Play@YSDC

UNIT HQ - London, England
8:15 PM - Thursday, September 5, 1985

Chad Engraham, Leonek Novak, Tobias Maddox, Valerie Soames, and Dr. Valerie Kirby were all asssembled in Brigadier Charles Crichton's office at UNIT HQ. The Brigadier had set out chairs for them, and he sat behind his large oak desk, where he rested his arms and clasped his hands. "Welcome back to HQ," he said. "I'm relieved you've made it out, and I still have hope that the rest of the team can make it back. First, let's put together what we know, and then we'll put together our plan of action. Dr. Kirby, you were the first in Dunwich. Why don't you start us off?"

"Certainly, sir," said Dr. Kirby. She was now wearing a black minidress with an unbuttoned lab coat over it, and she sat with her legs crossed, which proved somewhat distracting for the men. "I arrived at nine in the morning two days ago and checked into the Ship Inn, Room 104. When I spoke to Annie Howard, the woman behind the front desk, I noticed that she had a similar look to Simon Armistead, though far less pronounced. If I didn't know what to look for, I might have missed it. She might have even seemed pretty to someone ignorant of her...condition. I learned a little about Dunwich from her before setting out on my investigation. The first thing I did was find the public phone and place a trunk call to the Brigadier to report my arrival."

"Yes, I recall this part. Do go on."

"After that, I went to the Dunwich Museum and spoke to Amelia Cressy, the curator. The museum was not open yet, but I was able to convince her to have a chat while she set up for the day. That's where I learned about Dunwich's history, though the vast majority of it turned out to be irrelevant. Most of what concerns us has occurred within the past forty years. She did not know much about recent goings on in Dunwich, but she did direct me to Zeke Baker, an old local fisherman. By her advice, after lunch I purchased a drink for him to loosen his tongue and found him on the beach. Once I gave him the drink and took some time for the alcohol to sink in, he opened up about what's been happening there since 1945, when Captain Josiah Lake returned from the war."

Chad listened not having anything to add at this point.

Leonek looks a lot less stressed now the release of Dr. Kirby was confirmed and later, when she's giving her briefing he has a very eager look about him as he is listening intently to the good doctor.

Tobias smiles wryly at the mention of Annie Howard; he is glad his judgement was correct even though he hadn't noticed any deformities. He listens carefully.

"If I may ... I think it may be wise to assume that the entire village is <cough> shall I use the phrase 'infested.' That way whatever action we take needs to be swift and total, after all we wouldn't want any escapes infecting other towns, the ramifications of this are too horrid to bear thought, wouldn't you agree Brigadier?" Valerie smiles sweetly at the group, though her cheeks feel as though they are on fire and glowing with embarrassment.

Chad hears Valarie and is somewhat startled. And jumps in ahead of the Brigadier "I didn't know we had concluded that we had an infectious pathogen...Perhaps we should finish the debrief before jumping to plan specifics?"

"It's not a pathogen," said Dr. Kirby. "The condition is purely genetic, as I'll explain in a bit. Still, we don't want any of them getting away."

"You and Mrs. Soames are quite right," said the Brigadier. "When we're ready to move on Dunwich, our first order of business will be to surround the village with overwhelming force and cordon the place off, at least from the land. Escape by sea could still be a problem, but that's where the destroyer I'm requesting from the Royal Navy comes in. There are a number of innocent tourists there, and we'll need to keep them safe as well as separate them from the inhabitants. Our first order of business will be to secure the Ship Inn. If we go in at night, all of the tourists should be there. We can also use it as a field HQ."

"Some of the residents, especially the older ones, are fully human. And the younger ones won't be showing any of the signs yet. We'll need to do genetic testing to sort them out. Fortunately, I know what to look for, and we have a live specimen against whom to compare the DNA. However, the testing will take several weeks."

"Then we'll have to intern the lot of them, tourists and all. After all, some of the villagers could try to impersonate tourists to slip away. The population of Dunwich is only a couple hundred, so that shouldn't be a issue. We have facilities that can handle that. But we really should finish the debriefing before we make our plans."

"No no Chad, Dr Kirby, I didn't mean it was a pathogen, or even infectious. You have misunderstood my use of the word infested I think. The 'infestation' I was referring to ..." the old lady blushes and looks towards Dr Kirby before continuing "... was through some mating process between humans and these creatures. Dr Kirby and I have discussed this already and we both agree that the humans would not partake willingly if you take my meaning." I fold my hands on my lap and look down.

Tobias smirks slightly, "From what I saw, there wasn't much else to do in that village. Not surprising the place is inbred. However, you can't tell me that 'Rover' was some form of human mutation, you'll need a lot more than small arms to stop that thing." The two Valeries looking a little puzzled, he expanded, "Underneath the ruins is a cave network with, well, how would you describe it? You saw it better than me, I was driving." Tobias asks Leonek and Chad.

Leonek clears his throat, casts a nervous glance at Dr. Kirby and then addresses Brigadier Crichton.


"It was very big, and slightly spherical, it had too many eyes and sharp fangs and talons everywhere and it moved with great speed. It seems to be resistant to our smaller sidearms. I managed to hit it right in one of its eyes and it just kept coming at us.
"

"Oh my!" I exclaim. "How frightening. However did you cope, I'm just glad I never saw it."

Chad looks down at Valerie's question "The military term is retreat and rapid withdrawal"

Chad looks up. "Sorry for the interruption, go ahead and continue Dr. Kirby"

"I look down abashed. "Of course, I'm very sorry for interrupting Dr Kirby."

"Quite all right," said Dr. Kirby, looking a little relieved to change the subject. "From Mr. Baker I learned that Captain Josiah Lake had returned from the war a hero - and a very wealthy one. He was flush with gold, and nobody knew where he had gotten it, though some suspected he had looted it from the Japanese. He spread it around freely, essentially buying his way into control of Dunwich and corrupting the town leadership. There was some resistance, and at first they were successful, even going so far as to arrest Lake and his cronies, but then something disastrous happened in early 1946. Lake and his supporters were set free and their opponents were killed suddenly in the middle of the night. Josiah Lake was later murdered by Edward Soames, Jr. in 1970, who was later himself found dead, but Lake's legacy lives on. His son Albert, or Bertie as he likes to be called, is now in charge, and he's...well, there's very little human left about him. I mentioned to Zeke that I was considering going diving to explore the sunken ruins, and he warned me not to quite vehemently. When I asked him why, he told me...and I found out what had happened to poor Beth Armistead in 1954." She blushed and lowered her head.

Leonek hangs on Dr. Kirby's lips. Figuratively.

'So Captain Lake comes back with gold and some disease which he passed on to his heirs and other villagers?' Tobias says, almost to himself. He shakes his head 'Sorry. So what happened to Beth Armistead?'

"Not a disease," said Dr. Kirby. "The people with the strange condition, such as Simon Armistead, are actually the offspring of humans and the amphibious creatures we call Sea Devils. The Sea Devil genes are dominant, but they don't express themselves early in life. Such a child would appear normal until some time after reaching maturity, at which point the amphibian features begin to assert themselves. Eventually, the hybrids would fully transform into Sea Devils themselves! Bertie Lake, the son of Josiah Lake, is very nearly there. Zeke Baker told me he had seen the full-blooded creatures that night in January 1946, when he was just a boy. From his descrption, I recognised them as Sea Devils, having read accounts in the UNIT archives."

She cleared her throat. "Anyhow, Mr. Baker found Beth Armistead washed up unconscious on the beach one night in 1954, completely naked and covered with what turned out to be bruises, bites, and claw marks. He took her to Dr. Richard Strong, who treated her. He showed me the spot where he found her, out past Horsham's shack. The tide was out at the time, and I was able to see the underwater entrance to those caves you mentioned, though I didn't go inside. It would actually have been possible at low tide to just wade into the cave. He also told me about Virgil Soames and the history of his family's feud with the Lakes, but I'll get to that later.

"I went to visit Dr. Strong next. It took some convincing to get him to open up to me, but I was able to persuade him to breach confidentiality given that his former patient was dead, I was a fellow doctor, and I finally told him why I had come to Dunwich. Beth had been unable to recall what had happened to her after she had regained consciousness. The last she knew, she had been diving and exploring the underwater ruins. He discovered when examining her that she had been...assaulted. Sexually, I mean." She gulped. "It must have been a Sea Devil. Simon Armistead's real father."

Leonek looks at the ground, trying not to imagine what Dr. Kirby is saying.

Chad is aghast at the implications, especially with the multiple hybrids he had seen carrying on ordinary lives within Dunwich. He gulps pensively.

"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.

Chad hears the despair in Tobias' voice. "Heading back was always likely. Just more prepared than we were, when we were being chased by Rover. With more reinforcement too. Clearly the Sea Devils anticipated some mid-level resistance and are prepared for that contingency. We need to bring in heavy resistance, and for God's sake, we need to figure out exactly what they hoped to accomplish, because stopping them here means very little if they can just evacuate and set up shop someplace else. Someplace more secluded."

"Even more secluded than Dunwich?" Tobias grins. "I don't mind going in with better arms and some backup. At least we'll be more prepared than before." He starts writing a list in the ever present notepad.

"Well, Dunwich is also a tourist trap," said Dr. Kirby. "In my case, quite literally. They could probably get away with even more somewhere isolated, where there weren't so many prying eyes. The scary thing is that there must be many Sea Devils scattered all over the world, under the sea. This was their planet before it was ours. We'll never root them all out. I believe most of them are in suspended animation, waiting for the after effects of a cataclysm that never came to dissipate. But there could easily be other groups that have woken up or never went to sleep in the first place."

Chad quickly responds. "Which brings us back to, they must be doing this for a reason. A reason right now, we do not know." Chad pauses..."Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Tobias grimaces at the thought. "And I thought it was things from outta space we needed to worry about. Well I'd be interested in seeing just how technologically advanced these sea devils actually are, maybe get some examples.When are we due to go back in, Sir?"

"Day after next, it looks like," said Brigadier Crichton. "We'll decide exactly what time to go in when we draw up more specific plans, but it'll be sometime during the night. I'll need Sergeant Hale for this operation. As a former Royal Marine, he excels at amphibious operations. Those caves will definitely be one of our objectives, and we'll need him there. He's also an excellent squad leader with combat experience. Gave the Argies what for a few years back in the Falklands War." He picked up his phone and dialed an extension. "Captain, send Sergeant Hale to my office, please."

"I think the reason is that they want to reclaim 'their' planet," said Dr. Kirby. "They're just going about it in an extremely slow way. They do seem capable of living a very long time. After centuries of interbreeding, all humans would eventually have Sea Devil DNA and would transform to become like them after reaching maturity. At that point, Earth would be lost. It's genetic warfare. Well, I'd like to examine our...guest in more depth. Having a live specimen will help us develop a greater understanding. It's a shame Dr. Shields isn't here to assist me, but I can manage with the help of UNIT medical staff. Then we can try to revive and question it to learn more."

"And can we get some equipment? I lost my glock and other items in that helicopter crash. I wouldn't mind being in on the examination too. I'm not medical but..." Tobias's brain is obviously chugging away furiously behind his expressionless face.

"Of course we'll issue new equipment," said the Brigadier. "We'll all go in fully armed, and we've got enough time to handle some special requests."

"Yes, you'd be welcome to sit in on the examination," Dr. Kirby told Tobias.

Chad once again remember being chased by Rover.

"Given the size of our largest encounter we may want a heavy weapons crew."

OOC,Everyone is moving to the thread linked below.

Team Building