The team settled in for another night in the muggy heat and stench of the Venusian swamp.
On waking they discussed plans and decided to strike North and head for the Airship rendezvous by the lake, with the object of arranging an ambush there for the treacherous Otto. Unfortunately, they discovered that one of their company, Burke, had either left camp or been kidnapped during the night leaving no trace of his leaving nor any sort of note of explanation.
The team were surprisingly unbothered by this new development, and assumed that Burke would either redezvous with them later or would be brought to the airship rendezvous by Otto. Either way, they had problems of their own. Their numbers were down by approximately half, and they were in the middle of a Venusian swamp. Perhaps worries over their own chances trumped worrying about a colleague silly enough to wander off on his own. Who can say?
The discussion wound up, the course of action agreed by all, then suddenly the camp was attacked by a large swarm of Swamp Devils, those fearsome crocodilian reptiles that had bedeviled the team the previous day. The battle was short and intense, with much loss of life on the part of the native Lizardmen bearers, but eventually the beasts were all driven off or killed.
Reverend Fogg tried his best for the wounded Lizardmen, but there was nothing he could do for them, and their Lizardmen tribe-members held a ceremony in which the dead were consigned to the swamp.
It was then that the team discovered that the three lizardmen who were not part of Reverend Fogg's congregation had made good their escape, fleeing for the safety of the swamp when everyone was distracted by the life-and-death struggle against reptiles in a World Gone Mad. Clearly they had been waiting their chance, the absolute bounders!
The tracks led off north-east into the swamp, following the same apparent course taken by Otto, but the team were only just discovering this when three sets of shrill screams split the air, coming from the direction taken by the mutinous lizardmen. There was a short discussion as to whether or not this was worth investigating before the team did, in fact, investigate, discovering three lizardmen corpses with terrible acid burns and the skin and bones of a raptor, also showing signs of acid burns.
at this point each member of the team heard what they thought was Otto moaning quietly off in the fog. Indeed, when Waldmont and Montgomery went to investigate, there was Otto lying against a tree. moaning piteously. Montgomery strode forward and Reverend Fogg would have joined him but the Lizardmen suddenly became frantic, hissing and gibbering in their barbaric language and dragging Fogg back.
Ssassafrash began saying "I not see you see" over and over, and Capt. Forsyth suddely suggested that perhaps the Lizardmen could not see what each earthman could, that maybe "Otto" was not Otto. At this point, Montgomery gave Otto a poke with his sword and there was an explosion of protoplasmic goo as the Venusian Mimic - an insidious telepathic menace - resumed its true form and attempted to engulf Montgomery!
Luckily, Montgomery was nimble enough to scramble out of harm's way, but moments later the dreadful amoeboid thing attempted to engulf the hapless Waldmont! Thank heavens for Waldmont's lightning reflexes, for he too managed to avoid becoming a meal for the disgusting blob.
Unfortunatly, possibly unnerved by his near encounter with death, Montgomery rushed off into the fog, out of sight of his compatriots, and was attacked by a lurking pack of Raptors! He fought valiantly but was overmatched and outnumbered and fell to their hacking claws and flesh-tearing teeth. The rest of the team made short work of the foul-tempered dinosaurs from a safe distance, but as Rev. Fogg discovered, they were just too late to save their compatriot, and Devin was declared dead.
Lacking any digging tools and the soil in which to bury their friend, they were forced to perform a burial at sea, aided by the Lizardmen.
The ceremony, a cross between Anglican and Ssassafrash's tribal ritual for the dead, was suitably solemn, but the occassion was lent a rather gruesome coda as the team turned to leave and the waters to which they had just committed their comrade suddenly boiled with Venusian aquatic swamp denizens fighting to get a share in the bounty.
The team then struck off north and north-west, deciding that the quicker they could get out of this hell-hole the better.
Toward the end of the day they came across a strange scene. Two human figures lying on the ground. One was Burke, who seemed to be alive but sick, and one was awake, but delerious and clearly close to death.
Burke had a dart in him, and a pistol lying by his body. Rusch had a bullet wound and a dart gun by his side. Burke's wrists showed signs of his being tied up.
Rusch was muttering: "Coeus! Coeus! we will watch over Otto and keep him safe! Coeus!1"
Waldmont pulled out the dart and smelled it, and recoiled as he recognosed the tell-tale whiff of Red Sands! He hurled the dart away from him into the swamp and yelled the danger to the others as he ripped open Burke's clothes to discover a shallow scratch on the victim's chest. The dart had been prevented from penetrating fully by Burke's waistcoat and heavy linent shirt. Thank heavens for proper British attire!
Capt. Forsyth and Rev. Fogg attended to Burke, cleaning his wound and applying bandages while the visibly shaken Waldmont tried to make sense of what Rusch had said.
He remembered that "Coeus" was the name of a Titan for Greek mythology, and that The Brotherhood of Luxor's leadership seemed to identify themselves by code names chosen for such beings. He remembered that in the Kraal2 on Mars he had seen three cowled and masked Brotherhood leaders calling themsleves Kronos, Lord Hyperion and Lady Hyperion attempting to arrange an arms shipment.
Furthermore, he recalled that Kronos had spoken with a British accent, and that Lord and Lady Hyperion had French accents.
He surmised that Kronos was the Supreme Leader of the Brotherhood, and that Lord and Lady Hyperion were the infamous "M. et Mme Bourgeouis" from the Fort Oublie fiasco that had started him on this long journey into night.
It was Capt. Forsyth who, upon hearing these remembrances, suggested that "Coeus" might still be on Venus if, as it seemed now, he had tasked Rusch and company with looking after Otto.
Everyone then agreed that if Coeus was indeed on Venus, he would likely be someone living in Venusstadt.
A stretcher was fabricated by cutting up their one remaining tent and using two spears as poles, and Burke was portered by two Lizardmen to the next camp site, where a miserable camp was set up in the drizzle. No tent made for the prospect of an uncomfortable night, made only slightly tolerable by the camp beds and ponchos made from the rubberized tent material left over from the remains of the tent.
Rev. Fogg took the first watch with Ssassafrash, who reported sounds coming from the east, sounds and scents of two Lizardmen and a human. Unfortunately, nothing could be seen through the pea-souper that had descended a day ago and had yet to show signs of lifting.
Fogg woke the others and they in turn moved into positions of cover. The ambush was slightly ruined by the unforseen invasion of the camp site by small frog/iguana-like things which were underfoot and made a shrill screech when trodden on, which every member of the party did. Out in the fog the stealthy approach of the three unknown beings was interrupted by their own discovery of the frog-iguana things.
Tensely the team waited, straining to see anything in the fog.Could this be the return of Otto?
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