Failed Prospects.P6

Randall ‘Randy’ Tarsh [Paleontology professor], Martin ‘Marty’ Robbins [Archaeology professor], Hugh Johnson [Geology student], Barbara Malters [investigative Journalist], Charlie Stutz [student of Photography]

3pm, Sunday , Oct 21^st: After listening to Marty read Dr. Baker’s journal, Randy concluded they WERE on a rescue mission. Marty pointed out they only had about 3 hours till sunset, “Sounded like the attackers were nocturnal. We don’t want to be caught out in the open. We don’t even know how far away the mine is.” Hugh busied himself collecting weapons: the 3 spears, the 3 antique revolvers, and the 4 sticks of dynamite. Barbara realized the revolvers were old and in need of cleaning (but decided against that). Once they decided to go, “Only carry the essentials: lanterns, rope, shovels, weapons. If we don’t find the mine in the first hour, we can return to town and barricade ourselves in the hotel. The broken stairs will provide some defense.” They passed out the weapons: Marty/Charlie/Hugh each took a spear, Hugh took 2 sticks of dynamite while Barbara and Charlie each took one, and Barbara and Randy took one of the 41 caliber revolvers each loaded with 5 rounds. The 3^rd revolver was packed away (as a souvenir?).

[Note: the old revolvers had a 71 malfunction. Had they spent time to clean/oil them, they would have gained 1D10+10 to the malfunction limit. Upon malfunction: roll a 1D3 where 1) a dud, 2) jam, 3) misfire adding 15 to their roll to possibly cause a fumble hitting one of their own.]

[Likewise, no-one bothered to consider the dynamite old and thus unstable (71 malfunction). Upon malfunction: roll a 1D3 where 1) a dud, 2) partial explosion, 3) fast fuse- premature explosion catching them in its blast.]

They headed west-northwest out of town following the overgrown trail. It wasn’t long before they found broken eyeglasses. “This century. Looks like Baker’s. He wouldn’t just leave them as he’s almost blind without them.” They only had to walk a little over a mile before they saw the tell-tail signs of piles of earth beside a hill. Closer look to see the mine entrance and even the rusty rails of a mine cart track. There was definitely shuffling tracks outside but hard to identify booted prints in all the tracks. Marty cautioned everyone to stop and check for lookouts. Marty lit his lantern as they entered the mine 2-abreast: Barbara+Marty, Charlie+Randy, with Hugh bringing up the rear ever vigilant with his flashlight casting a dull beam behind them.

The Mine: They quickly left the faint sunlight at their backs as they walked deeper inside where they found their first branch to the right. It was hard to hear anything other than their own trodding noise. Barbara observed, “I wish there were spider webs to see could tell which direction they went.” Marty instructed, “Always go right. Barbara, make notes.” His lantern illuminated maybe 15 yards ahead with another 5 yards of dull outlines at best, which let him see the branch to the left. They followed their original path past another left branch and soon came to a dead-end. Thus, they turned around and soon took the 2nd branch (now to their right) they’d just passed. This time they came to an intersection. They took another right which also proved to be a dead-end. They retraced their steps to turn at the first right branch which ended at a T-junction. Another right to an eventual dead-end.

Ambush: They retraced their steps past the branch to their left and passed another left branch. And that’s when (only) Barbara heard noise ahead and saw a shadowy figure just at the edge of the light. [Sanity check] She squealed when a 7ft tall creature came into view, then fired her own revolver. [extreme 8+3] The creature collapsed to reveal more shadows behind it. [Marty lost 5 Sanity upon seeing them but rolled a 00 INT to not believe.] With everyone’s ears ringing from the gunshot, communication was worthless.

Another creature rushed at Barbara and swung its long arm which she ducked under. Charlie turned to check their rear and realized Hugh was missing along with the light from his flashlight. But there was enough feedback illumination from Marty’s lantern to notice movement to their rear. Charlie raised his short-spear and threw it toward the shadow as he backed up. As Barbara fired another round at another creature, Randy grabbed the stick of dynamite from Charlie and flicked his lighter as he warned “RUN!”

Meanwhile, Marty had put the lantern on the floor and raised his crowbar to defend Barbara when he heard the order to run. Thus, he grabbed her collar to aid her retreat. [Barbara DEX 99] They didn’t get far as Charlie had backed into them. Fortune smiled upon them: the dynamite fuse sparked and sputtered as the stick was thrown into the rear shadows. [Failure 2: partial explosion] It was more a flare than an explosion. At least it didn’t collapse the mine tunnel upon them. But it did cause the creatures to shield their eyes. Unfortunately, Barbara and Marty failed to cover their eyes and were also temporarily blinded, slowing their retreat. With too many creatures closing and their passage blocked, they were cornered. They assumed defensive postures and watched the taller creatures step aside as a smaller 5+ft creature stepped forward. [failed POW] Marty collapsed unconscious. They were captured. Randy turned off his flashlight to conserve its battery as they were guided deeper into the mine. Their captors were able to see in the dark.

[At the beginning of the surprise attack, Jane and 2 creatures were in the side tunnel. Jane cast Enthrall (Sleep) which Hugh failed (per text reply to my 1D100 request). Everyone rolled but it depended on who was in the rear at the time of the attack. Anyway, the 2 creatures carried Hugh to Jane’s cabin in the woods.]

Hugh: Hugh slowly began to regain consciousness. All he knew was his shoulder pits and wrists hurt. As he opened his eyes, he realized his arms were stretched over his head and his wrists manacled to a chain draped over a center beam. Enough light filtered thru the wooden siding for him to realize he was inside a small smokehouse. Half-melted black candles lined the walls. He squirmed when he realized he was naked! [failed Sanity] He flinched when he saw the naked body of a dead woman hanging on the same beam behind him. Her body was covered in carved runes. And that’s when he heard the muffled sound of someone whistling as they jiggled the door handle.

Slaughterhouse! Hugh realized his predicament! The beam 10ft above the floor, with arms overhead, his 6’5” frame hung only a couple of feet from the floor. He used his weight and strength to try to bounce and break the overhead beam. [4D6+4 = 13 versus beam STR15] The cracking of the beam blended with the creak of the door as Jane entered, “Oh my, you’re not supposed to be awake yet. I haven’t carved the runes into you yet. It’s part of the ritual spell to consume your life to make me younger. Such a BIG boy; you’ll give me more years of living than poor Ms. Clara behind you. And more than that Professor Stewart; only a few years’ worth out of him.”

Hugh shouted at Jane in Intimidation, but she ignored him as she picked up a shovel to try to knock him unconscious. Hugh realized she couldn’t reach his skull; so, he lured her closer by acting limp. As she swung and missed, Hugh bounced once more, breaking the beam and landed on his feet. Jane suddenly realized her predicament and tried to cast her Slumber spell [opposed POW85- hard]. Hugh fought off the headache and quickly slid his manacle off the beam and used it to clobber Jane beside the head. He hadn’t heard the “Oomph!” behind him. Clara stirred to life from impact with the floor. Hugh found the keys to the manacles in Jane’s pocket. He quickly unlocked his cuffs and rushed to Clara’s side to aid her. Once she was stable, he clothed both of them and gathered what gear he could.

Clara came to and struggled to tell her story, “Eugene and I were walking in the woods around the mining town when suddenly these creatures appeared. They overpowered us and drug us here to Jane’s cabin. I cried and pleaded with the hillbilly woman to let us go but she claimed she needed us for her to live. I could only cry as I watched her carve runes into Eugene. Then screamed as she sliced flesh from him for her pot. Later, I recoiled when we returned to carve runes on me. She looked so much younger at that time.” Hugh tried his best to console her, “You’re safe now. I’ll get you to safety. But first, we need to try to rescue the others.” Clara burst into tears and screamed again.

[From the picture found in town, Jane should be in her 70s. Yet to Baker’s team she looked to be 60ish. To Tarsh’s team she looked late 50ish. Obviously, she had more sacrifices before Baker’s team arrived.]

Prisoners: As they stumbled in the darkness, their eyes slowly began to adjust such that they could see about 4-6 ft ahead. They watched as the creatures stopped at a side passage and untied a poorly crafted wooden door (made of branches tied about a foot apart). While they were shoved inside, Marty’s unconscious body was thrown in before the door was re-tied shut. Each had their own minor injuries from the rough handling. Voices inside called out, “Who’s there? Dr. Baker? Did they bring you back?” Barbara waited for the sound of their captors to fade away before she turned on her flashlight to reveal only a few members of Baker’s team. Quick introductions to the emaciated captives who revealed themselves, “I’m Henry Bates and that’s Martin Butcher. Professor Lynch is in the corner and the weakest among us. The creatures took Professor Tucker and Mrs. Winters days ago as some kind of sacrifice. We had to listen to their screams before they went silent. They took Baker a little while ago.”

Marty was incredulous, “Such a flimsy prison door; didn’t you even TRY to escape?!” Martin answered, “Where? It’s too dark to see and we have no idea where we are. It’s hopeless.” Randy suggested, “We have numbers now. We could overpower them when they come for the next sacrifice.” Marty was already plotting. He knew their best chance of escape was now, before they too became emaciated and weary. He pulled Randy aside to whisper, “Too many creatures and these poor fellas are in too poor condition. They’ll only slow us down. We could send them one way as we escape the other. Or, let them lead the way and we can use them as distraction for our own escape when the time comes.”

Escape: They inventoried their gear; most was lost in transit. Barbara still had her stick of dynamite and revolvers, Marty had his rock-hammer, Charlie had his Swiss-Army knife and cameras. Randy armed himself with a branch taken from the door. Marty helped Lynch to his feet, “We’ll get you out of here. Your lives are our #1 priority.” Marty wrapped his arm around Lynch’s waist as they led the way, with the boys behind and Randy behind them with his flashlight as they turned right (Charlie and Barbara the last in line).

The clawed passage was littered with more of those coprolite stones. They edged further along as the passage bent right with Randy’s light barely illuminating the way. They could hear hooting sounds but couldn’t tell from which direction. 

And that’s when they came upon a creature guard! Marty shoved Lynch into the creature who raked the professor with its claws. At the rear, Charlie couldn’t tell where the hooting was coming from and feared it from behind and thus stayed as rear guard. Barbara heard the commotion ahead and rushed forward with her revolver to shoot. [penalty to melee attack against a larger Build foe] Randy swung the branch and managed to hit the creature.

Marty also attacked with his hammer but missed. The creature didn’t miss (9 points): Marty collapsed dead (no-one bothered to do healing before they tried to escape).

TO BE CONTINUED:  https://wjr5oakley.blogspot.com/2023/05/failed-prospectsp7-conclusion.html