13. Fishing in Murky Waters

--- UNEXPECTED TENTACLE SESSION 13 ---
---     FISHING IN MURKY WATERS    ---
---           (16.6.96)            ---

	Getting back to the car, Swanson was missing. We heard a car off
in the distance and a rustle somewhere over in the trees. A bullet
shattered a rear light and, putting two and two together, we decided that
there was probably someone shooting at us from the trees. Prof and Doc
went to investigate, taking the occasional pot shot - in the Doc's case
his leg.
	The distant car drew closer and we decided perhaps the best course
of action would be to just get out of there - John started the car as the
Doc crawled his way back. The new car started to slow down rapidly after
catching sight of Father Michael; meanwhile the Prof was pinned down by
sniper fire. After a bit of persuasion, the Prof came out from behind the
tree he'd taken a liking to and ran towards the car, Jeremiah laying down
some covering fire. John gunned the accelerator and two shots rang out
from the trees behind us..
	We sped off, fancying we saw a body lying near the road. Although
John has driven before, he was hardly experienced and the other car soon
gained ground - Prof Hargreaves and Jeremiah _attempted_ to shoot the
pursuing vehicle, a task made infinitely easier when the rear window was
shattered by a lucky shot. We returned fire and blew up their wind screen -
gaining valuable seconds.
	A strange, unnaturally coloured thing appeared in front of the car
and arced over like a rainbow - through some stroke of luck, John kept the
car upon the road unlike the other which bounced off the side a few times.
Looking at the fuel gauge, a problem presented itself - luckily a village
was in the distance. On arrival, the car engine conked out, so the car was
parked sideways across the road and we fled to the village centre. The
pursuing vehicle also seemed to conk out around the same point, this could
just have been a fluke though (hmmm.)
	We decided to hide in a nearby house - dust covered every surface
and we soon noticed a complete lack of food or intelligible writing
(newspapers where in a completely different alphabet). Rev Peters noticed a
humming, the source of which was narrowed down to John Aintree, and more 
exactly, the mask he was carrying. It had changed texture and colour: we
decided to keep well away. A cry was heard from somewhere outside and
there was no sign of our pursuit. We decided time had stopped before dawn 
had arrived.
	After several hours, dawn didn't actually seem to arrive so we
decided to explore a larger building sighted from the upstairs study. The
cars at this point were where we'd left them, untampered. The build has
some kind of kitchen, and a bar on the ground floor, with a trap door 
leading downwards - guess where we went.
	The cellar was extremely large - bigger than the building itself,
the far wall couldn't be seen using our lamps. The sound of running water
could be heard in the distance. The cellar was under a few inches of
water, which slowly deepened until, when waist high, the cave opened out
into a large underground chamber within which swam several humanoid
creatures with fish like heads and expansive bodies. All around the sides 
were the entrances to other tunnel-like passages. The green, slimy, 
white-bellied human-fish swam swam from entrance to entrance,  
disappearing to unknown locations. A dark portal about
the size of a football hovered in the air between two such entrances, 
which were unusually close together, so that the platforms to the 
entrances were joined. So much for the cavern - we'd been spotted...

	One of the slimy fishy things swam towards us as we tactfully
tried to retreat. Diving after us, it tried to bite off John's leg. It was
quickly dispatched. More creatures chased us, one suffering from Mon-optic
vision after a lucky gunshot. Two of them grabbed the Prof and John and
proceeded to drag them away. They went at a pace we couldn't match and
only after some valiant struggles on behalf of Prof and John that we
managed to catch up. Another creature appeared and tried to prevent us
aiding our friends as John and William lost consciousness. The slimy
things carried them off back to the cavern, but for what purpose, we could
not fathom. The other thing quickly fled and we were left dazed, the only
option being to leave town and head back the way we came - it was now
light for some reason and the car started without problem.
	We travelled to Boston, the road apparently being far longer instead of 
approaching it from the North, as we had when we left, we entered it from 
the South East.

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