After an eventful journey aboard the Orient Express, the Wardens arrive in Istanbul on March 1, 1937. They met with their local contact, Mert Kahraman, Turkish liaison to the British consulate in Istanbul at the Pera Palace Hotel.
Category Archives: Episodes
Episode 15: Intrigue on the Orient Express
In the aftermath of the battle on the Unsichtbare Hand (“Unseen Hand”) our heroes have seized control of a German zeppelin after killing or incapacitating much of its crew. At the same time, their original transport – a Pan Am clipper-style seaplane called The Lady Luck — had gone missing when a prisoner the Wardens had taken escaped his bonds and attacked the pilot, Jason Baxter.
Episode 14: The Unseen Hand
Excerpt from the debriefing of Rikard Greystone, Warden of New York City, United States of America. Filed via telegram from Paris, France on February 26, 1937.
“Well, we started to interrogate two of our prisoners from the previous fight. And then some creepy demon-thing showed up sucked the soul out of one of them.”
“Then we found a seaplane so we could chase after the escaping Zeppelin. And so, dragging along our remaining prisoner in chains, we set out on a transatlantic chase aboard the Pan Am clipper-style seaplane called the Lady Luck.” Continue reading Episode 14: The Unseen Hand
Episode 13: The Lesson
The Teacher. He is an enigmatic figure believed to be part of “The Enlightenment”, a secretive organization of unknown purpose and origin … and he has a particular interest in Rikard Greystone. According to Honqi Pang, leader of the Red Hand Triad and disciple of the Teacher, the mysterious man was responsible for the death of Greystone’s parents. Honqi stated this had been Rikard’s first lesson … and that others would follow. Continue reading Episode 13: The Lesson
Episode 12: Dreams of the Purple Lotus
Jian Zao (“Sword of Morning”) of the Red Hand Triad was desperate. His brother, Jian Zhang, had fallen under the sway of opium, and had become a frequent customer at the Green Dragon Opium Den.
The den, an uncommon sight in New York City in the 1930s, was opened by Ling Si, a Chinese herbalist, drug trafficker, and sorcerer in October 1937. Within weeks the den had captured dozens with its opium-tainted dreams.
Jian Zao could not rely on his own resources to save his brother, having been warned by his leader to leave the den alone. Desperate to save his brother, he approached Wardens Richard Shen and Andrew Buchanan to see if they could help.
It was the beginning of a very strange trip.
The two men stocked up on antitoxin at the Warden HQ, and then went to the Green Dragon. Unfortunately they never had a chance to use it. They were escorted into a waiting room by a matronly woman named Mrs. Lilly, and then suddenly found that room flooded with a noxious dust. Everything went black, and the next thing they knew they were in Antarctica looking out at the H.M.S Centaurus…
Episode 11: The Hopping Doom
It was January 19, 1938. Just days Benny Goodman was the talk of New York City as he and his orchestra became the first jazz musicians to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Overseas China was still reeling form the Rape of Nanking, in which Japan sacked the Chinese Nationalist capital and killed tens of thousands of civilians.
For the Wardens though, it has been a quiet time. After defeating the Terror in the Woods and helping clean up the aftermath back in November 1937, they returned to the Horta Quadrangle for some much needed rest. The holidays passed without drama, and while the New Year saw renewed anxiety about the war in Europe and Asia there were no mystical complications.
That was about to change. Continue reading Episode 11: The Hopping Doom
Episode 10: Strange Thunder
Seeking to gain ever greater boons from their dark goddess, a fertility cult tried to summon and bind one of her servants at the Pleasant Grove Resort in Queenston, New York. Instead, they unleashed a horror upon the Catskills that saw the entire cult killed and left their leader, the tycoon and cultist Oscar Slaughter, a babbling madman.
The Wardens — Andrew Buchanan, Rikard Greystone, and McGinnis — arrived too late to stop the ritual and to save the half-dozen odd teenagers sacrificed as part of it. Instead they were left to deal the monstrosity the cult had summoned: a tentacled, hoover monster that loomed over the trees and destroyed all it came in contact with. They attempted to kill it with explosives and electricity, but failed on both accounts. Continue reading Episode 10: Strange Thunder
Episode 9: The Terror in the Woods
Burglars broke in to the Metropolitan Museum of Art intent on stealing a number of artifacts related to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The Wardens stopped them, killing all but one of the would-be thieves.
Greystone interviewed the sole survivor, Andre Bellard, who fell in and out of coherence. He ranted about a “Golden Doe”, the “Tears of Isis”, and “Horned Master” (aka the Chevron, aka Ba-neb-djedet). From him they learned that he and the other thieves were worshippers of this “Chevron” figure, and they the rest of the cult lived in a tenement on the extreme northern end of Manhattan.
Episode 8: Night of Ruin
A gala celebrating the new Eye of Kilquato exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ended in screams, blood, and destruction as a group of would-be thieves used the event as a cover to steal rare Egyptian artifacts. The Wardens, who were the guests-of-honor at the event, managed to stop the heist. They killed all but one of the attackers in a brutal gunfight that saw numerous Egyptian artifacts damaged or destroyed. Continue reading Episode 8: Night of Ruin
Episode 7: The Gala
The Wardens have suffered another tragedy. Archibald Buchanan died while fighting monstrous fishmen who were released from the hold of the H.M.S. Centuraus, a ghost ship that smashed into New York Harbor. The fishmen were destroyed, but not before they completed a ritual designed to summon … something.
The heroes defeated the fishmen, burning down the warehouse the horrors had taken refuge in. It was in this fight that Archibald died. The heroes fled the warehouse in their Packard Super 8 limousine, driven by the former mercenary McGinnis, one hand on the wheel, the other holding his guts in.
They tried to ignore the long shows cast by the raging fire behind them that would consume four warehouses and close down a portion of the docks for a week.
It was enough that they had survived and that the horrors inside the warehouse had been destroyed. Let the police and firemen deal with the more mundane threats.
They had done enough.
Episode 6: The Summoning
Lt. McKay alerted the Wardens that there had been several attacks by the fishmen monsters down at the New Year Harbor. He gave them a quickly-drawn map illustrating the location of the assaults. Seeing they needed backup, Sir Boundless introduced the assembled heroes to two new members: his former student, the expert fencer Alistair Sebastian Codwalader Martindrake III and marksman Paul Fogg. Consulting their map, the Wardens determined that two abandoned warehouses were the most likely lairs.
Episode 5: Gunfight at the Museum
After their encounter with the Red Hand at the wreck of the HMS Centaurus, the Wardens retreated to their Manhattan headquarters to take in all that they had learned, and carefully read through the serial letters home of the ship’s captain.
The ship was led by Lord Reginald Roland Roberts, a fellow of The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. After reading through his increasingly disturbing letters, the Wardens decided their best bet was to meet with a member of the Royal Society.
Episode 4: The Harbor of Death
After recovering the Eye of Kilquato the Wardens returned to the United States via an uneventful plane ride. Once back in New York City, the Wardens convened for a quiet Catholic ceremony honoring their fallen friend, Father Cameron Dovenney, who was slain by a crocodile while recovering the Eye. Continue reading Episode 4: The Harbor of Death
Episode 3: The Eye of Kilquato
The Wardens emerged into a clear to discover the Arch of the Crocodile, an immense, 50-ft. tall arch straddling a tributary of the Amazon. On the arch were several human men with strange, dark green skin that seemed to be covered in scales. Leading them in an escalating chant was a priest who had similar dark green skin, but war a crocodile skull as a helm.
The subject of their chants was a prisoner who stood before a large hole in the arch. Circling below the hole, excited by the possibility of fresh meat, were hungry crocodiles.
Observing the scene was a Nazi archeologist, who had come up short at the edge of the tributary, his compatriots having been killed in a failed ambush of the Wardens.
Episode 2: In the Depths of the Amazon
The Wardens have dispatched an expeditionary force to the Brazilian rain forest to seek out the legendary Eye of Kilquato, a yellow gem that can rumored to control reptiles.
The advance team headed up river aboard the Amazonia, captained by an American ex-pat named “Captain Ron”. The ship ran afoul of river pirates who rammed their ship in a desperate attempt at taking her. The impact shattered the attacking speed boat, and made a mess of the Amazonia’s stern.
Fortunately the rest of the Warden team, who had commissioned the ship The River Star, soon caught up with the advance team. Together they boarded the River Star and headed deeper into the rain forest.