Horror Writeup #18!
Feb. 23rd, 2008 07:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienAnd the latest installment is done! Read on if you dare!!
Things have not gone well for Our Heroes, with the villainous Father Bishop playing them thoroughly enough that Jackie was fooled into opening the portal to the Abyss, with Greg and Bill mesmerized by a false world-image to the point that they may or may not have participated in a mass-killing! We pick up where we left off in the seaside cavern with the just-opened portal on the wall, and the trio left wondering what to do next...
Jackie is still tied up, so the first thing Bill does is to get his leatherman out and cut her loose. "Is he dead?" she asks, to which Bill states "I think so." "Make sure!" she nearly yells; Bill goes over to the (obviously dead) corpse of Father Bishop and at point-blank puts another round into him with the .45, right between the eyes! "Satisfied?" he says... Before this VERY loud action, the sounds of moaning and screaming from down the passage had been changing as more and more of the things below noticed the opening of the Seal; with the gunshot, the sounds seem to indicate that they DEFINITELY know something has changed!
The pair wisely decide on discretion and commence to get the hell out of Dodge, entering the water to swim back out of the cavern. In the meantime Greg is still outside and with the third gunshot decides to head in to help his friends. He still unable to feel Jackie via their shared psychic link, and so is rightfully worried. He dives in from the outside to swim in, and he meets his friends underwater in the first passage.
However... They don't know its him, and he can't be sure its them! There are OTHER things that frequent these tunnels after all! First contact is Greg's hand swiping Bill's glasses off! After a bit of confusion they do realize that there's no threat, and the trio proceed out to the beach, sans Bill's glasses. Fortunately, Bill had the foresight to get several extra pairs made after his less-than-permanent 'death'. Once out, they head for the bike shop, it being the closest place.
At the shop, they take very little time, getting the panel truck and heading to the dormhouse. Their goal is to get Michael's Pope Phone and try to get help that way. At this point they're pretty keyed up and taking few chances; something doesn't feel right at all when they get there, either... As both Jackie and Bill are injured Greg takes point, tiger fork in hand, and is faced with a trashed home. Cabinets have been emptied, tables smashed, and there are the marks of three-fingered claws on the wall.
Bill and Jackie enter, and they search; Bill manages to find one of his two spare pairs of glasses but it is rapidly determined that both the Pope Phone and the 'Devil Phone', the celphone given to Bill by the REAL Asmodeus, are gone! Greg, looking at the clawmarks realizes that it was the Imp! All three are at a loss as to what to do; they've failed to stop Father Bishop, the Seal was opened, and now the dormhouse is trashed by the imp! A touch of shell-shock is likely at work.
After a short discussion its decided that there are other churches in Arkham; they hope to find help or guidance at one of them, and decide on Saint Mark's Catholic Church on the far side of town. As far as they know it never had any real connection with either the campus church or Father Bishop himself. Once there, the place is apparently empty; not that much of a surprise as its not Sunday. Both Bill and Jackie attempt to pray for guidance at the offering candles, with little effect. Greg for his part attempts to meditate, feeling that as he's Buddhist it isn't going to have any real effect.
His attempts to clear his mind and focus coming to relative naught, Greg looks around the church. Its REAL empty. As in there have been no signs of the parish priest, cleaning staff, or anyone else. There should be at least SOMEONE here... And then he notices a pile of something under one of the pews close to the altar. He looks closer, and it has a disturbingly humanoid shape, and doesn't seem to be moving.
He says, "Guys, we may want to get going now..." "Why?" Bill asks, and Greg points out the mound. Bill looks and says "Yeah, maybe it IS time to leave..." but Greg investigates further saying towards the mound "Uh, are you alive or dead?" The mound moves, and is revealed as... A homeless man. Nervous laughter ensues. Greg talks with the man, who indicates that the priest WAS here when he got in, but he hasn't seen him for some time. "I've seen the signs, man, you know, of the apocalypse?" He states. The trio ask him what signs, but he can't say specifically; "I've just gotten to know 'em, y'know. It happens so frequently here. Doesn't usually play out, though. Antichrist walks into town ready to start the End of Times, and gets hit by a truck. You'd be surprised how often that happens..." He tries to bum some change from them, and Greg gives him a $20.
They part ways with their new acquaintance and leave the church. After some more stressed conversation they decide that one of the few remaining 'safe' places, and one of the few places that they might be able to find help would be... Mad Akbars. Neither Greg nor Jackie are real keen on going there, mostly because of the presence of Gabriel, but its decided to go there anyway.
Once there, they are greeted as usual with Akbar's "Ah, my good friends it is so GOOD to see you again! And what is it that you need now that the world is about to end?" Bill immediately attempts to 'bite the bullet' and activate the line of credit that Akbar offered him, but with the change in the 'climate' so to speak the deal is no longer open... For now. "If you save the world then it would be a time to discuss a credit line!" Akbar says. Knowing what their situation is (close the portal or the world ends), Bill runs out to a nearby cash machine. He gets $400 of his $600 checking account balance, and $400 of his $800 limit from his credit card, thereafter returning to the shop.
THey get down to determining what it is they need. First off, Bill is now the injured party and he attempts to purchase a healing potion similar to the one that Greg received earlier. Akbar names a price, and Bill immediately starts to haggle! Akbar seems impressed, but when Greg interjects Akbar responds by RAISING the price, and stops haggling with Bill! With Bill glowering at Greg, Jackie intercedes and purchases the brew for $300. As with Greg, Bill is soon feeling better, although this is decidedly not the same stuff Greg received! (As a note- As Greg's player had to, I also got to quaff a 'potion' in the real world- this time it was tonic water and smoothie mix!)
Bill then mumbles something about 'translating materials...' He's recalled what Father Bishop had purchased from Akbar! He asks about materials required for translating strange writing, and Akbar asks to see it. Bill takes out the ancient, strange paper they found in the Grimm's volumes and hands it over; after looking it over he says "This is a incantation that you can use to reseal the Portal..." Akbar agrees to translate the passage, for a fee of $200; "Spending money for Jamaica!" he says with a grin. He also tells them that they need to find a stone inscribed with the same Sigil they saw upon both the page and the Seal on the Abyss portal to actually close it.
As the conversation progresses Gabriel makes a few comments like "Forget Michael. Its suicide to go after him" and other comments in a similar vein. Jackie asks Akbar if he has anything that protects people from demons, and he produces a jar of what seems to be skin cream; its enough for one person. Jackie asks a few more questions about it and Akbar says "Ask your young friend here; perhaps he can tell you more." Gabriel opens and sniffs the contents, and comments that yes, it DOES smell nice. One other item is gained, this one a loan from Gabriel; what apppears to be a wooden kitchen spoon- Apparently, demons are afraid of it. Akbar makes quite the theatrical commotion over the loan and how "such behavior will eventually bankrupt me!" but is IS with a smile.
They ask about getting something similar to the locator crystal they used to find Jackie; Akbar can provide one for $212; they also ask for one to find Michael once they're in the Abyss- Same price, but Akbar needs a touchstone of some kind, something personal to Michael to attune the crystal. It'll take time to translate the runes (about 2 hours), so Bill and Greg head back to the dormhouse to find Michael's rugby bat. Bill also has the idea that fetching Michael's Cross might be a good idea, whether its fake or not.
Once there they manage to find the rugby bat fairly easily; the imp didn't think to go after Michael's possessions. Bill then goes to find the Cross, which he'd been keeping in his room since Michael's 'abduction'. Its not there! He turns his room upside-down even further, but its simply gone. Thinking that it's been taken by the imp, they return to Akbars.
Only to find it closed? Akbars NEVER closes! But the door is shut and a 'closed' sign hangs in the window. Not knowing what else to do they wait, hoping that its a fluke. After about 15 minutes they see Gabriel come out from the back room. He comes over to the door, flips the sign to 'open' and lets them in. Shortly thereafter Jackie comes out, looking rather flushed... Once inside, Bill gives the news that the Cross is missing. Jackie says, "No, its not." Bill is surprised at this and asks where it is, and Jackie says that SHE has it! Not surprisingly Bill is a little pissed at this and mutters, "God, I HATE secrets..." Jackie assumes that he means what just occurred in the back room and says "We had SEX, Bill! It's the end of the world!" Bill looks at her and says "I meant the CROSS."
Given that less than an hour has passed they spend the remaining time browsing the shop, trying to find anything that might be useful in their coming quest. Nothing in particular springs to anyone's attention, and eventually Akbar presents Bill with the original paper and a translation in latin of the incantation. They also receive the locator for the Sigil, and the locator for Michael- to attune it, Akbar taps the stone with the rugby stick and hands both back to Bill.
They head out of the shop and are about to re-enter the panel truck when Jackie decides that they DO need to get some healing potions to take along; she's back inside before anyone can say anything, and asks Akbar for such. "What kind of wound? Made by what kind of creature? How great a wound?" she is asked. "I cannot provide what you ask without knowing what it is to be cured! If I were to do what you ask I would be handing potions out willy-nilly!" Frustrated in this, she heads back out to the truck. Once there, Greg activates the Sigil-locator, and it indicates east.
It points them due east and they find themselves rather close to where they started, on the beach. The stone is STILL pointing east, out to sea. Bill is thinking that its Europe, which would be a bad thing as there's really no way they could get there and back in time to stop a mass release of demons! Pondering the situation, Bill suggests to Greg that he try to call his dad, and hands over the goodie-bag celphone. Amazingly enough, he gets through!
However... Over the phone as the connection is made can be heard the sounds of gunfire and the howls of inhuman voices! Also heard is Greg's dad! "Hello?" "Dad! You're alive! Well, at least so far! How goes the war?" Says Greg. "It goes! What do you need?" Is the reply. "Well, we kinda opened the portal to the Abyss!" "You did?" "Yeah, but we're working on closing it. We need the Sigil stone..." Oh, that! Well it's probably under" rrrrrrrrrrr....
Under?
Greg is ecstatic, his dad's alive! He's walking on air, but they STILL have to find the Sigil. "SCUBA gear." Says Bill. "What?" Greg asks, "We need SCUBA gear. He said 'under' right? Well, if its not somewhere in Europe, its underwater." Bill replies. Still more discussion ensues, with it coming down to Bill being the only person capable of getting the gear and using it right. They consider stealing the gear, but the improbability of their success in a daylight heist ends that idea. So, they once again end up at Mad Akbars.
By this time even Akbar's uncrackable cheer is starting to wear, and they have almost no luck with him; however, he does say "Perhaps you should talk with your janitor friend and see if he can help you, for I cannot." There is a chiding note there, perhaps because they could have gone to Carl right off, and Akbar generally seems to know far more than he should...
And so they head off to campus to find Carl. Given the time of day (and the fact that none of them know where the janitor's office is) they figure that Carl will be in one of the cafeterias. And he is, standing near one of the service lines and obviously not in a good mood. He grunts at them when they come over, then when Bill asks about his obvious bad mood says, "Of course I'm in a bad mood! The Gate to the Abyss is open and there's another Apocalypse coming!" They apologize for bothering him, then ask if he might have something that will let them breathe underwater.
"I might..." He says, and before he goes further Jackie asks "Can we have some in a little bottle so we can use it? We're trying to close the gate." He grumbles some more, then goes to his cart and digs around a bit, soon coming up with yet another of his oddly-labeled bottles. This he takes and, finding a small sprayer fills it from the larger, handing it over to Jackie. "Will it work?" Jackie asks. "It should... Haven't tested it." is the reply. Bill asks how long it will last, with the answer being "I dunno. Long enough I'd expect." Carl then grumbles and shoo's the three off.
The next stop is the dive-shop, where they rent dry-suits for the dive. This fortunately doesn't require a certification! Once they think they have everything (Bill has one set of tanks and a mask just in case), they head to the beach. Greg decides to go first, so he suits up and Jackie spritzes his neck with the spray. The effects don't take long to appear- Greg suddenly feels rather strange, and VERY uncomfortable in the dry-suit! He strips it off, and his skin has turned light green! In addition, his eyes have gone dead-black, webs and claws now adorn his hands and his feet are far more like flippers than feet! Now unable to breathe air, he dives into the surf to await the others.
Seeing this, Bill takes most of the gear that they got and puts it back in the truck along with his clothes. When he returns Jackie strips down and again the same thing happens to her. Bill follows, still bringing the tanks and mask along. He still carries his katana, Greg has his tiger fork and Jackie no weapon at all. Bill has the directional stone- before they start out though, they realize several problems- first, they can't talk underwater! Nor do they now seem capable of speech above, either. There is also a problem with what they've decided to carry.
In the end, frantic gestures eventually decide the course of action. Greg leaves the spray-bottle buried under the sand, marked by Bill's sword. Bill has the stone, Greg the tanks and mask on his back, and the tiger fork in hand. With this arranged they start swimming out to sea. They swim for about 2 hours, then the stone starts indicating downwards. Following it down, they find what would be called a well on dry land- a 30-foot diameter shaft into the floor of the ocean, ringed with stones. Sediment and sand seem to avoid falling on the stones, and there is a pattern around the lip-ring of the passage- radiating out from the hole are eight tentacle-like 'arms' of the same stone... The image gives them all pause, not the least reason being that the stone points straight down the shaft. Greg sets the tanks and mask at the top of the shaft in the direction of shore, all three knowing what comes next.
Not really having another choice they start down, following the faint glow of the stone. The walls of the well are smoothly carved, not a sharp edge to be seen anywhere. Unfortunately, the carvings have a very disturbing resemblance to the style of H.R. Geiger and the 'Alien' films. They still swim downwards, and the light slowly dims away, and darkness begins to engulf them. Bill is in the lead and is too intent on the stone to notice at first, but Jackie and Greg DO see something ahead- eyes! Many pairs of eyes glinting from the light of the stone!
Bill suddenly sees what's ahead and stops, knowing that he's not likely to be able to outswim 'natives' of this place- they approach, and he takes no hostile action with his friends a ways above him. The creatures seem to be some kind of merfolk, but instead of fishtails their lower bodies seem to be octopus-like tentacles! Three of the beings encircle each of the trio, and Bill tries to communicate; Its not even intelligible to him, but he says "Hello? We mean no harm, we're trying to find something."
The response is not at all what he expects: One of the creatures, apparently female, strokes a hand along the side of his face... Then SNARLS, exposing long, sharp teeth! All three are grabbed and dragged down into the dark! As they go deeper and deeper Bill notices that the crystal indicates that they are PASSING the Sigil that they're seeking, as the stone points at the wall then upward as they pass!
Eventually almost all sense of direction is lost to the three; they do finally feel a stone floor beneath them, and shortly thereafter they feel manacles being clasped around their wrists and ankles! This is about enough for Greg, and he decides to fight! He lashes out with the tiger fork, and apparently hits someone or some-thing solidly! For his troubles he has the tiger fork torn from his hands and a nasty slash across his belly. All of them have what they're carrying taken from them, including the directional stone carried by Bill.
The three are now separate from one another, chained in darkness. Greg is curled around himself knowing that he's hurt, and while unhurt the other two aren't really much better off. Bill starts to explore the limits if his prison, and finds that the walls here are carved much as the ones of the shaft. His chains, strangely heavy, are connected to the wall by a metal plate, and... Thinking about it, the chains could only be made of something like lead or gold! He realizes that he might be able to cut the chains of he can find something to cut with...
He also finds a strange carving on the wall, octopoid of form; it seems different from the creatures he saw, and is different from the rest of the carvings on the wall. Not having much else to do and hoping that it might be some kind of switch or trigger, he starts clearing the silt and muck off of it.
Jackie is rather panicked. She can't feel her friends nearby, and really doesn't like the situation, not surprisingly. She decides to reach out with her psionic abilities to see if she can contact her strange captors. She does contact something, but it doesn't seem communicative- it IS nearby though. She attempts to control whatever it is.
Greg is hurt, and is more concentrating on himself than anything else. As he explores his bonds he suddenly tastes something through his gills- its ancient and wrong, and VERY close. Bill can taste it too, but is only able to tell that it isn't what he's cleaning off.
Whatever it is that she's reached, she seems to have some kind of control over it. Jackie attempts to have it free her; she feels the chain on her right arm moving as if something was manipulating it, then she feels it go slack! Investigating, the chain has been pulled loose of the wall! She tries again, and the same happens with her left! She's still chained, but free of the wall. Thankful of something good finally happening, she tries to command 'it' to help her friends... But nothing seems to happen.
Knowing that her friends are likely nearby, she starts following the wall around. She finds another set of manacles-and-chains, but they're empty. She keeps moving, and suddenly her hand finds something!
Greg is alone with his thoughts, when something touches him- its a hand, but webbed and clawed! For a moment he freaks, but then as the hand continues touching him, he realizes that its the transformed Jackie. He welcomes her with a hug, and the two share some frustrating moments trying to communicate with very little luck. Eventually, Jackie commands her 'helper' to free Greg, and in the same manner as she was freed, Greg is loose!
The pair and their mysterious follower continue around the wall; soon they find that it ends- possibly the opening to a hallway? Regardless, they choose not to try and blindly cross the gap, if it is such, and go around the room in the opposite direction. As she gropes along the wall, Jackie does find Bill, who is partway up the wall trying to examine the strange sculpted image a bit closer, as well as learning the limits of his motion! Her hand closes on his leg, and while Bill takes it in stride Jackie freaks out some, the stresses of their overwhelming recent times eroding her composure.
Bill, realizing that its Jackie pats her on the head, but this just freaks her out more! Suddenly, the whatever-it-is that she's controlled becomes agitated, and starts moving towards Bill! She finally realizes that its Bill, and frantically tries to stop it from attacking him; she succeeds but just barely. The creature remains agitated, but still follows her directives. She takes a moment more to compose herself, and commands the thing to free Bill. When she does this, Bill can feel the motion in the water, and can tell that whatever the thing is, its humanoid. Being curious, he reaches out to touch the thing... And discovers that its a walking corpse!
All three companions freed, they set to trying to communicate. Several failures occur until Bill starts writing with a finger, letter by letter, on Jackie's hand! He manages to indicate that the stone was taken from him, and he indicates that they need to leave and try to find the Sigil. Suddenly, there is a tremor through the water, and a sensation of motion like a current; its coming from the wall where Bill had found the strange sculptured relief! Bubbles are rising from the growing gap, and Jackie commands her servant to help get them out!
Bill is the only one who truly knows what is controlled by Jackie, and he can't tell his friends; but suddenly all of them feel the chains go tight as they are lifted upwards! They're moving fairly quickly upwards, and Bill realizes that they're still in the shaft, likely they were merely dragged to the bottom and chained! He starts carefully watching for where the blackness starts to give away so that he can try to get the Sigil as they pass it. He watches carefully, and suddenly sees a small alcove with a largish round stone within! He grabs it as he passes, and they've gotten it!
But they're still going upwards, the bubbles from whatever opened below them passing by as the lighting slowly brightens... And soon Jackie's servants are revealed: six VERY dead men, little flesh left upon their forms are climbing the walls, carrying the trio upwards by the chains! And perhaps because of the horror of the whole situation, nobody reacts to the hideous sight.
Finally, a circle of light is above them- the mouth of the well! Soon their undead assistants scramble out onto the seabed, and they follow. Greg gathers the scuba gear, as all of them have been feeling sensations that could be the spray wearing off. Bill has the Sigil, and the group start to move towards shore.
However... Nothing is ever that easy. Jackie decides to get the chains off of herself, commanding her disturbing minions to free her; when she does this, one the less-than-bright undead grabs her arm, and another rips the shackle off, breaking her arm in the process! She passes out from the pain, but she IS free of the chains...
And as she passes out the walking dead close ranks in a defensive circle around her! Greg moves to help her, and gets punched for his troubles; it seems like they'll not let anyone near. Greg and Bill, both now more and more aware that the spray IS wearing off, argue with gestures, neither wanting to abandon friends. In the end, Bill makes Greg keep the air tanks and mask as he swims like mad for shore with the Sigil.
Time passes, and the water is feeling colder and colder for all three; time is running out as Jackie starts to stir...
Once again, to be continued...
Things have not gone well for Our Heroes, with the villainous Father Bishop playing them thoroughly enough that Jackie was fooled into opening the portal to the Abyss, with Greg and Bill mesmerized by a false world-image to the point that they may or may not have participated in a mass-killing! We pick up where we left off in the seaside cavern with the just-opened portal on the wall, and the trio left wondering what to do next...
Jackie is still tied up, so the first thing Bill does is to get his leatherman out and cut her loose. "Is he dead?" she asks, to which Bill states "I think so." "Make sure!" she nearly yells; Bill goes over to the (obviously dead) corpse of Father Bishop and at point-blank puts another round into him with the .45, right between the eyes! "Satisfied?" he says... Before this VERY loud action, the sounds of moaning and screaming from down the passage had been changing as more and more of the things below noticed the opening of the Seal; with the gunshot, the sounds seem to indicate that they DEFINITELY know something has changed!
The pair wisely decide on discretion and commence to get the hell out of Dodge, entering the water to swim back out of the cavern. In the meantime Greg is still outside and with the third gunshot decides to head in to help his friends. He still unable to feel Jackie via their shared psychic link, and so is rightfully worried. He dives in from the outside to swim in, and he meets his friends underwater in the first passage.
However... They don't know its him, and he can't be sure its them! There are OTHER things that frequent these tunnels after all! First contact is Greg's hand swiping Bill's glasses off! After a bit of confusion they do realize that there's no threat, and the trio proceed out to the beach, sans Bill's glasses. Fortunately, Bill had the foresight to get several extra pairs made after his less-than-permanent 'death'. Once out, they head for the bike shop, it being the closest place.
At the shop, they take very little time, getting the panel truck and heading to the dormhouse. Their goal is to get Michael's Pope Phone and try to get help that way. At this point they're pretty keyed up and taking few chances; something doesn't feel right at all when they get there, either... As both Jackie and Bill are injured Greg takes point, tiger fork in hand, and is faced with a trashed home. Cabinets have been emptied, tables smashed, and there are the marks of three-fingered claws on the wall.
Bill and Jackie enter, and they search; Bill manages to find one of his two spare pairs of glasses but it is rapidly determined that both the Pope Phone and the 'Devil Phone', the celphone given to Bill by the REAL Asmodeus, are gone! Greg, looking at the clawmarks realizes that it was the Imp! All three are at a loss as to what to do; they've failed to stop Father Bishop, the Seal was opened, and now the dormhouse is trashed by the imp! A touch of shell-shock is likely at work.
After a short discussion its decided that there are other churches in Arkham; they hope to find help or guidance at one of them, and decide on Saint Mark's Catholic Church on the far side of town. As far as they know it never had any real connection with either the campus church or Father Bishop himself. Once there, the place is apparently empty; not that much of a surprise as its not Sunday. Both Bill and Jackie attempt to pray for guidance at the offering candles, with little effect. Greg for his part attempts to meditate, feeling that as he's Buddhist it isn't going to have any real effect.
His attempts to clear his mind and focus coming to relative naught, Greg looks around the church. Its REAL empty. As in there have been no signs of the parish priest, cleaning staff, or anyone else. There should be at least SOMEONE here... And then he notices a pile of something under one of the pews close to the altar. He looks closer, and it has a disturbingly humanoid shape, and doesn't seem to be moving.
He says, "Guys, we may want to get going now..." "Why?" Bill asks, and Greg points out the mound. Bill looks and says "Yeah, maybe it IS time to leave..." but Greg investigates further saying towards the mound "Uh, are you alive or dead?" The mound moves, and is revealed as... A homeless man. Nervous laughter ensues. Greg talks with the man, who indicates that the priest WAS here when he got in, but he hasn't seen him for some time. "I've seen the signs, man, you know, of the apocalypse?" He states. The trio ask him what signs, but he can't say specifically; "I've just gotten to know 'em, y'know. It happens so frequently here. Doesn't usually play out, though. Antichrist walks into town ready to start the End of Times, and gets hit by a truck. You'd be surprised how often that happens..." He tries to bum some change from them, and Greg gives him a $20.
They part ways with their new acquaintance and leave the church. After some more stressed conversation they decide that one of the few remaining 'safe' places, and one of the few places that they might be able to find help would be... Mad Akbars. Neither Greg nor Jackie are real keen on going there, mostly because of the presence of Gabriel, but its decided to go there anyway.
Once there, they are greeted as usual with Akbar's "Ah, my good friends it is so GOOD to see you again! And what is it that you need now that the world is about to end?" Bill immediately attempts to 'bite the bullet' and activate the line of credit that Akbar offered him, but with the change in the 'climate' so to speak the deal is no longer open... For now. "If you save the world then it would be a time to discuss a credit line!" Akbar says. Knowing what their situation is (close the portal or the world ends), Bill runs out to a nearby cash machine. He gets $400 of his $600 checking account balance, and $400 of his $800 limit from his credit card, thereafter returning to the shop.
THey get down to determining what it is they need. First off, Bill is now the injured party and he attempts to purchase a healing potion similar to the one that Greg received earlier. Akbar names a price, and Bill immediately starts to haggle! Akbar seems impressed, but when Greg interjects Akbar responds by RAISING the price, and stops haggling with Bill! With Bill glowering at Greg, Jackie intercedes and purchases the brew for $300. As with Greg, Bill is soon feeling better, although this is decidedly not the same stuff Greg received! (As a note- As Greg's player had to, I also got to quaff a 'potion' in the real world- this time it was tonic water and smoothie mix!)
Bill then mumbles something about 'translating materials...' He's recalled what Father Bishop had purchased from Akbar! He asks about materials required for translating strange writing, and Akbar asks to see it. Bill takes out the ancient, strange paper they found in the Grimm's volumes and hands it over; after looking it over he says "This is a incantation that you can use to reseal the Portal..." Akbar agrees to translate the passage, for a fee of $200; "Spending money for Jamaica!" he says with a grin. He also tells them that they need to find a stone inscribed with the same Sigil they saw upon both the page and the Seal on the Abyss portal to actually close it.
As the conversation progresses Gabriel makes a few comments like "Forget Michael. Its suicide to go after him" and other comments in a similar vein. Jackie asks Akbar if he has anything that protects people from demons, and he produces a jar of what seems to be skin cream; its enough for one person. Jackie asks a few more questions about it and Akbar says "Ask your young friend here; perhaps he can tell you more." Gabriel opens and sniffs the contents, and comments that yes, it DOES smell nice. One other item is gained, this one a loan from Gabriel; what apppears to be a wooden kitchen spoon- Apparently, demons are afraid of it. Akbar makes quite the theatrical commotion over the loan and how "such behavior will eventually bankrupt me!" but is IS with a smile.
They ask about getting something similar to the locator crystal they used to find Jackie; Akbar can provide one for $212; they also ask for one to find Michael once they're in the Abyss- Same price, but Akbar needs a touchstone of some kind, something personal to Michael to attune the crystal. It'll take time to translate the runes (about 2 hours), so Bill and Greg head back to the dormhouse to find Michael's rugby bat. Bill also has the idea that fetching Michael's Cross might be a good idea, whether its fake or not.
Once there they manage to find the rugby bat fairly easily; the imp didn't think to go after Michael's possessions. Bill then goes to find the Cross, which he'd been keeping in his room since Michael's 'abduction'. Its not there! He turns his room upside-down even further, but its simply gone. Thinking that it's been taken by the imp, they return to Akbars.
Only to find it closed? Akbars NEVER closes! But the door is shut and a 'closed' sign hangs in the window. Not knowing what else to do they wait, hoping that its a fluke. After about 15 minutes they see Gabriel come out from the back room. He comes over to the door, flips the sign to 'open' and lets them in. Shortly thereafter Jackie comes out, looking rather flushed... Once inside, Bill gives the news that the Cross is missing. Jackie says, "No, its not." Bill is surprised at this and asks where it is, and Jackie says that SHE has it! Not surprisingly Bill is a little pissed at this and mutters, "God, I HATE secrets..." Jackie assumes that he means what just occurred in the back room and says "We had SEX, Bill! It's the end of the world!" Bill looks at her and says "I meant the CROSS."
Given that less than an hour has passed they spend the remaining time browsing the shop, trying to find anything that might be useful in their coming quest. Nothing in particular springs to anyone's attention, and eventually Akbar presents Bill with the original paper and a translation in latin of the incantation. They also receive the locator for the Sigil, and the locator for Michael- to attune it, Akbar taps the stone with the rugby stick and hands both back to Bill.
They head out of the shop and are about to re-enter the panel truck when Jackie decides that they DO need to get some healing potions to take along; she's back inside before anyone can say anything, and asks Akbar for such. "What kind of wound? Made by what kind of creature? How great a wound?" she is asked. "I cannot provide what you ask without knowing what it is to be cured! If I were to do what you ask I would be handing potions out willy-nilly!" Frustrated in this, she heads back out to the truck. Once there, Greg activates the Sigil-locator, and it indicates east.
It points them due east and they find themselves rather close to where they started, on the beach. The stone is STILL pointing east, out to sea. Bill is thinking that its Europe, which would be a bad thing as there's really no way they could get there and back in time to stop a mass release of demons! Pondering the situation, Bill suggests to Greg that he try to call his dad, and hands over the goodie-bag celphone. Amazingly enough, he gets through!
However... Over the phone as the connection is made can be heard the sounds of gunfire and the howls of inhuman voices! Also heard is Greg's dad! "Hello?" "Dad! You're alive! Well, at least so far! How goes the war?" Says Greg. "It goes! What do you need?" Is the reply. "Well, we kinda opened the portal to the Abyss!" "You did?" "Yeah, but we're working on closing it. We need the Sigil stone..." Oh, that! Well it's probably under"
Under?
Greg is ecstatic, his dad's alive! He's walking on air, but they STILL have to find the Sigil. "SCUBA gear." Says Bill. "What?" Greg asks, "We need SCUBA gear. He said 'under' right? Well, if its not somewhere in Europe, its underwater." Bill replies. Still more discussion ensues, with it coming down to Bill being the only person capable of getting the gear and using it right. They consider stealing the gear, but the improbability of their success in a daylight heist ends that idea. So, they once again end up at Mad Akbars.
By this time even Akbar's uncrackable cheer is starting to wear, and they have almost no luck with him; however, he does say "Perhaps you should talk with your janitor friend and see if he can help you, for I cannot." There is a chiding note there, perhaps because they could have gone to Carl right off, and Akbar generally seems to know far more than he should...
And so they head off to campus to find Carl. Given the time of day (and the fact that none of them know where the janitor's office is) they figure that Carl will be in one of the cafeterias. And he is, standing near one of the service lines and obviously not in a good mood. He grunts at them when they come over, then when Bill asks about his obvious bad mood says, "Of course I'm in a bad mood! The Gate to the Abyss is open and there's another Apocalypse coming!" They apologize for bothering him, then ask if he might have something that will let them breathe underwater.
"I might..." He says, and before he goes further Jackie asks "Can we have some in a little bottle so we can use it? We're trying to close the gate." He grumbles some more, then goes to his cart and digs around a bit, soon coming up with yet another of his oddly-labeled bottles. This he takes and, finding a small sprayer fills it from the larger, handing it over to Jackie. "Will it work?" Jackie asks. "It should... Haven't tested it." is the reply. Bill asks how long it will last, with the answer being "I dunno. Long enough I'd expect." Carl then grumbles and shoo's the three off.
The next stop is the dive-shop, where they rent dry-suits for the dive. This fortunately doesn't require a certification! Once they think they have everything (Bill has one set of tanks and a mask just in case), they head to the beach. Greg decides to go first, so he suits up and Jackie spritzes his neck with the spray. The effects don't take long to appear- Greg suddenly feels rather strange, and VERY uncomfortable in the dry-suit! He strips it off, and his skin has turned light green! In addition, his eyes have gone dead-black, webs and claws now adorn his hands and his feet are far more like flippers than feet! Now unable to breathe air, he dives into the surf to await the others.
Seeing this, Bill takes most of the gear that they got and puts it back in the truck along with his clothes. When he returns Jackie strips down and again the same thing happens to her. Bill follows, still bringing the tanks and mask along. He still carries his katana, Greg has his tiger fork and Jackie no weapon at all. Bill has the directional stone- before they start out though, they realize several problems- first, they can't talk underwater! Nor do they now seem capable of speech above, either. There is also a problem with what they've decided to carry.
In the end, frantic gestures eventually decide the course of action. Greg leaves the spray-bottle buried under the sand, marked by Bill's sword. Bill has the stone, Greg the tanks and mask on his back, and the tiger fork in hand. With this arranged they start swimming out to sea. They swim for about 2 hours, then the stone starts indicating downwards. Following it down, they find what would be called a well on dry land- a 30-foot diameter shaft into the floor of the ocean, ringed with stones. Sediment and sand seem to avoid falling on the stones, and there is a pattern around the lip-ring of the passage- radiating out from the hole are eight tentacle-like 'arms' of the same stone... The image gives them all pause, not the least reason being that the stone points straight down the shaft. Greg sets the tanks and mask at the top of the shaft in the direction of shore, all three knowing what comes next.
Not really having another choice they start down, following the faint glow of the stone. The walls of the well are smoothly carved, not a sharp edge to be seen anywhere. Unfortunately, the carvings have a very disturbing resemblance to the style of H.R. Geiger and the 'Alien' films. They still swim downwards, and the light slowly dims away, and darkness begins to engulf them. Bill is in the lead and is too intent on the stone to notice at first, but Jackie and Greg DO see something ahead- eyes! Many pairs of eyes glinting from the light of the stone!
Bill suddenly sees what's ahead and stops, knowing that he's not likely to be able to outswim 'natives' of this place- they approach, and he takes no hostile action with his friends a ways above him. The creatures seem to be some kind of merfolk, but instead of fishtails their lower bodies seem to be octopus-like tentacles! Three of the beings encircle each of the trio, and Bill tries to communicate; Its not even intelligible to him, but he says "Hello? We mean no harm, we're trying to find something."
The response is not at all what he expects: One of the creatures, apparently female, strokes a hand along the side of his face... Then SNARLS, exposing long, sharp teeth! All three are grabbed and dragged down into the dark! As they go deeper and deeper Bill notices that the crystal indicates that they are PASSING the Sigil that they're seeking, as the stone points at the wall then upward as they pass!
Eventually almost all sense of direction is lost to the three; they do finally feel a stone floor beneath them, and shortly thereafter they feel manacles being clasped around their wrists and ankles! This is about enough for Greg, and he decides to fight! He lashes out with the tiger fork, and apparently hits someone or some-thing solidly! For his troubles he has the tiger fork torn from his hands and a nasty slash across his belly. All of them have what they're carrying taken from them, including the directional stone carried by Bill.
The three are now separate from one another, chained in darkness. Greg is curled around himself knowing that he's hurt, and while unhurt the other two aren't really much better off. Bill starts to explore the limits if his prison, and finds that the walls here are carved much as the ones of the shaft. His chains, strangely heavy, are connected to the wall by a metal plate, and... Thinking about it, the chains could only be made of something like lead or gold! He realizes that he might be able to cut the chains of he can find something to cut with...
He also finds a strange carving on the wall, octopoid of form; it seems different from the creatures he saw, and is different from the rest of the carvings on the wall. Not having much else to do and hoping that it might be some kind of switch or trigger, he starts clearing the silt and muck off of it.
Jackie is rather panicked. She can't feel her friends nearby, and really doesn't like the situation, not surprisingly. She decides to reach out with her psionic abilities to see if she can contact her strange captors. She does contact something, but it doesn't seem communicative- it IS nearby though. She attempts to control whatever it is.
Greg is hurt, and is more concentrating on himself than anything else. As he explores his bonds he suddenly tastes something through his gills- its ancient and wrong, and VERY close. Bill can taste it too, but is only able to tell that it isn't what he's cleaning off.
Whatever it is that she's reached, she seems to have some kind of control over it. Jackie attempts to have it free her; she feels the chain on her right arm moving as if something was manipulating it, then she feels it go slack! Investigating, the chain has been pulled loose of the wall! She tries again, and the same happens with her left! She's still chained, but free of the wall. Thankful of something good finally happening, she tries to command 'it' to help her friends... But nothing seems to happen.
Knowing that her friends are likely nearby, she starts following the wall around. She finds another set of manacles-and-chains, but they're empty. She keeps moving, and suddenly her hand finds something!
Greg is alone with his thoughts, when something touches him- its a hand, but webbed and clawed! For a moment he freaks, but then as the hand continues touching him, he realizes that its the transformed Jackie. He welcomes her with a hug, and the two share some frustrating moments trying to communicate with very little luck. Eventually, Jackie commands her 'helper' to free Greg, and in the same manner as she was freed, Greg is loose!
The pair and their mysterious follower continue around the wall; soon they find that it ends- possibly the opening to a hallway? Regardless, they choose not to try and blindly cross the gap, if it is such, and go around the room in the opposite direction. As she gropes along the wall, Jackie does find Bill, who is partway up the wall trying to examine the strange sculpted image a bit closer, as well as learning the limits of his motion! Her hand closes on his leg, and while Bill takes it in stride Jackie freaks out some, the stresses of their overwhelming recent times eroding her composure.
Bill, realizing that its Jackie pats her on the head, but this just freaks her out more! Suddenly, the whatever-it-is that she's controlled becomes agitated, and starts moving towards Bill! She finally realizes that its Bill, and frantically tries to stop it from attacking him; she succeeds but just barely. The creature remains agitated, but still follows her directives. She takes a moment more to compose herself, and commands the thing to free Bill. When she does this, Bill can feel the motion in the water, and can tell that whatever the thing is, its humanoid. Being curious, he reaches out to touch the thing... And discovers that its a walking corpse!
All three companions freed, they set to trying to communicate. Several failures occur until Bill starts writing with a finger, letter by letter, on Jackie's hand! He manages to indicate that the stone was taken from him, and he indicates that they need to leave and try to find the Sigil. Suddenly, there is a tremor through the water, and a sensation of motion like a current; its coming from the wall where Bill had found the strange sculptured relief! Bubbles are rising from the growing gap, and Jackie commands her servant to help get them out!
Bill is the only one who truly knows what is controlled by Jackie, and he can't tell his friends; but suddenly all of them feel the chains go tight as they are lifted upwards! They're moving fairly quickly upwards, and Bill realizes that they're still in the shaft, likely they were merely dragged to the bottom and chained! He starts carefully watching for where the blackness starts to give away so that he can try to get the Sigil as they pass it. He watches carefully, and suddenly sees a small alcove with a largish round stone within! He grabs it as he passes, and they've gotten it!
But they're still going upwards, the bubbles from whatever opened below them passing by as the lighting slowly brightens... And soon Jackie's servants are revealed: six VERY dead men, little flesh left upon their forms are climbing the walls, carrying the trio upwards by the chains! And perhaps because of the horror of the whole situation, nobody reacts to the hideous sight.
Finally, a circle of light is above them- the mouth of the well! Soon their undead assistants scramble out onto the seabed, and they follow. Greg gathers the scuba gear, as all of them have been feeling sensations that could be the spray wearing off. Bill has the Sigil, and the group start to move towards shore.
However... Nothing is ever that easy. Jackie decides to get the chains off of herself, commanding her disturbing minions to free her; when she does this, one the less-than-bright undead grabs her arm, and another rips the shackle off, breaking her arm in the process! She passes out from the pain, but she IS free of the chains...
And as she passes out the walking dead close ranks in a defensive circle around her! Greg moves to help her, and gets punched for his troubles; it seems like they'll not let anyone near. Greg and Bill, both now more and more aware that the spray IS wearing off, argue with gestures, neither wanting to abandon friends. In the end, Bill makes Greg keep the air tanks and mask as he swims like mad for shore with the Sigil.
Time passes, and the water is feeling colder and colder for all three; time is running out as Jackie starts to stir...
Once again, to be continued...
