The seach of the wrecked kite continued when Sgt Pepper swore he could hear someone shouting belowdecks, even though the wounded adventurers were centrally concerned with healing their wounds 1, the team decided to investigate once Burke had been put into a swoon by Forsyth's clumsy attempt to render medical aid.
The sounds were determined to be coming from the kite's storeroom, and when the door was opened the adventurers were amazed to find, cained to the wall, none other than Professor Wilhelm, inventor extraordinary and legendary adversary of the foul Brotherhood of Luxor.
It was the work of a few moments for the nimble fingers and lockpicks of the redoubtable Captain Forsyth to free Wilhelm from his confinment, and together they made their way to the kite captain's cabin to retrieve Wilhelm's gear. There was a small problem of there being two more dastardly Martian marines waiting for them, and a brief combat erupted, with Wilhelm taking vengeance for his capture and Waldmont assisting with the grim business of pirate eradication.
In the captain's cabin they discovered the badly mangled body of cpatain Kreuger, a German national obviously in league with Shastapsh Insurrectionist Pirates, as confirmed by Wilhelm, who had much to say about the Herr Kapitan and his behaviour twoard prisoners.
The crash had demolished one wall of the cabin and Kreuger had been crushed, as had his desk. Amid the wreckage were recovered a handful of posters bearing depictions of Waldmont, Wilhelm, Burke and Forsyth, each with their names displayed in Koline2 and each bearing the unmistakable trident sigil of The Brotherhood of Luxor! There were also letters of marque issued by the City State of Shastaph, and a document outlining a dastardly plot to render the defenders of Thoth helpless by means of some sort of mind-control dust.
Also in the cabin was an unconscious male human, clearly another prisoner judging by his condition, one Nathan Smith an American national.
Wilhelm deployed his wonderous Healing Machine to good effect, bringing back Burke, Forsyth and Waldmont to, if not perfect health, a reasonable facsimile of it. They also managed to revive the other prisoner who turned out to be an American who was himself not unacquainted with The Brotherhood and who was firmly aligned against those mangy sidewinders.
Wilhelm remarked that the late, unlamented Kapitan Kreuger had claimed to have some sort of device for tracking the Wasp, and it was decided to explore further with a view to proving or disproving that intelligence.
They found it on the flying bridge of the Iron Heart, the name Kreuger had bestowed on the doomed vessel. In what looked like aniron tripod sat a translucent globe some 9 inches in diameter which glowed with a weird green light. Inside, at the center, was a glowing arrow, about half an inch long, pointing at the hull of the Wasp and pulsing about three times a second or so.
Returning to the Wasp , Wilhelm was able to use his Healing Device to bring Burke back from the brink and even cure most of the damage that worthy had suffered in the fight against the Martian marines.
Meanwhile the others searched the Wasp and discovered two things:
- A four inch diameter globe, also glowing with a weird green pulsing light sitting amongst the bibles in Reverend Fogg's steamer trunk toward which the arrow in the larger globe pointed unerringly
- The complete absence of Queeleek, Fogg's Martian translator, whom no-one could remember seeing since the Wasp left Meepsoor.
A brief round of incredulous commentary followed as each member of the team (except Wilhelm) expressed wonder that no-one had been watching the old scholar. Though it seemed that the adventurers each assumed dastardly treachery by Queeleek, one or two of the crew suggested he may have been ambushed in Meepsoor and be entirely inncocent of the machinations of which he was being accused.
And so the Wasp finally was able to sail into Thoth to a warm welcome from Princess Aramaranda, who was there with a retinue to meet personally with the team when they disembarked. After greeting her old friend Wilhelm and comiserating with Waldmont, Princess Aramaranda told of a plot to remove her Father from power and substitute a weaker cousin who would be a puppet to Shastaph interests, and begged the adventurers for help.
The Adventurers were quartered in the Royal apartments at the top of a tower in a circular complex featuring a secret passage that was neither that secret nor secure, giving access as it did between every room in the complex. The team did a quick survey and ensured there were no exterior exits or entrances to this ridiculous architectural feature.
That evening, after a reception in which several dark looks were aimed at the adventurers by certain Martian nobles the Royals and the team retired leaving guards on duty. While they slept the opening moves of a coup began with traitors among the guards attacking the loyal guards in a brief, violent bout of lethal swordplay. By the greatest good luck the loyalists prevailed and raised the alarm.
The adventurers placed the royals in two of the suites, not their original suites, each with a loyal guard. The secret passage portals were blocked with furniture, and one of the two stairwells giving access from the lower floors was blocked using furnishings from all the suites, and a barricade was constructed in front of the other to form a redout from which invaders could be repelled with extreme prejudice.
The first cautious probe by insurrectionists was repelled, killing two traitors with no loss of loyalist life, but the traitors were not idle while the standoff seemed to be in place. A powerful explosive was wedged into the tangle of furniture in the blocked stairwell and detonated with devastating effect. The stairs were demolished, and a large hole blown in the floor. A second attempt on the other stairwell was beaten off with no casualties on either side.
Suddenly two grenades were tossed up through the new hole in the floor. Resembling lawn bowls with fizzing fuzes, these devices posed a major hazard to the team, and out brave lads sprang into action. Burke and Waldmont raced across the room, each grabbing a grenade and tossing it back down the hole, where they exploded amongst the traitors.
Realizing that the massed volleys of musket fire, while very effective suppressing fire, were not coordinated as they would have been had they had the benefit of British Army training and thus gave several seconds opportunity while the vile Martian traitors reloaded their primitive weapons, Smith and Wilhelm raced down the stairs and engaged the enemy at close quarters. Burke gave supporting fire from the edge of the hole in the floor, and Waldmont ran into theater with complete disregard for his own safety. Forsyth took up station at the top of the stairs, after calmly walking over and pinching out the fuze of yet another tossed grenade.
The fighting was desperate and deadly. Waldmont and Burke exchanged gunfire with the traitors, Wilhelm and Smith took on others in hand-to-hand Foryth used the unlit grenade to distract others while he fired with his trusty pistol.
The battle was fierce and at times seemed in the balance, yet eventually the Adventurers prevailed, killing all but two of the vile traitorous insurrectionists, who fled the field. The battle was won, the treaty now a certainty. Yet there was still the matter of the Shastapsh Plot to deal with.
The War might yet be lost.
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