China, Gray Dragon Island:
05:13 AM:
Penhew’s lab. Gaidar and Wes in the room. Wesley ascertains that there is a shell plus explosive device with warhead that he can’t quite work out how it works but it is extraordinarily dangerous. Right now. The rocket is armed and it is collapsing into the magma….!
Joe and Gupta look at the sarcophagus it has Penhew’s face on it as a pharaoh. There is $1m dollars worth of stuff in here!
Irma is taking photos of everything in the relics room.
We find blueprints to the NEW Yithian Lightning Gun!
We grab random antiquities and get out of Dodge! The rocket may explode!
Round One:
Everything is illuminated by the orange magma. It is a vision of hell in here. Dante’s Inferno. We run up the tunnel. CON rolls needed… We all make it except for Simon who drops all his stuff as he hears the rocket collapsing into the magma:
“RRRRRuuuuuuuuunnnnn!!!!!”
We make it outside. Someone up ahead is shouting, Trixie hears it: “Firm Action” She shouts back the password. It is Ping. Or Pong. He managed to guard the entrance and hold it from more attackers. Trixie has one of the welding guns. Ping follows us, providing cover. We pass the bodies of many cultists.
We hear a strange crashing rumbling sound from within the mountain. Ping has no English. We keep running. A strange thing happens. A bright light from behind us orange green purple mauve and then patterns and then dust rocks particles – and then we can see through our own hands/eyelids/etc.
!!! A nuclear explosion!!!
We all make DEX rolls. Blinded. A huge cloud of dust and after-shocks descend on us. We pick ourselves up and head down to the harbour. It is not quite 5am. Some light on the horizon. Some illumination from the burning village. The lookout position is completely destroyed by an errant hit. We can’t hear fighting but Gupta can hear singing from where the mortars were being fired. Something hits the island: Coming up the hill is Chu-Min. Waters come flooding up with tidal water splashing through. A tsunami! A Deep One’s spell? Or something to do with the nuclear explosion. Firm Action got hit by the naval bombardment and then attacked by Deep Ones. Only Tu-Min survived he thinks. The whole island is rumbling and shaking.
Chu-Min: “We used the mortar to fight off the Deep Ones.”
We run towards where our boat is.
Irma and Simon see orange at the top of the mountain as it explodes. Magma!
9 of us didn’t survive. 9 of us did. A 50/50 attrition rate…
We board the Dark Mistress. Deep Ones suddenly appear!!! 6 of them with tridents. 2 miss their targets so we respond. Donelly’s’s gun jams!!! The BAR! Gaidar shoots M16 and kills one. Deep Ones are terrestrial creatures and they bleed into the sea. It’s just getting light. Trixie uses the welding weapon – it is a beam of 5’ white hot fire!
Wes takes out one of them with a sword, Simon kills another using claws, and the last one with a spear climbs up at the mercy of Trixie’s welding gun…
Trixie suddenly feels strangely empowered by the weapon… All her fear and anxiety from the cavern has dissipated.
2D10 damage on a 10 roll – 14 damage removes the Deep Ones face, probably killing it.
A huge flaming rock hits our rowing boat!!
We have to get out of here! Shock-waves! Irma repairs the driving mechanism of the boat as lava spews out of the top of the mountain!
We have to wait for the steam turbines to start. It doesn’t take long. Gupta tries to pilot the boat but fails and the boat crashes into the jetty and spins out into the sea. A shock-wave hits the boat as waves hit the boat. We have to make jump rolls as we are hurled into the air to avoid taking damage (1D6 minus 1D6 if successful jump made). The boat pulls away with Gupta driving it now under control. We circumnavigate the island and see the lava pouring down as the mountain collapses. Hot rocks tumbling. Our little boat sinks. We can make it back to Shanghai in half the time! Some Deep Ones watch us as we depart. We can probably use this boat to get to Australia! It is ocean going.
Gray Dragon Island has been blasted to pieces.
Brady – Duxford – Penhew – Lot’s of Firm Action
Are dead. As are cult members and Deep Ones. Deep Ones probably sent the tidal wave after Chu Min.
We arrive back in Shanghai.
“Firm Action has been victorious!”
Marine chronometer in the lab was set to GMT. 8 hours behind Shanghai time.
In the workshop we found:
Aubrey Penhew’s diary: Handout 45. Huston appears frequently. Jack Brady (often just referred to as a traitor). A depressing read when it reveals the scale and intent of the whole operation.
We weigh anchor and wait to see who will come to us.
Chu-Min: “We will lure them in to an ambush and kill them all!”
Where to next? Egypt.
A boat comes over to us:
Sailor: “You are Mr. Stanford?” (To Greg)
Gaidar: “That’s correct.”
“We are here regarding the Europeans who are missing. We believe they are missing. Where is Mr. Fong?”
Sailor: “On the Island.”
“THAT IS THE WOMAN! Thieves! You have stolen the boat!”
Gaidar: “No she is under my control. Stand down. You and one other may come aboard.”
Trixie makes herself scarce.
Gaidar: “We shall look after her. What instructions does Mr. Fong have?”
Sailor: “He is relocating to the island. All his things shall be brought there.”
“There have no more shipments since 10 days ago. Since the shipment to Australia.”
“We will have a big meeting at the warehouse tonight.”
(Firm Action are desperate to attack! But under orders to wait for our signal.)
Chu-Min: “Tonight Firm Action will strike a big blow for China against these superstitious fools!”
Wesley, Irma, Joe and Greg go to visit Mu Tsien.
Wes: “We didn’t need to use the spell. Because the island was destroyed.”
Mu Tsien: “You must find the other points and ward at least one of those. Only someone who is not an agent of the outer gods can remove it.”
“The Red Pyramid, The mountain of the Black Wind in Kenya. If you have destroyed the weapon this is a wonderful thing.”
“But these wards were created at a time before technology. We must be thankful to Trent Duxford: He has died a heroes death. What do you plan to do now?”
Irma: “The last shipment went to Australia. Probably with the Yithian Communicator. Sent by Randolph Shipping company.”
Chu-Min: “Tonight we exterminate the last of the cult. Will you join us?”
All Of Us: “Yes we will.”
No need for dice rolls. This is a turkey shoot. We wipe them out.
We lost the flame thrower and the belt fed maxim machine gun. We wire Natalja and tell her we are heading to Australia. Firm Action can replace the machine gun.
Wesley and Irma with electrical repair and physics are able to make a rudimentary radiation counter. We discover there is radiation in our clothes and Wes says to get rid of them and wash and scrub everything else.
Wesley is able to interpret the blue prints and plans that are in Yithian and English. It will take some time. Maybe as long as it takes to get across the Pacific Ocean…
We consider getting a wireless telegraphy device so we can broadcast in Morse code. Outfitting the boat and cleaning it are all part of our preparations.
We cash in Ho Fong’s bonds.
Do we want to rename the Dark Mistress? The Trent Duxford III?
The colours and shapes we saw in the explosion were a window into “The Without” which then imploded in on itself. This would have been the cultists’ opportunity to open the gate.
SAN rewards:
Destroying the Rocket D20 – Killing the Shoggoth D20 – Killing Stanford D8 – Trixie watching the destruction of the Bloated Woman D100.
955 Nortical Miles from Shanghai to Hong Kong.
Shanghai to Darwin 3048 Nortical Miles. 4.2 days at sea! With bad weather maybe a bit longer. But we decide to go direct to save time.
Joseph wants to go through the gate box. He takes Grishkin’s cross etc. The other side was trapped and it wasn’t far from here – not so many magic points. It was just a trap for us. A grenade and trip wire trap was set up. Joe dodged the grenade blast by jumping back through!
Newspaper next day:
“Mysterious explosion in room rented by European!”
So the other box has now been destroyed. The Yithian lightning gun is something we can now all operate thanks to the clear plans.
We are all believed to be dead and killed in an explosion in the hotel.
