Adventure #18: Desert Assassins
Part 2: Mombasa
Two days later they reach the coast. They book passage for the five day journey south to Mombasa, and the "gas camel" is brought with them after purchasing it from Ra’eje. This trip gives them time to lick their wounds and plan the next stage of their journey. Ra’eje bids farewell, and they make him swear to tell no one what happened. Nodding solemnly, he agrees to their wishes.
The boat ride is uneventful, and they actually find the trip relaxing. For a short time, they are able to pretend that they are safe. Along the way, Lester continues reading books the party has acquired, and he even skims De Vermis Mysteriis. What he finds appalls him, and Lester finally shuts the book, shivering despite the warm, humid day.
Chad, Chang, and Lucifer pore over the accumulated clues from Jackson Elias and others. In particular, they study Jackson’s Nairobi Notes, which details many of the people Jackson visited in Nairobi. Some of these individuals are surely worth contacting, although the investigators hardly trust anyone.
They eventually arrive at their destination and are pleased to see that Mombasa is a thriving port town with a healthy mix of different nationalities. They are able to easily blend in.
This bustling coastal city of 30,000 people features Arab, African, Portuguese and British influences. The party is a rich group now that they have two members with healthy bank accounts again (Lester and Lucifer), so they book themselves into swanky housing and absorb the sights for a few days just like any other tourist. Their ultimate goal is to reach the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, some three hundred miles inland, where the Carlyle Expedition died and vanished. From there, their journey will grow even more dangerous.
However, both Cobblebottom and Lucifer swear that they see someone following them, a nondescript Arab man with a full beard and turban, but he always mysteriously vanishes. No one else sees this stranger, and Lucifer finally disregards it as a coincidence. After all, there are many people here who fit that description.
After researching their notes, and with suggestions from Chang, they discover that there IS one small clue in Mombasa that they can investigate while here:
Mombasa Exports.
This warehouse sits on the waterfront, and they have proof that it sent artifacts to the Penhew Foundation in London and the Ju-Ju House in NY. There is a good chance that cultists are affiliated with Mombasa Exports, so on the last night of their stay they decide to find what secrets lie within, with the ultimate goal of abolishing those secrets in a blaze of vengeance.
But they take time to plan their escape. They are still carrying several trunks filled with odds and ends related to their travels, although the majority of their most powerful, Mythos-related items were left with Dr. Kafour in Cairo, such as the rolled-up painting from Miles Shipley, the Bust of the Black Pharaoh, and the Black Sphinx lifted from Silas N’Kwane at the Ju-Ju House in New York City.
They pay someone to load the Uguandan baggage car ahead of time in case they need to make a quick getaway in the morning. Ma’moud, the good boy that he is, stays with their belongings. He is worried about what they are doing, but they tell him everything will be alright. Wiping a tear away, Ma’Moud says he will wait.
However, the "Gas Camel" is brought with them on this mission, for one never knows when you might need a highly explosive camel. This disturbs Lester Cobblebottom for he sees just how far his companions are willing to take matters, including the demolition of innocent pack animals.
“Do…do we really need the camel?” he asks Chad.
“Of course,” the ex-body builder grunts. He is slipping jars of shoe-polish into a bag, although Lester can’t fathom why he is doing that either.
Lucifer says: “Our foes are sundry, doctor. The men in the desert were proof of that. If Mythos artifacts abound in this warehouse, they must be destroyed.”
“D--destroyed? Mythos?”
Chad ratchets a shell into the chamber of his Browning shotgun. “With extreme prejudice, Cobblebottom. Let’s go. Less talk, more action.”
They head out into the dim night, four men carrying concealed weapons and leading a camel by the reins. If not for the multitude of other animals in the streets of this port city, a camel might actually seem strange. As is, they don’t really stand out.
A short while later they find themselves just off Nasser Road, where the dockyards jut over the waterway. They see a sign for Mombasa Exports, and are able to keep to the shadows. Well, as much as they can considering that they have a camel with them.
Half an hour later they shuffle up to their destination.
This mission calls for stealth, so Chad Slambody volunteers to strip naked, despite objections from the others. Using the black shoe polish and some oil he finds in a drum, he smears himself to aid a furtive approach. Chad scales the fence and checks the back of the warehouse. His quiet approach pays off. There is a Negro man smoking a cigarette behind the building. He has a pistol strapped to his belt, but Chad returns to the others and reports first, rather than risk detection. They decide that everyone should cross the fence together, but they leave the gas camel tethered outside in the shadows, along with its flammable cargo.
Sneaking back, they find the man is smoking another cigarette, and by using a few decoy sounds, [YIP! YIP! YOP! YIP!] they lure him around the corner. Chad pounces, sucker punches the guard across the jaw and within seconds has him trussed up like a turkey. Lucifer insists that this man must be killed and dropped into the sound, but Cobblebottom objects: they don't know if he is a cultist or just a guard. Sneering, Lardlover lets Cobblebottom have his way, and the guard is spared. For now.
Chad takes the man’s keys and maneuvers to the back of the loading dock. A single bulb illuminates the area and a metal door beneath the light. The others hide and watch while Chad opens the door.
It is dark inside, but he sees a faint glow from the other side of the room. Boxes and crates are stacked nearly ceiling-high, creating a winding maze. Chad slides forward, and soon sees a white man, an Arab man and Indian man playing cards, their weapons on the table. [
sounds like the start of a joke] Chad watches them for a minute or two, and then returns to tell the others.
Gunshots will draw too much attention, and the last thing they need is to get arrested again. London was bad enough (
although this is player paranoia, not character, except for Chang). They whisper among themselves and decide to lure the guards out one at a time. Chad is itching to grapple these fellows, especially if they are just scummy cultists. The others wait around the corner while Chad whistles and flexes his muscles.
Someone asks in English, “What? What you want, Marco?”
Chad whistles again. A chair slides back from the table. He hears footsteps clomping through the maze of boxes.
“What you whistling for? Don’t you got a damn tongue in your mou--”
As soon as the man crosses the threshold, Chad clocks him. It is the Caucasian guard, and he is slammed into the concrete wall, lips busted. Chad lands on top of him in a heartbeat, a wriggling naked bodybuilder smeared in oil, and quickly incapacitates the man in a chokehold, forcing him unconscious. Chang and Lester haul the man off the loading dock and tie him up.
Pumped full of adrenalin, Chad lures the next man out by trying to mimic the previous guard’s voice. It is the Indian who comes to investigate, but Chad launches his attack a fraction too late. The guard reels from the blow, but is not stunned.
“Help! Someone HELP ME!”
Chad slams him against the wall, knees him, and throws him down. Lester Cobblebottom rushes up and whacks him with a 4-by-4, but their stealthy approach has been compromised. Lucifer surges into the warehouse and finds cover, none too soon, for the final guard comes to the rescue. He starts shooting, and bullets whiz past Lester’s ears.
“Shoot back!” orders Chang, and out whip his twin pistols. Bullets and smoke fill the dark room, holes punching through plywood and crates. The guard is fortunately a poor shot and doesn’t manage to hit anyone, and after suffering a wound in the shoulder, Chad flies at him. He is thrown down and grappled, and the others pile on top. Within a few moments, the guard is gagged and tied, and all four security guards are dragged inside and the back door is locked.
The prisoners glare at them, but there is not much they can do.
But the investigators have made too much noise, too many mistakes. It is only a matter of time before someone comes. For all they know, the police might be on their way already. They must hurry if they want to do finish the job here, and that job includes screwing up whatever diabolical plan Nyarlathotep has brewing.
The warehouse is packed full of crates, too many to possibly search through, but Lucifer finds a metal safe in the office and Chang picks the lock. Inside are several hundred dollars, pounds and rupees, as well as a fat ledger book. They take everything. Chang wants to search the crates for hidden Mythos items, but it would take hours and hours. Instead, they debate as to whether they should destroy the warehouse with or without the Gas Camel.
The four guards are within earshot of this heartless conversation, their eyes growing wide as they hear their fates discussed. Lester votes for the easiest, quickest way out, such as leaving NOW, killing no one, but Chad, Chang and Lucifer harbor other plans.
“Evil deserves no mercy, Cobblebottom,” says Chad. “Be brave. You’re showing weakness, man.”
Wringing his hands, Lester doesn’t know if this is being brave or being stupid.
Ultimately the life of the Gas Camel is spared, but the four guards are lashed to the gasoline drum after Chad rolls it inside.
“Sorry, ‘bout this,” Chad tells them. “But you shouldn’t have become a cultist.”
They are thrashing their heads back and forth, kicking and screaming through the gags, but that doesn’t stop Chad from dousing them with fuel and leading a trail to the back door. Chad waves, lights the fuse, and the investigators head for cover as a thunderous explosion rocks the warehouse district. The camel is slapped on the ass and sent trotting across the city, its nefarious job complete.
The next morning the investigators wake up feeling like they accomplished a lot. Lester Cobblebottom isn’t so sure about their methodology, but doesn’t say anything. On the way to the train station, they read a newspaper article about how half the warehouse district was burned down the previous night by vandals.
Bemused, Chad and Lucifer exchange glances, confident that one less cultist warehouse will cause them problems now.
[GM Note: This was actually the first warehouse they, um…killed. The first of several. The guards weren’t even cultists, and I told them that later. They killed a bunch of fellows just earning a buck].
The Uguandan Railway is busy this morning with travelers taking the train from Mombasa to Nairobi. Chang, being a Chinaman, is given a hard time for trying to sit in the White Car, but Lester pays his way and the complaints subside. Probably for the best, because Chang would have shot his way in.
Soon, they begin the 16-hour train ride to Nairobi. They study the stolen ledger book in closer detail, and find many entries for "objects of art" sent to familiar locations such as New York and Silas N’Kwane, the Penhew Foundation and Edward Gavigan, and to Cairo, Australia, Shanghai...and even to Nairobi...to someone named Tandoor Singh...objects of art labeled as "bricks of tea."
With the name Tandoor Singh in mind, they settle back and watch the Kenyan landscape slide by...