Moon Dream

1923 December 11th to 19th – Adelaide, South Australia, Dreamlands and Surrounds

Characters

Player Characters

Non-Player Characters
Allenby, Rita – (Dianne) Bernstein, Israel – Jewish publisher
Davidson, Andy – research librarian, Barr Smith Library (Steve) Dodd, Captain Joseph
Richardson, Captain Bill – (George) Ericsmore, his cat Whispernight and his boat Aerial
Sargon, Chantella – British, dancer, mother of 4-month-old Marlene Jurelle Sargon (Jenny) Hryciw, Zsigismund
Winthrop, Diana Elizabeth – (me) Monteith, MacGregor
Monteith, Melissa – MacGregor’s sister
Odj-strynj, Vladimir Radu
Richardson, Meredith – wife of Captain Bill
Wendovermist, Madame – fortune teller
Winternight, Nancy – involved with Zsigismund Hryciw
Wright, Inspector Roger

Involvement

Diana previously met Jewish publisher Israel Bernstein at a social gathering. Bernstein published educational and mystery books and Diana complimented him on his firm’s latest mystery. She asked him about publishing a mystery horror book she was considering writing. Bernstein gave her some encouragement but made no promises. Later Diana received a hand delivered message from Bernstein asking her to attend a meeting at his offices in Kentown prior to investigating some mysterious affairs.

Highlights

Tuesday 11th December 1923

At 9.00am Diana joined Chantella Sargon, carrying her four month old baby, and Captain Bill Richardson in the office of Israel Bernstein. Israel told the group that his friend, Zsigismund Hryciw, had disappeared recently after being harassed by an eager fortune teller named Madame Wendovermist. Ziggy went into a nervous decline and vanished sometime after the 8th of December, the last time he was seen by Israel, leaving Israel with the very strong impression that Ziggy was being blackmailed.

Israel suggested the group start by talking with the police inspector in charge of the case, Inspector Roger Wright. Before they left Israel gave Diana copies of each of the books Ziggy had written. These were “Age of Magic (1918), “Sound of Fury” (1920), “Winter is Coming” (1922) and “Image from the Mind”, completed recently. The latest book was released on 20th November and was selling quite well in the bookstores. Israel also gave Diana a small black and white photograph of Ziggy and told her that Ziggy used to live at Haughton, north east of Adelaide.

Inspector Roger Wright of the Angus Street Police Station informed the group that 10 days before Ziggy disappeared he began receiving blackmail notes. The notes were from “L” and demanded payment of £25.00 to £50.00. Madame Wendovermist was actually Madge Wenderby who lived in Norwood and who had been attempting to warn Ziggy of a danger to his life. Israel had been the last person to speak to Ziggy, who confided in Israel that he feared for his life.

The police were first called in on Friday 28th of September. Ziggy told Israel he was being harassed by calls and letters from Madame Wendovermist who was trying to warn him that his sanity, and possibly even his life, were in extreme danger. Inspector Wright gave Bill the key to Ziggy’s house so the group could look for clues to Ziggy’s disappearance.

After concluding the meeting with Inspector Wright, Diana drove Chantella back to her lodgings in Enfield where her friend and travelling companion, Vladimir, was waiting for her. Vlad behaved outrageously (like a vampire) and an argument began between him and Bill, who had followed Diana and Chantella in his own car. Bill left and waited outside until the women were ready to leave.

That afternoon the group visited Madame Wendovermist at her house in Norwood, where Bill asked to have his fortune read. Madame Wendovermist refused saying he was not a believer and therefore she would not waste her energies calling her spirit guide. Chantella asked her why she was sending letters to Ziggy and Madame retrieved a well thumbed copy of his latest book from her bookshelf. Prior to the release of his book, Madame had attempted to warn Ziggy that something very bad was going to happen to him. When the book was released Madame bought a copy and recognised some of the names mentioned as the source of her bad premonitions.

Madame showed the names to Diana who recognised them as forms of mythos names for creatures similar to those she had come across before in Adelaide. This horrified Diana and she almost collapsed on the spot. Diana asked Madame to contact her spirit guide and ask him about the names. The guide spoke through Madame, but had no knowledge of the names. When Madame had recovered her senses, she served her guests tea and biscuits.

Bill pretended interest in Madame’s house. Madame encouraged him to “have a little look around”. In the basement he discovered Madame’s collection of tombstones. Madame informed the group that the tombstones were necessary to her work. Her next séance would be at 7.30pm on Friday 14th December, only a few days away.

After the group left Madame Wendovermist’s house, Diana rang Inspector Wright and asked him about any unusual disappearances prior to Ziggy’s. She interpreted his evasiveness as an indication that there had been other disappearances, but that he was either unable or unwilling to tell her of them.

The group then decided to split up. Bill went to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages but found nothing of use to the group’s investigations. Chantella and Diana had better luck reading the papers at the state library. There had been four disappearances since February, each mentioned in small write-ups over the following days, and each occurring within eight days either side of a full moon.

Wednesday 12th December 1923

The group travelled to Ziggy’s house at Haughton. This turned out to be a Mexican hacienda in bush land surroundings. There was a small cemetery at the back of the property in which were buried Ziggy’s parents and the previous owner of the property, an American. After entering the house each room was quickly looked over. Ziggy’s three cats were found and fed and the group returned to the library where Ziggy’s collection of occult books was kept. Here hidden keys to his writing desk were found and used to open the desk and a secret safe built into the desk.

Inside the safe Ziggy’s diary was found, along with £400.00, jewellery, rare books and papers. Entries of note in the diary included references to one Nancy Winternight who Ziggy had meet at a party hosted by Israel Bernstein and to whom he was strongly attracted. She had apparently been kidnapped sometime after this party and her kidnapper was extorting money from Ziggy. The kidnapper had sent a page of her diary to Ziggy as proof that he had Nancy, although this only really proved that he had somehow managed to tear that page from her diary.

On this page Nancy mentions her attendance at Israel’s party and her attraction to Ziggy, as well as her fear that “R. B. Octopus” would be at the party and would continue to harass her. The group speculated that this individual may be Nancy’s employer, Roland Braithwaite, a real estate agent. Ziggy’s diary also made mention of a Dr Clisby who had been giving him sleeping tablets. In large doses the tablets prescribed will cause hallucinations.

Thursday 13th December 1923

At 9.00am the group met at Israel Bernstein’s office to discuss the discoveries of the preceding day. They were introduced to Andy Davidson, a research librarian at the Barr Smith Library, Adelaide University. Israel informed the group that Roland Braithwaite had left for Melbourne on the Sunday after the party. Israel gave the group a guest list for the event. Diana and Chantella explained the group’s progress to Andy, who expressed interest in joining their investigations. The group, with the addition of Andy Davidson, travelled to Nancy Winternight’s cottage.

As the front door to the cottage had been left ajar, Diana retrieved her Colt 45 from its hidden case in the boot of the Duesenberg, then returned to enter the house with the others. The bedroom had already been roughly searched and papers and clothes littered the floor. Among the papers were Nancy’s diary (with a page missing), some stocks and bonds and a bankbook. The latter papers revealed Nancy to be a very rich woman. A closet in the study was found to be full of men’s clothes in her size. These were later confirmed as belonging to her via references in her diary to a period during which she dressed as a man. There was a man’s cufflink under her bed and more papers and diaries in the roof of the cottage. Inspector Wright was contacted and asked to come out to the cottage, as another disappearance had occurred and the group suspected Nancy had been kidnapped.

Andy and Bill left Chantella and Diana to wait for Inspector Wright while they went to the local pub to see what information they could obtain. At the pub a drunk well plied by Bill told Andy that he saw a horrible man kidnap Nancy at knife point. When they returned to Nancy’s cottage Inspector Wright had already arrived and had a careful look around, inside and outside. He explained to the group that as his case load had increased he would ask them to contact a friend of his named McGregor Monteith, who would give them any help they required in the future. Mac was recovering from being pushed off a building by Liam McHugh, a villain wanted by the police.

That afternoon the group visited Monteith and his sister. Here they learnt from Monteith that there had been 40 unexplained disappearances, all near a full moon. Monteith also suspected that the man who kidnapped Nancy was Liam McHugh due to the description provided by the drunk at the local pub.

In the evening Diana had dinner at the South Australian Hotel where the excellent food and atmosphere helped take the edge off her worry over the case. That same evening Madge Wenderby rang Chantella and told her that Madge’s spirit guide had given her a warning. He felt the small earthquake and accompanying feelings of dread that occurred on 20th October 1922 were connected to the current disappearances.

Friday 14th December 1923

The group met at 9.00am for breakfast at the South Australian Hotel. Chantella related her telephone call of the previous night and a check of the hotel almanac revealed that the earthquake of October last year occurred on a full moon. Diana rang the office of Roland Braithwaite and was told by his secretary that he was in Melbourne. When Diana asked about Nancy the secretary told her that Nancy failed to turn up for work following Israel Bernstein’s party. Mr Braithwaite reported her disappearance to the police. Mr Braithwaite could be contacted at the Melbourne Hilton if Diana needed to talk to him urgently.

At this point the police arrived at Braithwaite’s office and Diana’s phone conversation with his secretary was interrupted. Bill rang the office some minutes later and spoke to Inspector Wright. He told Bill that Braithwaite never reported Nancy missing, as he had told his secretary. Wright suspected that Braithwaite had gone to Melbourne because he did not want to be linked to Nancy’s disappearance. His wife was a rich and influential woman and would react unfavourably to any hint of a connection between her husband and another woman.

After Chantella and Diana finished breakfast at the hotel they went to the library to follow up on Madge Wenderby’s warning. They investigated moon cults and Lovecraft, an author mentioned in Ziggy’s latest novel, as well as things familiar to Diana’s recent experiences with the Bokers. The earthquake of October was mentioned in the papers as being in conjunction with strange lights on the moon. There were two previous occurrences of strange lights on the moon, earth tremors and feelings of dread experienced by psychics. These were on 15th July and 12th June 1920.

While Chantella and Diana were working in the library Bill, Andy and Monteith questioned Monteith’s contacts in Hindley Street. Word on the street was that Liam McHugh hired two people who specialised in kidnapping just prior to Ziggy’s disappearance. That evening Diana, Andy and Monteith went to Madame Wendovermist’s séance. Diana asked Madame’s spirit guide about some of the missing people. Diana had a list which she and Chantella had obtained from the newspapers. This list included Rowena Carter (Friday 16th February 1923, Port Adelaide), James Albany (Monday 11th June near Port Adelaide), Kenneth Oxford (Tuesday 12th June, Hindley Street) and Rita Allenby (Thursday 15th November 1923 changing a car tyre on a deserted road). The spirit guide indicated that Rowena Carter was dead but that the others had not yet crossed over. He also warned Diana to be very cautious and watch for a stairway of 70 steps down to a cavern of flame. His last comment before he left Madame Wendovermist’s body was that Rowena Carter was mad when she crossed over.

Before the trio left Madame’s house Monteith told Diana and Andy that a Captain Joseph Dodd, a Salvation Army officer, had disappeared from Outer Harbour on 12th December and, also at Outer Harbour, a dock worker was shot at close range with a shotgun on 18th July.

Saturday 15th December 1923

Andy Davidson was unavailable as he had to work at the library. Monteith rang the Melbourne Hilton and asked for Roland Braithwaite. The desk clerk told Monteith that Braithwaite (Room 302) went out at midnight last night and has not yet returned. This was a little unusual as it was now about 9.00am. As they were unable to contact Braithwaite the group decided to review the case before undertaking any further investigations.

The last full moon was on the 5th December and Captain Dodd disappeared within eight days of the full moon. His disappearance fitted the pattern of people disappearing within eight days either side of a full moon. Information about Liam McHugh included the fact that he was often armed with a shotgun and considered by police to be very dangerous. Monteith believed McHugh was responsible for the murder of the dock worker at Outer Harbour. The group believed McHugh was blackmailing Ziggy after he had kidnapped Nancy and he may have been involved in Ziggy’s disappearance. Bill believed that the kidnapping of Nancy and Ziggy may not have been connected to the other disappearances. Those two don’t really fit the pattern and have as a feature the possible involvement of Liam McHugh. No single person has been connected to the other disappearances.

In his latest book Ziggy relates dreams he has had of creatures who resembled large toads chanting strange names (the names that Diana recognised from warnings given to her by Marion Ravenwood last time Diana was in Adelaide). Ziggy also stressed in his book his belief that dreams may become reality and that the Dreamworld is a real world that can be contacted from the waking world (this world).

Monteith and Bill decided to circulate among the criminal element in Adelaide in order to find out what they could about McHugh from his possible associates. These undercover investigations took them the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. As these investigations would have been made much more difficult had Chantella and Diana accompanied the men, the women declined to join them. Chantella and Diana stayed together with the exception of Saturday night when Diana returned to her hotel room.

Sunday 16th December 1923

In the evening the group rejoined and discussed Monteith and Bill’s findings. On the 8th of December McHugh had apparently hired two thugs, Jack Patching and Pat O’Donohue, whose speciality was kidnapping. According to associates, these two men had themselves vanished on the evening of the same day. Friends were concerned for their welfare and wanted to “speak with” McHugh about their whereabouts.

McHugh himself appeared to have been doing nothing of note at all over the past twelve months. The police were very suspicious of his apparent inactivity and suspected he was up to something. He had been seen cruising around with a good amount of money recently, so someone had been paying him for some activity. He moved out of his lodgings about a month before the first disappearance in January and had recently been seen driving around in a car which, from descriptions, sounded as if it was Nancy’s sports car.

He had also been showing foreign gold coins about the place which were described as “very strange” by those who have seen them. McHugh’s associates believe he moved to a warehouse in Port Adelaide, the address of which they supplied to Monteith and Bill. From what they were told Bill and Monteith determined that Roland Braithwaite had no involvement at all with McHugh or any other criminals. The extent of his illegal activities were some tax and land deal manipulations through his business as a real estate agent.

Monday 17th December 1923

After two days of investigations among the criminal haunts of Adelaide, Monteith and Bill decided to visit McHugh’s warehouse. Bill first tried to obtain some police help from Inspector Wright. Wright was not prepared to be officially involved nor have any of his officers involved in entering and searching the warehouse without evidence against McHugh. Bill explained to him what they had learnt over the past two days, but Wright still refused to send help as the party was acting on suspicion only, not hard evidence. The only police help the party was going to get was Monteith and he was acting in an unofficial capacity.

Monteith, Bill, Chantella and Diana drove to the warehouse in Monteith’s old car (Diana didn’t want to risk leaving the Duesenberg unattended in such surroundings). They drove quietly past the warehouse first, noting that there was no noise, no human activity and that the building appeared to be all locked up. The warehouse was a two storey building and the upstairs windows were closed and probably locked. Bill picked the lock on a downstairs side door and the group entered cautiously.

Inside was a steam truck, a car and a portable hoist. A large area on one side was blocked by a pile of boxes. Stairs led up to rooms on the second floor. Diana remained downstairs to watch for McHugh, as neither he nor Nancy’s car were at the warehouse.

Upstairs the others found the first room to be McHugh’s bedroom. Here they found a cufflink that matched the one found at Nancy’s cottage. The next room was a frighteningly well equipped torture chamber with three metal spears against one wall. As the next door was made of strong metal and heavily locked, the group moved on to the last upstairs door which was secured with a crude padlock. Bill picked the lock and the group entered the room. On the far wall an irregular doorway shape glowed and moved. This had a very unsettling effect on the group. On the floor were several scraps of paper, strangely textured and marked with an unreadable text.

Bill called Diana up from downstairs and asked her to see what she could make of the strange room. Diana started badly when she saw the strange, moving shape on the far wall and immediately wanted to destroy it. It produced in her the same unexplainable fear and numbing dread that she had felt in the presence of those horrible creatures at Boker Hall all those months ago. Lacking something sufficiently weighty to throw at the strange shape, Diana went back downstairs and retrieved a large spanner from near the steam truck. On her return she threw the spanner at the shape on the far wall, then ducked outside of the room. As there was no sound of the spanner hitting the wall, Diana and Bill looked back into the room. There was no sign of the spanner anywhere; it had apparently gone straight through the shape on the wall. This convinced Diana that the shape was actually a doorway to some other place. As there was nothing on the other side of the wall except the warehouse yard, this idea was a little difficult to understand or accept and Diana did not want to think of what horrors waited through the unearthly doorway.

The group went back downstairs and moved aside some of the boxes blocking part of the large space under the upstairs rooms. The boxes walled off a clear, empty area. On closer inspection the floor of this area was found to be scattered with small white bone fragments and a number of large stains (possibly blood) were found, also on the floor. After replacing the boxes so the area was once again concealed, the group returned upstairs to open the heavily padlocked door to the remaining unexplored room. Diana drew her Colt 45 and stood back from the door while Chantella successfully picked the lock. Inside the room was a man in a slightly battered Salvation Army uniform and a large, docile timber wolf which the group initially mistook for a large dog. The man was Captain Dodd, the missing Salvation Army officer. The wolf’s behaviour raised a suspicion in Diana which she decided to follow up on.

When Diana last visited Adelaide she became unwittingly involved in some strange, horrifying and deadly events. Part of what happened at that time involved her friend, Robyn Elliot, a doctor who had the misfortune of being bitten by one of the monstrous dingoes at Boker Hall. The bite caused Robyn to change into a large, savage dingo at night around the time of a full moon. Robyn had since been cured of this curse by an Aboriginal witch doctor. The wolf’s very human behaviour reminded Diana strongly of this incident. On a hunch, and much to the astonishment of the rest of the party, Diana called the wolf “Nancy”. The wolf slowly shook its head. Diana remembered the name of one of the other missing people and called the wolf Rita (Allenby). This produced an affirmative nod and a whine from the wolf. Diana was horrified at this transformation but she was also determined to help Rita in her plight, even if it meant trying to find the Aboriginal witch doctor again. At this point Bill suggested the party should leave the warehouse as McHugh may return soon.

Halfway back to Adelaide the group stopped on the side of the road and began to question Dodd and Rita. Rita’s questions had to be worded for yes or no answers as it was impossible for her to talk in her wolf form. Dodd explained how he was taken at gun point to the warehouse by McHugh, where he was locked up in the room in which he was found. During his explanation Diana recognised him as the boxer “Oak tree Joe” from America. She had only seen him box once, when she had snuck into a boxing display with her younger brother Enrico. She had since heard that he had retired from boxing after he broke an arm in a particularly savage match. Dodd also explained how he had been tortured by “toad like” creatures from the other side of the strange doorway. He had not given in to them and they returned him to the locked room. Rita’s story was a little different. She was taken through the doorway by the creatures and changed into a wolf on the other side. The monsters can come through the doorway into this world and because of this they posed a terrible threat to people on this side of the doorway.

Diana mentioned the passage in Ziggy’s book about dreams becoming reality and this bought an excited response from Rita. At this point Monteith sheepishly admitted that he knew what Ziggy was writing about. There exists a world of dreams, another reality reached by passage down through levels of sleep to a cavern. Here priests judge the suitability of the dreamer. If the priests judge the dreamer suitable then he or she is allowed to continue down through the final levels of sleep until they arrive at the alternative Dreamworld. Monteith had already been to this world twice and he believed he should attempt to reach this world again. Here he hoped to find information on the toad like creatures.

After the group returned to Adelaide Diana picked up her Duesenberg and some personal belongings from the hotel. The group had decided that the best and safest place to stay was Bill’s large home in Springfield. McHugh would not think to catch the group there, even if he had any idea of who had searched his warehouse and released Dodd and Rita. Chantella returned to her lodgings with Bill to pick up her baby. While they were there Bill gave Vladimir some of the paper scraps found on the floor of the warehouse room with the strange doorway. However, even though Chantella had said Vladimir knew a great deal about languages, he could not decipher the writing on the paper. As Vladimir was still ill he declined to come to Bill’s house with Chantella.

After dinner and some general discussion on the course of the investigations, the group retired to various spare bedrooms to sleep. At about 11.45pm there was a long and piercing shriek from Dodd’s room where he and Rita, still in wolf form, were sleeping. This shriek woke everyone in the household except Diana, who had collapsed from exhaustion and fallen deeply asleep. Others rushed to Dodd’s room to discover Rita in human form weeping on the floor. Bill covered her with his dressing gown just before she fainted. Chantella stayed to comfort Rita while Bill went downstairs to answer an urgent knocking on the front door.

A policeman on foot patrol had heard Rita’s shriek and had immediately came to investigate. Bill excused the noise as the result of a very ill friend’s nightmare and was backed up by Monteith. When Monteith identified himself as an off-duty policeman the foot patrolman accepted Bill’s story and left.

When Monteith and Bill returned to Dodd’s room, Chantella had given Rita some of her spare clothes and a rather owl-eyed and dishevelled Diana was standing in the doorway in her negligee carrying her Colt 45. Bill’s wife Meredith began to demand from him an explanation of events, so Bill took her back to their room. At this point Diana wondered what Bill was going to tell his wife, as she certainly would not believe the truth. When Bill returned he explained that he had agreed with Meredith’s demand that Rita leave in the morning. Meredith believed Rita was a crazy woman and potentially dangerous house guest. As Rita was resting the group returned to their beds.

Tuesday 18th December 1923

After breakfast the group took Rita to Monteith’s house, much to Meredith’s relief. Monteith’s sister Melissa was not at home, as she was giving French lessons to private students. The group took the opportunity presented by Melissa’s absence and asked Rita to explain what happened to her.

Rita’s story was much as the group had already gathered. She had stopped on a deserted road to change a flat tyre and while she was doing this she was confronted by a shotgun wielding McHugh. He forced her into his car and took her to the warehouse in Port Adelaide, where one of the strange creatures was waiting. It took her through the doorway, changed her into a wolf and then brought her back through the doorway to McHugh. He beat her after the creature left, then locked her in the prison room with Dodd. Rita also told the group that McHugh and the creatures were kidnapping other people and either changing then into animals or feeding them to servants of the creatures on the other side of the doorway.

During the course of Rita’s explanation of how she came to be a prisoner of McHugh, Diana noticed Chantella’s baby playing with what appeared to be an elder sign on a chain around Chantella’s neck. Diana asked Chantella what it was and Chantella informed Diana that it was given to her by her husband. He had told her never to take it off as it would protect her. Shortly afterwards Chantella’s husband had disappeared. Diana told Chantella that the stone was an elder sign used for protection against many creatures. Diana was hoping Chantella would allow her to use the elder sign to close the gate, but Chantella refused. The sign meant a great deal to her and she was not going to part with it.

Rita concluded her explanation by saying she believed she was on the moon after she went through the doorway. Diana mentioned Monteith’s Dreamworld journey as an alternative way to find the creatures. Rita then remembered that she was actually on the dream world’s moon. Diana wanted to try to go to the Dreamworld moon and back by going to sleep and successfully travelling to the Dreamworld itself. From there perhaps they could find a way of going to the dream world’s moon. This was a very iffy route but Diana favoured this approach over charging through the gate into a potentially lethal trap. However she was overruled by the rest of the group who favoured the direct approach of going through the gate.

This meant returning to the warehouse. Diana wanted to watch the warehouse and see if they could determine whether or not McHugh was there. She wanted to know this before they entered the warehouse, but again she was overruled by the rest of the group. They favoured an immediate raid and so the group prepared for a fight. Dodd remained at Monteith’s house as he was not strong enough to go through any further hardship or danger. Rita decided to come with the group in return for their help in freeing her, but she was also motivated by a desire for revenge on McHugh and the creatures.

By the time the group had equipped themselves and journeyed to the warehouse it was early evening. Diana was dismayed to see the lights on as this meant McHugh was somewhere inside and would undoubtedly prove to be very dangerous. Bill cautiously listened at the side door, then picked the lock and carefully began to open the door. He detected a trap, so he closed the door and warned the rest of the group. Bill and Monteith tried a second door but this was padlocked on the inside. Returning to the booby trapped side door Monteith determined that the trap consisted of tin cans and bottles wired to the inside of the door. This would provide a noisy warning to McHugh when the door was opened.

As Diana was the smallest member of the group, she won the task of squeezing in through the door without opening the door far enough to set off the alarm cans. This was achieved with only one small mishap, but Diana caught the bottle before it hit the floor. She then dismantled the trap so the rest of the group could enter the warehouse.

Nancy’s car was inside and Diana took the keys. McHugh’s car was still in the warehouse where they had seen it on their first visit, but Diana remembered his keys were in his bedroom. Bill went upstairs with Monteith covering him. Monteith tripped halfway up the stairs and Diana hoped that McHugh did not hear the resulting noise.

McHugh’s bedroom proved to be empty so Bill motioned to the women to come upstairs. He then moved on to the torture chamber. This was also deserted, but three spears rested on the far wall. Rita recognised one of these spears as the one the creature used to turn her into a wolf. After a brief discussion the group decided to leave the spears where they were.

The third door, the prison room, was padlocked on the outside and the last door was unlocked. Someone was whistling on the other side of the unlocked door which the group knew led to the doorway they were seeking. Did the whistling mean that McHugh had not heard them or was he hoping to put them off guard. Bill tore open the door and Diana rolled into the room, but she was not quick enough to avoid being hit in the leg by part of one barrel of McHugh’s shotgun. The rest of the shot sprayed into the floor and wall behind her, narrowly missing Bill in the doorway. Diana got a quick shot off at McHugh, hitting him before he dived through the swirling doorway. She knew enough about her own shooting to appreciate that she had seriously injured McHugh and this helped to make her feel a little better as Bill tended her injured leg. She could still walk, but the injury was very painful and would slow her down for some time.

After the group went through the gate they noticed some rather radical changes had occurred to their equipment. The weapons had changed into Medieval style weapons. Diana’s 8 gauge shotgun and cartridges had somehow become a heavy crossbow and bolts. Her Colt 45 automatic a javelin and spear thrower, her matches a tinderbox, her money strange gold coins, her torch an oil lantern and her field glasses had vanished altogether. Her 20 gauge shotgun which she had given Bill Richardson had become a longbow and arrows. This horrified Diana as she had no skill with either a crossbow or a javelin.

The room in which the group found themselves was a small, windowless cavern of rock covered in slimy mould. There was one door on the far wall with a button on the wall next to the door. Rita pushed the button and the door ground noisily into the ceiling. A narrow walkway led out across empty space to another doorway. Ground level was three stories down below a network of interconnecting walkways and multi-level domed structures. A huge blue-green planet hung in the sky above and the domed structures were built on an island that floated on an oily black sea. By the nearest shore two ships were anchored against a narrow pier-like structure. One was an evil looking black galley, the other a beautiful silver blue galley with large white sails on one of which was a golden phoenix. Diana stared about her uncomprehendingly and wondered at what she saw.

The party slowly overcame their shock and moved across the walkway to the next doorway. When this door was opened, again by pushing a button on the wall next to the door, two creatures armed with spears advanced on the group. A vicious melee broke out between the two groups which ended when the two creatures lay dead on the walkway. Both creatures wore leather jerkins and, as Diana was the only one small enough to wear one, she took one and put it on under her oilskin. It provided her with a measure of protection against attacks. In the next room a strange slimy circle lay on the floor with a button in a column next to it. This puzzled the group, but they left the strange objects alone and moved on to the next room.

This room turned out to be a primitive armoury. Bill selected a magnificent sword and shield which seemed to belong together. The quality of these pieces set them apart from the other weapons. Diana searched around in the armoury and found a large knife that matched the sword in quality and design. It would be of more use to her than the knife she had borrowed from Monteith’s kitchen so she stuck it down the inside of her boot. Bill eventually decided to give the sword to Monteith, as he didn’t know how to use it as well as its quality suggested he should.

The group, now more substantially armoured, moved cautiously into the next dank, cavern-like room. Here they felt an uncomfortable aura in the room, similar to what they experienced while passing through the between worlds doorway. Diana had learned to recognised this aura as magic due to her previous experiences in and around Boker Hall. There was no other door in the room except the one the group had just walked through. Diana felt they were in immediate danger from the magical aura. The only alternative was the circular disk on the floor next to the column with a button on it. The group arranged themselves on the disk, which was large enough to take all of them, and Bill leaned over and pushed the button. The entire disk sank through the floor into the room below, stopping its downward motion when the disk was level with the floor of the lower room.

Here the group stood frozen with horror as they gazed out on the scene within the room. There were human “scraps” scattered around the floor. Humans and animals were chained up or caged around the walls. One of the prisoners was Ziggy. A small white cat mewed piteously from within a cramped cage. A much larger black cat was chained to the wall next to a large and alert man, who anxiously watched the group. Other humans, horribly tortured and insane, were chained around the room. One large, fat man appeared to have been partially eaten by savage creatures, but he was still alive.

The man next to the black cat asked to be released and warned the group that his captors may be returning at any moment. He introduced himself as a Dreamworld native named Ericsmore and explained his capture by the servants of the moon beasts. When the group released him he asked Monteith for his sword, as this sword belonged to him and was taken from him when he was captured. Bill returned the shield and Diana reluctantly returned the beautiful knife. Ericsmore asked for his armour, but this was still in the armoury. Bill returned to the armoury with Ericsmore and together they obtained the armour. Ericsmore’s cat was an intelligent being and appeared to be his companion by choice and not any real need.

After Ziggy was released he tried to talk to the group, but was for some unknown reason unable to speak. However he made it abundantly clear that the small, white cat had to be released and brought with the group. Diana assumed that this meant the cat was actually Nancy Winternight and that she had been changed into a cat in the same manner that Rita had been changed into a wolf. As there was nothing that could be done for the remaining prisoners, they were killed swiftly by the group. Perhaps now they would find their freedom.

Ericsmore’s plan was to escape the stronghold of the moon beasts and their human-like servants and return to his city on Earth. Here he wanted to warn his King of the danger the moon beasts presented. He claimed he could do this via a sailing vessel which was tied up at the dock. This vessel had itself been captured and when released it would take it occupants very swiftly back to Earth. Intelligent cats and boats were more than Diana could comprehend, but considering she was now on a Dreamworld pursued by nightmare creatures she did not ask for an explanation.

The group eventually found its way down through different levels of the stronghold and stumbled into a large and horrible kitchen. The cook was a monster carving what looked like human flesh. He was killed by a volley of knives, arrows and a crossbow bolt before Ericsmore had time to draw his sword. A little further on in their mad dash for the magical boat the group was confronted by a moon beast. This horror caught them as they were heading for a door on the ground level which Ericsmore believed led to the dock area. Having just managed to reload the unfamiliar crossbow after shooting at the monster cook, Diana took hasty aim and fired. To her great surprise she impaled the beast, killing it instantly. Although she was having difficulties loading the weapon and judging her shots, Diana was relieved to find it as deadly as her shotgun when used successfully. But then it had been her shotgun on the other side of the doorway between worlds.

The group finally reached the beautiful blue and silver sailing vessel. Once aboard the mooring ropes were cut and the ship immediately began to unfurl its own sails and move away from the dock. A number of the creatures following were killed by those members of the group with longer range weapons. Once out of range the group settled into the vessel and began to prepare for the voyage to the huge blue green planet that dominated the night sky. Towards what felt to Diana like midnight the ship left the surface of the oily black ocean and sailed the airy void between the Dreamworld and its moon. After this wondrous event Diana returned to her bunk in the cabin where she had been sleeping when Ericsmore woke her so that she could watch “the crossing”. She wondered what a dreamer would dream about inside a dream, but she slept too deeply for dreams.

After landing gently on the surface of the Dreamworld planet the vessel sailed ocean and calmer bay waters for a week before land familiar to Ericsmore appeared. Ariel (the boat) sailed up to the dock area of a huge city seaport and the group prepared to disembark. Nancy had changed back to human form and Ziggy had gradually regained his voice over the course of the journey. Diana was uncertain of time in this strange place and was not totally convinced it was passing at all. Events occurred but her step through the gate from McHugh’s warehouse seemed only minutes ago.

Although Ericsmore suggested that the group should stay with private citizens where they would be treated as honoured guests from the waking world, the group preferred to go immediately to the King and seek his advice. Ericsmore and Whispernight (his cat) led the group through a Medieval city and past a large temple to the palace of the King. While walking to the palace Diana was surprised by the number of people who stopped and bowed in the direction of the party. Apparently people who were from the waking world (and who were referred to locally as dreamers) were highly thought of by the natives. Even the palace guards bowed as the group walked through the gates, across the courtyard and into the main hall.

Here the King personally welcomed each person to his city, then sat down with the group to discuss the problem of the moon beasts. After the group had explained what had happened so far the King informed the party that the gate had to be destroyed on the Adelaide side and the Dreamworld moon side. The moon gate must be destroyed first, then the group should travel to the border between the Dreamworld and the real world and physically walk across to the real world. This route was the only way to return to the waking world once the moon gate had been destroyed. Once back in the real world the group could then destroy the gate at McHugh’s warehouse, thus preventing travel in either direction. This all sounded good in theory, but the King did not really know how to cross to the real world once the group reached the border and he did not know where in the real world they were likely to reappear.

After this discussion the group was led to their respective rooms to rest and prepare for dinner. With the help of a maid Diana undressed and soaked in a hot bath, after which she was delighted to discover beautiful dresses, jewellery and perfumes awaiting her choice. The fashion was circa 1400, a radical change from Diana’s usual attire and very lovely.

At dinner that evening the main topic of discussion was once again the gates and how to destroy them. The King recommended either fire or physical destruction of the frame surrounding the gate. After dinner Diana was troubled by her leg wound enough to ask for something to stop the pain. Cleansing the wound properly earlier had helped and the ocean voyage had sped the healing process. However, the wound had begun to ache fiercely again and Diana was not looking forward to attempting to go to sleep that evening. She was immediately wrapped in a warm cloak and escorted by Ericsmore to one of the elderly priests at the temple. The priest gave Diana a potion to drink which reminded her of roses, and the pain in her leg immediately eased. After some minutes Diana took a discrete look under her long skirts and discovered that her recent shotgun wound and the scar on her ankle from a spear wound 18 months ago (Boker Hall adventure) had vanished. She thanked the priest, made a large donation of coin of the realm and returned with Ericsmore to the palace.

The group stayed with the King for a further two weeks during which time Diana asked for and received training in the crossbow from one of the palace marksmen. It was almost as deadly as her 8 gauge shotgun (it had been her 8 gauge shotgun on the other side of the gate!!) and could impale over a longer range (300 yards as opposed to 40 yards). She also arranged for some properly fitted leather armour to be made for her so she would have more protection from the missile weapons commonly in use in the Dreamworld.

When the group boarded Ariel again for the voyage to the Dreamworld moon Nancy and Ziggy remained behind, neither of them were capable of aiding in the planned attack on the moon beasts. Rita and Diana made a pact that if one was taken by the moon beasts or their servants, the other would kill her if it was at all possible. Neither wished to become their plaything or, worse still, their food.

Ariel sailed off the edge of the Dreamworld, past the light side of the moon and its ruined temples and on to the dark side and its oily sea. Ariel docked next to the one small, black, evil looking ship and the group swarmed over the ship’s rails, along the dock and burst through the closest door into the moon beasts domain. Although the battle began slowly it climaxed in a deadly fight with three moon beasts, one of whom appeared to be a powerful magician, and numerous servants. Ericsmore was killed and Chantella fought on with his sword. His skills seemed to somehow have transferred to her at the moment of his death. Bill Richardson was turned into a red deer by the magician moon beast’s lance. Diana was very badly hurt by the same lance when the moon beast threw it at her after he had pointed it at Bill. The battle was too much for Rita and Monteith who had collapsed on the floor, leaving Diana and Chantella to kill the remaining moon beasts.

When the battle finished all the moon beasts were dead and the remaining servants who could still move were escaping for their boat at the dock. Chantella and Whispernight found a strange key which unlocked the door to the room containing the gateway. This key restored function to the other door and the elevators which had ceased to operate when the moon beasts discovered they were under attack. Chantella threw burning rags through the gate and then destroyed the gate by attacking the surrounding wall with a sledgehammer. Chantella protected the group by using the strange key to lock all doors to their room. When she was satisfied that the party was safe from further attack, Chantella began helping Diana bandage up her lance wound (yet another scar). After some time Rita and Monteith recovered but there was nothing anyone could do to help Bill except wait until the magic wore off. The group took Ericsmore’s body with them when they left the moon beasts domain and returned to Calafais. Ariel’s sails sighed a lament on the voyage.

Once back in the city Diana returned with Rita, Monteith and Bill (still in the form of a red deer) to the temple for healing, while Chantella visited Ericsmore’s parents and informed them of the circumstances surrounding their son’s death. During the following week the group rested and discussed returning to their own world with the King. He recommended seeing the Zoogs in the enchanted forest where the border with the real world was said to be. The King warned the group to be cautious as the Zoogs were known to be dangerous. During this week Bill returned to human form, much to the relief of all in the party, especially Bill himself.

One week after their return from the moon, the group packed their belongings and supplies for the trip to the forest, including meat and jewels to be used as gifts for the Zoogs. The group headed east towards the forest via the city of Ulthar and the Neraxor River. Ulthar turned out to be completely overrun with cats. The King had informed them before they left Calafais that cats were sacred in Ulthar and were not to be harmed. The group approached a large tower covered with ivy on a hill in the centre of the town. Here an acolyte explained that the building was a temple to the elder gods. Diana was staggered by his revelation that the elder gods were worshipped as protectors in the Dreamworld and entered into a philosophical discussion with him over the suitability of this practice in the light of their fearsome and homicidal behaviour in the waking world. He did not seem to see her point and the group eventually moved on.

After travelling through wilder country the group came to the edge of a large dark forest. This was the enchanted forest the King of Calafais had spoken of. The group moved straight ahead through the forest. On either side there was a continual faint chattering and rustling in the bushes, but the party reached the centre of the forest without incident. Here the group found a gigantic tree which Monteith recognised as the gate of deeper slumber. Dreamers passed through this gate on their way to and from the Dreamworld. There was a door in the trunk so the group went through, closing it behind them and effectively shutting off the chatterings that had followed them from the edge of the forest.

After an upward climb of approximately 700 steps the group entered a great cavern where two strangely dressed priests awaited them. The priests asked each person what their plans were on returning to the waking world. Diana replied that she wished to learn more about the elder gods so she could fight them more successfully. Chantella and Rita had similar replies, while Bill considered what he was going to tell his wife and Monteith explained about the plan to destroy the remaining gate. Finally the priests said “go” and the party vanished back to the waking world.

Wednesday 19th December 1923

The group appeared near the base of a steep bushland hill in the misty dampness of early dawn. Diana heard again the beautiful warbling of what she had learnt to recognise as the Australian Magpie and was relieved to think that at least she knew what country she was in. There was a track at the bottom of the hill and, after climbing to the hilltop for a better view, Bill recognised the steep cliffs and triple tiered waterfall as Waterfall Gully, a place not far east of Adelaide. From there a long walk brought the group to Monteith’s house where his sister Melissa was making breakfast for herself and Captain Dodd. The Captain had agreed to stay at Monteith’s house as the group believed McHugh wouldn’t be able to find him there. The group presented an extremely unusual appearance, dressed as they were in Medieval clothes and trying to conceal large Medieval weapons. Nothing had reverted back to its normal form and Diana was trying to hide her crossbow and bolts, leather armour and Medieval hunting clothes under a large woollen cloak. She was using her javelin as a walking staff. If anyone had asked she was going to say she had been to a fancy dress party with her friends and they were now returning home.

Melissa and Dodd expressed their fear for the group’s safety as they had been gone all night. Diana was amazed that all the time spent in the Dreamworld amounted to only one night in the waking world. Chantella rang Vlad to let him know she was safe, after which Bill tried to ring Inspector Wright but he had not arrived at the police station yet. Monteith spoke briefly to the sergeant who had answered the telephone but was not able to find out where Inspector Wright was or when he would be available. Next Bill rang Bernstein and told him they had found Nancy and Ziggy and would be leaving them and Captain Dodd at his house while the group undertook some unfinished business at Port Adelaide. Rita had decided to remain with the group a little longer as she too had a score to settle with McHugh.

After dropping the three erstwhile missing people with an extremely happy Bernstein, the group drove on to Port Adelaide and McHugh’s warehouse. Here the group once again gained entry by picking the lock on the side door. A cautious scan of the warehouse led the group to believe that McHugh was not there although his car was on the ground floor with Nancy’s. While Bill, Monteith and Rita continued a careful search of the upper floor rooms, Chantella and Diana entered the apparently empty gate room, closing the door behind them so as to muffle the noise they were about to make.

While the two women were discussing how to destroy the gate McHugh leapt through the window from where he had been hiding outside on a ledge. He threatened the women with pistols, one a particularly nasty shot pistol. Both women froze knowing he had the advantage but, after making some typical threats he leapt through the gateway to the Dreamworld moon. Diana quickly fired off a shot from her crossbow towards the gate in the hope that she might hit him on the other side, but she would never know the outcome. Chantella attacked the wall around the gate with one of the sledgehammers the group had bought for that purpose.

Suddenly the gate exploded, throwing Chantella violently against the nearest wall and knocking Diana off her feet. A large hole appeared in the wall opposite where the gate had been and it grew as Diana watched it in astonishment. As she went to help Chantella who had been badly hurt when thrown against the wall, Winternight the cat appeared from somewhere. Rita hurried into the gate room when she heard the explosion and began helping Diana carry Chantella outside and downstairs. As they passed the hole that had been blown in the wall opposite the gate, Diana noticed it was still growing. Perhaps the gate had been made of some acidic substance which was eating away the wall.

On reaching the ground floor of the warehouse Diana noticed that Bill had collected the spears from the torture chamber and wrapped them in a blanket from McHugh’s bedroom. Diana searched Nancy’s car for spare keys, as the original keys were with Diana when she went through the gate and had been converted into what looked like a set of cell door keys. Diana found the spare keys taped under the car and drove the car out of the warehouse to the street outside. Here Rita helped Chantella into the car. Monteith took McHugh’s car as he would not be needing it any more, nor could he report it stolen from wherever he was. Bill recovered his Daimler from the front of the warehouse where it had been parked since yesterday.

The group returned to Bernstein’s house and Chantella was made comfortable on the lounge. She seemed much improved and joined in the victory drinks and congratulations. Bernstein offered Bill, Chantella and Diana £90.00 each. Diana asked him again if he would publish a book of hers and he agreed on the condition that the book was of sufficient quality when completed. Bill gave Diana McHugh’s 20 gauge shotgun as a replacement for the one that was converted into a longbow. The group quietly agreed not to tell the full story to either Bernstein or Inspector Wright, but to leave any explanation of events as a simple case of kidnapping for ransom.

Injuries Suffered

Light shotgun wounds to lower left leg. Badly wounded in the stomach by a thrown lance but, as this injury occurred while in the Dreamworld, all trace of it vanished on returning to the waking world.

Possessions Acquired

Heavy crossbow and bolts

Javelin and spear thrower

Tinderbox, oil and lantern

Gold coins

Longbow and arrows

Oilskin, leather jerkin, fitted leather armour

Medieval hunting clothes and woollen cloak

Jewels

20 gauge shotgun