OFFICIAL VEKN GANGREL ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER VOLUME 8 NUMBER 5 May 2005 ********* In this Maybe-she-will and Maybe-she-won't issue ... FICTION: Voormithadreth Rising, the fourth chapter of the latest lot of Call of Cthulhu d20 goings-on from Legbiter Hall. DECK: titania te quiere, another tourney-winning !gangrel deck *********** THE HORROR IN THE ICE, CHAPTER 4. Voormithadreth Rising "Poor old Isak." "I'm sorry?" "Poor old Isak, being, you know, eaten and stuff. I feel sorta sorry for him now." Nanook sighed and shifted his great seal-bloated bulk ever so slightly, allowing the feeble sun to shine on his distended belly. His mother had always said that the warmth aided digestion. "The animals give themselves to me, provided I treat them with respect. So no, not poor Isak. Kind Isak, to whose voluntary sacrifice you and I owe the next fortnight or so of our lives. Let our actions during that time justify him and celebrate his nobility. When we die, our bodies will rot and feed Isak's fish, so he will be repaid. And now for fuck's sake shut up and let me sleep." "You sure you don't fancy fooling around a bit first?" The truth was that Nanook DID feel a bit warmer towards Sekatu, who had positioned herself straddling his right back thigh where she had been accidentally on purpose wriggling lasciviously against him. It would involve changing, of course, and the weather was against them, but still ... "O shit, company!" With a sigh Sekatu detached herself from the great Bear's leg, and Nanook heaved himself upright. "It's those bloody humans again, the diggers. This is where we saw them before." "Guess they must be awfully fond of snow, then?" "I don't think they are digging for snow. I had a look, after we had, erm, after the last time I saw them digging. They were poking about in the rocks on that crescent-shaped island, you know the one, with the great Northward-facing basin and the rim of green rocks around it. That's where they were, on the rim." "Well, just so long as they don't take our food!" "They do, or they did last time. Bastards. They shot poor Isak through the ice when he came up to breathe and then didn't even eat him, just fed his skin to their dogs and left the rest for the gulls. I'm not even that happy about them taking the rocks. There's something in those rocks, some sort of power that gives a kind of life to things that shouldn't be alive. You ever come across Taigu?" "No, but I've heard of it. The Hungry Snow, isn't that another name for it?" "That's the one. Taigu is all over that area when the wind blows in the right direction. I think the rocks create it." "Talking of wind, isn't that a funny cloud formation over there?" Nanook looked. Sure enough a great tapering cone of grey cloud seemed to be solidifying to the north. Suddenly he felt oddly warm, and a sharp tingle of ozone tickled his nose. "Uh-oh, time you and I were out of here, doll." Nanook began to lope southwards, and Sekatu trotted obediently after him. "Does this mean we're an item, then?" "If we get out of here and can find somewhere warm, maybe. But that's no cloud formation. It is Mount Voormithadreth rising, and when it comes the Great Storm comes too. So let's just, you know, run for a bit and not chatter? Please?" ******* The young Commissar was surveying the damage to the West wing of the Institute. "How could the counter-revolutionaries have done this? 15 dead and 2 missing, and not a track or a cartridge case to be seen." "There are tracks, just not footprints. And they don't go outside the perimeter fence." "It has to be treachery. I reckon it was the British agent, possibly with help from the missing Anthropology woman and the librarian. Let's interrogate the librarian and Dangerfeld's roommate, they're both feeble bourgeoisie, I'll get confessions out of them in 30 minutes, tops." "I'm sure you will, but that's not going to help. We need to know what ACTUALLY happened. So I'll do the interrogating and you will keep your Cheka goons WELL out of my way. Guarding the perimeter and not letting any more counter-revolutionaries in or out would be top of my list of priorities if I were you, meanwhile thinking of a REALLY good story to tell Comrade Stalin about how they managed it last night." "Comrade Commissar! A call from Moscow!" "I'll take it in the Sanatorium office." "Bailkov speaking!" "How goes the project, Comrade Bailkov?" "Well, Comrade Stalin ... or it was going well up to last night. There's been some kind of counter-revolutionary attack and O'Keeth has gone missing. The Comrade Chekists have already put two and two together, I'm afraid." "Did O'Keeth cooperate on the artefact?" "Yes, he was quite helpful without meaning to be. He just couldn't help being interested. And he took the bait when he went, all the important books from the locked room. Also for some reason he took a woman, Karlotta Dangerfeld. She's not working for us, is she?" "I would know if she were, and while I wouldn't necessarily tell you just because I knew, in this case I can assure you that she isn't. I don't like this, Comrade Bailkov, I don't like surprises. What are your plans?" "Well, if O'Keeth really is as savvy as he is supposed to be then he will have gone to the green stones to try out the formula. That's where we will catch up with him. Land and air units are already prepared and briefed. Once I have finished this phonecall I will lead the sortie." "Excellent, don't let us down now, Comrade. Socialism may depend on your efforts!" "Understood, Comrade Stalin! Vsya Vlast Sovietam!" The phone went dead, and the young Commissar wandered thoughtfully down to the aerodrome, where a red closed-cockpit monoplane was waiting, its engine already ticking over. They took off into the gathering storm. A few minutes later, a silvery monoplane took off in the same direction. ******** >From the aerodrome it was only an hour's flight to the island where the enigmatic arc of green stones lay, but when the Commissar's aeroplane arrived both he and the pilot at first thought they must be lost. They circled the great semi-transparent cone, and then the pilot gave a shout: "Look! A sledge!" "That'll be our men. Drop down and let's have a look." Down went the red monoplane, larger and larger grew the sledge and its dog team. Zip zipzipzzipPING!!!!!! "Pull her up, pull her up!" The aeroplane zoomed over the humans below, who followed its passage with the sights of their MP1918s, squeezing the triggers the while. Frantically the pilot twisted and turned, and then gave a yell as a second volley of machine-gun fire stitched into the snow in front of them - fired from above, and behind. "Another aircraft! Keep manouevering, I will try to fight it off!" The young Commissar seized a Moisin-Nagant from behind his seat, fitted a clip and then pushed open the hatch on top of the plane. Peering out he saw the silvery monoplane, took aim and fired. No effect! Around and around the mountain the two planes roared, until at last Bailkov got in a lucky shot. Mortally hit, the unknown pilot released the controls of his aircraft, which turned with the torque of its engine and burst in flames on the side of the new mountain. "Got 'im!" "Yep, good show. But he got us too. I will try to land." A strong smell of aviation fuel filled the Soviet plane, but the pilot was skillful and a landing was made. The two young men scrambled out but the aeroplane did not catch fire, so they climbed back in to retrieve what survival kit they could, then headed towards the nearby mountain as offering the best promise of shelter. They reached the mountain just as, on Cykranosh, Karlotta and Colum were shaking Eibon's hand and stepping through the gate back to earth. They found themselves on a ledge on the side of Mount Voormithadreth, looking down about 30 feet into the astonished faces of Bailkov and the pilot. "How the fuck did you get here?" "What?" "I said - o come down, there is a bit of roughish rock here." Karlotta and Colum did as they were told, finding the rock oddly warm to the touch. Karlotta smelt ozone, and wished she had paid more attention to the clever French-Polish woman who had taught her Physics during that summer school so long ago. On the ground it was difficult to stand, so strong had the wind become, and flurries of snow were already obscuring the view. "You people are in a LOT of trouble. What happened back at the Institute?" "A counter-revolutionary attack, Comrade - the same awful snow-things that attacked me on the way back from the Utiuk camp. This comrade saved me, by some kind of, well, magic." Bailkov looked hard at Colum, who looked hard right back. "I had to use some State Property. It is here, in this bag. I was just waiting for the opportunity to return it." "Alright, we'll discuss this another time. For now, we all need to survive so that Comrade Stalin can decide whether or not to shoot you later. Look! There is some kind of niche here! Perhaps we can build a shelter." Inside, the niche proved to be a tunnel, snaking into the interior of the mountain. They lit a lantern and marvelled at the strange inscriptions on the wall of the tunnel. After about a furlong the tunnel opened out into a large space with an icy pond occupying its centre, and three other tunnels leading off the opposite wall. "We'll camp here until the storm blows over, at least it is sheltered. You two, see if you can find something to burn." Karlotta and the pilot obediently went off to scout round the pond. A few twigs were gathered, and then the pilot touched Karlotta's arm with an exclamation. Five metres away a pair of black jack-boots stuffed with cotton wool were poking out of a hole in the pond. As the two Russians watched, the boots gave a spasmodic wriggle, and Karlotta screamed. The others came running. "What the hell ....?" The boots slid below the ice, and were replaced by a green dome with golden-green lumps on it. The concept that these were EYES formed in all their minds just as a sinewy green arm appeared behind the dome and launched a three-pronged harpoon at them. Elsewhere, the ice was cracking, as more and more green things began to force their way up from the depths. "Quick! Up the left-hand tunnel!" Gathering as much of their gear as they could, they followed Bailkov towards the tunnel. He, meanwhile, had paused and was lighting a stick of dynamite. "Careful with that, old ch- Ooooooo SHIT!!!!!!!!!" Fizzing, the dynamite fell to the ground. Colum picked it up. "I'll deal with this. Take them into the tunnel, and take this bag of books. The Mission Must Succeed!" Seconds later there was a tremendous explosion. Coughing, Bailkov picked himself up from the floor of the tunnel and peered back the way he had come. Nothing, except the sound of gently-spattering body-parts. Executing a smart British Army salute and gulping back a tear, he made his way up to where Karlotta and the pilot were waiting. TO BE CONTINUED .... ********* DECK: Another tourney-winning !Gangrel deck, from Spain, via Athens [the setting for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream ... geddit?????] Daring the dawn : Ca lŽArno Date: 30 April 2005 Players 17 Where Ludoteca Ca lŽArno Name titania te quiere (gehena version) Player Creator: xavi Bagan 1st place crypt Sebastian goulet x3 Sebastian goulet adv x2 Soldat x2 Caitlin x1 Sadie x1 Max Lowell x2 Wren x1 library redirection x2 govern the unaligned x8 blood doll x4 charisma x1 twisted forest x1 anarch troublemaker x1 pentex subversion x1 dreams of the sphinx x2 earth control x2 elder impersonation x3 cloak the gatering x2 faceless night x2 lost in crowds x4 shadow court satyr x9 mylan horseed x1 earth meld x8 flesh of marble x3 wwef x5 deflection x5 conditioning x4 direct intervention x3 the unmasking x1 claws of the dead x2 vagabond mystic x1 ********** And that's it for May! See you all again in June for some more Glorious First-class fun! Address for correspondence: Chopsalotapepl"at"Swiftian word meaning vulgarian"dot"co"dot"ok