Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (Calcutta 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)

After seven days of travel, the team lands at Dum Dum Airport on the outskirts of Calcutta. After first hiring a secure hanger for the plane, the team hires a car and driver (the unfazeable and cheerful Narayan) for the duration of their stay. Directing their driver to find them a hotel, Narayan bring them into the heart of the city to the Great Eastern Hotel. Inquiring as to any less opulent establishments, Narayan notes there is the equally upscale Grand Hotel, and a series of more moderate establishments catering to European travelers (Bristol Hotel, Conrad Arms, Fairlawn Hotel). But Nigel convinces the team this is the place to be, and notes Joshua Meadham would likely stay nowwhere but the best hotel. Questioning the doorman, the team is somewhat alarmed to learn Meadham and Canning are both in the lobby right now! Nigel goes in to eavesdrop and watch, he being the one team member Meadham has not met face to face. The old man, with Canning standing an intimidating guard nearby, is inquiring about two men (Tulsidas Vikmatji and Jonathan Taylor). Learning they has checked out, Meadham turns to leave. He locks eyes momentarily with Nigel, but does not recognize him. 

With Meadham and Canning gone, the team questions to doorman about Vikmatji and Taylor, wondering what they have to do with Caduceus or the Cobra Crown. They find no link to the mission, but get good description of the two men; early 30's, well dressed and educated. After checking into the Great Eastern themselves, Oz obtains and skims the last few Sunday editions of The Statesman newspaper. He notes the India Museum has a standing column in the paper announcing upcoming exhibits and shows. But there is no mention of the Cobra Crown, and the column is bylined to "Nathaniel Blyth - Curator", not the Mr. Kumtekar their own newspaper clipping identifies as the curator.  He also find the original announcement of the Cobra Crown exhibit, but it is buried away elsewhere in the paper away from the regular museum announcements.

Deciding they need to follow-up on this discrepancy, the team piles in the car for the drive to the India Museum. As Narayan weaves through the crowds and traffic, tragedy occurs. A man runs out in front of the car and is struck, falling to the pavement.  Ivy leaps out to help, but the man is beyond saving, his head smashed open and oozing brains and blood onto  the cobblestones. As the others join her, they note he is a rather well dressed European. As the crowd, interested for fleeting moment, starts to drift away, the team also notes two other points of interest. One,  a woman watches the scene from a nearby car, parked on the side of the road from which the man ran. Ivy recognizes her as Rose Meadham. The car then pulls away and is lost in the crowds. Two, as the team turns over the body, something rolls out from under his jacket. The Cobra Crown!!

Moving fast, the team loads the body into the car and Nigel starts rifling through the deceased's jacket for ID; the man turns out to be the mysterious Jonathan Taylor. He also finds a copy of the museum exhibit clipping; business cards for Mr. Kumtekar of the India Museum and a Reginald Askwith with the British Museum; napkin from Willard's Tearoom; and a matchbook from the Fairlawn Hotel marked "217".  Outside, Oz swiftly throws his jacket over the Crown just as an Indian policeman runs up blowing his whistle and demanding the team  stand down and turn over the body. After some discussion and bribery, the team turns over the paperwork and ID to the policeman and state they will bring the body to the police morgue. And then drive quickly away as the policeman attempts to take their names and statements. Narayan looses them in the twisting slums along the Hooghly River, where he finds  them someone who will take care of the body. 

Meanwhile, they examine the Crown and are not overly surprised to find it's a fake. Still unsure of where this Vikmatji and Taylor fit into things, they decide to head to the Fairlawn Hotel, assuming they'll find more information in room 217. Narayan gets them access through the kitchen and up the back stairs to the room. Faking room service, they get the door to open a crack, but still closed by the chain. A large goon confronts them, and after some tense back and forth, a female voice from inside the rooms tells the goon to let the party in. This leads to a brief standoff with guns drawn on both sides, broken by the calm words of the veiled woman sitting at a table by the window. And so the party finally meets the elusive and mysterious Rose Meadham. 

A somewhat amicable but tense conversation ensures, in which Rose attempts to convince the party that her father is the real villain with his plan to enslave humanity, while she and the Inner Night oppose him. She intends to prevent her father from getting the Cobra Crown, and use it to access the Gate to Mu on Snake Island for her own undefined purposes. The Crown, it seems, is needed to defeat the guardians of the Gate. She provides some intelligence from her agents that confirm much of what the team knows, and makes it clear that once any of the three interested parties (Tyranish, Inner Night and Caduceus) get they Crown, the next stop is Snake Island and the Gate.  Rose explains Vikmatji and Taylor are two men who claimed to have found the Crown and were going to sell it to her. But they had delayed and double crossed her, and she was now getting ready to leave Calcutta to deal with other matters. But perhaps she could make a deal with the team; they recover the Crown for her and she makes sure Joshua Meadham does not get his hands on it. The party initially tries to bluff, telling her they have the Serpent Scepter; but she tells them it is not critical to the plan. Rose is likewise unperturbed by the news Tyrannish is also in Calcutta looking for the Crown; she dismisses the Dreamer as a useless fossil of days long past. In the end, the team "agrees" to join forces, and to their surprise she hands them a Haftorang Device like the one they used to blow up Borneo. She tells them if they have the opportunity, it would be wise to plant this somewhere to take out her father for good. She assures then it is in good working order and set for a 6 hour delay.  And that that she announces her intent to leaves India, and her goons hustle the team out of the room. 

Back at the car, the team reflects on their latest questionable comrade and next steps. Maybe Willards Tearoom for a break and to look for clues? Arriving at the tearoom, they are quickly seated and are surprised to see a man matching the description of Tulsidas Vikmatji cowering behind his newspaper in an adjacent armchair. Confronted, he leaps up and runs, but after a short chase through tumbled tables and broken teapots, Nigel grabs him by the back door. Hustling him outside, the team learns the final piece of the puzzle. Vikmatji and Taylor were old university chums with plans to make their fortune recovering and selling ancient artifacts to the rich and famous. They'd learned the Cobra Crown was now held by a local Hindu cult, and were trying to figure out a way to get it from them. Along they way they crossed paths with one of Rose Meadham's spies, and so entered an agreement to sell it to her once it was in their hands. They also spoke of the crown to Mr. Kumtekar of the India Museum, and to a strange and frightening eccentric. And then Joshua Meadham arrived in town asking after them. Now frightened out of their wits, and under pressure and threat from Rose Meadham, they planned to pawn  a fake crown off on her and either get the real crown to sell to another interested buyer, or just get out of town. That plan is of course now in tatters, and Vikmatji begs the team to help him. He divulges the location of the shrine with the Cobra Crown, and the team them gives him enough cash to get out of the city forthwith ... 

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (New York Part#6)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Zeke Broda (Grease Monkey / Mechanic)

Ivy Guinness (Outsider / Nurse) 

Oz the All Knowing (Mystic / Entertainer)

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

At the last minute, Nigel has a change of heart. Instead of pulling the trigger, he pulled out a grenade and, leaving the pin in, throws it at the fleeing guard.  Which hits the man in the head and knocks him out cold. The team drags the unconscious man back into the office and ties him up. But unfortunately the other guards have heard and come to investigate. Oz, hiding in the bathroom, manages to fast talk them into leaving, impersonating the guard and saying he's just having some stomach issues. Once the guards leave, Zeke sneaks back out into the warehouse and moves to the edge of the piled crates. Beyond he can see the big bay doors overlooking the river, in front of which are posted four more guards. Above is a large gantry crane, controlled from a small mezzanine in the upper right corner. There is also a large covered hatch in the floor, and a set of stairs going down. 

Assuming the information or proof they are looking for is in the basement, the team hatches a plan. They decide to start a fire in the office to draw off the guards, then sneak downstairs. The plan partially works; the fire does attract a few guards, but two remain by the bay doors. So the team charges in, guns raised, and successfully intimidates them into dropping their weapons. Marching their captives before them, the team goes downstairs. Where they immediately run into two more very alert guards. A short gun fight ensues, with one guard going down right away, and the second shot as he ran towards a glassed-in control room at one end of the warehouse. And now the team sees what fills the rest of the space: suspended from the ceiling are huge pressurized canisters. Tubes run from these canisters and flow into huge glass pipes, six feet across and a hundred feet long that contain hand-sized mutated mosquitoes, flying in a green cloud. Airlocks at the end of each tube allow access—in a couple of these are the near-mummified remains of bodies drained of their bodily fluids.

Momentarily there is commotion upstairs, sounds of running feet and the firing of Tommy guns. Figuring they're sprung some sort of trap, the team quickly examines the control room. It is full of dials and gauges of a type that even  Zeke can't quite understand. There is also a radio, which Nigel picks up , hoping he can use it to delay the people upstairs. It links, however, to Caduceus headquarters. So Nigel has inadvertently alerted the whole organization to the break-in. 

Zeke figures out how to turn on the gas, and starts to over-pressurize the mosquito chambers, meaning to break them and hopefully kills the bugs. At about the same time, a group of men in trench coats and carrying Tommy guns burst into the lower level. Not knowing who they are but assuming the worst, the rest of the team opens fire with gun and grenade, cutting down a few while Zeke sets a dynamite charge to blow a passage out into the East River. His plan is to open an escape route and flood the basement at the same time. The first works, but the water flow is pretty slow and it's likely the mosquitos are going to escape the building. But as the team climbs back into their rowboat and starts back across the river, they hear another round of gunfire and then the warehouse goes up in a massive fireball.  At least they've left no tracks behind ...

The team makes it's way back to their hotel, and wait to see what happens next. They read about the explosion in the newspaper, as well as an article identifying them as the 'rogue' team that attacked the Caduceus headquarters a few days earlier. But perhaps the most interesting piece is the announcement, buried on the back pages in the culture section, that the Cobra Crown is about to go on display at the India Museum in Calcutta! Now they really need to get the Serpent Scepter!

First step is to get back in touch with their Mafia connections, to tell them what the team learned at the warehouse (i.e. there are no illegal drugs there) and see what their associates have learned of the Serpent Scepter. After a few days in hiding, their usual driver Lucio knocks on the door and bundles everyone into his car to meet with their handler, Bonventre. Oz hypnotizes their driver, and learns that as far as Lucio knows, the meeting is a safe and friendly one. They arrive back at the Green Garden Cafe just after dark. This time there are just a half dozen mafioso soldiers, and Bonventre sitting alone at a table in the back. He greets the team and offers them a drink, then gets down to business. The tell him their tale, giant mosquitos and all. He does not seem too surprised by that news, and the team learns the trenchcoated men at the warehouse were part of Bonventre's crew, sent to back up/check up on the team. He seems nonplussed by the deaths of his men; just the cost of business. 

Pressed to fulfill his end of the bargain, Bonventre pulls back a curtain hiding the end of the bar nbehind him, revealing a very bloody and bruised man tied to a chair. On closer examination, the team realizes it's actually a disguised serpent man. Bonventre thanks the team for the warning that his organization might be infiltrated, and introduces Martino Bresciani aka Hlysa. This was the 'man' who altered the family to the possible presence of drugs in the Redhook warehouse. Bonventre reveals Hlysa works for some organization called the Inner Night, headed by Rose Meadham. His job was to stir up trouble for Caduceus, but Bonventre didn;t learn exactly why. As for the Serpent Scepter, Bonventre tells the team it was stolen from their plane by a man called Canning; and that both Joshua Meadham and Canning have just this day left for Calcutta on urgent business. 

Bonventre offers the family's help in getting the team to their plane and out of New York, probably for good. And a short time later, the de Havilland Dragon is in the air and headed for Calcutta ... 

AD&D Campaign Discussion Post

 It's been suggested that I post my ideas for the upcoming campaign somewhere rather than a long email thread to make it easier to keep track the plans and discussion. I've posted it here and to the Facebook group, and will update each location on an ongoing basis as I get new ideas, change my mind on others, and respond to questions and suggestions from the peanut gallery potential players. Feel free to add thoughts and pose questions in the comments to avoid the ungodly email string these things sometimes turn into. Note that you have to be logged in to a Google account to comment; that's the only way to keep the spam-bots under control.

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Below is a short summary of my thoughts at the moment, subject to change between now and whenever we start playing. For those of you not re-living your 1980's AD&D nerd-dom, feel free to tune the rest of us out for the foreseeable future. Rest assured, once we actually start play, there will be monsters to slay, treasure to steal, and Terry's character(s) to mock for their short lifespan(s).

In no particular order:

- Working title of the campaign is "Gygax & Greyhawk". I'll be using Greyhawk (focused in one area TBD) as the campaign setting, and we'll hit as many of the old modules as we can. This will be a regular campaign, not just a 'greatest hits', so their will be other things mixed in with the old school AD&D modules.

- The goal of the campaign is to get you guys to name level (i.e. 9th +) or higher and let you run rampant against one or more of the cool AD&D end game monsters and locales. Fight Drow and mindflayers in the Underdark, Asmodeus in the Nine Hells, or Orcus in the Abyss. Or something like that. To make sure we get there before we all (i.e. me) burn out, the pace of character advancement will be faster than in past campaigns. But I still intend this to run a 'full' campaign of 50-80 sessions or so.

- Of the modules you guys have mentioned the following are likely out: Pharaoh, Lost City, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Slaver series. They don't quite fit with what I have in mind. The others (along with a lot of other stuff) are fair game. Agree with Jon that TOEE might be a bit much for the speed at which we play; but I might mine it for ideas and themes and bits and pieces.

- Rules will be 1st Ed AD&D, with the retroclone OSRIC (and houserules etc) as a backup for those esoteric bits in the original rules that are a wee bit obtuse. But as much as possible, we'll play rules a written.

- No Unearthed Arcana. Sorry, no barbarians, cavaliers, drow, or deep gnomes. I reserve the right to mine UA for magic items, spells, and bits of rules, but for players you are following the Players Handbook for everything you need character wise. I will entertain specific UA requests on a case by case basis.

- From a character perspective, if it's in the PH, it's game legal. Yes you can be a half-orc assassin if you so wish. And we're not using the psionics rules.

- Although character selection is entirely up to you, keep in mind these old modules are written for a well balanced party i.e. a good mix of fighters, clerics, magic users, etc. Sounds like most of you are leaning towards the fighter/cleric area; except Terry's werido options. I think Mary is also leaning towards elf fighter/magic user or something similar. But I'd suggest being flexible with your choices just in case a particular 'role' needs to be filled.

- Speaking of characters, we'll roll them all together at the first session. We'll use 4d6, drop the lowest and arrange as you like. So should be no trouble to get whatever race/class you want unless it's got some silly ability score requirements like paladins, monks, etc.

Pulp Cthulhu - The Two Headed Serpent (New York Part#5)

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 spent the next week laying low in the cheap hotel to which they'd relocated their centre of operations. Zeke did slip out to make contact with some old friends, returning with a resupply of weaponry, ammunition and dynamite. Oz locked himself in the bathroom with the two fearful tomes liberated from Joshua Meadham's library. But otherwise they waited for any hubbub arising from their gunfight at the Meadham Building to die down, and discussed what to do next. They decided to make contact with the Bonanno crime family, who'd been making efforts to connect with the team over their last few visits to New York. Ivy dropped some hints to he friends on the streets, and she was not surprised to find, a few days later, a large car pull up in front of the hotel, driven by Lucio and Filemone Casale, their erstwhile Mafia contact. Casale bundled the team into the car, and by a circuitous route, drove them deep into Brooklyn, stopping in front of the Green Garden Cafe. 

Although the sign said the restaurant was closed, all the tables appeared to be full, and Casale led them inside. There, leading them past tables of rough looking men in bad suits, he introduced them to four men at a large table in the rear: Giuseppe “Joseph” Bonanno, Phillipe Rappa, Francesco “Frank Caroll” Garofalo, and  Giovanni “John” Bonventre. Ivy recognize Bonanno as the head of that crime family, and the others as his highest advisors. After some polite banter and good Italian cooking, they get down to business.  Bonanno questions the team about their role with Caduceus, experiences, and their recent falling out with their employer. The team is pretty forthcoming without getting too far into the details of 'the Mythos is coming'. Impressed by their candor, Bonanno has an offer for them. The family has gotten intelligence that Caduceus is edging into the illegal drug market in New York, a market which the Bonanno family currently dominates. Using a cover story of ensuring the drug supply is 'clean', Bonanno makes the team an offer. They help Bonanno find out what Caduceus is up to drug-wise, and he will help them find the Serpent Scepter (which he seemed to know all about). He directs them to a pair of warehouses in the Redhook district, both owned by Caduceus. One is obviously used for supplies related to Caduceus' humanitarian cover. The other they do not know, but suspect it is related to the drug trade.  Bonanno send the team on their way, and lets them know “John” Bonventre will be their contact going forward. 

Deal made, the team takes a taxi down to Redhook to scout the location. The two buildings lie in a maze of other warehouses. One is quite busy, but poorly guarded. The other is largely silent, but the guards appear much more active. Both are surrounded by fences, with a vehicle gate facing the road and large cargo doors facing the docks on the East River. The team crosses over to Manhattan to size up the docks, and decide their best bet is to approach from the water late at night. That night, they obtain a small rowboat and row with muffled oars to the seemingly inactive warehouse, timing their arrival to avoid the guards walking the perimeter.  Once on the dock, they listen at the bay doors, and hear voices inside. At least 4-5 men by the sound of it. They then split into two parties (Ivy & Zeke, Oz & Nigel) and move into the shadows on either side of the warehouse, in the hopes of surprising and chloroforming the two outside guards they'd seen on their earlier scouting trip. Ivy & Zeke pull it off with ease, but Oz & Nigel stumble a bit in the dark and have to clobber their guard with a pistol butt to knock him out. Thankfully before he can call out for help. 

Tying them up and stripping them of their uniforms (one of which fit Oz nicely, Nigel with the other not so much), they move towards the front entrance. Seeing and hearing nothing inside, they use the guard's keys to get into the building, finding themselves in the office area.  They silently sift through paperwork, finding the warehouse seems to hold lot's of construction related equipment and supplies, as well as some other undisclosed 'special' items. They also learn there are likely 10 guards on site, which definitely points to something of value and great danger to the team. However, they carefully open the door at the end of the office area which leads into the rest of the warehouse. And are confronted with a maze of wooden packing crates, large and small, blocking their view. They grade a small one by the door, and carry it back into the office to open. It contains a mix of tools, just as the contents painted on the side suggests.  Hoping to find one of the 'special' crates, they head back into the warehouse and carefully move their way down the passages between the rows. But turning the corner, Nigel runs headlong into a security guard. He tries to take him down silently, but the guard dodges, and turns to run. Presumably for help. Nigel raises his revolver to shoot the fleeing man in the back ...   

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 ....