17/05/2026 – Camp in the Stones (4)
Wondrous Intelligences
Monty suggests watching the camp over the rise to see how many are there and if they are armed. Jeziah accompanies him back to where the shooter was and they use binoculars. They can see a large marquis tent and a few small tents, with two trucks parked nearby and a scattering of large, white stone blocks sticking out of the sand nearby. Eddy decides to join them. Monty concludes that the camp is fairly quiet. One person moving around occasionally, including going an outhouse toilet. After a while, he returns with Jeziah and Eddy.
Cassandra has been reading the Wondrous Intelligences book that was taken from Mortimer Wycroft. When they are all assembled, she tells them a summary of what she has read so far. She tells them that it concerns a man called Woodville, who an encounter with a mysterious man who peeked his interest. The man seemed to know a lot more than he made out. To gain his trust, Woodville took him on a wild bender, having sex with prostitutes of all persuasions. The book has some very graphic descriptions. The man reveals a method of mentally dominating someone through sex over a period of time.
The man eventually revealed he is not human, he is an intelligence that is possessing the body of a human. He is a member of the Great Race. They live in large stone Cities in the southern hemisphere of Earth millennia ago, but they foresee a great disaster befalling their civilisation. They are exploring different time zones in the future of Earth, in order to find a safe time to send their minds forward in time. The man disappears the following morning. Woodville pledges to try to find the man again, or find evidence of ancient Cities.
It is clear from the book that Wycroft was fascinated by the sexual aspects and the mind control techniques, as well as the story of a being swapping minds. He seemed to want to swap minds himself, from the notes made in the margins of the book.
Approaching the Camp
Monty suggests they wait until sundown, which is about an hour away, and then sneak up to the big tent of the camp. Tiger suggests they wait for a replace for the man who they just shot. Jeziah suggests they do what Tiger suggests and see if anyone heads this way until sundown, then follow Monty’s plan to sneak to the camp, which they decide to do.
Tiger asks for someone to sew up his bullet wound, which Jeziah, a medic during the Great War, does. That should enable him to go to the camp with the others.
No one comes from the camp, so after dark they move the middle truck with food up to the edge of the rise, just out of sight from the camp but close. They do this, but decide against Jeziah’s suggestion to drive to the camp. Instead they sneak to a large stone that is about half way from the rise to the camp. Zalkador and Bainbridge remain behind, but Agatha wants to go with the others, as she can sense the spirits calling to her.
The Main Tent
They can see that two electric lights are on in the marquis and hear the faint put-put of a generator. Eddy then sneaks ahead to check out the big tent, while the others cover him with rifles, but he soon disappears into the shadows. He sneaks to a stone near the entrance to the marquis. He thinks there is only one person in there.
Eddy reports back and they all sneak up to the stone near the entrance, but Cassandra, Agatha, Monty and Tiger are not particularly quiet. Someone in the tent shouts “You’re late” and starts to emerge from the tent. The others freeze and Monty steps forward to get his full attention. The man points a rifle and demands to know who he is.
Monty says he was sent by Wycroft because he could not make it himself. He has a delivery, parked just out of site. The man is suspicious and tells him to wait there, then goes back into the tent. The others, led by Tiger, head forward to the stone near the tent, covering the tent with their guns.
Hole in the Ground
They wait five minutes and nothing happens. Monty heads into the big tent. There is a generator by the entrance flap. Inside, there are large, 50 gallon drums of petrol on one side, a large table with chairs in the centre and stores of food and water on the left side. At the back end of the tent, there are some wooden stairs with a large, gaping hole in the ground, leading down into darkness. An electric cable from the generator leads down the hole, as well as to the two electric lamps hanging from the tent frame. There are also a number of electric lamps and batteries.
There is no sign of the man. On the table is food, magazines, cigarettes, cutlery and other junk. The back end of the tent though, has no roof and is open to the sky. The others follow Monty in. Tiger agitates to turn off the generator, but the others are reluctant to make knee-jerk actions.
Down the Stairs and Back
Monty has a look down the hole and he sees the stairs descending into darkness, but a fair distance down he can see another electric light. There is a strong ammonia smell. He heads down the stairs to take a look, tells the others he will act dumb if he encounters anyone.
The stairs go down and down, quite steeply. The stairs are covered in bat droppings. There is a roof above him, covered in bats, which soon rises above him as he descends. As he approaches the electric light, he seems another one much further down the stairs, with an electric cable leading from this lamp towards the lower lamp.
Monty calls out, but no one answers. He heads back up and tells the others, as he does the sun goes down and hundreds of bats suddenly fly out of the hole and into the sky. It is very noisy and everyone backs away. The Investigators then discuss if they are in the right place and what the hell is going on. Cassandra wonders if there is a city down there.
Members Only
Alex heads back to the trucks to bring them up to the camp with Bainbridge and Zalkador. The others wait in the tent, awaiting to see if the man returns. After a short while, they hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Monty sits down at the table while the others leave the tent, out of view by the entrance.
A group of five people, including the original man, emerge from the hole in the ground. Some are carrying guns, others clubs or knives. Their leader draws his gun and demands to know where Wycroft is. Monty says he is back at Cuncudgerie. The cultists begin to spread out to surround Monty. He continues to try to persuade them he is genuine. The leader tells him to turn around and show them his bear back. He does not have a Sand Bat tattoo, the leader says no one is allowed to be here expect members. He has to either join their cult or die.
Round 1 – Fire Fight
Tiger decides it is time for them to intervene and steps in, shooting down one of the cultists, the original man Monty spoke to, with his pistol. The cultist leader then turns and shoots at Tiger, who just manages to dodge it. The shot goes right past Eddy’s face. Another cultist with a club swings at Monty, who parries the attack with his shotgun that he had under the table.
Eddy ducks inside and shoots at one of the cultists, but misses. Jeziah tries to get an angle to fire, but is unable to at the moment as they are bunched up around the small entrance to the tent.
Round 2 – Tiger Goes Down
Two cultists leap over the table onto Monty and they collapse into a chaotic brawl, knocking over the table and scattering the junk on it. Eddy shoots and wounds one of the two men attacking Monty.
Tiger shoots at the cult leader, injuring him, but he shoots back and Tiger is hit, collapsing as he is already badly wounded. This gives Jeziah a chance to shoot at the cultist leader, hitting him again but the rather crazed man stays up, badly wounded.
The cultists with the club decides to head towards Eddy and Jeziah.
Round 3 – Another Cultist Down
Monty fights both men grappling him, managing to punch one of them. The cultist leader shoots at Eddy, but he retreats and dodges out of the way. The cultist with the club closes on Jeziah, but the butler shoots him in the head and he falls dead.
Round 4 – Cultist Leader Down
Monty punches one cultist against the overturned table, knocking him out. The other one he is grapping, previously shot by Eddy, is not able to put up much of a fight. Eddy shoots at the cultist leader, finally taking him down. Jeziah now turns to helping Tiger.
Round 5 – Victory
Eddy shoots the cultist grappling with Monty who he already shot previously, killing him. Monty bashes the head of the cultist he knocked out against the overturned table, finishing him off.
Keeping Tiger Alive
Jeziah realises Tiger is in a critical state and shouts for a First Aid kit, but there isn’t one. He has then tear strips off the cultist clothing for bandages. Alex has in the meantime got back to the trucks. He and Bainbridge bring two of the trucks over. Zalkador cannot drive so it sat in the back of a truck. Eddy rushes out and grabs their First Aid kit, handing it to Jeziah, who stabilises Tiger and cleans his wounds. Alex heads back for the third truck.
Jeziah will need to remain taking care of Tiger for a while, to make sure he is alright. He tells Monty to watch the stairs in case more cultists return. They wait for Alex to return with the final truck, then decide for some of them to do down the stairs.
An Expedition Down the Stairs
Cassandra, Monty, Eddy and Alex want to go down the stairs. Agatha insists on coming with them, as she can sense something unusual down there. They head down and discover that the stair go down and down. They pass the first electric lamp, which has wire heading back to the surface and extends further down the stairs. They can see another lamp much further down the stairs and continue down the stairs until they reach it.
It is cool, dark and quiet down here. They turn on electric lamps to see where they are going. The roof above them is now out of site above them. Either side of the stairs is a slope covered in dust, rocks and debris. The wooden stairs continue onwards, showing signs of damage and repair.
At the second lamp, they see the wire continues to a third lamp even further down, though it is not as far away at the lamp above them. They continue down the stairs in silence, beaming their torches around but there is very little to see.
Enormous Building
As they approach the third lamp, they hear the familiar noise of a generator, with a number of large, 50 gallon petrol drums stood nearby. The ground levels out here but another cable from lamp and generator continues towards a huge stone building, stretching hundreds of meters above them into darkness. The sides of the building continue left and right as far as their lamps can make out.
The cable leads through a 4 meter high door in the wall of the building and they glimpse another lamp deeper in the building through door. On the ground there is mostly undisturbed layers of dust, apart from a trodden path ten feet either side of the electric cables. It is clearly a well-used pathway.
The door itself is an odd shape, like a diamond, but the bottom cut off. Around the edge of the doorway, they see a series of curvilinear shapes in regular patterns carved into the stone. Agatha touches one and it is smooth and cold. They do not look of human origin.
Into the City
They walk through the door and discover the wall of the building is about 10 meters thick. Inside, the building opens up again, with a high roof, held up by columns. There are a number of places though where the roof has collapsed and piles of rubble lie on the floor. Either side of them there are signs of other, smaller buildings of stone, but many of them of damaged too.
The path that the electric cable follows is on a causeway, with a low wall on either side. There is a covering above them, but in places that has collapsed too, sometimes due to rocks falling from above. As they continue along the causeway, they begin to approach another lamp and they can see to one side of the causeway on the right, stands a wooden construction that has electric lights in it. It looks like a large, wooden cabin and is of human design. They can hear the sound of voices inside.