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Friday, April 5, 1935

     Less than 500 feet from the top of Tomur Feng, at an altitude of more than 23,000' above sea level, Bill Davis and an RAF pilot had spent a cold night camped near the wreckage of their airplane. The rest of Our Heroes had just descended via parachute, along with lots of equipment, and were sorting out gear and supplies in preparation for their descent off the  mountain.

     One notable item among our equipment:  high-pressure oxygen tanks. The tanks hold 25 cubic feet of oxygen, and will allow about 6 hours of strenuous activity near the top of Tomur Feng. Each tank weighs 6 pounds (including 2 pounds of oxygen); the hoses and mask add about another pound. If emptied of oxygen, they could hold 2 gallons of water, and would weigh 20 pounds (16 pounds of water, plus 4 pounds of tank).

Alas, the prop won't be coming to the game, but here are pictures:

Visible gear:  blanket and bedroll, rope, pitons, snow stakes,

piton hammer, carabiners, flashlight, oxygen tank with regulator,

oxygen mask, ice axe, fingerless mittens, anti-glare goggles,

pin-on compass.

See our page on mountaineering equipment for more goodies!

     In the single makeshift tent where the pilot laid wounded, Qua Lin Worthington set to work healing his injuries -- he had two broken legs and some lesser wounds. Nearby, Fury tried to wrap his cracked and sprained legs. Davis also had much of his warm clothing in disarray as he tried to get his right knee into passable shape for the descent.

     Sadly, Miss Worthington's attempt to psychically heal the pilot resulted in a rush of life force from the pilot into her. The pilot was left a dried, dead husk; Qua Lin positively glowed with life energy (her Power was at a level higher than normal).

     While Sergeant Ivanov gathered the parachutes, pitched tents and built a wall of ice blocks, and Fury sorted through his equipment to determine what was essential, DeLacy, Davis, Lotta and Nora conducted a scouting trip along the slopes. They found the crashed remnants of another flying wing, similar to the one which crashed in Kenya, but with somewhat fascist markings. Two metal cases survived the crash; each weighed 50 pounds, and had two sophisticated locks.

     The cases were brought back to the camp, and eventually opened. One contained a 40 pound torus of some strange silvery metal; batteries near this torus were magically drained of their charge. The other case contained an electronic device, labelled:

Industries Boulle
Alger
basse fréquence banc d'assai Mle III
N° de série 3
14 avril 1942

     It had a few controls, and a wide slot in the top to accomodate the torus (or other, similarly-sized objects); and two heavy-duty electrical sockets on the back.

Saturday, April 6, 1935

     The night was bitterly cold and windy. In the morning, snow and mist obscured the view. Our party cached the two metal caches, several oxygen tanks, and some of Fury's gear; the cache was buried under ice blocks, with strips of parachute cloth leading out in several directions.

     Proceeding down the mountainside, minor slips and falls took their toll of our health. Mid-day, Algy led the party to the remains of an ancient worked stone path or stair on the mountainside -- alas, it only led us a few hundred feet along the cliffs. As the route to this point from the crash site wasn't too difficult, Algy and Lotta returned to the camp and brought back six more oxygen tanks. Once Lotta and Algy returned, we proceeded further; and met a pair of the Yeti! Each was nine feet tall, and about four feet wide across the shoulders. One was carrying a hollow log; the other, an axe; fortunately, this encounter (at close range) was peaceful. The Yeti allowed us to pass along the mountain; they quickly disappeared into the mist, heading uphill.

     The Yeti may be heading for our camp, by the way.

     We made an uncomfortable camp at about 20,000' above sea level.

Sunday, April 7, 1935

     With our oxygen tanks running low, Our Heroes proceeded briskly down the mountain; the weather continued with light snow and mist. At about the 18,000' foot level, Nora Cullin feel through the ice-cap covering a wide, spiral stair. Fortunately, she fell onto the stair itself, and not down the central, open shaft -- she would have been seriously injured or killed by the 50' drop! The steps were cut into the rock of the mountain itself, and were worn by age and storms. We cleared away some of the ice and snow from the top, and followed Nora down the steps to their bottom.

     At the bottom, an opening led into a cave about 100' wide, strewn with bones. Some of the bones were those of Yeti and men, and in fact three of the men were Soviet mountaineers. The clothing of the dead men held survey notes, a sketch map, and drawings of Yeti and their log-guns. At the far end of the cave we saw a faint glow; but some members of the party felt suddenly weak and lethargic; Algernon DeLacy passed out, but Nora was able to restore him to consciousness.

     Lotta, Fury, and Bill Davis had proceeded towards the light, and in fact had vanished at the far end of the dim cavern; eventually DeLacy, Ivanov and Qua Lin followed them ...

In the Land of the Living Dead

     From the top of a step pyramid, an ancient city could be seen stretching out for several miles -- the same city which some of Our Heroes had reached from Ephesus! Along one edge of the city, about two miles distant, a Venetian galley of the early 14th Century could be recognized.

     More immediately notable were the hundreds of the living dead shuffling about the grey-lit city -- many of them performing hideous caricatures of ordinary daily activities. Hordes of the undead had detected the presence of past-Our Heroes and the Germans atop another ziggurat pyramid (about a half-mile away; there were four), and were swarming up the sides intent on feasting on living flesh. Gunfire, screams and explosions echoed across the city from the distant ziggurat ... but soon, the shambling undead turned their attention to the ziggurat upon which current-Our Heroes had arrived!

     We all used half of our ammunition fighting off the undead -- while their numbers were not yet so great, it was clear that more and more would arrive. Among the undead we could see Arabs, Norman crusaders, medieval Venetians, European and Saracen Crusaders, German soldiers, etc. After nearly thirty minutes of combat, we decided to return through the portal atop the ziggurat.

The Hyborian Age:  Day 1

a much more accurate map of Hyboria than we're ever likely to see ...

     Blindingly bright light, dry heat:  we found ourselves in a small set of ruins amidst a vast desert. We could not tell if it was mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Our Heroes had appeared standing on a round, raised stone dais, surrounded by four squared-off arches; the dais, arches and ruins had markings that resembled the characteristics of Phoenician culture. Nothing was threatening us immediately, except the dry heat!

     At dusk, Major DeLacy was on watch, and saw a distant caravan of a dozen camels and a dozen robed humans, near an oasis, under attack by serpent men, snake people, and flying snakes! The serpent men were casting spells; some of the snake men were riding the flying snakes, and firing strange crossbows at the caravan. We almost immediately decided to intervene on the side of the humans!

     The battle was occurring about a half-mile away, so we trotted over the dunes in the lengthening shadows. About 200 yards from the battle, we were spotted by the flying things, and one of them turned away from attacking the caravan to head towards Our Heroes!

     Our rifles made short work of the flying snake, and the surviving "crew member" began running away. The serpent men, apparently mages, began preparing eldritch magics to use against us, and in fact were able to summon a sort of giant scorpion before our sniping took effect. Fury blasted the scorpion with an explosive round and a shaped-charge round; seeing that, the remaining serpent men and flying beast fled (the serpent men disappeared in purple flashes). Our Heroes and the four surviving caravan-merchants made short work of the remaining snake men.

     The traders didn't know any modern languages, but seemed to recognize a bit of classical Greek and Proto-Hyborian. Nora could understand what they were saying perfectly, but could not communicate back. They were Turans, of the Haptiva clan; their leader was named Emul. They said that the serpent-men were Stygians, worshippers of the evil god Set; they were grateful for our intervention, since being captured by the Stygians was apparently a dreadful fate. They were perfectly willing to travel in company with us; we recovered our packs (from the portal-ruin), filled some of the empty oxygen bottles with water, and prepared to travel north into the night.

     We recovered one of the odd "crossbows" from the slain flying snake; it fired bolts about the size of a 10-penny common nail, from a 26 round magazine. We found one full magazine and one partially-empty one. Fury took and drained the stinger-tail of the dead scorpion.

 
The Hyborian Age:  Days 2 - 6

     A week of travel by night across the burning sands and shifting dunes of the desert! We each learned 5% of Hyborian Trade Language (spoken only), and the rudiments of camel-leading. The caravan passed within sight of several ruins, including the remnants of an enormous stone statue.

     Each night, our more navigationally-minded Heroes looked at the sky and pondered where -- and when -- we were at. The constellations seemed a bit off; Orion's Belt seemed to indicated we were in the southern hemisphere.

     Our Heroes were all allowed to take their checks.

The Hyborian Age:  Day 7

     The caravan arrived at an oasis-town, named Chastenay. The town was surrounded by date palm orchards and fields of chickpeas; a mud wall protected the actual inhabited area, with a population of 5000 persons. It was located at a crossroads of two major caravan routes, and (while nothing besides food and water is produced locally) has a bustling market, with goods from all over the continent.

     Emul the trader had described the general part of the world for us; he and his remaining men were continuing north to Corinthia. Generally speaking, Emul expected that a week of travel north would take him over a mountain pass into the verdant plain of Koth. Far to the west were the Stygians and the Amazonians; to the east was Druzjastan. Far, far away is the land of Khitai, where apparently black powder is known of; the people of Khitai are apparently Asian or even specifically Chinese.

maybe Kevin will paste a map in here?

Very large map of Hyboria.

     Our Heroes decided to remain in Chastenay for a week, improve our Hyborian Trade Language skill, repair and replace some clothing and equipment, hire camels, look for maps, and generally learn more about the world.

The Hyborian Age:  Days 8 - 14

     Many things about the town and people seem reminiscent of the distant past; but there are strange anachronisms (such as the ox-sized draft lizards seen in town). In the market, we find some broken, shattered pieces of Hegemony (Martian) machines -- metal fragments that the local smiths cannot melt nor mar. We spent much of our gold to arrange travel with another north-bound caravan, aboard camels.

     We were all at 10% Hyborian Trade Language now, and got to take a few more checks.

The Hyborian Age:  Day 15

     Early in the morning, we departed Chastenay, bound for the mountains to the north, and the plains of Koth beyond them.

on to Rescue on Rexzzentine Ridge