There is another incongruous burst of swing music from the radio in the chamber behind you.
There is a powerful and steady vibration in the ground that you feel in the soles of your feet. The air seems suddenly close and fetid, and, where only moments ago it was cold and clammy, it now almost stifling.
"Gentlemen, let us leave this terrible place before we all succumb to the cheap parlor tricks that run amok in this place!" Emrys shouts out, trying to break his cousin out of the shaken state he appears to be in.
Edward’s voice trembles. "Cousin, Leftenant-Commander, I defer to your judgment. I am in no shape to make decisions at this juncture."
The crumbling stairs that would lead out to the world above, a much saner world apparently, appear to limned in St. Elmo's fire; a fearful gauntlet to be sure, but would it be better to brave that fearful passage than to stand trembling where you are?
"Nothing but more parlor tricks gentlemen!" the doctor shouts, questioning his own sanity as he begins to charge up the stairs.
Henry nods and charges after Mister Hanmer, dragging Mister Carter if need be.
Edward shuffles along behind the Lieutenant-Commander, barely aware of what’s going on. All he can think about is the trench warfare during the Great War.
The horror I saw in the mud and muck was more than just inspiration for my story, "The Thing in the Trenches", wasn’t it, ol' boy?
Once topside, the doctor begins to look over the two gentlemen. "Let me give you both a once over. Hopefully, the perils of being in that God-forsaken place haven't done too much irreparable damage.
Thank you. Thank you both. I believe I was on the verge of falling out down there. Did either of you hear music while we were heading upstairs? A cracking from that damnable radio? And what are these wretched lights? Like St. Elmo's fire? And, how’s my health, Cousin? I do so appreciate the years of training you’ve made in the medical arts!
Edward's questions are a staccato of high pitched, coherent sentences intermixed with babbles, grunts, and whines. He’s shivering and panicky, bordering on mania.
"Sir? Do you require a handbook-approved sharp rap on the head, sir?" Henry remembers reading of such things - the proverbial short sharp shock that can awaken those on the edge of hysterics from their fits. Basic training's Nurse Carruthers was always very willing to apply that particular technique to the recruits. Maybe a little too willing...
.
Edward stares blankly at the Leftenant-Commander.
As you run up the stairs you experience a sensation like hundreds of ants running over your skin; there almost seems to be a resistance, pushing against you as you struggle upwards, as if the air is solidfiying, becoming gelid.
As burst on the surface, you see the sun setting, casting deep shadows across the ruins of the castle.
Perhaps it is lingering dizziness from your ascent up the stairs, but the ground seems to be trembling beneath your feet.
Edward, sensing what he believes to be dizziness, moves to the nearest wall and slides down it, to sit on the floor. Beads of sweat rise up on his forehead.
On a wobbly legs Mr. Carter staggers away from the stairs leading down the crypt; about the same time, there is a loud, grinding kind of moan coming from the stairs.
"What the blazes is that!?!" Henry peers toward the stairs, raising his firearm toward the noise.
There's an explosion, like a mortar round going off in the stairwell.
The LCDR, who had incautiously edged closed to the stairs, is closet to the blast.
However, freakishly, the blast hurls a fist-sized chunk of stony shrapnel that clouts Mr. Carter a severe blow to the head.
That puts Mr. Carter back in the Hurt category.
After the dust settles and the ringing stops playing over in his head the doctor picks himself up and moves with haste back to his cousin.
The doctor quickly begins to assess his cousin as he lays back with what appears to be a large gash on his head.
LEFTENANT! ARE YOU HURT? If not, please come quick! Edward requires immediate attention and I may need your assistance. Emrys shouts while quickly beginning to rummage through his medical satchel for the appropriate accouterments.
"Not harmed, sir, just shaken!" Henry moves over to the Misters and begins to administer aid as Dr Mister Hanmer directs.
The stair-well is now a sunken pit in the earth, as the explosion has completely closed off the cellars; if you hadn't left when you did, you would now be buried alive!
Henry lets out an un-gentlemanly curse. "Blast it all to Hell! There goes the german radio! We could have used that evidence as well as a way to eavesdrop on the Hun!"
"Once Mr. Carter returns to us, it may be wise to make haste back to town for some recovery. I think we've all been through hell and back."
Edward flutters his eyes and slowly raises his, groggy and disoriented.
"Whu- What happened? he manages to croak.
The sun is going down, you won't be getting back to Macgregor before dark.
Do we dare travel at night 'round here? Edward says, still groggy. Lighting out for the village would get us away from this infernal place, that much is for sure.
There is, of course, still the question of where your ambushers went too.
Henry stares up at the stars, assuming he can see them. "Well sir, I'd be no sort of pilot at all if I couldn't trust the stars to see me home safe in the dark. But we'd better get moving if we are, on account of those Hun-loving bastards out there!"
"Hopefully they are trapped in the rubble of that God-forsaken place! Leftenant, I defer to your judgment and wisdom to guide us home safely." the doctor calmly states while helping his cousin up on his feet.
Edward finally gathers his wits, stands, and musters a stiff upper lip.
"Onward, Gentlemen. We all have been in much more dire circumstances than this."
Well, you believe one of the three was pretty badly wounded: perhaps they retreated to some lair to lick their wounds?
Another option you have is to perhaps find some defensible nook in the flinty hills surrounding the loch?
The shadows are creeping across the ruins, beyond the crumbling walls the fog is gathering.
Henry nods and takes point, creeping toward the village with his eyes and ears alert.
Edward will reload his revolver as they begin their trek back toward the village in earnest.
"Leftenant-Commander, perhaps we can find a sanctuary, as it were. An abandoned farmhouse or the like from which we can muster our strength to counterattack."
Henry nods. "Aye, sir." He begins to look out for such a sanctuary.
"Yes gentlemen, I think a spot of rest will do us all a world of good. Doctor's orders. Especially you cousin. I'll need to monitor you while you sleep to ensure that little bump isn't anything further."
.
Confidently LCDR Readington-Smythe leads you across the moors, towards a simple shelter he is sure he saw as they came this way; but as the twilight gives way to velvety darkness he begins to realize that his confidence was misplaced, as there's no shelter to be seen.
Grimly he pushed on, hoping that in the last, fading light, he will see some sign that they're close to some place where you can safely rest.
Edward uses 2 points of preparedness skill.
Let's see if I can get some use out of this old tent
Edward fumbles with the old ragged tent until he starts to cuss.
Mr. Carter rummages around in his knapsack, looking to find some something with which he could construct shelter: he has a few army, surplus blankets, but that is all.
LCDR Readington-Smythe climbs a short hummock.
In the distance, what he figures is a kilometer away, he sees a light shining.
"Sirs, I see a light. Ought we to move toward it or away from it?"
"I think we have no choice, sir. We’ve had a strange scare, it is true, but we still have our charge for King and Country. Let’s not forgot that. To the light!"