The Masks of Nyarlathotep: Australia pt 2-3

The journal of Mad Ginger Muldoon

February 15^th 2009

Getting a little low on juice and funds are low so it’s time to go to Cumcudgerie and see if there’s any work to be had as Jenny’s threatening to cut me off if I don’t settle my tab.

Coming in I notice a couple of trucks parked outside and with Ginny booked up and Toddy on walkabout there may be a guiding job, as it’s a toss-up between me and them arse-wipe Slattery’s and Jenny wouldn’t piss on them drongo’s if they were on fire.

Sure enough there is I a job and the pay is enough to sort out most of my tab so that’s bonzer. The crew are a brick shithouse yank (Leroy) and a Muslim girl (Abby), but there are more out scouting the town, a couple of pommie blokes (Winnie and Dave), an Arabic geezer (Syd) and a pommie Sheila (Blondie). Who I didn’t see as she went off upstairs cos she don’t drink.

These guys apparently want to go into the deep in search of Macwhirr’s pillars. Which Jen has a photo of behind the bar and they claim to be historians. Still I felt they were hiding something.

Anyhow after having a few bevvies I call it a night and tell them to be ready bright and early as it’s nothing I can’t handle I also take the chance to stock up.

February 16^th 2009

Up at sparrows and waiting for the guys when they arrive this includes the missing pommie bird who is decked with a hat and sunnies hiding her face. I’ll go in truck one and truck two should follow my dust, Abby will be my relief while Winnie and Syd ride along.

I warn that the general anti-venom is nigh on useless and supply them with anti-venom for the two most populous snakes, tell them not to try sucking out the poison and not to shoot the roos as they’re protected.

Truck two contains the Yank, Dave and Blondie, who it appears is driver and cook for this crew as she agreed to do all the cooking.

We set out due west and made decent progress. But ran into a sandstorm early afternoon so needed to divert to Dingo Falls to ride it out. It was a biggie and cost us three hours. Covered the trucks so they will run fine. But as it’s too late to continue so we camp up and it turns out Blondie is a proper cook.

Hoping for a quiet night but not to be, as Syd gets possessed and sets off in the direction of the pool but the yank wrestles him down. The others then wake up and come to see what’s happening and I finally get a good look at Blondie who is a bit of a looker.

Syd’s gone Strine and demands to be freed and I say it’s probably best to let him go, so the yank obliges. He then heads to some caves on the left of the pool where Winnie shoots a snake that was just about to strike.

At the caves we find a charred corpse of some poor geezer and while The Yank holds Syd, Blondie lowers into the hole to examine the body as she is some sort of medic and she’s convinced that this was a white male. The yank then lets Syd go and he climbs into the hole and lies down next to the corpse but as he does Blondie spots something and shouts for water so I head off to get some.

When I get back I notice that Syd is on the floor wrapped in a blanket and whimpering, while Blondie is bandaging the yank’s hand and there is also a bloke on fire floating in the air and screaming, which causes me to drop the water and scarper back to camp.

February 17^th 2009

I confront the crew at brekkie about this and they admit to being supernatural agents, just like in the X-Files, and I consider heading back but I need the dosh, so stay on.

Quiet morning but at midday we come across Toddy on his way back in so we ask him if he has seen the pillars and he says he ain’t seen nothing so we just say g’day and continue.

Two hours later we arrive at Pinyana Springs were there are three local boys (Micky, Si & Paul) having a little barbie. So we have a word and they tell us there are mining operations in the area but they ain’t interested; also Sand Bat is back and in a white man. I note that the boys also give the yank and Blondie the once over.

As we are crossing a dry lake bed leading to well 46, Syd reports seeing big vultures with no wings (flying bears) to the NE, and soon after we hear explosions so the boys were right. Still the guys want to find a high point for a quick look around and by the time we find a spot it’s getting late so we call it a day. Still Abby and the Yank go take a look and report that the bears are way off.

They also say there is a ten foot emaciated fella with a claw hand out there watching them, sounds like a Mimi. During the night several of the crew see it skulking around but it’s buggered off by morning.

February 18^th 2009

Come upon tire tracks heading ENE and start following, two hours later come upon a couple of sheds – one garage sized, one akin to a dunny, surrounded by flattened tents and tattered clothing. Looks like a mining camp but no clue as to when it was abandoned.

Large shack contains winching gear and an old shaft while smaller shed is an explosives shack which is empty. As we leave the shack we note that one tent is still standing. It’s a patch up job with a small stream alongside and it looks to be in use.

We hear dogs barking and see seven dogs incoming – dingos! Still they’re weird as they don’t appear to be affected by terrain. Then we notice a nudie bloke standing in a circle drawn on the ground.

This fella appears convinced that we are star spawn and I suspect he has been stood in the sun too long so I offer him a snifter, this convinces him we’re friendly, he is Jimmy Grogan.

This is the remnants of gold mining camp and the workers were locals, while the boss was a Yank named Carver, who went walkabout for a few days then came back with a new way to dig. Shortly after this windy things attacked and the workers either buggered off or were killed.

Jimmy remained; the dogs appeared soon after and he senses a link with the Rainbow Serpent and summoned the spring so I suspect we are in the Dreamtime, especially when our gear starts acting up and Winnie summons a rabbit. Sun is also shining from the North – which is about right for Australia.

Anyhow, we top off our water at the spring and head out, following directions given by Jimmy to head NE. He says there is a ravine and we need to go through the turn ENE and we should then find the pillars.

We follow his directions and sure enough find the ravine where some aboriginals attempt to ambush us. We are able to evade this but truck 2 loses a couple of windows following this we have a 150 mile drive before we come upon Macwhirr’s pillars but someone is already here.

At this stage truck 2 takes the lead and we branch left and park up out of sight of the other group we then de-bus and take a quick look around but there don’t seem to be much here until Blondie suggests using Baxter’s binoculars.

Abby then pulls out some field glasses that look old and hands them to Winnie. He reports he can’t see jack. So Dave and Blondie have a word and he tries again and this time they appear to have cleared up. Winnie then fiddles with the glasses and tries a third time.

He reports that there was a city here and that it was populated by weird pyramid shaped creatures with big claw and tentacles. All a bit over my head so I slip off for a quick snifter.

Winnie decides to have another go from another starting point as he felt he was in some kind of zoo and a dinosaur was eyeing him up.

Dave, Abby and Syd go with Winnie while the Yank and Blondie went to scout out the other camp, I stay with the trucks. Not sure what happens next, as there was some gunfire from the other camp and there appears to be a dust devil forming over that way.

Still I feel my eyes are drawn up to something that looks like a big octopus hovering above the dust devil, but it is hard to describe mainly because it fades in and out. Anyway my brain checked out here for a moment and the next thing I know I’m standing in the middle of nowhere!

I’m able to orientate myself just in time to see the octopus thing fly over and then dive into the sand about 5 clicks NE of my position and shortly after this the guys find me and bring me back to camp.

Back at camp I see the Yank sitting by one of the trucks with a bandage round his head but Blondie’s missing and it seems she’s been captured. The plan is to tool up and go get her back so I unpack old Betsie and my Aussie fishing pole.

The others grab weapons and we for the other camp, which is a click to the east, a 50ft circle of sand bags with a large oblong hole in the centre. There’s also two small trucks and couple of diggers in the camp, but no people.

We decide to go down the hole and the Yank takes the lead, though we change plans PDQ when someone starts shooting at us. It’s clear we needd to find another way in. Then I remember the octopus thing diving into the sand so there may be an entry there.

We take the trucks to the area and after a bit we find the hole. So grab some rope and head down. Dave had a bit of a slip but he was OK. At the bottom we find a stone tunnel, which we follow in the direction of the other camp in hope of catching the shooters.

However we hear the octopus thing approaching. Syd has a way to scare these blighters off so he goes forward and shouts something, then a blast of wind flattens everyone.

Syd has to do the same thing twice more before it’s clear. After this we find a big hole in the floor with an iris and a large switch (like from an old Frankenstein film) which looked like a way to trap the creature and though it took a bit of effort we close the iris.

The corridor’s straight and we walk for an hour before spotting a glimmer of light which turns out to be emergency lights. Seems someone has rigged the place up but some passages are still dark and the whole place is like a beehive – everything is six sided.

Abby pipes up that there are cages down one passage where the living winds are kept, and that there are various coloured plazas down here. She then leads us to a nearby yellow plaza where we can top up our water. We also decide to use unlit corridors to avoid enemy contact.

Going down one of these we see a number of doors, some open, some not, and in the open ones we see furniture (no chairs mind) and items that belong in Jack and the Beanstalk.

In one of the open rooms the guys find a projector, a 15’ tall rack full of mica scrolls, a washing machine that I’m told is a stasis cube, a memory device and a lightning gun that looks like an old box browning with a cone glued to it. Most of this stuff is too big for us to shift easy but Abby takes the gun.

Carrying on with the big yank up front we come to a brightly lit area were the yank reports seeing a nudie bloke going down a narrow passage, so we go after him, finally emerging in a another room filled with weird devices.

We hear whimpering and find a naked wild man hiding in a corner clutching a rock. We coax him out with food and we find that this is Dave, and he claimed to have escaped a year back, he also has a burn on his left side from a lightning gun, and believes there are some Yith still here.

It appears that they kill any blokes they capture while Sheila’s are kept for breeding in a well-lit area called the purple plaza, and that a Yank called Houston is manipulating things from there.

Heading back to where we first saw Dave, we turn south and shortly after this come upon a slightly smaller plaza with a sort of web over a collapsed floor, with a large dark shape squatting in the centre.

This presents itself to be a giant spider, which fires a glob of webbing at us, taking down Abby and making her drop her gun, which the Yank recovers. Syd also freezes and appears to be trying to talk. Our Dave meanwhile unships his rifle and takes aim while I prep old Betsie.

The spider charges us and takes shots. I hit a drumstick but I don’t see what Dave hit. Anyhow I end up hand to hand with the bugger. I manage to drive it off with no help from the two pommies. Well it has to be said that bugger was nearly as hard as that big trapdoor bastard that lives in old Jenny’s dunny.

I would have liked to scarper but if we had I suspect it would have sucked Abby and Syd like a couple of tinnies so someone had to stand up to the bastard.

Anyhow a mile further on we hit the Purple Plaza which has a 15 degree downslope and drops about 100’ from one side to the other. It is dominated by a huge rippling sphere and beyond this is a clutch of statues, one of which is bigger than the rest.

The big one looks like a stylised Sand Bat while the smaller ones form a semi-circle facing it and are of unknown creatures. There is also what looks like an altar stone in front of the Sand Bat and there are dark brown stains on the stone which could indicate blood!

This place gives me the heebie-jeebies but Syd enters the semi-circle and seems to zone out again. Winnie believes the big statue has a presence and that this is where they impregnate the Sheilas. There is also a bitter stench of human remains. Leaving this place we also find a generator.

About half a mile on we have to take cover from one of them living winds as Syd does not appear to want to use his ability to scare it off.

On from this we come upon another open area with a generator and a large pit in the centre of the floor and something here really reeks. Maybe Blondie is in the pit so someone needs to take a look and I volunteer.

Well if she is in there she’s done for as it’s full of monsters so we decide to leave this place ASAP. But Syd seems to have other ideas as he just stands on the edge of the pit with a big shit-eating grin on his face.

On from this we come upon a large heap of rubble which requires us to climb over it and beyond this is a passage to the south that seems to lead to the entry.

The Yank decides to scout this out while the rest of us stay back. While he has no problems getting down to the other end, he does have issues getting back as he starts acting like he has a skinful, staggering and falling down.

So I prep Betsie for the up-coming firefight. Dave also preps his rifle and Winnie prepares the lightning gun. Syd meanwhile preps his shotgun even though he is well out of range.

I also notice figures silhouetted at the far end so I go prone and take aim but we seriously need the Yank to get out the way and with this in mind I notice that he quickly picks up the pace.

Suddenly there is a large bang as Syd fires his shotgun at the Yank and somehow manages to miss, which is fortunate for had he hit it is unlikely the Yank would have survived.

So with this in mind I leave the others to deal with our opponents at the end of the corridor and introduce Syd to my fists. This proves to be a very one-sided fight and Syd soon gives up, so I push him to the floor and kneel on him until the fight’s over.

The guys take out a number of bad guys before they lose heart and leg it. The yank then comes over to me and hands Betsie back as he had tried to use her but she had proven to be a little cantankerous so I release Syd.

Don’t see what happens next as I’m checking Betsie over but the next thing I know Syd is down with his throat cut and the Yank has a knife in his hand. He quickly explains that he’s under orders to eradicate any traitors, for it seems that Syd had swapped teams.

Dave took the amulet that appears to be the thing he used on the living winds as he claims to know the words to activate it and that the only one better than him is someone called Eliza. Meanwhile one of the others takes the shotgun.

We move down to check out the bad guys and sure enough they are not going to cause us any problems. The room itself is a real sty with a card table and some bunks. I also notice a cork notice board with photos of naked ladies on it that appeared to have been used as a dartboard and it appeared there were spaces where photos had been previously.

More worrying however I find Blondie’s cut and discarded coveralls, soiled underwear and several long strands of ash-blonde hair, so Winnie decides to summon the spirit of one of these guys in order to find out where she is while me, Dave and the Yank cover the three entries.

Winnie’s able to discover that she is near the nursery. But before we can hope to rescue her we need sleep so we quickly find a quiet corridor with an open chamber and bed down.

February 19^th 2009

We are up good and early and ready to go but I feel this is going to be a bad day as not only are we brekkie free I am also out of juice. Anyway, Dave is acting strange as he finds some performing beetles and insists we follow them.

A rather slow process, travelling down a number of corridors, both lit and unlit, and avoiding a patrol. Still I think he’s lost the plot as we are nowhere near the nursery and Abby suspects we are outside the city limits.

Was just about to say something when we came upon a corridor with carvings showing weird aliens throwing lightning and a hexagonal room with no doors – though there are 2 exits, one into a dark room and the other into a lit one, which I am told is secured.

But Dave finds a switch and after a number of attempts he manages to disable the security. Inside we find a weird pyramid-shaped creature. Abby claims it is talking to her and that it is a Yith! It has been brought from the far past by Dr Houston, a man who is supposed to be dead, and this thing used the beetles to summon us.

With its help we acquire a supply of lightning guns, and also gain access to an interesting scout network, which should help us in our efforts to storm the cultist HQ and rescue Blondie.