Butters

So has anyone watched the live recordings and if so what do you think, good bad or indifferent? and does anyone have any tips or advice should the Doctor concentrate on upping his medical skills or should he improve his swordsmanship in an effort to live long enough to actually heal people?

Bloody awesome, and you're so right those cannons do offer up some interesting ideas...cue evil G.M laugh.

FAST RECAP The ship The Party jumped into the dark political world of slave trading with both feet and after some bargaining, spying, and betrayal they ended up leaving happy and with a hold full of dejected Africans who now found themselves chained up and heading to the New World. The Peony made fantastic time fair flying across the waves none of the sailors could remember the weather ever being so favourable in the past the skies remained clear and the wind always seemed to be strong and from the east filling the sails and pushing the ship onwards. Well, that was until the last leg of the journey when the ship entered the dreaded doldrums and with the wind dropping to almost nothing Cose had to lower the ship's boat and with heavy ropes attached they began the back-breaking task of towing the ship across the now mill pond like ocean. After a couple of weirdly timeless days pass another ship was spotted a quarter of a mile of the Port Bow and the Captain ordered the ship's boat untied and a boarding party to go across and investigate, the boarding party consisted of Cuthbert, Wilhelm, the first mate and a couple of English sailors in rather fetching red flannel shirts. The ship was a technological wonder it was half submerged and leaning at a 45% angle but still, the boarding party could see that it was not a wooden vessel but seemed to be made of metal this was worrying news as when the vessel was first spotted the rumour was that it was one of the new Spanish treasure ships that gossip had been sent over after the last Pirate attacks. As the boarding party got closer they could see signs that the ship had been attacked as huge rents could now be seen in the ships metal hull. Huge holes had been punched into the ship and sections of plate had been peeled away. The ship was full of strange fungi, moss and other exotic plants and one of them seemed to have seeds of pure gold. The gold fever this sparked was cut short somewhat by the attacking squid and the clockwork spiders. Investigating the main hold they found a wonderous carriage that was extremely opulent and again had strange technological embellishments as they paused to examine this wonder they failed to notice the clockwork spiders unfurl jerkingly from the ceiling of the carriage before dropping behind them. More and more clockwork spiders started to appear and with startling speed, they attacked and soon the boarding party was fighting for their lives. They made a run for the ladder leading out of the hold and almost made it apart from a few cuts and contusions but as they were stacking up at the bottom of the ladder the clockwork spiders suddenly surged forwards again and managed to drag down one of the sailors before he had managed to climb high enough.The others deciding that discretion is the better part of valour leave him to his fate and instead rush back through the black goo filled corridors and head back at a rate of knots to the Peony. The Captain was informed and he decided that gold or not they would leave the strange ship for the more foolish to deal with. His decision was helped by the wind finally picking up and the ship's sails started to twitch before filling out with a weak but growing ever stronger breeze. The Peony was soon again heading to the island of Roatan and the Party was kept busy with various tasks, Cuthbert learned to handle cannons and the Doctor tried to keep the slaves alive and ready for the auction. Roatan The tropical island was reached and the Peony anchored off the small English outpost that was located on the western end of the island. A wooden stockade sat high up upon a wide beach which faced a reefed lagoon. The captain, some crew and the Party went across and gifts were exchanged with the man who presented himself as the Governor and after some dealing the word went out that a new batch of slaves had arrived and was ready for viewing. Buccaneers sailed across to the mainland to make arrangements and to inform the logging camps that new flesh was up for sale. The Party and crew enjoyed the pleasures of the small village the one drinking establishment saw heavy use, as well as the makeshift church and everyone, was starting to feel safe and rested as injuries healed and food and drink were consumed which didn't contain weevils. That was until the stockade was hit during the night by a raiding force of Spanish. The Party barely made it through the night unprepared as they were and if it wasn't for the well-trained militia and the cannons of the Peony the stockade would have been wiped out leaving nothing but ash and the warning that the English were not welcomed in these waters. In the smoke-filled morning, the burnt remains of the outer camp could be seen the tents and rough cabins were burnt out and it looked like that many of the poorer inhabitants had paid the highest price for a hope of a new life. The stockade itself was in a pretty bad way a huge opening had been blasted through the wooden wall by the island-gate and some of the buildings had suffered the same fate as those beyond. Bodies lay strewn in piles by the gates and outside alongside the walls where the Spanish had tried to break through before being stopped by the militias firepower. Cuthbert was blackened by soot and seemed oddly saddened when he saw that many of the stockades canons now lay bent and buried in the sand. The Governor angrily refused to leave instead claiming that they would rebuild bigger and better and that no Spanish scum would force them to leave their new homes, they had all sacrificed too much already just to get here. Captain Cose ordered his crew to help out with the initial clear up, fires were put, supplies gathered, Spanish bodies stripped and dragged into the jungle to be burnt whilst the small church soon had a large number of sad sandy mounds surrounding it but the Captain said that he could only stay until the last high tide as he planned to leave and seek shelter instead on the mainland and its stronger fortifications. More later ran out of time....

I have fallen somewhat behind (shock horror) on these but if you crave more thrilling seventeenth-century adventure involving this motley bunch then check out the G.M's blog page at http://vanishingtower.blogspot.com as we are experimenting with YouTube live (Now that is an existential horror) 😮

Now that is an interesting idea, it's also a great plot MacGuffin as a portable power source would be a huge game changer.

The only clockwork item I have tried to get into the game so far (Couldn't find a clockwork Preacher in time) was a clockwork flashbang type of device. The first prototype was just a brass tin with holes circling the top which you could set to go off at certain time intervals via a clockwork firing device whilst the second one was going to have legs.😮

Attack squirrels riding chameleon wolves, now there's a thought.

See everyone thinks that spiky death hands are cool until you get an itch, and then bang you're suddenly missing an eye...and possibly talking an octave higher.

Awesome, Clockwork Bears for the win. That is one cool idea.

Thanks for all the replies I had somehow missed the research option for Learning a new skill. Since my character is currently hacking his way through the Jungle I'm hoping that since it's a relatively easy skill that I want to learn I can just take the time and have a Karate Kid style montage with a friendly native where he reveals the secrets of wax on wax off.

Lol all true but I'm trying to get used to the mechanics of the game and whilst this is not the first time the desire to learn another skill has come up its certainly as you say the simplest and it seems that not many characters take teaching as a skill and that includes N.P.C's. At the moment we have just hand waved it by going "He knows how to fire cannons, stay with him for two weeks and the G.M makes a roll and decides. I'm just wondering if we could just use teaching on its default level if a character doesnt have it when the situation crops up again in the future to give some sort of transparent mechanics otherwise I don't think we will ever find a competent teacher.

Teaching is an advanced skill but can it default to the Int + Cha characteristics as we are not meeting a lot of N.P.C's with the skill and I really want to learn a new skill. we are currently traveling through the Rainforest with some natives and I'm thinking that knowing how to use a spear would be really handy especially as the gunpowder becomes too damp but it's doubtful that any of the natives have the teaching skill.

THOMASON TRACTS More dispatches from our undercover reporter Polly CrackerWe made good time down the coast of West Africa and apart from a few native canoes which approached the ship selling fresh fruit and other luxuries we encountered no other vessels, though Captain Cose did have the cannons run out and the ready ammunition lockers on the top deck filled, just in case as Meloncelli told me later as I was washing up that it wasn't unknown for ships to be attacked this close to the coast as everyone knew that ships sailing down would be full of trade goods. He also told me that he had overheard some of the passengers asking the Captain about Bombay and the Association but the Captain had ordered him out before he could overhear more, Melconcelli added that the Captain seemed annoyed and Webber who was lurking in a dark corner looked ready to murder someone "I was glad to get out of there, to be honest, some things are too dangerous to know" he shot me a meaningful look before adding in a concerned tone "You no tell anyone whata you hear? could get us both inna trouble, capiche? he then grabbed me tightly by the arm until I nodded. He let me go and smiled sadly "I talk too much sometimes" We continued to have a fair wind that kept the sails full and the Peony fair flew across the crystal blue waters until the Captain ordered that sail be taken in, it seemed we were about to reach Mbey.The weather remained clear and humid as we sailed closer to the shore, the Captain ordered the cannons manned and for old Toby to get into the crows nest and to keep an eye out. The Passengers were asked to remain between decks as the Captain ordered Webber to start steering four degrees starboard. Suddenly we heard a shout from Tom, it seemed he had spotted a mast poking up from behind the rapidly approaching rocky outcrops. The Captain ordered the remaining sails reefed, the men to ready stations and if Tom could make out any flags or anything else to help identify the ship. Tom soon shouted out that he could see a red ensign, could this be a friendly ship then? The ship slowed but we still had a lot of speed to bleed off and we wouldn't be able to hide much longer. Webber steered the slowing ship around the headland and we saw the harbour of Mbey for the first time. Mbey was large bay scooped out of the rocky coast a large sandy beach sloped down to meet the water, and a few jetties big enough for skiffs and rowboats snaked out from the sand, a few flat-roofed buildings could be seen at the edge of the beach and Tom pointed inland and shouted out that the could see smoke and thatched roofs about a quarter of a mile in. Activity could be seen on the other ship now as it's crew finally spotted the Peony, the cannon were being run out and cries of alarm and command could be heard over the buzzing of insects and cawing of strange gaily coloured birds. The Captain ordered the red ensign and the flag of Kings Lynn to be run out and for a signal to be sent "Long live Parliament" I looked up from my position next to the ammunition bin and I could just make out Grace painted in gold across the other ships stern as she turned broadside onto us.After a tense moment or two where both ships faced off against each other Captain Cose ordered the gun ports closed and the cannons run in, I can tell you I let out an explosive breath that I didn't even know I had been holding. I hadn't been in a naval battle yet but the others talked and well just one look at one eyed Stumpy was proof enough of how dangerous they could be.So it was with some relief when I heard the Captain call for the remaining sails to be furled and the anchor to be dropped this was done in silence, the only voice to be heard was Davids as he called out the depth from his position on the bow. When all was ready the Captain ordered the ship's boat lowered and crewed and for the Passengers to join him. The Passengers came up from their bunks, heavily armed and with grim determined looks, I thought they could have seen off any boarding party that tried to take our ship. They walked over to the Captain and after a brief talk seemed to agree with him and they climbed over the rail and down into the boat below. The Captain quickly spoke to Master Webber and then he to was gone into the boat. The boat was rowed across to the Grace and I could just hear them calling up for permission to come aboard.This next part has been pieced together from what Polly Cracker overheard later onCraven told me that it was pretty tense on the boat as they neared the wooden bulk of the Grace as armed men could be seen waiting for them. Craven said they were feeling pretty naked but then that one of the Passengers stood up causing the boat to wallow somewhat alarmingly but before anyone could ask what the fuck he was doing he had called out to someone on the ship and after a pause a voice called back "It's alright gentlemen, they're friends of a sort." The passenger who had stood up I think he was the one called Doctor Death or something sat back down with a smile and seeing the expressions on his friend's faces and our own calmly said "Oh sorry did I startle you? seeing how worried everyone seemed I thought it best to let my associate know who we were, Quentin Lambert is his name, he's a merchant from Norfolk. Must admit I'm surprised to see him here but his red hair is somewhat hard to forget" We hooked the boat onto the grace and the Passengers and the Captain went up. We were ordered to wait until they came back. And after half an hour they did look somewhat pissed off but alive and I didn't see any muskets pointing our way as we rowed off.Now wanting to do Mr. Thomason proud I asked around and the rumor was that the Grace was sailing under the flag of the Virginian company out of the colonies but that it was currently under contract to Parliament itself and had travelled here for the same reasons as ourselves. In fact, Meloncelli told me later on that there wasn't a slave to be had anywhere within fifty miles of Mbey and that we would have to wait until the next war party came back or one of the Muslim merchant caravans travelled through the area which could take weeks. I asked him why Parliament wanted slaves as weren't all Englishman free, were they making a new army? Meloncelli shook his head and laughed "They aren't Englishman remember Ha they are not even Scottish so it's okay for them to be slaves, no it's coin the men in Parliament want, the slaves will be sold in the New World for a healthy markup and the profits will go back to keep Parliaments soldiers loyal and the dockyards busy.When I was changing the Passengers slop buckets I heard two of them, the Doctor and the grim Imperial discussing someone called Saul who the Doctor had spoken to on the Grace. The Doctor was asking if the German had heard of him as he to had fought both men and witches on the continent. Whilst the Doctor seemed happy that his friend was on the Grace the Imperial seemed somehow impatient to meet him, but smelling the shit they noticed me and walked away deeper into the ship.A message came from the shore, the local chief was throwing a feast in honour of both crews, I heard Webber grumble that the man just wanted us to stay around so he could get our guns cheap knowing that we couldn't stay too long. The Captain would have to decide what the most profitable course was stay and sell here or sail down the coast for a few days and hope that there were slaves for sale in another town. I was picked to go along with the Captain the Passengers and some of the senior crew to the feast. I knew I would be waiting on the Captain but I was still excited to see a King even if he was only a pretend heathen one. Polly Cracker can again give a first-hand accountWe took the ships boat across the harbour just as the sun was setting, the night was still and humid and the Captain was in his best uniform, the long velvet coat and matching petticoat with all the lacy bits which take ages to clean especially if soaked in gravy, his baggy beeches with white stockings and his new leather baldric from which his best rapier hung, overall he looked very commanding. The Passengers seemed to have made an effort as well but their finery still looked a little ruffled and creased to me as if they hadn't had chance to wear them often. They were obviously heavily armed and in the case of the two Doctors slightly jittery as Doctor Norton kept looking around intently as if he expected someone to jump out and attack him whilst Bert the leader remained in his seat and barely moved a muscle just occasionally snorting if asked a question, he seemed to want to be far as far away from the other Doctor for some reason but that's rich folk for you. The few senior crew had also dragged out their best and it was a surprise to see Bradshaw the ships carpenter/surgeon in breeches. We pulled up alongside one of the jetties which was lined along one side by very lean and tall black men each one held aloft a flaming torch and I admit I was a little awed. The natives all wore similar clothes, a long loincloth which ended just below the knees, thick brass rings which went up to mid-shin from their bare feet. More rings were worn on their arms but these seemed to be made of jade and polished stone instead of brass and their heads were covered in a strange looking cap of bright colours which had a short crest which ran from the back to the middle of the cap and overall they looked truly terrifying. The ships boat bumped against the stone pillars of the jetty and a boy ran out of the line and gathered up the thrown rope to secure the boat. The Captain climbed out and he was swiftly followed by the senior crew and looking around he called out in his oddly accented English "My name is Captain Cose Waterman, Captain of the Peony and I have come to brake bread with the great Chieftain Ngoone Sobel" the black men remained silent and still like some sort of statue but just as the Captain was going to call out again a silky voice with a strange accent spoke from behind the nearest tribesman "Ah good Captain Waterman, It is so good to finally meet you at last" a small dusky hued man wearing a set of gaudy clothes in the Spanish style appeared and held out one hand to shake the Captains whilst he twirled his moustache with the other "I apologise for not meeting you earlier but affairs of state you understand?" he bowed slightly and gestured towards the beach "This way please" he then stops almost immediately and turns to the Captain "Oh I do beg your pardon I always expect everyone to know me down here" he gives a grin "My name is Senhor Tadakki Marcelo, the Portuguese consul for this region" he then continues heading towards the beach "Please follow me, we wouldn't want to keep the Chief waiting now would we?" he then strode off leaving the rest of us to sort ourselves out and to quickly follow, the tribesmen remained still and silent.The Consul led us to a trail that led up from the beach and as soon as we were close enough he started to point out some of the local features "Ah good of you to join me as you can see we have everything set up to make everything run as smoothly as possible, those huts there are the final holding cells for the merchandise each one can hold fifty slaves securely until they can be transported to the ships. Giulio stops and looks at the stone buildings with their tiny windows which even though barely more than a slit in the wall were still barred and whistled quietly "Fifty men in each? I have seen bigger cupboards" The Consul continued to talk about the effectiveness of the operation as if he was a stall holder at a village market. He leads them past stocks, posts which hung heavy with chain, some of the posts I saw gleamed wetly in the setting sun and various blockhouse and pens all which seemed empty. Senhor Marcelo then took a cobbled path which led off towards the right and after passing through a wooden stockade did his slight bow again and said "Welcome to Mbey gentleman" The village was fairly large, a stout wooden stockade surrounded it keeping it separate from the forest and the slave pens the gate was guarded by more silent statues in their strange caps these ones though held short spears and had large wooden clubs thrust through wide belts of leather instead of the torches. More men could be seen walking along the parapet above each one armed with a bow and a wicked looking dagger. Captain Cose called the Consul over and pointing to the armed men "What is the meaning of this? I was told this was a secure station and yet I am seeing a lot of armed men." the Consul smiled "Oh rest assured gentlemen it is, all of this is to honour you and the men from the Grace" he pauses before continuing "Well to be honest it's mostly to honour the crew of the Grace but since you are here..." the Consul leads us towards the middle of the settlement chatting all the time telling the Captain how it all works that the slave caravans arrive every so many weeks bringing in the tribes defeated enemies, the poor and the indebted all to be sold to the West to till the land and work the plantations in disease infested Caribbean. I was very interested in the settlement and was surprised how closely it resembled my home village back in Lincolnshire, well in general looks and feel at least. The walls of most of the buildings seemed to be made out of wattle and daub just like home and though the thatch was some kind of native jungle plant instead of straw it still looked similar enough. The streets were of packed earth and very narrow I could see pens for animals built close by to the homes as well. The few people we saw stayed in the shadows but I still saw flashes of colour from their robes as they watched as go past. The route was fairly winding and every few yards one of the statue men stood, silently watching us a short spear with a wicked looking point grounded at their sides, even though parts of it reminded me of home they only made the whole thing somehow unreal as when you added the people, heat, smells and the noise of the strange animals. I felt very far from home yet I was still fascinated by what I saw. After about ten, fifteen minutes we were near the middle of the village and suddenly one minute was in the close winding streets then in the next we found ourselves in a wide cleared space with a walled compound sat in the middle, sounds of music and laughter could be heard coming from the large center building and as the sun dipped beyond the horizon we were ushered in past the gates and the formidable men that guarded them, these men were tall and wiry not an ounce of fat on them and their jewelry was of a higher quality than any we had seen before, their arms and legs were covered in bands of gold and they had necklaces of precious stones hanging from their necks, various other trinkets seemed to hang off from the belt of their loincloths but the worst thing for us was that each one was not only armed with a fearsome looking sword but that they cradled in their arms a shiny new wheel lock musket. Seeing us all fall silent the Consul looks around and seeing what has caught our attention sighs "Yes I was going to mention that, that's the reason there are no slaves here currently is that the Grace sold a shipment of guns to the Chief mere days ago and as you can see they are of far finer quality than the wares you brought"

Not sure to be honest, to speed things up if its a big attack the red shirts get auto hit and depending if leading from the front or not the N.P.S's get a dodge roll to dive to the ground/side to avoid the shot. Roll a D12 for medium cannon, rolls up a six so six men hit five are cutthroats and get hit whilst Hell Hath no Fury Jones a named N.P.C who was leading the charge gets his dodge roll as he see's the Roundheads touch flame to the cannon. Going to be a little vague and up to the G.M really I guess in most cases and Players will have to be fairly clear on where they are in relation to any barricade and cannons.

Experimental Grapeshot rules,A bag containing eight/ twelve/twenty* small metal balls, when firing into a crowd roll to hit as normal then roll a d8/d12/d20 to see how many of the balls hit the crowd then roll for damage as normal (adjust for caliber) for any that hit.Light, medium and heavy cannon. Is this a workable and fair adjustment to the rules when using Canister/Grapeshot in a cannon?

Clockwork Device,Spectacles of AmplitudeThe lenses are set inside a copper array that is fastened to a wide leather belt that wraps around the head and buckles at the back. The small levers for controlling the length of the single brass tube are located over the right spectacle, just above the ear which allows the wearer to adjust the magnification of the device easily and fairly quickly with only the slightest whirr of clockwork as the brass tube moves back and forth. Rumours of people losing an eye to this device after a malfunction are strenuously denied by The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers.Plus 20 to Perception tests involving sight.Cost: 25 shillingsComplexity: 2Size: 1Hit Points: 1Speed: 0Armour: 0Weapons: N/A

The shorter Thomson tracts are an attempt to catch up with where we actually are in the game currently as it was taking me longer and longer to finish these reports, I was getting somewhat carried away going back because I'd forgotten something cool and of course those endless, endless spell checks🙄 They are going to be somewhat short lived though as I'm not sure how I'm going to smuggle the reporter, Old Thomason into the deadly jungles of South America where the gang is currently, hot on the heels of that evil madman Mallebeench.

You've most likely seen by now it but just to add its worth checking out p 53 ( Renaissance deluxe) and the Special Combat Situations chapter which explains the whole thing, what you can do ref extra attacks and parries, the penalties and what you need to do to avoid those penalties if you want to build a character that way. 🙋‍♂️

Never has a link been clicked so fast.

Just wondering what kind of Clockwork powered insanity people have added to their games of Clockwork and Chivalry (Or at least tried to slip past the G.M 😋) I'm still trying to figure out how to get one of these bad boys in.

That is a good question, there doesn't seem to be an option. I guess you could just edit, delete the offending post and just replace it with something else? some of the maps would be cool.

Whoops I made a bit of a mistake as Sir Bernard de Gomme was a Dutchman who fought for the Royalist cause but hey he's got a great name so I'm sticking to it maybe he was seduced by the power of the mainspring?

Sell your soul! Well you made a deal with the devil and now your soul is mine. You sold it for eternity when you signed that dotted line, You will taste the bullet of another gun when it comes down to the end, So long, farewell I'll see you in hell my friend. . The Doctor gave up trying to figure the image out as the effort was making him feel somewhat nauseous. Mallebeench continued "This medallion will grant you some protection from my sons incantations and it may open some locked doors as it were" So with coins of allegiance and the medallion in hand Mallebeench took out a strangely carved pipe and started to fill it with a dark greenish tobacco, after a few puffs to get it going he sighed and leaning back in his chair expanded on the CL.U.Ber's task. "You have six months to complete this task I have set you, after that I fear it will be too late and my son will have completed his task and my boon will have run out. You will need to go to see my man in Kings Lynn his name is Emmanuel Harper and runs my shipping concern at the Three Sisters show him the coin and he will arrange your passage to the New World. Once you reach Honduras you will need to seek out the Kayo tribe and a place known as Bendal-Dolum where my foolish son is trying to control powers far beyond him. The medallion will be of use here so I suggest you don't lose it" he watches the CL.U.Ber's intently the Doctor seems resigned to his fate but Wilhelm seems ready to kill only resisting the urge with the greatest of effort. He takes another long drag of his pipe and finishes off "I want you to bring my son back before he tries this foolhardy plan and potentially wakes something that should stay sleeping. He has no idea what danger he is in blinded as he is by jealousy and envy, you bring him back to me and I will punish him as is a fathers duty, do this and you will be greatly rewarded fail and....well I guess it won't matter to either of us." The chamber becomes even more quiet and still, Elizabeth stands behind Wilhelm who seems very uncomfortable and you could almost hear him grinding his teeth in frustration, the Doctor looked beaten and worried each man lost in their own thoughts. The silence is broken by an awful screeching sound all eyes turn to look at Elizabeth who looks shocked and shakes her head explaining that she is not making the noise. The cry breaks the now shocked silence and an owl suddenly swoops down from out of darkness flies down the length of the table to land in front of Mallebeench who smiles and throws it a piece of bloody meat which it gobbles down with relish. It then swivels its head to look at Wilhelm and caws again (Wilhelm hears it in his head talking to him and it tells him in a hideous voice "You will come to a terrible end, this will not end well for you") Wilhelm counter this by imagining tucking into a meal roast owl. The owl leans back and ruffles its feathers and then with a final mocking hoot it flies off to land on Mallebeench's shoulder where it continues to make soft hooting noises some might say almost as if it was laughing. Mallebeench places his pipe down onto the table and stands "Gentleman the meal is over and my hospitality is almost at an end so I suggest you find your companions and make your way to Kings Lynn. Elizabeth licks her lips and smiles "Your friends are alive but only by my grace as I found them to be rude and disrespectful." she gives a slight shudder "Especially the brute with the interesting face, I had to show him the correct way to treat a lady" she seems to fade out but then she turns back to the CL.U.Ber's "I think they were heading out to the garden through the pen drains" she gives a girlish giggle "So you should be able to smell them even if you can't see them" and with that she steps back and indicates one of the doors behind the standing Mallebeench "This way gentleman, this way" and she escorts them to the door and points to the tunnel behind "Follow this and stay to the left and it will lead you to the gardens" she brushes her pale golden hair back and with a curious smile adds "Oh Doctor would you be so kind and remember me to your cousin" the Doctor nods and replies that he would be happy to and with a last look back at the now dark chamber the last candle guttering out with the slight breeze coming from the open door the CL.U.Ber's leave the strange old man and the pale lady behind and follow this new tunnel hopefully back into the almost forgotten sunshine, the pure air of England and with a little luck their comrades.

Going underground, going underground Well let the boys all sing and the boys all shout for tomorrowA slightly out of breath Ralph rushes back into the study "I've found" he takes a gulp of air and tries again "I've found..a way out" the others look at him with some relief "Thank the Lord we've seen more and more men these last few minutes" the Doctor quickly begins gathering up his equipment and continues "I don't suppose you found Lord Mallebench down there as well perchance?" Ralph shakes his head "No, the basement was pretty bare to be honest the way out is through a disused well, it looks like it connects with a series of tunnels below" Giulio suddenly cries out "Ti vedo diavolo" and discharges his pistol at some unseen target he turns and looks at the others and with a crooked grin tells the them "I think our friends grow bored, if we go we need to go now I think" The Doctor pulls Lysette of the chair and roughly pulls down her gag "You said Mallebench was down below? but my cousin tells us that the basement is empty so where the bloody hell is he?" she twists in his grip but answers him, her eyes burning pure hate "I told you the Lord is below he mourns for his lost son" the Doctor shakes her "Enough woman, did you not hear what I just said the basement is empty, he is not there." she laughs "I never said he was in the basement, I just said he was below, never said anything about how deep now did I" the Doctor thrusts her back into the seat cursing. Giulio fires off another shot then grabs his gear and heads back into the main part of the room "I can see twelve men out there now all armed with muskets and the lord knows what else and yet more are coming. We can make them pay dearly if they storm this house but we are not set up to withstand a siege" Ralph grabs Lysette and makes his decision as he jogs out towards the basement, the others follow whilst Giulio and the Doctor reach for their tinderboxes and with slightly evil grins they nod to each other and start to set fire to the drapes and the other soft furnishings. Once they have a few small fires going they rush off after the others, smoke already starting to billow up behind them.Ralph having reached the well drops Lysette onto the floor and starts to clamber down he soon reaches the dry bottom and seeing no immediate danger in the gloom kneels down and gets a lantern out of his pack. The lit lantern reveals more of the tunnels, he seems to have come down in the middle of a narrow but fairly high ceilinged tunnel faced with cut stone, the high vaulted ceiling almost lost in the darkness above. Looking around he notices that the tunnel seems abandoned the floor covered in deep dust whilst above unbroken cobwebs fill the void thickly "Strange" muses Ralph "I would have thought to see more signs of use if what Lysette tells us is true" but his train of thought is broken with a shout of "Catch" from Wilhelm and as he looks up he sees the lithe form of Lysette falling towards him he moves quickly and is just able to catch her she lands in his arms with a who-mph of expelled air and a pure look of anger on her face. Ralph looks down at her and smiles "I don't know why you are angry Miss I caught you didn't I?" she squirms and as he places her on the floor she manages to lash out with her foot catching Ralph on the shin "Ow" he wags one meaty finger in front of her "Enough of that young lady" then he grabs her before she can get any more funny ideas and slings her over his shoulder muttering something about how there is no pleasing some people. By the time he has got himself shorted the others have managed to make their way down into the tunnels alongside him. The Doctor struggling a bit with all his kit especially when his jack box got momentarily wedged and he couldn't get it free enough to finish climbing down. Luckily for him, Giulio was above and was happy to lend a helpful if heavy foot. With the Party finally all gathered at the bottom of the well Lysette was questioned again but it seems that she had never been down here before "These are the Master's domains, we are not allowed to tread here" this reply was met with much cursing from various members of the Party. The Doctor shrugs and steps into the middle of the tunnel looks around and licking his finger sticks it out and waits his eyes closed. After an awkward pause his eyes suddenly open and he points to the left "This way gentleman, I think I can feel the faintest of breezes coming from this direction so let's get some more light and then let's get going" he pulls open his pack rummages around before pulling out a huge candle. He lights it and then removes his helmet and somewhat awkwardly drips some of the now melted wax onto the top of the brim of the helmet and then sticks the candle on top of it. Grinning as he turns to the others and gives a slight bow "See hands free" Ralph punches him lightly in the shoulder and tells him to stop mucking about and get on with it.They head down the narrow corridor and at first easily avoid the cobwebs but further on they thicken and fill more and more of the tunnel and the Party soon have to start pushing their way through. Ralph's going is made slightly easier as he uses the slung Lysette's backside as a plough. With her being slightly higher she is the first to start screaming (If somewhat muffled) she had been wriggling for a while but Ralph had just ignored her and so had just continued to plough his way through the webs but with her screaming, he had finally decided to see what all the fuss was about. The others are forced to stack up behind him unable to pass his bulk the Doctor ahead at first unaware of whats going on continues for a few further steps until he too stops and now like the rest begins to scratch himself and brush at his clothes. As soon as Lysettes feet touch the ground she spins around revealing her back and in the dim light it shimmers and moves darkly somehow whilst reflecting the light back. "What the Feck?" and then he and the others start to cry out in shocked pain as something or somethings begin to bite. Thomas bringing up the rear is the first to realise whats happening as he sees thousands of small black hairy bodies pour out of the ceiling above and down the webs onto the Party beneath. He to starts to feel the sharp pain of hundreds of tiny fangs biting into his flesh his armour useless against the tiny horde. The others are now screaming as the hundreds become thousands and the thousands become millions. The Party flail around desperately some of them smashing themselves into the walls of the corridor trying desperately to crush the tiny arachnids Wilhelm wiping spiders off his face cries "RUN" and shoves Ralph hard in the back Ralph staggers forward but gets moving soon hitting the Doctor and pushing him forward the others staggering closely behind still beating at themselves trying to brush off the spiders. Thomas grabs the now fully covered Lysette and drags her after him. They run barreling their way through the webs, trying to keep their eyes free of the tiny bodies at least long enough to keep a rough idea on their general direction. They finally find themselves clear of the cobwebs and in a large stone chamber they all immediately start to strip wrenching at armour, ripping away at clothes with a crazed desperation, trying to get at the biting spiders beneath. There follows a period of splashing water, frenzied brushing and beating and rolling around on the floor and a lot of very ungodly cursing. Finally, the spiders are removed or killed, clothes double checked and then gingerly put on again and everybody is bleeding from all the tiny bite marks that redly cover their bodies. The Doctor begins treating the bites with Apple cider which soon soothes the pain but Lysette is a problem she has suffered terribly and being tied up had been unable to keep the spiders away from her face all this had unnerved her somewhat and she seemed now as a child unable to talk, unable to think even to react to the outside world. After cleaning themselves up they looked around the room they now found themselves in, it was a large stone chamber with a stone floor. Thankfully it was clear of cobwebs but it was dominated by a large black statue of a faceless figure sat upon a huge forbidding throne as the slightly embarrassed Party grumbled their way towards it more details could be made out. Flanking the statue were two doors each locked closed, one by a stout door whilst the other was secured by an iron portcullis. Giulio headed towards the statue along with Wilhelm and Thomas, Ralph headed over to check out the doors and the Doctor? well, he remained with Lysette and tried to coax some life back into her.Ralph examined the two doors, they were extremely well made the door was of heavy and thick oak with iron bands further strengthening the door. The lock itself was again a heavy solid piece and proved resistant to picking. Ralph took a couple of swings against the door with one of his hatchets but only managed to knock off a couple of splinters. Rolling his shoulder he tries again but still the door remains solidly closed. Giulio and the others tried to read the inscription at the base of the statue but apart from figuring out it was Arabic in nature could make out little else so they joined Ralph in trying to get the doors open. There was a lot of prying, hammering and general nonsense but they to had to admit defeat as neither door showed signs of budging. Giulio had remained at the statue he admired the craftsmanship if not the slightly sinister subject matter he stroked his hand along one dusty flank of the statue and turned to Lysette "I came here looking to create such things as this, tell me where did it come from?" Lysette tells him the little she knows that Mallebench Snr brought it back from the crusades amongst other treasures and he had it installed down here years ago. She also tells him of rumours that people used to arrive at the hall and descend into these tunnels to worship in front of the faceless statue. The others overhearing this cast worried glances at each other. Giulio leaves the bound Lysette looking up at the faceless statue and takes off the leather glove that covered up his metallic hand and begins flexing it. He tries to crush and mangle some of the bars off the portcullis and though he manages to twist and crack a couple of the spars he is unable to fully tear one off and so with a string of curse words he shrugs and gives up.The somewhat deflated Party eventually decide that there was nothing else to do but to go back into the cobweb infested tunnels and find another way through. Sealing themselves up as best they could with scarf, handkerchiefs and odd bits of spare clothing they take a deep breath and rush out again.Luckily the tunnel splits again fairly soon and this new passageway is wonderfully clear of the small biting pests, In fact this new passageway is oddly clean and tidy it leads off towards another T junction they pause here checking the oil levels in their lanterns, adjusting and replacing clothing and checking that the wheel locks are still fully wound and loaded and grab a quick drink of tepid water from their water bottles. Suddenly Ralph freezes a strange look on his hideous face he raises a hand and the Party falls silent and now they too can hear it, a strange distant grinding noise that seemed to bring to mind the deep ocean. Ralph turns sharply and walks roughly twenty paces down the passage that the noise seems to be coming from, he then places his lantern down and slowly backs up pulling out his hatchets and rolling his shoulders "The rest of you head the other way this is mine to deal with" the Party are confused and try to get him to come with them but he refuses, saying something about this is personal. Thomas draws his sabre and stands next to him "Mon ami, je me tiendrai avec vous savez que l'on devrait faire face à l'obscurité seule" Ralph is about to say something but changes his mind and instead claps the Frenchman on the should "No idea what you said but I'm guessing something about garlic and women, but whatever thank you" the others say their goodbyes and hope to meet back up again in the not so distant future and then the Party splits.Giulio, the Doctor, and Wilhelm's head off leaving Ralph, Lysette and Thomas behind they soon lose sight of them as the passageway twists to the left the last thing they see is Thomas crouched down and talking to Lysette whilst Ralph just stood there front and center, his hatchets gleaming darkly in the fading lantern light.The others followed the central passageway avoiding any of the other tunnels that branched off. The Doctor who looked a little worried stopped every so often and left a scratch mark on the stone floor a little arrow pointing him to what he hoped was safety. Their journey ended abruptly at a rotting wooden door Giulio tries to push the door open but something behind it is making it hard work, he steps back and kicks the door open, something drags across the top of the door before it swings down again straight towards Guilio. The Italian barely sidesteps the object as it whistles past his shocked face, the Party steps back away from the now open doorway and waits for the object to stop swinging. Guilio reaches out and grabs the slowly spinning object. there is a sharp intake of breath from everyone as the object is that of a mummified man, his skin dried out and blacken with age he is hanging upside down from a rusty chain his arms and legs tightly bound behind him in a stress position. His face twisted and contorted from the effects of his torture. The Doctor comes up behind Giulio and gives it a brief look "Gadzook's what the... this poor wretch has been tortured and then had his throat cut" he shudders "Truly this is the devils work" the others recover from their initial shock and with lanterns held high they enter the what the Doctor later referred to as the Pantry.The room had an oily darkness which slowly oozed away from the suddenly feeble lantern light the room was full of sighing chains each one had a similar body suspended from it. The Italian made a low whistling noise as he panned his lantern around "There must be fifty bodies in here" The Doctors eye gleams oddly in the faint light "Its terrible but what information lies looked up within these bodies I wonder?" he starts to examine the next nearest body "These could have been down here for years all tortured and all killed in the same manner" Wilhelm asks Giulio to pan back again as he thinks he has seen a table in the middle of the room and a doorway beyond Giulio does as asked and in the faint light the shape of a table and the deeper shadows of a doorway can just be made out. Wilhelm performs a little bow and gestures the others in "After you, Mein Herr's" Giulio sighs and grabbing the Doctor drags him inside.They gingerly push past the hanging horrors their dry leathery skin feeling oddly gooey even though when the Doctor taps them they ring hollow but firm. They reach the table which is just a rustic wooden table heavily marked with numerous deep gouges, there was a large clay jug upon its surface. The others gave it a brief glance but hurried past making for the exit but the Doctor paused and lifting the jug up gave it an experimental swirl. He hears liquid faintly sloshing around inside so decides to take a look he fully expected to find it full of blood but was surprised to find that the jug was not full of blood but instead a sharp smelling yellowish liquid in which several orbs which had strange ganglia trailing from them. He peered closer the sharp smell biting his nostrils even with his handkerchief across his face. "Well, well, well what do we have here" and as if answering him one of the orbs opened revealing a beautiful blue eye, it blinks and the Doctor drops the jug in shock his hands suddenly numb and shaking. He tries to grab the jug as it falls but he can't get a grip on it. The Jug hits the stone floor and shatters into a thousand pieces. The Doctor steps back a sheepish look on his face "Sorry, my fault..." he's cut off as he starts to cough a huge hacking cough that threatens to dislocate his jaw he looks down and sees that the liquid has burnt into the stone as if it was Aqua Regia "Feck!" he cries before coughing saliva begins to form and drool down from his open mouth he staggers after the others who had paused to see what all the noise was about and were now also starting to cough. Wilhelm looked quizzically at the floundering Doctor but Giulio just shoved him through the door and reaching out grabbing the Doctor again half throws half drags him through into the new passageway beyond where they all end up in a wheezing heap. Wilhelm recovers first and seeing that the gas is still roiling towards them as if possessed by some malignant intelligence slams the door shut with his boot before dragging up the other two and yelling RUN!They run through several chambers empty apart from the dust of ages in one chamber they clatter through piles of bones and rusted armour and weapons. This slowed them down somewhat as they had to carefully make their way through the jagged metal whilst trying to remain uncut and quiet. Making their way through they find themselves in a thankfully armour free room this chamber was time-worn and had a strong musty smell of decay and damp the room had large statues of Owls placed around its circumference though all seemed to be fairly crude and all of them had been badly affected by the passage of time and dripping water. A skeleton clothed in ragged remains of clothing lay sprawled as in prayer in front of a low stone altar which was placed in front of the chamber's exit, it was discovered that the skeleton seemed to have six fingers. The rooms number of statues also seemed to change after each counting even after they marked them with chalk the numbers seemed to change neither Cl.U.B'er could agree on the final number one saying seven whilst the other was sure it was eight. The Doctor shrugs and just writes it off as unimportant he was tired and hurt, he stepped past the altar and the skeleton and headed into the room beyond leaving the Witch hunter behind still counting.The Doctor found himself in a smaller room which only seemed to have a couple of paintings in it. One painting was of a young child with an adult whilst the other just showed an older man. The paintings seemed to be in the style of a few generations past. The Doctor only glanced at the paintings but when Wilhelm finally gave up in the owl room and caught up with him he seemed to find the paintings oddly mesmeric. He reached out and traced the images with his gloved finger he was shocked out of his almost trance state by the Doctors yell "Your hair it's.......bloody changed! how in the blasted halls did that happen?" Willhelm looked slightly shocked "What are you talking about you fool?" he does pull a few strands of hair from his beard "See it's the same.....oh feck I'm blonde?" the two men suddenly cover their eyes and rush out towards the exit the Doctor cracking his side against the door frame in his haste to leave.They pound down dusty corridors first one way and then another till they have to stop at a crossroads, lost and with their lantern dying there is just time for a lot of panted shouting and then with a final guttering hiss darkness.............Their eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness realise that it's not as dark as it should be in fact far from the all-encompassing dark of the depths there is, in fact, a faint glow coming from further down the tunnel to the east and with no other real option they slowly make their way towards this faint light. They end up in front of a set of double doors and beyond them is the source of light. The doors are outlined in a wonderful pure light which flows out from the edges like a beacon welcoming lost seafarers home. Wilhelm adjusts his pistol and placing a gauntleted hand onto the handle begins to push it down he stops and whispers "Doctor, don't touch anything" and before the Doctor can reply he finishes pushing the handle down and the door swings open.

Well, we have just finished a slightly awkward session (mainly awkward because of missing Players😢) but the good Doctor and the evil demon worshipper Cuthbert did turn up and so far the Doctor believes that Cuthbert is a rival doctor potentially from the Galenic school. So no bloodshed yet but the Doctor is a bit worried that another doctor has been sent and there has already been some competition after Cuthbert cleaned out the nearby area of useful ingredients leaving the Doctor fuming and thinking of all sorts of potential "Accident at sea scenarios"