TOPIC: Horror on the Orient Express - All Rotations

the AI couldn't quite grasp the concept of a creepy hut with chicken legs... lol

Paul: I believe the information below is what you were after

A Conversation With Dr. Radko Jordanov

Dr. Jordanov is in the grip of an academic discovery.He is excited.He relates the following information

Among the medieval documents from Vinkovci he found references to a strange statue recovered from a heretic named Sedefkar. The description is remarkably like something a former student named Ivo Penev discovered many years ago. Penev claimed to have purchased the head of a strange statue from a farmer. He called it the Dzhudzheta Idol, after a mythological race of dwarves common to many Slavic creation stories.

Penev submitted a paper on his discovery to the National Archaeological Museum called The Dzhudzheta Idol—Evidence of a Civilization Older than Mankind. The monograph claimed the statue was evidence of a pre-human civilization. It was rambling, poorly researched, and filled with wild speculations.

The academic community rejected Penev’s paper, accusing him either of being the victim of a hoax or of trying to perpetrate one. Penev’s reputation was ruined and he left Bulgaria in disgrace shortly thereafter, emigrating to Canada. He never discusses his former theory on the idol.

Dr. Jordanov has a copy of Penev’s monograph somewhere in his home in Sofia.He’s unsure where the Dzhudzheta Idol is now, but assumes it was given to another academic to verify Penev’s findings. Dr. Jordanov is confident he can locate the idol using the monograph and his academic contacts once they reach Sofia.

Thanks Scott.

If you don't mind, rather than edit or paraphrase, I might just lift the whole thing to copy-and-paste into my write up when I get that far.

IV THE SHORT VERSION


Monday 11th February 1923
The Walker in the Woods. The cottage has goat-like legs and from its foundations, torn from the ground, a shower of mosaic tiles of an ancient temple floor falls.
Grandmother drains the life out of Kcerca to rejuvenate herself and power her spells.
The Dark Young of the forest. Ludwig blows the whistle. The creatures are stunned. Grandmother is killed in the confusion.

We panic. We scream. We go mad. We run. We get lost. We run some more.
We crash out of the forest and escape the evil that pursues us.
Back to Orašac. We find Father Kristijan cradling his wife’s corpse. Anna is desiccated (just like Kcerca).
We suspect a witches’ coven. Time to leave.

Nedic takes us by cart to nearby Arandjelovac from where we can catch a train.
Local train, singing peasants, farm animals and all to Mladenovac.
God-like George Banks is miffed that the peasants don’t lavish their attention upon him.
Later, back at the Moskva, Letty takes to running naked around the hotel.


Tuesday 12th February 1923
It’s a weary band of investigators that assembles for breakfast next morning.
We depart Belgrade aboard the Orient Express at 10.0am. We’re due to arrive in Sofia at 7.30p.m.
Thunder. Lighting. A dark storm. A house on legs strides across fields keeping pace with our train.
Grandmother Baba Yaga rides on top of the house. She gestures toward us and then she’s gone.
The horror of the Walker in the Woods disappears with the storm. Maybe we’re just imagining things?

A man sits alone in the dining carriage examining items we recognise as contents from the Vinkovci strongbox.
Dr Radko Jordanov we presume? He tells us about the Dzhudzheta Idol.
A phony waiter is eavesdropping. We chase him down the train.
The phony waiter grabs a satchel from the baggage car and during a fight—falls from the train (he was about to jump anyway).
Pulling the emergency cord. We watch the waiter run across a field and disappear into a wood.
Cartwright isn’t going. Absolutely not! Ludwig and Pierre get off the train and track the waiter.
There’s a lonely cottage in the woods. Do you believe in déjà vu?

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