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karohemdPreviously
The next morning we set off for the dig site. Aftger Doctor Vargas' hired goons had turned up, we took the professor's and a hired car around the lake towards the dig site. The road was quite bumpy, making for an uncomfortable ride. After going down a slope and round a bend, there was a police car blocking the road. The officer told us the dig site was closed due to an accident and we were told to return to where we came from. Thomas span a yarn about the “London Archaelogical Society” having sent us to investigate and that the site needed to be secured by professionals. Sadly, the policeman would have none of it and told us to leave. So we did.
We drove back a bit, concealed the car in the woods and set off on foot. After wandering around for a while we found the dig site which consisted of six primitive huts, two trucks (one flatbed, one covered), pegged out areas, a well or mineshaft with a wooden gantry above it. Some exposed rock at the bank looked intriguing, too.
I headed around the treeline towards the buildings while Dr Vargas inspected the vehicles. The first building contained 4 bunkbeds. I tried the large building next but it was secured by a large padlock that resisted a good kick but Dr. Vargas managed to pick the lock (a rather unusual pastime for a psychologist, I thoght). Inside there was an office area with bookshelves and desks and a large bunk room. We searched the office but couldn't find anything of interest. We had the distinct impression that someone had been there before us and taken everything that could have told us anything about what was going on, just like in the professor's and Bonaparte's offices. The other buildings didn't reveal anything, either.
The only way the workers who had been here could have gone was down the shaft as the lift had been lowered and had stayed down, as Nicholas had told us so we decided to investigate. Nicholas, I and two of Vargas' goons went down first in the lift which was basically a metal cage suspended from the gantry. The way down was rather peculiar, there was packed earth and rock on three sides (as you would expect) but the fourth side was made of smooth stone blocks that fit together neatly without mortar, like in the old Maya ruins or the pyramids of Egypt. At the bottom was a small chamber with a muddy floor over which some planks had been laid. There was a short tunnel with a crawlspace at the end leading off into utter darkness.
I got on my hands and knees and crawled through the space for about four metres until the crawlspace opened out
into a room, about ten metres square and high, also built of those smooth, regular blocks. There was a corridor leading to the left. I called for the others to come through (meanwhile the lift had been sent up again and the rest had come down).
When everybody was assembled in the square room, we heard a faint voice from the other side of the corridor but were unable to make out any details so we set of carefully down the corridor. The walls were most peculiar. First made up from those large, regular slabs, the slabs subdivided, becoming smaller and smaller and in turn more in numbers, until the individual pieces were so tiny one was unable to discern their shape and it was basically a tunnel cut from smooth rock. We carried on and we head the voice again, whimpering.
The tunnel opened out into a huge, spherical cavern. In the centre was a raised dais, with a circular slab of crystal on top, on which an unhealthy looking gentleman lay, stripped to the waist. His chest was a mess of blood, red bubbles rising and bursting with each shallow and laboured breath. Before anyone could stop him, Nicholas raced over, grabbed the man's hand and tried to pull him off. Something was wrong, Nicholas started groaning and jerking so I grabbed Nicholas and pulled, one goon pulled the man's leg, another goon pushed from the other side until the man finally detaches from the slab, exploding in a shower blood and intestines, accompanied by the most horrific scream...
There was a brief burst of static and our two electric torches flicker and go out. We took this as our cue to leave so we headed back out and up, Nicholas for whatever reason dragging the eviscerated corpse behind him. Back on the surface, we heard vehicles approaching and made for the treeline. Three trucks with a large numer of burly men in dark clothes pulled up. They found the corpse which Nicholas had finally left behind as he fled into the woods. Armed guards headed out in various directions, one of them coming towards us so we retreated further into the woods and split up. We successfully managed to stay clear of our pursuers by leading them this way and that and in circles but away from our cars, where we finally arrived, except Nicholas. Robert went back into the woods searching for him and eventually bringing him back. We bundle in the remaining car (Dr. Vargas had already left in the professor's) and took off back to civilisation.
The next morning we set off for the dig site. Aftger Doctor Vargas' hired goons had turned up, we took the professor's and a hired car around the lake towards the dig site. The road was quite bumpy, making for an uncomfortable ride. After going down a slope and round a bend, there was a police car blocking the road. The officer told us the dig site was closed due to an accident and we were told to return to where we came from. Thomas span a yarn about the “London Archaelogical Society” having sent us to investigate and that the site needed to be secured by professionals. Sadly, the policeman would have none of it and told us to leave. So we did.
We drove back a bit, concealed the car in the woods and set off on foot. After wandering around for a while we found the dig site which consisted of six primitive huts, two trucks (one flatbed, one covered), pegged out areas, a well or mineshaft with a wooden gantry above it. Some exposed rock at the bank looked intriguing, too.
I headed around the treeline towards the buildings while Dr Vargas inspected the vehicles. The first building contained 4 bunkbeds. I tried the large building next but it was secured by a large padlock that resisted a good kick but Dr. Vargas managed to pick the lock (a rather unusual pastime for a psychologist, I thoght). Inside there was an office area with bookshelves and desks and a large bunk room. We searched the office but couldn't find anything of interest. We had the distinct impression that someone had been there before us and taken everything that could have told us anything about what was going on, just like in the professor's and Bonaparte's offices. The other buildings didn't reveal anything, either.
The only way the workers who had been here could have gone was down the shaft as the lift had been lowered and had stayed down, as Nicholas had told us so we decided to investigate. Nicholas, I and two of Vargas' goons went down first in the lift which was basically a metal cage suspended from the gantry. The way down was rather peculiar, there was packed earth and rock on three sides (as you would expect) but the fourth side was made of smooth stone blocks that fit together neatly without mortar, like in the old Maya ruins or the pyramids of Egypt. At the bottom was a small chamber with a muddy floor over which some planks had been laid. There was a short tunnel with a crawlspace at the end leading off into utter darkness.
I got on my hands and knees and crawled through the space for about four metres until the crawlspace opened out
into a room, about ten metres square and high, also built of those smooth, regular blocks. There was a corridor leading to the left. I called for the others to come through (meanwhile the lift had been sent up again and the rest had come down).
When everybody was assembled in the square room, we heard a faint voice from the other side of the corridor but were unable to make out any details so we set of carefully down the corridor. The walls were most peculiar. First made up from those large, regular slabs, the slabs subdivided, becoming smaller and smaller and in turn more in numbers, until the individual pieces were so tiny one was unable to discern their shape and it was basically a tunnel cut from smooth rock. We carried on and we head the voice again, whimpering.
The tunnel opened out into a huge, spherical cavern. In the centre was a raised dais, with a circular slab of crystal on top, on which an unhealthy looking gentleman lay, stripped to the waist. His chest was a mess of blood, red bubbles rising and bursting with each shallow and laboured breath. Before anyone could stop him, Nicholas raced over, grabbed the man's hand and tried to pull him off. Something was wrong, Nicholas started groaning and jerking so I grabbed Nicholas and pulled, one goon pulled the man's leg, another goon pushed from the other side until the man finally detaches from the slab, exploding in a shower blood and intestines, accompanied by the most horrific scream...
There was a brief burst of static and our two electric torches flicker and go out. We took this as our cue to leave so we headed back out and up, Nicholas for whatever reason dragging the eviscerated corpse behind him. Back on the surface, we heard vehicles approaching and made for the treeline. Three trucks with a large numer of burly men in dark clothes pulled up. They found the corpse which Nicholas had finally left behind as he fled into the woods. Armed guards headed out in various directions, one of them coming towards us so we retreated further into the woods and split up. We successfully managed to stay clear of our pursuers by leading them this way and that and in circles but away from our cars, where we finally arrived, except Nicholas. Robert went back into the woods searching for him and eventually bringing him back. We bundle in the remaining car (Dr. Vargas had already left in the professor's) and took off back to civilisation.
