99: The Basement

In the end, mum, we decided not to leg it. Vinny came back, and if Vinny sticks around it’s probably not as dangerous as all that. But we did try to hurry a bit because we had made a lot of noise and also the magic wolf was probably stalking us.

Guido seemed to be waiting for Fred to tell us what to do, because he thought Fred was an expert in law and order and stuff. So Fred told Guido and me to check out the office while he went with Blume to check out the warehouse. And Vinny stayed watch in the courtyard where he could contact both groups. And I asked him to do a quick scout around the courtyard just in case there were more living dead things around, and Blume told him that if he saw anything that he should warn us before he ran off again.

We didn’t find very much in the office. They had some paper and writing stuff, but all the papers were blank. I don’t know if that meant it was just a pretend office, or they had already sent off the stuff they had written. The room had broken glass and things like that in it, but I think that was what Vinny did.

In the warehouse, Blume and Fred could see a trapdoor in the floor and some stairs leading up to a gantry. There were lots of crates around, with address labels that were heading all over the Empire, and they didn’t see any addresses that were significant to us.

They tried to crowbar a crate open and discovered that it wasn’t really nailed down, but had hidden hinges which meant it looked like it was nailed but it could be reopened easily. And checking a few more crates they all had hidden hinges. And the crates were all empty. This was a real puzzle, mum, what would they need a crate like that for?

We left the office and saw Fred checking one of the crates already loaded onto a cart, and it was the same thing, hidden hinges and empty crate.

So we decided to open the trapdoor. It was a bit spooky, and Vinny lent Guido his sword, because Guido hadn’t brought one with him. I’m still wondering what has happened to Barrakul, mum.

Vinny quickly checked the gantry to make sure nothing was hiding up there, and he found a pigeon coop and there were even some pigeons with purple plumage, but none of them had any messages. And Vinny gloated to them about killing their mate, but I don’t think they understood. There was also a bed up there and bowls for three dogs. And he saw a long rope that went through a hole in the floor, down to the basement so he gave it a tug. And we heard a bell or something ringing below us.

When Vinny got back, Fred shushed us all so that Blume could listen to the basement, and she said she could hear lots of noises, like high pitched chittering, and giggling, and whispering, and whooping, so that was a bit strange.

And Blume said we should just block up the trapdoor and go, and Fred wondered about getting the watch. So I reminded everyone what KITUM stood for, but I couldn’t really remember what it stood for, but it stands for something like, don’t block the trapdoor and don’t call the watch. And everyone agreed it was our duty to investigate.

Then Vinny got worried about his head, because I think one of the walking dead had tried to rip the top of his skull off. But I think he only mentioned it then so he wouldn’t have to go down to the basement. So Guido wrapped a bandage round it and Blume lent Vinny her magic tiara thing.

And Fred got Guido to write a note about what was going on and he found an urchin to take it to the watch house. Then Fred and Guido opened the trapdoor while Blume and I were pointing our guns down it. We didn’t see anything down there but we could definitely hear something moving about.

There were some stone steps leading down so we went down with Vinny and Fred and Blume holding lanterns but it was still difficult to see much. But we could see that there were crates down here and lots of equipment, a bit like in the laboratory under the signal tower, so there was definitely science going on. And we could see the other end of the rope that Vinny had pulled.

And there was a large octagon on the floor, with a copper ring, and lines and symbols and things inside it. And Blume gave me a knowing look because we had seen these in the sewers in Boegenhafen, and then a more makeshift one in the warehouse there, and something a bit like it in the signal tower, and then in the safe house in Baumhafen Weg. And we agreed that of all the daemonic circles we had seen, this was the best looking and most intricate. Which was worrying.

And there were three tables in the middle of the room and each one had the body of a walking dead on it, and one of them was still moving. And it looked like they had been tortured or experimented on or flayed or something, and it wasn’t very nice, so I tried not to look.

Blume decided she needed to stop that one from wriggling about and got her hammer and spikes out to spike it in the head. Guido told her not to, but I think the rest of us all wanted her to do it, because the thing was very creepy, and it needed to be put out of its misery.

There were a couple of doors to the right of the stairs, and so Guido and I got ready to open the first door, while Fred stood back ready to defend us against whatever was making the noise.

Inside the room were three more slabs with dead things on them, but when we opened the door they got to their feet and ran at us. Meanwhile Blume was trying to spike the one tied to the table, but it was wriggling about so much she couldn’t get a clean hit on it.

Fred told Guido to fall back to him so they could defend against the dead things. So he did and prayed to Sigmar for strength in the fight. And I tried to hit them with my sword but its hard to fight things with bits flesh peeling from their bones and their faces hanging off and things like that, so I retreated back up the stairs a bit and drew my pistol.

In the end Blume shot the tied up dead thing with her pistol and got him in the head but it still kept thrashing about. And I had a shot at one of the ones coming through the door but missed.

Meanwhile Vinny went over to the other door and had a listen, and he said it was weird, but he could hear something whispering to him, but it sounded like they were whispering right in his ear, which was disconcerting. But he decided to open the door anyway.

Fred and Guido were fighting the dead things off as they came through the doorway and it looked like these were a bit fresher than the ones we had seen in the courtyard. Guido was still praying and he said that his prayer filled both Fred and me with the power of Sigmar, but I’m not sure about that.

And I think Guido was going to get hit badly by one of the walking dead, and he said a quick word to Uncle Isaac and I think that saved him. So if we were all filled with the power of Sigmar why did he ask Isaac for help? Afterwards, he denied any of that happened, of course.

Then a gibbering mass of blue flesh and tentacles came through the door towards Vinny. And Vinny managed to fend it off, but when he hit it with his dagger, the flesh seemed to disappear and reform around his blade so that he wasn’t able to actually hit the thing. But he didn’t run away. And the thing came at him, but I think it over reached itself and it sort of collapsed to the floor in a mess of strange tentacles.

And as it lay on the ground, Vinny could hear the thing whining about its lot in life and all the misfortune that had befallen it, and for a moment he felt a bit sorry for it, but he stabbed it anyway. But again the thing’s flesh moved out of the way of her blade.

Meanwhile, the walking dead were still coming at us, and one managed to wound Guido, and Blume was still trying to stake the tied-up one. But we were now starting to get the better of the zombies and Fred managed to destroy one of them, and Guido nearly ended another.

And the horrible blue creepy thing tried to engulf Vinny but as fate would have it, he just managed to wriggle out the way of it. And then Blume shot at it, and she managed to miss Vinny and got a good hit on the blue thing. And Vinny hit it with his dagger and it sort of dissipated into a pool of water, and strange visions, and disappeared.

The zombies managed to hit both me and Fred but we struck back. Guido hit one with a cool double sword plus shield manoeuvre that I could see he had probably practised in the mirror a few times. Then I finally got a really good hit on one of them, and it was destroyed, and I think that was thanks to Frau Kenner’s sword.

And so the final zombie was in the middle of Guido, Fred, and me, but before we could attack it, Blume shot her pistol into the middle of us, and hit it perfectly, destroying it. But we were all a bit annoyed because she could have easily hit any of us, again.

So we had dealt with all the zombies. And when we had a look around we could see Vinny looking very upset next to a pool of water, and we just assumed he’d pissed himself again. And we told him off for not helping us fight, and Blume took her magic headband back.

Vinny walked away, into the next room, and saw that it was an opulently appointed bed chamber in the Arabyan style, which seemed like a very incongruous thing to find down here. There were lots of rich silks and skulls on shelves around the walls. And there was a heady scent in the air, and I couldn’t decide whether it was nice, or not.

And there was incense in the air, and Vinny could see that it was wafting towards a big bookshelf, and so he started taking the books off, to see if he could find a door or something behind it. And sure enough, he did, and swung the bookcase open to reveal a steep dark passage heading downwards.

Blume said she could hear some footsteps receding not far away. And as soon as he heard that, Guido was off after it. And seeing Guido run, Blume ran after him. And so I thought I had better run after Blume. But Vinny thought better of it, and started ripping down all the silks and valuables, but I think he left the skulls. And Fred thought it was more sensible to regroup.

So there we are mum, Guido, Blume and me, in a dark passageway, below the warehouse, below the haulage yard, below Altquartier. Fred was back in the Arabyan boudoir trying to work out what direction the tunnel was leading, so he could work out where it might end up. And Vinny was doing a burglary. And I’ll tell you what happened next in my next letter.