Varney the Vampire. Or THE FEAST OF BLOOD!

Some of the following events may have happened as described. Everything else is true, 'pon my mortal soul. 

- Tu Pointyears.

When last we left our heroes, the ferocious spider had nearly slain the whole party. Whilst others cowered upstairs, brave Bear sacrificed his life for the party, and with his dying blow slew the foul beast that had feasted on Gillard, the prancing halfing.

"Woe is us," cried the party. "Who shall be in the front line now?" There was much pointing at others, and quick placing of thumbs on foreheads. Fortunately, the silence was broken by the moaning of Bear, and the unmarmalding of Tu. "Thank Christ for that," exclaimed Myrtle the Magical who'd been last to place her finger to her forehead.

*Bear was merely paralyzed by spider venom. He would need several days to recover*

Looking carefully at the ceiling of the cavern, the party discerned movement. And what seemed to be a cocooned body. Perhaps it was not too late for Gillard? All eyes turned to the only party member who could climb, Ouzo the not so Brave.

*Ouzo had returned from upstairs after Tu went to get him.*

Grabbing a stick from the ground, Ouzo hit the web repeatedly until there was movement high above which suddenly accelerated toward the party. Two huge spiders the size of bears came barreling towards the weakest members - Dopey Debbie, Dexter the Dextrous, and Oliver from Cromwell.

"Fear not!! For I shall slay the fell beasts." said Tu the Magnificent. And he did. This surprised everyone, but as usual they wasted no time in claiming their part in the killing, even though they had done nought.

Leaping into action, Ouzo proceeded to climb into the web. "I bet you 10 gp he falls," Oliver said to no-one in particular. Which was a shame, because seconds later that's exactly what happened. Dusting off his ego he claimed, "It's too sticky." Ouzo had a new idea. "If only we had a ladder." You mean like this one," Oliver yelled from the top rung using a ladder he'd found upstairs. He searched the webs carefully and found three mummified bodies. One of which was still alive! Mighty Gillard, the prancing halfing, was rescued!! To celebrate, a game of kickball using the heavily cocooned halfling ensued. 

"Are you sure he can't feel anything?" queried Debbie. 

"Who knows. But he definitely can't talk, so who cares," smiled Myrtle the Munificent.

Searching the cavern led to the discovery of the family heirlooms - 2 locked chests. One of which was easily opened by Ouzo. The other was magically trapped. A sudden outbreak of altrusim afflicted several members of the party. "We can't take from a widow," insisted Myrtle and Ouzo. Pausing from the pocketing of a bag of 300 gp, Tu pointed to the contract the widow had signed with the party. "Paragraph one, section A. The party is entitled to keep any and all items (gold or otherwise) that it finds in the course of this operation. Henceforth, I have no claim to any of etc. etc. etc.""

*There was a very long discussion on the ethics of taking from widows. Contract or no contract*

"Party treasure," chorused the cheap seats. Myrtle and Ouzo gave their share to the widow. Oliver scored some sweet wizard robes with stars and moons emblazoned all over. And a pointy hat.

After much debate, the party decided to stay and wait for Bear to recover. The healer estimated that this could take 2-3 days. These passed uneventfully. Until they didn't.

On the night of the third day, the middle watch (Tu, and Oliver) slept fitfully until the rest of the party were all awoken by the terrified neighing of the party's horse (Horse). 

"LET THERE BE LIGHT", cried Myrtle. And there was. 

Illuminated by the spell, six kobolds froze and pretended to be shrubberies. This was not a great plan. After some rapid pruning (Score Tu 2,  Dexter 2, Oliver 1) the survivor fled into the darkness. A volley of arrows peppered Horse. 

"LET THERE BE LIGHT", cried Myrtle. And there was.

Over by the stables - there were a dozen more shrubberies. Not counting the archers.

"Wait, we have a stables? Why didn't we put Horse in . . ." 

"Hindsight is 20/20," Scuttle interrupted Myrtle, "Let's get him in the the house."

*Many BBLG rolls later which turned out to be only a minute the deed was done. Fortunately for the party, the shrubberies vanished into the darkness*

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Upon the breaking of dawn the party arose, and departed for home. Frustrated by the waiting, Tu and Ouzo canvassed the rest of the party's support for the bleeding of the poison from Bear's veins. Myrtle wavered, and was almost convinced, but Bear still woozy from the poison, awakened just in time. Propped up on Horse, roped to a rake to hold him upright, we departed. To raise their spirits, Debbie found reason to sing. Fortunately, the party was well supplied with moss to surreptitiously stuff into their ears. Travelling rapidly during the days, and hiding at night we returned home uneventfully.

Home. A teeming metropolis that never sleeps. Not. Home, a tiny pimple in the arse of beyond that doesn't even have a mages guild that can cast dispel magic. "If only we had someone dumb enough to open that chest . . ." mused Scuttle. All eyes swivelled to Debbie.

"Debbie, I found this key in the dead man's belongings. I wonder if it fits?" 

Snatching the key from Oliver's hand, Debbie cried "It's about time I did something!!!" To which the party nodded gravely as we moved to a safe distance. A very safe distance. It really is about time she did something was the consensus of the group. She'd been with us a long time now, and we could not recall anything she had done previously. This was new!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. The smell of burning flesh and singed hair filled the air. Closely followed by the sound of singing.

*Debbie failed her save and took the minimum damage possible. Lucky!*

"Check out the swag guys, I need to lie down" and Debbie sashayed away to the sound of James Brown.

A veritable smorgasbord of loot awaited, the best of which was a magical shortsword, and scabbard. "That's mine" squeaked Ouzo. "I can use a shortsword." 

"Need I remind you, of the dastardliness of taking from a widow', Tu reminded him pointedly. Ouzo the Hypocritical didn't blink an eye. Struggling with tying the scabbard to his waist he replied 'finders, keepers."

"Shouldn't we roll for this."

"We could sell it."

"Myrtle, what do you think?"

After much discussion, the party turned to Ouzo to inform him of its decision. He was long gone.

*The ancient scroll of magical allotment determined that he could have it because no-one else wanted it. Darrly is moved to last on the list *

Rested and healed, the party was summoned to the temple of Real for a new job offer. Escorting some wet behind the ears recruit (Pierre) to the next town over. It was a job for noobs, so we took it. After the failure of the last job, and the loss of the child, perhaps redemption could be found in saving someone else's soul. The contract was signed and sealed on the spot. Surprisingly, Oliver the Cursed found the scabbard and sword tied around his waist. Odd, but free magic items have to be good?

* Darryl is restored on the list, and Jeff goes to bottom. Cursed or not . . . magic counts!*

Leaving the next day we travelled uneventfully until arriving in a nondescript town we stayed at a local inn. Some stuff happened. There was a fight between Tu and a dwarf. The party thought him getting almost killed by a dwarf was so funny everyone invited said dwarf to join the party. Everyone except Tu. "Iron Buttock. Cool name." Let's face it, adding random strangers into the mix, never ends badly. We also added him to a watch. Trust is hard earned in the wilderness. But not with these noobs.  

It was the last night before arriving at the next town. Further testing of the sword showed its teleporting qualities. The middle watch of Tu and Oliver were - surprisingly - awake when we heard a human scream in the distance. No more than 100 yards from camp. Swiftly rousing the rest, we found Bear the Unlucky knocked unconscious, and the traitorous Pierre missing. The sword was gone. 

Remembering how their tardy response doomed the child, we rushed into the dark, Tu, Debbie, and Oliver with their keen elvish senses soon found the source of the scream. There was Pierre, soul sucked from his shrivelled husk with the scabbard by his side. "Huh, guess I'm not the unlucky one after all," Bear quipped. Quickly consulting the contract the party was disappointed to find that it did indeed specify said recruit needed to be delivered ALIVE. It was written in bold in the first sentence. A Thought Capture from Myrtle confirmed that Pierre was legging it with the loot, before he got attacked by bad things.

The party agreed that either a vampire, a ghost, a ghoul, or a ghast had to be responsible. Or a Lich. Until we found the three sets of tracks. Two five toed sets, and one set of slippers (?) Huddling frightenedly until daylight we followed the trail to the riverbank where it headed upstream. The sword returned. One quick conversation later and we headed to the town of Thyme, abandoning the trail. The Real Temple confirmed the soul sucking nature of Pierre's death.

"Let's call the Vampire, Varney!" we cried. And so it was. Until it wasn't.

*Usually we argue the point and do nothing for about thirty minutes before deciding on a course of action. This was unanimous, and took about 1 minute.*

  

Kobolds and Spiders are Tough!

Gillard ready for action

…

“Let’s just charge the buggers” yelled Bear [Ian].

Gillard [Kevin] grunted, wiped the sticky strands of Marmalade off her chin, and leaped up clutching her little swords. “Charge! … Charge who?” she yelled.

The whole party split up into two groups, one in the left-hand passage and one in the right-hand passage. We all formed up into two columns, the first burst forth from the left-hand passage into the large river chamber with Bear [Ian] in the lead, his large shield held out in front of him, with Gillard [Kevin], Ouzo [Darryl], and Oliver [me, Jeff] in a file behind him. The second group, consisting of Tu [Shane] with his shield up, and with Dexter [Jamie], Scuttle [Chris], and Myrtle [Andrew] right behind, simultaneously burst forth from the right-hand tunnel.

Debbie plays her flute

The quiet sounds of Debbie’s [Stephen, Bard] flute echoed from the right-hand passage as she played some music to supposedly help us fight, while the others hastened towards the impending battle.

Both columns charged across the cavern towards the stream.

The stream was cut down into the stone floor of the large stone chamber. It flowed left to right across our path, and the sound of its rushing waters echoing into the darkness. Two small logs lay across the stream, roughly in line with the two passages we were charging out from and landing on the far side where a relatively low rough stone wall extended left and right in front of us.

A long row of small heads was arrayed behind the stone wall, and a flurry of small arrows sprang up and floated across the stream towards Bear [Ian] and Tu [Shane] and bounced harmlessly off their shields. Bear and Tu charged towards the stream and prepared to leap straight across, while the rest of us followed.

Beyond the stone wall, the cavern extended back into the gloom to where a flickering fire could be seen, a roasting spit sitting above the flames, containing a small humanoid shape. Somewhere out of the darkness ahead a guttural chanting could be briefly heard.

“Oh shit” muttered Bear [Ian] and then an area of the cavern to the right of the fire plunged into even deeper darkness.

Myrtle of the shapely thighs

With all of the party, sans Debbie [Stephen] (whose music could no longer be heard over the noise of the stream and all the shouting) now out in the cavern, the second wave of arrows fell amongst the lot of us. Dexter [Jamie] took one in the shoulder, stumbled slightly, but continued on towards the jump across the stream. One ripped through Myrtle’s [Andrew] cloak, glanced across her shapely thigh, and drew a trickle of blood. The rest either bounced off armour or shield or just skittered harmlessly along the stone floor of the cavern.

Bear [Ian] and Tu [Shane] both leapt over the stream and wall in a single bound and started laying about with their swords. Dexter [Jamie] was right behind them but took another arrow in the chest as he mounted the top of the wall and dropped to the ground on the other side, unconscious. Scuttle [Chris] had to flank right around the end of the wall as he couldn’t get over it quickly, and Myrtle [Andrew] leapt the wall just behind Dexter [Jamie] and dropped into a crouch beside him to give aid. Tiny Gillard [Kevin] had to take two precarious steps along the left-hand log, and then flank left around the end of the stone wall. There was no way she could climb or jump that height!

Kobold Shaman

Just then a bizarrely dressed Kobold stepped out of the darkness beyond the wall and let fly a Magic Missile that struck Ouzo [Darryl] in the forehead just as he was about to cross the stream. I [Oliver, Jeff] was directly behind Ouzo [Darryl] and saw it all happen. I let fly my own Magic Missile straight back at the creature, and he stumbled and retreated back into the darkness. That’ll teach him!

Then we were all behind the wall and engaged in fierce battle. Ouzo [Darryl] slipped along the cavern wall and disappeared into the darkness in hunt of the Kobold Shaman. Gillard [Kevin] and her tiny blades slammed into two of the fierce Kobolds, laying about left and right and dealing damage, but taking mighty hits from the creatures in return. Bear [Ian] held three of the creatures at bay with his long swords, but they somehow used their diminutive size to get the advantage over him and he was soon bleeding from a handful of cuts around his legs. His mighty blows either swept above the heads of the tiny Kobolds or bounced off their plain leather armour. Tu [Shane] stepped in front of two of the creatures and was soon forcing them back away from the main group. Myrtle [Andrew] cast a “Cure Light Wounds” miracle on Dexter [Jamie], and he was able to leap back into the fray.

From my spot just on the other side of the wall I cast a second Magic Missile that felled one of the Kobolds, while Scuttle [Chris] slipped quietly around the end of the wall and appeared behind one of the Kobolds, dagger in hand for a surprise “Sneak Attack”. I managed to fire off another “Magic Missile” and dropped one of the Kobolds, but they were looking like a very hardy bunch of creatures indeed.

Things were not going well. Bear [Ian] was bleeding from multiple wounds, Gillard [Kevin] took another hit and dropped to the ground, I [Oliver, Jeff] got slashed across the thigh, although Myrtle [Andrew] then cast a “Cure Light Wounds” on me, and I managed to fire off my last Magic Missile. Unfortunately, it must have been a bit of a fizzer as the creature kept advancing towards me, until Tu [Shane] leapt in front of it and distracted it.

I was out of spells and retreated to see where Debbie [Stephen] was and why she wasn’t using her spells to actually help us. Myrtle [Andrew] rushed across to cast her last “Cure Light Wounds” on Bear [Ian] who had just taken a very nasty slash to the arm, effectively disabling him temporarily [critical hit, -2 on defence and attack, broken limb]. The Kobold Shaman again stepped out of the darkness and let fly another “Magic Missile” that struck Scuttle [Chris] in the forehead and knocked him back, although he manged to remain standing and continue fighting the Kobolds. In the magical darkness the sounds of Ouzo [Darryl] thrashing about trying to hit the Shaman who was no longer there, were echoing off the rear of the cavern.

I found Debbie [Stephen] , still in the entrance passage playing her flute and singing her spell, quite ineffectively as no one could hear it. “Huh, where is everyone?” she asked.
I dragged her out of the passage and across to the stream so the actual fighters could hear her.

Perhaps this turned the tide of the battle, as Kobolds started to drop more frequently, although Dexter [Jamie] and Gillard [Kevin] were both unconscious at that stage. Scuttle [Chris] was like a little whirlwind and took out the last Kobold with a “Surprise Attack” that left his dagger punched right through its throat from back to front. “That’s two to me” he triumphantly proclaimed. Ouzo [Darryl] staggered back from where the darkness had disappeared when the Shaman had finally been felled.

“Oh God” whispered Tu, “It is young Fletch on this spit”

Kobold Spell Book

Young Fletch was retrieved from the spit, very dead, and reverently wrapped in some cloth before we gathered the remaining Coultard family and the horses from outside. We took the remainder of the day to rest, recover spells, and heal everyone from their extensive wounds. We also explored the cavern, recovered some meagre piles of coins (80gp), a small gemstone, and a Kobold magical spell book. We set watches and spent the night there too.

Ouzo [Darryl] cleaned off the Shaman’s skull and loaded it into his pack.
Bear [Ian] sharpened his swords. “Useless things” he mumbled “They were only tiny Kobolds …”

In the morning we rose before light, ate a quick breakfast, gathered up all the dead Kobolds and retrieved their ears as tokens of our success, and set out at light to head on to the Coultard farm.

The journey was uneventful and around the middle of the afternoon we took a side track off the main path and soon spotted the farmhouse just ahead. It was a two-storey place, pretty tired looking, with the front door visible and closed. We halted on the track with the farmhouse in view while Dexter [Jamie] strode down the track with Scuttle [Chris] and Ouzo [Darryl] also drifting forward under cover of the trees, one to each side of the track. Dexter [Jamie] approached the front door and disappeared inside. The other two were out of sight, presumably scouting around the rear of the property.

Pretty soon Ouzo [Darryl] appeared around the side of the house and waved us forward.

Ye Olde Well

When we got there, he reported “A couple of old sheds around the back, overgrown gardens, and a well with pully and rope but no bucket”

Dexter [Jamie] said there was fire damage to the upstairs and it was pretty unstable, the cellar was clear, and the place appeared empty and unoccupied.

Mrs Coultard, Malinda, wanted to get the burial services completed as soon as possible so we all headed out to the graveyard and dug two small graves. The urn went into one, and the wrapped Fletch into the other. Everyone tossed in some dirt, Myrtle [Andrew] invoked the blessing of VINGT-ET-UN and said a few appropriate words. Bear [Ian] found a shovel and quickly filled in the graves and then we all retreated back to the house.

We brought the horses into the house too, pulled the door closed, ate a hearty supper, set our watches, and settled in for the night.

During the midnight watch (Myrtle [Andrew], Bear [Ian], and Ouzo [Darryl]) Malinda, who hadn’t been sleeping well, asked if she might pop down into the cellar to search for a few family mementos that had been left here when they originally fled all those years ago. Ouzo [Darryl] escorted her down to the cellar and she rummaged around in the debris for an hour or so.

In the morning we were preparing to leave when Ouzo [Darryl] rushed in from outside in an agitated state. “Hey, the rope, the rope, it’s gone! Did any of you take it off the pully?”

Sure enough, the rope that had been tied to the pully over the well was no longer there. We all peered into the well and Myrtle [Andrew] cast a “Light” miracle onto a rock and dropped it in. “Splash” about 30’ down, no sign of any rope, bucket, or anything amiss. Myrtle [Andrew] looked around at the party with a raised eyebrow.

“I can’t fit down that skinny well” stated Bear [Ian].
“I certainly aren’t climbing down there” said Ouzo [Darryl], “either there is nothing there and it’ll be a waste of effort, or there is something there and it’ll get me. So, sod off”
“Drop me down on a rope” volunteered Gillard [Kevin].

Bear [Ian] quickly tested the rope, grabbed one end, and lowered Gillard [Kevin] slowly down into the well, before she changed her mind. Suddenly there was a violent yank on the rope and Bear [Ian] reared back with a yell. “Gillard, you OK? What was that? … GILLARD ”

No reply.

He yanked up the rope, about 15’ of it, to find nothing but a frayed end.

Myrtle [Andrew] cast another “Light” spell on a small branch, and it was lowered slowly down the well to about 15’ depth. Now we could see that there was a large 2m diameter opening in the wall of the well at that depth, that led off in the direction of the farmhouse.

“What do you know of this?” Tu [Shane] demanded of Melinda.

“Nothing. There was no problem with the well when we left” she breathlessly replied.

“The cellar” yelled Scuttle [Chris], “It’s about that depth, and in that direction. Let’s go!”

Ouzo [Darryl] stayed outside to watch the well while the rest of us hurried inside and down into the cellar. Bear [Ian] banged on the cellar wall on the appropriate side and sure enough, it sounded wooden and hollow. “Nothing?” Tu [Shane] questioned Melinda.

“Well, my husband did make an old storeroom somewhere here” she replied, “but I never came down here”. “Hummff” grunted Tu [Shane].

Bear [Ian] spent a few seconds poking and pulling on the wall and then with a curse he just threw himself at the wall and crashed through into a small chamber. [Successful bend bars/lift gates (BBLG) roll]

The chamber had some dusty barrels and crates, but no other doors or tunnels leading away.

Bear [Ian] rushed over to the far wall and thumped on it. “Hollow” he shouted, then backed up, and rammed straight into it again. But bounced back with a grunt. [Failed BBLG roll]

Bear [Ian] rubbed his shoulder, thrust out his hand toward the rest of the party and yelled “Hammer, Axe, or anything sturdy, and be quick about it”.

Dexter [Jamie] was quickly back with a heavy rusty-headed sledgehammer which he thrust into Bear’s {Ian] outstretched hand. It was only a few minutes of swinging the sledgehammer into the old wall before Bear [Ian] broke through into a large, dark, and very stinky cavern. He passed the sledgehammer back, drew his sword and shield, and peered through the opening into the darkness beyond.

Gillard?

“Lantern” he yelled, and Scuttle [Chris] moved forward and shone his lantern around his knees into the darkness. “Oh, over there” he squeaked. A white cocooned figure was hanging from the ceiling at the far side of the chamber. “Surely that’s Gillard [Kevin]”

Bear [Ian] cautiously stepped into the dark cavern and looked around, Myrtle [Andrew] right behind him and Scuttle [Chris] with the lantern beside her. Almost immediately Bear [Ian] heard a noise from above and peered upward.

A giant spider dropped down just in front of him and began attacking, its huge mandibles crunching onto Bear’s [Ian] sword arm. “Owwww” he yelled, “but I’m OK”

Giant Spider drops on Bear

Bear [Ian] couldn’t push into the room so the rest of us behind him couldn’t assist. Scuttle [Chris] maintained the lantern so Bear [Ian] could see what he was doing and Myrtle [Andrew] stood just behind him with her miracles at the ready. A fierce battle ensured, which quickly became a race of attrition. Bear [Ian] was taking continual small damage from the spider but was struggling to cause significant damage to the spider from his sword blows [Giant spider armour of 5 points, therefore more than 5 damage required to do any damage to it at all. Strength damage bonus only applies when using strength style, therefore parry style and the resulting armour bonus and damage reduction does not apply if using the strength damage bonus]

After a few rounds Bear [Ian] groaned and complained of feeling dizzy and slow.

Myrtle [Andrew] muttered about poisons and cast her “Slow Poison” miracle.
“Ah, better” grunted Bear [Ian] as he thrust his sword at the spider again.

The battle went on for what felt like hours but was probably just a few minutes. Myrtle [Andrew] stepped back with a curse “No more spells, good luck” she whispered. Bear [Ian] valiantly battled on, but was soon feeling woozy and weak again. As he was about to stagger back, he struck a mighty blow [critical hit, avoiding armour] and the spider collapsed to the ground. None too soon either as he then toppled backwards, nearly crushing Scuttle [Chris] on the way down and lay stiff as a board and unresponsive on the floor, his legs still protruding out into the spider cavern.

We quickly dragged him back into the second hidden room and Tu [Shane] peered through the opening past the giant spider’s body. “Um, there is still movement up there in those webs around the roof” he said, “how about we just burn them out?”

“No!” yelled Scuttle [Chris] “you’ll burn poor Gillard as well. Just run in and rescue him!”

 

Adventures in the Oble Ranges

Mrs O Smith
Golden Farm
RD 212
Toluene

 Airday, Week 3, Autumn, Year of Bearded Axe

 Somewhere in the Oble Range

 Dear mother,

I’m so sorry that this letter may not arrive for some time since I am forced to write from somewhere in the foothills of the Oble Range, somewhat Battle of the small town of Penstoke. I shall drop it off to the Gnomepost as soon as we return to Penstoke, hopefully in a few days, a week at most.

Well, my training at the guild in Toluene was completed last season and they sent me off with a large spell book to gain some “actual experience in the real world”. I have been engaged by the Real Church as part of a team of eight adventures hired to escort the Coultard family from Penstoke up into the disputed lands of the Oble Ranges. 

They are to bury the ashes of their recently departed father in their family plot on their long-abandoned farm somewhere out in the wilds.

And what a crew of adventures the Church has assembled to guard this family on the trip.

There is a giant! Well, a very, very, large fighter; at least 7’ tall, named Nicolas "Bear" Stravros [Ian]. When he sits astride his horse he literally towers into the sky like a tree. And across his back a pair of swords that seem even bigger than me on their own.

And a goddess! Miss Debbie O'Nair, the most beautiful [Stephen] female I’ve ever seen. A half-elven Bard who is absolutely divine with the guitar. I say goddess as she appears often to be on a higher plane than the rest of us and does not seem much in tune with the world around her.

We also have some tiny folk with us. Two actual halflings. Sam "Scuttle" Stoutfeet [Chris], apparently a thief, and Gillard [Kevin] a sturdy and stout fighter, although someone mentioned that he is actually a female!

There are some others, Dexter the Unknown [Jamie], a human Temple Fighter of Carabou Gorn (aka Ranger). Myrtle Rust [Andrew] a female half elf priestess of 21, Ouzo Slumpy [Darryl] a male human thief, and Tu Pointyears [Shane] an elven fighter.

It seems strange to think that it was just a few days ago on Realday evening that we all met at the Real Temple Hall in Penstoke and were invited to meet the Coultard family; Mrs Malinda Coultard and her two boys, Fletch (12) and Morris (10).

One hundred gold per person when we return after burying the urn of ashes, too easy mother!

It was expected to be about a two-day trip out to the old farm, and then two days back. But more about that shortly.

In cautious anticipation of some excitement, I cast my Armour spell (mother, you would love the Armour spell. It provides damage protection equivalent to wearing that chain mail stuff, without the actual weight or encumbrance) that night before bed, charged up my magical power reserves, (mother, have I told you we have to eat these large slimy balls of goop that they call “grapes” to charge up our power? They taste ghastly, give you a headache, and cause you to “forget” all the magic spells you have previously stored up for use) and re-memorised my magical spells.

We set off the next morning, Starday, up the old Battle track. Bear [Ian] on his horse, Gillard [Kevin, unconscious and marmalading] and the Coultards on their small wagon, Myrtle [Andrew] on her white palfrey, Dexter [Jamie] on his pony, and the rest of us on foot.

The track we are following quickly became rutted and overgrown, and it was pretty slow going. It seems that ever since the goblin incursions in the area led to the farmers abandoning their farms in and around the Oble foothills, that the whole area has gone to ruin.

The weather was pretty rubbish, overcast and gloomy, and Bear [Ian] said that goblins and some other night creatures could easily be out and about and that we all needed to keep our eyes open. 

Debbie chuckled and said that night rhymed with fright, and she could put together a nice verse or two about that, and then spent most of the morning strumming her guitar and mumbling to herself.

The countryside rises gently up into the Oble foothills, mostly level and clear, although there is a lot of rough ground and low scrub, with the odd corpse of small stunted and windswept tress. The journey was pretty boring and uneventful for the morning, until around mid-afternoon when we saw an old, damaged wagon on the side of the track away out in front of us. Our new group sprung immediately into surprisingly competent action. We stopped well back.

Ouzo [Darryl] slipped off to the right of the track and disappeared into the scrub. Well, I say disappeared, but there was the occasional swaying of bush and snapping of twigs heading off towards the damaged wagon. Dexter [Jamie] lashed his pony to the rear of the Coultard wagon and cautiously moved forward up the track with Tu [Shane] at his side, while Scuttle [Chris] did actually disappear into the scrub to the left of the track. Bear [Ian], moved his horse in front of the Coultard’s wagon and focussed his attention to the damaged wagon ahead and its surroundings. He was so high up that I’m sure he could see for hundreds of yards in all directions. His gaze occasionally swung to the right and he frowned as he tracked Ouzo along his “hidden” advance. Myrtl [Andrew] and I took the rear and made sure nothing surprised us from behind or from the flanks. Debbie [Stephen] was also there at the back of the team, gazing distractedly up at the hills and quietly strumming her guitar. “Shut up already” hissed Myrtle [Andrew].

We waited, but alas, nothing happened. Everyone eventually came back and said it was safe to proceed, although Ouzo [Darryl] thought he had seen some movement in the scrub just beyond the broken wagon. Bear rolled his eyes at that.

Pretty soon thereafter Dexter [Jamie] pointed out a small, wooded rise to the side of the track and suggested we make camp there for the night. Which we did. And guess what mother? They wanted me to take one of the watches during the night, even though I couldn’t see squat in the darkness! Bear [Ian] said my hearing was pretty good for a puny wizard, so I had to join one of the others during his watch. They paired me up with Tu [Shane], who could see pretty well in the darkness due to his being an elf.

Our group is a pretty good mix of human and non-human so we are able to split into multiple watches of two people, with at least one of whom can see well in the darkness.

Ouzo [Darryl] woke us all up in the middle of his watch and said he had heard some noises and seen some shadows in the trees and thought there were a group of creatures sneaking around the camp site. The sneaky team with night vision (Myrtle [Andrew], Scuttle [Chris], and Tu [Shane]) skulked off into the trees but soon retuned with nothing to report. Bear [Ian] rolled his eyes again and we all went back to sleep.

The morning (Airday) dawned, grey and overcast again, and we broke camp and continued on.

Mrs Coultard said that given the state of the track and the slow speed we were making, it was more than likely that we wouldn’t arrive at the farm until sometime tomorrow at the earliest. Bear [Ian] said that we would need to keep an eye out for goblins and other night creatures since it was dark enough for them to be out during the day.

The track was getting rougher and rougher, and we were going slower and slower as we manoeuvred the wagon over and around obstacles. But nothing much happened that day, until later in the afternoon when we were thinking that it might be time to find another defensible spot to camp for the night. Dexter [Jamie] who was scouting slightly ahead of the group popped up out of the scrub and told us that there was what looked like two fresh bodies on the track ahead.

“Fresh, no flies yet” he said.

We crept forward to indeed find two bodies, one a large human male with small arrow wounds, half stripped, and the other a small humanoid figure with a strange reptilian shaped head.

“Bloody Kobolds” noted Bear [Ian]. Tu [Shane] and Dexter [Jamie] cast about looking for tracks and any sign of the creatures who must have just recently attacked and killed the man. “A small group of the Kobolds, maybe six or so” said Dexter [Jamie]. “No” said Tu, “definitely a pack of wolves, sometime yesterday probably”.

Bear [Ian] rolled his eyes! Debbie [Stephen] gazed distractedly up at the clouds and strummed her guitar. “Um, what?” she said.

Dexter [Jamie] and Tu [Shane] found us a defensible camp for the night while the rest of us buried the bodies. Myrtle [Andrew] said a few words over the grave “Given your great Luck that we found you and were able to bury you so soon, you must be protected by VINGT-ET-UN. May your remains be protected from all harm and may your souls be at peace. Oh, but not you, you Kobold filth!”

That night Ouzo [Darryl] once again heard noises during his watch and alerted us to possible danger. We were all up and peering out into the darkness when Bear [Ian] noticed that only one of the two Coultard boys was sleeping under the wagon, the older one, Fletch, was missing.

Dexter [Jamie] and Tu [Shane] followed his bare footprints out into the woods where they found signs of a scuffle next to a shallow pit dug into the earth and a nearby pile of pooh wiping leaves.

“Kobold tracks, leading Battlewards” noted Dexter [Jamie]. “No’, said Tu [Shane], “Wolves, leading off Kilbward it looks like”. Bear [Ian] rolled his eyes again. “Who’s Fletch?” said Debbie [Stephen] as she brushed her hair and stared at her reflection in a small hand mirror.

Just then a hail of arrows showered down from the darkness, most apparently targeting Dexter [Jamie] who was peering about blindly, while Ouzo [Darryl} shouted “Over there, over there”. Myrtle [Andrew] waved her hands about and a whole section of the hillside was illuminated like it was daylight. Five or six little Kobold archers could be briefly seen ducking into cover, but we managed to get a few of our own arrows off at them, including my own Magic Missile. (Mother, did I tell you about my Magic Missile? Its like I shoot a small arrow out of my finger that never misses!)

“They’re scuttling off, over there” shouted Ouzo [Darryl] from somewhere in the darkness.
“Me?” whispered Scuttle [Chris] from somewhere else nearby in the darkness.

We humans stayed clustered around Mrs Coultard and young Morris while those who could see in the darkness organised some form of defensive perimeter around the camp.

Pretty soon we head another flurry of arrow fire and Tu [Shane] started yelling “Take that you midget bastards, run like the cowards you really are”. “They have fled” reported Ouzo [Darryl].

We quickly organised a scouting party consisting of all those who could see in the dark, and move relatively quietly, who set off Battlewards in quiet pursuit. The rest of us, including Myrtle [Andrew] who needed to rest and recover her priestly spells, unloaded the wagon and waited in the darkness until the scouts returned, or light. I [Jeff] recharged mu spells and started this letter, Debbie [Stephen] brushed her hair some more. “Where is everyone?” she asked, then went back to sleep.

The scouts returned and told us that they had tracked the Kobolds up to a cliff face some distance up into the hills, and that they could see smoke rising from over the top of the cliffs. As soon as it was light, we all moved out and followed the trail towards the cliffs.

P.S. I’ve hastily scribbled this later section while the group are organising themselves for a massive frontal assault into the Kobold caves we discovered at the foot of the cliffs.

With Bear [Ian] and Tu [Shane] at the front, holding their large shields in front of them, we all cautiously entered the caves. The small entrance way quickly opened into a natural chamber with two exits deeper into the hillside. A small flurry of arrows thunked into the shields, with Tu [Shane] taking some minor wounds from splinters. The two continuing passages were very narrow, Bear [Ian] took the lead down the left passage, having to bend his knees and duck his head, and twist his shield so it would fit into the passage in front of him. 

Tu [Shane} took the rear and kept an eye out for sneaky attacks from behind. The left passage opened into a very large chamber with a small river running left to right across in front of us. Two narrow logs crossed the river as a bridge, and a small stone wall ran along the far bank of the river. Some form of flickering fire glowed from beyond in the darkness.
As Bear [Ian] stepped out into the large chamber, a rain of arrows arched up from beyond the wall and fall all around him. Many missed or shattered on his shield, but a few struck him in the legs. “Ha” he laughed as we all pulled back into the narrow tunnel, “Pathetic small arrows”
Tu [Shane] reported that there had been the odd arrow fired from behind us also.
The two passages both led into the large river chamber.
“Lets just charge the buggers” yelled Bear.

The End?

Hubert collapsed, drooling marmalade. The others, Bernard [Jamie], Jacob [Chris], Cooper [Ian], Fleur [Steven], Gunter [Jeff], Wonton [Darryl], Gazala [Richard] and Mezmer [Shane] quietly rolled his limp body to the side.  

Ju 31

They had a long discussion about what to do with the granite slabs (with the power words filled with silver) in the crashed Junkers 31's fuselage. They wanted to dump them in deep water, but that would have to wait until the boat arrived tomorrow.

Cooper went off to repair the generator. That would allow the lighthouse lamp to at least shine again.

First, they picked up the Tanit granite slab. Weighing 200kg, everyone had to help (30kg each). They walked it 600m over rough terrain to the lighthouse, into the (bullet-ridden) kitchen, and propped it up against the bench.  Next, they shifted the Hammon slab to the kitchen too. This took two exhausting hours.

Finally they returned to shift the Baal slab. But when they lifted it, they could see beneath it, at the centre, there was a skeleton of a baby - with a long skull with three eyes. It was lying in a convenient indentation of the fuselage. Oh dear 1.

So, they carefully laid the slab down again without disturbing anything. And then had a long discussion about what to do.

There was a metal tool-box in the wrecked plane which would fit the skeleton. So, they had an idea to put the baby skeleton into it, and then to melt the remaining 500g of silver and use that to seal the box.

So, they re-melted the silver with the blow-torch in the iron pot. Gunter then held the pot with the thick oven gloves. Next, Bernard, Jacob, Wonton, Reinhold, Mezmer, and Gazala lifted the slab. Fleur, wearing aviator gloves found in the plane, quietly and carefully lifted the skeleton and placed it delicately into the tool box, and slammed it closed. Gunter quickly poured the molten silver to seal the lid-edge and the hinges.

Fleur said she felt all tingly and ALIVE, so Wonton and Mezmer both cast Detect Mythos on her. She showed up as mythos. Oh dear 2.

"Je peux panser tes blessures !" she exclaimed (I can cure your wounds). There were still party members (Cooper, Hubert, and Mezmer) with wounds from the ghouls and abstract bullet wounds. Still pretty fresh.

Mezmer refused to be touched. The badly-wounded Hubert was lying there marmalading, so he was enthusiastically volunteered and Fleur touched him. [ Our RP-ing Social Contract forbids the DM from harming or imperilling marmalading characters (unless there is a TPK - Total Party Kill). But there is no rule against player characters from killing or cursing marmaladers, or using them as guinea pigs. ] Fleur's touch was, indeed, some kind of magical healing. Her touch fixed a substantial bit of Hubert's damage. They summoned Cooper, he took a break from fixing the generator, and Fleur healed some of his wounds too. 

Mezmer still maintained that this can't be good.

Now that Cooper was here, they lugged the Baal slab to the kitchen too, and propped it up like the others. They placed the toolbox under it, about centre, and hoped that would be safe.

Cooper returned to the generator and spent the remaining hour of the day trying to fix it. But the ghoul had made a good job of breaking things and the generator would not start. So, there would be no E6416 light from this lighthouse tonight either. It was overcast and drizzly too. Oh dear 3.

They set watches all night. The night was particularly dark.

Nothing happened.

__________________

The fisherman was expected to return this day at noon. So, they got up bright and early and lugged the three slabs, in the same order, down to the jetty. The toolbox was tied to the Baal slab.

They wondered about the gem in skull, and whether it would point at anything. Dr Jacob put on the medallion and held the skull with the gem.  There was no response; the gem did not move.

Cooper had another go with the generator while they were waiting for the boat. And, as luck would have it, he got it fixed. He did a test run, and the lighthouse light shone clear and true. He checked the timing mechanism, and it was sound; E6416 would shine tonight. There was enough diesel to last eighteen days, but that was the Tunis Admiralty's responsibility; they would need to replace the staff too.

Fleur started to go strange, and churlish. And tried to block them moving the slabs. Oh dear 4.

They were expecting this, so she was quickly overpowered and tied up.

Mezmer took a big risk and cast the Sanctify ritual on Fleur herself. He knew that this was highly dangerous. This ritual was not designed to be done on people. It could kill her, and that could cause a mythos cascade which meant Mezmer could die too. After the hour and after his little dance, Fleur jerked about a bit and screamed, but there was no change.

At noon, right on time, Pedro arrived in his little boat. Seeing the strange slabs waiting on the jetty, he point-blank refused to take them on board. They offered him more money, but he said no way. So they got out their submachine guns. He was glad to help then.

The boat could only take one slab at a time. So, they took the Tanit slab first, motored out to sea for half an hour, and simply dropped it over the side. The water was 12 metres deep here.

Next they repeated this trick with the Hammon slab, out to a different area of deep water.

Finally, they took the Baal slab out to a third separate area. It had the tool-box still secured with rope, and they dropped it over the side too. 

But, it floated - the 200kg granite slab floated. Oh dear 5.

Gazala got out her long knife, reached out, and cut the rope. The mighty slab quickly sank, but the metal toolbox floated, strangely buoyant. So, they retrieved that and brought it back to the jetty.

Unsure what to do, they all boarded the boat and headed back to Njila. 

Here, they paid off Pedro, told him to tell the authorities to re-staff the lighthouse. Then, they climbed back in their Mercedes, placed the bound Fleur and toolbox in the boot, and headed back to Tunis.

As they approached the city (NW), they passed a lot of traffic, and there were three columns of dirty black smoke coming from the city. One from the far side (south east), one central, and one about a kilometre away.

Hotchkiss Mle 1914

A group of 16 Légion Étrangère (French Foreign Legion) soldiers had put a road-block across the main road and were turning vehicles around. They had a Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun set up and entrenched, but it was facing to the city.

The exhausted Sergent spoke to the party.

"Vous devez aller dans l'autre sens," he said. "Vous ne pouvez pas entrer dans la ville." (turn around, go back, you can't enter the city)

Just then four unnatural creatures emerged from behind a building down the road, and they started to amble and then sprint towards the soldiers. They were ghouls dressed in civilian attire. 

The soldiers on the heavy machine gun opened fire. It soon brought the ghouls down.

================  TO BE CONTINUED  =================

We are taking a break for a while.

 

Without a Whimper

The entire band, Wonton [Darryl], Bernard [Jamie], Cooper [Ian], Hubert [Kevin], Gunter [Jeff], Mezmer [Shane], Jacob [Chris], Fleur [Steven], and Reinhold [Tim], were cowering up the top of the lighthouse on Plane Island. Mezmer and Hubert were unconscious.

Gazala got out the Tala mirror (Mirror of the Ghost) carefully stored in her backpack, and pointed Tala's face facing down the spiral stairs. She had better vision than the group, and she could see shadows and flickering wispy things moving below.

Fleur and Jacob worked on the unconscious two, and with smelling salts and dexterous tongue licks got them both awake.

Some time passed and nothing happened, so Cooper decided to go for a scout. Plus, the group had seen a blow-torch in the generator shed earlier and Cooper would need to retrieve it. They had decided that a blow-torch would be a viable way to melt the silver ingot that they carried, so that they could pour the molten silver over the head of the shadow creature. Well, that was the plan. 

There was a lightning rod on the outside of the lighthouse tower. Cooper used this to climb down. He was roped up for safety.

When he was down, Tala indicated to Gazala that the Shadow had moved from the base of the stairs, so they warned Cooper, with a shout. In a panic, he tried to scramble back up the rod, but he failed to climb, so he ran off to find some rough rock to hide behind.

There was a half moon and it was a clear night, so it wasn't all dark even with the lighthouse lamp off. From the lighthouse balcony, they spotted a figure sprint out in a shambling dash, so guessed it was the fourth ghoul. They shot at with the submachine guns, scored some tenuous hits, and it withdrew (CR submachine guns are not very accurate at this range).

Cooper returned after an hour, and went to the generator room. The generator was well-broken. Something had clawed at it and had broken pipes and wires. 

But there was a white-spirit blow-torch here in the shed, so he grabbed that and returned.

He returned to the base of the lighthouse, roped himself up, and managed to climb up again with the help of the group yanking on the rope.

He had just got up, when suddenly, the ghoul came rushing up the stairs, in perfect narrative timing. There was a hail of gunfire, and it closed on Cooper (!) and clawed at him. 

bandage

Reinhold yelled something at it in Carthaginian, but there was no reaction.

Since the ghoul was clawing at Cooper, they had to shoot him and the ghoul. It was eventually dropped, and Cooper was severely wounded. But the doctors, Jacob and Fleur, tended his wounds and managed to patch the bullet holes and shattered bones with plasters and crepe bandages.

The party now had the blow-torch which ran on white spirits (paraffin), but they needed more white spirits. They knew there was a jerry can in the kitchen below. 

 

But before they could mount a retrieval mission to get the jerry can, Gazala and Bernard started to act strange and paranoid. They kept seeing strange things out of the corners of their eyes. Gazala saw Hubert furtively reach for his gun. Bernard saw Mezmer's face fester and peel, but when he looked at the skin closely, there was no change.

And Tala started to say strange things that only Gazala could hear: "Can you trust them?" "Mezmer is planning to sacrifice you to his dark gods", "Wonton wants to boil you to make dumplings from your flesh, and a stylish peignoir from your flayed skin.", "Va te faire foutre avec le bout rugueux d'un ananas."

Mezmer tried to cast Sanctify on Gazala in the hope that it would fix this. As far as Gazala was concerned, he was summoning a demon and this was the last straw, so she kicked him in the head. He was still pretty wounded, so collapsed, unconscious again. Fleur had to tend him with more band aids and camomile lotion.

The rest of the group pounced on Gazala, and tied her up. 

"Je t'avais prévenu !" gloated Tala. "Maintenant, ils vont vous écorcher vif."

Gazala bit Cooper when he tried to remove her knife.

With Gazala tied down, Cooper took over the holding of Tala's mirror. Which was a good thing because the shadow then came up the stairs.

Bernard had his camera ready for exactly this, and he took a picture with the bright flash. This was enough to scare it away, but Cooper, Gunter and Hubert saw it in all its horrendous glory.

Cooper's soap-stone eskimo started to hum. Hubert saw he had some creeping malaise on his skin, and now he was seeing Mezmer and Wonton with their skin hanging in tatters. Gunter was starting to see things too. He saw the party weapons as snakes. He dropped his own submachine gun in disgust.

____________

The final hour of the night passed, and it was morning.

 There were two more snakes on the lighthouse balcony, so he kicked them off the tower. He was too scared to go down the stairs into the darkness, so he climbed down the outside, down the lightning rod.

 

The others all just barrelled down the staircase into the dark kitchen, Mezmer first. Luckily, the shadow was not here.

Mezmer did not tarry. He was still worried about being attacked by Gazala - the others had finally freed her - so he fled to the generator room, and locked himself inside.

Wonton got a cast iron pot from kitchen and the others recovered the jerry can of white spirits.

It took a bit of wheedling and whining to get Mezmer to come out of the shed.

Silver ingots

Then they all headed for the crashed plane, the Junkers 31.

Fleur wore the medallion again, and confirmed that the skull gem now pointed to the inside of the plane's fuselage.

As it was day, there wasn't any dark spots in the fuselage, but Gunter, Bernard, Gazala and Hubert (not Cooper) could see flitting shadows, like bats, but unnatural and misshapen. They could also hear a high-pitched whining too. The others of the group saw and heard nothing.

Wonton started to heat the silver ingot, in the pot, using the blow-torch. Silver melts at 962C, so the blow-torch flame could supply this heat. 

[ Silver's specific heat is 0.235 kJ/kg/deg (c.f. water is 4.1).

Silver's latent heat of fusion is 105 kJ/kg (c.f. water is 334).

So, to melt a 1 kg ingot of silver requires ( 962 - 20 ) * 0.235 + 105 = 326 kJ of energy. 

But at those temperatures, you'd be lucky to get 1% of the blow-torch flame energy into the silver. Still, 1.5 litres of white spirits is enough to do this.  ]

The crashed Junkers was ferrying the three stone slabs that the German's had removed from the dig site and the annex. They had the Baal words of power carved into them. These 200kg stone slabs (2m x 2m x 0.19m) happened to be lying on their backs in the fuselage, with the carved symbols face up. 

So, Wonton planned to pour the molten silver into the carved indentations of each of the words of power. 

After consulting Reinhold and Mezmer, he decided to do it in the least-to-most order: Tanit, Hammon, Baal. So, he gingerly poured the yellow-hot flowing silver into the carved channels, and then he said those words loud and clear.

There was no mighty explosion, or great tremor, or even a whine. Not even a whimper. But Gunter, Bernard, Gazala and Hubert saw that the flitting shadows had suddenly vanished. The noises they could hear suddenly stopped too.

Mezmer did a Detect Mythos. It revealed nothing significant, apart from the various items that the group was carrying.

"I wonder if the fisherman can fit these slabs on his boat," someone mused despondently. "We need to drop them in deep water, far away from land."

"Alors Gazala peut être écorché vif," Gazala heard Tala say, even though it was day. "Mezmer peut faire la première incision."

Plane Island

Trip north with regular bearings

The next morning, Bernard [Jamie], Cooper [Ian], Gazala [Richard], Hubert [Kevin], Wonton [Darryl], Jacob [Chris], Reinhold [Tim], Gunter [Jeff], and Mezmer [Shane] were rearing to go.

Fleur marmaladed in a slovenly coma.

Using the skull containing the gem and the medallion, worn by Jacob this time, it gave a direction bearing: roughly north.

So, they loaded up the car and hooked up the trailer (already loaded up with supplies). Gazala put Tala's mirror (Mirror of the Ghost) in her backpack. 

They headed north, up the A4.

They drove northward for a couple of hours, towards the north coast. During the whole trip north, the skull-gem direction bearing veered more and more east-heading. Eventually, they left the A4 road and headed east towards Cape Farina. 

About 11am, at the end of the cape, the gem pointed out to sea to a small island in the hazy distance. This was Plane Island (Jaziret el-Monbasta in Arabic).

Plane Island

There was a small fishing village nearby called Njila. They found a fisherman, Pedro, who was willing to ferry them out to Plane Island, for a substantial sum. After all, he claimed, Plane Island was haunted by ghouls and genies. He would drop them on the western end and then leave. 

The four kilometre boat trip took them about an hour. Plane Island was a tiny island of rock, 500m by 150m, which had a lighthouse in the centre.

They asked Pedro to return in two days at the same time (noon).

Ju 31

On Plane Island, as they walked westward, they passed a rusting wreck of a ship. It was Belgium vessel SS Scheldepas, (a 5000 ton steam ship wrecked only last year in 1929). They headed toward the lighthouse in the very centre. As they approached it, down the eastern end of the island, they could see a crashed plane: a Junkers 31.

But before they could take the scene in, a figure in robes emerged from one of the lighthouse buildings. It started to run, then sprint, then move unnaturally fast. Like the creatures from the dig, it was a ghoul.

CR submachine gun

They had their Chauchat-Ribeyrolles submachine guns out, and they brought it down in a hail of bullets.

Then two more figures emerged from the lighthouse buildings, and these two were brought down as well. They were presumably the former lighthouse keepers. Gazala beheaded them all.

Down by the crashed plane, two hundred metres away, a large see-through shadowy figure stood up. Was it three metres tall? Five metres? Ten? It was hard to tell. It was merging eerily in and out of focus.  And there were four human-sized figures near it, dressed as German aviators. These fellows just milled about aimlessly. The group suspected they were ghouls too, but it was hard to see.

Rather than take them on immediately, they went to the two lighthouse buildings, accommodation and generator, and did a quick search. There were no other people here, and no more ghouls.

To try to lure the four figures from the plane, Cooper took a long-range rifle shot to get them to move close enough, so that everyone else could blast them with the submachine guns. Sure enough, the four aviators started to sprint immediately. But they only covered 50m, before they all stopped suddenly, in lock-step, then rushed back into the plane's fuselage, as if summoned.

If the mountain won't come to Mohammed...  So the group headed towards the plane. They covered half the distance but then made some salient calculations in their heads. These things move fast... maybe this is not such a good idea to take on four at once.

So, they bravely skulked back to the lighthouse.

"We will wait here until dark. What could be safer?"

...

They blocked up all the windows of the accommodation block, and strung ropes across the room to make barricades. The lighthouse tower (with spiral staircase) was joined to one end of the building. It would be here, by the door, they could squeeze in five of them, standing next to each other, with submachine guns, to make a killing zone.

Around sunset, a mechanical timer automatically started the diesel generator and the main lighthouse light came on. There was a system of rotating mirrors and lenses around the main lamp, and that gave the light a 10 second cycle. But the party didn't want this, so they turned the main light off, and just left the accommodation building's electric lighting running.

So, that night, lighthouse Admiralty E6416 did not shine.  The last time this happened was last year. The Belgium shipwreck they had passed earlier that day was the result of that.

It was a clear night and there was a half moon. Gazala was positioned right up the top of the light house, outside on the walkway, with the rifle and binoculars. Part-way down the spiral stairs lurked Wonton, Reinhold and Dr Jacob, to relay messages to and from the group below. The brave five, Gunter, Hubert, Mezmer, Cooper and Bernard, stood in a line by the stairway door, with their CR submachine guns. Bernard had his speed graphics camera handy too, with eight flash charges, in case bright flashes were needed.  They had 10 grenades spread amongst them too.

And they waited.

About 10pm, Gazala saw a shadow slowly stretch from the crashed plane towards the lighthouse, as if a giant light behind it was moving downwards to lengthen its shadow. She took aim with the rifle and fired. There was a splutter and tepid bang. The bullet cartridge had discharged, but the bullet was now jammed tight halfway down the barrel [such are the joys of a double 1 fumble]. This is not something that can be fixed in the field. 

She passed the message to the Wonton and Jacob who relayed it down the tower.

The power suddenly went off. The generator had gone quiet. And at that same time, the wood barricade blocking one of the side windows suddenly exploded inward, as a German aviator sprang inside. Well, former German aviator - now a ghoul dressed as one.

The small room was filled with the thunderous noise of five submachine guns firing, and it quickly filled with gun-cotton smoke and dust. The light from the muzzle flashes lit up the room, and in a hail of bullets the creature went down. But it was quickly followed by two more aviator ghouls.

They blasted away at these two too. One managed to get to Mezmer, and one got to Hubert. Mezmer's ghoul went down, but it still managed to claw his throat and his fat belly with its cigarette-long iron claws, and Mezmer dropped gurgling blood. 

Hubert was even less lucky; the creature clawed and bit at him, and the others had no choice but to blast away at that ghoul and at Hubert. [ If you fire into melee combat, your damage gets spread. ] Hubert and the ghoul both went down in a hail of bullets.

Field dressings and band aids were applied to both unconscious figures. Hubert's weary heart stopped a brief time, before Dr Jacob got to him and applied CPR. 

Then Cooper hefted the unconscious Mezmer over his shoulder, and Jacob and Gunter lifted the unconscious Hubert, and all ascended the spiral stairs.

Gazala and Reinhold had come down to help, so they and Bernard guarded the doorway of the stairs. There was one more ghoul unaccounted for, something had stopped the generator, and there was still that shadow figure. They kept guard down here with frantic waving torchlight.

Suddenly, they saw a shadow loom through broken barricades of the side window: "Mon Dieu!"

Bernard had his camera ready and shot the shadow with the camera flash, and Gazala lunged at it with her long mythos knife, Reinhold didn't risk a shot. In the brief instant of the flash, they all saw into the "face" of the shadow figure. It was an enlarged version of the three-eyed baby-skull face they had seen a few days ago in the baby coffin. But now it had flesh; papery greasy flesh, which moved, crawling and slithering slug-like, over the surface of the skull. The protruding over-size sharp teeth of the baby skull were now long glinting protruding teeth made of iron. The three eye sockets now had eyes in them, and Bernard, Reinhold and Gazala drank in the insane awful depths of those eyes. 

Luckily, the bright flash was enough to cause the hideous shadow to pause, and drift back through the broken window.

Bernard, Reinhold and Gazala's skin crawled at the horrendous thing they had seen. They all shuddered and gasped in revulsion, then slammed the stairway door, and retreated back up the spiral stairs.

Just then, a grenade bounced down the stairs and past them, thrown by Wonton. All three snapped out of their stunned reverie, and quickly crouched down behind the central pillar of the spiral stairs. The grenade went off and blew open the lower door.

"Ah, non! Encore, non!"