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Post by DocHolliday on Oct 8, 2015 19:58:14 GMT
"My God!" Doc Murray bellowed, slapping his face, "How on earth could I have forgotten?" He slammed a dusty, mould-ridden tome shut, and leapt to his feet. He ran down to Lanark, then away to a Telegraph Office.
Soon enough, Professor Reed had arrived back from the Miskatonic. He brought the Winchester that Doc Murray had brought him. Naturally, Freddy and Elijah followed Doc Murray around.
"I've thought them how to use little Deringers..." Doc Murray beamed, "But... uh, they broke them after a while."
"Excellent progress. I do hope that when I am inevitably turned into a rambling monstrosity, I shall at least be able to open my books. Come, then, what flight of fancy are we off on?"
"I read last night, about the Broad House, a ruin in the Chihuahua Desert. It's a ruin, and..."
"Yes! Yes, of course! I'd quite forgotten!" Professor Reed exclaimed, "Let us go, with all haste... That - thing - could be worth a fortune!"
A while passed. Capable managers ran affairs on Doc Murray's behalf in Lanark while the gang trekked to Ascension. They searched the desert, until finally, they found it. The Broad House, an ancient temple, dedicated to the Gods of Winds and Gambling. It could be that untold treasures lay within, or doom. As they unhitched the horses, Doc Murray beheld it, and smirked.
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Post by Admin on Oct 8, 2015 20:50:47 GMT
As soon as they arrived, they met their first hindrance. How on Earth could you enter? The door was an amalgam of metal and stone, and appeared impervious to dynamite. The building itself was hewed into the mountainside, and any chance to get in through the sides would have been met with possible destruction of the artifact.
Professor Reed attempted to decipher the pictograms adorning the walls either side of the door. After closer inspection there were six pictures, each seemed to be jutting outwards very slightly. On closer inspection, the gang realised they were part of a mechanism to open the door.
The Pictures were:
An Eye. A Maracca. A Butterfly. A man wearing a loincloth. A dog wagging it's tail. Some kind of Louse, possibly those commonly found adorning the head of Murray's workforce.
Reed's attention athletically darted between his books and the pictograms until he felt he could decipher riddles from the images carved into the stone door. They seemed to be... riddles? Perhaps these were the clues to the door mechanism.
'What is it? A little mirror adorned with fir branches.' 'What is it that says to itself: You go that way, I go that way, and we'll meet on the other side?' 'What is it that lives in a black forest and dies on a white stone?'
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Post by DocHolliday on Oct 9, 2015 9:17:32 GMT
"Ughh..." Doc Murray groaned. Puzzles. He devoutly, devoutly hoped that this temple wouldn't have the don't-step-in-the-lights traps he'd spent his travels dodging. Still, nothing too hard, he hoped.
Professor Reed provided the answers.
"The eye, I think, should prove to be a small mirror. Then, the thing that goes around and meets at the other end would be the loincloth. I suppose lice live in a man's hair, which could be said to be a black forest... Shall we try pushing those buttons in that sequence?"
"Oh, buttons... I see... I was thinking about a full moon hidden behind a fir first, the equator, and I'll be damned if I could have guessed the last one... Freddy, if you would?"
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2015 12:01:20 GMT
The door dutifully opened. The first chamber seemed pretty bleak, it had obviously once been adorned with treasure, but now all that remained was the blank orangey-yellow desert stone so prevalent in this part of the world. As they approached the door they were greeted by some more pictograms, though fortunately less than there were at the entrance.
There were only two buttons:
1. A man cutting down a tree. 2. A beaver gnawing at a tree.
Reed again poured over the the carved images on the wall. It seemed to be telling a story, with Noqoilpi arriving at the Broad House and enslaving the population through games of luck and skill. Then the God of the Winds arrived and challenged him at his own games. The story ended at the door. The intention seemed to be for someone to tell the next part of the story in order to activate the door mechanism. Perhaps the Old Tome in which Murray had uncovered the tale would hold the key.
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Post by DocHolliday on Oct 9, 2015 12:13:53 GMT
"Let's see... Ah, yes. The beavers aided the wind god in pulling down the trees. Push the beaver button, Freddy."
Then Doc Murray paused.
"Best we arm up, and take cover. In case it's a trap of some sort."
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2015 14:35:30 GMT
The door opened. The crew saw the gold disc implanted in the opposite wall, it should be possible to pry it out with a small knife.
As they entered the chamber, however, the door started to slowly close behind them. The ground shook, and the roof started falling in on itself. Doc Murray had two options: leave immediately, or attempt to get the disc. With a bit of luck, they might still make it out after taking Noqoilpi's relic.
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Post by DocHolliday on Oct 9, 2015 14:39:58 GMT
"Oh.. fuck!"
Doc Murray pointed to the exit. Elijah ran out, followed by Freddy, who picked up and hauled out a protesting Professor Reed.
Doc Murray ran for the disc. He prised it out with a penknife, and turned to leave the room. Ever loyal, Elijah seemed to be bracing the doors with his weight.
If he planned everything right, Doc Murray could dive out, tackling Elijah out with him...
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2015 14:49:54 GMT
The Doctor ran towards the exit, large rocks and stones came tumbling down around him. The disc was heavy, and Elijah was struggling to hold up the door. In a moment of weakness, Elijah let go. The Doctor dropped the disc, which rolled away from him. However, it wedged itself under the door, leaving enough room for both Murray and Elijah to escape.
As they entered the previous chamber which was mysteriously still. The door began to push down onto the disc, which, in a fluke of luck, bounced out of the mechanism and landed down before the Doctor's feet.
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Post by DocHolliday on Oct 9, 2015 14:54:30 GMT
"Nobody move."
The chamber remained still. A moment passed.
"Rolled a twenty, I reckon," Doc Murray muttered.
"Twenty..?" Professor Reed asked.
"Twenty cigarettes... just about what I'll need to calm down..."
Doc Murray and his gang will leave the Broad House, and return to Lanark, hopefully unmolested. Doc Murray hands Professor Reed $200 for his help, and lends him the relic to study a while.
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