27/07/2025 – Mountain of the Black Wind (4)
Into the Valley
Eddy is concerned that the pack animals will be eaten by lions, but Okomo tells him lions do not come this close to the evil Mountain. They can see there is a plane in a valley below them, which is scattered with camp sites and people. At the end of the valley is a large mountain peak.
They continue down the mountain side towards the valley, but the exertion is exhausting. They are forced to rest to allow the women to recover. Okomo then asks what they want to do now. Monty says he thought the boy wanted to be in charge. Okomo replies that he was only in charge until they got to the Mountain of the Black Wind.
Camp Fires
It is dark now, so they cannot see much of the mountain. They can see though that there are a large number of camp fires in the valley, with many different groups of people around them.
Cassandra gets out her binoculars and looks at the camps. There appears to be groups of different ethnicities, African, Indian, Chinese, Middle-Eastern and Caucasian. The groups do not seem to be mixing due to language barriers, but they are sitting around, possibly waiting for something. There must be more than 200 of them in total. As Tiger takes his turn with the binoculars, another group of cork-hated Caucasians arrive and set up a new camp. Looks like the Australians they heard about were cultists too.
Scouting the Mountain
Monty wonders if they could cross the valley, claiming to be from the Penhew Foundation. The others are reluctant to take such a risk. Instead, Okomo suggests they go around the edge of the valley, using the hills and ridges as cover. He volunteers to scout out a way to the Mountain and see what is there. He tells them he cannot talk his way past the African cultist guards, because they will recognise him from a tribe that does not like the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, but he can scout the way. He sets off.
When Eddy gets the binoculars, he looks more at the Mountain. He thinks he can see some sort of ledge about halfway up the mountainside. He suggests that is a place to check out in the morning when it’s light.
Screaming Spirits
Agatha has been sensing things on the spirit realm for a while now. She is hearing spirits screaming in terror. She tells them this is a mountain of death. So many have died, but their spirits were trapped and taken by the Mountain. She also sense there are living people in the mountain. Trapped and terrified.
There is a spirit nearby that wants to talk. She decides to take out her Ouija board and invites the others to take part. Monty and Eddy are sceptical, but decide to give it a try, though they mock the process a little, asking what happens if the spirit does not know English. Agatha gives them her school teacher stare.
Jeziah and Tiger decide not to take part, going on watch instead.
Devil Child
Agatha begins to channel the spirit nearby. The puck on the Ouija board begins to move. They ask the spirit its name, but the response is unclear. It then spells out “devil child comes”. Monty asks how they can stop the cult, but it does not seem to know. Asked who is giving birth, it responds “mother”.
Cassandra tells them of a terrible dream she had, where she has been Hypatia Masters giving birth to some horrible monster. She originally assumed Hypatia had seduced Roger, but her donation to charity that the found out about in Nairobi suggests she was an innocent who was being used by the Cult. Everyone is spooked by this.
Stop Black Wind Tonight
The board then comes alive again, spelling out “cage” and “free”. Then “stop Black Wind tonight”. Cassandra points out there are over 200 cultists and dark forces here. It replies with “cave”, then “back” and “monster”. They wonder what this means.
The spirit begins to become agitated, but Agatha manages to sooth it and persuade it to say.
They ask where the mother it and it responds with “cave” and “back monster” again. They it says “god” and “crawling chaos”, “crawl”, “chaos”. It shortens this to “cc”. Agatha decides to let the spirit go at that point.
Agatha’s second sight tells her that any spirit that dies in the Mountain is taken by the God of the Black Wind, but this person must have escaped the Mountain but died not far away. It is not able to escape but has not been taken by the Mountain. She takes a large swig of gin afterwards.
What to Do
They wonder what “back monster” meant, but the meaning is not clear. Jeziah consoles Cassandra about her back dreams and she takes a swig from his flask of whisky. They talk about the Eye that Zalkador found and had been used to seal evil somewhere, but that seal had been destroyed. She draws the image in the ground, but she says it is incomplete and Agatha says there would be accompanying incantations that they must learn.
Cassandra wonders if they can release the prisoners, then they could thwart the plans of the Cult. She recalls though that in Egypt the Cult was willing to sacrifice its own people when needed.
Sneaking Along the Valley
Okomo has been gone a while now and they begin to worry about him. Monty uses the binoculars. There is some movement further along the edge of the valley, but he cannot be sure who or what it is due to the darkness. They wait while this movement approaches them, but it turns out to be Okomo returning. He apologises that he cannot find a way through the hills, they will have to risk walking along the edge of the valley.
Eddy is concerned about walking in the dark, but Okomo points out the moon is rising. It is disturbingly full, rising directly behind the Mountain of the Black Wind. That does mean it will be quite light that evening.
They set off along the edge of the valley, but not all of them are that good at moving quietly and remaining hidden. At one point Jeziah stumbles and falls into a thorn bush. His leg is cut and scratched badly by the thorns and he needs first aid. Jeziah just wants to rest, but Tiger offers to help him walk.
Close Call
They keep moving towards the Mountain. As they get near a camp fire, one of the cultists spots them. The camp has Germans wearing shirts and Swastikas. One of them hears something, takes a rifles and goes out to see. The Investigators stop and hide, though they get their guns ready. Fortunately, they are able to stay hidden and after someone from the camp mocks the man with the rifle, he decides to return to the camp.
After a little while, with renewed care and stealth, they sneak onwards to the foot of the mountain peak. Agatha feels the screaming of the spirits getting louder in her head, but she is able to concentrate for now.
Cultist Guard
There is a pathway that winds itself up the mountainside, with a ledge about halfway up, where Eddy thought he could see something. There is a patch of exposed ground that they will have to cross to get to the pathway.
Jeziah volunteers Eddy to sneak forward. Eddy sets off and sees that there is an African cultist guard stood at the bottom of the pathway, keeping watch. Fortunately he is looking towards the camp fires and Eddy is able to sneak closer without being seen. But he is then not sure what to do. He decides to grab a stone and throw it to the side. This prompts the guard to go investigate.
Eddy considers going up the pathway, but then decides to head back to the others. He tells them what he saw and Tiger takes on the job of dealing with him. He wonders about using the blow gun that he obtained, or ambush him. In the end, he decides to have Eddy lead him back the way he went, then he will sneak up behind the guard.
Tackling the Guard
Tiger stumbles a couple of times but is able to stop each time and the guard does not see him. As he gets close, the guard turns around at the last minute. He jabbers at Tiger in his native tongue and Tiger responds pointing in a certain direction, while moving closer to him. The guard is suspicious though and points his spear at him, keeping him away.
Tiger tries to grab the man, but he fails, though he is able to avoid being stabbed. Eddy then throws a rock at the guard and hits him. Tiger is able to use this distraction to grab his spear and take it off him. The cultist starts talking louder, but Tiger knocks him out with a single punch. Tiger then picks him up and carries him back to where the others are. Eddy puts his handkerchief in the man’s mouth.
Okomo suggests stabbing him with one of the thorns that they took from a cultist. Tiger does this then learns that Okomo knows how to use a blowgun and he gives it and the thorns to him.
The Drums Begin
Monty notices that people at one of the camp fires near the Mountain are looking around. The Investigators decide to move now to the mountain path as quickly and quietly as they can. As they do, they start to hear drums echoing around the Mountain. Down in the valley, people start shouting, clapping, dancing and making noises. Clearly something has started.
They move quickly up the winding Mountain path, but it is exhausting work and they cannot go too fast. Agatha in particular is struggling but able to press on.
Cave of Death
They reach the ledge but there isn’t much there except a big rock and the path continuing up the Mountain. Monty and Tiger try to move the rock, but it is hard work. The others have to help and it takes a while before the rock gives way. It turns out it is some sort of door on a pivot. Behind the door is a cave tunnel with a lever that releases the door.
A terrible smell comes from the tunnel. Jeziah uses his electric torch and gives another to Agatha. They carefully travel through the tunnel into the heart of the Mountain. The rocks are strange, deformed and melted. Eventually, the tunnel opens into a large cave, with a huge statue of a faceless monster with only a large, red tentacle for a face. The God of the Bloody Tongue. The drums seem to be coming from higher up in the Mountain.
Freeing the Prisoners
There is also a large, rotting pile of human corpses in the middle of the cave area, that makes everyone wretch. Further around a corner, they see a large, well-constructed metal cave, with around 100 people locked inside. The people inside are mostly poor, wretched-looking African men, women and children, but there are some terrified Europeans too. Some of them are dead. There is a heavy duty double-lock on the door.
Okomo is very keen to get them free. He recognises some from his tribe. There is no obvious sign of a key. Eddy decides to try to pick the lock. He is able to open the top lock and immediately the prisoners start pushing on the door, but the lock at the bottom of the door needs picking too. Eddy is not able to get them to stop pushing the door and he is able to twist the lock enough that the pressure from the prisoners breaks it.
Hidden Door
The prisoners flood out, nearly crushing Eddy, who has to dodge out of the way. This takes a while and in the meantime the Investigators start searching for a further way into the Mountain. Eventually, Agatha remembers “back monster” and finds a hidden door at the back of the statue of the God of the Bloody Tongue.
It is another rock door. This time, there is a lever and Eddy pulls it. The sound of drums becomes louder and behind the door is a Bloody-Tongue cultist with a large head dress and a red tongue hanging from a necklace.