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Sunday, 19 August 1933 

     Sunrise at 5:29 am, sunset at 18:59 pm. Moonset at 18:10 pm, waning crescent with 3% illuminated. New moon is on 21 August at 7:49 pm. A penumbral eclipse was visible here two weeks ago (5 Aug), and another one will occur on 4 September, "peaking" more or less at sunset/moonset. The moon will be about 3/4 obscured, with a semi-duration of almost two hours.

     While attempting (with little success) to rouse the Kusadasi police to a sense of their duty, the Heroes discovered that Captain DeLacy had been in the Kusadasi jail for 13 days already! The policeman on duty was easily persuaded to release DeLacy, along with a couple of large Greek men (additional muscle for the Heroes). The Germans at the harbor were loading trucks and otherwise showing signs of preparing for action (including a truck loaded with explosives!); the submarine was seen to have some sort of large cylinder as deck cargo. Thus, our Heroes quickly packed their belongings into their old, rusty truck and departed for Ephesus about 7 a.m.

     Along the road, the Heroes felled some not-very-imposing olive and pistachio trees across the road, to hopefully delay the Germans.

     Arriving at Ephesus bumped and dusty about 9 a.m., DeLacy explained some of his story to the Heroes. When exposed to the Cross, he grew cold and developed a nosebleed.

     While William Davis and Vinnie watched for the Germans (and other trouble) from atop Mount Coelian, and Prof. Enwright, Ms. Barnato, Qua Lin Worthington, Lennie, and the Greeks waited above-ground, Mr. McCracken, Captain DeLacy, and Mrs. Cullin descended to the "portal chamber" on the "Hittite level". When those above ground could not get a response after twenty minutes or so of waiting, Prof. Enwright descended the ladder while roped to the people aboveground. He found the trio in the portal chamber mysteriously comatose, with beatific expressions on their faces; strange lights and vapors swirled and glowed, while mysterious jets of flame were emitted from the walls.

     With some effort and confusion, the party pulled Enwright and the comatose trio from the "portal chamber" back to the bottom of the ladder; Mrs. Cullin remained unconscious, but DeLacy and McCracken quickly recovered. The Cross suddenly flew or was drawn off to one side, tearing a hole in the masonry of the well and exposing a continuation of the tunnel which led to the portal chamber. Following this tunnel for a hundred yards or more led the Heroes to an ancient collapse of the tunnel roof, where the Cross had embedded itself.

     Returning to the surface, the Heroes noticed Davis and Vinnie waving frantically from Mount Coelian; the Germans have been sighted a few miles away, driving along the dusty road! And further woe -- the truck will not start! Hauling the still-unconscious Miss Cullin, and some of their possessions, the Heroes hot-footed it up to the fortified citadel and basilica, a couple hundred yards from the hole.

     Once holed-up in the basilica, the Heroes observe as the Germans arrive at the dig site; their trucks, too, seem to suffer some sort of engine failure. The Germans spend the rest of the day in mysterious activity on the surface around the hole, setting up a generator, lights, and several strange machines, including one which the Heroes dub "the orrery".

     The Germans take explosives, weapons, and other things into the hole ... more, perhaps, than the portal chamber seems likely to hold! A sort of thud or blast occurs at one point, removing the dirt and stone over the portal chamber; and, to the Heroes' amazement, not long later eight "rocket men" fly from the west and descend directly into the now-roofless portal chamber!

     Captain DeLacy and Nora Cullin decide to walk down the hill to the portal chamber, and are not detected by the rest of the Heroes until they are halfway down the hill. Mr. Davis charges out and slugs DeLacy, carrying him back up the hill; Nora Cullin continues to the hole (in the company of some Germans) and apparently enters the portal chamber.

     An earth tremor later in the afternoon causes various collapses and rubble shifts around Ephesus; it also reveals a hidden staircase near the basilica, leading down to a mysterious stone door -- apparently related to the Cross somehow; and surrounded by what appear to be Hittite script.

     After dark (sunset at 7 p.m., so probably around 8 p.m.) Mr. Davis is sent creeping down the hill, to attempt the rescue of Nora (and to see what the Germans are up to). The other Heroes investigate the stone door; Professor Enwright is rendered unconscious for a while by the strange "spiritual energy drain" of using the cross at the door.

     About 9 p.m., the Heroes on the walls around the basilica spotted a small flame near one of the German trucks. A few minutes latter, a series of increasingly powerful explosions shook the area, culminating in a blast of unimaginable power! The twelve-foot-thick walls surrounding the basilica were shattered, but shielded the Heroes from the worst effects of the final explosion. The area between the basilica and Mount Coelian was torn and cratered, with burning pieces of trucks and equipment scattered for a mile or more in all directions! Davis, who had triggered the explosion, was able to survive by running rapidly away from the German trucks. The blast was heard at Kusadasi, and possibly even in Izmir (about fifty miles away).

Lethal blast and rubble flagmentation damage would occur to persons in the open up to 200 yards from the detonation. By going prone and taking minimal cover, a person could survive at a distance of 100 yards or so. The Heroes in the fortified area around the basilica are perfectly safe from the blast, but the risk of being hit by collapsing masonry does exist.

     The Heroes crawled out of the rubble, dazed and deafened; it was clear that the Germans (intruders and archaeologists both) were dead or at best mortally injured. The blast had also opened the stone door into the mysterious crypt near the basilica; Mr. McCracken, Ms. Barnato, Lennie and Vinnie entered the chamber behind the door ...

     Captain DeLacy and Mr. Davis proceeded rapidly to the portal chamber (now even more exposed to the night sky), and quickly entered the glistening, black "surface" of the portal. Qua Lin Worthington and Professor Enwright began searching the burnt, cratered landscape for any survivors -- or signs of Nora Cullin.

     After a bit, McCracken, Barnato and Vinnie came down the hill, towards the portal -- led by a now nine-foot-tall, bearded Lennie, whose clothes had been torn from his body by this sudden increase in size! He was carrying a medieval sword and shield.

     Lennie led the rest of the Heroes down into the hold and through the portal, to a daylit scene of hellish undead nightmare!

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. Along one edge of the city, three miles away, a Venetian galley of the early 13th Century could be recognized.

     More immediately notable were the thousands of the living dead shuffling about the city -- many of them performing hideous caricatures of ordinary daily activities. Hordes of the undead had detected the presence of the Germans (and now the Heroes) atop the pyramid, and were swarming up the sides intent on feasting on living flesh.

     Most of the Germans had already perished, victims of the swords, dessicated hands, and hideous teeth of the ancient, rotting corpses. By the time Lennie led the rest of the Heroes through the portal (emerging from a similar portal atop the pyramid), Davis and DeLacy had already used up the available ammunition and were clubbing and stabbing the shambling mobs. Nora Cullin, and one of the Germans, were unconscious casualties.

     Lennie charged into the hideous battle, destroying corpse-men left and right; but shrinking in size as he did so. Eventually even he was brought down in combat, and barely rescued from the talons and teeth of the city's gruesome inhabitants. The Heroes hauled Lennie and Nora Cullin back through the portal; Mr. Davis (after some trial-and-error) was able to trigger the explosives placed by the Germans around the "ancient city" portal.

Return to the Land of the Living

     Four Germans, and some Turkish policemen, greeted the Heroes as the morning sun shone into the crater-like hole around the portal. Apparently the ten minutes or so spent in the city of the living dead was six hours or more in Ephesus! Mentally and physically exhausted, the Heroes were taken back to Kusadasi, and (after some cleaning and medical treatment) fell asleep in their hotel rooms. Or would have, except that Mr. McCracken insisted on some complicated quarantine, isolation and decontamination treatments for those persons bitten by the undead. The wounded German soldier was taken aboard the Mowe.

     For three days our Heroes rested at the Hotel Zeybek; those bitten did indeed develop some nasty inflammation and strange food cravings, but none succumbed and apparently none passed on their ... syndrome, named "African Rabies" by Mr. McCracken. The German ships and aircraft eventually departed, although not until after Graf Professor Herman von Reinhardt visited the hotel, insisting on a conversation with Captain Delacy.

     Once DeLacy was well enough to leave his bed, he spoke with Graf von Reinhardt; the gist of the matter was that Reinhardt claimed to have Mr. Islington in custody at a "secure, undisclosed location", and sought DeLacy's assistance in an upcoming expedition, somehow related to the mysterious portal at Ephesus. DeLacy essentially declined.

Saturday, August 25 1933

     Our Heroes took the morning train to Izmir, where they learned that the Mowe was in the naval shipyard, being fitted with strange antennae, a new stucture on the bow, and a sort of dappled-white paint scheme. The Heroes continued on to Istanbul, flying aboard a Turkish trimotor.

     The Heroes spent a busy week in Istanbul: resupplying, visiting embassies, and doing research on Venetian galleys of the Fourth Crusade period. Lennie perplexed Captain DeLacy and Mr. Davis by leading them to an obscure district (although he said he has never visited Turkey before), and into a small, fortified monastery in the Jewish section -- home of the semi-martial Orthodox order of "The Defenders of Truth". 

      Within the round, domed chapel are Orthodox cross flag poles with obscure banners, ikons of Saint [to be determined], and a couple hundred swords handing on chains from the dome. The swords are in a variety of styles:  Roman, Greek, Turkish, Hittite ... the monks claim each sword represents a former member of the order.

     The connection between the Order, the Cross, and the entombed warriors at St. John's basilica in Ephesus was clear, but as yet unexplained. "Not in Ephesus didn’t make it that far in the White tribes holdings."

      The sword and shield obtained in Ephesus by Lennie now look like they are from the early 14th Century. The shield has the cerebus painted on it; the well-made Spanish steel sword has a maker’s mark, and -- stamped on the edge – two Hyperborean runes:  probably life/sun, and gift/giver.

      Wierd dreams continued for Captain DeLacy and Bill Davis, and nightmares for Nora Cullin; on the 2nd of September, news arrived that the Mowe had sailed from Izmir; but it did not (yet) pass through the Sea of Marmara, on course for "Way Point 12". Captain DeLacy also received news that another German destroyer had been seen elsewhere in the Mediterranean, rendesvousing with a submarine carrying deck cargo. 

       Professor Enright looke into ships of the crusades, and tales of the undead. One tale speaks of a trading house that disappeared and may have made contact with a "new world" – 5 galleys left on a trading mission.

     "1 famous ship captain of galley killed his patron, swiped the daughter, and fled into the Black Sea.

     3 galleys with first choice of patron's loot sunk by Charybdis."

     The Fourth Crusade:  Pope Innocent III called for another attempt to free Jerusalem from the Moors in 1198. Count Boniface of Montferrat hired a Venetian fleet (in March of 1201)  to carry the Crusaders; he made arrangements with the Doge of Venice, and with a pretender to the Byzantine throne (Alexius) to carry out some warfare on their behalf to pay for the fleet. In June of 1203 the Crusaders laid siege to Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire; the city fell and was burned and sacked in April of 1204. Only a bare handful of Crusaders made it to the Holy Land; the Pope excommunicated the Venetians and the Crusaders.

      Charybdis (the whirlpool) is traditionally in the Straits of Messina, which separate Sicily and Italy.

     The winged lion of St. Mark is the likeliest symbol for a Venetian ship in the 13th Century.

     A lunar eclipse is predicted to occur on the 4th of September.

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