The Complete Masks of Nyarlathoptep d20
Adventure #26: Onward to Australia!
Part 3: The Thing in the Crate
Chad performs up to his usual standards, flexing when appropriate, discarding his shirt most of the time to unveil bronzed skin. He meets other dockworkers who are mostly Australian riffraff, but there are also native Abos thrown into the mix. One such individual is named Johnny Bigbush [GM Note: and for whatever reason, there were many genital jokes this session], a somewhat strange Aboriginal who is always talking about "Bundai! Who will rise sleeping in the center of the earth and devour the world and the Rainbow Snake!"
[GM Note: I read another GM’s recap where he incorporated this hint in a fantastic way; I didn’t actually follow up on it, too much else going on down there].
The others shrug it off to Johnny Bigbush smoking too much peyote, but Chad is suspicious. Regardless, three days later, Toddy Randolph says that Johnny Bigbush has been fired. Word around the warehouse is that he ran off into the desert to find his Koori tribe by the river.
Chad hears lots of local gossip, including rumors about a Bat Cult in the deep desert, and other disappearances, and the always popular stories about gold veins near Cuncudgerie.
So, Chad works and works and works, watching the patterns of movement and guards. Surprisingly, the guards at the warehouse are relatively few. Toddy Randolph sleeps there every night, and he has a few fellows that stick around too, but they're often drinking at the pub down the street.
Times passes, and the day before Dr. David Dodge is due to arrive in Port Hedland, the investigators act. They have planned it out, and already purchased 30 gallons of gasoline and a small skiff. The warehouse is hard to infiltrate from the outside, so they paddle up from the docks and sneak in the back. Chang, Chad and Lester are privy to this little visit, while Hans is left in the dark. In fact, they convince Hans to go to the pub and start buying rounds for the patrons, hopefully to keep Toddy Randolph distracted and drunk enough while they search the warehouse at their leisure. Gi-Gi and Ma'Moud are relegated to useless NPC status.
The warehouse is dark, silent. The slap of waves on pylons is all they hear as they clamber up the ladder. Flashlights in hand, they slowly weave through the stacked crates, poking around here and there, and then...
...Chang spots an odd red symbol scrawled on a crate. For some reason, it sends shivers coursing through him. They take note, but scurry to the interior door that Chad knows is locked. Fortunately, Chang has ample lockpicking skills, and is able to jimmy it open. Toddy's office is also locked, but the lock can't resist Chang's determination, and they take as much time as they need. [Fortunately, it wasn't trapped]. There is a cot inside, a rolltop table, and not much else. The marked crate is hauled back here and they crack it open while Chang searches the bed and the table. He finds a loaded .38 pistol (which is promptly unloaded) and Toddy's warehouse ledger which he briefly thumbs through.
There! That same odd symbol is scrawled in the ledger too, the same one from the crate. In fact, Chang sees it repeated several times, beside shipments to Shanghai and London and Kenya, even one south to Cuncudgerie, Australia. Using a crowbar, Chad cracks open the crate, and the three men anxiously lean over, pulling out the straw.
A green idol rests at the bottom of the crate. Writhing stone tentacles adorn the mouth of the hideous creature, and vestigial stone wings sprout from its back. Lester has seen this icon before, in the Vermiis Mysteriis just recently, and whispers to the others that it is known as K-TULU, a demon god that slumbers beneath the sea until the Stars Are Right, when it shall awaken. Shivering, they cover the idol rather than look at it.
Toddy's ledger says that everything has been shipped out, except for two items: one must be the idol, so they start looking for the other. A half hour has passed since they first arrived, and there is no indication that anyone knows they are here. Shuffling through the dark and the dusk, then peer behind every crate and box, until they finally spot a similarly marked crate stacked high up. Chad climbs a ladder to haul it down, but the box is heavy and unwieldy and slides from his grip!
It strikes the floor, one corner splintering off with a loud crash, but another sound instantly issues forth from the crate!
THRUUM! HUUUUM!! THRUMMM! HUMM!
A rhythmic mechanical pulse, punctuated with occasional high pitched tinkling like wind chimes. It is unlike anything they have ever heard. Through the smashed wood, they see the glint of GOLD.
Curiosity wins over fear, and they are quite fearful of what the box might contain. They pry the rest of the boards loose, remove the straw, and shine their lamps within:
It is a device that defies categorization. Constructed of gold and possibly platinum, it has wheels and mirrors and glass tubes, all of it slightly illuminated by an indiscernible source of soft light. One part looks somewhat like a cushioned eyetube that one might find on a microscope or binoculars. Unnerved now, they decide to exit the warehouse with the artifacts while their luck is still holding. The gasoline is dispatched for maximum effectiveness, a 10 gallon drum set up for detonation, and they clamber down into their skiff and load the artifacts, and then light the gasoline. Paddling madly away, they watch the flames lick and spread through the dock, and then to the interior, and then several minutes later:
KA-BOOM!
The drum ignites, and Randolph Shipping Copany begins a quick journey to decommission. [And joins a growing trail of ruined property across four continents!]
The next morning, word travels that a huge accident occurred at the warehouse overnight. Speculation is rampant about whether it was arson or not, and some blame is even thrown toward Johnny Bigbush, but nothing sticks. The trio was able to escape free and clear, without so much as a bullet fired (which typically prevents them from investigating warehouses at length)
The artifacts are smuggled into Hans Hazzenbaum's basement (without his knowledge) and the investigators take a closer look. The Golden Machine is the more interesting of the two, so Chang fiddles with the switches and dials and protruding knobs until he activates it!
TRUMMMMM.....HUMMMMM.....THRUUUMMMMMM
And there is the eyepiece. Rubber pads the rim, and on a whim, Lester Cobblebottom presses his face to it. He sees nothing but blackness. No! Wait. Two tiny, tiny pinpricks of light he tells the others, like small stars. Lester continues gazing for a full minute, unmoving. They ask him what he sees. He doesn't respond. They nudge him. He doesn't move. Panic begins to build. "Lester?" They push him, and Lester falls away from the strange device, his eyes riveted open, his body locked into position like a mannequin!
THRUUM! HUUUMMM! THRUMM!
They slap Lester around but there is no response. Chad Slambody unselfishly (and somewhat predictably) volunteers to haul Lester into a cold shower and scrub him down while naked. Hans Hazzenbaum, also witness to this event, is freaking out about right now. These odd people have dragged a bizarre device into his home, and now there are two naked men in his shower, one of whom is comatose!
Someone begins knocking at the front door upstairs, probably Dr. David Dodge, come to meet the members of the expedition. Cursing, Hans rushes upstairs to greet him, while Chad lathers Lester up good.
Lester finally falls limp (unlike Chad!), but he does not respond to cold water or stimulation. Hans and Dodge return downstairs, and Hans finally insists that Lester needs medical attention, he has obviously had a seizure or some sort of aneurysm, but the medical facilities in Port Hedland are lacking.
Hans bundles Lester up, they stick him in a truck, and Hans roars off to the local infirmary. Upon arriving in the parking lot though, Lester wakes up and begins screaming! Thrashing, convulsing, his eyes bugging from their sockets, he is a man who has lost his mind. He doesn't seem to recognize Hans, or to even know himself. Hans calls for help and someone eventually comes out to help Lester inside where he is given a morphine sedative.
Lester stays overnight at the infirmary, but is released the next day to Hans Hazzenbaum. He is physically well, but unresponsive to questions. He seems to be suffering from 100% amnesia.
Chad and Chang are very worried about this turn of events, and given the unknown nature of the Mythos artifact that Lester toyed with [GM Note: And it's unanimously decided that JEFF WON CTHULHU!], they decide the wiser course of action is restrain Lester physically until they feel they can trust him. Lester fights this restraint tooth and nail, but they finally tie him to the bed. He manages to escape later on, and they find Lester huddled in the corner, surrounded by open books. He is flipping through pages at an astonishing rate, but when he realizes that he is being watched, he shams unconsciousness.
[GM Note- I took Jeff aside to tell him what was happening, as it can be rather complex and will have repercussion later on. Congrats, you won CoC. Good job Jeff!]
Dr. David Dodge is also perplexed by this turn of events, but they convince him to just wait a few days, to see if Lester's condition changes. And five days later, Lester begins speaking again, whispering of the strangest dream he had, of basalt towers rising thousands of feet into an infinite sky. He has been far away in his dream, but he was not alone. But the details are slippery, and fade away before he can grasp them. Perhaps they'll return.
Next stop, Cuncudgerie, where David Dodge, the investigators, and a team of Abos will drive a caravan of trucks into the deep desert, to find what secrets lurk in the shifting sands.