Easter Island, Part Five: August 29, 1926

Rescuing the Captives

Having found eight of the deep ones’ captives, the question now becomes what to do with them. They seem utterly mad and barely responsive, but it also sees that they will not leave the cavern that they are in without someone to guide them. A potential plan of leaving them with a flashlight and coming to collect the captives once the London Group is finished down in the volcano is floated and then rejected. Several members of the group are not at all convinced that they will return from their mission.

There is some talk of splitting the group, sending some to guide the captives out of the volcano while the rest of the London Group press on. This is ultimately facilitated by Liam, who manages, through empathy and a lot of natural charm, to get the captives to listen to him. Kane attempts to help Liam by first firing a gun to get the captives’ attention, ordering them to line up, and then trying to get one captive—a sailor—to remember his military duty and return to his senses. These actions by Kane have very, very limited results.

Liam leads the captives out of the volcano, singing a jaunty sea shanty to keep their spirits up. The rest of the London Group spends time investigating the tunnels beneath the volcano. Thanks to Vivian’s careful planning, and a large piece of chalk that happens to be in the multidimensional pocket of Smith’s (Johnny’s) coat, they are able to successfully navigate the southern half of the cavern complex and not get lost.

Liam Returns?

The London Group returns to the base of the volcano to begin searching the northern section of tunnels. As they approach, they see a flashlight beam and hear someone descending from the caldera. Everyone hides and watches as Liam comes into view, looking a little bit lost.

The group reveals themselves, startling Liam badly. When he recovers, Liam explains that he had just about gotten the captives down to the base of the volcano when he happened to encounter one of the island’s Chilean shepherds. Liam sent the captives back to the naval base with the shepherd and returned to see if he could offer the group any additional aid.

Johnny, immediately suspicious, hurls a pinch of the powder of Ibn Ghazi into Liam’s face. This causes Liam to have a coughing fit but does nothing else of note.

The group is wary of Liam, but decide to press on anyway and finish their exploration of the volcanic tunnels. They are soon reach a Y junction and have to decide whether to go right or left. The London Group argues the merits of both directions, and eventually decides to go left. They soon come to another Y junction, where much the same argument occurs.

It is at this point that Mikhail remembers that Liam had actually wandered off alone into this portion of the tunnels no more than an hour or so previously. He turns to ask Liam why, if he’s been here before, he hasn’t been offering any guidance to the group.

Liam apologizes and immediately says that they should go right. Mikhail studies Liam as he says this and realizes that a) Mikhail is lying and b) there is an alien intelligence behind Liam’s eyes. Mikhail silently communicates this to the rest of the group.

Vivian steps forward and asks Liam if he can remember the name of the lady that he had sex with on the Orient Express. Liam smiles and responds with, “Mrs. Davenport.”  

“Fucking shoot him, Johnny,” says Viv.

A Trustworthy Face? Not Especially!

Johnny does so, firing his shotgun into Liam at point-blank range. The pellets tear through Liam’s clothing and flesh, revealing what at first seems to be the ropy coils of Liam’s small intestine. As these fibrous cords begin to move of their own accord and drip out of Liam’s abdominal cavity, the group quickly realizes that they are not intestines, but ferocious red worms whose squeals sound like a tea kettle that has just come to a boil.

Mikhail and Dr. Black lunge at not-Liam, attempting to stab him with the blessed Masonic blade and the Sword of Marcus respectively. Liam catches both of their sword arms—one in each hand—and squeezes down painfully on their wrists. He also vomits a deluge of red worms all over Mikhail.

Judge Putnam fires his shotgun cane at not-Liam, ripping away more flesh and also, unfortunately, wounding Mikhail in the process. The rest of the London Group closes in, taking much more careful aim with their weapons, and soon not-Liam loses cohesion and splashes to the ground as a writhing tangle of red worms. The group falls upon the pile of worms, stomping, stabbing, and shooting about a score of them as the rest flee through cracks in the walls.

As the group recovers, Johnny explains that this creature is something known as “A Worm that Walks,” and is, essentially, the spirit of a dead sorcerer that has possessed a colony of formerly ordinary worms. Judge Putnam wonders aloud if not-Liam/The Worm was one of the Twins. Vivian opines that, if this is the case, it means that there may be another one of the creatures down in the tunnels with them.

The Throne of the Herald

The Throne of the Herald

The group continues their search and, eventually, finds a steeply sloping tunnel that leads down even deeper into the earth beneath the volcano. They eventually come to the mouth of a large cavern that is lit by thousands of candles and that echoes with the words of a droning, ritual chant. Several members of the group realize that the chant is in Valusian, and, after listening for a moment, understand that the chant is meant to empower, connect, and prepare the way to a place across the sea, which the chant names “R’lyeh.”

Peering into the cavern, the London Group sees a great occult tome laying open upon a basalt altar. Behind the altar, on a basalt dais, stands a tall, narrow throne made from strange metal, accented with a squid-like face and several carved tentacles. Seated in this throne is a figure in a tattered red robe and a porcelain mask, though it is clear that the figure’s body is made up of hundreds of writhing, red worms. This figure holds its arms up and drones the ritual chant, seemingly accompanied by the throne itself, which is chanting in the voice of the multitude.

As the London Group enters the cave, the Worm that Walks speaks, mocking them and telling them that they cannot defeat it or its plans, and other promises of doom and suffering. Vivian lets fly with the Spear of Noa, piercing the Worm through its torso and pinning it to the back of the chair. The Worm shrieks pitifully and tries—but fails—to pull the spear free from its chest.

Judge Putnam rushes the dais, seizing the Worm by its tattered robe and thrashing it against the chair. He is soon joined by Johnny and Kane, who pummel the pinned abomination with all of their strength, hoping to kill it before it escapes again.

Meanwhile, ropy coils of smoke pour out of the back of the throne and solidify into insubstantial tentacles. As the Worm screams in agony, they begin to reach for the London Group.

Dr. Black remains at the entrance of the cavern, where he holds aloft the Crystal of Noa and concentrates its power against the throne. The crystal emits a dazzling, pencil-thin beam of light that Dr. Black hopes will be enough to eventually destroy it.

Vivian races forward to grab and destroy the ritual tome on the altar. As she reaches it, she realizes several things all at once:

• This book is written in Valusian.
• The section it is opened to contains a spell that facilitates the raising of R’lyeh.
• The spell could easily be reverse engineered into another spell that would sink R’lyeh. 

Realizing this, Vivian instead seizes the book and flees to the cavern entrance with it.

Mikhail runs up to the dais to help the others, stabbing at the throne with his blessed Masonic blade. Mikhail realizes that his strike does only incidental damage to the throne, and also notices that the beam fired from the Crystal of Noa also seems to be having little effect. He screams this information at Dr. Black as a tentacle seizes him and lifts him into the air. At the same time, two other tentacles grapple Judge Putnam and Vivian, hoisting them both bodily off the ground.

Kane seizes the Spear of Noa and twists it, causing the Worm to catch fire from within and begin to break apart. Desperate to save the Judge, Kane hacks at the tentacle with the spear, only to have the tentacle grab it and hurl it dramatically across the cavern. Kane also watches in horror as another tentacle engulfs Johnny and lifts him into the air.

The Cavern

From his lofty perch, Mikhail suddenly realizes that the Crystal of Noa seems to contain a great deal of power within it. He screams to Dr. Black that maybe the crystal will be able to destroy the throne if it is made to expel all of its energy at once. Dr. Black looks at the fragile crystal in his hands and, realizing what he must do, races across the chamber to the dais.

At roughly the same time, Vivian, Mikhail, and Judge Putnam all attack the tentacles that are holding them fast (Judge Putnam with his shotgun cane, Vivian with her enchanted knife, Mikhail with his blessed sword). The tentacles vanish as soon as they are struck, and the three investigators fall to the cavern floor. Judge Putnam manages to land on his feet. Vivian twists her ankle, falls, and smashes her head on the ground, dazing herself. Mikhail lands badly on the corner of the altar, knocking the wind out of himself and breaking a few ribs.

While Johnny screams in agony, the tentacle coils, preparing to hurl him with great force at the cavern floor. Vivian recovers just enough to crawl over to where the Spear of Noa is lying. She picks it up and throws it at the tentacle imprisoning Johnny, striking and dispelling it. Johnny plummets to the cavern floor, but is successfully caught by Judge Putnam, and is returned to terra firma without further harm.

"Liam's" True Form

At that moment, Dr. Black, with all his strength, smashes the Crystal of Noa into the throne.

A terrible explosion of light, heat, and sound fills the cavern. The concussive force throws Dr. Black into the cavern wall, knocking him unconscious and nearly killing him. Most of the rest suffer only disorientation until the smoke clears, but the fearsome light released by the Crystal of Noa has blinded Johnny.

Despite this, the group is relieved to learn that the destruction of the Crystal of Noa has reduced the terrible throne to slag.

Escaping Rano Rakaru

The group tends to Dr. Black’s wounds as best as they can and slowly make their way up out of the volcano and into the daylight. When they reach the caldera, they see that the moai encircling Rano Raraku have all crumbled into dust, and that a large detachment from the naval base has come out to see what has happened. They take the London Group back to base, where they meet up with the real Liam and the captives, who are all resting in the infirmary.

The group is checked out by the base’s medical staff, treated, and sent to bed. Johnny is informed that his eyesight should return in about a week. Dr. Black is in critical but stable condition and should also recover.

A short time later, Aneru visits the group and tells them that, when the moai on Rano Raraku crumbled, those that stood around the cave of the Birdmen fired golden beams from their eyes to the southwest, across the Pacific Ocean.

When the group later visits the Birdman to return the Spear and the Mask of Noa, the Birdman confirms this story, and says that the watchers of Rapa Nui likely used their power to direct the group to the dreadful island of R’lyeh.