Dr. Wilfred Marlen and Hildy Marlen
Following their successful restarting of the Earth's spin in The Day The Earth Stood Still, our heroes are trying to make for Australia when suddenly reality shifts, becoming an Orrorshan pure zone. Alexandra, piloting, is unable to deal with this, and only barely manages a crash landing just off the shore of Christmas Island, Dr. Marlen's arm being broken in the process.
The group drags the plane on shore and tries to make their way through the jungle to a settlement they saw from the air. During the hike, however, Dr. Marlen is snatched into the trees by an unseen entity, and all efforts to track him down fail. All that is found is an odd residue in some of the trees that smells faintly of almonds.
While Hildy is distraught, the group eventually makes it to the settlement, where they learn that the population has been slowly picked off, in fashion much like Dr. Marlen was. Mabwe, the effective leader of the settlement is particularly upset because his son has just disappeared. The group resolves that they must do something, and are told that the old governor's mansion, at the far end of the island seems to be the center of the mysterious happenings.
The next morning, thr group sets out for the mansion. While they are dogged by continual rustlings in the brush, the journey is uneventful until the mansion is actually in sight. At this point, about a dozen gospog rise from the ground, armed with blunderbusses which they use effectively, killing Hildy Marlen before they are, themselve, destroyed.
Entering the mansion, the group descends into the basement, where they find a hideous semi-living machine, that seems to be drawing the life from people trapped inside it, including Dr. Marlen and the younger Mabwe. Before they can free the prisoners however, they are confronted by a man dressed in Victorian clothing, covered by a lab coat. He introduces himself as Victor Kingman and asks them to leave his experiment alone. When they refuse, he reveals himself as a vampire and attacks.
The battle is incredibly long; while the group uses their superior numbers to keep him off-balance, none of their weapons seem to have any effect. Kingman slowly begins to wear them down, and kills Grimbeard and Alexandra Chang, as well as the younger Mabwe who frees himself from the machinery. As the battle continues, massive damage is done to the walls, causing the entire mansion to begin to crumble. Isa eventually realizes that Kingman is immune to mundane weapons, and uses a blessed sword they had found in the Nile Empire seaplane. Severely injured, Kingman flees, and the group flees the now rapidly collapsing building.
Returning to the settlement, the group tells the elder Mabwe of the heroic death of his son, and tells the entire population of their glorious battle with Kingman. Finally, they take the helicopter which had been stored at the governor's mansion and fly off to Australia.
Last modified: 29 May, 1997.