[RPG, HEX, IC] Hollow Earth Expedition Session 1 write-up

[karohemd]

March 4, 1931

The big story about Thomas Jeffreys in my pocket, I was eager to get back to New York and pass it on to the Editor of the Explorer to be published.
The SS Oceanic is a fine ship, a bit older as ocean liners go but in good condition as far as I can see with space for 1,000 passengers. The owner is a Hungarian by the name of Mr Seta who is alleged to be on board too, moving one of his big archaeological exhibitions to the US. Who knows, I might get another story out of this...
At noon we set sail from Liverpool Dock and the journey began.

The rumor turned out to be true, Seta is having dinner at the Captain's Table with the other bridge officers, Thomas Jeffreys, a British India Army officer and that good-for-nothing Cavendish. I wonder how many people he bribed to get there...
Typically, on his way out he accosted a lady and got slapped across the face. Turns out an English lady by the name of Catharine Brookmyre.
As I was finishing my coffee, Jeffreys and that army officer wandered past my table muttering something having to find two more people for a game of Bridge so I offered my services and they were more than happy to have me. Miss Brookmyre joined us, too. The officer's name was Captain deVere.
We had a fine couple of hours until the weather got so bad and the ship was tilting and moving about so much that we couldn't continue.

For the next days, the weather was quite a problem, rough seas, being unable to go on deck, electricity going out now and then and most passengers being quite miserable.
A few days later, the weather brightened up and people could go out again. That cad Cavendish played golf with others on the aft deck, which we all thought was a bit silly but at least he didn't cause any trouble.

The break in weather was only short, though as things got really bad a day later, dark clouds roiling in, spiralling above the ship which was battered quite badly. First the passengers were urged to go to their cabins and then a while later the annoucement to abandon ship came over the tannoy.
I quickly gathered some important belongings and wanted to open my cabin door as it was pushed in by a gush of water. I stayed on my feet and made my way into the corridor which was tilting this way and that. Helping other passengers along towards the crew members who were then helping them towards the exits, I spotted Seta in his wheelchair being pushed by his nurse *away* from the exits. Curious, I followed them carefully as they made their way into the belly of the ship. At the top of the steep steps down to the cargo hold, Seta, the frail, wheelchair bound old man, got out of it and *ran* down the steps. His "nurse" followed and together they opened the big door. He spread this arms and said "Finally! ..." at which point the nurse spotted me, pulled out a revolver and shot at me! Having decided I had seen enough, I hightailed it out of there, with the nurse hot on my heels. I pulled out my .38 and randomly shot behind me, just to keep her head down.
I made it outside, where the last of the lifeboats was being loaded with passengers. Jeffreys, Cpt. de Vere and Miss Brookmyre were there, too, the first two helping people getting into the boat. It was only now that I saw the full damage to the ship, there were whole sections missing. The aft section was sinking faster and faster so we just jumped into the last boat.
We made it far enough away from the ship before it sank. The weather was still bad, dark clouds spiralling above, the water churning below. We were holding on for dear life things calmed down a bit and I was actually dozing off.

What happened next is still not quite clear to me but I do remember being woken up by the boat rocking as something heavy smashed down from above. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was a giant tentacle! As it withdrew, it took two passengers with it into the boiling sea. More tentacles were writhing in the sea, smashing other boats. I fumbled with my revolver but had my doubts as to its effecitiveness towards such a monster so I took out the camera instead and took a handful of shots. Nobody is going to believe me unless I can prove it with a photo!
Mr Jeffreys then grabbed the flare gun from the second officer and hit the giant squid right in the center of its ugly head. The monster vanished in the churning waves but not without aiming one of his tentacles at our boat again. We jumped out and swam away...

I woke up when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Lieutenant Cook, the second officer who had been in the boat with us. I was lying on a wide sandy beach with blue sky and a bright sun above.

I picked myself up and looked around. The beach reached as far as I could see on both sides. I noted with relief that Cpt. de Vere, Jeffreys and Miss Brookmyre were here, too and all in good health, if a bit disshevelled and exhausted looking. Looking around, there was a bit of debris and two strongboxes, the Lt.'s and another one the Cpt. held onto as I recall. We looked around a bit more and found bare footprints and drag marks towards the jungle.
Taking quick inventory, we had several guns with ammunition, a flare gun with a few flares and the clothes on our bodies. No rations or water but that might be found in the jungle.
For that purpose, and to follow the drag marks, the Cpt and Lt. Cook made their way into the jungle while Jeffreys, Miss Brookmyre and myself stayed at the beach.

Curious what the other strongbox contained, I picked the lock but couldn't open it as it was still locked. Miss Brookmyre found another one underneath the handle which she then picked with her hairpin! Inside were several items including various papers with Swastikas in the letterhead in German but apparently encoded, a photo of Thomas Jeffreys, bonds in variuos denominations and a small bag full of jewels. Miss Brookmyre then found a false bottom which contained a disassembled rifle and a notebook in German which ... contained Jeffreys' every move on the ship! This looked like there had been an assassin on board!

There was a series of mighty animal roars which Jeffreys thought sounded like a bear from the jungle, followed by a series of pistol shots. After a while the Cpt. and Cook returned, apparently unharmed and telling about a huge white tigerlike cat they just managed to kill before it ate them. There was also a river with clean water and signs that a canoo had been there, most likely to transport those who had been at the beach before us and were responsible for the drag marks.

Then it was decided we would split up and explore the beach a bit more. I joined Miss Brookmyre and Cook while Jeffreys and deVere went the other way.
After a while, Miss B. pointed out an oddity: the horizon was wrong, it was a lot further away than it should have been
We soon happened across a large travel chest which contained apart from clothes and personal affects a portable radio which curiously, even worked. I turned the dial to find a a frequency with morse codes. Lt. Cook was fiddling with his compass and a stick in the ground as I found him. He showed me the compass, which was spinning wildly, and then he asked, "What time was it when you woke up?". "From the position of the sun, I'd say about noon." - "And how much time has since passed?" - "About two hours, probably." - "Shouldn't have the sun moved by then", he said, pointing straight up, where the sun was still at its highest point. Another mystery...
Regardless, I switched the radio on again to show the morse message to Cook who listened to it and exclaimed, "It's an SOS from the Oceanic!"

We took this news to Jeffreys and the Captain who had found a dress coat which contained among other things a cigarette case and a length of piano wire with two wooden handles. Could this have been the possible assassin's coat? Unfortunately, no clues as to the identity of the owner could be found, except that the coat had been made in Germany.

Upon being told about the odd behaviour of the sun and the "missing" horizon, Captain deVere, reminded us of the story of Admiral (?) who had flown over the poles and discovered a hole deep into the Earth at the North Pole which fed a theory that there was an inverted Earth on the *inside* of ours. Did we stumble into a world that wasn't our own anymore? A scary thought. Still, there was no reason to dwell on these things at the moment, we had more urgent matters to deal with, not least our survival and escape from this place.

Discussing our options, it was decided we would spend the time until sunset exploring the jungle and would go back to the beach after nightfall to set off a flare or possibly spot flares from either the Oceanic or other survivors.
We came to the spot were the Cpt. and Cook had shot the big cat but it was gone, only a pool of blood remained. We found footsteps and drag marks by the river and discussed how to proceed.

It was then when the drums started...

To be continued