An on-going series in the vein of Burroughs, Verne, and Conan Doyle
The New World, 1650: In the southwestern part of North America, a young Hopi Man, Len, is in love with Kayah, and she with him, yet she is also desired by the devious Pachu'a, who murders Kayah one evening in a fit of jealousy, and then brings false witness against Len. As punishment, Len is banished from his tribal home, warned he will be killed if he is ever seen again.
Not long after his banishment, Len encounters a half-dead Franciscan monk, Agustin, the last survivor of a cloister that has been wiped out by illness. Len nurses Agustin back to health, and agrees to guide the monk to a Spanish colony in Northern New Mexico.
As the duo makes its way across the savage, uncharted terrain, they meet a group of explorers right out of Five Weeks in a Balloon or Journey to the Center of the Earth: the eccentric Dutch inventor Gerolf Marius and his two children, Willem and Margaret, who have crash landed their strange flying contraption after a cross-European expedition goes awry and they end up drifting thousands of miles off-course. The trio join Len and Agustin on the perilous journey to the Spanish colony—only it no longer exists, and its disappearance is linked to mythological monsters that Len's people know very well.
And thus the tone of the series is set, as the group embarks on extraordinary adventures through this amazing, untamed land. As in The Lost World or Pellucidar, the travelers will encounter vicious ape men, man-eating plants, giants, animals thought long-extinct, cannibals, lost colonies, and mystical shamans with magical powers.
Dramatis Personae
Len: Early-20s, tall, strong, with noble bearing and spirit. A Cain-like figure, he is an outcast, with no clear path to returning to his rightful place in Hopi society, but ever convinced that his innocence and righteousness will someday return him to his people. Since his people have already had much exposure to the Spanish, he knows Agustin's language. He will understand better than his European companions the incredible things they encounter.
Agustin: Older than Len, mid- to late-30s. A man of the cloth, but not vehement, nor does he become petrified in prayer when danger rears its head. Has an adventurous spirit, as evidenced by his traveling halfway around the world to this unexplored frontier. Is not interested in converting heathens nor condemning pagans to hell, even though that is why he is ostensibly there--rather, he is motivated by a real desire to understand the people he encounters among this strange land he is exploring.
Gerolf Marius: Mid- to late-40s, tall and rugged, but still very much the scholarly, professorial type, with the spectacles and the notebooks filled with sketches and journal entries. Inventor and professional adventurer, a man of science, intellect, and reason. Being an experienced outdoorsman, Marius has been fending for himself and his children quite ably, and is intent on learning as much as possible about this land that is so strange and exotic to Europeans. Ultimately, though, his goal is to find his way back to Europe and the comfort of civilization.
Willem ("Pim"): Gerolf's son. In his late-teens, motivated by a desire for his father to recognize his worth. Also equally motivated by a desire to protect his sister at all costs, perhaps to a patronizing fault. Definitely strong and smart like his father, but sometimes hot-headed, impulsive, and irrational. Incredible resentment toward his father and sister, certainly not as respectful towards Len and Agustin as is his father, overwhelming desire to prove himself as a man.
Margaret ("Greet"): Gerolf's daughter. Younger than Pim, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Doted on by her father, not just because she is a young girl, but because she has a more reasoned and rational temperament, and has demonstrated more of an aptitude for the natural and physical sciences than has her brother. Resents Pim's over-protectiveness; as the only woman in the party, will also be motivated to prove herself as an asset rather than a liability.
Page 1
ONE:
The quintet looks off into the distance, trying to discern where the noise is coming from, and what may be making it, but AGUSTIN, standing at the far right of the panel, has already seen the source.
1 SFX: THOOM! THOOM!
2 GREET: Father! It's louder than thunder! I've never heard anything like it...!
3 GEROLF: Nor have I, child...!
4 LEN: This is not thunder, holandes--it's not coming from the sky--
5 PIM: --Rather, it vibrates the ground 'neath our feet!
6 AGUSTIN: Good lord--look!
TWO:
Cresting from between two trees, poking its massive head into the clearing, a TYRANNOSAURUS REX, eyes fixed on our heroes!
7 SFX: RAAARRGH!
8 GEROLF: RUN!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 2
ONE:
The group dashes for the treeline--meanwhile, the T. REX has made its way into the clearing and is bearing down on them--
1 SFX: BOOM! BOOM!
2 GREET: Father--is that what I think it is?!
3 GEROLF: Ja, daughter--it is a dragon, of the kind whose bones were recently
unearthed in Britain--
4 AGUSTIN: Somehow this one escaped the fate that befell its brethren in the
great Deluge--
5 LEN: My people have encountered these creatures in the long-ago, and
some even survived to tell the tales first-hand...
TWO:
They are at the treeline now, and the monster towers over them, ready to pluck one of the group from the ground in its horrible maw!
6 LEN: These beasts cannot stoop low enough to follow us into the forest,
else they lose their balance and topple forward--we must make our
way to the densest growth!
7 AGUSTIN: Push through; let no thicket or bramble impede you! This creature
means to devour us!
8 PIM: Perhaps we should split up--it may confound the creature!
9 GEROLF: Good idea! Pim, take your sister and head to the left...!
10 GEROLF/linked: Meanwhile, I see a rock from which I might take aim!
THREE:
As the tiny figures of our heroes scramble into the forest, the monster crashes headlong into the trees--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 3
ONE:
--and is stuck! It struggles with the branches and vines that trap it, snarled around him, ensnaring him momentarily. In the bottom foreground of the panel, GEROLF has climbed to the top of a large rock, almost the height of the monster, and has pulled his rifle from his backpack, while LEN follows closely behind:
1 SFX: CRASH!
2 SFX: RAAAGGH!
3 GEROLF/thought: Now, while the beast's progress is impeded, perhaps a
well-placed projectile will frighten it off, or at least give it
pause, allowing us to make our escape!
4 LEN: Wait, you fool! You'll only enrage it further!
TWO:
At the top of the rock, GEROLF fires his gun at the T. REX, while LEN is too late to stop him.
5 SFX: BLAM!
6 LEN: Their hides are thick as stone; no flint or musket-ball can
penetrate them!
7 GEROLF: Nonsense! I know of no animal with scale that covers its
eyes...
8 GEROLF/linked/thought: And by blinding it, we can elude it!
THREE:
The report of the rifle has caused the T. REX to turn its attention to GEROLF on the rock...
9 SFX: GRRRAH?
FOUR:
...and the bullet bounces harmlessly off its nose, causing the monster to wince.
10 SFX: PLINK!
FIVE:
Nostrils flared, teeth slathered in thick drool, the monster roars mightily, and the force of its expectoration sends LEN and GEROLF tumbling from their perch!
11 SFX: GRRRRAAAAHHH!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 4
ONE:
LEN and GEROLF tumble to the forest floor, dead leaves and other detritus breaking their fall. AGUSTIN is there:
1 SFX: THUMP! WHUMP!
2 AGUSTIN: Len! Marius! Are you injured?
3 LEN: I am coated in the monster's spittle, and fear I might
retch--!
4 GEROLF: I fear his saliva might be corrosive in some way! I tried to
cover my face, but I could not look away from him!
5 AGUSTIN: Do not dawdle, man! His spume may be the least of our
concerns!
TWO:
AGUSTIN attempts to pull LEN and GEROLF to their feet, and meanwhile, the monster is once more upon them!
6 SFX: KRAK! SNAP! CRAK!
7 AGUSTIN: I fear he may be too swift for us to outrun!
8 GEROLF: Whether we attempt to flee, or lie here and accept our fate,
we need to preoccupy him for as long as possible, to
ensure he does not pursue my children!
9 LEN: I say we still may be able to escape him...if you wish to
stay here and allow yourself to be eaten so the rest of us
may live, I shall surely sing of your noble sacrifice
someday...
10 AGUSTIN: I am no martyr, nor do I wish for your children to be
ingested, Marius...we must try to run away--
11 AGUSTIN/linked: Lo! The monster is freeing itself--its rage has given it
new-found vigor! We have to RUN--
THREE:
The three men jump as the T. REX's massive foot comes stomping down, right where LEN and GEROLF once lay!
12 SFX: CRASH!!
13 AGUSTIN: NOW! IN GOD'S NAME--MOVE!
FOUR
The monster lunges forward, and collides with the rock.
14 SFX: GRRAAH?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 5
ONE:
The T. REX falls--
TWO:
--impaling itself through the neck and jaw on a large, sharp tree trunk jutting up from between two other trees like a lance.
1 SFX: CRASH!
2 SFX: SCREECH!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 6
ONE:
The men look up in horror at the scene--the monster is dead, grotesquely skewered upon the huge pike. Thick blood drips from the horrible wound through the T. REX's throat.
1 AGUSTIN: Len, your eyes are sharp; pray, does the monster move
at all?
2 LEN: Not a twitch, Spaniard, not a breath--es muerto.
3 GEROLF: Greet! Pim! Answer me! Are you all right?
TWO:
PIM and GREET emerge from the underbrush.
4 GREET: Father! You're safe!
5 PIM: Thank God! Father, how did you fell this monstrosity?
THREE:
LEN and GEROLF, AGUSTIN in background.
6 GEROLF: Well...
7 LEN: Dutchman, if you dare tell them that this was your
intended outcome, I shall drown you in a pool of this
monster's blood!
8 AGUSTIN: I too must protest, Marius. Your foolishness almost cost
us all our lives. Save the trophy-hunting for your next trip
to the New World; I've already almost died once in the
recent past, I'm not inclined to do so again.
FOUR:
GEROLF turns to address AGUSTIN. LEN behind, PIM and GREET behind LEN.
9 GEROLF: What? You think I attempted to slay this dragon? What
would I have done with it? Drag it back to Amsterdam and
mount its head on my wall?
10 LEN: Then what was your motivation? Surely the scale of the
endeavor did not escape you. What did you hope to
accomplish?
11 PIM: Savage--I wouldn't talk to a white man like that if I were
you!
12 GREET: Pim! For heaven's sake!
FIVE:
LEN turns back to PIM.
13 LEN: Little man, I may end up killing your father before we get
to New Mexico, but you: I will simply leave out here to
fend for yourself.
14 LEN/linked: Left to your father's provision, you may last a few months
here alone--
15 LEN/linked: --but on your own--I give you but days.
16 LEN/linked: And that is only because the girl can tell edible berries
from poisonous.
SIX:
Close-up of a hand clamping down on LEN's shoulder.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 7
ONE:
It is GEROLF's--
1 GEROLF: Under normal circumstances, I would let no man,
civilized or brute, free or slave, talk to my children like
that. But I know that you do so because of the danger I
placed us in...
2 GEROLF/linked: ...and I am sorry for that.
3 GEROLF/linked: I have traveled to many places, and seen many things
that no European has, but never have I seen a creature
from antiquity made manifest...
4 GEROLF/linked: ...and I am frightened.
TWO:
GEROLF continues:
5 GEROLF: You said that your people tell stories of encounters with
such creatures, which leads me to believe that, either in
your mythology, or in whatever mode of observation you
utilize, your people also believe these monsters to be
extinct...
6 GEROLF/linked: ...as do mine.
7 GEROLF/linked: But because of your oral traditions, you at least knew
how to deal with this monster, which means, should we
encounter one such as again...
8 GEROLF/linked: I am taking my cues from you.
THREE:
AGUSTIN and LEN:
9 AGUSTIN: 'Tis wisdom you speak, Marius...what say you, Len?
10 LEN: I accept your apology, white, as I accept the implied
apology on your impertinent son's behalf.
11 LEN/linked: As for your fear that we may encounter such animals
again on our travels...
FOUR:
An overview of the scene: dead dinosaur, the group gathering itself, preparing to exeunt.
12 LEN: My people have spun many yarns about the mysteries
that populate this land: its caves, its rivers, its trees...
13 LEN/linked: ...and mark my word...
14 LEN/linked ...about these potential encounters--
15 LEN/linked: I am even more fearful than are you.
Dramatis Personae
Len: Early-20s, tall, strong, with noble bearing and spirit. A Cain-like figure, he is an outcast, with no clear path to returning to his rightful place in Hopi society, but ever convinced that his innocence and righteousness will someday return him to his people. Since his people have already had much exposure to the Spanish, he knows Agustin's language. He will understand better than his European companions the incredible things they encounter.
Agustin: Older than Len, mid- to late-30s. A man of the cloth, but not vehement, nor does he become petrified in prayer when danger rears its head. Has an adventurous spirit, as evidenced by his traveling halfway around the world to this unexplored frontier. Is not interested in converting heathens nor condemning pagans to hell, even though that is why he is ostensibly there--rather, he is motivated by a real desire to understand the people he encounters among this strange land he is exploring.
Gerolf Marius: Mid- to late-40s, tall and rugged, but still very much the scholarly, professorial type, with the spectacles and the notebooks filled with sketches and journal entries. Inventor and professional adventurer, a man of science, intellect, and reason. Being an experienced outdoorsman, Marius has been fending for himself and his children quite ably, and is intent on learning as much as possible about this land that is so strange and exotic to Europeans. Ultimately, though, his goal is to find his way back to Europe and the comfort of civilization.
Willem ("Pim"): Gerolf's son. In his late-teens, motivated by a desire for his father to recognize his worth. Also equally motivated by a desire to protect his sister at all costs, perhaps to a patronizing fault. Definitely strong and smart like his father, but sometimes hot-headed, impulsive, and irrational. Incredible resentment toward his father and sister, certainly not as respectful towards Len and Agustin as is his father, overwhelming desire to prove himself as a man.
Margaret ("Greet"): Gerolf's daughter. Younger than Pim, maybe fifteen or sixteen. Doted on by her father, not just because she is a young girl, but because she has a more reasoned and rational temperament, and has demonstrated more of an aptitude for the natural and physical sciences than has her brother. Resents Pim's over-protectiveness; as the only woman in the party, will also be motivated to prove herself as an asset rather than a liability.
Page 1
ONE:
The quintet looks off into the distance, trying to discern where the noise is coming from, and what may be making it, but AGUSTIN, standing at the far right of the panel, has already seen the source.
1 SFX: THOOM! THOOM!
2 GREET: Father! It's louder than thunder! I've never heard anything like it...!
3 GEROLF: Nor have I, child...!
4 LEN: This is not thunder, holandes--it's not coming from the sky--
5 PIM: --Rather, it vibrates the ground 'neath our feet!
6 AGUSTIN: Good lord--look!
TWO:
Cresting from between two trees, poking its massive head into the clearing, a TYRANNOSAURUS REX, eyes fixed on our heroes!
7 SFX: RAAARRGH!
8 GEROLF: RUN!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 2
ONE:
The group dashes for the treeline--meanwhile, the T. REX has made its way into the clearing and is bearing down on them--
1 SFX: BOOM! BOOM!
2 GREET: Father--is that what I think it is?!
3 GEROLF: Ja, daughter--it is a dragon, of the kind whose bones were recently
unearthed in Britain--
4 AGUSTIN: Somehow this one escaped the fate that befell its brethren in the
great Deluge--
5 LEN: My people have encountered these creatures in the long-ago, and
some even survived to tell the tales first-hand...
TWO:
They are at the treeline now, and the monster towers over them, ready to pluck one of the group from the ground in its horrible maw!
6 LEN: These beasts cannot stoop low enough to follow us into the forest,
else they lose their balance and topple forward--we must make our
way to the densest growth!
7 AGUSTIN: Push through; let no thicket or bramble impede you! This creature
means to devour us!
8 PIM: Perhaps we should split up--it may confound the creature!
9 GEROLF: Good idea! Pim, take your sister and head to the left...!
10 GEROLF/linked: Meanwhile, I see a rock from which I might take aim!
THREE:
As the tiny figures of our heroes scramble into the forest, the monster crashes headlong into the trees--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 3
ONE:
--and is stuck! It struggles with the branches and vines that trap it, snarled around him, ensnaring him momentarily. In the bottom foreground of the panel, GEROLF has climbed to the top of a large rock, almost the height of the monster, and has pulled his rifle from his backpack, while LEN follows closely behind:
1 SFX: CRASH!
2 SFX: RAAAGGH!
3 GEROLF/thought: Now, while the beast's progress is impeded, perhaps a
well-placed projectile will frighten it off, or at least give it
pause, allowing us to make our escape!
4 LEN: Wait, you fool! You'll only enrage it further!
TWO:
At the top of the rock, GEROLF fires his gun at the T. REX, while LEN is too late to stop him.
5 SFX: BLAM!
6 LEN: Their hides are thick as stone; no flint or musket-ball can
penetrate them!
7 GEROLF: Nonsense! I know of no animal with scale that covers its
eyes...
8 GEROLF/linked/thought: And by blinding it, we can elude it!
THREE:
The report of the rifle has caused the T. REX to turn its attention to GEROLF on the rock...
9 SFX: GRRRAH?
FOUR:
...and the bullet bounces harmlessly off its nose, causing the monster to wince.
10 SFX: PLINK!
FIVE:
Nostrils flared, teeth slathered in thick drool, the monster roars mightily, and the force of its expectoration sends LEN and GEROLF tumbling from their perch!
11 SFX: GRRRRAAAAHHH!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 4
ONE:
LEN and GEROLF tumble to the forest floor, dead leaves and other detritus breaking their fall. AGUSTIN is there:
1 SFX: THUMP! WHUMP!
2 AGUSTIN: Len! Marius! Are you injured?
3 LEN: I am coated in the monster's spittle, and fear I might
retch--!
4 GEROLF: I fear his saliva might be corrosive in some way! I tried to
cover my face, but I could not look away from him!
5 AGUSTIN: Do not dawdle, man! His spume may be the least of our
concerns!
TWO:
AGUSTIN attempts to pull LEN and GEROLF to their feet, and meanwhile, the monster is once more upon them!
6 SFX: KRAK! SNAP! CRAK!
7 AGUSTIN: I fear he may be too swift for us to outrun!
8 GEROLF: Whether we attempt to flee, or lie here and accept our fate,
we need to preoccupy him for as long as possible, to
ensure he does not pursue my children!
9 LEN: I say we still may be able to escape him...if you wish to
stay here and allow yourself to be eaten so the rest of us
may live, I shall surely sing of your noble sacrifice
someday...
10 AGUSTIN: I am no martyr, nor do I wish for your children to be
ingested, Marius...we must try to run away--
11 AGUSTIN/linked: Lo! The monster is freeing itself--its rage has given it
new-found vigor! We have to RUN--
THREE:
The three men jump as the T. REX's massive foot comes stomping down, right where LEN and GEROLF once lay!
12 SFX: CRASH!!
13 AGUSTIN: NOW! IN GOD'S NAME--MOVE!
FOUR
The monster lunges forward, and collides with the rock.
14 SFX: GRRAAH?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 5
ONE:
The T. REX falls--
TWO:
--impaling itself through the neck and jaw on a large, sharp tree trunk jutting up from between two other trees like a lance.
1 SFX: CRASH!
2 SFX: SCREECH!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 6
ONE:
The men look up in horror at the scene--the monster is dead, grotesquely skewered upon the huge pike. Thick blood drips from the horrible wound through the T. REX's throat.
1 AGUSTIN: Len, your eyes are sharp; pray, does the monster move
at all?
2 LEN: Not a twitch, Spaniard, not a breath--es muerto.
3 GEROLF: Greet! Pim! Answer me! Are you all right?
TWO:
PIM and GREET emerge from the underbrush.
4 GREET: Father! You're safe!
5 PIM: Thank God! Father, how did you fell this monstrosity?
THREE:
LEN and GEROLF, AGUSTIN in background.
6 GEROLF: Well...
7 LEN: Dutchman, if you dare tell them that this was your
intended outcome, I shall drown you in a pool of this
monster's blood!
8 AGUSTIN: I too must protest, Marius. Your foolishness almost cost
us all our lives. Save the trophy-hunting for your next trip
to the New World; I've already almost died once in the
recent past, I'm not inclined to do so again.
FOUR:
GEROLF turns to address AGUSTIN. LEN behind, PIM and GREET behind LEN.
9 GEROLF: What? You think I attempted to slay this dragon? What
would I have done with it? Drag it back to Amsterdam and
mount its head on my wall?
10 LEN: Then what was your motivation? Surely the scale of the
endeavor did not escape you. What did you hope to
accomplish?
11 PIM: Savage--I wouldn't talk to a white man like that if I were
you!
12 GREET: Pim! For heaven's sake!
FIVE:
LEN turns back to PIM.
13 LEN: Little man, I may end up killing your father before we get
to New Mexico, but you: I will simply leave out here to
fend for yourself.
14 LEN/linked: Left to your father's provision, you may last a few months
here alone--
15 LEN/linked: --but on your own--I give you but days.
16 LEN/linked: And that is only because the girl can tell edible berries
from poisonous.
SIX:
Close-up of a hand clamping down on LEN's shoulder.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 7
ONE:
It is GEROLF's--
1 GEROLF: Under normal circumstances, I would let no man,
civilized or brute, free or slave, talk to my children like
that. But I know that you do so because of the danger I
placed us in...
2 GEROLF/linked: ...and I am sorry for that.
3 GEROLF/linked: I have traveled to many places, and seen many things
that no European has, but never have I seen a creature
from antiquity made manifest...
4 GEROLF/linked: ...and I am frightened.
TWO:
GEROLF continues:
5 GEROLF: You said that your people tell stories of encounters with
such creatures, which leads me to believe that, either in
your mythology, or in whatever mode of observation you
utilize, your people also believe these monsters to be
extinct...
6 GEROLF/linked: ...as do mine.
7 GEROLF/linked: But because of your oral traditions, you at least knew
how to deal with this monster, which means, should we
encounter one such as again...
8 GEROLF/linked: I am taking my cues from you.
THREE:
AGUSTIN and LEN:
9 AGUSTIN: 'Tis wisdom you speak, Marius...what say you, Len?
10 LEN: I accept your apology, white, as I accept the implied
apology on your impertinent son's behalf.
11 LEN/linked: As for your fear that we may encounter such animals
again on our travels...
FOUR:
An overview of the scene: dead dinosaur, the group gathering itself, preparing to exeunt.
12 LEN: My people have spun many yarns about the mysteries
that populate this land: its caves, its rivers, its trees...
13 LEN/linked: ...and mark my word...
14 LEN/linked ...about these potential encounters--
15 LEN/linked: I am even more fearful than are you.
