For our final session in the Australia chapter: the great outdoors! Well, somebody's backyard. But just as good for an underground shootout.
And so we were back, just at the end of the last battle, with the cultists bearing down on our location. We pondered for quite a while a massive ambush with dynamite, but given the lack of precision[1] and us being effectively down a man[2], we finally allowed the Keeper to talk us out of it. We hid in the darkness and evaded the cultists, running upstairs. Obviously our attempts at first aid failed. Archie was also gone. Sanchez' player deliberated on switching characters, but in order to keep up the horror theme, decided to keep on playing the Peruvian professor. With 1 health and 1 sanity left, it was a bold choice.
And so went back underground, to scout out the barracks. Unfortunately, a cultists was leaning out of a window and saw us. We did not want to barge in; they did not want to come out; that is, until we threw in a stick of dynamite. Blood and gore sprayed out the window, and two cultists ran out, but we gunned them down.
In the ensuing battle, we kept throwing in dynamite, and trying out different ways of fighting which did not include bursting in the front door, unto their waiting guns. Sanchez was shooting at the doorway using his Lee Enfield as suppressive fire. I had Amos help me up to a window, but a lightning gun was waiting for me. We shot at each other; at least the cultists missed. When the cultists were finally prepared enough to throw back our last stick of dynamite, we decided to retreat.
We double timed it to the cabin, going around the nursery to avoid making noise. Thanks to a good navigate and spot hidden roll, we saw the zombie miners standing around the cabin, and two cultists inside. We took up sniping positions and shot them down with rifles.
I tried shouting a command to the zombies, and they obeyed. Well, at least Huston told the truth.
We left Sanchez behind with his rifle, to avoid him being seen by the prisoners. Amos and I were looking around on the ground floor. Dodge went up to free the prisoners. Some good rolls meant they were becalmed, but the cages lacked regular locks. Fortunately, the magnetic box we looted off Huston was the key. Dodge armed the prisoners and directed them towards the exit, hoping to cause chaos and ensue a fight with the remaining cultists. However, there was one man with a swollen belly. Dodge convinced the aboriginal tribe leader to execute the man, at which point he gave birth to a reptilian monster. We gunned it down. The prisoners fled.
We looked around Huston's office, and discovered Gertie pleasuring herself on the bed. We shot her till we ran out of bullets.[3] Then we gathered Huston's papers off his desk, leaving the books and scrolls in the cupboard for later.
Our next target: the sacrificial chamber. We went in. The frog monsters were still perched on the top of the smaller dome. As we approached, one came down and bade us sacrifice more power to the statue of Nyarlathotep. Reluctantly, we agreed; at least we did not loose more Power. Lacking dynamite, we decided on bringing in some gasoline.
We walked towards the barracks, intent on taking the gasoline barrel near the generator. In the distance, towards the barracks, a lightning gun went off, and we heard the sounds of battle. I wanted to help the aboriginals, while Dodge heard something unidentifiable. Not wanting to risk it in the end, we decided that if the cultists were preoccupied, we could roll the barrel at speed and causing noise without alerting them. Except... one barrel was not nearly enough to light everything up.
We doubled back to the cabin, and took stock of our gasoline. I came up with the idea of making the zombie miners carry them, causing a lot less noise then rolling. We gathered 5 barrels from the surrounding generators. The Keeper informed us we needed at least 10. We had no choice but to go to the entrance, where most of the reserves were kept. But first, we spent some time properly searching the cabin. We found another lightning gun[4] and a small lockbox containing a buttload of dynamite. Score.
Given that we had already opened up a barrel of gasoline near the statues, and we had no clue regarding the status of the cultists, we decided on destroying the altar room first. I had the slaves bring the barrels, and we carried the dynamite. On entering the chamber, the frog beasts grew agitated and demanded that the slaves touch the statue; I bade them do that. Then we set up the barrels and the dynamite, and sent the slaves back to the cabin. Sanchez ignited the charges, sending the statues up in flames. The frog beasts were injured, but they immediately swooped down towards us. We shot our lightning guns to no effect; Amos shot one in the head with his Lee Enfield, causing it to crash but continue on walking. Well, crap.
We followed through our plan to run out of the dome, given that the beasts had to land and we could fire at them in a choke point. Dodge kept firing his lightning gun, fumbling and shooting all his charges at once. This made the corridor collapse. As we were recovering, we heard whistling and fighting sounds on the other side. We ran as fast as we could back to the cabin.
Given that flying octopus monsters now roamed the city[5], we continued searching through Huston's office. We found another clock, tuned to Greenwich time, to the same second as the one we found in the Juju house. Timing the final ritual, no doubt. Also, a copper bowl akin to the one in the Juju house. More ritualistic crap.
I realized that the zombie miners were perfect for moving the rocks for the Ythian, so after an hour's rest, we lead them to the meeting place. The Ythian was waiting for us, and it took us on a meandering way through the darkness, until we found a cave in. There was also Archie, a bit changed in manner, seemingly controlled by the Ythian. We left the miners in their care, as the work was estimated to take at least a week. As a reward, the Ythian thought Amos and I electrical repair; Dodge learned to read basic Ythian; and we learned how to fix the minds of the slaves.
We revisited the known locations through the city. Both the frog beasts and the cultists were killed to the last by the flying monsters. We also destroyed the nursery, leaving no monster behind.
We explored the rest of the city (leaving Sanchez and his 1 sanity out of it), and lost some sanity to discovering that we were walking on (inside?) a gigantic living being. Something something sleeping old man titan Budai.
We also checked on other materials we had gathered. We netted Huston's writing as equivalent to a Mythos tome, from which Dodge learned some useless seeming spells: Time Trap and Send dream. He also investigated the books written in Ythian, to no immediate benefit. A cursory glance over the Wycroft's tome: Wondrous intelligences, showed it needed 9 days of study.
With all that finished, we dynamited the entrance to the sunken city, finally sealing the fate of the cult. Surely, nobody would gain entrance now. Or at least, not in time to help with the ritual. As we trucked back to civilization, this marked the end of the Australia chapter. We got a buttload of sanity back, due to neutralizing both Huston and his cult; destroying the statues and draining the mana they accumulated; treating the Ythian nicely and sending him back home; fixing the brains of the zombie miners; and destroying the nursery. We did not kill any Mythos creatures, but that was fine by us.
As a personal note, I decided that Lucy, now at 100 sanity, has concluded that meddling in Mythos lore was foolishness. Sanchez' magic hands were underwhelming. Spells were no match for American magic.[6] She would read no tomes and learn no spells. We're going to do this the human way.
[1] May or may not be better than a grenade that explodes 50% of the time.
[2] Sanchez was naked, drenched in gasoline, shivering of cold, but also couldn't get clothes on due to severe burns.
[3] A scarring experience for Amos.
[4] For a total of 4, one for each investigator.
[5] We realized they were attracted to noise.
[6] Alaka-BLAM!!!
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