It’s 1937. Nazi Germany is in ascendency, having consolidated power around Adolf Hitler, passed the noxious Nuremburg Laws in 1936 and re-militarized the Rhineland in 1965. The annexation of Austria is mere months away. Imperial Japan is at war, having invaded China and occupied Shanghai.
In America, the Depression rages on, with millions out of work despite President Roosevelt’s best efforts with the New Deal. The spectre of war in Europe has everyone on edge, though some — including hero Charles Lindbergh — speak highly of the Nazi regime.
The heroes are members of the Wardens, a loosely-knit secret society with offices in New York, London, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. It is an organization comprised of men and women of action — troubleshooters, adventurers, and mystics — who have sworn an oath to protect the innocent from threats both mundane and magical.
The initial recruits were:
They were recruited in the not-to-distant past for their unique talents and exposure to the stranger, weirder aspects of the world. They are part of the organization’s lowest tier, but after several training missions with elder Wardens, were have been entrusted with their first assignment: recovering the “Eye of Kilquato”, a valuable — and some say mystical — gem believed to lie in an ancient ruin deep within the Amazonian jungle.
They were joined in this expedition by Sir Arthur Boundless, a professor emeritus of religious studies at Yale University and retired British Army major. He was also one of Archibald’s teachers at Yale. The mission’s cover store was an archeological expedition for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Some preliminary research (with a bit of help from Sir Boundless) revealed that local legends held the Eye had some degree of power over reptiles. After using their expeditionary budget of $1,000 to buy specialized scientific equipment (e.g. plus medicinal supplies for trade with the native tribes, as well as Thompson machine guns for themselves) they headed to the airfield for their journey south.
The Journey South
The heroes boarded a charted plane, which their resident ace Archibald flew. They dodged a powerful thunderstorm while approaching the small Amazonian village of Belem, and narrowly missed hitting a crocodile on the runway.
They met their guide, Jose Ortiz, at the runway. He said their was the first flight into Belem in two weeks. When pressed he explained that a group of Germans had arrived on their own archeological expedition to the Amazonian interior. He explained that he would arrange for the adventurers’ supplies to be transported to the river boat that would take them into the interior.
The three adventurers headed to a local cantina, where Father Cameron Dovenney had grunt-filled conversation with a crocodile hunter named Gunter. In between belches and huge swigs of beer, Gunter mentioned he’d heard from the natives that there’s a crocodile death cult operating deep in the interior. Before Cameron could learn more, the croc hunter passed out.
After their time at the cantina, they headed to the docks. They arrived just in time to see a number of local toughs moving toward the boat … and their supplies. It turns out the leader of the toughs was named “Manny”, and he show an unhealthy interest in their supplies.
Father Cameron tried to convince Manny to move on, but the though was unimpressed and instead demanded a cut of their supplies so he could “distribute them to the poor”.
Carvus stepped up, and true to his”Creepy Carcass” nickname intimidated the thug into leaving, backing up his words with a spray of machine gun fire. The Wardens boarded their boat — the river barge Amazonia — and headed up the mighty river that gave the vessel its name.
Pirates on the Amazon
Once on the boat, Archibald and Sir Arthur went below decks to sleep while the rest of the Wardens stayed on deck with the crew. A few hours later the caught sight of trouble: a speedboat with a forward-mounted machine gun and packed with pirates. Standing on the ship’s small bridge was a familiar sight: Manny. The thug called out — in English — that he wanted the ship captured intact, but didn’t care what happend to the crew.
The pirate boat roared toward the slower-moving barge. The pirate on the machine gun attempted to rake the ship with bullets, but his shots went wide. The gun then unexpectedly jammed, dropping it from the combat equation.
The pirates moved alongside the barge and sent five of their number to board the ship. A pitched fight broke out, with the Wardens doing their best to repel the attackers.
Carvus unleashed volley after volley of bullets at the attackers from his Thompson, but didn’t manage to hit any of them, he later shifted to using his knife to take out the opponents in hand-to-hand combat. Father Cameron used the radiant power of the Holy Spirit to incinerate several attackers. Archibald and Sir Arthur, finally awakening from their mid-day nap, joined the fight as well, with Sir Author wielding his old double barrel shotgun Betsy.
With the pirates almost defeated, the enraged Manny decided to ram the barge. The impact knocked almost everyone off their feet, and then Manny scrambled over the ruined bow of the pirate ship to close with Carvus. He took several hits on the way in, but still crawled on, intent on driving his knife through the mercenary’s heart. The Wardens finally put him down.
The two ships, still joined after the collision, limped their way to the short where the crew began repairs.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Source image.
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