Session Twelve - 06/13/2021

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As the rest of the group embarks on their journey, Delia and Elijah remain behind at the Wish Doctors. Delia feels that leaving now when her long-thought-dead mother had reappeared would be wrong. Elijah elected to stay with her so she wouldn't be alone, with the understanding that they would eventually rendezvous with the rest of the group in Berlin. After a disappointing breakfast of burnt toast and runny eggs, there is a knock at the front door of the shop. Delia answers it. A man delivers a telegram reading "Delia, I wasn't expecting to find you here, forgive me for my actions. I'm not ready yet, there's too much danger. I'll find you when its time. I love you." Delia expresses bemusement at her mother's reappearance and briefly ponders what she was doing for Lord Carter Phillips, but lets it go for the time being.

Realizing that their only reason for staying was no longer valid, and knowing they've missed the boat, they try to think of alternative ways to meet the group in Europe. Elijah knows that since the end of the Great War there's a surplus of military hardware making its way into civilian industries, including planes of all sorts. They decide to go speak with Harbormaster Dickens, since even if he doesn't have any way for them to catch the boat, he may at least be able to provide them with the route.

They decide to try to take McQuaid's old cruiser, which is parked outside the shop under the watchful eye of Lieutenant Richards. Richards is understanding of their need for a ride and has a now-sober Office Stanets take them. They arrive at the East Docks without incident and ask Dickens about the S.S. Worcestershire. He reveals the boat left two hours prior but allows them to look at the charts and route that the ship is following to Hamburg. Elijah asks if Dickens knows where they could acquire a seaplane to catch up with the S.S. Worcestershire. Dickens brings in Bix Winnamaker, pilot extraordinaire, who offers to fly them to the ship and bring the plane back on their behalf. Bix shows them to his "sturdy" seaplane, the Wing and a Prayer. After allowing the Elijah to fly the plane, and Delia to ride passenger, Bix climbs into a third spot and instantly falls asleep. After briefly reacquainting himself with the controls, Elijah smoothly gets the plane started and airborne.

They do their best to follow the path of the S.S. Worcestershire, however some low hanging clouds force the plane up higher for a short time. They find themselves flying over an endless sea of clouds in the middle of the day. Eventually, they begin to see shapes in the clouds, and the sun's rays give everything an odd green tint. The shapes in the clouds coalesce into large tower-like structures, almost like a city. The sunlight gets brighter, the blue sky turns darker, and the clouds look unmistakably like a city now. They see a massive tower in the middle of the city. Deciding to skirt the strange mirage, they see the clouds grow darker and the tower crumble, before the entire cloud bank dissipates unnaturally fast.

They are able to see the ocean now, however the sky stays dark and they notice the sun has receded so far into the now-night sky that it is a glowing green star. Wondering how they lost an entire day in 20 minutes, they spot a set of lights on the horizon and make their way toward it. The lights are that of the S.S. Worcestershire. Bix wakes up just as they pass over the ship, and directs Elijah to land. Elijah expertly puts the plane down ahead of the ship, which slows down as it approaches, eventually stopping entirely. Longfellow greets them from the bow and throws down a rope ladder for them to climb aboard with.

As Bix peels away from the group to go get some food before taking back off, Longfellow shows Elijah and Delia down to where the rest of the investigators are currently bunked. Elijah and Delia take their respective bunks, though there is a bit of discussion before they all go to sleep. McQuaid fills them in about the story Captain Farthing told them about the dream city, which Elijah remarks on how similar it sounds to the mirage they saw in the clouds.

After being awakened by the breakfast bell, Ophelia notices that Delia and Elijah are already in the room and has an excited reunion with her friend. They briefly catch up and Ophelia declares they're all pirates now, before making their way to the mess hall. A disappointing feast of runny eggs and burnt toast awaits them, much to Delia's chagrin. Ophelia attempts to make her messy food more artistic, if not palatable, succeeding only in making an unappetizing egg slurry. Lotte gives the group a quick German lesson while they eat.

After the lesson, several of the group notice someone walk by one of the door portals holding something odd. Ophelia has a better view and see the person holding a statue of a vaguely man-shaped octopoid-dragon creature. Ophelia drops her fork, pauses briefly to give Delia "the Wink", then enters into acquisition mode, dropping into a stealthy crouch and following after the person in the hall. Delia and McQuaid follow, attempting to make sure Ophelia doesn't get into any trouble. McQuaid, knowing he has no jurisdiction, tells her "follow, don't take" before heading back to the mess hall. Ophelia and Delia follow the trail of the crewman who was holding the statue. They see him disappear into a portal down the hall, leaving the door open. Ophelia and Delia bumble into the room, pretending to be drunk. They see five crewman gathered around a table, looking at something out of view. One of them stands up and looks at them, revealing himself to be Longfellow. He invites them in to take a look at the weird statue they found. They see its made out of a dark gray stone, with green lines spidering through it. Longfellow reveals it came from one of the crates they took on at their previous stop in Arkham. Ophelia touches it to see if there's a reaction, but feels only cold hard stone. Testing a hunch, Ophelia and Delia pour some purifying salt in a circle around the statue and watch in horror as the salt blackens and sizzles. Wanting to spare the crewman any potential harm, Ophelia wraps her scarf around the statue and walks right off with it.

They make it back to their bunk room, intending on studying it and seeing if it poses a danger. Delia sets the statue in the middle of the room and sits in front of it, attempting to commune with the relic. She places her hands on the statue and reaches out to it, mentally. She tries to sense its origin and its intent. The room spins and the lights flicker, and through it all Delia can only see the statue. The room stops spinning and she finds herself sitting near the edge of a cliff of red stone, overlooking an endless valley with massive mountains on the horizon, all under a blue and brown polluted sky and a pale green sun. In the skies above, she can see thousands of asteroids orbiting, all seemingly made from the same strange stone as the statue. The lights flicker again and she once again finds herself on a cliff, but this time under a blue sky (though with the same pale green sun), and overlooking wrecked ruins that resemble New York City. All vegetation is dead and rotted, and the ocean in the distance is flat black, unmoving. The lights flicker and Delia finds herself back in the bunk room. She feels like she may have been traveling for endless amounts of time, though Ophelia only notes that maybe five seconds have passed.

Delia relays the horrifying details of her vision, prompting Ophelia to want to take the statue and fling it overboard. She reaches for the statue as they hear the footfalls of the rest of the group returning to the bunk room. As her hand touches the statue, it crumbles apart. McQuaid isn't surprised to see something illicit in the room, and asks Ophelia what happened to following and not taking. Delia fills the rest of the group in on what she saw in her vision. She looks down at the statue's remains and notices the various pieces are identical to the dead New York in her vision. At this realization, Delia's hands move on their own. Her hands reach forward and crush the rest of the remains, scattering them into dust.

In the ensuing silence, they realize things are a bit too silent. They don't feel the boat moving, they don't hear the engines going, and there is no sign of the crew. They venture out into the ship, but the crew is nowhere to be found and the ship is silent as a crypt. They climb to the deck and confirm that the boat is no longer moving. They enter the captain's quarters but Captain Farthing is nowhere to be found. His book is still sitting on his bunk, half-read.

Eventually, they begin to hear something after all. A deep, rumbling sound, emanating from underneath the ship, similar to a whale call but much deeper and far more disturbing. The boat shudders, then rocks violently to the side, tipping toward the ocean.