The British Museum, Great Russell Street - London, England 10:15 AM - Sunday, September 8, 1940
Reverend Archie Pennyfeather arrived outside the British Museum, where he met Story, Brook, Lord Rufus Colville, Benjamin Klein, and Anna Jerkins waiting near the gate. At around the same time, a beautiful dark-haired woman in her thirties emerged from the gate, wearing a knee-length skirt and white blouse. "Okay, ready to head to Aldwych?" she asked the group. Then she noticed Archie. "I haven't seen you before. I'm Carole Siddons. Do you know these folks?"
"Pleased to meet you, Archie," said Carole with a smile. "Many of the British Museum's most important treasures have been relocated to various places for fear they would be damaged if London was bombed. Though the museum wasn't hit last night, I think the raid shows that it was a wise precaution. One of those locations is in the Underground near Aldwych, and that's where we're headed. I don't usually show people around down there, but Professor Story and I go way back. If he vouches for you, that's good enough for me."
Archie's eyes light up. "Well, that sounds jolly exciting! I actually studied Archeology before my career in the Church, and now the Navy."
"In fairness to Professor Story though, I'm not sure if he would feel he knows me well enough to vouch for me and I shan't be disappointed if he is reluctant to. In any event, I'll walk with you all as I wish to talk to the professor and his friends about last night."
Archie clearly looks very much as though he'd like to see the museum's hidden treasures despite what he says.
Story nods at the Archie and says to Carole, "I've met many ministers over the years, and the good reverend here seems to be one of the good guys." He smiles.
"I think so too," said Carole with a smile. "Well, let's go, then." She led the way through the streets of London. There were no signs posted anywhere, but she knew her way. "Everything is stored in the Underground tunnels between Holborn and Aldwych, so we'll enter at Holborn, which is not far away. It's on the Piccadilly Line, so we can't use British Museum station, which is on the Central Line. It's not as good as seeing the British Museum as it was before the war, but we have to make do with what we have. Few people get to see this at all these days. The Elgin Marbles are kept there, as are numerous other works of art and various books."
OOC,You're not actually there yet. It sounded like some of you might have wanted to talk on the way, but please let me know when you're ready for me to move things forward.
"Quite," said Carole. "Of course, they're not on display where they are. Most of the treasures are put away in crates, but you can still see the Elgin Marbles, and the books are kept on shelves down there." The group arrived at Holborn station. "We'll take the train to Aldywch, which is closer to the vault. I'll pay everyone's fares."
Archie clears his throat a tad nervously and addresses the group. "I'm sorry to turn the discussion to far less pleasant topics but I did have something I wanted to raise."
"I attended that poor young woman's autopsy this morning and the examination confirmed that she was killed by an animal. A very strange animal indeed. Truthfully, I cannot picture any animal I have ever seen or read about being able to do this."
"This does provide proof, though, that the death was out of the ordinary. If we can locate this animal, approximately, I believe I may be able to persuade the authorities to provide us some military assistance in catching it, or killing it if need be."
“An animal? By golly this doesn’t make sense.”Anna responded in surprise, she thought the murder was committed by a violent person. Did she jump to the conclusion too quickly and made an incorrect assumption about Exter?
"I assure you, that was the coroner's finding. The unfortunate woman's death was not caused by the hand of man nor by a Jerry bomb."
"The animal, whatever it is, constricted her with incredible strength, yet took bites and clawed her. Apparently not really for - ahem - food purposes though. The girl died from blood loss. As I said, I simply cannot imagine what animal is capable of this."
Once again, Archie keeps a covert eye in the group to see if this revelation is too disturbing.
"And have I mentioned the second Luftwaffe POW who has corroborated that young German pilot's story from last night? That their aircraft was brought down by a flying animal. With a tail."
“I beg you pardon, good sir?”Anna looked offended, “At this point, are you insinuating that a Luftwaffe was brought down by a dragon? This is not funny, if that was intended to be a joke. ”
Story nods in agreement to Archie's comments and mumbles to himself, "Exactly as I thought."
Finally after Anna speaks he chimes in, "No dragon, and no demon from the Reverend's hell... rather a monster from our nightmares I imagine." He runs his hand through his hair and says, "Rev, locating a beast that navigates air and land will not be an easy task."
Carole Siddons stared in stunned silence before finally speaking. "I'm finding all this rather hard to believe myself," she said. "There was that incident ten years ago when I met Professor Story at the British Museum, but I never saw anything that couldn't be explained rationally. There was talk of beasts in the tunnels underneath the Museum, and one of his friends had been bitten, but that's a far cry from a dragon, or whatever you're talking about."
“Whatever the case, the story he sells is quite hard to believe requires us to make several leaps of faiths. And I do find the ‘monster from our nightmare’-thing to be too hyperbolic for my tastes.”Anna conceded.
Archie shrugs in response to Anna and Carole's concerns. "I am not speculating on what this animal may be and I do not ask you to believe in dragons. In this instance, I'm trying just to present facts. Of course, I myself believe in a higher power whose existence I cannot prove, but that's another matter."
Archie turns to Story. "Professor, I wonder could this be some kind of secret weapon? Something the Russians have bred perhaps?"
"Strange beasts..."Benjamin mutters, more to himself than anyone in particular. "I wonder if the Museum's vault holds something relevant here, perhaps an old tome or an artefact?"
"Right. But would it be that convenient, though? A mysterious death that appears to be caused by an unidentifiable creature, and you're saying that we would somehow find a book that explains exactly what the creature beyond reasonable doubt rather than, say, consult a zoologist?" Anna asked in curiousity.
"Stranger things have happened in the past, my dear. Not everything is mere coincidence or can be explained fully rationally. Don't deny yourself the possibility of something happening, simply by not being open for it!"
“True. I’ve been referred ‘impossible cases’ as a practitioner of medicine before, it wouldn’t surprise you to know that they aren’t ‘impossible cases’, it’s only a matter of the doctor’s willingness to treat the patient and rational approach that truly matters. Giving up on even afaint possibility could be foolish in retrospect. But consider me a skeptic until further proof presents itself to a neat, tidy conclusion.”Anna responded to Benjamin.
"Our collection has all sorts of references to mythology," said Carole. "Most of that is fantastical, but some myths have a kernel of truth. Maybe there is some sort of animal on the loose that nobody has discovered before, or at least proven the existence of. I don't know whether the Loch Ness Monster exists or not, and there's no proof, but many people claim to have seen it. This could be something undiscovered or thought long extinct that might have been living underground, only to be awakened by last night's bombing. I mean, ceolacanths were believed to have died out long ago, but a living one was discovered just a couple of years ago."
Archie nods enthusiastically. "You make a good point, Miss Siddons. The bible itself is generally accepted in theology as being largely allegorical, yet containing elements that are historically accurate. The Romans, for one example."
"And in my archeological investigations, I often found that beyond the physical evidence of historical artifacts, explanation for their origin could be found in writings from or at least about the relevant period in history."
"So, what information might research in the great museum reveal?"
"There's no telling," said Carole. "I've worked in the British Museum for over a decade, and while I've seen all of the exhibits, I've only read a fraction of the books that were available in the Reading Room. There's too many to read in a lifetime, and I have no idea what hidden treasures there might be. While we don't have the entire collection packed away in the Tube, there's enough there to keep one busy for quite some time. Thank you, Reverend. I appreciate your scholarly nature. It's a shame you can't see the museum in all its glory, at least until after the war is over, but hopefully you'll get enough of a taste."
Carole led the way down into Holborn Station, where an escalator took them deep underground to the platforms. "I found out this morning that a lot of people took shelter down here last night," she said. "It's technically not allowed, but they did it anyway, and they wouldn't just turn them out during the raid. All they had to do was pay their fares and stay on the platform, which is far enough down in this station that they'd be safe even in the event of a direct hit. Something to keep in mind if you ever get caught out in the bombing."
"Legend has it that Mr Churchill himself has occasionally taken the underground train, to see how the British people are faring, rather like Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth. I haven't seen the prime minister do so myself, but I like the sound of the story."
"I've heard that myself," said Carole, smiling, "though I haven't seen him doing it either.It is reassuring to think of it."
At that moment, the train pulled up to the platform. Though moving at high speed at first, it quickly slowed down and came to a halt. The doors slid open to allow access to the train cars. There were a few people inside, but not as many as there would be during the week. Most of them got off here. Advertisements were posted inside the train, above the windows at an angle so that they could be easily read by passengers.
OOC,I just saw Darkest Hour last night, which featured such a scene on the Underground. That particular scene probably didn't happen, however.
After a moment of chewing on Archie's question Story says, "A Russian secret weapon. A genetic experiment of sorts? Hmmm... if not Russians perhaps the Nazis." He scratches his head and finishes, "Regardless, good question. That's an interesting theory, but I really can't say since we don't have enough information just yet."
“Well, I can’t say much ‘bout the advertisements. Aren’t exactly tasteful, and well, they all seemed to exaggerate their products to almost hyperbolic length. I hardly expect cocaine and morphine to be the miracle cure for everything.”Anna said, looking at the advertisements. She attempted to kickstart a conversation with Benjamin.
"True, it does indeed seem very superficial. Call me old-fashioned, but I still think a well-made suit from my shop is it's own advertisement, and does not require any flashy publicity to make it better..."
“That’s something we can agree on. But I got the feeling that, someday, the whole world will be plastered with ads and there will no escaping them.”Anna looked around the train carriage and the ads that littered it. The discarded flyers and pamphlets on the ground and large posters and advertisement boards at the top.
After everyone boarded the train and sat down, the doors swished shut and the train began rattling down the tunnel. The ads were for various products, including clothing, liquor, and cigarettes. There were also some war-related ads, encouraging people to volunteer for war work and obey the blackout regulations and discouraging them from talking about secrets. One featured a beautiful blonde in a revealing dress talking with a man in uniform. The caption read "SHE'S NOT AS DUMB AS SHE LOOKS - CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES."
"Somewhat tacky perhaps, but probably still a wise precaution. We don't want our friends from across the channel to know everything that we are planning..."
The train coasted to a stop at another platform, and the doors swished open. There were only two people besides the six of them left in the car, a man in his fifties in a suit and tie, and a young female conductor. "Last stop, Aldwych," she said. "Mind the gap."
The man alighted from the train onto the platform and began heading away, in the direction of a sign with an arrow and the words "Way Out."
Archie is still contemplating the "CARELESS TALK" sign sadly. To no-one in particular, he says, "How sad it is that we must tell people to distrust their neighbours. One day it will be over I know."
Carole led the group off of the train and in the opposite direction along the platform, to a door that was guarded by a bald man of about forty years old, wearing a uniform. "Good morning, Miss Siddons," he said to her, looking her companions up and down.
"Good morning, Ralph," she said. "These are Professor Story and his associates. "I'll vouch for them. I'm going to show them around."
He nodded and took a ring of keys from his belt, looking through them until he found the right one. He unlocked the door and opened it, revealing a long tunnel ahead. "All yours."
Anna follows closely behind. Observing Story with great interest; he was a puzzle, shrouded in riddles, wrapped in an enigma, then lovingly tied together with a ribbon of intrigue, and express-mailed to 110 Mystery Street, Secretsville. Needless to say, Anna believed that there was more to this man's...story (ba dum tss) than he let on.
Carole led the way down the tunnel, eventually coming to a large metal sliding door. "Most of what we've got stored in here is sculptures, vases, and the like," she said as she unlocked the door and slid it open, leading the way into a vast storage area. "Those are put away in crates to protect them. The Elgin Marbles sculptures from the Parthenon are all packed up, but the wall sections were too big for the crates, so you can still see those in the back. We didn't have any books in here initially, for fear that the humidity would damage them. Many of them were kept at various country houses, but when the bombing started in the south of England, it soon became apparent that they weren't immune, and the only truly safe place for them was underground, humidity or no."
The huge room contained many rows of metal shelving containing crates of various sizes, with no clue what was in them besides numbering on them. Carole walked over to a desk, where there was a large binder. "Here's the catalog of what we've got stored here. Everything's been meticulously inventoried. You're welcome to look through it to see if there's anything that might be relevant to your researches, and I can assist you. It's going to take a good deal of time to find anything, though."
Anna perused the resources, searching for relevant tales of animals matching the descriptions as provided. She found something worthy of interest tucked between a book on Phrenology and an atlas of the Ancient Roman empire.
Everyone began to search for anything that might contain a reference to the creature described by the German airmen. It was slow going at first, with many false leads, but eventually Anna located a book that could be of interest called De Vermis Mysteriis, written by a Ludwig Prinn in 1542. Her knowledge of Latin allowed her to translate the title, which meant "of the mysteries of the worm," and the creature might possibly be considered worm-like. She was disappointed to discover that the copy of the book that the British Museum had in its collection was a later German translation from 1587. However, Benjamin knew German inside and out, it being his native tongue, and he was able to translate for those who did not know it.
From looking through the book, it quickly became apparent that Prinn was a madman who fancied himself a sorcerer. Much of the book detailed his travels throughout Europe and beyond, including Egypt. It was in the land of Egypt where he described an encounter he had one night with a creature the translator dubbed a Jaegerschreck. He describes it is being a huge serpentine monster about fifty feet long, with a single large wing and far too many teeth, capable of flight. He only survived, according to him, due to his mastery of the arcane. He was able to conjure a ball of flame that he held in his hand which kept it at bay until dawn approached, at which point the beast fled. He speculated that it was the light rather than the fire that it feared, due to the fact that it was the imminent sunrise that caused it to turn tail and fly away. His further studies determined that it was a servitor of a deity he called Nyarlathotep, who went by many guises such as the Egyptian god Thoth. The Jaegerschreck was not only afraid of light, it was vulnerable to it. An intense enough light could cause damage to it, and sunlight would most likely instantly disintegrate it.
Story,[b]Story[/b] began to look through the book, his Time Lord's mind able to speedread and comprehend the relevant contents much faster than a mere human could. Elsewhere in the book, Ludwig Prinn detailed a ritual that would open a transdimensional portal to bring a [i]Jaegerschreck[/i] into this world from its native one and bind it to the summoner's will - unless something went wrong, which he gathered was not an entirely unusual occurrence. The ritual mentioned that such a summoning required a human sacrifice. The sorcerer did not need to kill the victim personally. Rather, the creature would perform the killing upon arrival and then follow the sorcerer's commands. The victim merely needed to be present and indicated by the summoner. If there was no victim prepared, the creature would turn on the one who had called It forth instead (also not an entirely unusual occurrence). Prinn also mentioned that it was possible to banish a [i]Jaegerschreck[/i] simply by reversing the ritual, which would send it back whence it came, which Prinn points out could be useful in the event that one of these creatures is trying to eat one's face. This would take a lot less time than the summoning ritual, and it would not require a sacrifice, but it would still take a toll on the psyche. [b]Story[/b] was now confident that he could summon or banish one of these monsters himself.
OOC,Everyone may roll Idea to try to think of where you might find a very bright light.
"Jaegerschreck a servitor of Nyarlathotep..."Story runs his hand through his hair and continues thinking out loud, "Yes, yes, if we could get a large enough source of light to somehow capture or incapacitate it we could then banish it."
Story and Anna,While London was blacked out and one might think that sources of bright light would be few and far between, it occurred to both [b]Story[/b] and [b]Anna[/b] that there were such light sources throughout London: searchlights. They were used to find and light up enemy aircraft to make them easier to shoot down, but there was no reason they couldn't be turned on this creature.
Story,You don't need a light source in order to cast the spells for binding or banishing it; light is another thing you can use against it.
Brook realized that Anna was right about the searchlights. She had seen them positioned in various places, designed to aimed up in the sky to light up enemy aircraft. They could do the same to a flying creature of about the same size. They were probably the only source of bright light available in the blackout.
OOC,What does everyone want to do now? You've spent a lot of time in here, and it is now mid-afternoon. If I don't hear differently by this weekend, I'll assume you want to head back to the church.
Once everyone was done, Carole Siddons made sure everything was put back exactly as they had found it and led them back out to the platform. She checked her watch. "It's mid-afternoon already," she said, "so I'd better get back to the museum. I'll leave you here, so you can take the Tube wherever you're bound. If you want to talk to me again, you can come see me at the British Museum during regular hours. Take care of yourselves, and it was great seeing you."
The group made their way back to St. James's Church, arriving around 4:00.
OOC,Everyone is moving to the thread linked below:
