penrington: "We've met one."
Lasher: "There are three at present."
Steele: "On a different topic, we are pursuing the one the Egyptians knew as Katabet."
Voronika: "The plague carrier."
[Major Lasher had to puzzle over the sound of the name, knowing it was an unusual Eqyptian name, until sufficient clues were dropped to let him associate it with another name he knew.] Lasher: "Ka-tah-bah. Katabe. The fallen king of Arcadia. A plague carrier. In the original slavic, Nosferatu."
The Party looked their questions.
Lasher: "You're Anglic. You are familiar with the legend of Arthur, yes? The king who once was and will come again? Other nations have their Arthurs too. Katabe is the one for the lands beyond the forest: Transylvania. They want their king to return."
Forester: "How can they want the return of a creature who will destroy them?"
Lasher: "A Plague Carrier can only be killed by its own hand. Their Arthur cannot destroy them. If they are imprisoned, they usually go mad and kill themselves."
Voronika: "Smutts sent us after a dagger, implying that it could be used against the Plague Carrier. And this one was imprisoned for a millennium without killing itself."
Lasher: "This one is the Plague Carrier's King Arthur. The weapon can chase it away - but it cannot kill it. Burial will hold it for a time. As will separation of its parts and burying those parts in consecrated ground."
Q: "But there have been many deaths in Anglia from this Katabet."
Lasher: "The deaths would have been part of the Egyptian's curse on the tomb. The curse would have arranged for the deaths of everyone who opened the tomb."
Q: "Two of the victims had their blood drained."
Lasher: "The plague carriers feed on the life-stuff that sticks to iron in the blood. If they wish to make another of their kind, they only partly feed. The third feeding from the same victim turns him into one of them."
Q: "Why would a victim allow himself to be fed from three times?"
Lasher: "After the first feeding, they can speak directly to his mind, take him over, make him want to be fed upon."
Voronika: "And Kellner?"
Lasher: "Kellner is a separate matter. There are forces at work that would like a Great War. It is my job to postpone that as long as we can."
Steele: "We understand that a plague carrier can turn itself into mist. What is its form when not mist?"
Lasher: "The form it had when it was alive."
Steele: "What defenses can we use to hold out against it?"
Lasher: "It fears weapons of honour and valour; heavenly weapons; weapons brought from heaven."
Mort: "And what is its relation to gypsies?"
Lasher: "When the gypsies first came to these lands, some became beholden to the Lords of Transylvania who helped them escape persecution. But not all the Lords of Transylvania are nosferatu. The freeing of the Katabe may be another plot. The lands of Transylvania are also claimed by the Ottoman Empire. If they find a king and secede from the empire, it would weaken the Ottomans, which might accelerate the slide to the Great War.
Steele: "What do you know of Peter Staub?"
Lasher: "He is dead. But his legacy lives on. They say he was a wolf of unusual size and intelligence."
Penrington: "Would his descendants be allies of the Plague Carrier?"
Lasher: "Could well be."
Mort: "I was killed by some combination of the blood-draining Plague Carrier and a vicious animal."
Lasher: "You are looking well for all that."
Mort: "I have good friends. Lungta-Annapurna brought me back to life."
Steele: "He was animated by the Tibetan pony."
Lasher, obviously confused: "Why did she bring you back to life?"
Mort: "I do not know. And it is possible that the wolf killed me before the nosferatu drank my blood. And it sometimes still looks through my eyes; the druidess and I have sensed it."
Lasher: "It wouldn't have fed on you if you were already dead. This makes no sense. Lungta and Nosferatu are enemies. The spell of seeing you describe is the nosferatu having left a little of itself in you as a viewpoint. That would be an anathema to Lungta. Are you sure you have felt no seductive call leading you to damnation?"
Mort: "No. No one has taken me over."
Sunshine: "But the Plague Carrier has used him as a viewpoint. This we know."
Lasher to pony: "You are playing a very dangerous game."
Sunshine: "She is a proponent of life and she returned life to Mort."
Lasher: "And he has some of the nosferatu in him. That is a dangerous game." To Mort: "The curse says that they can only kill themselves. You have some of Katabe in you, but you choose, for now, your actions. There's a distinct danger that this nosferatu can take you over. Is there any blood left in you?"
Sunshine, answering for the former student: "No. None."
Lasher: "Then it cannot feed again. I've never seen this before."
Penrington: "If there is nosferatu in him, is that why he cannot go into a druid's grove?"
Lasher: "You can't go into a grove? Yes, the nosferatu would have that effect."
Penrington: "But if there is nosferatu in him, then he can kill the nosferatu."
Mort: "He probably knows I'm moving around. He might not know I'm dangerous to him."
Laher: "This nosferatu will be heading to his home to complete his regeneration."
Mort: "Is there any significance of beetles to it?"
Lasher: "The beetle is an Egyptian symbol of life. For the Egyptians, it would have been an item of honour and power. The nosferatu do not fear ordinary weapons; only Weapons of History, of Valiant Deeds, Symbols of Life. In the areas where nosferatu are common, the peasants liberally use the Herb of Life."
Sunshine: "Herb of Life?"
Lasher: "Garlic."
Voronika: "Would an ankh have effect?"
Lasher: "It would depend on the history of the particular ankh. A 50-foot tall one atop a religious edifice..." The druidess stared at this further proof that Lasher had Tibetan contacts.
Voronika: "No, it's been toppled."
Lasher: "Sorry to hear that."
Lasher: "If there is valiant opposition , the nosferatu will slink away to fight something weaker."
Mort: "Why would the Ottoman sultan send for the dagger."
Lasher: "Undoubtedly, the sultan knew someone was trying to wake Katabet and wanted a protection."
Someone: "But what would he do with the dagger. There was no indication the nosferatu would go to Ottoman territory. Perhaps we can go to him and get the dagger to use against the nosferatu."
Lasher: "The sultan's purpose is to benefit his Empire as much as possible. He would not want an independent Transylvania. But how would you gain entrance to him to plead your case?"
Someone: "Can you not help us?"
Lasher: "I don't see this as affecting whether or no the War happens before 1905."
Steele: "Was the lady on the other side of this portal more interested in the Plague Carrier or the War."
Lasher, cryptically: "I don't see myself being present at another meeting between you and her."
Mort: "If we can get a weapon AND catch him before he reaches his home, I'd have a chance to kill him."
Lasher: "It appears Annapurna believes you could."
Penrington: "What can we use?"
Lasher: "Any aid sent from heavens. Anything of power and valour. Did you not mention a dagger? Of old iron?"
Sunshine: "The Dagger of Tihuta."
Lasher: "The Dagger of Tihuta was made from a piece of metal sent from the heavens about the time that Katabe was made."
Steele: "Why was a Swiss-made mechanical beetle sent into the tomb?"
Lasher: "The Swiss are not as neutral as they seem. There are sects even there who would wish to weaken the Ottoman Empire, who would eliminate the Hapsburgs. I am where History isn't. Tonight, for example, I am where a wealthy industrialist did not go mad and slay a prince."
Penrington: "Who benefits"
Lasher: "Those who would have a war before 1905, want mankind wiped from the earth."
Voronika: "Why 1905."
Lasher: "After 1905, we'd have more time."
Foresters: "Who wants mankind wiped from the earth? Humans? Surely not. Non-humans like the troglodytes?" Penrington glared and the radiologist continued, "Old Ones?"
Lasher: "There are many Old Ones who would have man wiped out - or enslaved and serving them."
Penrington: "Have you seen a golden falcon that contains the soul of the wife of one of our friends?"
Lasher: "I am not particularly interested in gold. But a soul bound in gold is at least safe from the nosferatu."
Sunshine: "Can you suggest a weapon we might use against the nosferatu?"
Lasher: "The dagger you've mentioned sounds perfect - but almost unobtainable."
Forester: "Would you have happened upon a stash of books saved from the Library at Alexandria?"
Lasher: "They were jealous and would destroy it if they couldn't have it. Some must have been spirited away, but I've never come across any." [He went on in a bit more detail about what the librarians of Alexandria were like...sounding almost like he had personal experience with them.]
The 20 minutes until the start of the Second Act was fast running out. Lasher got Kellner to his feet and supported the industrialist out, saying, "Good evening. Enjoy the concert."
Sunshine: "Thank you for your assistance, sir."
Lasher: "It was nothing, nothing."
Voronika: "Timely nonetheless."
The group proposed various ideas for finding ways to deal with the nosferatu:
Plan A
Go to Constantinople, find a cache of manuscripts, trade some to the Sultan for the dagger.
Plan B
Find a recent meteor strike, particularly a meteor therefrom. Mr. Forester can make the metal into bullets. Mr. Homme can shoot the bullets from a rifle.
Penrington: "How's your marksmanship?"Plan C
Mort: I'm no Ramsey but I can shoot.
Ramsey inclined his head at the compliment.
Check the Amsterdam Auction Houses for Weapons of Honour and Valour.
Ramsey: "I'm not inclined to retrace our steps."Plan D
Visit the Viennese Museum of Teutonic Knights to see if the collection includes a Weapon of Note. If so, develop a plan to obtain it on loan.
Plan D could be put into immediate operation. The Party went to the museum which celebrated the first and greatest victory of the early pre-city Viennese against two Roman Legions.
Ramsey: "Are the weapons on display on the walls original?"
Voronika: "I don't think so. They are representations, not real."
The group determined that only about half of the building was open to the public and that they would need to do a significant service - such as might be done for the British Museum or the Geographic Society - before they would be allowed access to the real treasures it contained. Sister Sunshine noted that a significant service might be possible given that the city was surrounded by ancient battle fields and bordered by the Danube (into which some weapons might have fallen) and that we had a gypsy who could communicate with spirits of the dead. Voronika looked pained at the idea.
Mr. Penrington followed the idea by attempting research in the museum gift shop. Result: one book purchased. Therein he learned that Vienna had started as a Roman era outpost, Vindobona. In the 1200s-1400s, there were many famous battles culminating in the establishment of an independent city. Voronika settled on the names of a King (with an axe) who won the early battle against the Romans.
Forester and Penrington attempted to use archaeology skill (failing to have any notion of city planning) to try to determine where that battle in 1200 had occurred. They became reasonably sure that it had taken place within the current city limits, but to find an exact spot would probably require exploring the city's sewers and catacombs.
Next Run: Finding a Weapon of Power
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III
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