Synopsis: Vengeance Games (a Dribble & Maggot adventure)

Dribble & Maggot stand in the pilot house of a fishing schooner as it approaches an uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides. M wears a beautiful and expensive hooded fur coat, whereas D wears a heavy great coat and a ushanka. The captain tells them that except for Mr. Barstow and his manservant, the only living things on the island are seals and seabirds. They pull up to the single dock where a lone man with a lantern awaits. An antique but expensive sedan sits behind him on a paved road. The captain helps D&M disembark while the crew carry their bags on shore and place them in the car. M tips the captain, and the schooner pulls away, disappearing into the fog and rough sea. D suddenly gets the impression of being completely cut off.

The man greets them and explains he is Mr. Barstow’s manservant. He drives them inland a short distance, towards a tower castle that materializes on top of the central hill. He stops at the front door and escorts them into the entry hall, where they meet Barstow. He in turn takes them up to their room to rest, freshen up, and change before dinner, while his manservant parks the car and removes their bags. Once in their room, D&M spar as D points out they went much further afield than she expected for what amounts to one evening’s dinner party. M explains that Barstow and her father were in the same army unit together, but he was unable to accept the invitation and neither was her half-brother, so he asked her to go instead, and of course she invited D to come along for companionship, and late-night fun. D asks why wait, and they take off their travel clothes and get into bed.

At 9 the manservant escorts them to the dining hall. He serves them and Barstow a 12-course meal. M monopolizes the conversation, but Barstow is also fascinated by D and the Caerleon Order. He is disappointed that he cannot meet Dracula, but D does indulge him and summons Caliburn. Meanwhile, D&M discover that after he resigned his commission he became a master of games, winning tournaments and investing the winnings to make himself rich. When dinner is finished they retire to a sitting room for brandy and cigars. That’s when he tells them that he had been a gambler in the army, and he had racked up debts he couldn’t pay. He tried to sell secrets, but was caught by the Duke. To avoid scandal, he was allowed to resign, but it disgraced his family, and he was forced to change his name and make his way on his own. Now he is finally ready to exact his revenge. Too bad the Duke and his son declined to come, but he can instead use them.

About that time D realizes she and M have been drugged, not by the brandy as she supposes, but by the cigars. As her consciousness fades, she asks why, when he has made a success of himself. He replies, for the principle.

When D awakens she finds herself in a dungeon cell with her wrists manacled. It has an exit sealed off by a metal door. A closed-circuit telly comes on and Barstow appears on the screen. She demands to know what is going on, and he explains that they will play a game of Adventure Girl. To survive and escape the tower, she must run a gauntlet that will test her training and skills to the limit. She refuses to participate, stating her people know where she’s at and will come looking for her if she doesn’t check in tomorrow. He replies that it’s her choice, but then her friend will die. He shows M strapped to a table as a bladed pendulum swings above her. She has only 15 minutes to reach her before the blade cuts her throat. Differel asks how she can find Margaret, and Barstow explains that she need only follow her nose. The telly then switches off.

The steel door opens and a guard wielding a truncheon attacks her from behind. He grabs her and she stomps on his shin. She turns around when he lets her go, but he swings the truncheon at her. She blocks his arm and jams the manacles into his nose and rakes his eyes. She then punches him in the throat. She finds the key and unlocks her manacles.

Next she finds the door cannot be opened, but discovers a tunnel to crawl through. She uses the truncheon to push her beret ahead of her, and watches it get cut in half by a guillotine. She maneuvers a piece into position and counts to 25 before it's cut again. She then crawls through, counting again, and just barely pulls her legs forward in time to avoid having her feet cut off. At the end of the tunnel is a chimney, with a revolver lying at the bottom. It's empty, but she takes it, and crawls up the chimney into another chamber, a dungeon cell.

There she finds a bomb and she has 90 seconds to diffuse it. Examining the wires, she find a green, red, and black one. Green is the ground wire, while red and black are the power wires, but cutting the wrong one will cause the bomb to go off. Cutting a green wire is useless, but she does so, and the timer stops. As a precaution she removes the detonator, and discovers another key. It opens the cell door, but she uses the truncheon to push it open, and a sentry gun fires into the room. He dodges the gun, takes the detonator, reconnects it to the battery and starts the countdown again, then tosses it out into the corridor. It explodes, destroying the gun.

The corridor dead ends into an eight-sided cell, with six walls having cabinet doors. Inside each is a bullet. One contains a rattlesnake; she uses the truncheon to immobilize it, grabs the bullet, and slams the door shut. The next one has a fish tank with a piranha. She uses the gun to smash the glass and retrieve the bullet. The third contains heavy gears, one of which has a hand-sized hole in it. She uses the truncheon to jam the gears at the right time to reach in and snatch the bullet before the gears crush the truncheon and start moving. The fourth shoots a bolt when the door is opened. The fifth has a dripping stream of acid. She uses her silk jacket to divert the stream.

The sixth opens onto a corridor with a metal plate on the floor; the bullet lies on the plate. She tosses the fish on the plate and it gets shocked. She uses her silk cravat to snag the bullet, then leaps over the plate. She takes a moment to load the pistol, then jogs down the hall.

It ends at a door, which is ajar. She kicks it open, and sees a room with M at the far end. She walks through the threshold, and collapses through the floor. She manages to grab the edge of the pit as her feet brush the tips of sharpened spikes. She pulls herself up and crawls onto the floor.

As she stands, Barstow tells her that six assailants will appear at six second intervals, but only one bullet is live. The first assailant appears and attacks; she takes him out and summons Caliburn, striking at a release catch for M's restraints. The second assailant appears; she subdues him and strikes it again, breaking the catch and opening the restraints. The third assailant appears; she deals with him as M rolls off the table. The fourth assailant appears, and while D fights him M heads off the fifth assailant, then the two of them take out the sixth and last assailant.

Barstow orders his manservant to attack them. He is quite good, but D&M manage to finally subdue him. Barstow tries to shoot them, but D fires her pistol, until the fifth bullet kills him.

They find Barstow's command center and call Aelfraed. He will alert the local constabulary, but because of the weather they probably won't arrive until well after morning. M asks D why she didn't call for Vlad to rescue them, and D replies that they were never in any real danger, pendulums and deathtraps notwithstanding. D&M decide to pass the time together in bed, with a bottle of brandy to help set the mood, as a form of celebration.