(Savage Pulp) #3.9 The Swedish Museum of Antiquities

After failing to save their friend, and famed archeologist, Maja Millie from getting kidnapped by cultists, our heroes only had a few clues to work on.  From the interrogated survivors, they ascertained that the cultists had forced her to read an ancient Chinese scroll for them.  Unfortunately for the cultists, they had not obtained said scroll yet and they knew of the location were this might be hidden.

The Swedish Museum of Antiquities, outside of Stockholm.  

The Swedish Museum

Famed Swedish Adventurer, Nils Lingonberry and Aviator, Ted Mosby, had lost their friend, and with the help of timely arrival of Lord Jon-Smyth Cuppenbrush, hopefully could get more clues as to the whereabouts of Maja Millie and stop the cultists from obtaining the scroll.

Our Heroes

 The cultists were out in force, and led by a senior underling with minor powers in the dark arts!                                

The Cultists

A complete wild card that night were the Russian Sailors, led by the menacing Keptin Kaputin.  The bare chested brawler of the high seas had acquired a new Soviet era propaganda android, or "Russian 'Bot" to help them steal the scroll for their own nefarious purposes.  If the Russians have made it to Sweden, they must be up to no good.

Keptin Kaputin and the Russian Sailors

Few questioned what would happened if anyone encounter the museum curator, much less is the curator had the power to actually stop anyone. 

In the dead of night Our Heroes kept low and fast, sprinting to the rear of the museum, were rumors had it a secret door had been installed.

The Russians sensing the Heroes movement, moved over their staging grounds to investigate.  

"Ripe watermelon, this late in season, something is wrong my friends"

The cultists were also aiming at finding the secret back door, but a few stragglers slowed the process.

"Guys, FOCUS.  There are evil things to do!"

The cult commander quickly some the secret device, hidden in a tree, to open up the hidden door. 

A-ha!  I love that band!

With that, the cultists seized the initiative and stormed the museum, damaging displays, destroying priceless relics, all in the search of the mystic scroll.

Turning from watching his minions run into the building, the cult commander was met with a hail of bullets from the trusty revolvers of Lord Jon-Smythe Cupinbrush!

The cultists quickly split up and searched each display for the hidden scroll. 

The cult commander stood firm and fired harmful hexes at the barrel chested Englishman.

Take on Me!

But alas, cult commander didn't meet his doom at the smoking guns of the English gentleman, but at the sneaky maneuvers of Ted Mosby, Aviator, who shot him in the heart!

Not realizing their leader was dead, the other cultists dutifully followed orders....

A plot point to be determined later... acheived!

Until finally, one of the cultists found the scroll, hidden in a fake hollow tusk.  

"Hmmm... This paper-mache elephant looks out of place with these other displays."

Lord Cuppenbrush carefully followed the outside wall of the museum, but his stealth was quickly countered by a cultist and a large shotgun! 

*Click*

*Click*

With a last bullets in his revolver, the Lord gunned down the ammo-less cultist.

Meanwhile, a resident of the museum, who was certainly NOT the curator awoke among the commotion going one... He (?) was not amused.

"Need... coffee"

The first cultist investigating the storage room was met with a quick demise. 

After regaining their wits, Our Heroes dove into the complex, mopping up all the remaining cultists.

Well, all the cultists, save one... who escaped out the front doors

Swedish Adventurer Nils Lingonberry spied the scroll on the ground and dashed over to get it.  Unfortunately, this put him in the slow, methodical path of the mummy!  

His friends, Lord Cuppenbrush and Ted, may not be getting Christmas cards this year, as they abandoned their friend as they dashed out the door. 

Pi Yimminy!

The mummy injured the Nils, but not before a very lucky shot seem to wound the creature.  But a further fight was not in the cards this evening, as the Swede, enveloped by fear made a mad dash towards the door.  Unable to keep pace with the scrambling Nils, the mummy threw its arms forward and its wrapping unfurled, trying to entangle the Swede. The ends of the wrapping brushed up against Nils, but he was too far away for them to wrap him up.  

And with that, Mr Lingonberry escaped the mummy's clutches.  His friends outside were not so lucky with the Swede's multi-lingual tirade he beset upon them.  

Scroll in hand, and a chance to search the cult commander's body outside of the museum, Our Heroes, discovered a few things.  

1. The scroll was one of the pathways to infinite power. 
2. Another pathway to infinite power was to sacrifice someone, so, in spite of the heroes' success, Maja Millie was certainly still  in danger.
3. The cultists secret lair was somewhere at "Dulen av Gull"

Nils looked puzzled. "Gode Gud!  The good news is that she's somewhere in the Valley of Gold! "

Lord Cuppenbrush looked even more confused, "Where the bloody hell is the Valley of Gold... and what's the bad news?"  

"None of these notes on the cult leader are in Swedish or English.... "

"We are dealing with Norwegian Cultists!"

So what of the Russians you may ask?   They certainly had diabolical motives that night, but Keptin Kaputin through it wise to investigate the ruckus they had heard at the farm, and realizing others were trying for the scroll as well, thought it prudent to stake out the area and ambush the surviving party.  

Except the ones with the scroll didn't come back the same way.  Soon, the sailors drew sleepy and fell asleep on the haystack.  

Lucky for them, the Russian 'bot was scanning for voices in the area, picking up Lord Cuppenbrush's loud question, "Where the bloody hell is the Valley of Gold... " so they had a new lead to follow up on...

GM Notes:  After another dry spell, the third season of the Pulp "Egypt" game works its way closer to completion, thanks to the girls' basketball coach and our friend, Mia.  She conducted a few workouts in the basement for the girls and was intrigued at all the figures, completed and otherwise, on my painting bench.  She asked for a game, and while any of the final episodes were better for a beginner, this was the board set up on my dining room table for a week prior.  While girls goofed around with their groups (evident by the Russian's inaction), Mia tried to figure out the spirit of the game.  Given the nail biter at the end (Nils beat the mummy's roll by 1), I think it was successful. 

I think it should also be noted that this was the first time my wife joined in on one of the miniature-based games.  She'll occasionally jump into a more traditional family night game, but nothing role-playing or miniatures-wise.  I gave her the role (and rolls) of the mummy for the nail biting escape.  

Inspired by Neil at Toy Soldiers and Dining Room Battles.  The actual play of the scenario can be found here.  Everybody needs a Heroquest board, old or new, they can be so versatile. 

Next: #3.10 - Where is the Valley of Gold?