So the characters had returned from “the World” that they’ve assumed is the Interior World of a Hollow Earth due to the way the horizon bent upward and seemed to continue into the haze of atmosphere, and the perpetual sun hanging overhead. They returned through the Eye of Shambala to Lhasa, finding out their 40(ish) day ordeal seemed to take 3 days on Earth.

They found out that the Soviets and Nazis that had been fighting over Gould (and by extension the party) had led to a lot of injuries among the monks, as well as the two sides. A few Naizs had survived, and with their Luftwaffe pilots were jailed by the locals; one Soviet — the massive Dolph Lundgren-esque soldier — was also incarcerated. They recounted some of their adventures to the Dalai Lama, convinced him to release the Germans into Gus Hassenfeldt’s custody, and then they surveyed the damage wrought on Bernadette, their Sikorsky S-36, and Sperling, the Fokker F.XII the Nazis had borrowed from Lufthansa.

Eventually, after much debate about returning immediately to “the World” to make their meeting with one of their contacts there, hence risking the Germans getting the jump on them for their discoveries; or returning to Calcutta to present some of their world through letters and reports to the Royal Geographical Society, they chose the latter (Lady Zara’s desire for fame and fortune, and Gus’ desire for recognition got the better of them…) Working with the Germans, they cannibalized Bernadette to aid in fixing Sperling for the 400ish mile flight to Calcutta 9the nearest real airfield.)

A good roll allowed them to fix one of the damaged R-1350 Wasp Cs, and replace the forward motor with the still operational R-790 Whirlwind from the S-36. They managed to get off the ground with the remains of the German expedition and their own, but the adulterated fuel (they mixed the 50 octane from the Sikorsky and the 90 from the Fokker) led to the eventual failure of the little Pratt & Whitney, and the craft ran out of fuel on approach to RAF Dum Dum, outside of Calcutta. Some good rolls put the plane down intact(ish.)

The British authorities quickly secured their prizes from the Interior World, while seeing to the injured Germans. They did, however, release them as they had committed no crimes in the Empire. A Major Thomelson of the General Staff of the Governor-General of India invited them to meet with the Governor of the Bengal Presidency and the later sidelined Hunter to reveal that the Terra Arcanum knew they were back, and were worried about what they had found. Hunter proceeded to do some fancy talking and convince the major that he could control the group, and that using them to investigate the Inner World while containing their stories would be the best option for all.

They bought it.

The next morning, the insurance claim on Bernadette sailed through, and an agent of the company even directed Lady Zara toward a replacement, while the boys when to see what had become of their relics brought back from the Inner World. In the process, however, they were waylaid by a stalled Wolseley Hornet in the middle of the jungle-lined road. Two Ariel motorcycle came at them from behind and their Alvis Speed 20 was quickly surrounded by armed men!

I’ve had to do a bit of tap-dancing on the narrative and shift the focus from the lead of the game toward other characters, due to absences, but so far it seems to be holding together. We’ve continued the trend of a cliffhanger ending to the night, much to our collective delight.

On a side note, one of the players had asked it I had considered doing a ’30s noir-style game, and on further reflection, we may need a second set of characters for a differently flavored noir game set in late Prohibition LA or Shanghai. The other option discussed was a sci-fi police procedural with a noir flavor.

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