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Friday, 4 November 1921 The Great War rages on! Saturday, 5 November 1921 Sunday, 6 November 1921 Monday, 7 November 1921 Tuesday, 8 November 1921 Wednesday, 9 November 1921 Thursday, 10 November 1921 Monday, 14 November 1921 Tuesday, 15 November 1921 Wednesday, 23 November 1921 Thursday, 24 November 1921 Friday, 25 November 1921 Sunday, 27 November 1921 Tuesday, 29 November 1921 Wednesday, 30 November 1921 Thursday, 1 December 1921 Wednesday, 7 December 1921 Monday, 12 December 1921 Tuesday, 13 December 1921 Wednesday, 14 December 1921 Thursday, 15 December 1921 Friday, 16 December 1921 Reel 18 End of Reel 18 Friday, April 19, 1935 Saturday, April 20, 1935 Sunday, April 21, 1935

 

Friday, 4 November 1921

 

     Our Heroes were in Paris, in an alternate past where the Great War was still underway. We were staying at the Terminus Lyon, a hotel near the Paris-Lyon railway station.

 

 

     DeLacy had been detained the night before by the sidhe, who were curious about how he knew so much. They provided the name of a contact:  Jeremy Lemming at the British embassy in Paris. 

     Bill Davis had known of a shop that specialized in purchases of items with unusual provenances; between that establishment, and some jewelry stores, we had refreshed our finances and wardrobes. 

     We did notice that the Stygian coins kept coming back into our possession -- each of us had one, even after Bill Davis sold them all.

 

Seven Stygian coins, with a 10 ruble Imperial Russian gold coin for scale.

While carrying Stygian coins, a character has +10 to all d100 rolls.

They are difficult to dispose of, returning magically to the owner's possession in 12 to 24 hours.

 

     A fair amount of shopping was conducted -- the effects of rationing and shortages were noticed.There were bomb craters in the streets, and checkpoints manned by police and soldiers. Anti-aircraft batteries were located in various parks or rooftops.

 

Bill Davis's leather bindle

A set of coins taken from the lair of a Hyborian lich in the Donai Pass. Prices are those offered by jewelers to "walk in customers" in 1921 Paris.   two 1 carat emeralds, can be sold for 3,500 francs each. eleven 0.25 carat "flawless" yellow sapphires, can be sold for 300 francs individually, but 5,000 francs as a set of matched stones. three 2 carat "not class A" blue sapphires, can be sold for 1,000 francs each. a 3 carat ruby (8 or 9 mm across) can be sold for 28,000 francs three 1 carat precious opals, can be sold for 50 francs each. two 3 carat AA grade cabachon-cut aquamarines, can be sold for 1000 francs each. two 3 carat A grade red beryls ... I don't have sufficient period information to give prices for these yet -- Michael

 

     In the afternoon we had a discussion which touched on the Law of Conservation of Noras, a theory that might apply to Nora Cullin (but not Algnernon DeLacy or Qua Lin Worthington). We decided to visit the Bosquet de la Colonnade in Versailles the next day, to see if there were portals. We spent the evening reading newspapers.

 

False Passports of Our Heroes
Victoria May	Victoria Louise Sutton
Clive White	Theodore James White
Algernon DeLacy	Arthur Ignatius Montgomery Darrell
Frederick Willoughby	Frederick Thomas Woodward
Qua Lin Worthington	Qua Lin Wong
Nora Cullin	Eleanor Adele Williams
William Davis	William Marlin Davis

 

The Great War rages on!

 

     Items gleaned from the newspapers:

 

• Germany surrendered in 1919, but quickly became the center of continued fighting between the Allies and the remnants of the Triple Alliance.

• The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, Boer revolutionaries, and the Ottoman Empire were fighting France, England, the Commonwealth, Greece, Belgium, Italy, and Romania on several fronts.

• The 'Western Front' of the Great War was roughly along the Weser River, where British, French, along with some Commonwealth troops fought against the Austro-Hungarian military, along with German Freikorp volunteers.

• The ‘Southern Front’ had the Austro-Hungarians locked in a stalemate with exhausted French and Italian forces. The use of poison gas returned on both sides of the fighting.

• The 'Eastern Front’ ran from Memel south through the Ukraine and Byelorussia into Romania and through Bulgaria, connecting to the Turkish front where Greece, France, the Australian and New Zealand Corps, along with Turkish Nationalist Movement volunteers were fighting the Ottoman and remaining Bulgarian forces.

• In Africa, the former German Congo and Boer revolutionaries were fighting British and Belgian forces, with support from South African and Rhodesian units and a few Australians and Raj troops. However, growing unrest in India led by Prince Raja Mahendra Pratap and his friend, Wilhelm Wassmaus of Germany, had forced most of the few remaining British Empire and Raj troops to stay in India.

 

Willoughby:  "I've seen this Wassmaus fellow, some sort of German agent in the Middle East.

The German Lawrence, you know, like that chap in Arabia. Not nearly as handsome."

 

• A series of uprisings and attacks in Transjordan threatened to force England into moving troops from Africa or Europe to restore order. The High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Louis Samuel, was assassinated on Christmas Day, 1920 in a bloody attack on his home. Both the Zionist separatist Hashomer (Hebrew: השומר‎‎; "The Watchman") and the militant Arab Abu Kishik tribe claimed credit for the brutal killings of Sir Samuel, his family, and servants.

• The United States had never entered the war in Europe, and was fighting against Mexico, which was being supported by Guatemala, Honduras, an Austro-Hungarian brigade, and a rumoured mixed battalion of Ottoman Hamidiye (gendarmerie paramilitary light cavalry) and railway troop 'technical advisors'. In addition, the US was fighting an undeclared war in the Atlantic against Austro-Hungarian submarines and commerce raiders hunting merchant vessels

• Soviet and nationalist Bolsheviks were attacking Poland and Finland in separate wars.

• Civil war raged in Georgia – backed by Bolsheviks on one side and White Russians and Ukrainian refugees on another.

• French Indochina was in turmoil: the Kingdom of Cambodia and Annam were supporting France, while Tonkin, Laos, and Cochinchina were revolting. The Kingdom of Cambodia was granted protectorate status in 1919.

• Japan was officially neutral, but is known to be supporting the White Russians holding Vladivostock, Petropavlosk, and much of Chutotka. It had also sold warships to the Ottomans, as evidenced by the appearance of a new heavy cruiser and destroyer escort sailing across the Mediterranean.

• Casualties had exceeded 180 million people world-wide since 1914, including 30 million from the Spanish Flu influenza outbreaks of 1920-1921. The French government, and fashion since 1916, had discouraged long periods of mourning -- very few women were seen wearing black.
  

 

Saturday, 5 November 1921

 

     A ride of 11 miles (30 or 40 minutes) on an electric tram (fare 5 francs 55 centimes for first class) took us to the Gare de la Rive Gauche, a few hundred yards from the (closed) Palace of Versailles. While on the train, French officials examined the papers of all the fit men.

     We walked around the palace, to the gardens; it was cold and overcast. The trees were bare, and some had been cut down; most of the open lawns and flower gardens had been converted to vegetable gardens or greenhouses. The iron fences had been removed for salvage, a few bomb craters stood here and there with stagnant water in them, and maintenance had not been performed for a few years. The entrance gate was chained shut, with a sign, "JARDIN FERMÉ" -- we walked around the gate and entered in any case. A couple of crippled veterans in greatcoats were seen in the distance, supposedly enforcing the rules and keeping the grounds clean. The chuffing and clanging of a military railway school just outside the southern edge of the grounds could be heard.

     The colonnade was quiet, with no signs of activity; the fountain held only leaves. Nora Cullin and Clive White tried to use their magical talents to open one of the 28 possible portals in the colonnade.

 

the colonnade

 

     After some failures, or simple quick flickers, a portal was opened by Clive White; it led into some dark area. He quickly stepped through, and came back to say it was some underground place. The portal closed itself after two minutes, as we discussed where it might lead to. White was able to open it again, and we all went through.   

     The portal led to a cold, mossy mine or cave, with a faint bluish glow from outside; several hundred yards of walking led us outside, in the night under the moon -- somewhere in Asia. The cave was an old, abandoned coal mine.

 

Later, the characters were able to pinpoint the location as somewhere in China's Yunnan province, southwest of Kunming.

 

     We decided that this was not a good place to be, and returned into the mine, back to the portal, where Clive White opened the portal which should lead back to Versailles. He fainted from mana overexertion.    

     The portal did open, and apparently led to a sunlit sandy beach near Brisbane, Australia.We decided to not take that opportunity, and the portal closed after a minute or so.

     Qua Lin Worthington, Victoria May and Mrs. Cullin tried to open more portals, with no success. "Needs help," said Victoria May; Qua Lin stood behind her, and placed her hands on Victoria May's shoulders. With Qua Lin's help, Victoria May was able to open another portal -- this showed the beach at Corfu, with the setting sun illuminating a familiar rental cottage. The poor Mrs. May fell through into the cold sea; DeLacy managed to drag her back through the portal ... she was drenched.

     A final effort to open a portal led us to the sub-basement of the Arsenal in Paris -- bombed by Austrian zeppelins a year or two ago.

 

Between the Bastille and the Seine, at 3 Rue de Sully, is the Arsenal, a 15th Century building.

It's been a library for over a century, as the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal;

it held among other ancient texts a notable collection of occult works.

 

    The portal led us into a shattered room, with portentous astrological and occult symbols of various disciplines painted on the decaying tiled walls, and a ritual circle painted on the floor. The portal itself came "through" a false door painted on one wall; we chucked our Stygian coins back through the portal into the Chinese coal mine. We clambered up and out over the tumbled masonry blocks and burnt timbers of the Arsenal, onto the street. It was only a 12 minute walk back to our hotel from there; most of us had our dinners and baths, and went to bed.

     Bill Davis, however, took his collection of gemstones, dressed up, and went to visit some cercles de jeu (gambling clubs) -- he said he's almost perfected his baccarat strategy.

 

The first gaming clubs opened in Paris in 1907 after casinos were banned from operating within 100 kilometers of the French capital.

They operate under a 1901 law that deems them “non-profit clubs” whose stated aims are to promote “social, artistic literary and sporting activities”.

 

Sunday, 6 November 1921

 

     Alas, the Stygian coins were back.

     We visited some libraries for information about the Academy of Sciences, in Saint Petersburg, Russia (now Tri-Vosstavshiigrad, in the Soviet Union). The books which Peter the Great (and some later Tsars) had collected at the Kremlin mostly ended up there before the October Revolution. Among other things, it was well-known for its collection of occult books -- legends say that Peter the Great sought to extend his life and power through magical means. The information which was used to create the portal device near Žarošice may have been found in that archive -- Ukrainian scientist had studied there before working for the Czechs. 

     We looked up Sebastian F. Lem and decided to pay a visit; a few British military discharge certificates were purchased, and Victoria May quickly made up versions of those useful documents for Clive White, Fred Willoughby, and Algernon DeLacy. Lem was finishing up a second doctorate in paleography at Edinburgh.

 

Technically, it's the Certificate of:  Discharge/Transfer to Reserve/Disembodiment/Demobilization ... strike out all but one.

I suspect the temptation to choose "Disembodiment" was strong,

but it actually refers to former Territorial or reserve soldiers being released from the regular army back to their "militia" status.

 

     We couldn't leave for England that day, because there were no Channel ferries running -- only every other day. The British merchant navy was much reduced from its pre-War level. -- before 1914 a dozen or more ferries each made one or two crossings each day.

     Bill Davis came by the hotel around sunset; he claimed to have developed a sure-fire method of winning at baccarat, but a hasty retreat to Edinburgh seemed wise.

 

Monday, 7 November 1921

 

     Bill Davis hadn't returned to the hotel by sunrise, but a note had arrived, asking us to pack his luggage. We took a cab to the Gare du Nord; Davis barely arrived in time to catch the boat train. He looked very tired and hungover; he admitted that he had lost all but one of the gems while gambling. Fortunately, we had found other sources of funds to cover our expenses!

 

Ken, pick a gem to retain (but not the ruby)! Unless you have sentimental attachments, I recommend one of the emeralds.

 

     The train brought us to Calais, the ferry boat took us to Dover, where a grim set of customs, police and military officials examined our papers -- the forged military discharge certificates proved useful.

      A long rail trip began through wartime Britain. What should have been an 8.5 hour trip on the Special Scots Express (aka the Flying Scotsman, with a 10 a.m. departure from London, scheduled to arrive at 6:30 p.m. in Waverley station, Edinburgh) ended up taking a whole day, due to repair crews working on track damaged in a zeppelin raid. We spent a night crowded in a hotel with the other passengers.

     Austrian Zeppelins bomb England every week, and Paris about every month.

 

Tuesday, 8 November 1921

 

     Our Heroes disembarked at Waverley Station at 6:30 p.m.; the town was dark, wet and cold. We decided to visit Dr. Lem immediately (since we had his address) at his lodging-house. He (and his landlady) were surprised to see a set of seven well-dressed travelers arrive. "Will they be staying for dinner?"

 

Dr. Sebastian F. "Freddy" Lem

Age 25 (born 1896), 5' 9" tall, 163 pounds, he had brown hair (already balding) and brown eyes, with pale freckled skin. He wore a cardigan sweater, knitted gloves, and a muffler, in his rooms (the heat wasn't often turned on).      In 1921 he was an instructor at the University of Edinburgh. A veteran of the British Army (1914-1916), he was discharged after one leg was badly wounded in France. He already had a doctorate in archaeology by 1921, and he was studying for a second doctorate in paleography.

 

     Clive White greeted Dr. Lem with, "Oh thank god, we're from the future and we need your help!" DeLacy smoothed over this gaffe with an offer to buy dinner.

     Lem suggested the local chop-house for dinner and a discussion. While rationing was (if anything) more strict in Britain than in France, we treated Dr. Lem to the best meal the house could provide. He told us, at length, about ancient Greece and Egypt, and trade systems of the ancient world, but knew nothing about Tamerlane or portals. He had heard of Peter the Great's library at St. Petersburg, but knew nothing about its contents or current conditions -- neither the Romanovs nor the Soviets cared to organize the contents, and only some Orthodox religious texts had ever been publicized. Nora Cullin tested him on languages -- he didn't know any of the Hyborian ones.
     He did know that one of the last archivists at that library, Count Sergei Kuryakin, was still alive, and employed as a lecturer in Madrid, Spain. No British academis were allowed to visit the St. Petersburg archives.
     In regards to Zoroastrians, or the Khurramiyah, he knew that Frank Calvert (died 1908, an associate of Heinrich Schliemann's) had done some translations of pre-Arabic Persian texts; these were held at the British Museum.
     He mentioned that the University of Berlin had made an offer of employment; Willoughby suggested that he "hold out for Heidelberg".
     Our Heroes guided him home, and then we took rooms in the Old Waverley Hotel (near the station) and purchased tickets for the next morning's Flying Scotsman to London.

 

Wednesday, 9 November 1921

      At 10 a.m., the Flying Scotsman pulled out of Edinburgh, with Our Heroes aboard; this time there was no delay, and by 6:30 we were in London.
     Some reading at the British Museum's Department of Oriental Antiquities that evening, of Calvert's translations, provided some interesting passages. A battle was described in one text, in which Persians (ca. 550 BC to ca. 247 BC) fought a battle in what is now called Armenia (possibly called Armina at the time, but there are translation difficulties). The Persians were beset by enemies -- mounted Armenian archers -- and driven back into a ravine, where a strange lightning storm beset them. A portal of some sort was involved.
     Using the Museum's maps and other resources ("Hmm, that must be what this Persian chap is calling the Yeraskh River ... now it's the Araxes River"), Our Heroes were able to roughly place the site of the battle within a 50 mile circle. We bought some maps, made some marks, made some travel plans, and bought some tickets for a boat trip to Spain.

     Qua Lin wandered around London, needing some time to herself.

Thursday, 10 November 1921

     As we departed London for Southampton dock, the group discovered that Mrs. Cullin had been sent an ominous dream by Romanescu.  She believed he could -- and did -- watch or listen to her at will.

 

Nora's nightmare

Nora woke from a nightmare involving Romanescu, and the feeling that he drained energy from her in order to summon a beast.      There was a crashed zeppelin … a mountain … large beasts…      In the dream something that Nora was on the verge of recognizing attacked him with a burst of power.      Other disturbing parts in the dream involved images of her and her colleagues in multiple cities and times, including her as a child in Paris. It felt like Romanescu had been spying on them for a long time.      As if to confirm, there was a tug on her anklet.

 

Monday, 14 November 1921

     The Austrian airship Douzeperan crashed in Armenia on this day.

     Madrid, Spain. As a neutral nation, Spain was a welcome change from France and Britain. There were still shortages, but at least no oppressive sense of privation.
     At the Universidad de Madrid, we had a long talk with Count Kuryakin. We soon realized he had been only a minor archivist at the library in Saint Petersburg, and knew nothing about occult texts, or the current organization of the archive. He had fled Russia in 1917. He did know the Romanovs had no interest at all in the library, and didn't allocate any funds for maintenance.
     We also suspected Kuryakin wasn't actually a count, but it seemed hypocritical of us to point that out. We got him to provide us with an introducton (in French), and the names of some other librarians on the subject of "occult matters".
     An itinerary for travel to Aremenia was planned, to visit the portal site, and tickets obtained for a Spanish ship bound for the East Indies via the Suez Canal.

 

Tuesday, 15 November 1921

     Full moon this day.
     We traveled by very early morning trains to Barcelona (the biggest Spanish port in the Mediterranean) and boarded a mail and refrigerated cargo ship, the S.S. Alcazar of the Compañía General de Navegación.

 

the reefer S.S. Alcazar

 

     This was a fast ship -- fruit and mail have to travel quickly, and fast ships are hard to hit with torpedoes. The ship only had staterooms for 12 passengers, but 2 of them were two-bunk rooms, and 4 of the single-bunk rooms had connecting doors to form suites. The Spanish flag and the word ESPAÑA were painted very large on both sides of the otherwise white hull; at night, large electric lights illuminated the flag and nationality. The ship's itinerary called for stops at Alexandria, Aden, Muscat, Karachi, Bombay, etc. ...
     Lots of refrigeration space on the ship meant plenty of fresh (or at least well-refrigerated) food.

     At dinner, we learned from the ship's officers that they would give the island of Pantelleria a very wide berth -- ships passing within 50 kilometers or so tended to vanish mysteriously. Of course, the Mediterranean was also full of Austrian submarines, undeclared minefields, roving patrol bombers, etc.

 

Wednesday, 23 November 1921

     At Muscat we left the S.S. Alcazar in the afternoon, to board a cargo ship bound for Bandar Abbas, in Persia; this trip would last overnight.

Thursday, 24 November 1921

     The British had built a railway north from Bandar Abbas to the front lines a couple of years ago, and supply vessels came and went several times a day. It was a busy military harbor, with patrol vessels, dockyards, hospital ships, and a couple of ominous shipwrecks visible.
     Displeased by the lack of any sort of decent lodgings for civilians, we paid the ship's captain to let us spend the night aboard, while it rode at anchor.

 

Friday, 25 November 1921

     We caught the first train for Tehran -- a journey of 800 miles, at a pitiful 20 miles per hour, pulled by a smoky diesel locomotive painted khaki and labelled ROD (Railway Operating Division). It was going to take at least 40 hours. The coaches were not first class ... much of the train was military supply wagons or troop transports.
     Bizarrely enough, at one point in the journey the train passed through a long tunnel which entered a cavern that required a bridge within the tunnel!

 

Sunday, 27 November 1921

     We arrived at the Tehran station at 6 a.m. -- the railway buildings were all less than three years old, but already shabby and dilapidated. The sheds and passenger office were wooden buildings with tar-paper or metal roofs. Military trucks, automobiles, ambulances, artillery, camels, horses, troops, wagons, oxen and all manner of pedestrians were moving about in the evening. Most of the Allied troops were Rhodesian and South African. Our papers were examined by the military police.
     Lodgings of an expensive and uncouth variety were obtained; we washed furiously, and sampled the local food. At least there wasn't rationing.

 

"You can have as much as you want. I am not sure how much that is."

 

     Investigations into conditions, routes, dangers and means of transport took up the rest of this day. Bill Davis went out and bought us some 8mm Mauser rifles, along with ammunition, slings, bandoliers, pouches, etc. Nobody objected to us having rifles; in fact, British officers would urge us to arm ourselves if we mentioned a plan to travel out of the city.

If any characters wanted exploring gear, this is the last place to get it.

     The 200 mile journey from Tehran to Rasht, near the Caspian Sea, was going to take a couple of days, by a combination of hitch-hiking towards the front lines on military rail wagons or truck convoys to the northwest, and then northeast to the coast on horses or perhaps an automobile (if we were lucky) for the last 20 miles.

 

Tuesday, 29 November 1921

     Dark of the moon (new moon) this day.
     A long, cold, tiring and frustrating two-day trip brought us to a small Persian town on the shores of the Caspian Sea. A fishing boat owner (sturgeons and beluga) agreed to take us to Baku the next day. He knew some Turkish and German.

 

Wednesday, 30 November 1921

     This day was the first leg of our sea voyage to Baku. It was only 100 miles due north, with winds from the southeast; but the fishing boat was slow, and the captain/owner was reluctant to do more than "heave to" at night.
     His response to any complaint about the size and speed of his vessel was to point to the reed boats still used by most fishermen along the coast. "You don't like my boat, ask them for a ride."

 
 

Thursday, 1 December 1921

     By the end of this day, we arrived in Baku. Oil derricks lined the shores, and crude storage tanks stood here and there. This town produced 15% of the world's crude oil in 1921! A confusing organizational situation of traditional interests, British military and commercial groups, and Bolshevik commissars made it difficult to decide who was in charge -- but nobody was shooting at anybody that day.

     We planned to depart as soon as possible.

 

Wednesday, 7 December 1921

 

     A train of 9 tired horses and mules rode into the Armenian village of Shikahogh that day. There were eight tired riders (one horse carried supplies). Besides Our Heroes, a dragoman, Apkar Karaogou, was the eighth rider -- he knew Farsi, German, Turkish, Arabic, and Armenian, and had been in Turkish military service. We paid a villager to stable our horses, and another villager to house ourselves. We were able to bathe here -- our last for quite a while.

     The possible sites of the "ravine where there was a battle" or some ruins were within a few days ride from Shikahogh; it became our base of operations. We would ride out for a half-day, or (if the weather wasn't terrible) a full day, and return the same day or next day. There were many ruins and ravines to examine. "Does this seem like an excessive number of ruins?"

 

Monday, 12 December 1921

 

     A man visiting from another village reported (via Apkar) that there had been an explosion about three weeks ago, to the south. We decided to visit that site, which was going to be an overnight trip.

 

Tuesday, 13 December 1921

 

     We rode out into the Armenian hills; low scrubby bushes, and only a few trees, covered them (along with a bit of snow). More snow seemed likely soon. We camped for the night ...

 

Wednesday, 14 December 1921

 

     In the morning DeLacy woke up to realize that it was daylight -- he hadn't been waked for his early morning watch. Quickly looking out of his tent he noticed:

 

• snow was coming down hard

• the campfire was out

• water wasn't being heated for breakfast

• the horses were all gone

• Apkar was gone

• Bill Davis was face-down in the snow, unconscious

 

     We were all quickly awakened. Bill Davis had a lump on the back of his head, and a hangover besides. He admitted shamefacedly that he'd been drinking during his pre-midnight watch with Apkar Karaogou, but couldn't remember what happened. It seemed pretty clear to the rest of us ... we weakly uttered curses towards Apkar.

     Miss Worthington did what she could for Bill Davis' concussion, and tried to discourage us from folk remedies (like brandy).

     Hours of snowfall had obscured the horses' tracks. We made breakfast, packed up everything we could carry, and followed a streambed to the southwest. By 10 a.m. the snow had stopped falling, which let us notice that the clouds were moving in an un-natural pattern.

     We decided to head to the center of the swirling cloud zone; after some hours of hiking, we climbed up to the ridgeline and saw an odd sight three miles away -- a crashed zeppelin!

     Nora told us that she's had a dream about this airship, a dozen of its crew members, a cave, and Romanescu. Using our field glasses, we could see a few warmly-dressed figures moving around, apparently creating a makeshift zeppelin from the aft end of the crashed airship. The repaired part of the zeppelin was floating, but tied down by many ropes -- and the crew were adding more anchor ropes as we watched. Two dozen crosses were planted near the crash site -- presumably men who died in the crash. A large Balkan cross -- symbol of the Central Powers -- was painted on the zeppelin. We decided to approach.

     The crew were armed with a few rifles and pistols, and at least one belt-fed Schwarzlose machine gun. As we walked up, they seemed more pleased than alarmed. Our Heroes and the Austrians shook hands, and they invited us into their camp. There were ten of them.

     The highest-ranking survivor was a sergeant, Helmut Schnell; he knew a little English, and several of us knew some German. He told us that the zeppelin, named Douzeperan, had been sent out with scientists from the University of Vienna, employing a special apparatus. This Durchdringendesvermessungssystem was supposed to let the scientists see ruins that were buried under soil or stone! They crashed during a storm a month ago (November 14th), and only need three or four more days work before they can leave -- they wanted to hoist up the gondola with the apparatus and take it with them. 

 

"My technical German isn't very good, but I think it's a soil penetrating measurement system."

 

     Of the twelve survivors, four were badly injured; Qua Lin Worthington, with Willoughby's help, went to see what could be done. Three of the casualties were improved to the point of mobility, but one had a mangled leg that would need to be amputated. At least one of the injured men had strange burns (caused by the apparatus).

     When they asked Nora and the rest of us about our reason for being in Armenia, we gave answers about the strange weather.

     One of the survivors was an archaeologist; Mrs. Cullin had a long chat with him. He claimed that they "had a grant" for their expedition.

     "The ancient Zoroastrians supposedly had a weapon of great power," he said. "It was called the Bridge of Judgement."

 

In German, "Die Brücke des Urteils."

 

     Nora asked, "Was it a real weapon?" He answered, "We don't know. There are a curiously large number of ruins and abandoned dwellings within a short distance of here, however. We found a small castle or caravanserai a few hundred meters from here, just before the crash." Nora discussed more of the science behind their surveying system with them. 

     They shared their canned food with us ... plentiful, but Künstliches Ersatzfleischprodukt was meat in name only. They were worried about bear attacks; Our Heroes put up our tents, etc. to deal with the wind and snow.

     Information about the KuK Douzeperan LZ-180 here.

 

Thursday, 15 December 1921

 

     Full moon this night. The snowfall had increased to full blizzard level; the Austrians were checking their mooring cables, and sweeping snow of the top of their makeshift escape craft. They asked us to help gather firewood (they wanted to save their gasoline for the airship engines).

     After that, we left the Austrians and Bill Davis to adjusting the zeppelin, and set out to examine the nearby ruin. It turned out to be a few low ruined walls, and a rectangular masonry block -- probably an ancient caravanserai. There was no immediate sign of bears, but with shovels and crowbars we enlarged a small hole on one side of the structure. It seemed to involve only an eight foot drop; but when DeLacy attempted to enter, the floor he landed on gave way, and dropped him another twenty feet onto a deeper floor! He saw some glints of old metal, piles of bones, and a sort of animal nest. Oddly, he could smell burning meat. Nora shimmied down a rope to help DeLacy, but disturbed the rotten wood even more -- DeLacy fell a bit deeper.

     Among the items in the hole were spears, swords, shields, and rifles -- some old and rusty, some more intact; some piles or a nest of skins or pelts, and a generally "gamey" smell. DeLacy grabbed one of the more intact curved swords.

     We quickly re-arranged our ropes and hauled Nora and Delacy up; his leg was broken, so we had to splint it as best we could.

     As we were pondering how to move DeLacy, we hear the terrifying growls and snarls of gigantic bears, and some gunfire in the distance! Clive White threw his Stygian coin into the hole, and heard a growl in response -- Victoria May saw an immense paw extend out from the shadows deep in the hole. We all quickly moved into the topmost fortification -- a good thing, because while the bears did not immediately approach, bullets did! The bears were apparently attacking the Austrians at the crash site; and machine gun fire was hitting the ruined caravanserai quite often. We could hear rifles, pistols and the machine gun, along with bear snarls and growls, and the snap of Davis' space pistol; after a minute or so, there were only bear sounds.

     While hunkered down, we magically healed DeLacy's wounds, with Clive White contributing some of the required psychic energies.

     Ten minutes later, some bears were seen approaching. They walked upright; one held human torsos under each arm, like a hotel porter carrying luggage; the other three had various limbs and organs under their arms or held in their jaws. They ignored us (which we encouraged by staying quiet and out of sight) and proceeded past the ruin and out of sight into their lair. Nora Cullin recognized them as the beasts she saw in her dream.

     After a few more minutes, we rushed back to the airship (helping DeLacy along). The airship itself was undamaged, but there were no living Austrians to be seen -- just a lot of blood, and a few small remains. The machine gun's barrel had been twisted into a curve; several dozen rounds had been fired. The body of one dead bear was found, with several bullet holes in it. We estimated it to be twelve feet tall at the shoulder when standing on all fours.

     Bill Davis was present -- he said that "bullets can't stop them" (among other comments), but his ray gun did seem to work -- the single dead bear was killed by the ray gun, and the bears were driven off by it. Photographs were taken by Nora Cullin of the dead bear.

     We decided that waiting for the bears to return was not wise, and began a project:  hauling a tank with 100 gallons of gasoline to the ruin, and dumping it down into the cave to immolate the bears. While the men did that, Nora Cullin and Victoria May read the various German-language manuals and schematics for the strange device, and Qua Lin cleaned up some of the gore.

     The ladies realized that the device had its own diesel generator and fuel supply. The device itself weighed about 600 pounds; the diesel generator and fuel tanks, about the same. A strange set of lenses on the underside of the device were the core of the apparatus.

     Meanwhile, at the ruin, the tank of gasoline was dumped into the hole, and set off; only a few bear growls were heard -- perhaps the sound that bears being burned to death would make. The tired men returned to the zeppelin.

     At about the same time (probably drawn by the black smoke created by the fire) three surviving Austrians returned to the zeppelin. They had run off during the bear attack; alas, Schnell was not one of them. One was the archaeologist that Nora had spoken with; one was a regular member of the Douzeperan's crew; and one was a regular soldier (brought on the expedition for "security").

     While we ate cold artificial meat substitute, Bill Davis scrounged up another machine gun barrel, and put the Schwarzlose back into operating condition. A few hundred rounds of belted ammunition were available; we scavenged more ammunition from Austrian rifles to fill the belt full.

     After one of the Austrians told us, "Bullets can't stop them!", Bill Davis told us, "Well, a cow would be bulletproof too, if you missed. I don't think these fellows could hit the broad side of a barn." Possibly true ...

     The night never got completely dark, with the full moon behind the strange clouds swirling overhead.

 

Friday, 16 December 1921

 

     Feeling a bit less demoralized, we determined to haul the device to the ruin -- Nora Cullin assured us that the beam from the lens was very dangerous (hence the strange burns on one of the crewmen), and in any case we would need the device adjacent to a portal for activation (the anklet she wore tugged at this mention). We left the Austrians to attach the winch to the gondola, man the machine gun, and to attend to the zeppelin.

     The cable was strong, but as we hauled it away from the zeppelin the weight to be pulled of course increased. It took an hour or so to pull it to the ruin, where we wrapped the end around a strong piece of masonry. We couldn't see where the bears were going in and out of the underground ruin, and nobody was greatly interesting in finding their lair.

     The men returned to the zeppelin, and created some simple gasoline bombs from rubber ballast bag fabric. Our Heroes started the diesel engine, powered up the winch, and hauled the aluminum gondola towards the ruin. We had to walk alongside it, to keep it from rolling over or tearing itself apart. We left the soldier and scientist to watch the gondola, and keep the generator idling; the rest of us climbed down a ladder (the airship had several rope ladders) into the cave where DeLacy had fallen.

     The cave was, upon inspection, an ancient ruin, somewhat collapsed, with a floor of stone blocks, and some bits of melted bronze. A low, narrow passage led ... somewhere. After Willoughby raised our spirits with some inspiring words, we proceeded cautiously, led by Major DeLacy, Bill Davis, and Nora Cullin. It smelled moist, musky and (near the end) of ozone.

     After 300 paces, the passage opened into a huge underground room, 100 yards long and 24 yards wide! The ceiling was only about 7 yards high, however. The architecture was archaic; there were several collapsed walls, broken statues, and piles of minor debris and rubble, some water seeping across the floor.   

 

 

       Near us, a mystic summoning (or portal) pentagram-and-circle was surrounded by a dozen flaming skulls, another passage was seem at the far end of the chamber, and along the far wall -- a tall figure or statue. A fallen door laid near the far doorway.

     The flaming skulls burned green; some were humanoid, some were of bears, others had horns (possibly goats).

 

Reel 18

 

     The following reel was never distributed theatrically; the only known print was purchased in an estate auction in 1968. It has no sound track, but does have dialogue intertitles.

 

     Qua Lin Worthington cocked her head as if she heard something faint -- a melodic soprano voice.

 

"Bears are rarely sopranos."

 

     DeLacy placed the mica goggles on his face, and stared at the far end of the chamber. He saw a stylized feminine figure about nine feet tall; through the goggles it glowed bright silver. The statue had ebony black skin, and seemed to be wearing a white shift, silver tiara and silver breastplate with a dove symbol; her eyes were blindingly bright, and large feathered wings emerged from her shoulder blades.

     The feminine figure -- a demoness -- glided forward, beckoning DeLacy forward; all of Our Heroes seemed to strain to make out some faint song.

 

"Some ancient cult ...

which one?

Ishtar? Semiramis? Astarte?"

 

     DeLacy and Nora Cullin began walking towards the advancing statue, as if entranced. Willoughby called out to his friends:

 

"This is it, my friends.

It's not bears, or a wizard --

but whatever it is, we'll destroy it together,

or meet in heaven!"

 

     Several members of the group felt inspired by his heroic aura.

     Even so, one by one, people began to fall under the creature's spell. Willoughby and White gazed steadfastly at the floor, and rushed forward with their gasoline bombs, as their compatriots frantically disrobed. Victoria May also retained some self-control and decency for a while.

     Even Willoughby's stout heart was overcome by the figure -- which everyone but Clive White knew was Semiramis-- and he dropped his bomb and fumbled with his buttons. Semiramis grabbed his hand, and raised him high (and he lost 1 point of CON). Clive White tossed his gasoline bomb, and lit his Zippo; turning towards the statue, he saw Willoughby in the statues' grasp!

 

A series of expository intertitles (not dialog) follows, separated by film segments of a few seconds each:

 

She was beautiful no doubt,

in the nameless beauty that wins,

no less than in

the lofty beauty that compels.

 

     Some of Our Heroes were seen gazing in ecstasy at Semiramis.

 

Her form was matchless in symmetry,

so that her every gesture,

in the saddle or on the throne,

was womanly, dignified, and graceful ...

 

     The garments of Our Heroes were shown falling to the floor.

 

... while each dress she wore,

from royal robe and jeweled tiara

to steel breast-plate and golden headpiece,

seemed that in which she looked her best.

 

     The hands of Our Heroes were seen reaching out to the unearthly beauty of Semiramis.

 

With a man's strength of body,

she possessed more than a man's

power of mind and force of will.

 

     The infamous "two moons" segment (see below) appears for a few seconds after the final expository intertitle.

     Meanwhile, Clive White had drawn out his wand, and began to blaze away at Semiramis -- he got the distinct but wordless impression she didn't want him doing that. She was stunned for a moment, and turned furiously to confront him; she raised the wriggling Willoughby as a living shield with her right hand, but threw him aside when his usefulness as a shield proved minimal. He flew fourteen feet and hit the wall hard.

     The demoness drew an enormous sword with her left hand, and some of the symbols in the summoning-protective circle lit up with an eldritch glow. .

 

"Where did she keep that thing?" -- a comment much later.

 

     Emboldened by her caution, White fired again, and began staying out of reach of Semiramis's sword! The statue shrieked each time the wand-beam hit, and pointed the sword at White -- red flames shot out, but he dodged them.

     Bill Davis and Algernon DeLacy were crawling naked at the demoness' feet, kissing and caressing her glowing ebony flesh, and being dragged along as she moved. Victoria May got a view of what was later known as the "two moons". Qua Lin was still struggling to undress herself; Willoughby was unconscious against the wall.

     Victoria May tried to extinguish the flaming skulls -- only to discover they were immaterial -- and conked Nora Cullin on the head with a flashlight. Semiramis swung and stabbed again and again unsuccessfully at Clive White with her gigantic sword; he in turn projected mystic energies back at the evil figure through his wand.

     Davis and DeLacy were being slowly drained of their vital essence by the demoness.

     Victoria May improvised a bright flash of mystic energy -- Semiramis was knocked down, and dropped her sword! Victoria May was also thrown backwards.

    When the demi-goddess was knocked down, several of us were released from her mental dominion. DeLacy quickly grabbed the huge sword, but could barely get the tip off the floor -- it was seven feet long and weighed 50 pounds. It emitted a small spurt of flame as he picked it up.

 

Semiramis

A revered/feared minor figure of mythology from Babylon and ancient Armenia. She was described as tall, dark haired, and lithesome. She was considered to favor swords and staves.      Semiramis’ association with the fish and dove was first found at the great temple founded by her at Hierapolis Bambyce (also known as Mabbog or Manbug -- modern Manbij, Syria) according to legend. Armenian tradition portrays her as a homewrecker and a harlot. She shares her association with doves with Astarte, her association with eunuchs with Hecate, and her association with battle with Inanna

 

End of Reel 18

 

     Semiramis snarled -- not very entrancing -- and revealed her true form:   a nine foot tall succubus, with glossy black skin and glowing red eyes. Horns on her forehead, and black wings spreading from her back, made her demonic nature clear. She still wore a white silken tunic.

     Before the demoness could rise to her feet, Qua Lin threatened it with a short sword -- the demon snarled again, made a clawing gesture, got up on one knee, and spread her wings. Clive White blazed away again with his wand -- but missed! DeLacy swung the demon's sword in a huge arc, and struck Semiramis in the torso -- there was a huge flash and a crash of thunder. All of us were blown off of our feet and flung away unconscious from Semiramis (Bill Davis landed in the summoning-protective circle).

     A new scene -- we all awoke lying on the floor, with smoking rubble lying about, and snow drifting through the sunlight. Sunlight? The entire top of the chamber had been blown off. Semiramis was gone, as were the flaming skulls. A few of us had taken a small amount of damage; Willoughby had hit the wall very hard, and perhaps broken a rib.

     Much of the blade of Semiramis' sword had been dissolved or disintegrated.

 

remains of Semiramis' sword

This is now 3' 3" long, the jagged remnant of what was formerly a 7' long sword weighing about 24 pounds. Presumably it's about 12 pounds now.      The blade is 6" wide and an inch and a half thick, with fullers on both sides.      The hilt is huge! The cross guard is a foot wide, and a half-inch thick; the pommel is the size of a door knob. Inset into the pommel is a tiger's eye gemstone.

 

     As we crawled to our feet and rearranged our gear and garments, the two Austrians who had been left on the surface arrived. They had been surprised and alarmed when a sudden explosion of rock and snow had erupted a hundred or so yards away from them. The mystic circle was under the edge of the new hole in the roof, so we decided to haul the zeppelin gondola to the edge, and start the device.

     With the gondola cantilevered out over the edge of the now-opened ruin, and with a rope ladder leading down beside it, we started up the device. It sparkled and the portal energized! Through the portal we could see Corfu, then some sand and water, and then the colonnade at Versailles -- but clean and well-maintained. We shook the hands of the Austrians, handed them our rifles, threw our Stygian coins away, recommended that the Austrians leave or destroy the device and try their salvage airship, and stepped through the portal!

 

the travels of Our Heroes this session in the 1921 dimension;

red is by rail, blue is by water, green is otherwise

 

Friday, April 19, 1935

 

     Paris in April! We danced about, throwing off (only the warmest parts of) our exploring clothes. A gardener glared at us, and we calmed down. We had a short shock at seeing some people dressed in 18th Century clothing -- just some extras for a movie being filmed at Versailles.

     After placing our more soiled, hot, or ugly coats and gloves in a garbage can, we set off merrily towards the Palace. It was clean and bright under the spring sun, with the tricolor flag flying from various poles, and tourists wandering about. This was clearly not the devastated Paris we had recently visited.

     DeLacy wrapped the remnant of Semiramis' sword in a coat.

 

Willoughby and DeLacy weren't prancing as much as the rest of the party, being a bit injured.

 

     We paid our fare for the tram back to Paris, and in 30 minutes found ourselves in the City of Lights. A newspaper gave us the current date -- in fact this was Good Friday! With a bit of trepidation, we approached the concierge at the Hotel George V (after drawing some disapproving glances from passersby and the doormen). Fortunately he recognized some of us (Willoughby, White, DeLacy, Victoria May, and Qua Lin Worthington at least), and we were admitted! We were quickly installed in a couple of suites, and called for baths, robes, tailors, barbers, manicurists, cobblers, dressmakers, hatters, doctors, nurses, etc.

     As soon as they had a minimum wardrobe, Clive White and Qua Lin Worthington went out (almost certainly together) and visited their banks (local correspondent branches of London banks, I presume -- Lloyd's or Hoares, maybe). They established their identities and withdrew some cash.

     By the evening, Our Heroes all felt much more civilized.

 

Just a couple of weeks ago, Swissair began operating DC-2 aircraft on a daily Croydon-Paris-Zurich service.

Nazi Germany announced this day that it would apply the death penaldy for pacifism in time of war.

 

Saturday, April 20, 1935

 

Bill Davis and Algernon DeLacy had dreams of chasing small animals through a forest,

tearing the animals limb from limb, and then trundling slowly off for a good sleep.

These dreams may repeat a few times.

It's not clear if the dreams are a remnant of Semiramis' power, or something to do with bears ...

 

     Our Heroes were able to face the public without fear of being handed pocket change.

     DeLacy discovered that the telephone numbers he knew for contacting the Laundry, and Lady Ceiteag of the sidhe, were disconnected or not connecting to the people he wanted to speak with.

     Unfortunately, as the ladies (Qua Lin, Nora, and Victoria) were lounging in their pyjamas after breakfast, a knock at their door revealed a group of men from the British embassy -- or rather two men from HBM Diplomatic Service, and two men with unspecified security duties. They insisted that Qua Lin accompany them to the Embassy; Mrs. Cullin insisted that she, too, had to accompany Miss Worthington, and eventually Clive White was also taken to meet the ambassador. The "embassy men" also asked about Algernon DeLacy, but the ladies denied knowing him.

 

Sir George Clerk, GCMG, CB, PC

HBM Ambassador to France, 1934-1937. An Eton and Oxford man, a member of the Athenæum, Turf, and Beefsteak clubs. Monocled. His last name is pronounced "clark".

 

     At the embassy, they learned that Qua Lin's father, Admiral Sir Alistair Worthington, was the Home Secretary (instead of a civil servant with intelligence duties), and the second-highest man in the Conservative Party. He was in fact on the telephone from Britain, first speaking to the ambassador, and then to Qua Lin. The general sense of his statements was, "This engagement has gone on for far too long." White and Nora glanced at each other -- engaged to whom? Why, to Major Algernon DeLacy, of course! The admiral had arranged for DeLacy to be made a baronet at the last New Year's honours, and for the upcoming marriage to take place at Westminster Cathedral (the "mother church" for the Catholic Church in Britain).

     The Admiral's wife (Lady Margaret) and family were also different from what Qua Lin remembered. The Admiral told Qua Lin to come home; her mother was longing to see her.

     This got us all interested in our "local" selves. A collection of Who's Who, Debrett's Peerage, Burke's Peerage, Kelly's Directory, Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, the Foreign Office List, the Colonial Office List, and other reference works were gathered for us at the hotel.

 

• Algernon DeLacy was a baronet -- Sir Algernon DeLacy, OBE, Baronet DeLacy of Passchendaele -- and a King's Messenger. He'd been missing for two years, and apparently engaged to Qua Lin Worthington for at least that long. He's probably a major in his regiment. As a baronet, his arms are now augmented with the Red Hand of Ulster (unless he received an uncommon Nova Scotian baronetcy, which he did not).
  

• Qua Lin Worthington had also been missing from her work towards a PhD at the Sorbonne for a couple of years, and engaged to Algernon DeLacy even longer than that.

• Clive White was startled to learn he was the Colonial Office Assistant Under-Secretary for Palestinian Affairs, reporting to Sir John Maffey (the Colonial Secretary). White was now in possession of a O.B.E. and a C.M.G., and should be referred to as Sir Clive; there was a corner office in Whitehall with a big desk, and a secretary-clerk. He also had been missing since February; there was no mention of Czechoslovakia (though of course that'd be a deep secret anyway).
  

•  Frederick Willoughby learned that he was supposedly the Second Secretary at HBM Embassy in Vienna, and had also been missing since February.
  

• Victoria May discovered that she was a famous divorcée, and in fact the author of more than 20 romantic novels under the pen name Isabelle Snow.
  

• The first four novels were set in the Regency era; some of her other books were described as being filled with "pirates, lost lordlings, and rum."

• However,  the most popular of them are a series of 9 (so far) that center on her creation, Lady Vanessa Tynte, an impoverished member of the nobility who makes her way in the world as a dashing private detective.

• Her debut in "An Heiress Catches Her Man" tells of her early days at Halswell Hall in Somerset, at boarding school, and later at university before the Great Crash, solving minor crimes and righting any number of wrongs. She is sent down from Newnham College, Cambridge, after taking the blame for organizing a wild party during exams. After her father commits suicide in the aftermath of the Crash, Lady Valerie, now penniless, sets off on a series of 'heart-wrenching mad-cap adventures' (according to Leonard Ebert, literary critic for the Daily Mail), somehow finding the time to look marvelous, live large, solve nefarious murders and break hearts across the globe.

 

Historical note:  the Tynte family, of Halswell, were baronets; the title became extinct when the 5th baronet died in 1785.

 

• Victoria's face was well-known in Paris; as the rich and glamorous Snow she traveled about France and the Continent, hounded by the press and her publishers and agent. Her "notorious" life is rumored to include flings with Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Francisco Franco, and a "famous anti-fascist". As far as the press knew, Isabelle Snow was at this time vacationing somewhere in the south of France.

• No immediate news could be found about William Davis -- he was apparently "out of town".

• Nora Cullin was dead! Rather than being a widow, she herself had been on the 1925 flight which crashed and killed her husband "in the real world". Mr. William Cullin was raising their daughter, Amelia Simone, and involved in the recent formation of American Airlines.

 

     In regards to differences, the shine of this alternate dimension was tarnished a bit by our discovery of some ugly differences in Britain. DeLacy, Qua Lin Worthington, Bill Davis, and Nora Cullin had all been in April of 1935 in their "home" origin dimension -- there, the Prime Minister (Ramsay MacDonald) had led a fragile coalition government, with Conservative, Liberal and National Labour members. In this new dimension, the British government is led by the Conservative Party, in an even more fragile coalition with the Royalist Party, the Imperial Fascist League, British Union of Fascists, the Whigs, the New Party, and the Imperial Union Party -- a much more right-wing sounding set of names. Some of these parties were unknown to Our Heroes. In essence, Admiral Worthington is the head of the British secret police --  an enhanced version of the Special Branch reporting directly to his office ...

 

Germany is still a constitutional republic, led by President Hindenburg.

There's no mention of Adolph Hitler in a quick read through the French newspapers.

Benito Mussolini is the most notable fascist in the world.

    

Sunday, April 21, 1935

 

     DeLacy attended Mass in the morning. This was Easter Sunday, he must have found an exceptional priest!

 

His confession must have been dramatic.

 

     All of our Stygian coins were found this day.

     Willoughby discussed with Nora Cullin the possibility of using the schematics and photographs of the Austrian device to create a duplicate, for activating special portals. She began to list the resources that would be needed, but said that they should consider going to Tamerlane's Tomb.

     Also, Willoughby was wondering about his relationship to F.T. Montagu of the Foreign Office; and exactly how much of a fascist state Britain may have become.

     Nora Cullin bought copies of all twenty-two of Isabelle Snow's books, for "research purposes"; from this point onwards, Nora was presented as Isabelle Snow's secretary.

 

Weather for April 1935 in Britain:  "Wet; dull on the whole."

Weather in early May will be pleasant.

Mid-May (the 12th to 19th) will be exceptionally cold and wintry in Britain and most of France,

with 4 cm of snow falling in Paris on May 18.

 

On to Pink Pirates Purloin Priceless Papers in Paris!