Part 5: Cold Wind Blowing

The Orient Express pulled into the Trieste station a few hours after sundown. While getting off the train the investigators were surprised by a powerful wind that nearly blew them right off the platform. The investigators decided to find a hotel and start looking for the statue piece in the morning. Over a late dinner they discussed what they were going to do. In the end they only really had one lead: to try and find someone called Johann Winckelmann at the local museum.

After a quick breakfast the next morning, the investigators headed over to the museum. Fortunately the powerful winds had died down during the night. Upon arriving at the museum the investigators began looking for Winckelmann. Eventually they found someone that told them Winckelmann could be found out in the garden. Strangely, the investigators couldn't find anyone out in the garden, but they did spot something that looked like a replica of a roman temple. Inside the temple was a large sarcophagus resting on a marble base. The name on the side of the sarcophagus was Johann Winckelmann, who apparently died June 8th 1768!

Since the investigators couldn't talk to Winckelmann in person they decided to visit the local library and see what they could find about the man. After spending nearly the entire day in the library the investigators found several interesting facts. Winckelmann was German man who moved to Rome to become a librarian of the Vatican. While on a trip back home Winckelmann suddenly decided to visit Trieste. He met a thief and pimp called Francesco Arcangeli, who fatally stabbed Winckelmann while trying to steal some medals Winckelmann had in his possession. Arcangeli was quickly caught and executed. Winckelmann's will left most of his possessions to Andrea, a waiter at the hotel he was staying at. The medals that Arcangeli stole were recovered and given to the Trieste museum. Winckelmann's papers, including his personal diary, were sold at auction to a Giovanni Termona, a local historian.

The investigators decide to check out the medals first. Unfortunately a quick examination reveals nothing special about them. Next the investigators decide to try and find Andrea, or at least one of her descendants, but they discovered that she vanished soon after Winckelmann died. The only thing left to do was to try and find the diary, but it was starting to get late so the investigators decided to call it a night.

The next day was spent tracking down the Termona family. Surprisingly it wasn't that difficult and soon the investigators had set up a meeting with the current owner of Winckelmann's diary, Antoni Termona. Antoni admitted that the diary was just a family curio. It was written in some dialect of ancient Greek and no one had bothered to have it translated. Antoni then mentioned that there was a man called Marco Montanelli who was pretty good with ancient dialects. The investigators offer to take the diary to Marco to have it translated. Antoni is reluctant to part with the diary, but eventually decides it would be nice to finally have it translated.

The investigators took the diary to Marco, who said that he would be able to have a simple translation ready in about two days. With nothing much else to do the investigators spend the two days looking around Trieste. Finally the translation is complete and the investigators find out that Winckelmann was more than a simple librarian. The translation mentions strange dreams, monstrous creatures that collect magical artifacts, and a medallion that Winckelmann was supposed to deliver to a group of the creatures that lived in some caves near Trieste. The final few entries in the diary mentioned how Winckelmann met with Arcangeli, who was supposed to guide Winckelmann to the caves. Winckelmann didn't trust Arcangeli and hid the medallion somewhere safe. Unfortunately the diary didn't mention where the medallion was hidden, or where the caves were located.

The investigators decide that if these creatures collected magical items they may have a piece of the Sedefkar Statue. They spent the rest of the day trying to find out where the creature's caves might be. By the time they found the location of a likely network of caves it was getting late so the investigators decided to head to the hotel and visit the caves the next day. On their way to the hotel the investigators noticed that they were being followed by a man with flaming red hair. The investigators were about to confront the man when a car pulled up beside him. A pair of large men in business suits grabbed the red-haired man and pulled him into the car. Then the car sped off and disappeared around a corner.

During dinner the investigators suddenly noticed that their table was rising into the air. With a sudden crash it fell back down, startling everyone else in the restaurant. A few minute later Gareth cut into his chicken only to have maggots spill from the cut onto his plate. Fighting the urge to vomit Gareth dropped his knife and fork, then noticed that the maggots had vanished. A few minutes later William was drinking some wine when he noticed it tasted coppery. Somehow his wine had turned into blood. William dropped his glass, spilling the blood onto the table. But it wasn't blood any more, just regular wine. After cleaning up the mess Raechka suddenly found that she couldn't let go of her knife. The knife then takes on a life of it's own, dragging Raechka to her feet and forcing her to make stabbing motions in the air. Suddenly the knife dropped from Raechka's hands, just an ordinary knife again. At first the investigators believed something was trying to mess with them, but when nothing else happened they figured it was just the stress of hunting for the Sedefkar Simulacrum finally getting to them. They all decided to call it a night and get some sleep.

Up in their rooms Gareth stayed up a little longer to examine the diary and the translation. Meanwhile, in William and Raechka's room things weren't so peaceful. All of the candles in the room suddenly went out, plunging the room into darkness. Each time William relit them they just went out again. Then the door to their room is suddenly blown open by strong wind. After being closed and locked the door just bursts open once again. As the temperature in the room began to drop things started to get really weird. Objects from all over the room began to lift themselves into the air and fly around at ever increasing speeds. William and Raechka decided it was too dangerous to stay in their room so they fought their way through blankets, pillows, paintings, chairs, and numerous other objects in an attempt to reach the door, which fortunately was still open. With nothing more serious than a few bruises William and Raechka tumble out into the hall. Looking back in their room they found everything was back in it's place, like nothing had ever happened. Gareth heard something thud out in the hall and decided to investigate. He found William and Raechka both looking like they'd been through a few rounds at a wrestling match. Gareth told them they should really do that kind of stuff in their rooms, not in the hall, and started to go back to bed. William and Raechka followed Gareth into his room and told him about all the strange poltergeist activity they'd just witnessed. They were just trying to decide what to do when someone knocked on the door. Before any of the investigators can decide who should answer the door, it bursts open with a gust of wind. Standing in the doorway is a small, pale man wearing black garments. Normally that wouldn't be too disturbing, but this man was partially transparent and has a long slash across his throat! After a stunned silence the ghost walked into the room and introduced himself as Johann Winckelmann. He told the investigators that he wished for them to deliver the medallion to the creatures, an act that would finally set his spirit free. The investigators decided that most likely the only way to get to the creatures and see if they had a piece of the Sedefkar Simulacrum is if they brought the medallion, so they agreed to follow Winckelmann to it's hiding place.

Out in the streets the wind was blowing with enough force to knock the investigators from their feet. After struggling through the wind for several blocks Winckelmann finally stopped outside an abandoned house. He led the investigators inside and down into the cellar. He then pointed at a spot on the earthen floor and told the investigators that the medallion was buried there. After several minutes of digging through the frozen earth the investigators reached a leather bundle. Raechka picked up the bundle and took out the medallion wrapped inside. As soon as she touched the medallion Raechka felt very cold. As a gust of wind blew against the house Raechka thought she heard the howl of some monstrous beast somewhere far off in the distance. The investigators quickly left the house, noting that Winckelmann's ghost had vanished. Since it was now the middle of the night the investigators headed back to their hotel and got what little sleep they could.

The next morning the investigators rented a car and drove out to the caves where the creatures were supposed to live. The main part of the caves had been turned into a tourist attraction many years ago, so the investigators know the creatures wouldn't be in that part. As the investigators pulled into the parking lot they noted several other cars were already there, strange considering the caves were supposed to be closed for the winter. Gareth and Raechka volunteered to take the medallion into the rear sections of the caves while William would wait outside in the car in case they needed a quick getaway.

As Gareth and Raechka entered the caves William noticed several other cars driving up to the caves. In the lead car William could just make out a man with flaming red hair, the same hair as the man that was following them the other day, but the man wearing the hair was different. William thought about entering the caves to warn his companions, but he decided that taking care of the new arrivals, almost certainly enemies, was more important. Slamming his foot on the accelerator William drove his car at full speed towards the oncoming cars. The first car swerved off the road and stalled, but the second car was far enough back for the people inside to lean out their windows and start firing their guns. William pulled out his own gun and fired back, hitting the driver right between the eyes. The car swerved, flipped, and exploded. The third car was on William before he could react. The two vehicles side-swiped each other, sending William's car off the road. As the two remaining enemy cars made their way to the caves William noticed the first car start up begin making it's way back to the road. William got his own car running again, turned around, and headed straight for the enemy car.

Meanwhile, inside the caves, Gareth and Raechka took a small trolley car into the rear section of the caves. Once they reached the end of the track they got out and began looking for anything that might be the lair for some kind of monster. Suddenly they heard voices and took cover behind a group of stalagmites. A few moments later a number of men, dressed like locals and armed with guns, walked past. Gareth and Raechka thought they'd be caught for sure, but they suddenly noticed a wide crack in the wall behind them. Squeezing through they found themselves in a large cavern with a pool of dark water in the middle of it. The banks of the pool were covered with strange artifacts, some fairly new, others so old they were partially covered in mineral deposits. Then a voice spoke inside both Gareth's and Raechka's head "SO... YOU HAVE BROUGHT IT AT LAST". As Gareth began searching the artifacts for anything that looked like a piece of a statue Reachka tried to stall the invisible creatures. She learned that the creatures were called Lloigor and that they really wanted the medallion. Raechka tried to learn what they needed the medallion for but the creatures were becoming impatient. Fortunately Gareth had located a piece of statue that looked like the right leg of the Sedefkar Simulacrum. He quickly pried it free as Raechka placed the medallion on the bank of the pool. with their prize in hand and no further communications coming from the Lloigor Gareth and Raechka decided it was time to leave.

Outside the caves William's adrenaline rush was beginning to wear off and he suddenly realized the danger in what he was doing, and that he was probably going to get himself killed. Shaking off his doubts William forced himself to keep driving straight at the enemy car, right until the last second when he leapt out. The enemy car tried to swerve, but it was too late. The two cars slammed into each other, exploding in a massive fireball. William picked himself up and, not even stopping to see how badly hurt he was, made his way back up to the caves. By the time he got there the two remaining enemy cars had already arrived and the men inside were entering the caves. William was very happy to see that one of the drivers had left his keys in the car. William hopped in and once he got the car started drove straight at the group of armed men. With bullets flying through the air the men scattered, several getting hit by William's car.

As Gareth and Raechka made their way back to the entrance of the caves they heard the sounds of gunfire, and of a car going full speed. William spotted them as they emerged from the cave and screeched to a stop just a few feet away. Once Gareth and Raechka had jumped on board William took off at full speed again, hitting a few more enemies as he sped away from the caves.

Back in Trieste the investigators quickly packed up their stuff and headed for the train station. There seemed to be two groups of enemies after them and they didn't want to stick around for the enemies to get back from the caves. As the Orient Express pulled out of the station a powerful wind blew against the windows. Raechka shivered as she once again heard the howling of some distant creature. As she pulled her winter coat closer around her body she began to wonder if giving the medallion to the Lloigor wasn't such a good idea after all. But if she didn't what would the Lloigor have done to her and her companions? Raechka couldn't help wondering, had she saved her friends, only to doom the Earth? With whistle blowing the Orient Express sped on to it's next stop: Belgrade.