The heroes Waldmont and Wilhelm are feeling a little under-appreciated of late.
Everywhere they go they are recognized as either rich marks for elaborate con games, targets of abuse from Canal Martians convinced the treasure of Bordobaar should have been returned to the Martian People and who obstinately refuse to admit the Martian People are not a people but a collection of mutually hostile city state nations, and that not one single Martian palyed any part in recovering the treasure, and that large amounts of said treasure are available to the Martian People in the form of a very generous museum exhibit organised, it has to be admitted, by Professor Bottoms but that's not the point, subjected to nocturnal aggression at the hands of disaffected Fenians, fanatical Worm Cultists, enraged Mars First zealots and lethal Brotherhood assassins in no particular order, or intolerable treatment at the hands of minor government flunkies ignorant of the great service the two patriotic English heroes have performed for Queen, country and the lining of their own pockets.
There's just so much a body can take in the line of duty.
So when the team are approached during their afternoon Bhutan Spice tea break by one Abel Cain, a low-level Colonial Office bureaucrat, with a tale of possible Brotherhood activity aboard the Grand Voyager, an armed merchant kite1 due to sail for Avanel in a few days, they are in the mood to see the back of Syrtis Major society for a while.
Cain brings as evidence a telegraph transcript he intercepted.: THE GRAND PLAN IS PROCEEDING APACE STOP YOU MUST ACCOMPANY THE VOYAGER STOP BROTHERHOOD OF LUXOR NEEDS SUPPLIES DESPERATELY STOP BEWARE THE RED MEN. Clearly the Brotherhood is planning some dreadful piracy, and just as clearly, our heroes are the men to stop it!
Cain answers any questions the heroes have, and leaves, but is ambushed by Canal Martian thugs right outside the door! Wilhelm and Waldmont race to the rescue and beat off the dastardly attack, capturing a thug for questioning. Th thug was paid to attack Cain by a human wearing a black cloak pinned with a trident-shaped broach. The Mark of The Brotherhood!
The Heroes take passage on Grand Voyager, an impressively armed Warm Winds class merchant kite. There are a number of other passengers, whom the heroes meet and subtly question. Cargo is loaded under the scrutiny of our heroes and, of course, the captain, a businesslike but agreeable Canal Martian, and the kite sets sail for Avenel.
Toward the end of the first day under sail, a mutiny breaks out, with fierce fighting between the mutineers and the few loyal crew. During the battle the players manage to set fire to the kite, with the result that the back of the ship is demolished in a violent explosion; presumably the magazine for the guns has been destroyed. The fire spreads to the front of the doomed vessel, now diving toward the ground and another violent explosion tears the bow apart. What's left of the ship is piloted to a very bad crash-landing by Wilhelm, hampered as he is by the death of the trimsmen.
The heroes take stock and realize that once again, they have been crash-landed in the Martian Outback,. This time they appear to have generous supplies scattered around, but to counter that, all passengers appear to have been killed, and if any crew survived, they've run off into the steppes.
The team make plans, gather supplies and head for the nearest center of civilization by their reckoning, but before many days pass they encounter a Steppe Martian tribe and negotiate an escorted ride back to civilization.
Once back in Syrtis Major, our heroes report to the Colonial Office, then go in search of Mr Cain. They find him and after a round of intimidation we shall draw a curtain over here, he confesses all.
He was paid One Hundred pounds to set the heroes up! A transcript of his confession is included below:
Please, Sirs! Have mercy on a fellow Englishman. Yes, I told you I know nothing about the people who hired me, and that is wholly true. Upon reflection, however, I’ve remembered a few details I noticed about them during our meeting. I’d quite forgotten about it—until just now! Isn’t that amusing? Er, maybe not…
They were a Frenchman and, I presumed, his wife. He looked to be a well-to-do gentleman, and she kept her face hidden with an elaborate veil. They paid me handsomely to ensure your presence on the Grand Voyager, and even provided the text of the telegram I was to give you. Please accept my apologies; they assured me in no uncertain terms that you were all scoundrels and deserved to be deceived. I see now that they were wrong! Indubitably wrong!
No, it was what they said to each other as they left, when they believed I could no longer hear them.
“Shouldn’t we take care of this ourselves, darling?” the woman asked. “He will not be pleased if the plan fails.”
The man replied with confidence. “The plan will not fail, ma cherie, because our friends are far too honorable to ignore a plea for help. The task before us is to ensure the Venusian harvests continue. If another batch of Le Rouge Sands is to be made—and perfected—we must have more death flowers!"
Then they laughed, and went on their way. Quite odd. Do you know what they meant by “Le rouge sands”? I haven’t the slightest notion where they might be now. Venus, do you think?
What the heroes make of this waits to be seen ...
- Martian aerial sailing ship↑
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