Adam grabbed the satchel that contained ‘Tinks’ (as he’d decided to call the drone) and his control PDA, jumped in the first of the borrowed transports and signalled for Akira to jump into the seat behind. He then told Young Sam that, that way, he’d be able to push the empty pilot seat fully forward in the second transport to give him more foot room and he would then remotely pilot him out of the hangar.
The first transport shot through the bay and the welded junk-covered bay doors that concealed the hangar on the surface – the junk heap splitting apart to allow first Adam’s and then (a bit more cautiously) the remotely piloted vehicle which linked up in the air into a single unwieldly-looking vehicle.
“Where to?” Akira clicked on his comms rather hesitantly and asked did they go for FFrwd Dylluan or Sam’s cave first? Young Sam pointed out that as the location of the cavern was down to his patchy memories perhaps checking out this “Furw’d Dyl-Ewan” might be a better place to start.
A short time later Adam arrived in the unkempt grounds of FFrwd Dylluan. In the background was the stepped presence of a tall hill peaked as a set of steps and this framed the two-storey house in the foreground surrounded by trees. There was an eight foot tall stone wall surrounding the grounds with three very sturdy wooden gates. A derelict and near collapsing single storey cottage was located near one of the gates, the windows all caved in and boarded up. Graffiti covered all available wall space and part of the roof had collapsed in. Akira realised that this must have been where his parents had lived before…
Their view drifted to the two storey mansion. It was large, covered in ivy but Akira could see that the windows were unbroken and the house looks undamaged but cold and dark.
“What a dump! Why’s no-one looking after it?” said Sam seeing a building also covered in Ivy but with nearly every window smashed and the doors all seemingly boarded over. It was then that Akira realised they weren’t seeing the same thing. He saw a house, abandoned and slightly neglected yes, but with all its windows intact and free of vandalism. “It’s not a ruin, it’s camouflaged somehow. The house had been cloaked by some mystical means to appear abandoned but I can feel a powerful residual presence inside.”
Sam looked again but all he could see was a smashed up and graffiti-covered ruin and then back at the cottage. “So this is your families?” “Actually my father didn’t live in the big house, as the last of the line he lived here.” Pointing towards the cottage “never really knew him, he died just after I was born.” Akira appeared to be trying to stoic about it as he explained briefly to Sam about being raised at Skomer Vale.
“So does this belong to you?” “No, I don’t think so; father grew up in the cottage.” “Do you want to check it out first and see if there is anything that survived from your parents?”
“Given the powerful disguise on the main house, I suggest we approach there with caution but the cottage seems unaffected?” Akira looked at Sam and said, “Perhaps it would be helpful before we do any breaking and entering if I were to disguise us possibly as tourists?” and tried to conjure up the illusions of Idolon to cover them but found it impossible to do so successfully with the 6’ 8” figure of Sam.
Giving up, they approached the cottage first and Sam pulled the boards off the door so they could enter. Inside was a mess. Nothing of value had survived the elements and years combined but then Sam suggested they check out the attic space and having found the hatch Akira went up and rooted around coming down a few minutes later with an old battered suitcase which contained some water-soaked photos and documents stuck together. There was always a possibility that something had survived or could be recovered so they loaded it into the transport and then approached the main house, past the trees that surrounded it. Deciding on a way of entering, they dismissed pulling the boards off the doors (that Akira saw weren’t really there anyway) or teleporting in, at least until they had scouted it out first.
Akira elected to astrally enter the house. He settled himself down on the lawn leaving him open and vulnerable, and ‘flew’ inside. The first room he entered was covered in framed mirrors of every shape and size, even on the floor and ceiling. Then he felt it. Outside Sam stood and stared as a patch of ground suddenly turned to lava and from that started to emerge a fiery human-like figure.
Akira could feel its hostile presence even inside the building and sprang back into his body just as the creature wailed and unleashed a whip of pure flame where he’d laid a second before. Akira had returned just in time. Akira unleashed a blast but the creature seemed to just absorb the shot as though it hadn’t even been hit. Sam interposed himself between Akira and the lava like creature and muttering “doubt if my fire breath would work on this thing” and clawed the creature across the chest only to howl in pain as he found his claws burning with a hellish cold burn from the strike. Despite looking as though it was on fire, these were no ordinary flames!
Akira realised that a stand up fight might not be there best strategy, ran towards Sam opening a portal as he did so and pushed himself and Sam through, only to reappear inside the mirrored room. Sam quickly radioed Adam to get the transport into the air and say out of harm’s way. A quick check on the ship’s capacity to stay airborne reveals they have at least eight hours before that became an issue.
Outside the creature looks confused and unleashed a cry that was shockingly familiar to them. The howl of a banshee ripped through the grounds as it walked around the outside of the building in frustration. Both confirmed that it wasn’t their banshee though. What was that creature outside? A creature that cried like a banshee but burnt like hellfire?
Inside, Sam notices that the room was undamaged, the windows, despite having an unusual oily sheen to them were all unbroken yet scattered across the floor were the rocks that apparently had been used to ‘smash’ them. Then they realised that the mirrors weren’t all displaying the same images of them. The one’s closest to them seemed to be just be a reflection but those furthest away were showing them just arriving. The mirrors showed some form of time dilation effect.
Then Akira saw that one of the mirrors in the far corner was showing a formal dance in one of the framed mirrors with people dressed as though in were the 1890’s! Sam meanwhile got reflections of the delayed and blurred kind! Other mirrors also seem to show glimpses of things no longer present before seemingly returning to mirror normality.
To Akira the house feels friendly and welcoming; Sam however felt more on edge and uneasy inside this strange structure. What now? Both felt they wanted to explore but how long before the creature realised where they were. Would the house protect them?
They needed to explore but perhaps not alone? Again, Akira asked Sam to speak to Adam to see if he had the drone with him and if so, could he send it down to scout around for them? Adam confirmed he had Tinks and that he could release it without landing. A few seconds later reported that Tinks had gained entry via a chimney and appeared to be in a 1920’s style kitchen. Set to home in on Sam’s comm-signal the silent drone flew throughout the ground floor and a few seconds later the main door to the mirror ballroom opened slightly and a familiar little hovering drone appeared through the gap.
Again the banshee scream filled the whole house as, frustrated, it tried to gain entry.
They followed the drone through into the hall and then into the kitchen where Sam picked up an antique tin opener (completely ignoring the rack of sharp knives) and wandered with it through into a reception room. Woodwork panels and floors were carved with mystical symbols; Akira realised that the mantel of the fireplace in particular was the source of the spell that seems to be protecting the house; a powerful heath spell. Around them, the furniture looked undamaged, just covered in dustsheets. They then send the drone up the stair, noting that the ends of the balustrade were carved into the image of an unadorned chalice on every floor. On the next floor, it found multiple bedrooms fully furnished. Again, it continued up and, despite from the outside this appearing to be a two-storey house, it again found another storey of bedrooms and still the spiral staircase went up! An infinite staircase? Should they risk sending the drone onwards? Akira argued that they can always turn back and then, suddenly the drone climbed up and out into the cellar! The staircase seemed to loop back on itself. Directing it back up to meet them they again heard the creature wail, a wail that shook the entire house. Akira mentioned that the house was not hostile but it certainly felt as though it was under attack.
Akira elected to astrally check the rest of the property to see if he can find any traces of an ancient chalice-like vessel that might be hidden inside the building. The property throughout was still furnished (again with furniture covered by dustsheets). He admitted to Sam that he was looking to see if the Grail was located here. He projected himself to search but despite traces of myriad spells embedded into the house itself, he found no traces of the cup.
Outside the creature suddenly stopped and looked directly at the doors that led to the mirror room and started to melt down again into the ground.
Following the stairs up to the bedroom floor, they got the impression that parts of the house changed when not being watched. Perhaps the house was moving them around inside it, wondered Sam aloud. They found various unusual rooms, including on the invisible third floor a room that appeared to be a wooded area full of trees with a brook bubbling through the middle of it. Despite everything, they could still see the walls of the room, though Adam momentarily seemed confused and asked them if they have somehow teleported to Austria as their comms signal was pinging off a tower in the middle of a forest there.
Then they felt the house shudder and rushed downstairs (discovering that the staircase this time no longer had a first floor) and rushed into the mirror room to see the creature forcing itself out of the mirror-covered floor and reforming itself near the doors to the balcony. The glass was melting and left an awful stench but again the creature on seeing him started to focus its attention on the newly arrived Akira.
“I’ll not have this unwanted guest in MY house, I want him off the premises” and forming a mystical shield Akira rushed towards the creature. He unleashed a mystical blast but that seemed to dissipate harmlessly against its fiery aura, which seems to be melting the room with droplets of molten glass falling from the ceiling. Again, Sam tried to protect his friend against a fiery lash that burnt both hot and cold at the same time and left him bruised and battered. He returned a blast of fire but to no apparent effect. The heat from the invader caused the walls and ceiling to start to fold in on itself. If left there much longer the room would be destroyed as would other parts of the house.
Akira again unleashed a mystical blast, this time it seemed to leave the creature dazed and unable to maintain its aura of hellfire and as it stood there molten glass started to pool around its ankles.
Sam decided to try and fly up and grab one of the mirrors off the ceiling but found himself unable to do so, the mirror refused to budge (Sam couldn’t help but feel it begrudged his attempts to smash it into the creature) and so again flew down and interposed himself between the creature and Akira. The creatures’ attacks might hurt him but he seems to be more resilient to them than Akira was likely to be.
Enough was enough; Akira decided to try to get outside and managed to dodge its swipes and get to the doors, which opened for him. Sam flew above the creature and followed Akira through the doors to the outside. Looking back, he saw the creature start to melt down again into the ground and decided that perhaps it was better to get as far away as possible? As it flowed into the ground, Akira tried one last blast but it slid away without any further damage. How long?
Taking a risk, they called Adam back down and jumped inside as it commenced its lift-off just as the creature started to reformat itself on the lawn. As Akira looked back into the mirror room, he saw that the room was already starting to repair and renew itself. As they rose in height, Sam realised that he couldn’t see the creature anymore, only the burnt patch of ground where it had reappeared on the lawn. It was then he realised he was still holding the antique can opener from the kitchen.
What now? Did they want to risk going straight back to their base or risk another side trip first?
Adam set the transport for North Wales.
Having found the pub, Sam tried to retrace his path over the nearby hilltops to the cave. Landing in a dip Sam was able to find the path he’d used to flee the three ‘eyed’ guard and the patch where he’d been found and knocked unconscious which meant the cave would be…?
Instead of the cave he ‘remembered’ he found an admittedly wide chasm in the ground, easy enough for him to crawl inside but no way a dragon would have managed it. Right location, wrong description… Inside the entrance, it widened out, revealing a sandstone cave that led into a wide cavity; inside which stood a large 2m high quartz crystal that was obviously not native to this type of rock and which psychically resonated like a beacon. To one side was a fissure that led above the cave entrance. He followed it round and found in the overhang his old sleeping bag, as he’d left it so long ago and a fantasy novel that he did not remember buying or reading but would have been the type he’d have read back then. This seemed safer but… Sam ordered Adam back into the air on sentry duty outside as he and Akira looked around. Akira seemed fascinated by the large crystal, which gave off a unique psychic signal. It was Sam who realised that it had to have been planted there, it wasn’t natural to the rock formation, nor were the two lots of granite blocks that seem to have been used to block off areas of the caves, especially the one that had painted on it the image of Setekh in old dried blood!
He also noticed that the pool in the corner of the cave seemed to be getting hotter… Fearing the worst, he wanted to go but again Akira elected to explore what was behind the massive granite blocks. Laying down he again astrally projected himself behind them; into a series of caves the walls of which were covered in ‘chicken scratchings’; hieroglyphics he realised seemingly made with a claw forming hundreds of carved runic-like letters, symbols and mystical circles. As he looked closer he realised that these marks actually covered every surface within both caves. There was also another slightly smaller crystal but this read differently to the beacon crystal outside. It wasn’t giving off a signal so much as absorbing them.
Akira realised that if he were to take the larger crystal away, possibly changing the signal by altering its shape he would have his own beacon to always help him find his way back to the BASEment… As he was thinking and his body lay unprotected he heard Sam shouting for him to hurry back. Outside he awoke to see the pool bubbling away from contact with the lava-like creature forming out of the evaporating pool itself.
Akira grabbed Sam and teleported; supposedly to just outside the cave, near the dip where Adam could land and remove them to safety. What he didn’t expect was to appear on a large circular sigil that radiated a keep out signal next to a giant symbol of Setekh painted in dried blood in what appeared to be a massive factory building!
Posters in the Cyrillic alphabet lined the walls and a guard, taken by surprise looked at them through his three lens mounted on his head covering. Where the..? They had teleported out of the cave but clearly not safety outside. As the armoured figure started to shout out but not in English, Akira blasted him into unconsciousness. Sam suddenly had a premonition that he had to see what was behind the dividing wall in the main warehouse area. He dashed through a door and found himself staring first at a giant glass tank filled with violently swirling gases and mists; the gases swirling violently inside, causing the glass container to ring with force as it was hit repeatedly. It was what on the next platform that immediately caught his eye and he rushed by, beyond the glass tank and stared in horror. An unoccupied control desk faced a hewed out massive sandstone block with a skeleton of a dragon embedded in the stone! Tiamente!!! He knew it immediately. Then he saw what was lying in front of the skeleton; connected by cables and mystical symbols was a naked female body, recently dead going by its lack of decomposition; her body covered in myriad occult symbols. Next to her and connected by cables and blood was an examination table with straps that Young Sam ‘remembered’ and display panels, a table that suddenly brought memories of pain flooding back.
Back in the cave, he had been captured and as a result had experienced his meta-human breakthrough. Then he must have been dragged unconscious through the portal to this room, strapped onto that table and then they’d killed another girl to necromantically power the transfer between the remains of Tiamente and him. He mentally cried out and heard a quiet, calm voice reply in the back of his mind. The dragon spoke; a very different voice from the programmed tyrant his conscious memory had remembered. That one had demanded unquestioning obedience and tribute… This ‘spoke’ calmly and kindly; <They accidentally divided my power and heritage in three. The first came and was punished by me for his arrogance and unworthiness, you were the second and touched by kindness and honour were found worthy and was the conduit whereby I sent my remaining third to an amulet in hiding…It waits to fulfil its destiny.>
Sam turned and saw a redheaded girl, her face warped by anger and hatred standing beside the Black Dragonkin. This close up it was clear the blackness of his scales were actually due to his being severely burnt.
They initially spoke in Carpathian but the girl changed to English when they recognised Young Sam.
The Black Dragonkin said in broken English “So you have returned, Halfling. To see your progenitor perhaps? See the mighty Tiamente in her true form, but the heritage of her shall be mine.”
Behind them they heard a familiar shriek and suddenly the hellfire creature reappeared having followed them from the cave to here.
The redhead girl shouted in English “Abyss! How did it get passed the seal? It should have protected us all from its view? Stop it whilst I get away. That was an order and you will obey…”
“Da doamnă Dementia” said the Black Dragonkin and fired at the creature to no avail.
The creature; Abyss the girl called it? Turned and on seeing the redheaded girl tried to attack her before anyone else but dark tendrils materialised at its feet and forced it to turn away and focus on Akira once more. The beast was being controlled and that controller wanted Akira as its target.
The girl ran away in abject terror from Abyss.
No time to wait, Sam grabbed Akira and flew them back through the dividing wall onto the mystical sigil and Akira again teleported.
Thankfully, as he jaunted he could feel the pull of the crystal. Concentrating, he allowed it to focus his destination appearing back inside the cave leaving Abyss behind. Akira realised that the crystal acted as a link between the two locations; if Sam could break it free might it stop the Setekh group from following them back through to the cave? Even better, if Sam could break off the larger part of the crystal it would change its resonance and signal. If it could be altered even slightly and ‘retuned’ to a slightly different frequency it would be ideal for his idea of a teleport beacon for the BASEment.
Sam, only slightly exasperated, grabbed at the crystal and broke it free leaving several entrenched segments behind. He then heaved it onto his shoulders and ran for the outside. Adam seeing them rush outside, quickly landed and helped Sam load the crystal onto the spare seat in the rear transport and quickly set off for the relative safety of the BASEment and its iron shielding.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 