[MH] Caribbean by Night

[Icelander]

The adventure inside the Dreamlands of the unconscious mind of Gwen Delvano finally came to an end yesterday. The PCs hewed their foes like wheat, but, when it came to getting answers, they acquired much less than they hoped. Less than I expected, actually, as the players spent most of their conversation with the Stranger / Wanderer / Man in Black wondering who he was and never really asked him any questions about the cult (The Keepers of the Last Hearth) or the awesomely powerful entities existing Outside (The Lords of the Last Waste).

The final fate of the Antarctic Space Nazis and their enemies, the ghouls and nightgaunts below the city of Unknown Kadath on the Plateau of Leng, was grim and anticlimatic. Using the cold-infused energy of the diamonds the PCs carried, 'Nonc' Morel collapsed ice tunnels on a warren of ghouls and a flight of nightgaunts. The collpase was monumental, literally billions of tons of ice shifted and sent concussive shockwaves powerful enough to break spars and rip sails to threads over a hundred yards away from the outer edges of the catastrophe. Any ASNs patrolling tunnels below Kadath was instantly destroyed and those on the surface experienced a powerful earthquake.

As the shockwave hit the PCs, they found themselves standing on a mosaic tile floor in a lushly appointed villa, full of potted plants and modern furniture, including a massive flat- screen TV and sound system playing Dion's The Wanderer. Large windows showed idyllic nature scenes, the view from a mountain retreat over a green valley full of beautiful, exotic birds, but the observant note that the windows were actually display screens.

A tall man wearing what appears to be contemporary Western clothes, i.e. black snakeskin cowboy boots, black jeans, black denim jacket, silk waistcoat with silver ornamental patterns, a black silk scarf and a black Stetson, comes walking in, bidding the PCs welcome in Spanish. As only one of the PCs speaks it fluently, some evidence of confusion must have shown on their faces, as the Man in Black begged their pardon, now in English.

Although, oddly, when the PCs discussed it afterward, Alice Talbot thinks his English had no accent, Lucien Lacoste heard a New Orleans Yat accent slightly flavored by a Western twang and both 'Nonc' Morel and Teddy Smith figure they heard an East Texan accent, though Smith would have said educated Houston businessman and Morel heard Piney Woods hill folk.

Upon closer inspection, the Dark Man looks remarkably like actor Ian McShane. The way the tilted black Stetson keeps one eye in shadow drives the players into a frenzy of speculation about Odin. He doesn't claim godhood, only that he is a memory, a thought, to some degree a fantasy. They can call him the Wanderer or Walter O'Dim if they want, or just the Man in Black, if they like Cash.

Alice Talbot asks him: "But what is your real name, stranger?"

And he tells her: "Stranger is a good name. I like that."

The Stranger tells the heroes that they share goals. The mind of Sybil, whom they know as Gwen Delvano, would be better unfractured. Then the Stranger interrogates the PCs about their weapons and how they plan to kill the Monster at the End of the Dream, which Sybil calls the Weaver. The Stranger seems surprised and impressed by the bloodsteel saber carried by Alice Talbot, but most of the other weaponry he deems quite inadequate, sufficient perhaps to destroy servitor beings bound to the Weaver's defence, but no good against the Harbinger of the Lords of the Last Waste.

The PCs are understandably reluctant to trust a dark and mysterious Stranger. However, testimony from Titi, a black cat of Ulthar, and some rolls against Literature and Theology (Comparative) convince the PCs to accept the Stranger's explanation that their Quest has arrived at a natural point for a Choice and a mysterious Mentor figure.

In his capacity as a mentor, the Stranger informs the PCs that the Weaver drains energy, all energy, on behalf of his masters, and that any powerful magic used against it might indeed tear its body, but would also strengthen the powers that he served, perhaps enough for them to open a way through. The use of the magical cold-infused diamonds has been strengthening the Weaver and using them against it would be counter-productive in the extreme.

Using abtruse thaumatological theory of Daath, the hidden sephirah, and the Empty Decan, the Stranger explains the theory of anti-energy, the Path of Non-Existence. To Lucien Lacoste, he puts it in simpler terms: "Instead of an explosion, think implosion."

To this end, the Stranger allowed the PCs free access to an arsenal of weapons. AKs, RPKs and dart-shooting underwater assault rifles (APS), grenades and satchel charges of Semtex encased in a strangely Steampunk-looking cantraption with a simple adjustable timer. All the seemingly modern weapons were made of bronze instead of steel, with occult logographs engraved in it. Oh, and a wicked harpoon with a thin greyish thread attached, allegedly made from "impossible things". All the armaments are imbued with Non-Existence and the thread, if secured around the Weaver, should isolate It from the energies of this world and trap It Outside, on the other side of the tear in reality.

When the Stranger hears that the PCs have captured a Mi-gö/yeti/cold spirit wrapped in the physchic threads of the Weaver and are using it to find It, he gives them a black candle to use in a ritual to tuen that connection against the Weaver. As the PCs prepare for battle by linking their consciousnesses in a Battle Mind (a.k.a. Mental Voltron), the Stranger gives them little tokens he carves from willow wood as they perform the ritual, in the shape of triangles with eyes in them.