SESSION #14 (06/11/25)

 This week the heroes spent an afternoon and early evening in Bingham, Oklahoma.

Ralph flipped through the bible he bought from Mortimer and found a note in a child's handwriting:

My name is Lloyd.  My daddy is Mortimer.  You bought a bible from him.  He thinks god is a snake called Yig and that I have been chosen by him.  I am scared of snakes and don't want one to chose me.  Can you help me?

Vivienne and Maddie returned to the hotel and filled in Colt and Ralph, and Ralph showed everyone the note. They decided to go check out the church, then head to the lumberyard.  Walking down Main Street the ran into Sheriff Benson outside the police station and he engaged them in some conversation.  They came away from that feeling that Benson is aligned with Reverend Kornfield and the new direction the town is taking.

Entering the church the heroes met Reverend Kornfield as he was chatting with Mortimer and Lloyd Allen.  Maddie walked over to a desk along a wall and saw some pictures children had been colored, as well as Kornfield's bible, which was open and heavily notated in pen.  There was also a roughly 8" by 10" stitched decoration that appeared to show an individual tied to some kind of table, with another person standing next to them and a massive snake dripping something into the restrained person's mouth.  Kornfield chatted with the heroes and bit and offered Maddie Yig's blessing, which she allowed and during which he whispered to her that he could see she was already blessed.  Young Lloyd looked at the heroes with a bit of desperation in his eyes.

From there they went to the lumberyard.  Maddie introduced Colt and Ralph to her true love Paolo, and they also met his co-worker George Hensen, who had supposedly been healed by Kornfield after a major accident.  Hensen was very nice and gregarious and engaged Colt in a push-up contest, which he won easily.  He suggested that if they wanted to see more evidence of Kornfield's power, they should go see Peggy Shaw's babies.  Leaving the lumberyard, Ralph began to give Maddie a bit of a hard time about the potential powers of Yig's blessings, and out of frustration she grabbed him and tossed him five feet into the air (successful Cthulhu Mythos roll...), which left everyone, including Maddie, a bit stunned.  

The heroes went to the Shaw residence and talked their way in, being surprised about how warm it was inside the house - though Colt and Maddie felt it was very comfortable.  While Peggy made tea she told them about her newest babies, and pointed to the sand-filled box sitting under the wood stove, which contained a clutch of rubbery eggs, some of which were beginning to bulge at the sides (Sanity rolls!).  This left everyone uneasy, but they also asked to see her son Severus, so she went upstairs and brought him down - the boy covered in snake-like scales and with a forked, darting tongue (more Sanity rolls!!).  Vivienne went temporarily insane at this point and simply begain making tea as if none of this were even the remotest bit unusual, shutting her brain down completely to the unfolding horrors.  Peggy asked Ralph if he wanted to feed the baby and pulled a mouse from her pocket.  Ralph held it over the baby's face and saw his jaw distend as he swallowed the mouse (more Sanity rolls!!!).  The group thanked Peggy and got Vivienne outside.  Out in the street they ran into Peggy's husband Greg, and he suggested they go have a drink.  As they walked up Main, they noticed the sheriff was watching.  Maddie separated from the others and went back to the hotel.

At the saloon Greg gave some additional insights about the schism in town.  There they also met newspaper reporter Baxter Fandyke.  When he learned that Colt was a reporter from the east coast, and that they'd seen King Kong, he offered to pay Colt to write an article for the local paper about it, if he could do so by that evening.  Colt agreed.  

Earlier in the day Maddie let the hotel keepers know to let Lloyd know she had a present for him next time they saw him.  Lloyd showed up at Maddie's room and they discussed his fear of snakes.  Maddie gave him a flare, which she called a "special birthday candle", that he could use if he was afraid.

The evening found Vivienne and Ralph in their respective hotel rooms, Colt over at the newspaper offices, and Maddie at the lumberyard to continue her romance with Paolo.  Ralph was considering going back to the Shaw residence with some dynamite and blowing it up.  And... all of them heard bells ringing and people yelling.  Looking out upon the town they could see flames rising up from where the church sat, and townsfolk running toward it.

SESSION #13 (06/04/25)

Our heroes boarded an overnight train from New York City to St. Louis for the first leg of their trip to Bingham, Oklahoma.  From there they went to Springfield, Missouri, to visit WFUK radio station and see if the could get any information about the Kornfield sermons from Jacob, the many who sent the records to Caduceus.

(Note - the campaign does not include this Springfield piece.  The heroes were insistent they wanted to investigate this avenue, so I homebrewed the Springfield content.)

Arriving in Springfield they went to WFUK where they met Susie Lovelady, the 60-ish woman with too much makeup and perfume who worked the reception area.  Asking about Jacob, they quickly learned he'd gone missing about two weeks prior, and that the police seemed unwilling to investigate.  Susie told the heroes that a woman and man had come to see Jacob on the last day he worked, and that they'd left with him.  The woman gave her name as Rose, and she fit the description of Rose Meadham.

The heroes went to Jacob's apartment (Susie gave them the address), and Ralph used his special pick to get them inside.  The apartment was extremely tidy, and the record player was still on, the needle clicking helplessly on the runout groove of a record.  The record turned out to be a Kornfield sermon from about three weeks ago, and there were about a dozen total Kornfield sermon records next to the player. 

Ralph checked the bedroom and it appeared all of Jacob's clothes were still here as was, most tellingly, his set of luggage.  Vivienne walked over to a round, wood table upon which sat an empty bottle of Johnny Walker, a glass, and an ashtray full of Lucky Strike butts.  The tabletop was covered with small, fresh carvings that looked like snakes.  There were also two bible verses carved into the table:

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:  be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

And:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lived up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Maddie used her psychic abilities and had a vision of Jacob sitting at the table, drinking and smoking and looking at the record player with a thousand yard stare as he carved snakes into the table.

At this point the working theory was that Caduceus sent Rose to "pay a visit" to Jacob after Caduceus received the records he mailed them, probably with the intent of permanently silencing him.

From there it was back to the train station and off to Bingham, where the heroes checked into the Bingham hotel posing as a pair of married couples.  Delbert, who was one of the owners, told them there was a schism in town since Kornfield had gone off to wander for 40 days like Jesus, having returned a different man.  Delbert indicated those who were no longer following the church were led by Bill Schoenbaum.

Ralph and Colt wanted to take a rest, so Maddie and Vivienne decided to go get a drink at the Deer Head Saloon.  As they were walking down the hall to to the lobby they saw a thin, sunburned, dusty man stagger in and in a raspy voice ask for a room.  When asked for his name he said "Jacob".  They came to find out that Jacob had walked from Springfield to Bingham after having heard Reverend Kornfield's sermons.  

At the saloon the ladies spoke with bartender Maurice Walsted and a very drunk Hilliard Fowler.  They learned a bit more about the schism in town, and Fowler seemed particularly distraught about one of his own employees George Hensen, who had a bad accident at the lumbermill that should have killed him, but Kornfield saved him and now he's almost superhuman.  He also mentioned Gregory Shaw at the telegraph station may have a story of his own to share. 

Walking back to the hotel the women were startled when someone behind them called out Maddie's name.  This turned out to be Paolo, a former worker on Maddie's family farm who she may have had an inappropriate relationship with and still loves deeply.  He said he'd been bouncing around from farm to farm until hearing Kornfield on the radio a month ago.  Kornfield has taken him under his wing and got him a job at Fowler's lumber yard.  

SESSIONS #11 and #12 (05/16 an 05/17/25)

Our gaming group was fortunate enough to come together over a weekend to play in person - only the second time we've been able to pull off this feat.  We played two sessions on back-to-back nights, so this is a combined recap.

The team finally returned to New York City on April 17.  Caduceus had been kind enough to give them a few days off in Hawaii will transportation was sorted - the massive destruction on North Borneo having caused a humanitarian crisis that the organization was helping the British support. 

During the return travel Ralph busied himself studying the viral analyzer instructions.  He learned that any of the color results, like those of the drops used to detect yellow death, could be different if testing something other than what the book described as a "baseline human".  The same was true for people with lower or higher hemoglobin levels.

Vivienne had a telegram from her grandmother waiting for her when she arrived.  

GRANDDAUGHTER I FELT WHAT HAPPENED ON THE MOUNTAIN. MY PROPHECY TO THE BRITISH SOLDIER ALL THOSE YEAR AGO CAME TRUE. I FEEL YOUR PATHS WILL CROSS AGAIN. 

VISIT UNCLE AND ASK HIM FOR MY MEDALLION.  IT MAY BE OF HELP TO YOU.  THERE ARE DARK FORCES AT PLAY.  YOU MUST STAY VIGILANT AND BE CAREFUL WHO YOU TRUST.

MY BLESSINGS TO YOU.

GRANDMOTHER

Ralph too had something awaiting him - a postcard featuring a colorized picture of a rattlesnake.  

Congratulations on creating such a Big Bang in Borneo!  I'm sure Caduceus told you it was for the greater good - just not so great if you were a local farmer, I think.  I wonder how many more they are willing to kill in support of the Yig worshippers?

It seems like Caduceus has taken a shine to Maddie and Colt.  you should probably keep a close eye on them lest they stray past the point of no return.

S 

The "S" signature was drawn in a way that resembled a snake.

The team members spent some time in NYC on various pursuits.  Ralph worked up a weird science device - a thermometer that could read the temperature of an object from about a foot away.  It wasn't super sensitive - it was calibrated to freezing, room temp, Ralph's normal temp, and boiling.  But he felt it was good enough for what he had in mind.  He also helped Maddie make two shotgun shells that included the leng spider poison she brought back from North Borneo.

Ralph also popped over to Caduceus headquarters and ran into Conners, asking if they should be expecting bonuses for their North Borneo Work.  The quartermaster apologized, waiving his arms in exasperation at his paper-filled office, and indicated he'd been dealing with a lot of shipping work for things entering and leaving Red Hook.

Maddie and Colt spent some time scouring the occult shops in the city, looking for anything that might explain any of what they'd experienced over the last month.  Unfortunately they came away empty handed, with the notable exception of one of those waving cat statuettes.  

Vivienne went to visit Uncle, who provided her with an eye-shaped medallion that grandmother had asked him to hold onto decades ago.  The note that came with it indicated it may have some unique properties that could help Vivienne in a jam.  She also spent some time in Uncle's basement dojo working out with some of his men, and she felt the time on the practice mats helped sharpen her already deadly martial arts skills.  Perhaps she'd get a chance to leverage them at some point.  

Vivienne let the group know her friend Domino (The Honorable Lady Dominique Marinos-Saint Clair) was havng her birthday party at Ilya's Russian Teahouse, or more precisely in its basement speakeasy, and they were all invited to attend.  Vivienne was making a custom outfit for Domino, and also agreed to make something appropriate for Maddie to wear.

Earlier in the day the group all went to see the movie "King Kong".  It was Maddie's first time ever going to a picture show and Colt insisted they had to go.  Everything went fine until the scene when Kong fought and killed the massive serpent creature.  During that scene Ralph noticed that Maddie and Colt both tensed up, grabbing the armrests of their chairs tightly, looks of revulsion on their faces.  Afterwards Maddie admitted being confused why she found that scene so sad...

They almost got turned away from Domino's party when the guards told them guns were not permitted and Colt and Ralph would need to be searched.  However, Ralph knew one of the guards and did some fast-talking, while Vivienne provided some distractions of her own, and they were allowed in.  In the basement things were hopping.  Before they could even get to the bar, however, Casale approached and had a chat with Ralph.  He invited the foursome to dinner the following night with his family's boss, Joe Bananno.  Ralph knew this was an offer he couldn't say no to, and agreed to bring his friends.

Domino then joined the conversation, quickly being fascinated by Maddie's monkey Don Juan (sporting a custom waistcoat Vivienne whipped up for him) before raising an eyebrow at Ralph, looking a bit standoffish by well-dressed (Ralph felt a man should always have two very nice suits).  Vivienne did introductions and the team learned Domino was minor English royalty on her mother's side, while Daddy was Greek and in the shipping business.  She waived over a rather heavyset, middle-aged woman in a green dress who she introduced as Eileen Garrett, an Irish psychic who had been in the papers over the last few years and was known in wealthy circles for her seances.  Eileen was helping Domino on her own pet project of studying missing ships.  Eileen and Maddie shook hands, and Maddie special gifts allowed her to sense that Eileen's own skills were not necessary innate, but instead... gifted to her by some other presence she couldn't quite pin down... Domino's father Nico Marinos also stopped by and mentioned his firm did a fair amount of shipping for Caduceus. 

A woman in all black approached - slacks, man's-style jacket and shirt, and a hat with a sheer veil.  She was almost identical in height and shape to Vivienne and introduced herself as Rose Meadham, a friend of Domino's.  Facial scarring was visible behind the veil.  Rose recognized the names of the characters and indicated she was familiar with their files, as she too was doing special operations work for Caduceus.  

An English-accented voice said, "Hello, Vivienne".  Turning to look they saw none other than Captain Lancaster there, holding two glasses of champagne, one of which he handed to Rose. Apparently she was a friend of Lancaster's uncle and, hearing of his involvement in North Borneo and his disillusionment with the military, offered him a job working directly for her with Caduceus.  The pair just arrived in New York that day.

Ralph invited Rose to join him at a screening of King Kong the following day, and Vivienne arranged to have lunch with Lancaster.  Ralph was curious to see if Rose would react to the serpent scene in the movie in the same way that Maddie and Colt did, but she did not seem bothered.  Afterwords he tried to see if he could get any useful info out of her, but the only thing he came away with was when he used the phrase "baseline human" she didn't seem phased, and in fact used it in responding.  Meanwhile Vivienne learned that Rose and Lancaster were attending some kind of high-roller donor dinner that evening.

But the characters had a dinner of their own to go to in Brooklyn.  Ralph did his best to prep them, emphasizing that being respectful was of the utmost importance.  He suggested that if anyone felt uncomfortable at any point they should excuse themselves to go to the restroom.

Arriving at the restaurant they were met at the door by Casale.  Two mafia soldiers stood smoking outside, and upon entering the small dining room they saw that mafioso were also sitting at the three smaller tables, with another guarding the back door.  In the corner was a round table set for eight, with four men in suits already sitting at it.  Casale escorted them to the table, then took up a spot next to the man guarding the rear entrance. 

Asked about the work they did with Caduceus, Maddie excused herself to go to the restroom and Vivienne followed her.  Once inside, Maddie, held her necklace, looked into the mirror, and asked her mother for guidance.  This was the first time she'd ever used her powers directly in front of someone before, but she trusted Vivienne, who had been very much like an older sister to her, even helping her find her own apartment in the city.  The voice that spoke to Maddie was not her mother's, however, but Tyranissh's, who told her that while the mafia couldn't be entirely trusted, they weren't dangerous in this setting and in fact Maddie and her friends could use the mafia to achieve some of their own ends.

The ladies returned to the table as Bonanno asked Ralph if he'd told them the full story of the work they'd done for Caduceus.  While Bonanno spoke calmly, his voice indicated that Ralph was being given one more chance.  Ralph admitted he hadn't shared everything as he didn't want Bonanno to think he was crazy, then proceeded to tell the mob boss that they were in fact tasked with returning a living mummy from Bolivia.  

Ultimately the mafia told the team that they believed Caduceus was importing illegal drugs and wanted the group's help in investigating.  The mobsters indicated they perhaps would be able to provide the group with some useful information in return, and an accord was reached.

Leaving the restaurant, Ralph showed the group his new temperature reader and used it on Maddie.  As Ralph expected and feared, her temperature read somewhere close to room temperature - so well below what a normal human should read.  Maddie made Ralph promise that if she started turning into a snake that he would shoot her.

The next day the team went to Caduceus HQ for a briefing.  In the elevator they noticed that some of the floor buttons had small covers over them.  The guard escorting them used a key to open the one for the seventh floor, and up they went.  Colt and Maddie felt pressure building in their heads as the elevator rose, reaching a crescendo as they arrived and walked down the hall toward an open door, two guards outside and a bright, multi-colored light emerging.  A voice called out in Naacal.  "Ah, I see two of my lovelies have arrived."

The guard attempted to escort them into a conference room across the hall, but Maddie pushed forward to look into the other room.  She saw Tyranissh strapped to a table, a group of white-coated doctors poking and prodding her with various instruments hooked up to strange looking machines.  

Eventually they were ushered into the conference room, where Goncalves sat waiting along with a mountain of a man introduced simply as Canning.  A few minutes later Joshua Meadham arrived and the briefing began.  After complimenting the team members on their past exploits, Meadham explained that a Yig cult appeared to have popped up in Oklahoma and the team was asked to take a look.  Ralph showed off his new temperature reader, demonstrating it on Goncalves who found it fascinating and possibly useful as a way to identify a disguised serpent person.

As they were wrapping up, an explosion happened across the hall.  The arm of one of the guards flew into the room, sliding across the conference table and leaving a trail of blood.  Canning immediately took Meadham from the room, while the group went into the hall.  They saw a rainbow-colored swirling portal on the wall of the examination room and watched as Tyranissh stepped into it, saying that she would see them again.

Goncalves needed to take them to the eighth floor to finish their briefing.  After he unlocked to the cover to floor #8 and put his key back in his pocket, Vivienne pretended to faint and fell into him.  He caught her, but didn't feel her fingers go into his pocket and steal his elevator key!

On the 8th floor Goncalves played some recordings of Reverend Kornfield's radio broadcasts.  It was the typical fire-and-brimstone fare, but referred to God by the name of Yig. There was also a hidden, almost subliminal message in there as well.  According to Goncalves, the records came to them through a contact named Jacob who worked at WFUK radio in Springfield, Missouri.

Once Goncalves left, they tested the key and it appeared to give them access to all the elevator floors, but did not work on the stairwell doors.  Before leaving the building, they stopped by to see Conners again.  Ralph casually mentioned having run into Rose Meadham.  This confused Conners as he said she hadn't worked there for perhaps 10 years or so - he even checked the payroll records and didn't see her there.  But he did have their bonus money, and each member received $1,000 in cash. 

They also tested the temperature reader on Colt and found that he too was reading at room temperature....

SESSION #10 (04/30/25)

The sun was beginning to go down in North Borneo.

The team decided they still wanted to see if Kazin was involved in all of this.  Colt was able to procure something that generally resembled Kazin's walking stick.  All that was missing was the crystal ball that sat atop it.  But Maddie spied the stopper of one of the cognac bottles in the mess tent, and the two of them were able to rig up a reasonable facsimile of the Kazin's stick.  Now they just had to swap it out for the original.

They drove to the farm as the sun dipped below the horizon.  Kazin seemed to be waiting for them, along with a half dozen of his men.  Vivienne waited in the car - the last time she'd been around Kazin he tried to purchase her from Colt and Ralph, and if he did something like that again she'd probably shoot him in the face.

Colt bought cognac with them, and he along with Maddie and Ralph took it inside Kazin's home to have a drink - they told him they'd be bringing the British soldiers the next day to clear out the farmers, so Kazin was in a fine mood.  While he was distracted getting glasses, Maddie switched out the walking sticks.  After a quick drink the party departed and headed back to the British base.

Once there they attempted to pull the top off the walking stick but were surprised to find that it didn't come off - contrary to what Maddie saw in her vision.  Vivienne convinced Captain Lancaster of the danger they were all in and the need to abandon the camp.  He was upset about leaving the survey camp behind, as they were all Europeans, but he understood that all of their lives were at risk.  Because a mudslide blocked the road about a mile down the mountain they'd all have to leave on foot, and do so at first light to ensure they got far enough away to get out of the blast radius of the Haftorang device.

Speaking of which, Colt decided to bury the device inside one of the camp's tents.  After a fitful night of not really sleeping, everyone was ready to go first thing in the morning, and so the group and the British garrison began the walk down the mountain.  

As their watches approached 11:30 they entered a very small village - mostly just a main street.  When the Haftorang device went off, it was surprisingly quiet.  Looking back they saw a column of fire rise up out of the jungle into the sky before spilling back downward and incinerating everything it touched.  The sound and smell of the burning followed as roughly 100 square miles of jungle caught fire.  The locals were terrified, but at the same time transfixed by the sight.

There was a telegraph station in town and Lancaster used it to contact the capital - they had already been alerted of the impending disaster by Caduceus and trucks were being sent up the mountain.  The team, however, wasn't sure how the British would treat them, so when the quarantine crew arrived and began isolating the soldiers, Ralph hotwired a barely-running truck and the team barreled down the mountain toward the capital of Jesselton.

As the reached they city they saw three cargo planes flying in over the ocean.  Following their path they made their way to the airport, driving across the tarmac as the last of the planes touched down.  Talking their way through security, they reached the Caduceus team, which insisted on testing them for the yellow death.  Ralph and Vivienne came up clear - the testing drops did not discolor their tongues.  Maddie, however, had her tongue turn yellow, the sign of infection, and she was immediately quarantined.  Colt's tongue, however, turned bright green, to the surprise of everyone.  After checking a laminated card, the doctor shrugged and said Colt was no danger, but offered no further explanation. 

Maddie faced a death sentence, but the Caduceus team said they had brought a treatment with them.  Given that she had no options, Maddie agreed to undergo the treatment, and a day later was well enough to rejoin the others, as well as Dr. Victor Goncalves, the Caduceus team lead.

They were brought in for questioning by the outgoing governor Arthur Richards, as well as the incoming governor Douglas Jardine.  Lancaster was there too, so they knew that anything Lancaster knew, the governors also knew.  The team gained a bit of credibility because Vivienne recognized Jardine's name - she'd read his book, “The Mad Mullah of Somaliland”, while in college, which he found flattering.  It turned out the British weren't that upset about the amount of jungle burned, nor the hundreds if not thousands of locals who perished, but about the loss of the Europeans in the survey camp, which was causing a diplomatic situation.  

After being kept under wraps for a week, they were called back to the governor's mansion and surprised  to learn they had all been awarded the Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Meritorious Service for their work in saving the garrison and stopping the outbreak.  It was an unexpected but welcome honor.  After a party and some heavy drinking they were allowed to return to New York with Goncalves.  Lancaster was sad to see Vivienne leave - he had been recalled to London and was reconsidering his military service, her work with Caduceus having inspired him to do something more.  He provided her the contact info for his uncle in London, who would always know where to find Lancaster even if he was deployed.

SESSION #09 (04/23/24) - "Disease: Yellow Death; Cure: None" -- Caduceus Guide to Your Viral Analyzer (2nd edition)

In looking through the viral analyzer manual, the team learned it was capable of making drops that could be used to determine if a person was infected by the yellow death, as well as a serum that would slow its effects and make the recipient non-contagious.  The serum wasn't a cure, but it would buy them time if any of them were infected, so Ralph began the process of creating the serum.  He'd never seen or used anything like the viral analyzer before, but he always had a way with machines, and the instructions seemed quite clear.

As the viral analyzer begin its work they discussed their options.  They hadn't seen Shapiro or Abidin since their return to the camp, and didn't know whose bones were inside the chest, though Maddie had seen enough butchering on the farm to know that the remains were quite fresh.  Did Shapiro kill Abidin?  Did Abidin kill Shapiro?  Was Kazin involved... or was this someone or something they hadn't even encountered yet?  

Maddie and Colt decided to go talk to Kazin and see what they could learn.  Walking across the shanty the farmers looked at them with deadened eyes as they passed.  

Kazin was waiting for them outside his home, along with a half dozen of his men.  "Have you by chance seen the doctor who came with us?"  Maddie asked.

Kazin looked at her and then at Colt.  "Why is this woman talking for you?" he asked.  Maddie tightened her grip on the shotgun under her cloak.  She really disliked this man.

Colt, sensing the danger of Maddie starting a gunfight, stepped forward.  "Yes, well, have you seen him Kazin?"

Kazin indicated that Shapiro and Abidin left in one of the two armored cars about 30 minutes ago and said they were going to the English military base to use the radio.  This was perplexing.  

Maddie whispered something to Colt and he nodded.  "Kazin, could you translate for us?  There is a boy at the well who may have seen something."

Kazin agreed and Maddie went to the well and returned with Madu.  The boy and Kazin began to speak back and forth, the child's expression distant as Kazin became more and more agitated.  

"What's he saying?" Colt asked.

"The boy talks crazy," replied and exasperated Kazin.  "He says that I, Kazin, went into the doctor's tent and killed him.  But that is clearly not the case because all of us saw the doctor leave."

Seeing Kazin's agitation Colt bid him goodbye and he, Maddie, and Muda walked back through the shanty.  Maddie touched Muda as he walked, her psychic abilities trying to connect with him as she had done previously.  The images she saw were... disjointed... almost painful in her mind.  Flashes more than visions.  In one Shapiro was whispering something to Muda.  In another Kazin exited Shapiro's tent, appearing to screw the top back onto his walking stick, a look of violence in his eyes.

Muda returned to his vigil at the well and they went back to Shapiro's tent, relaying the conversation they'd had, and Maddie sharing things she sensed.  They felt no closer to an answer until Ralph turned from the viral analyzer.  "Shapiro wouldn't let that Haftorang Device out of his sight even at the military camp, and he carried it the entire way here.  I can't believe he'd simply leave it here and drive to the base."

All agreed this was a solid point.  As the others spoke, Maddie lifted the lid to the trunk and touched the bones.  The others turned to her as she let out a slight gasp and closed the lid.  "I'm pretty sure this is Shapiro," she said.  Maddie whispered something to Don Juan and the monkey scampered off.  "I told him to watch Kazin, and if the walking stick was left unattended to grab it and bring it back."

The viral analyzer successfully made 11 doses of the serum, which they loaded into syringes and put into Ralph's pack.  Ralph got the machine started on making the testing drops, but as near as he could tell that would take at least an hour.  

They decided to take the Haftorang Device and try to return to the English base.  Ralph's look had hardened considerably over the last two hours.  "If Kazin tries to stop us, I'm killing him."  Vivienne and Colt looked at one another with raised eyebrows, but then set about making sure their own weapons were loaded and ready.

Kazin watched as they loaded up the other armored car, but made no effort to stop them and the drive to the base was uneventful.  Captain Lancaster met them as they got out of vehicle.  "Vivienne, my dear!  What has happened to you?" he asked with concern.  It was only at that point that Vivienne realized how she looked, her shirt blood-soaked at the shoulder and various bruises starting to turn purple.  

"It's nothing really," she said sheepishly.  

"Nonsense," replied Lancaster.  "We don't have a doctor here, but we do have a corpsman who can patch you up."

"Have you seen Shapiro?" Ralph asked.

Lancaster as momentarily taken aback by the look in Ralph's eyes.  He'd seen that look before, on the front during the Great War.  Men who looked like that were usually one step away from madness.  "He and Abidin arrived an hour or so ago.  Shapiro went to the radio tent, and Abidin to the hut we allow him to maintain here in the camp."

At that moment Abidin called out as he emerged from around the side of the mess hall.  He was eating a bowl of soup as he walked.  "Hello," he said cheerfully.  

"Captain, a word if you have a moment."  It was the corporal who ran the radio.

"I'm a bit busy at the moment, corporal," said Lancaster, not even looking at the man.  "Can this wait?"

"Sir, there was a response to the message Shapiro sent on the shortwave," he said.  

Everyone, including Abidin, turned to the corporal.  He explained that Shapiro had asked to send his message in private, so the corporal didn't know what he transmitted.  However, he realized when he heard a voice come from the shortwave that Shapiro must have set a specific frequency and left it set there when he left the tent.  

"The voice said, 'This is Sashannal.  The outpost is not safe from the Haftorang Device.  You must protect the gate there at all costs.  The night is coming.'," relayed the corporal.  "Sir, I took the liberty of contacting a mate in Sidney, and he happened to hear the message as well.  We were able to triangulate the signal."  He showed them a small paper world map with two lines, one extending from North Borneo and the other from eastern Australia.  The lines intersected in Iceland.

As they mulled over the possible meanings of the message, a voice shouted from the other side of the motor pool.  "Captain!  I think we found Shapiro, sir!"

"Well bring him here," Lancaster replied.

After a pause, "Um, sir, you really should come see this."

Vivienne and Maddie stayed back by the vehicle while the others approached a small group of soldiers standing around a cart.  "It was under here sir."

The "it" in question looked like it was human skin in the shape and size of a body, but without any bones or organs or musculature.  Ralph and Colt recognized this as the work of a serpent person wearing someone's skin.

"What in the hell," Lancaster said, trying to wrap his mind around it.

Ralph turned and strode toward Abidin who smiled and continued to eat his soup.  Ralph's blow hit the main unexpectedly and he fell back onto his rear, the bowl of soup spilling.  "Shapiro is skinned and dead, there's a massive disease outbreak, and you're standing here smiling and eating soup?  SOUP??" Spittle was flying from Ralph's mouth at this point in his enraged state.

Soldiers began slowly raising their rifles and moving toward the scene.  "I say, Ralph, that's a bit rough," said Lancaster.  "Abidin has always been loyal."

As Ralph and Lancaster argued, Maddie touched her mother's necklace and reached with her mind, imploring her mother to show her who was the bad person here.  What happened next made Maddie's blood run cold.  It wasn't her mother's sweet voice that responded but... the laugh of Tyrannish.  Just as she thought she'd lose her mind, however, Abidin turned and looked at her with hard eyes.

With the soldiers distracted by Ralph and Lancaster, no one noticed as Maddie calmly raised the hunting rifle she'd brought on this trip.  

Abidin's head exploded at the same time the rifle cracked, spraying gore everywhere.  

With that all the English soldiers raised their weapons and pointed them at the members of the team.  

"What in the absolute hell," Lancaster began before seeing Ralph inspecting the hole in Abidin's head.

"Come see for yourself," Ralph said.

Lancaster looked in horror as he could see the serpent-like scales underneath the human skin.  He prodded and the skin simplly sloughed away, leaving the serpent person body behind.  

Lancaster suggested they all needed a drink and they headed to the mess tent, Colt holding onto the Haftorang Device.  They explained to Lancaster how dangerous the device was, and that's when they learned that the road leading back down the mountain was blocked due to a mudslide a few days ago.  Lancaster didn't expect it to be cleared for a least a week, so while they could drive the first mile or two, after that they'd have to climb over the mess and walk the rest of the way.  Also the road had some switchbacks, so if they needed to get 10 miles from the camp, it would take some time.

There will still about 17 hours remaining on the Haftorang timer, but it was also getting later in the day.  They probably had a couple of hours of light remaining.

"Just enough time to go back to the farm," Maddie said, rubbing the barrel of her sawed off shotgun.  "Because I'd like to see what Kazin has in that walking stick."