Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (Belgian Congo Part #3 / New York Part#4)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)

The team heads back to the basement of the pyramid to contemplate next moves. Should they go through the gate, even through they're not sure where it leads and what might be waiting for them? Or take their chances with the jungle and get back to civilization the old fashioned way? They decide on the gate, but only after Oz tries his clairvoyance on it and learns it leads somewhere they've been before. And that the control panel doesn't control destination, but activates/deactivates defenses on the other side. So Oz deactivates the defenses, while Zeke examines the serpent person laser staffs and figures out a way to jury rig two together and fire a continuous beam. Which he sets in place to destroy the strange power plant, and then follows the rest of the team through the gate..

Which drops them into a long concrete corridor, and standing ready about 40' away was the head of Caduceus security, Frank DeLuca, and four security guards, two of whom carried tommy guns. The security guards open fire, and the team responses. In short order, the guards and Mr. De Luca are down for the cost of a minor wound to both Nigel and Ivy. Examining the bodies the team is horrified, but not surprised, to find the guards were all serpent persons in disguise and Mr. De Luca was some sort of serpent person / human hybrid. They relieve the dead of their weapons (and Mr. De Luca of his key ring) and get moving before anyone comes to investigate the gunfire. Assuming they are at Caduceus HQ, they find stairs and go up. They avoid the next floor, with signs of laboratories and commotion, and instead make their way into the mechanical  and janitorial spaces in the 'real' basement. Determined the search the upper floors for the Serpent Scepter and more information, they disguise themselves as the evening janitorial crew and make their way to he main lobby. It being Friday evening, the building is largely empty, but they do note lot's of chaotic activity at the security desk. They slip into the main elevators and head to the topmost floors; they have never been there, but assume they must hold Mr. Meadham's private offices which would be the most likely place to search.

Using the Chief of Security's keys, they are able to make it past locked doors and into what appears to be Meadham's private secretarial pool. They search through the locked file cabinets and uncover a few more hints of the Caduceus operation. These confirm much of what they already know about the plans to access the lost continent of Mu via a gate on the "Ilha da Queimada" off the coast of Brazil, but that the Cobra Crown is needed to bypass the gate guardians.  But finding no sign or mention of the Serpent Scepter, the team presses on, stumbling into a security office guarding an elevator and set of stairs going to the 18th floor. They bypass the guards with a flurry of gunfire, and use the private elevator to head up to the top floor. This they find is Joshua Meadham's privates rooms, with a large well appointed conference room and office. Carefully searching, they find more documents (and a curious serpent dagger) in a hidden safe with more information of the Hidden Night and Tyranissh. Oz discovers a pair of curious and frightful old books on one bookcase, while Ivy discovers a strip of dried skin in the attached sauna that is a strange hybrid of human and serpent. But they do not find the Serpent Scepter nor any hint as to it's whereabouts. Maybe it's been taken to Meadham's Connecticut estate? Or maybe Caduceus didn't steal it; maybe it was the Mafia? In any case, a glace from the rooftop cupula showed signs of security teams heading up the stairs to the buildings' upper floors, so the team decides to get out while they can. Luckily, the private elevator takes them to a back entrance, and they flee into the night. Quickly hitting their usual places of residence to gather all their gear and warn friends and family to flee to safety, the team reassembles in a new hiding place to lay low for a bit and plan next moves ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (Belgian Congo Part #2)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)

The doorway enters into a wide corridor, seamlessly carved of the same black stone as the pyramid itself. A bright light glows at the end, so to team heads towards it. Nigel notes movement, but they press on to a brightly lit central foyer where stairs lead up and down. They surprise a serpent person scientist emerging from a door to their left. The creature runs back through the doorway, and the team follows. A short fight ensues between the team and the two serpent people in the room, the last falling to a pistol shot from Zeke. The room is set up for surgery or dissection. Cages line the walls, and Ivy notes they all look like Rose Meadham, though of varying ethnicities and all grossly mutated and disfigured. And oddly silent, a state explained by the syringes full of strong sedative (and vials of serpent person domination serum) they recover from the dead scientists. 

Zeke now hears activity up stairs, and the sound of serpent person feet approaching. The team builds a barricade of carts at the door to hold them off. Four guards appear, each armed with a fire staff that shoots laser beams at the team. In the ensuing firefight and hand to hand struggle, the team prevails and gains the staves for themselves. 

As the firefight draws to a close, Zeke notes more serpent people emerging from another room, but they run down the stairs rather than engage the party. The team follows, passing through an ajar blast door and into a chamber just in time to see the last serpent person disappear through a gate. Uncertain of where it leads, the team this time does not rush on through, but look closer at their surroundings. A small control panel sits next to the gate, but the controls are indecipherable to both Oz and Zeke. Other doors lead into what Zeke recognizes, from the controls panels on the wall,  as some sort of power plant. Rods of metal hang over or are inserted into wells in the floor. 

The team bars the gate room door to prevent any nasty surprises coming through behind them, and head upstairs to continue looking for clues and a way home. At this point, Ivy is suddenly overcome by a bout of weakness, nausea and severe headache. She and Zeke have both been feeling off since their trek through the jungle. The illness passes though, and the team searches the other two rooms on the main level. The first is similar to the original surgery room, but with 'normal' humans subjects in the cages. And on the dissection tables are subjects with  brains that have been exposed, skin pealed back to reveal the nervous system, each with probes and wires inserted into the exposed organs. All while the subjects remain alive and conscious! The sights, screams, and moans are too much for Ivy, Zeke and Nigel, who momentarily loose their minds. Ivy and Zeke quiver in fear, while Nigel tries to intervene and save those who suffer by performing brain surgery, casing yet more agony and no success. 

While his companions suffer, Oz moves on to the next room, a strange space filled with glass tubes of green gas rising from floor to ceiling. Inside each he observed thousands of flying insects. When his now (mostly) recovered comrades join him, Ivy notes a pile of lab documents on a table. They describe experiments the serpent people have been performing, making a mutated form of sleeping sickness that turns the victims into mindless slaves that can be controlled by the serpent people. The disease is spread by a mutated tsetse fly. And the description of the disease suggests this is what Ivy has contracted.  

Moving on, the team checks the upper level of the pyramid. The first door they check leads to a supply room, full of glassware, instruments, vials and medical gear. And against the wall a strange rack with two of the serpent person fire staffs. Among the vials are carotid toxin (causes massive internal bleeding and death), domination serum (allows control by serpent people) and the cure for the mutated sleeping sickness. Ivy and Zeke shoot up a vial of the later while the rest of the vials are scooped into a bag for later use and investigation. The team then moves to the next room, where they are confronted with cabinets full of thousands of small vials labelled with names of long-extinct life forms. And just around the corner they find a large fluid filled glass cylinder in which floats an immature T. rex.  As the team approaches, they see movement behind the cylinder, and then a smashing sound as a serpent person breaks it open. As the team turns to fight the ravenous baby T. rex, the serpent person uses the distraction to run, heading down the stairs towards the gate. As the rest of the team deals with the dinosaur, Nigel chases after the serpent person. Outpaced, Nigel fires several shots at the fleeing foe, but the creatures successfully makes it to the gate room. 

In the last room the ream finds tons of records that unequivocally prove this site is under the control of Caduceus. It seems their employer is secretly run by serpent person followers of Yig. And contrary to what they'd been led to believe, the followers of Yig are not benign. They have a plan to make humanity their slaves by using the mutated sleeping sickness; only slightly more appealing than the Inner Night/Tsathaggua plan to eliminate humanity. But the followers of Yig have been unable to find a suitable insect vector to reliably spread the disease anywhere in the world (as shown on a map on the wall), so they plan to return to the lost Citadel of Mu and use it's facilities to make a suitable biomechanical insect.  To reach Mu, they need the Cobra Crown to get past the reptilian guardians that block the gate, hence the search for that lost artifact. There are references to an island off the coast of Brazil called 'Ilha da Queimada" where a gate to Mu has been located ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (New York Part #3 / Belgian Congo Part #1)

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)

Returning on the train from Oklahoma, the team discussed future plans. Although they were all starting to question exactly what Caduceus was up to, they decided they would at least report to headquarters for debriefing on this latest mission and see where that would lead. Arriving at Grand Central Station, Nigel stopped at a payphone to call the airport to check on his plane. He was disturbed to hear there had been a break-in at the hanger. Even though he was assured nothing was damaged or disturbed, his thoughts immediately turned to the Serpent Scepter hidden onboard. So the team decided first stop would be the airport to check it out. Just as he was hailing  a cab, Nigel felt someone grab his arm. A young man stopped him, saying in a thick Sicilian accent "No need for a cab. I have a car waiting for you" and led them to a nearby black sedan. Questioning reveled he (Lucio) represented some 'friends' who were doing the team a favor; closer hypnosis questioning by Oz confirm what they already suspected; their new friends were the Mafia. During the questioning, Ivy recognized the name of Lucio's bass, one Filemone Casale, a low level Mafioso soldier with the Bonanno crime family.  

Taking advantage of their 'friends' largess, the team headed for the airport. Where a check of the plane revealed subtle signs of careful searching; and that the Serpent Scepter was gone. With nothing else to be done, they had Lucio drive them to a hotel to freshen up before reporting to Caduceus HQ for debrief. Lucio dropped them off at Caduceus before finally disappearing into traffic. Inside the building, the team was lead to an eighth floor meeting room by a secretary. As she opened the door, however, they were surprised to see the room occupied. Inside sat the serpent mummy they'd recovered in Bolivia, very much alive and strapped tight to a chair as a scientist in a white lab coat injected something into her arm. Tyranissh turned to glare at the team as the secretary, realizing with a gasp she'd brought them to the wrong place, closed the door and lead the team into the adjacent room.     

There the team was joined by Dr. Gonzales for the debrief. This was shorter and more perfunctory than before, and while he congratulated the team on a job well done, there was the distinct impression that the missions' success was not key to whatever was going on at Caduceus.  Questioned further about the mutated people of Bingham, Dr. Gonzales waved off their concern saying simply 'such things will be dealt with'. He then took his leave of the party, telling them to stay in New York as there may be another mission for them in the near future.

As the team prepared to leave, they suddenly heard screaming and a great commotion next door. Rushing into the corridor, they ran into office staff shrieking and running away. And the door to Tyranissh's room lay smoking on the floor, while inside was a scene of destruction. The room was starting to burn, Tyranissh had broken free of the chair, and the two scientists had been brutally slain. And on the wall a strange swirling portal was forming.  Oz tried to talk tothe serpent sorcerous in Naacal; she turned to face him and yelled back “You are as bad as each other! I refuse to serve the Father of Snakes or the Mother of Darkness! May you all be struck down!” And with that, she stepped through the portal. And with just a moment of hesitation, Zeke pushed into the room and followed her, quickly trailed  by the rest of the team ....

... who found themselves in a sweltering hot jungle. Nigel recognized some of the vegetation and guessed they were somewhere in central Africa. And 10 feet away stood a rather hostile looking Tyranissh. But Oz was able to talk fast and convince her they meant no harm and wanted to talk, to learn more about what the heck was going on. The serpent sorcerous confirmed what they'd started to suspect; Caduceus was up to no good. The organization was a front for the serpent people followers of Yig, who'd replaced all the chief people (including Joshua Meadham) with serpent people. Their goal was not that different from the Inner Night. Whereas the followers of Tsathoggua wanted to eradicate humans, the followers of Yig planned to enslave humanity to fuel the rise of a third serpent person empire. Tyrannish came from a time before the split between Yig and Tsathoggua, and was a worshiper of Ghatanothoa, the Lord of the Volcano. She and her kind believed men and serpent people could live together and share the earth. And she intended to follow through and thwart the plans of both Caduceus and Inner Night. Both organizations sought the Cobra Crown, which would allow them to tap the lost power and technology of the Citadel oo the lost continent of Mu. She intend to beat them to the Crown. And finally making their break from Caduceus, the party offered to join Tyrannish and help by recovering the Serpent Scepter, to pair with the Crown. 

Alliance made, Tyrannish then prepared to gate to Calcutta, the party having told her of the rumors of the Cobra Crown being seen there. Asked how the team could get back to New York, the sorcerous waved vaguely to the north-east and said humans could be found to help them there. And then she disappeared into the jungle, while the team turned to and did then same. After a few hours they came to a road, which led them to a clearing the jungle in which stood an abandoned open pit mine. Over the gate hung a battered sign: Société Internationale Forestière et Minière du Congo - Lukenie Diamond Mine". Curiously, a new chain linked fence,  topped with barred wire, surrounded the facility.  Oz broke the lock on the gate, and the team moved carefully inside the compound. Getting closer to the open pit, they observed four relatively new lifts going done into the open mine. And then were shocked to see a large black pyramid filling most of the pit. A covered entrance could be seen, as well as a large number of people just shuffling zombie-like around the pyramid. When some experimentation showed the people (based on their clothing, from all parts of the globe and all walks of life) were harmless, the party descended into the pit and headed to the pyramid entrance. It was a simple metal door, with serpent person hand-shaped sensor plate to one side.  No one wanted to risk touching it, so Nigel and Oz scanned the crowd around them for signs of a suitable serpent person. They found none, but did spy one man who showed strange signs of scales where a previous injury had healed. So he was gently lead over to the door and his hand placed on the pad. And the door opened with  a click .... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (Oklahoma Part #3)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

[Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)]

The team spends a quiet night at the hotel mulling over all they've seen and heard, and in the morning don their Sunday best and head for the Rev. Kornfield's outdoor service. They arrive to find much of the town there in the street in front of the burned church. The Reverend himself arrives shortly, accompanied by Sheriff Benson and a couple of men carrying a large wooden crate. The Reverend launches into the service, opening with a pleas for forgiveness for those responsible for burning the church (which does not seem to please the Sheriff). He then launches into a fiery sermon with a definite serpent theme, before having the two men open the crate. He reaches in and hauls out a pair of rattlesnakes, and calls upon the faithful to come forward and take the creatures in their hands, for "true believers will not be harmed by the children of the god".  Several worshipers do so, before one is bit. He survives the event, but after Ivy checks him over, he leaves the crowd dejected for having failed in the test of faith. Rev Kornfield then turns to the team, and calls Zeke up to test his faith. Zeke passes the test to Rev, Kornfield's delight, who ends the service by announcing he will lead these new faithful on a pilgrimage into the wilderness the next day,. 

As the service breaks up, the team finds an empty house nearby to hide in and listen in on the conversation between Rev, Kornfield and Sheriff Benson using the serpent person listening device. The Sheriff is vehement that they track down and punish the Dissidents and non-believers, blaming them for the church bombing. The Reverend however maintains a conciliatory tone and forbids any rash action by the Sherriff. The team then takes the chance, with the Reverend busy, to search his house. The only thing of interest they find is the Reverends huge leather bible which they steal. A cursory reading shows it to be a large, leather bound tome, which was originally a standard Bible. The margins contain many handwritten notes and drawings. Some passages have been amended, some crossed out, and replaced with new ones, all the a strong Yig theme. 

Hoping to learn more of where this pilgrimage will lead, they track down Greg Shaw. The young man directs them to Hillard Fowler, owner of the lumber yard. He knows quite a bit of the rocky hills south of town and might be able to help them. They track Hillard down at the Deer Head Saloon, and learn he too is a Dissenter who does not like Rev Kornfield. A very drunk one mind you, but he does recall a series of caves in the rocky hills that would be worth investigating. Grabbing a truck from the lumber yard, the five of them head south over bad roads and around abandoned farms and fields until they reach the hills. Hillard directs them up a rocky draw, where they find a cave entrance. When Ivy, Zeke and Oz attempt to approach however, they are hit with an unnatural blast of hot wind emerging from the entrance. Zeke is battered and tumbles halfway down the draw, but Ivy and Oz are able to grab onto the rock and haul themselves inside, battered but now out of the wind. 

Inside the cave the pair find the body of what looks like Rev Kornfield, laid out naked on a slab of stone. Except the body has a reptilian cloaca instead of genitalia. And it also appears to be alive, but in some form of hibernation of statis. Oz attempts to touch the slab and use clairvoyance to get a picture of what happens here, but oddly finds he cannot force himself to do so. Ivy however gets a foreboding sense of the presence of Yig, the father of snakes. And draws the conclusion that this thing on the slab is somehow responsible or tied to the Rev, Kornfield's 'miraculous' powers. She take a rope and with great strength of will is able to lasso the body around the neck. She hauls it our of the cave, and the rest of the team gathers around to discuss what to do next. Zeke is somewhat reluctant at first to destroy the body, but in the end agrees. Ivy slits it's throat with surgical precision, then they toss the remains back in the cave and dynamite the entrance shut. 

The team heads back to town and, after dropping Hillard back at the lumber yard, head towards the burned church where they'd spotted the Reverend and Sherriff as they drove into town. Hiding nearby with the listening device, they overhear a heated debate. But this time it is the Reverend who is upset, raving and ranting and insisting they head out right away to the pilgrimage site as something is wrong. The Sherriff meanwhile tries to calm him down, saying they can leave in the morning as it is now getting dark. 

The party slips away and returns to the hotel for the night. It's decided Zeke will still go on the pilgrimage, and the rest of the team will head separately to the cave site as well. But when Zeke gets to the church that morning, the Sherriff informs him and the other new faithful that the pilgrimage is cancelled for the day as he and the Reverend have some things to do. At which the two, along with a few burly men, climb into the Sheriffs Model T and head south out of town. When Zeke reports this the the rest of the team, they make a quick decision to catch the next train out of town. figuring they've done and learned all they need to given their mission brief. And that things are likely to get very hot once the Reverend discovers what happened to the cave and body ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (Oklahoma Part #2)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)

The team decides to walk the town, to see what they can learn about the local happenings and the good Rev. Kornfield. On their excursion they make the following stops, and learn and see the following things: 

• Oz flips through the newspapers in the hotel lobby, looking for any sign that people have been dying or disappearing in town. On the contrary, he discovers there have been almost no deaths since the Rev. Kornfield returned from his wilderness excursion, and none at all from traumatic events. 
• As the team makes it's way down Main Street, Ivy notes the stray cats all look half-starved. 
• Nigel and Oz head for Kinkel's Barbershop for a trim and to ask questions. Ralph Kinkel, barber  and owner, has nothing but praise for Rev, Kornfield, hinting even that the good reverend has helped his wife get over some unspecified affliction. They pair are startled when Ralphs' wife rushes into the shop from their upstairs home, leaps against the window to slurp up the lazy flies that buzz there, then rushes back upstairs. Ralph shrugs as if to say 'Woman!' and goes back to cutting hair. Oz likewise notes old Harry Mathewson snoring the the comer, looking like he (literally) just ate a whole pig. And is again startled when the old man stirs, rubs his jaw so hard it unhinges completely, before pushing it back in place. Ralph notes the Rev. Kornfield has recently cured Harry of his blindness. 
• Ivy and Zeke head for the offices of the local paper, the  Bingham Journal. There they befriend the editor Baxter Fandyke, who they learn is not a fan of the Reverend. But is too afraid of alienating his customers to say much. But he does let Ivy browse the pile of back issues and his files to learn more about the town. She notes that pictures of the  Reverend show a man who looks much younger after his harrowing pilgrimage in the wilderness. She also learns he is single, and dismissed his cook shortly after returning from the wilderness
• The four reunite and head for the church. Except for the lack of half the sign outside and the usual Christian paraphernalia inside, it looks much like any other small town church. Except the Sunday school kids seem obsessed by Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. As is the good reverend, based on the sermon notes the team rifles through in the small office. 
• Having learned from the newspaper editor that the local blacksmith is no fan of Rev, Kornfield's, they head to Bill Schoenbaum's forge to have a talk. The big man is clear in his dislike of the reverend; seems to have something to do with how his wife was 'healed' of her skin condition. But the blacksmith gives few details, and remains guarded. He does tell them to go see Peggy Shaw if they want to see more of what the Rev Kornfeld's supposed healing touch can do. 
• Encountering a crowd of street urchins rushing out of an abandoned house nearby, the team gets the kids to show them what's going on. They are led to the upper story which overlooks the Schoenbaum home. There they see Bill wife, Pearl, sunbathing naked on the roof. They see no sign of a skin condition though; in fact her skin looks pink as fresh as a newborn. Remarkable for a woman in her fifties.  
• Before going to see Peggy Shaw, they head back to the telegraph/telephone office where her husband Greg works. They've learned he seems to be uncomfortable with the Reverend as well. He doesn't say much, so they go outside to eat their picnic lunch and eavesdrop with the serpent person listening device they brought. They hear Greg conspiring with Suzie Schoenbaum, Bill and Pearl's teenage daughter. The pair plan to firebomb the church that night. They also overhear the office manager listening in on the phone calls of everyone in town, and making notes on those who speak ill of the Rev, Kornfield. 
• The team backtracks to the Shaw house, where Ivy gains entry by posing as a public health nurse. Peggy Shaw is just recovering from a difficult birth, one in which the Rev, Kornfield intervened to save mother and child. As she speaks to the pale and frail Peggy, she is shocked to learn the young woman is very visibly pregnant again, having given birth weeks before. And notes she is tending a sand tray full of reptilian eggs warming under the kitchen stove. Checking on the newborn in the nursery, Ivy is further shocked to see a baby with scales and a forked tongue! 

The team reconvenes back at the hotel. They decide to not intervene in the planned firebombing of the church, but instead will find a place nearby to observe what happens. They find an abandoned house just across the street, and watch (and listen) as Greg and Suzie sneak into the church and set it ablaze before running off into the shadows. The alarm is soon raised, and after some time the team likewise sneak out and joins the the bucket brigade of townsfolk who have gathered, attempting unsuccessfully to douse the flames. This brings them to the attention of Rev, Kornfield, who  praises and thanks them for their efforts and insists they join the congregation for a outdoor Sunday service  the following day ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (New York Part #2 / Oklahoma Part #1)

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

[Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)]

Over the course of the four days flying back to New York, Ivy spends time studying the sketch Pangea map from the serpent person outpost. She  locates four of the red dots on the current map of the world; North Borneo, Iceland, Belgian Congo and New York. Meanwhile, Zeke begins to air his doubts about their employer with the rest of the team. He gets everyone in line with his thinking, that there are many  more secrets under the Caduceus cover, and they need to find out more so they know what they are getting themselves into on these missions. And if they're really working for the good guys. 

As such, on arrival back in New York, they report to the Meadham Building for debrief. And this time push back, demanding to be told more information, pushing the fact they need to know more if they're putting their necks on the line. Their interviewer, a stuffed shirt named John Adams,  tells them nothing. And they figure out quickly he doesn't know anything to tell them.  But the push does get Ms. Parville, Mr. Meadham's personal secretary, involved. She agrees to arrange a meeting with her boss, and let's it slip to Nigel that Mr. Meadham has already expressed interest in meeting the team. 

Left with many days to spare before their meeting with the head of Caduceus, the team spends some time digging for more information. A trip to the New York City Library uncovered some more information on Rose Meadham. It seems she is still alive, but estranged from her father and somehow changed (both physically and mentally). Attempts to learn more about Joshua Meadham turned up nothing they didn't' already know. But they did find building permits for his Connecticut estate that dated from about the time he sold his pharmaceutical business and started Caduceus. In seems he built some sort of  unusual structure around that time, but details were unclear. 

Ivy then turned to her street contacts, but likewise was unable to learn anything new. But did learn that people had been asking about her. And that she was right now being tailed, her contact pointing out a trenchcoated man standing in a doorway just down the street. When she informed the rest of the team, tthey quickly realized they were being followed as well. 

After about a week, the team is summoned to the Meadham Building. Arriving by cab, they have a curious encounter. As Zeke is about the pay the cabbie, a man steps out of the crowd and pays instead. The man then simply says "Fugetaboutit. Let your friends take care of this one for you" before disappearing  into the crowd.

The team is led into a 7th floor meeting room, and are seated at a table opposite two men. One they recognize as Dr. Goncalves, the Caduceus head of research. The other is a 7' tall giant of a man who simply stares unblinkingly at the party, making them feel increasingly uncomfortable. Relief arrives in the form of Joshua Meadham, a white haired old man with a cane who sits between the other two.  He begins by praising the team and their efforts in Bolivia and North Borneo, somewhat callously noting the success of their recent mission and seemingly unconcerned with the loss of innocent life involved. He also made some snide comments' about their ability to kill off team leads, before appointing Nigel as their new lead. Zeke and the others try to pry more information out of Mr. Meadham, but the presence of the huge bodyguard (Canning) throws them off their game. They do draw out a promise to provide more information on missions when possible. But there is a sense of urgency. When asked how far advanced the serpent person plans are, Joshua Meadham is unhesitant when he says they are very close to completion and time is critical.  But it is not clear which to which plans he refers, and when Oz uses his clairvoyance on the meeting room table, he is troubled by the sense that the last meeting in here involved creatures of the Mythos! 

But for now, they turn to the briefing for their next mission. A cult worshipping Yig, the Father of Snakes, has come to light. They are situated in a small town in Oklahoma and are using the guise of a Christian church. A heavy-handed approach is not needed at least, not to begin with. Caduceus needs to find out the root cause of all this. Find out how this backwater town has turned to worshipping this particular god. Be on the lookout for serpent people. Remember the Inner Night is dangerous and can appear just like a human! Mr. Medaham and Canning then leave, and Dr Goncalves takes over the briefing. He plays them a recording from Radio KFOC in Oklahoma City. It's a broadcast by the preacher from the little town of Bigham, a man by the name Kornfield. It seems at first to be a standard radio sermon, but when Dr. Goncalves makes a few adjustments on the record player, a second recording is heard praising Yig instead. 

The team draws some equipment (including a serpent person listening device) and hops the train to the dustbowl of Oklahoma. Dropped on the platform in the town of Bingham, they make their way to the only hotel and get rooms. Using as a cover story that they have been drawn by the reverend's preaching on the radio, they hear nothing but praise for the Kornfield. The hotel co-owner, Delbert Adams, tells them how the reverend was always a good man, but some months ago went into the wilderness to fast and pray, and returned a new man. A few other folks they talk too likewise have nothing but good to say about the Rev. Kornfield ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (North Borneo Part #3)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Nigel Thorne, VC, DSC (Thrill Seeker / Explorer)

[Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)]

After brainstorming a range of ideas for getting past the night gaunts, the team decide to simply sneak past. Zeke goes up the ragged cliff face first, followed by the rest of the team roped together like mountain climbers. Except their guide Abidin, who wisely stays hidden in the tunnel entrance in the clearing. They make it without arousing the interest of the perched monsters, and find themselves in a hexagonal tunnel. It glows with a white light, and is made of some seamless rock-like or concrete-like material. It leads into a large hexagonal room, 20 feet in height. Standing in the center of the room is a six-sided step-pyramid of polished metal, and hanging in the air above the pyramid are two hexagonal frames. In an adjacent room there are control panels inscribed in Nacaal and other weird symbols, while three walls are coated in a glossy glass or some similar material. Zeke gets down to work trying to figure out the controls, and is successful in bringing up an image on the three flat glassy panels. They show a map, which after some confusion they realize shows the earth millions of years before. There are some spots on the map in red, and Ivy sketches it all in her notebook for future reference. 

After some further fiddling about, Zeke powers up whatever is in the the adjacent room. The low hum he heard earlier now intensifies, and the team glances in the pyramid room to see the two hexagonal frames now circling around in the air. After a few moments, the two overlap and lock together. Where before is was possible to look through the individual frames, they now showed only an inky blackness. Ivy and Nigel clamber up the pyramid to look into the frames, and Ivy's keen eye's spot movement in the darkness. A huge worm-creature chewing through rock, much like the description the ghouls gave them of the creature that dug the tunnels in the clearing. The party surmises this is the portal to another dimension through which all the weird plants and monsters have travelled, and they decide to destroy it. Prying open one control panel uncovers what looks to be more serpent person technology of intricate brass gears and moving gyroscopic parts. They also finds fragments of writing in Nacaal that Oz tells them refers to Tsathoggua, which suggest the involvement of the Inner Night and further convinces them the facility needs to be destroyed.

The party is just wiring up the last of the dynamite when to their surprise Quintin Shapiro enters the chamber. He is shocked to see what they are doing, saying they need to stop so they can all shelter here. He has discovered there is no cure to the Yellow Death and they must stay here to be protected from the Haftorang device when it blows, a course of action now necessary to stop the infection from spreading. The team is suspicious. Zeke notes Shapiro is not acting like himself, being very cavalier about the death and destruction that is about to be released. Ivy notes that he is also not sweating at all; unusual for an out of shape scientist whose just climbed through the hot jungles and up the cliff face. They try to bluff him and proceed with rigging the demo charges. Quinten responds with an inhuman scream, threats of death and destruction to the human race, and leaps at Zeke. The mechanic dodges, and Nigel guns down 'Shapiro' with his Webley. When they examine the body, they find it unnaturally cold with oddly inhuman features. Even though it looks like Shapiro.

They waste no further time, and blow the facility with dynamite. Immediately the night gaunts on the cliff above disappear, as does the strange dying plants they'd observed earlier.  Collecting the shaken Abidin, the team heads back down the mountain as fast as they can, determined to figure out what happened to Shapiro and hopefully get the Haftorang device far far away. They reach the armored cars just as daylight breaks, and head for Kazin's farm and the medical tent. They find Shapiro has confirmed the disease was the Yellow Death, and that is no cure producible with the viral analyzer. There is a way to delay the progress of the disease, but in the end the person would die in a week rather than a day,. There was however a curious note that read 'hybrid?' in the margin of his notebook. 

While Ivy is picking apart their erstwhile leaders notes, the rest of the party checks the rest of the tent. In the wooden chest in which the lab chemicals and apparatus had been packed, they now find a collection of human bones and scraps of flesh. But more troubling than that was the Haftorang device. When Zeke looks inside the lid, he realizes the timer had been advanced and it will now blow in less than an hour. Given the time it would take them to get out of the blast radius, they have to leave in the next 20minutes or be caught in the blast. A fast and furious argument breaks out about what to do. Nigel insists they must try and save any uninfected folk they identify using a testing solution produced by the viral analyzer. The others, though sympathetic, didn't think they have time to do that. And are appalled by the panic and angst that would ensue when separating those who could be saved from their infected loved ones who would be left behind. Not to mention how could they get them out of the blast zone in a hurry with just the armored cars. 

In the end, Nigel has to be forced into one of the armored cars, and Ivy has to persuade the crowd now blocking the road to move out of the way so they can go get help for the sick nad dying. And having quickly checked that everyone in the party, including Abidin and their drivers, are free of the Yellow Death, they head down the winding dirt road at high speed. The tear into the army camp just as a massive conflagration explodes behind them, incinerating the jungle and all in it for miles around. As ash and debris starts to fall around them, the team is met by Captain Lancaster and a pair of officials from the North Borneo Chartered Company. Once the excitement dies down, the official's  question the team. And they, with a great deal of pragmatic skepticism, buy the story that the dormant volcanic mountain had blown and wiped out the infected zone. 

With heavy hearts at their inability to save the doomed people, the team climbs aboard their plane for the long flight back to New York and another debriefing at Caduceus headquarters.