Play@YSDC

"And the, er, child?" Tobias asks.

Tobias!, Valerie interjects impatiently. "Dr Kirby has just told us that the child would appear normal until they reach maturity, when their amphibian features begin to show. In time the hybrids seem to transform fully into these so called Sea Devils!" She purses her lips together in a tight line.

"Yes, that's correct," said Valerie Kirby. "Simon Armistead's mother must have told him what she knew about what happened to her before she died, and then he went to Dunwich to look into it. My best guess is that he was able to discover some of it. The changes to his features weren't pronounced enough for anyone to notice at that time, but he apparently began to change in the months that followed, and he understood what it meant. That has to be why he topped himself.

"Anyhow, my next stop was the cottage of the writer Virgil Soames. Zeke had told me that he was opposed to the Lake family, but that he was dangerous too in his own way. His parents had been killed that night in 1946 when he was just a toddler, and the children blamed the Lakes for it. His older brother killed Josiah Lake in 1970 in revenge, and he was then hunted down and killed, possibly by a lynch mob, possibly by the Sea Devils themselves. Virgil Soames was the last of his family remaining. Apparently the Lakes are afraid of him, and they leave him alone as long as he leaves them alone. He seemed nice enough, but there's something...off about him. He invited me in for supper, as it was getting on towards evening, and we had an interesting discussion. He told me his family's history and that he wants to expose the Lakes and make them pay for killing his family. He confided in me that there was an artifact called the Eye of Hydra hidden in the sunken ruins of old Dunwich. A Crusader, a Knight Templar named Sir Richard of Dunwich, had looted it in Greece either on his way to the Holy Land or on the return journey. It was buried with him in the crypt beneath the Dunwich Preceptory. Either the Lakes don't know it's there, or there's some reason they can't just go get it, but it is said to have power over the element of water. I was terrified to go diving after what I heard about Beth Armistead, but I had determined to do it the next day. However, events overtook me. Virgil loaned me his brother's diary to read that night, which I was doing while taking a bath in my room at the inn. That's when...that's when they came for me..."

Tobias is doodling in his notebook and just raises his eyes and sneers slightly at Valerie's interjection. "Hence the broken door at the inn. I suppose they got the diary when they took you hostage? And this artifact - do you think these sea devils are guarding it?"

Chad still trying to put two and two together. Clearly this was a plan of scale, involving the cooperation of the Sea Devils to create Human Hybrids. But the missing element was 'Why bother?' A plan of this scale must have a reason. And nothing so far revealed it. Chad urges Dr. Kirby to continue. "How exactly were you captured? Did you learn anything more in captivity?"

Dr. Kirby nodded to Chad. "I don't know if they're guarding it or not, or if they're even aware of its presence," she said. "I wasn't taken as a hostage. They probably would have killed me if...if Bertie Lake hadn't taken a liking to me. I don't think they got the diary; I managed to elude them long enough to hide it in the hotel room, under the mattress. If nobody found it, it should still be there. I barely had time to start reading it, but what I had seen was disturbing enough. They...they tried to force upon the door, but I'd set the chain, which bought me a little time. I threw on a towel and ran to the door to keep them out and wedged a chair under it, but that didn't hold them long. They had an axe and went to work on the door. I tricked them into thinking I'd left by opening the window, leaving the towel dangling from the radiator as if it had gotten caught there, then hid in the tub, under the bubbles. I used a rolled-up piece of paper to breathe until they left. Then I got the towel back and slipped out, going for my car, but they'd thought of that and gone there ahead of me. They'd disabled it by removing the distributor cap, and they were waiting there to ambush me." Her eyes filled up with tears. "I couldn't get away, it was hopeless. Then Bertie came forward and I saw his hideous face...I quite lost it then, When I recovered, Bertie told me I was beautiful and said that he loved me." She looked aside in disgust. "He...he said that I would be sacrificed to Mother Hydra, unless...unless I agreed to marry him..." She could keep the floodgates closed no longer, and water spilled down her cheeks.

Chad is stunned to silence by what Dr Kirby is describing. And looks to the Brigadier to comfort her.

I stand up and move over to where Valerie Kirby sits weeping. Kneeling down I put my arms around her and comfort her as she sobs her fears out over her terrible ordeal on my shoulder for a second time in a few hours.

"Gods! How would anyone be expected to cope with this kind of terror?"

I muse to myself.

"There, there pretty one ... you are safe now, well away from that terrible place and that horrid man - if man he is." I stroke he hair as she nestles into my shoulder and look at the men in the room one by one.

"Do you want to take a short break my dear ... to freshen yourself up?" I ask her quietly.

Dr. Kirby hugged Valerie tightly, letting the tears flow. After a while, she sniffled and straightened up. "No, but thank you, dear," she said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her lab coat. "I...I have to finish this, to see it through. We need to put a stop to this once and for all!" With fresh courage and grim determination, she addressed the room again. "I had to tell Bertie Lake I'd agree to marry him. I knew that I needed to survive at all costs, and that no matter what happened to me, I had to report back to UNIT what I'd learned. I kept hoping that I'd find a way to escape or that UNIT would send someone to rescue me. Escape proved impossible, but thankfully you came to find me. Oh, I do hope Elliot Webb made it out alive. Without him, I'd still be in Bertie's clutches." She shuddered, closing her eyes for a moment before she could find the strength to continue.

"He took me back to his manor house, to a guest bedroom near that of his sister Victoria. She's not as far gone as him, but she's still...disgusting. There was a nightgown for me to wear, and I could move freely about the room and its ensuite bathroom, but he secured a length of chain with manacles to the bed and to my ankle, so that I could not get past the hall outside my room. The wedding was set for Saturday evening. Bertie did tell me some things while he had me captive, trying to indoctrinate me into the Sea Devils' religion."

"How did Webb get you free?" asked the Brigadier.

"He was quite clever, really. He took a pillow and fired his gun at the chain through it, snapping it. The manacle at the end is still locked round my ankle. It still made some sound, though, for Victoria came to investigate, but Elliot got the drop on her and held her at gunpoint, and we tied her up and made good our escape."

Tobias is impressed with Valerie's ingenuity. "You did alright, Dr. Kirby. So where is Webb now?" He looks at the Brigadier, "Does that diary need retrieval for evidence?" He's thinking there could be valuable information in it.

Chad sighed. "Shocking Dr Kirby; What did you learn from Bertie?"

"Webb hasn't checked in yet," said the Brigadier. "I hope we'll hear from him soon. And yes, we'll need to retrieve that diary when we commandeer the inn."

"Bertie told me that the Sea Devils worship an enormous alien creature called Cthulhu," said Dr. Kirby. "Eons ago, he was imprisoned deep beneath the sea in a sunken city, where he's either dead or asleep or both. Possibly some form of suspended animation. He's supposed to rise up again 'when the stars are right' and rule the Earth, and the Sea Devils and their offspring eagerly await that day and serve him loyally. They also reverence two Sea Devils called Father Dagon and Mother Hydra, who are much larger and more powerful than regular Sea Devils. Perhaps those two are the progenitors of their race."

Chad reflects briefly. "Unknown Gods, ancient progenitors, it doesn't explain the human hybrid objectives..."

"I think I can answer that one," said Dr. Kirby. "From what I've heard about the Sea Devils, they still think of this planet as theirs from long ago, and they want it back. Most of them went into hibernation in the long distant past due to some ancient cataclysm they thought was coming, but some may have stayed awake and others may have woken up recently, like the ones UNIT encountered in the seventies. They probably cannot gain control of the Earth through conquest, as humans are too advanced, and even if the Sea Devils won they would suffer heavy casualties. Thus the interbreeding. Sea Devils are extremely long-lived and very patient. These hybrid offspring turn into Sea Devils themselves eventually. Don't you see? Their plan must be to contaminate our gene pool, starting small in places like Dunwich but spreading out from there - unless we stop them!"

"So every small coastal village is a potential target for them?" I ask with a worried look on my face. "And what about places on inland waters such as the Scottish Lochs and the lake District. And why do we assume that this is a solely British problem? Surely the other international versions of U.N.I.T. should be forewarned of what to expect." I struggle to keep rising hysteria out of my voice as the enormity of humanities situation begins to dawn on me. I close my eyes and breathe deeply trying to steady my nerves. "M ... may I ask for another strong cup of tea please. I think I need it!"

"Good idea, do we have any coffee?" Asks Tobias. "So we have the sea devils and their offspring, Rover, the big sphere, this dagon and Mother Hydra creatures and er, the Cthulhu was it? Quite a range of bad guys to contend with. They didn't seem very advanced, I reckon some decent tecched weaponry on our side will even the odds."

"Of course," said the Brigadier to Valerie. He picked up the telphone on his desk and placed a call. "I'd like enough tea and coffee for several people sent to my office, please." Then he hung up. "I've already given UNIT HQ in Geneva a preliminary report, and I'll give them a full one once this debriefing is over. The Sea Devils we encountered in the seventies had some advanced weapons, even moreso than what we've got. I don't know what this lot have, though."

"Keep in mind that the hybrids can use anything that we can," said Dr. Kirby.

"True, but UNIT has better kit than what civilians have access to. I'm confident we'll have the edge, and the advantage of surprise will help as well."

Chad scratches his head..."Capt Lake was bought off for this scheme.....? There must be something more.. Perhaps something he found convincing about the Sea Devils plan or beliefs."

"His son Bertie was a true believer, that's for sure," said Dr. Kirby, "but he'd been indoctrinated since birth, I'm certain. I can't speak to his father's motivations. Perhaps if we found his diary or something, that would explain it. The most likely place for that is his manor house."

'It looks like we're heading back in then." Tobias says, a little glumly although his eyes had lit up at the mention of the sea devils' weaponry.

ooc,I'm probably going to be out of reception for a lot of the time until 3rd July, so please npc me if you need to move on.