The Log of the HMAS Marigold: The Serpent and Cross (Part Six)

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling felt good to have Old Betsy on her back.  She knew the sewers could be dangerous and in such close quarters a street sweeper like the old blunderbuss would come in handy. She took the bracelet and box over to Talbot.  "The little man told me to give this to you."  She saw Redburn come in and a weight she did not realise was there lifted from her chest.  "Are you all right love?"

[MWBailey]

Rourke brought up the rear, only lowering and setting the safety on the shell rifle when he managed to enter the apartment. He grabbed an extra box of the holy water rounds, and a rifleman's kit bag, and stuffed the rounds and some other odds and ends (grenades and such) into it. "Better let me and Talbot lead the way through the Labyrinth," he said, as he scooped up several gasmasks with heavy-duty filters and short tanks attached, and handed them around. "Don't put these on 'til we tell you."

"They don't 'ave a lot of air in the tank, and not all areas are lethal; The Labyrinth belongs to th' Nadir Court, mostly, and quite a few of our folk don't 'ave to breathe, for reasons that are probably obvious." He he paused, then continued, "For that reason, many of the stretches and especially the deeper ones are filled, boobytrapped ya moight say, with various heavier-than-air gases, mos'ly just methane or straight sewer gas, but there're some really nasty ones down'n th' Tenth Deep an' below. Alroight, let's go, an' everybody stay t'gether."

"Oh, by the by, a good rule's to not fire a gun or light a flame when you 'ave the mask on; almost all o' the gases in the traps are 'ighly inflammable..."

[Cpt Wallace]

He slid the bracelet into his pocket and opened up the box looking at the contents his brow deepened at the contents a small orb shaped bottle with a translucent green liquid that shimmered in the light he snapped the box shut and stuffed it into the bag, his hand drifted to the bracelet in the pocket brushing over the outside, his attention snapped back as Rourke handed him the gas mask.

"I forgot my father had these in here."

He slung the mask off the hilt of his sword and turned looking back into his flat, there was plenty of stuff in here that those attacking them could use against them, the weapons still in the cases but swords left around the flat but worst of all if any of them had any magical skill the devices and contraptions that filled some of the bookcases and desks, but he still had his last trick he could play which would discourage anyone but the most determined from coming into the flat, he just hoped Maycroft was in his office.

"Lets go."

[walkthebassline]

Morgan flashed a smile at Starling as he reloaded.

"Never better, my dear. We'll get out of this yet. How's your leg holding up?"

He walked up to her and pulled his flask from his jacket.

"I'd say it's high time for a drink."

[Stella Gaslight]

"Yes please. This is shapeing up to be a very long day.  My leg is well shored up actualy.  It is odd to not need to worry about falling over. Not bad just odd. I am hopeing the rats will. Be the only thing bothering us below."  She kissed Morgan.  "At least that still makes sence in this crazyness."

[walkthebassline]

Morgan took a sip and handed the flask to Starling, and sighed contentedly.

"That's some of my best absinthe. Even with things as dark as they are, it sets things right in a splendid way."

[Stella Gaslight]

"Yes it does." Starling said letting out a sigh.  "We should have someone with natural night vision go first.  We don't know if there are traps down there other than the ones kept by Mina"

[Alexis Voltaire]

Felix collected the rest of the ammunition for the rifle Talbot had loaned him, and looked over the collection of silver pistol rounds, but didn't see anything that would work in his revolver. The 12mm Devisme was reliable, deadly accurate, and had roughly the stopping power of a .45, but finding ammunition for it outside of specialty shops had always been problematic.

He had just left the flat with the others and and started downstairs when three thin chimes came from his coat pocket, and he quickly fished out the watch as they headed down. After the three chimes there was a pause, and then a further measured sequence of letters and numbers in morse code.

"I'm wanted back at Whitehall, I think that means all of us." He said once the chimes had stopped. " We can get there through the tunnels just as easily though."

[MWBailey]

"Mina?" The bat flapped out of the shadows and perched on Rourke's shoulder "My Pleasure, Sir Rourke, " Mina said, again in the voice of a human. They began the descent down a spiraling flight of tightly-coiled stairs that were obviously built to be hidden in the thickness of the building's wall. Small glowing spheres illuminated the way to the botom of the stair -- and the bottom was where, in mid-sentence, as Mina was explaining the basic logic of the Labyrinth's boobytraps, and right in the midlle, thankfully, of a digression on the tangent of the colors that bodies changed to when their former owners suucumbed to the heavier gases of the loweswt levels, that her voice suddenly changed back to high-pitched shrieks and squeaking echo-location chirps. "alroight, alroight, there's nothin' for it, love, we're out o' th' range o' Talbot's spell walls. I'll just 'ave to translate, is all."

A short series or chirps later, and Rourke said, "down this passge 'ere," as he led the way down a particularly ill-smelling tunnel apparently bored in the living bedrock beneath London. "You 'ave a fravorite way ter go down 'ere, Felix?" Rourke asked at a junction of five passageways in cluding the one that they had just traversed, all radiating out like the spokes of a wheel...

[Alexis Voltaire]

"I haven't been down this way in a while, but there should be a marker here..." Felix said, moving to look closely at right hand wall of each passageway, before finding what he was looking for. He paused a moment to work out what direction to go from there, and turned two passageways to the left.

"This one here will take us back near Suffolk street were those things started chasing us. If we go east from there we can get to Charing Cross, a little south of that is a direct route to the tunnel network under Whitehall."

[Cpt Wallace]

cked He closed the door to his flat and turnedd the key several times to the right he watched as a series of runes flashed round the lock and then left, if anyone tried to force the door they' be attacked by an electrical storm and killed, there were more traps like that littered throughout the flat and the lock was the key to activating them.

He walked beside Rourke his mind drifting to the bottle in the bag.

[MWBailey]

As they followed Felix through the tunnels, Rourke saw several Nadir sentries. Here in the Labyrinth, which some vagrants euphemistically called "Undertown," there were vagrants that showed up everywhere. Roukre knew which ones were Nadir agents, and held his hand on the rifle or his pistolbutt or the hilt of his borrowed sword in such a way as they approached or followed, and they responded with the appropriate stance, handcurl, or sound (some of which were quite rude, indeed) according to the situation, their rank, and other determiners.

Most of such would have been unnoticeable, or at least indecipherable, to most interlopers in the underground world, without prior training or research; such sources did exist (Rourke had no doubt Felix and Talbot both knew at least a few of them), but both well-guarded and little-known.

"Keep comin along, people," he said. "Mind 'ow ye stare, a glance means a lot down 'ere..."

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling's eyes were almost used to the half darkness and she tried not to look too deeply in to the shadows lest she not like what she saw.  Much to her delight her leg was still holding up.  It wasn't that the did not trust the little man but today was so very odd and dream like she could not be sure what was realy happening.  they had turned down a long straight bit of tunnel when Starling noticed that there was a strange sound far off and the rats were running away.  "Oh Blast.  I hope I can run in this thing because unless I have missed my mark that sort of crashing sound that is getting louder is water and a lot of it.  We better scramble for high ground or we may be swept away."

[MWBailey]

Rourke's somewhat sharper-than-natural ears had been hearing the sound for a long time; it was one of the reasons for his admonition to "come along." he looked around, saw a figure in black in a slightly-less-dark-than-black corner pointing both upward, repeatedly, and he said, "Felix, not ta be a pain in the arse, but I think we'd better foind a way up, and fast." He glanced around at the brick and stonework and how and at what height it was joined to the bedrock, and added, "Don't your or Talbots lots keep a flood sanctuary of some koind close by 'ere?"

[Cpt Wallace]

He looked around eyes catching several markers he knew where he was from them and with a quick overlay from a map he's once spent many months learning he turned to his left.

"That way, three hundred meters there is a ladder up into a dead space we used to use for interrogations."

[MWBailey]

Rourke looked to Felix. "Is that alroight with you, Felix? Can ye foind yer way from there when the waters fall back down?" Rourke asked the agent. The ozone-and-effluent smell of diverted river water began to pervade the passageway ahead of the advancing torrent. "We don't 'ave much toime in any case..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Yes, it'll be a bit more complicated since the lower levels further on will be flooded for a while, but there's nothing to be done about that." Felix said as they started in the direction Talbot had indicated. He kept an eye on Dr. Scott as they went, to make sure she didn't fall behind...

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling could feel a fire in her mussels it had been a long time since she ran and her body was complaining.  But the water was coming and fear was an excellent motivator so she went as fast as she could.  The bottom of the ladder had water lapping at it as she tried to scramble upwards.   

[Cpt Wallace]

He led the way twisting round a bend in the tunnel he paused at the ladder the rungs were coated in a thick layer of rust and he tried them before climbing up to a heavy iron hatch resembling a bulkhead, twisting the lock he forced it open on screaming joints he climbed in offering his hand to the next person behind him to pull them up.

He didn't even give the chamber beyond the hatch a second glance he knew what was inside it was a collection of the macabre a range of medieval torture equipment iron maidens, racks and Inquisition chairs along with more modern electrified chairs and dipping pools filled with dark liquids, he ignored the shackles on the wall old blood dried around them and the stains on the floor of bodily fluids, this was a dark place the ebb of murder and pain filled the walls soaking into them giving the whole place an unnaturally chilling feel, the fact that lanterns of green witchfire still burned meant only one thing. Sinclair was using this chamber and others like it again.

"Here come on."

[walkthebassline]

Morgan followed Starling up the ladder and surveyed the room. A chill ran up his spine, and he double-checked his pistols to be sure they were loaded.

"What a lovely place. I saw similar rooms in Spain; I never expected to see them here. Where are we exactly?"

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling leaned against the wall catching her breath.  The flickering lights and greenish cast made her feel rather uncomfortable and move closer to Redburn.  "Yes it is downright cheery in here."  She said frowning into the shadows.

[Alexis Voltaire]

"Somewhere under Whitcomb street, or a little west, I believe." Felix replied to Redburn's question. "this place doesn't even show up on our maps."

While he couldn't sense the atmosphere of the room the way Talbot could, the place stirred up an unexpected amount of bad memories from his time in Kiev. He managed to force those thoughts to the back of his mind, but also found a place to stand with his back against the wall.

"We shouldn't have to stay too long, once the water goes past it'll drain into the lower levels further on, and we can get around it then."

[MWBailey]

"Squeak, eek eeee..." Mina said as Rourke came up the ladder, the bat somehow managing to stay perched on his shoulder like some large macabre parody of a parrot.

"Really?" Rourke said, surprised. "I didn't realize we'd come that far." He looked up at the domed stonework of the ceiling, and cocked a thumb at Mina. "Miss 'elpful 'ere says we're right about above the Great Void." He glanced around. "Sorry, it's a secret," he said impishly.

He looked around, peering at the walls. Strange symbols seemed to be written within the fabric of the stones themselves, and it was as if a nearly-impenetrable fence of some sort were stretched all around, above, and below the space in which they stood. He sensed that escape would not be easy from a space like this -- but by the same token, once the hatch was closed, it would be about  equally difficult for something or someone to get in from the outside. "Hair of a chimera," Rourke swore. "you lot don't 'alf get serious, do you?"

[Alexis Voltaire]

"This place is old enough to be a museum piece." Felix said, eyeing the runes set into the stone. "But its useful for certain applications... and you're in one of the most secure locations in London." He added, trying to find a less macabre side to things.

He took out his watch to check the time, and clicked one of the buttons on the side to reset an internal switch before he started to wind it again. The wireless and chime mechanisms always used up a lot of the mainspring power when they were activated, by now the watch probably had only a few hours of running time left.

Down below the faint sound of bubbling, lapping water had been steadily growing closer as it rose up the shaft, but for the past minute or two it hadn't come any closer, and it would likely start retreating soon.

"If we don't get delayed much more we'll be there about breakfast time for civilized people." He said, hoping whatever business Whitehall had for them next left time enough for breakfast, or at least some coffee...

[Cpt Wallace]

He din't pay the room much attention as he looked at the hatch listening to the water running past.

"These are kept for England's greatest threats, the most powerful creatures you could imagine, Blackthorn was kept here before his execution but after then there hasn't been much cause for of their use...But Sinclair has been here recently."