On the surface, everything looks normal. Too normal. Paul (Kumar Singh) appears, as does Chuck. Bruce (Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs) filters out from an interior room. Then Chris (Michael Sangaree) manifests. He looks like Chris. He acts like Chris. But there is something changed, something different. Something... unnatural.
Then it develops that he's just done a substantial editing job on his character, in an effort to get a few more respectable die pool :-)
The session opens with the characters gazing down into the Batanga ritual grounds, a small depression about 300 meters across filled with 200 or 300 natives. The characters can see that most of the milling natives are armed with spears or old Martini-Henry rifles. Several Batanga Leopard Warriors circle the clearing as sentries.
Kumar Singh decides that there is probably a trail leading up to the dais, and that the captives will probably be brought along it. He sets off to try and find the trail. Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs proclaims "Good show, old boy!" and heads off behind him. Michael Sangaree adopts a pained expression and follows the two of them.
A short distance down the trail the characters practically run headlong into a group of seven natives and three captives. They swiftly hide. The characters, that is. Both Kumar Singh and Michael Sangaree decide that the only option is to attack now, despite Arthur Michael Vincent Pulfrey-Downs' protestations that they should wait until the group joins up with the main body so there can be a fair fight. Kumar Singh notices that two of the natives are Leopard Warriors. He leaps out of the jungle with an aura of Destructive Inspiration about him and slits the man's throat. Michael Sangaree contributes as best he can by drawing out his Mauser pistol and peppering several natives with gunfire.
Pulfrey-Downs watches Kumar Singh's opponent sag to the ground with mild, civilized distaste. He shouts out, "Gobey! That's hardly sporting!" as he zeroes in on the surviving Leopard Warrior with his Garand. His shot wings the fellow, spinning him around. The warrior whirls about, still eager for the fight and lunges at Kumar Singh, but manages only to ruffle the Sikh's clothes. Various natives rush at both Pulfrey-Downs and Michael Sangaree. Pulfrey-Downs responds with calm, measured gunfire that hits with lethal accuracy. Michael Sangaree's responding volley is less deliberate, but just as effective.
Taking advantage of the confusion, two of the three prisoners slip their captors and flee into the forest. The third grabs a weapon and strikes out at one of the tribesmen. The characters realize that the captive is actually "Tiger" Jim Dungaree, one of the folks they had intended to rescue. They deduce that the other two were Nora Clark and Professor James Harper.
By this time, Kumar Singh has taken a wound from the remaining Leopard Warrior. He becomes infuriated with his inability to slay the man quickly. He lashes out and fells the man through Willpower alone.
The characters hear the sounds of swarms of natives approaching through the bushes. They opt to flee into the jungle with all due speed, hoping to make it to the boat in time to avoid the hordes. This attempt is foiled as both Pulfrey-Downs and Nora Clark sprain their ankles less than half-way to the boat. Realizing that he's not going to be running anywhere all that quickly, he checks his Lewis gun. He finds that he has only a half-cassette of bullets left. He sets and waits for the natives, Nora Clark beside him. One native hurls a spear, gashing Nora's side. Pulfrey-Downs responds by blazing away with the Lewis gun, sending the natives diving for cover. The scattered native gunfire does little more than mark his silk-steel armor.
Pulfrey-Downs gestures at Nora Clark, urging her to run towards the boat with a quick, "Miss! This way, if you please!" Nora Clark refuses to accompany him, explaining, "We have to go back! We have to get the scepter and the cloak!"
Pulfrey-Downs immediately realizes that she is an attractive American woman, and is thus completely correct. He exclaims, "Good gracious! Why didn't you say so before! Hey, fellows, I'm going to get the scepter and the cloak!" The other characters, who have only just doubled back to see what was keeping the other two, are much more practical minded. They suggest that the proper course of action is to continue to run and come back later. Michael Sangaree is quite short of patience on this matter, muttering under his breath, "Damned syphilis-ridden aristocratic science boy. Invents flawless silk armor, but then wants to run off into the jungle just because some skirt says he should." He does his best to convince Pulfrey-Downs to stick with the group at gunpoint. Pulfrey-Downs urges Kumar Singh, "Gobey, please put a knife to this man's throat." Kumar Singh refuses, unless Pulfrey-Downs is somehow able to produce three more of him.
Michael Sangaree's persuasive powers eventually win out, and the group starts to sneak away. Their progress stops when Nora screams as she almost steps on a non-poisonous snake. Pulfrey-Downs steps forward to reassure her, "That species is non-poisonous, but it looks almost identical to a species that is quite lethal. I remember that Eddie Foswell screamed for three days before he died after he was bitten." At this point, someone shoots Pulfrey-Downs. Strangely, it isn't another of the characters.
The new attackers consist of five natives, three spearmen and two shooters. The spearmen attack Kumar Singh. The shooters are hidden in the bushes, which doesn't help them one bit against the wave of gunfire Michael Sangaree and Pulfrey-Downs unleash. Kumar Singh turns into a whirlwind of blades and death, dropping two of the spearmen and wounding the third, allowing Tiger Jim to step in and mercifully club the fellow to death. Tiger Jim picks through the natives' weapons in search of a better weapon. He comes up only with a poorly-maintained bolt-action rifle and some ammo.
Realizing that the group needs a place to hide, Pulfrey-Downs takes an Inspired glance over to a nearby hillside and spots a conveniently-hidden cave. He tells the others, "Let's go hide in that cave over there!" On the way over, Kumar Singh rather innocently asks, "How many Inspiration points does it cost to create a safe hidden cave?"
The characters settle down towards planning their assault. Michael Sangaree starts off by asking Professor James Harper, "So, where are the scepter, cloak and the magic raccoon?"
Professor Harper spits back, "there is no magic raccoon!" He ceases to be of any substantial help to the group.
Tiger Jim offers some much more useful information: "Anyike as them!" The characters recall that Anyike was the leader of the natives at the fight on the docks near the Batanga Queen. Professor Harper tries to clarify Tiger Jim's comment by explaining, "Anyike has stolen these important artifacts that we dug up. The story goes that the Great Emperor of the Batanga Empire will return, and Anyike's been using the legend to set up his own pan-African Empire!"
Kumar Singh, ever mindful of the motivations of his comrades, asks, "So why do we care?" Pulfrey-Downs's explanation comes easily to his lips: "To prove European supremacy!" Michael Sangaree has only to think a moment longer before offering up, "I'm American!"
Pulfrey-Downs has little patience for this explanation, launching into quite the diatribe: "You bloody colonials, just because you have some trumped-up ideas of being an independent democracy you think you've got some God-given right to be the world's policeman. Besides, we need to protect our markets: diamonds, rubber, lumber, slav..." Pulfrey-Downs' voice trails off rather weakly...
Professor Harper makes another effort to refocus the discussion with some useful information. He warns the characters about Anyike: "He has powers... political powers... his guys change into leopards..." At this point, both Pulfrey-Downs and Kumar Singh recall that the musty odor common to the Batanga Queen's docks, the consul's office, and the ceremonial grounds had a suspiciously opiate aspect to it.
It develops that Anyike has a nearby lair in a cave. With a bunch of Leopard Warriors. And that Tiger Jim knows how to get to it. And he volunteers to come along. In the meantime, Nora Clark and Professor Harper can hide in the "safe" cave. Pulfrey-Downs, ever the gentleman, tells her: "Nora, take care of the Professor. Here's a Webley." He hands her his revolver.
The rest of the characters' armory proves to consist of two breechloader Martini-Henry rifles, the two Lewis guns, with one drum of ammo each, Pulfrey-Downs' Garand, and Michael Sangaree's Thompson gun. The characters decide to leave one Lewis gun with Nora, in addition to the Webley. Michael Sangaree takes the other one along.
The characters find the cave after evading the native patrols. The cave entrance is marked out by two tall torches, bracketing two ferociously big Leopard Enforcers standing guard. Michael Sangaree sneaks up towards the guards, looking for a good firing position to place his Lewis gun.
Slightly after Michael Sangaree heads off, Kumar Singh and Tiger Jim modify the plan. They sneak forward to engage the two guards directly. Kumar Singh does well, but Tiger Jim takes a set of iron claws to the guts. Pulfrey-Downs resolves to avenge Tiger Jim's memory and shoots the one who hit Tiger Jim twice, injuring the man. He leaves it to Kumar Singh to finish the guard off. Kumar Singh finds that he is now facing two foes. He elects to dodge and attack. The Leopard Warriors don't. Kumar Singh cuts down the first, then watches as Pulfrey-Downs' bullets finish the other.
Michael Sangaree rushes forward to the cave mouth to set up the Lewis gun, eagerly looking for the first wave of Leopard Warriors and native fighters. He does not have long to wait, as eleven natives rush the mouth of the cave. Sangaree injures half of them with the Lewis gun, then tells Kumar Singh to rush in and take the rest of them out. Sangaree is surprised to see Kumar Singh leap over him, kukri in hand, screaming bloody murder.
As usual, Kumar Singh is bloodily effective. By the time Michael Sangaree has managed to shoot one more native, Kumar Singh has already managed to mow down eight of them. One of the survivors manages to land a lucky blow on Kumar Singh, but his triumph doesn't last long.
At this point, Pulfrey-Downs hears native reinforcements coming down the trail. Michael Sangaree throws a stick of dynamite onto the path, then aims in on it with the Lewis gun, hoping to catch crowds of natives in the blast.
Pulfrey-Downs makes light conversation while he reloads his rifle: "Too bad about Tiger Jim, what?" Sangaree responds, surprised: "He's not dead! He's lying outside the cave moaning!" Pulfrey-Downs' interest perks up: "You don't say?" Michael Sangaree sputters, "Gadzooks, man! He's the only white body out there!" Pulfrey-Downs moves over to bind up Tiger Jim's wounds.
About this time, Michael Sangaree realizes that there is another swarm of natives and Tiger Warriors coming up out of the cave. They're so thick on the ground that he can't count them all. He decides to fix the problem by tossing a stick of dynamite into the cave mouth, then shooting it to set it off. The effect is all he could have hoped for: a chunk of ceiling hits one native and takes him out. Debris falls everywhere. A second stick of dynamite sends natives flying.
Working quickly, Pulfrey-Downs works Inspired medicine upon Tiger Jim, bringing him up to maimed. Hoping to mitigate any future problems, he also pours the last bit of Fast-Healing Elixir down Tiger Jim's throat.
Gunfire rings out. Michael Sangaree is only bruised by the bullets that hit him. Pulfrey-Downs is attacked by two Tiger Warriors. The first warrior injures him, but the second only manages to shred Pulfrey-Downs' club jacket (drawing the English aristo's eternal ire). Both Pulfrey-Downs and Michael Sangaree elect to spend Inspiration and Willpower to ignore their wound penalties for the rest of the scene.
The violence continues apace. Pulfrey-Downs finds himself overwhelmed by Leopard Warriors, for all that his scientifically-accurate rifle fire takes a steady toll upon them. His silk-steel armor takes the brunt of the punishment the Leopard Warriors deal out. Tiger Jim stands by him and blazes away with his antique Martini-Henry. When he finally downs a Leopard Warrior a cry of "Huzzah!" goes up.
Michael Sangaree does his best to stand back and make good use of the Lewis gun. He fires into a mass of foes, wounding several of them. He continues with the Lewis gun until it clatters empty, then pulls out his pistol. He notices one Leopard Warrior take a hit from Pulfrey-Downs, but remain standing. He elects to show Pulfrey-Downs how it's done, executing an agile series of trick shots to the heads of two Leopard Warriors, downing one and crippling another. He shoots three more times, at everything he can see. He cripples yet another Leopard Warrior with a head shot, then shoots him again to keep him from causing any further trouble.
Kumar Singh effortlessly slips past two Leopard Warriors' attacks, and two natives' attacks, then lashes out. He chops up a Leopard Warrior with three swift cuts. He moves deeper into the fray, then finds himself pressed by one Leopard Warrior, two natives, and Anyike. He dodges like a mad gazelle. He chops his way through the Leopard Warriors, handily dodging their blows as he goes. Until he makes a quadruple-botch on an attack against the enraged native, twisting his ankle on the crushed remains of Michael Sangaree's Lewis gun. The native jumps over his prone corpse, murder in his eyes, only to martyr himself at the hands of Michael Sangaree's gunfire. Kumar Singh is so humiliated he decides to just lie there for a while.
The characters notice that a group of five natives are still hanging back from the bloodbath. The characters realize that they're the "smart pirates" who realize that the shares of treasure will be larger once everyone else is dead.
The violence ends when the native leader Anyike moves up to the attack. Michael Sangaree spends his Destructive facet to make a head shot against the man, felling him in an instant with seven points of damage! One native screams and runs as bits of his boss shower him.
The remaining natives flee.
Inspecting the shattered remains of the cave, the characters recover a blood-spattered cloak and scepter from Anyike's fallen body. Pulfrey-Downs sets up shop near the cave entrance and does some quick first aid on Michael Sangaree and himself, all the while complaining that he should have brought more Fast-Healing Elixir.
The characters make their way back to the steamboat, then head downriver with all speed. Michael Sangaree observes the boat's progress and tells Kumar Singh, "Hey, we can get almost four knots on this thing - why don't you do some water-skiing!" Kumar Singh, mindful of the way that several of his predecessors engaged in this sort of behavior shortly before Pulfrey-Downs places another "Help Wanted" ad for a Faithful Servant, decides to turn the offer down.
Back at Batangaville, Pulfrey-Downs disassembles one of the Spad biplanes the natives used to attack the characters upon their arrival. It makes a nice package in the cargo deck of Michael Sangaree's plane. With the plane loaded up, the characters fly back to New York, stopping over in Brazil along the way.
Safely back in the Hamptons, Pulfrey-Downs reassembles the biplane and stows it in his storage shed.
The adventure ends with the group safely back at Pulfrey-Downs' mansion. Each character gains four experience points. This is also the end of an adventure, so each character regains all Willpower and Inspiration points.