EPISODE THREE: THE JEWEL OF SUMATRA

[Monsieur Rose]

"Sons of the bitch, how are they finding us?"

Nikolai will keep his eyes on the line, while half-heartedly raising his arms part-way.

[Urson]

I do not know, my friend. They are much smarter than the Nazis I have dealt with in the past. Perhaps they have their own experts?

[max_vale]

Early afternoon; October 3rd, 1937; in the waters off Padang, Sumatra


Rick, stunned and more than a little scared, replies to Jean-Claude's question about weaponry with a quick; "Just a .38 in a drawer near the wheel and a Shotgun down below in my bunk....but we can't stand up to a 3-inch Deck gun AND planes with machineguns and bombs." With a deep sigh; Rick calls out to the unknown SS officer while raising his hands; "Okay Fritz, you got us, we surrender. I'm out here doing a bit of salvaging with my friends and I've got a guy on the line down there"; he says while pointing towards the line obviously extending from the boat and down into the water. "Mind if I bring up my buddy?"

The SS officer has a smug grin and calls out, "Not at all....how nice of you to do our vork for us." Rather quickly and efficiently; the German officer and his 3 goons with Bergmans pull close enough to Rick's little boat to clamor aboard while under the watchful eye and gun-barrel of the Deck Gun and the droning lazy circles made by the pair of German float-planes. Jean-Claude and Nikolai are not sure, but when buzzed one time by one of the float-planes, they're PRETTY sure they see the long hair of the female Nazi they encountered in San Francisco in the pilot's chair....

Meanwhile, under the waves; Murdoch frantically tugs on the rope, after hooking it to the safe and as he's slowing being pulled towards the surface; the giant octopus's tentacle gets a firmer grip around his leg and starts to close in on him. Keeping one hand firmly on the line; he pulls the knife with the other and slashes the tentacle wrapped around him. He feels/sees the Octopus let go of him and disappear in a cloud of black liquid. He can't WAIT to tell his friends about what just happened! As he breaks the surface; he finds himself, along with the safe, being hoisted aboard Rick's boat; which is tied to a Nazi U-boat with a hanagar and a deck gun and a couple of German sailors are working the diving winch and lowering the safe and him on board while a couple of Nazi soldiers are holding submachineguns on him. My how things change when you go diving...

[kipper]

Murdoch removes his diving helmet, then begins to speak in German: "Heil Hitler! I was hoping you'd show up in time! I have the safe!"

[Urson]

Jean-Claude nods when Rick tells him about their chances. "Then we wait for our moment to turn things our way."

He doesn't react when Murdoch starts speaking German, just sags a little, as if seeing a suspected betrayal happen.

[Monsieur Rose]

Nikolai first smiles at Murdoch and his antics, then spots Jean-Claude. He glances back and forth, then the smile fades and is replaced by a confused look on his face.

[max_vale]

Early-Late afternoon; October 3rd, 1937; in the waters and on the island of Sipora, Sumatra

The SS officer is a bit thrown off by Murdoch's antics, but then shakes his head and replies; "Ah yes....ze CRAZY one. Bring him along vith ze others" and Murdoch, along with Nikolai, Jean-Claude and Rick and the precious safe are brought aboard the German U-boat. The foursome then get a front row seat to watch as the U-Boat deck gun crew proceed to blow apart Rick's diving boat, much to the New Yorker's dismay. The U-boat then proceeds to sail on the surface for the next hour and a half as the 4 prisoners are brought below.

They learn that the SS officer is one Captain von Hoffstahl while one of the pilots is the woman who kicked down the door to Professor Manning's office back in 'Frisco and von Hoffstahl's right-hand man is a non-uniformed, fade-into-the-background guy named Krieger who Rick remembers handing out at his bar. Putting two and two together; it seems obvious that the pilot called in the general route of the Airship and Krieger watched the bar for the inevitable pairing of the pilots and Rick. The pilots noticed that the SS contingent on the submarine was rather small; maybe a total of 6 troops, along with von Hoffsthal and Krieger.

As they dropped anchor a couple of hundred yards off of the beach of Sipora; a couple of inflatable rafts were brought up, along with small outboard motors and the pilots, Rick and SS troops shuttled their way to the island with Krieger and 3 of the troops armed with Bergmanns and the other 3 troops armed with Mauser bolt-action Rifles. Captain von Hoffstahl had a Lugar holstered on his side and the map from the Safe in an inside pocket. The female pilot; one Ingrid Schultz by name, along with the other pilot and unnamed rear gunners had their floatplanes refueled and then soon took to the skies on a roving patrol. As everyone disembarked and assembled on the beach about 20 yards from thick jungle, von Hoffstahl gave the foursome a sinister grin and said; "Alright; vhen ve find zis tomb, you vill recover the Jewel for us-"; his monologue is broken by the sound of plane engines filling the sky....

Everyone turns to look up and the beautiful sight of a trio of familiar looking planes* come hurtling out of the sky and opening fire on the Nazi Arado float-planes; one of which quickly breaks in half and crashes into the sea while the other wrenches itself out of the way in a bit of impressive flying. Nazi sailors start to pour out of the U-boat's conning tower and rush towards the Deck gun while the troops nearby the foursome start to raise their weapons while von Hoffsthal starts to shout orders in German and gesturing all around while waving the map in one-hand while his other starts to open the holster flap keeping his Lugar pistol secure**...

*The 3 planes are of course the First Flight of the Thunderbolt squadron and include Chalifoux's Bloodhawk; Zang's Dauphin float-plane; and Hall's Brigand

**None of you are handcuffed or secured in any way; there are a total of 8 Nazi's near you, none of them are paying any attention and the jungle is about 10-15 yards away from you.

[kipper]

Murdoch attempts to snatch the map and flee into the jungle!

[Urson]

Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude plants a size-10 workboot in the nearest Nazi's groin and makes a grab for his weapon.

[Monsieur Rose]

Nikolai tries to get von hoffstahl in a headlock, using him as a human shield.

*If successful: "Drop your guns, or I pop off his little head. Da?"

[max_vale]

Early-Late afternoon; October 3rd, 1937; in the waters and on the island of Sipora, Sumatra


As the situation on the island rapidly goes to hell-in-a-handbasket; the trio of grounded pilots take advantage of the situation and burst into action….

Murdoch snatches the map out of von Hoffstahl's hand and promptly runs off into the jungle! He cackles in delight as he vanishes into the foliage and then a moment later he trips over some of the thick plants and roots and falls head-first to the ground and into a slight tumble down a slight hill to come to a rest at the bottom of a slight ridge and into a bit of a clearing. Luckily, he maintained a firm grip on the map and taking a look at it; the somewhat-sane-but-not-really pilot thinks the structure labelled as 'Tapatamani's Tomb' is up ahead, just past a river-valley and off to the right….

As Murdoch snatches the map and runs; Nikolai takes advantage of the opportunity to suddenly grab von Hoffstahl in a bear-hug and he grabs the Lugar from the SS officer and points at his head while turning to interpose the German's body between the other troops and himself. Just as he calls out a threat to them, a stray rocket or cannon blast from one of the strafing Thunderbolts causes the big Russian and the Nazi officer to go flying. Picking himself up off the ground a moment later; Nikolai finds himself at the edge of the jungle, the Lugar still in hand and nobody paying any attention to him. Seeing, but not hearing Jean-Claude yelling something at him and gesturing towards the foliage where Murdoch vanished a few moments earlier; the big Russian nodded his head and followed his Flight Leader into the undergrowth…

Jean-Claude Oulette wasted no time and he immediately kicked one of the distracted German troops in the crotch; causing him to collapse inwardly and fall to the ground on his knees; dropping his Bergman submachinegun in the process. The Canadian pilot quickly snatched up the weapon and turned to see a clearly-blown-off-his-feet and just starting to recover Nikolai nearby. Yelling for him to "Follow me!"; he helped the big Russian to his feet and the pair disappeared in the general vicinity of where Murdoch had rushed off to with the map a moment or two earlier. Staggering through the jungle, they nearly lost thier footing, but somehow managed to keep it and they soon saw thier fellow pilot at the bottom of a small ridge; rising to his feet and studying the purloined map….

[kipper]

Murdoch looks up towards Nikolai and Jean-Claude, his grin showing white through his dirt-covered face.

"That went better than I thought!", he calls out cheerfully. "This way!" Murdoch takes off again, running towards the Tomb.

[Urson]

If you say so, my friend. Slow down, dammit. Jean-Claude follows the madman, glancing back every few steps to watch for anyone following them.

[Monsieur Rose]

Nikolai chases his delightful friend into the deep jungle.

"I guess we will be finding Rick later, yes?"

[max_vale]

Late afternoon; October 3rd, 1937; in the waters and on the island of Sipora, Sumatra


As Murdoch tears through the jungle, it is all Jean-Claude and Nikolai can do to keep up with the madman/pilot. Soon the sounds of fighting from the beach is lost amidst the incessant drone of insects and the million eerie sounds of the jungle….


Murdoch is happily bulling his way through the thick foliage, with occasional glances at the map and abrupt direction changes and he slows down for a moment, which is enough for his gasping companions to catch up to him. Frowning at the map; Murdoch absently mindedly brushes a huge frond out of his way while looking at the map and he suddenly feels the earth drop out from under him and it's only the quick reactions of Jean-Claude and Nikolai Klokov that save him! The pilot had just taken a step into a deep and wide crevasse that fell at least 50 feet to a narrow, shallow stream of water and it was only by some miracle that the American pilot never dropped the map in his hand.

While his compatriots strained to pull him back up onto solid ground; the madman had a huge grin as he realized the crevasse was on the map. "Look, look! We're almost there!"; he said in glee and looking around; an ancient bridge consturcted out of chunks of trees and vines wound into ropes and anchored around thick tree trunks was visible about 10 yards away. It crossed the crevasse at a point about 40 or so feet wide, sagging in the center and looking positively ANCIENT to the pilots of Thunderbolt squadron. Looking at the map; the Tomb of Tapatamani seemed to be on a hill on the other side of the crevasse, not far from this point. Looking across the bridge; the pilots could see that the land did indeed rise; but the thick jungle hid any sight of any building.

Looking up and down the crevasse, no other way across was visible….

[kipper]

Murdoch, not at all phased by nearly plummeting to his death but a moment earlier, unhesitatingly crosses the bridge.

[Monsieur Rose]

After glancing at the frames of his companions, Nikolai suggests:

"We go across one by one, yes? Bridge may not be stong like me."

[Urson]

Definitely. And we are in NO HURRY, Murdoch! Go cautiously!

[max_vale]

Late afternoon; October 3rd, 1937; the island of Sipora, Sumatra


Pilot officer Murdoch, paying absolutely NO attention to his flight-leader; raced across the ancient vine-and-log bridge over the steep chasm and despite the sudden lurching and swaying of said bridge; the tall and scrawny avaitor reached the other side with no issues….

Flight Lieutenant Jean-Claude Oulette went next; being VERY careful and deliberate and despite the nerve-shaking sways and dips of the bridge; the wiry Canadian made it across just fine as well…

However, when the built-like-a-bear Russian pilot Nikolai Klokov was half-way across the bridge one of the ancient, rotted logs gave way under his feet and one of the vines that held the logs together snapped and Nikolai felt his heart jump up into his throat as he was suddenly falling down and then forward as he had managed to hold onto the 'arm-bar' vines and managed to retain such a grip even as he slammed bodily into the side of the chasm wall with a loud thump that woud DEFNITELY be leaving some bruises come the morning. The Lugar pistol he had aquired from the German officer amazingly still stayed in his belt where he had shoved it when he first started crossing the bridge. Looking up; he could see that he was about 15 to 20 feet from the top and the old vines that had been turned into a rope to hold the bridge together seemed to be loosening….perhaps tearing….not far from his hands...

[Monsieur Rose]

A string of curses tries to escape from the Russian's lips, but all that does is:

"gaaaah, weeheeh"

While trying to catch his breath, Nikolai attempts to pull himself up while desperately looking for handholds on the cliff.