Episode 12: The High Martians Play Their Hand

Waldmont and Wilhelm are walking in the evening air of Gordovaan when their conversation is rudely interrupted by scream and shapes in the night sky.

Canal Martians are being swept up by shadowy figures with the power of flight in a building not 20 yards away! The Canal Martians are being kidnapped by a High Martian raiding party!

Two High Martians drop down beside each Canal Martian and hustle them off at spear-point, while others stay airborne and threaten any would-be rescuers with their razor sharp spears. Waldmont and Wilhelm are made of sterner stuff of course, and wade in without hesitation, giving good account of themselves with their pistols, driving off the raiders but not before they have taken many hostages.

Giving chase, the heroes see that those kidnapped are being flown up to a hovering screw galley, barely visible against the black night sky. A few moments afterward, the screw galley slowly gathers speed and makes off into the night, towards the highlands. Our heroes take time to get a rough heading on the fleeing ship, then race back to the tavern

Waldmont and Wilhelm hurry to gather their crew, currently on liberty, and make the Persephone ready to give chase. Much time is lost in the preparation, but eventually the heroes and their gallant crew lift the Persephone from her cradle and set off on the remembered heading.

The trail is lost, but the heading is well-remembered and the Persephone makes all speed in pursuit of the much slower screw galley, which of course is powered by slave labor using a manual crank to turn the airscrew¹.

The Persephone isn't the only ship to give chase, nor the first, but she is the only one that sustains the effort, though the heroes are relieved to see the drunken party led by Smedley Forbes-Hamilton² has crashed in the steppe, but appear to be unhurt. He may be a drunken sot, and a pest on occasions, but as his friends would say: "Smedley's heart is in the right place and one cannot fault his courage (even if it is of the Dutch variety)".

Eventually the Persephone, after beating off an attack by an opportunistic pirate in a small kite and sending the blighter to the mercy of the Steppe tribes by deft use of the helm and judicious use of the redoubtable steam Gatling Gun mounted on her foredeck, comes upon the signs of a nearby Kraal, and the crew witness the screw galley making dock at the top of the enormous cliff into which this High Martian city/fortress complex has been carved. High Martian patrols are a danger, so the crew ground the Persephone some way off in a canyon, damp her fires and camouflage her to the best of their ability, then set out to see what can be done to rescue the hostages.

Opting for a somewhat optimistic frontal assault, the entire party is captured by High Martian guards and imprisoned in the slave pits, buy our heroes manage to get free of their chains and shortly after they free all the Canal Martians in the pit, and also one human who turns out to be a certain Welshman, last seen when he rescued the party from a dastardly firing squad during their adventures with Princess Amarantha.

With the help of Roderick Llewellyn (for 'tis he) the party overpower the rather lightweight guards currently on duty, and make their way toward the top of the Kraal where they had heard that the King of the High Martians, one Haaraakan, was expecting an audience with some members of the Brotherhood of Luxor!

The heroes make their way to the throne room and conceal themselves, and see King Haaraakan and three robed figures in Greek Tragedy masks (one Kronos, one Hyperion in the Titan's male aspect and one Hyperion in female aspect) surrounded by acolytes of the dread Worm Cult. Luckily the conversation is being held in Koline, so each of our heroes can understand what is being said. Haaraakan is asking "Kronos" when he might expect "promised weapons" with which to fight the British forces he knows are about to enter his territory. The Brotherhood is smuggling weapons to the High Martians! This news must be returned to the Colonial Office as soon as possible!

When Kronos speaks, it is in a British accent, though no-one can place it. The two Hyperion figures speak in heavy French accents, and Waldmont and Wilhelm speculate that this could be the same couple who went under the name “Bourgeois” in Libya, and who infected the garrison with the deadly Red Sands sickness.

Unfortunately, the hiding team are discovered and a desperate fight breaks out between our heroes and the few free slaves who accompanied them on one side, and the palace guards and worm acolytes on the other. At the outbreak of hostilities The two Hyperions run off down a corridor, and Kronos utters a loud curse, points at Waldmont in a menacing manner, then is enveloped in a glowing green energy field and vanishes.

The fighting is desparate, and lacking the power of flight the team must make a fighting withdrawal to the lowest levels of the Kraag, where they encounter more High Martian guards. The battle is fierce and things do not go well.

Waldmont and Wilhelm are eventually able to escape with Roddy Llewellyn, but every single Canal Martian is killed in the attempted break for freedom.

Llewellyn leaves our two heroes in disgust as soon as the sky clears of searching High Martians, departing the scene on a steam-and-pedal-powered flying machine that proves to have an invisibility cloak. The two Englishmen make their way back to the Persephone and return to Syrtis Major, thankfully with no further adventures. Once back in the hub of British influence on Mars, they report their encounter with the Colonial Office, who immediately begin plans to interdict the arms shipments.

Our heroes are left pondering the cost of their adventure, and the ramifications of what they learned.

1. Captured examples are converted for use by Her Majesty's Expeditionary Force to a sort of clockwork drive, using crew to manually tension the spring that provides the final drive↑
2. A voluble and almost permanently pickled acquaintance whose company they have "enjoyed" on a few occasions since they decided to spend time in Gordovaan↑