Northern Territory ,Australia – The Outback:

Outback – 10:15 AM:

We are slower because of towing here in the Outback. We come across a well-traveled route. We examine the tracks. There are also snake tracks: Death adders. There is a road going directly to where we are headed (because of the tracks). The terrain resembles the prints we saw from McWhirr’s dig. There are tent shells, destroyed trucks. The remnants of a mining camp.

We cast our protection spells. Dodge is a little surprised. It is early afternoon.

Front vehicle: Irma (Driver), Dodge, Simon and Wesley in the back

Back vehicle: Gupta (Driver) Joe, Gaidar and Trix in the back.

Gaidar says that this is the city of the Flying Polyps… Mythos role and realizes that the Yith fled the earth to flee the polyps. So this is a Yith city that has been inhabited by polyps. We look around the wrecked trucks etc. There is a building with mechanical equipment. Dodge suddenly discovers that there are bodies in the sand…Just bones. Sometimes smashed.

All the tents are jagged and torn but one of them has been stitched back together… Being used? 5-toed tracks, some giant bird! It was a polyp… Could it be Huston who is living in the tent out here in the Outback.

Simon found a spring! A bubbling brook. The truck that is there has been crushed. The tents have been slashed, polyps don’t have claws so we assume that it is probably the send bat. Gaidar finds a 30’ long club which the sand bat cultists use.

Dodge: “I think the mine machinery is working!”

The spring doesn’t seem to be something that should be here. The water seems to be clear and pure. Gaidar made his Geology role.

Gaidar and Wesley hear a high pitched whelping…

The axle on the crushed truck could theoretically be used to replace the broken one on our second truck.

Dodge: “Sounds like dinghos?”

The dogs appear. Then there is a whistle and they disappear… We are on our guard. We have been here about 30 mins. Gupta and Irma head over to see who it is. There are tracks that are moving away from us. There is a circle of stones and pebbles. A swarm of reddish brown dogs surround a weather-beaten and tanned white man in just his shoes.

“Get thee back Satan’s spawns! Jeez where are you fellas from? Jeremy Grogan is my name. Been here for years.”

“I met a yank in Cumcudgeree where I met Huston. He was ready to pay a bonus. He hired 20 of us. For me it was one job and then another. He called himself Carver. We dug down and his money ran out. No pay, no work. The yank was acting strange. Wild eyes. There is another way in he said, and that we were of no use to him any more. So he got a mouthful. Carver got a cruel look in his face and said I will endeavour to speed you on your way.”

“A couple of fellas chased me off for cheating at cards, when I crept back these giant flying creatures attacked and killed them. I was ready to die but when I awoke the dingoes became my friends. But they’re not real, they never eat. They’re slippery. Like a dream. Like the water in the camp? The only person I have seen since is some abos with clubs with tiny teeth on them. My dingoes ate two of them and they ain’t been back since. I’m eating tinned food, this has kept me going for the last 5 years.”

“I don’t want to talk anymore. No more questions.”

We leave him.

Meanwhile, Joe “dreams” of whisky and water fires out of the spring!

We are in the dreamlands. An earthly manifestation of the DREAMTIME.

Irma decides to use the Yithian communicator. Gaidar joins him. A Yith appears! It is indistinct. It addresses Irma:

Yith: “Why do you communicate. What information do you have for us?”

Irma: “We are at the gates of your city.”

Yith: “Nak-nakathus?”

Irma: “If you say so. There is a great foe here.”

Yith: “That is no interest to us. Where did you get this device from?”

Irma: “We have done a great service to the Yithians.”

Yith: “How so?”

Greg: “We destroyed an ancient evil. We need to find a safe way into the city.”

Yith: “There are no safe ways. Unless all entries are sealed. There are great numbers of them. We vanquished them but they rose up. 70 million years ago. There will be many weapons in there. Ape men: These enemies are beyond your ability to defeat. There is great knowledge here. Our science is and was beyond yours. There have been many dooms and many extinctions. Time is an infinite loop until changed at a fixed point. We experience time as you do but our experience of time is not just at the same time. It can be at different times. If you are in the city look for weapons. Electric weapons are best. I advise you to leave. There are many layers to reality and many realities. These things change with time.”

Meanwhile Joe gets the generator working again! The winch the cables and the cart are all in working order! He drops a flare down and far down it hits something. It looks like it’s blocked.

It’s getting dark.

Dodge: “What are we getting into here. This was a massacre! This is the cult of the sandbat! I thought it was dead! You fellas know what you’re doing. Am I going to need one of your bigger guns? Are these the latest things from the states?”

We make a camp. Trucks, fire and watches. We see Grogan go back into his tent. The truck is repaired. It is not a perfect fix but it works. We figure out that we have to go back round to where Whycroft was going. To the north is the sahara well.
The Lost City of the Yithians

07:37 AM:

We drive down and through a narrow ravine. We expect an ambush. And we get one.

Wes Screams Out: “Abos!”

Boulders roll down the side of the ravine. Gupta and Irma successfully reverse the trucks to avoid the boulders. Joe climbs up on the roof. They are throwing spears. Simon’s pistol jams:

Simon: “Bloody dust!”

Wesley jumps down and a spear is thrown at him but misses.

One of them is shot by Joe and rolls down the ravine. A war-boomerang is thrown at him! (AGAIN). His “Skin of Sedefkar” saves him. It has the sand bat symbol painted on it. Simon gets hit by a spear (AGAIN). His skin saves him but it would have killed him…

Gupta sees someone pushing a rock and reverses, but the cultist fumbles and is crushed by his own rock! Joe has to jump off the top of the truck to avoid falling. A boomerang is thrown through the windscreen of the vehicle with Wesley and Irma in it. Wesley shoots one of them with his M16. Simon shoots another, removing the top of his head.

A cultist throws his spear at Joe. He deflects it. Dodge is looking out of the back of the truck. Trix drops down from the truck and shoots another one with her M16, obliterating him. Simon fires again and takes out another.

Gaidar: “Sit back, Trixie!”

Trix: “What, honey, I can’t understand a word you’re saying!”

NEW ROUND.

We try to get up the sides of the ravine. Trix goes up one side, making her climb roll. So does Joe and Wesley. We climb up in four rounds. Trix and Joe get to the top and see a guy who has been crushed by his own boulder. Another is fleeing. Trix guns him down with her M-16.

Trix: “Hello little fella.”

Says Joe to the badly crushed but not dead koori. He gives him some water.

Wesley gets to the top and another is fleeing. He tries to shoot him but the M-16 jams.

Abo: “You want me to take you to the magic city in a field of strange stones?”

His legs have been broken. His answers are almost child-like. He speaks a little English.

Irma: “We’ve come to meet your leader. Why did you attack us?”

Abo: “The great white man told us to attack anyone who comes. He gives us prisoners for sex and for food.”

(Joe shows the Carlyle expedition group photo).

Abo: “You have his spirit! Don’t draw the bat! It is secret!”

Joe: “Hmm”, “It’s not the bat or the polyp. It’s something else?”

Abo: “It’s too horrible to describe.”

He draws a picture of a Yithian.

Abo: “It is a prisoner but it is free.”

We’ve driven round and out of the ravine and view an escarpment and Wesley is looking through his rifle scope. In the distance we can see lots of garbage. Some trucks including Whycroft’s and one or two shacks with sandbags around them. There is the noise of a generator. Difficult to approach without being seen. There are guards in the sandbag foxholes. We are about a mile away and partially hidden behind stone rocks.

15.00 PM:

We consider splitting into a pincer assault on the camp. Trucks from the front and a party of four to sneak up on foot from the rear.

Gupta, Simon, Irma, Gaidar are the sneak attackers.

Truck 1 Joe driving Trix shotgun

Truck 2 Dodge driving Wes shotgun

We roll sneak…

And all just about make it. We are high up behind the camp. It is dark except for the stars and a little light coming from the tents. Nervous. Cautious. There is a cultist standing on one of the sandbags looking through binoculars towards the lights of our trucks in the distance…

Cultist: “Quick you two get under the trucks.”

Two others come out with rifles and position themselves under trucks. There is also someone in the bunker under a tin roof. It is difficult to see without torches as we slide down the scree. We close in on the camp. We hear:

Cultist: “It’s them you’d better go below.”

There’s a big pit behind them. They have lee Enfield rifles.

The pit is shored up with planks and surrounded by sandbags. There are wires going down it. Gaidar shoots one of them. Irma another. One of them spots his comrade is dead and calls out:

Cultist: “They’re behind us!”

Gupta fires at one under the truck with his Tommy gun and kills him. Simon does the same and shoots the other. Greg shoots one straight through his eye. Irma runs after an injured one going down the steps down into the mine. Irma shoots him and finishes him off!

In the distance we can hear another guy running off. The guy with the binoculars. Irma powers down the generator. He hears “Fuck! Fuck!” and calls down:

Irma: “Come back up mate!” “Whadya say? I can’t see? What’s your name?”

Simon: “Don’t be a bloody fool!”

Cultist: “I don’t believe you!” And he falls silent.

The dead are all Anglo-Saxon armed with their own weapons. Nondescript clothing.

Gupta and Simon charge down the stairs after the guy that got away to warn them below. We keep running and hear him ahead of us. He shoots at our miner’s light. There is a muzzle flash. Gupta shoots at the muzzle flash and takes him out. Simon signals back that he’s down. We switch off lights and sneak. We are in a chamber. In the far distance there is a faint hint of light. We take his body and drag it back.

By this time the trucks have arrived. On the bodies we find trinkets and keepsakes. It’s more like the kind of stuff people would have if they were in prison. It must be a Spartan life here.

We plan to liberate the Yith and find the Yithian weapons.

Joe: “Dodge, do you want to stay with the trucks?”

Dodge: “This is the find of a lifetime boys, lead the way!”

We head down the steps. At the bottom the lights start again and we hear another generator. The air is getting cooler. 13C.

Marching order: Irma, Greg, Joe, Gupta, Trix, Dodge, Simon, Wesley.

There is thick dust and tiny light bulbs. There is a massive street or tunnel. Triangular doorways. Rubble. This is the city of the Yith. Here is eternal darkness. Thousands, millions of bats came out of here at sunset. It stinks. There are cockroaches and shit everywhere. A dark cyclopean 70 million+ ancient city. A faint smell of burning fat or grease from further down. Or boiled cabbage?

We find the petrol generator.

The city is old. There is collapsed masonry. The stone is built but maybe carved or formed? Poured? We think we are in a street. Greg tries a door. Not strong enough. Irma helps. It’s a triangular shaped door. There are paintings of Yithians in the room. Weird stuff. Weird script. We hear something coming and decide to hide in the room and wait for whatever it is to pass. Someone appears carrying a tray full of 6 cups of tea! We have to be quiet because the polyps are sensitive to noise.

Irma attacks him and he falls in pain. Gaidar finishes him off. They have no idea they have been compromised? We move the body out of plain sight.

We continue down the “street”. The generator noise if fading but we can hear talking and movement. In the corner propped against the wall is a club with teeth in it…

TO BE CONTINUED…