Ch. 9 Copperhead Road

[HoneyDog]

"Sure" Howard sneers. "You wouldn't try to kill us the first chance you get, would you?"

He calls out to James again.

"James! Can you hear me?"

[Mr. Handy]

"How do we know you are telling the truth?" asks William.

[peper757]

"We're not going to be leaving you behind..." Thomas begins. "You need to be brought to justice, Brophy."

[Philulhu]

There is no answer from James except for a painful groan.

“James and I cannot escape from here unaided. If we work together, we might escape. If we don’t, then we are most likely doomed. I have heard of the rituals of Yig - it is unlikely that we will all survive,” said Brophy.

“If we escape, I will return James to your safekeeping, I can promise you that.”

[Mr. Handy]

"Will you also promise to undo what you've done to him?" asks William, always thinking like a lawyer. "And how can we ensure that your promises are binding?"

[Philulhu]

“As I said,” replied Brophy, “I will reverse the ritual and return James to you.”

”As to whether my word is good, If I stay here, James and I will most likely die. It will be worth restoring James in exchange for my freedom.”

[Bullfrog]

"What is that Yig thing those folks were talking about? They clearly worship it,
since that Nyatanga fella called it a god." questions Lawrence, who had taken a seat on the floor. Hopefully, the escape plan would work, and James would be restored; seeing how things had gone so far, though, the farmer doubted things would be that simple.

[Mr. Handy]

"All right, here's the deal," says William. "We'll work with you to escape this place, but we will not help you escape justice. If, after we escape, you either cannot or will not restore James to his former condition, we will make sure that you don't get away."

[HoneyDog]

"Okay then, Brophy?" Howard hisses at the man. "Can you get James to help us? Make a disturbance! If he can't, you do it!"

[peper757]

"This seems like the best chance we've got." Thomas says. "I doubt we'll get another. We'll have to act fast to get the best of them, though."

[Philulhu]

“Yig is the Serpent God, he who looks after the snakes and other creatures that crawl upon the earth. At one time that may have included the early evolution of man, but we cannot know for sure,” said Brophy, pointedly ignoring Howard.

“He has been worshipped down the ages - some identify him as Set - the Egyptian god of war and chaos - others as Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god of the Aztecs. The native Indians had their snakes clans; the Tsu'ngyam, the Cettvlke and the Ginebig. Sometimes he is seen as benign but more often he is a malevolent god, especially against those who have harmed snakes or other serpents.”

“From what Nyatanga said, those who are exploiting the swamps for oil have little respect for the swamps and have harmed the fauna in the area. By the sounds of it, the stars will align shortly and these people intend to summon Yig so he can wreak his revenge upon them...”

Brophy paused in contemplation for a moment, then looked up again. “A distraction that makes noise will not work - it will merely serve to draw the guard’s attention to us and that is unlikely to be to our advantage. We must be stealthy.”

“It seems we may have twenty-four hours as the ritual will not commence until the stars come out tomorrow evening. I can engender in James one of the powers of an Avatar of Gla’aki, but he and I will require quiet. James will also need a test subject in order to practice what he has learned. There will be some discomfort but hopefully no longer-lasting damage but it would greatly increase our chances of escape if one of you were to volunteer...”

OOC,For Brophy’s explanation of the serpent god, you may add one point to your Cthulhu Mythos skill.

[Bullfrog]

"What would happen to the test subject, exactly? Don't try anything funny with us, Brophy; we may all be trapped here, but we aren't desperate enough to volunteer for something that'll kill us."
Lawrence replied, as distrustful of Brophy as ever. The information imparted about Yig certainly was like nothing the farmer had ever heard about before, but it did oddly make sense.

[Mr. Handy]

"If, as you say, Mr. Brophy, there will hopefully be no longer-lasting damage," says William, "then you wouldn't mind being the test subject yourself."

[HoneyDog]

"Sounds reasonable" Howard says spitefully. "How about it, Brophy?"

[Philulhu]

“A fully-developed Avatar of Gla’aki can exercise a ‘mind-pull’,” replied Brophy, calmly. “It causes a person to do as the Avatar wishes. James has not done this before so I must be available to help him, so if I were the test subject, our chances of success are much lower.”

”James know you are his friends and you are under lock and key so it is unlikely any harm will come to you. I understand that you have little trust in me but this would aid our escape.”

[HoneyDog]

Howard turns to the other companions.

"I don't believe a word he says" he mutters. "I still say we jump the guards".

[Bullfrog]

"Brophy raises some good points, though I absolutely refuse to take part in this test of his. If any if you want to volunteer, I can't and won't stop you, but I don't think just raising some kind of distraction will work." Lawrence replies, rather on-the-fence about being a test subject.

[Mr. Handy]

"What exactly does this test entail?" asks William.

[Philulhu]

“A ‘mind pull’ is a form of mind control,” said Brophy, pointedly ignoring Howard’s outburst. “The guards will come in two’s - if we can use the ‘mind pull’ to incapacitate one, then we have a greater chance to subdue the other.”

”Mr Preston - I will ask James to practice on you. Try not to think about what is happening; James will try to exercise control over you so that you may do things that you would not normally. This is how we will know that it works. Would that be acceptable to you?”

[Mr. Handy]

"I haven't agreed to anything yet," says William. "What sorts of things would James make someone do?"