From: whalen@stromboli.usc.edu (Tim Whalen)
Newsgroups: alt.games.torg
Subject: Campaign 421: Day One
Date: 14 Oct 1992 16:30:27 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: stromboli.usc.edu

Thought you might be amused by the lead story for my soon-to-start
"thirty month late" campaign.  Let me know if you want more news
items since I plan to have a daily email wire service for my players
anyhow.

Freak Storm Strikes Borneo
==========================

By THOMAS P. DENKINS
TIMES STAFF WRITER

MANILA, Philippines- Weather services worldwide were taken completely by
surprise today by a freak storm that lashed into portions of Indonesia.
Damages are expected to be unusually high, as there was little warning
that a storm of this magnitude was developing in the area.  Worse yet,
the storm pattern shows no indications of abating and seems to be
hanging motionless over the densely populated islands of Borneo, Java
and Celebes.

Experts are at a loss to explain how yesterday's clear skies produced
the swirling black blot that obscures these tropical waters today.
"This is not your typical typhoon," said Dr. Lee Danbroke of the National
Weather Service, "your guess is as good as mine."  Electrical and
phone lines are apparently out of service throughout the affected areas.
Thus far, no first-hand information has been made available about
the situation.  Satellite photographs show only an ominous blackness
laced through with fantastic lightning displays.

Early efforts at relief in the area have generally met with failure
as countless boats and planes from the Philippines, Australia and
Southeast Asia have been forced to turn back from the high winds and
heavy seas on the storm front.  While some boats and planes are
believed to have penetrated the inky veil, radio contact has
been impossible due to the incredible static generated by the storm.
The Red Cross, United Nations, and other relief organizations are
preparing a massive influx of aid once the initial fury of the
storm is spent.

Coincidentally, Indonesia has been the center recently of a spate
of superstitious furor.  Tales of fishing craft hunted and sunk by
monstrous sea creatures have circulated through every coastal village.
Residents of the island of Celebes claimed that a black cloud "rained
blood" on their villages last week.  Garish photos of the "Sumatran
Demon Child," complete with wings and fangs, were splashed across
tabloid covers at newsstands in New York and London just a few days
ago.  A bizarre series of ritual killings has left the citizens of
Singapore stunned and terrorized as victims, drained of blood, are
discovered in its streets and alleys every morning.

Officials discount these incidents as products of the collective
creative imagination of the primitive villages and swarming cities
that dot these tropical islands.  However, one thing is clear. 
This storm is no nightmare, but the worst disaster to strike this
area since the volcano Krakatoa exploded in 1883, destroying an
entire island and darkening the skies across the entire globe.

-----------------------------------Tim Whalen-----------------------------------

"Whoo-oop!  I'm the old original iron-jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied
corpse-maker from the wilds of Arkansaw!  Look at me!  I'm the man they call
Sudden Death and General Desolation!  Sired by a hurricane, dam'd by an
earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to the small pox on
my mother's side!  Look at me!  I take nineteen alligators and a bar'l of
whisky for breakfast when I'm in robust health, and a bushel of rattlesnakes
and a dead body when I'm ailing!  I split the everlasting rocks with my glance,
and I squench the thunder when I speak!  Whoo-oop!  Stand back and give me room
according to my strength!  Blood's my natural drink, and the wails of the dying
is music to my ear!  Cast your eye on me, gentlemen!--and lay low and hold your
breath, for I'm 'bout to turn myself loose!" - Mark Twain

-----------------------------whalen@lipari.usc.edu------------------------------