Masks of Nyarlathotep (8/17/2024)

GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Sean Nittner, Sarah Terman, Matthew Fisher
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition

Sarah and Dylan were both out sick, but they joined us on Zoom. Sam has a pretty good hybrid rig with a laptop, external camera, and mic that all made the experience smooth. I hope it was good from afar as well.

I took copious notes this session. Here’s everything I recorded:

A new investigator joins us

As per last session when Reggie died, Adrienne will now be playing Lady Evangeline Morseley, Reggie’s mother, Edward’s sister, and a woman used to getting her way!

A Funeral for Reginald

Rain pouring down. The second Morseley family funeral in as many years. A priest speaking of ashes to ashes. Many, many faces of somber mourners. We were invited to speak of him.

Catherine spoke of loving Reggie selfishly in life and realizing now that he gave so much to so many. A socialize, a scoundrel, and in the end, a hero.
Lady Evangeline (his mother) spoke of Reggie dying too soon…and that he would be avenged.
J.J.J. Keswick said he was good with the ladies and was also sure he’d be avenged.
Amos recalled that Reggie was fearless but he didn’t know it. He knew many people better than they knew themselves. The world is a darker place without him. Oh yeah, and more about vengeance.
The others mostly nodded and agreed, though some eyebrows were raised at the constant mention of vengenace.
Iris didn’t speak but we saw her feeling the weight of being here for another funeral. Evangeline placed her hand on Iris’ to console her.
As I like to pull from a book I’m reading when I can I pulled this from the Knight’s Tale and Catherine added “Love transcends, I swear, all laws made by mortal man. Therefore man-made laws of all kinds are broken regularly for love.” Evangaline added “and duty.”

The rain continued as the coffin was lowered into the groud.

Recap of Last Session and Goals

Here’s all the things that came up in our recap and brainstorm (leads in bold):

Book of Dzyan (found in the secret room in the Penhew foundation basement). A book with a sulfur smell. – Should we read it?
Blueprints of the Machine, signed by the Pale Viper. Should we study them?
Theorizing that the Masks (so far we’ve recovered 0 of 3) may be instructions from the Black Pharaoh, driving many different cults towards a similar goal.
We had a message meant to go to Carlyle that Jackson Elias had found that was from Warren Besart, and that mentioned Faraz Najar on the Street of Jackals that was in possession of “singular curios” which he believed were of great interest.
Shipping records from the Penhew foundation indicated that Omar Al-Shakti had sent and received many of the artifacts involved in the rituals.
We also recalled the members of the Carlyle expedition in 1919: Aubrey Penhew, Hypatia Masters, Jack Brady, Robert Huston, and Nichonka Bunay (real name: M’weru).
There is a current expedition (the Clive expedition), location unknown.

We also did the end of adventure skill improvements (yay, Cryptography is up to 84%) and sanity recovery based on our accomplishments (oh how briefly did I have sanity back in the 50s!). Finally we added luck. Oh boy, the one I am always low on!

Preparing for our Journey

Colby left the serpent head of Shipley’s “mother” at the door of a Cambridge professor. Something sure to cause a stir (and some loss of sanity) in the academic circles.

Evangeline acquired “hunting” permits that allowed us to bring our rifles, shotguns and a Tommy Gun into Cairo. The last was the only sticking point. The officers said it was no way to hunt but Lady Evangeline stuck to the letter of the law and pushed her way through! She also brought her servants Winston Thackery and Annalise Picar.

Travel to Cairo

We boarded a luxury ship (Evangeline would have it no other way despite Catherine protesting it was triple the price of a more modest transport) on March 4, 1925 for a six day journey to Port Said and then a train in the morning to Cairo.

There are two types of people in this world. Those that can’t imagine a boat with a badminton court, and those than can’t imagine a boat without one.

On the trip there we made some preliminary plans about how to best use our time.

Discussed reading the Book of Dyzan, siding with the Lord of Waters, and/or reading Amongst the Stones. Finally opting for the later because it seemed the most germane to investigations in Egypt.
Amos thought Catherine might be able to consult the Yith about whether or not the Lord of Waters could be an ally. The notion of exploring the millions of possible futures attached to any otherworldly entity terrified her too much to attempt. She also was appalled at the wastefulness. Who is going to eat all these shrimp? (Answer: Amos and Jimmy)
Amos lamented Reggie’s untold stories and Catherine mentioned that what she said at the funeral was meant for Amos and she apologized for trying to keep Reggie all to herself.
Jimmy checked in with Francois. Fist to lament Reggie and to say that because of him we left England a better place than it was. Then he got deeper and thanked Francois for saving his life. “They did things to me in that house I don’t want to talk about… but they would have done worse if not for you. I didn’t believe there was true Evil before. Sure, there’s crime and people are selfish, but now I know there is real Evil in the world. I just want you to know…I’m in this with you guys.”

Downtime activities

Colby spent his time in the gym practicing boxing. At first he was taking his licks because his rugby training was working against him, but Amos gave him some pointers “It’s a conversation” and he started improving. [Practicing Brawl x2]
Amos studied the blueprints signed by the Pale Viper. It depicted the Yith machinery inscribed with runes and sigils that would channel energy (possibly from very far away) into the machine. The runes included some that we had seen in other sites (the stele at Misr House, the alcove in the Juju House, etc). [Research and a little bit of light Mythos]
Francois read Amongst the Stones, a collection of poems covering a myriad of topics, all of them disturbing. The most notable was called The Trapping of a Queen (see image below). We speculated that the the cultist might be looking for a dark crown with a diamond, silver band with an emerald (nice geology roll to identify “maystone” by Iris!), and a golden chain with a ruby. [Reading Mythos]
Evangeline read notes that we had shared with her and prepared for legal encounters in Egypt.[Practicing Law x2]
Catherine read deeper into the Pnakotic Manuscripts and found that much of her troubles understanding the text came from the translator’s lack of understanding as he translated from Ancient Greek. She learned a bit about how the Yithians experience time, that they know all but don’t know it all at once, so to enjoy the world they would visit an specific time to experience it again. They seemed to have a real love and nostalgia for the world they left behind, and view it like watching a beloved film that never ends. Pnakotus is the Greek name for the place of the Yith, buried in the sand. Reading the book profoundly disturbed Catherine, she had the sense that she was experiencing the original author writing it 2000 years ago and that she herself was writing the text as she was reading it. For the next several hours she only spoken in Ancient Greek (which she doesn’t know) and interrupted Francois during his attempt to learn a spell by pouring water all over him! [Deep reading of Mythos, 2 downtime actions]
Iris studied Navigation and Geology in the library (like Catherine said, it’s a fancy boat) and had Evangeline as a quiet companion in her studies. [Practicing Navigation and Geology]
Francois sat alone in the back of the ship where he could hear the sounds of the water. Beside him was Amos in “Dream” trying to aid Francois from the Dreaming. He studied the mythos and tried again to learn a spell to contact The Lord of the Waters. He could not hold onto the vision of the lord long enough and the spell slipped through his grasp. [Learning a spell, failed]
Amos meanwhile was recounting the 700 and 70 steps to the library in Dreaming. [Practicing Dreaming]

Arrival in Port Said

Our vessel cut through the Suez Canal and eventually docked outside Port Said. Even from here we could see the pyramids in the distance, and incredible sight to behold. Smaller vessels came and picked us up and then dropped us off on the docks.

As soon as we arrived we were overwhelmed by the sights and sounds. People were shouting in Arabic, French, and English. A hundred or more hawkers all trying to offer lodgings and travel, all at the best price, all with the finest and safest accommodations imaginable.

Lady Evangeline sent Thackery to find lodging but he was so far out of his element that he was quickly overwhelmed by the offers presented. He came back with cards from three hotels but couldn’t speak to the reputability of any of them.
Catherine convinced Iris to come with her and buy some street meats that, whatever else the were, weren’t food made on a boat. The two of them did some light shopping (coming back with a new sun hat for Catherine and fans for the both of them) in which they were surely overcharged.
Francois looked to see if anyone was watching us and it was hard to know, because it seemed like everyone was watching us, but all in that hungry desire to sell their wares rather than something more sinister. He made eye contact with a man who first in French, then in English, offered lodging at the Hotel De Sud. He promised it would meet all of their needs and quickly after a group of young porters plucked all our bags to carry them to the hotel.
Amos tried to hold onto the satchel with the manuscripts but the young porters would not relent!
Our new contact was named Ibn Moussa and corrected Catherine that this isn’t Africa, it’s Egypt, the birthplace of culture.

Hotel De Sud, a place of faded away former glory, offered us rooms (which Lady Evangeline ensured were all together despite the inconvenience this caused the innkeeper) and a wake up call for the 8AM train to Cairo.

While they were relaxing in the evening Catherine shared a cigarette with Ibn Moussa (now that he had found renters for the evening, his job was done) and asked about the Clive expedition. He said there were too many expeditions to keep count of but we could surely find more information when we went to Cairo.

Train(s) to (and from) Cairo

The train to Cairo was slow, bumpy, hot, and humid. But it was also splendid. We came upon the Nile, saw the sands and the pyramids, and then beheld the simultaneous ancient and very new city of Cairo. It was new because of all the new buildings and developments, but it was ancient because it sat beside pyramids build four millennia ago. Over a million souls lived in this sprawling city that they would never notice the arrival of nine more travelers (or so Catherine really, really, really hoped).

Our luggage was carried to the Shephard’s Hotel which met Lady Evangeline’s standards for travel (silks hanging form the walls, a chandelier, and other amenities). The concierge provided us a map of Cairo (see images below) and we quickly began plotting our investigation. Asking around it seemed that nearly every pyramid was the sight of some kind of expedition but hopefully we could get more pertinent details at the Egypt Museum.

When we settled in many of us realized that our belongings had been rifled through and many items stolen. Lady Evangeline’s jewelry, Francois’ camera, and all of the Yithian components from Catherine’s bags.

After a brief attempt to dissuade her or have Thackery go in her stead, the investigators relented and allowed Catherine to return to Port Said the same day to recover those items. She was not going to let the only tools we’ve found to stop a world ending apocalypse slip through our fingers because of some greedy porters! Colby (for protection) and Thackery (for financial support) took the train back to Port Said and made it back, safe but tried, in the evening.

Egypt Museum

Francois, Evangeline, Iris, and Amos, meanwhile went to the Egypt Museum to find all they could about the expeditions before us and the secrets buried under Egypt’s sands. Amos had a list of items for everyone to look out for:

Rules or sigils from the machine blueprints.
Info about the Penhew expeditions (Carlyle and Clive)

The split up into pairs and began their investigation.

Francois and Evangeline found that the Penhew foundation name carried both renown and (less audibly spoken but still noticeable) shame in the Museum. The foundation sent many expeditions (20 in the last ten years) and funding, which helped the museum, but they also claimed the lion’s share of the findings, specifically artifacts that many would have liked to remain in Egypt. Also, ever since Carlyle, the Penhew expeditions have faced one calamity after another. They said it was a blight on Egyptology and that Penhew’s bloody fingerprints could be found all over this place.

Carlyle went to Giza, Saqqara, and Dashur and came back with nothing.
Clive was particularly egregious. They lost a mummy.

“Dr. Kalfour would know more. You should speak to him.” – The common response to their inquiries.

Amos and Iris went looking for sigils and noticed not so much what was there, as what was not there. All items with the sigils or similarly dangerous knowledge were surreptitiously missing, to the extent of artifacts with pieces removed that Amos was sure had what he was looking for. These couldn’t be accidents, someone had moved these pieces somewhere else. Asking around to the custodians he learned there were places no one goes…or at least not the public. He should ask Dr. Kalfour if he wants to know more.

Port Said (Again)

Catherine and Colby returned in the evening to the Hotel De Sud and found Ibn Moussa in the same place he had been the night before, smoking in the lounge. When he finished his current cigarette Catherine offered him another one, repaying his generosity from the night before.

Then she asked “in the spirit of reciprocity, perhaps you could help us find some items of the Lady Evangeline’s that were…misplaced.” Moussa assured her that things do get lost along the way in travel sometime but that he would go upstairs and look for them. He returned (too quickly) to say unfortunately none of the staff had seen them…perhaps they were lost on the boat.

Catherine isn’t usually a very scary woman. She’s mousey and kind and quick to smile. She has a pretty face and a curious mind and usually tries to befriend whenever she can. This however, was not the time for charm. Luckily, in this moment, Catherine was also resolute! Between that, Colby’s menacing stance, and Thackery as representative of both Lady Evangeline’s purse strings and terrifying presence, Ibn Moussa realized whatever he would pawn our good for was not worth Catherine, Colby, and Thackery staring daggers into him any longer.

Moussa made another too quick exploration and to our collective feigned surprise he came back with all of our goods. Thackery paid him for his services (which Catherine indicated would also cover our lodging for the night) and we tucked into some rooms that were shabbier than the ones we stayed in last night but with 100% fewer thieves in them.

In examining the their goods, we noticed that while all of the items had been handled, the machine parts in particular had been pawed over by many hands, almost certainly trying to figure out what exactly they were!

Dr, Kalfour

Our investigators, Amos, Francois, Evangeline, and Iris, sought out Dr. Kalfour by using imaginary academic references (surely they were in some of the same circles of higher learning). They were lead down a corridor with cold stone walls and reminded just how old the building was. Eventually they arrived at the curator’s office. Dr. Kalfour (see image below) said he was very busy, but he would spare a few minutes for fellow historians.

Based on Kalfour specifically removing the most important (and dangerous) findings from the museums exhibit, Amos skipped the normal attempt to couch our inquiries in benign curiosity and jumped right in “I can’t help but notice that some important pieces are missing.”

Kalfour eyed the investigators carefully. Were they another expedition with sinister goals like Carlyle? Or something else. After half answering and evading several of their questions, they had finally gain at least some of his confidence “So you know the dangers of the questions you ask!”

“The Penhew foundation had sponsored many expeditions, by the Carlyle expedition was the first that Aubrey Penhew attended personally. In post he had been cordial, but when we met in person he was rude and rebuffed me from coming with them to the dig site, even knowing that I could have been of great use to them. Sir Aubrey also seemed younger than his photo would have indicated.”

Iris revealed what we discovered in Peru. A creature that almost broke free and required a great sacrifice to contain. Evangeline comforted Iris as they both remembered Edward.

Francois mentioned the Kharisiri, a kind of vampire that they found in Peru, which were children (?) of this great creature. “Please share all that you can with us Dr. Kalfour. We need to stop these monstrous forces and their many allies.” Francois revealed the inverted ankh wrested from our foes. This seemed to finally win Kalfour over completely.

In a conspiratorial tone the doctor confided with us “You have walked this path far enough for this to make sense. You have walked this path far enough to understand the dangers. The Black Pharaoh has 1000 forms.” When Amos nodded indicating we knew this he seemed greatly relieved. “What do you know of his physical form?”

We had heard bits and pieces. That he was a large man with an inverted ankh on his forehead. Or that he was a massive bloody tongue. Kalfour nodded and continued “3000 years ago, in the 3rd dynasty a sorcerer named Nephren-Ka brought the cult of the Black Pharaoh to Egypt. He defeated all the other pharaohs, came to rule, and eventually his name was conflated with the god he served. The man and the god were both the Black Pharaoh.

He was defeated by the pharaoh Sneferu and the goddess Isis who created three pyramids (the Collapsed Pyramid, the Red Pyramid, and the Bent Pyramid) to contain him. It is believed that the Collapsed Pyramid failed to contain him so he was moved to the Bend Pyramid. History doesn’t speak of the role of the Red Pyramid.

Francois asked he he thought that Isis would help try to defeat him again. Kalfour looked grave and told him that the intercession of a god is far less arbitrary than what are often called miracles. Isis acted on her own behalf and while there are other Egyptian gods that still walk in our world, she is not one of them.

Kalfour had hoped that Carlyle was also trying to stop the Black Pharaoh from returning but he was wrong. He hopes that he is not wrong about us. More information he shared:

20 expeditions have been sent by Penhew (all failed)
They did investigate other dig since, but since Carlyle none have gone back to the Bent Pyramid.
Clive expedition went to (and is currently in) Memphis.
He does not believe all of the Bent Pyramid or Red Pyramid’s secrets have been discovered.
Nephren-Ka built a statue to his god, but it has long since been buried.
The Sphynx may be a site of ritual importance.

Remembering that in London we seemed to be watched at all times we asked if there were any places to avoid. He said the pyramids themselves were likely all under observation, but he did not know where the cult operated out of in Cairo.

We also asked about potential allies we might find. He said that people have forgotten the specifics of these dangerous foes, but the spirit caries on. Those who fight against what they call the djinn or demons would be on our side.

Francois asked about the “Queen” from his poem and Kalfour confirmed that 600 years ago Queen Nitocris resurrected the cult of the Black Pharaoh. He does not believe she freed him, but she channeled his might. The location of her remains are unknown.

Francois continued that “We likely need aid of another being such as Isis” and Dr. Kalfour’s face turned grave.

Kalfour spoke of scrolls that he possessed that could help in that matter, but “to read these scrolls is to seize the brand of power and sear it into your flesh.” It is dangerous to reach for the gods, but if you want to do so, I have the Scrolls of Alizeph, which contain method of contacting the gods. You may know this text by the name Necronomicon.” [SNAP!]

Exploring Cairo

When Colby, Catherine, and Thackery returned on the morning train, we gathered together in the Shephard’s Hotel and shared what we had learned. In addition to the information above, some light inquiries revealed the Red Pyramid was named as such because of the pink limestone used to build it. Other than the difficulty of transporting the limestone such a distance (at which Catherine made the comment that pharaohs, like ladies, could move mountains) it was unremarkable and the expeditions that had gone there so far hadn’t turned up anything of interest.

We decided to split up to investigate our leads.

Warren Besart seemed to be a man of some prominence. Evangeline would visit the consulate to find his whereabouts.
Omar Al-Shakti was mentioned as the shipping partner of the Penhew foundation and was likely a prominent member of the cult. Catherine, Colby, and Francois would go investigate his warehouse, and see what they could safely glean by sneaking around.
Faraz Najar was mentioned as someone in possession of “singular curios” and we thought he’d a be a safe bet to inquire with. Amos and Iris would go to speak with him.

Oh how wrong we all were!

Consulting the Consulate

Lady Morseley didn’t find the Warren Besart at the consulate. Instead she found bureaucrats who attempted to rebuff her and tangle her up with red tape. It seemed he was a purchasing agent for foreigners who used to be quite wealthy, but was now in hiding.

The clerk told her “we can’t just give people this information.” She retorted “I am not people, I am Lady Morseley and you will give me the information I require.” Browbeaten he shared that Besert’s last known location was the Red Door in the Street of Scorpions in Dal Amar.

This was a decidedly lower class location so she would not be personally pursuing it personally any further.

Not today Street of Jackals

Amos and Iris were going to visit Faraz Najar but thankfully took another look at the note and realized it wasn’t make out to Jackson Elias, but Roger Carlyle! Still a lead to follow, but not without support.

Instead they returned to the Egypt Museum, spoke with Dr. Kalfour again, and found:

Red pyramid. Not much had been taken from it during excavations. It looks like the Red may be related to the Bent pyramid based on the geometry of their relative locations. The Red might be reinforcing the Bent.
Notably it seems many of the pyramids are built on a line. There are some geometrical principles unifying all of them.
Queen Nitocris exists in books more as a myth than history. She was said to be ruthless, cunning, and that she violently shut down rebellions. After she died her body was prepared in the manner of pharaohs but it wasn’t put in any pyramid and the current location is unknown. Clive expedition “lost” a mummy. Maybe it was her?
Nitocris was associated with the Sphynx. She performed rituals at the feet of it.

In Too Deep

Francois, Colby, and Catherine met Jimmy who had found a car and a local guide named Hakim that could tell us know to get to Omar Al-Shakti’s home. Al-Shakti’s warehouse is in Alexandria, but he lives on a cotton plantation an hour north of Cairo. Hakim said he’s one of the richest businessmen in Egypt. We also knew he was sending artifacts to Penhew so he must be deeply connected with the cult. Good times.

As we got closer we realized that sneaking in was going to be impossible. Omar had purchased many lots of land and combined them. Long before we ever saw his house we came to a gate with armed guard asking about our business…New plan: pretend to be part of the cult!

Catherine gave the guard Edward Gavigan’s card and said she was coming on behalf of the foundation to speak with Mr. Al-Shakti. Francois noticed one of the guard wearing an inverted ankh and made sure his was surreptitiously conspicuous (visible through his sweat drenched shirt).

We were allowed to proceed to the house and servants led us to Omar’ Al-shakti’s ground floor office, which among other things featured a maritime chronometer. Omar looked like a man without a concern in the world. He sat casually behind his desk and stroked the fur of a white cat on his lap.

We told him so many truths that also served as lies.

Gavigan and Shafik are both missing.
The Misr House is compromised.
The warehouse in Derby was destroyed.
The Penhew Foundation is in shambles.

We said we wanted to see how things were going in Egypt and how he was planning to address these issues, feigning the entire time that we weren’t the cause of them. He asked if we had the Pale Viper’s work (yay, we do. at least the blueprints) and we were able to confirm that not only did we have those, but upon flashing a few (closed) passports, that we also had other documents that may be of use.

Omar smiled from ear to ear, delighted with the news. “The Pale Viper’s plan has failed, as I said it would. I am not concerned. Our plan remains robust.”

We asked him more questions about the plan and found a few things:

He was not deferential to any of us, but he treated Francois with some respect. Maybe because he’s a man, maybe because the ankh was visible, we’re not sure.
He was first dismissive of Catherine (and Penhew for that matter) and when she pressed by showing a piece of the Yith machinery that the “new plan” was a good one and that he didn’t have the resources of the Queen herself he slapped her across the face and said “We will soon!”.
Catherine humbled herself before him and acquiesced to his position of power which seemed to please him. Omar told us that if we wanted to “realign” ourselves with him, we would “come here on the dark of the moon and we will be led to the rite.”
Francois asked “Does this mean you have the eye, and the sphynx, and the star?” He only smiled and pet his white cat (which Colby realized because of the way it was bending impossibly, was not a cat at all).
Catherine requested Gavigan’s card which was sitting on his desk. He eyed it for some time then casually tore it up in front of her and dropped it on the ground at his feet. She could crawl on her hands and knees if she wanted it. She once again humbled herself to pick it up, but when she touched his knee she tried to commune with the Yith and ask then what would happen if she returned in 13 days and went with them to the rite. Images moved too quickly and she was not able to maintain her focus [failed Precognition roll] but she did notice a safe under Omar’s desk. Not all was lost.
We respectfully took our leave, but not before Colby noticed the cat’s claw were blood red.

The Peerage

Lady Morsley asked around a bit more and realized the two places she would find more English contacts would be the Shephard’s Hotel and the British Consulate. Further she learned that the police force in Cairo is not a strong one, but there are business people that have lost a lot of money to Omar and might help us work against him as well. She met a contact that will be revealed next session.

Reconnecting

We assembled back at the Shephard’s Hotel to share what we had learned (and experienced). The rite would happen in 13 days and we needed to find a way to stop it. The ideas we thought of were:

Call on the British Reserves
Find the Clive expedition and try to turn them on Omar
Poison them
Find those who fight djinn and demons
Anything else we could learn from Faraz or Besart.

Warren Besart

Following Evangeline’s lead we went to the red door on Serpent Street and found it was a small clothing store with a shopkeeper who had never heard of a Warren Besart. However, we also heard a window slam shut and someone leap out the back.

Colby gave chase, first dodging the obstacles the fleeing Warren was throwing in front of him and then pushing folks out of the way before he finally caught Besart and frog marched him back to the store (where Catherine had found a new dress).

We took Besart into his back room and noticed that everything about the man and his abode were foul. He was unwashed and distressed as were all of his possessions. Colby, after securing all the exits let him flop on his dilapidated bed and he told us his story.

“I got things for Carlyle from Najar. Shipped them to him. I was useful.” Besart trembled as he said “I saw too much.” He asked if we had hashish to help help calm him but when we declined, he eventually continued.

“He took me with him on the expedition. I saw it all. We visited many locations but the only one they cared about was the Bent Pyramid. At the end of the first day, Brady, the only one who didn’t enter the pyramid, said the rest of the expedition had vanished…and he blamed me for it! The next day they returned, but they seemed excited and changed. They had a new purpose in their eyes. I wouldn’t have believed this was possible, but the woman Hypatia appeared to be pregnant, when she hadn’t been showing the day before.”

“One of the diggers told me the say Carlyle talk to an ancient evil and that if I wanted proof I should to to the Collapsed Pyramid the night before the new moon. I went and saw hundreds of cultists there performing some horrible ritual. I saw them chanting, The desert came alive, roiling beneath them. Things rose up out of sand and tore then all apart. All by the members of Carlyle’s group. I fainted and was found later by someone who brought me back to health. I cannot stop reliving the horrors. The are with me even now.”

That’s how we ended the session. We still have so much work to do!

Before and After

It just so happens that Rachel Weisz had several costume changes that work well for Catherine’s image before and after

Reminder for Next Time

Get the name of Evangeline’s new business contact (who doesn’t like Omar).
Ask Evangeline about Reggie’s emerald. (Was it one of the stolen items?)
I think more bad things happened at the ritual that Besart saw but I didn’t write it down. I’d like to get that info again to update it notes above.
Look for allies:
- Those who fight djinn or demons
- British Consulate
- Evangeline’s new business contact
Ask Iris if she can create an intoxicant that would help cope with the mind of the Yith. I don’t want to become Warren Besart, but his reliance on hashish is not entirely unfounded.
We have these Yithian devices that can presumably do “anything” and I think maybe I should start trying to make them do “something”. It’s hard to imagine where to start but I think we should start brainstorming what to make with them!
Thoughts on Pnakotus. Maybe it’s in Egypt? Greece has sand on the beaches, but not full deserts…like Egypt does. Ask Dr. Kalfour for help. I don’t think Catherine knows her Ancient Greek history as well as she could, but she does know the origins of geometry and calculus. Consider they geometry we’ve heard about regarding the pyramids so far:
- Herodotus visited ancient Egypt in the 5th century BC and claimed that the Greeks were one of the first groups of foreigners that ever lived there.
- In ancient Egypt, a rope stretcher (or harpedonaptai) was a surveyor who measured real property demarcations and foundations using knotted cords, stretched so the rope did not sag. The practice is depicted in tomb paintings of the Theban Necropolis. Rope stretchers used 3-4-5 triangles and the plummet, which are still in use by modern surveyors.
- According to the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria, “Pythagoras was a disciple of Sonchis, an Egyptian archprophet, as well as a Plato of Sechnuphis.” Some ancient writers claimed that Pythagoras learned geometry and the doctrine of metempsychosis from the Egyptians.
- The teaching most securely identified with Pythagoras is the “transmigration of souls” or metempsychosis, which holds that every soul is immortal and, upon death, enters into a new body. He may have also devised the doctrine of musica universalis, which holds that the planets move according to mathematical equations and thus resonate to produce an inaudible symphony of music.
- The Regius Poem itself consists of 64 vellum pages written in rhyming couplets. The poem starts with Euclid (300 BC) in ancient Egypt. It describes how Euclid “counterfeited geometry” and called it masonry. All accounts indicated Euclid studied in Alexandria.
- Euclid realized that a rigorous development of geometry must start with the foundations. Hence, he began the Elements with some undefined terms, such as “a point is that which has no part” and “a line is a length without breadth.” Proceeding from these terms, he defined further ideas such as angles, circles, triangles, and various other polygons and figures.
- In 250 BC Archimedes of Syracuse borrowed from the Egyptian math and studied the relation between radius and circumference, then called the Exhaustion Principle, and use principles from geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. He would be the first to theoretically calculate the digits of Pi, but he was borrowing upon.
- Can cryptography be used to understand the geometry of the pyramids. Why the Red is placed in it’s position to the Bent, etc?
Learn Ancient Greek. You know, in my free time.

What Rocked

I thought our hybrid solution worked well. I hope it was fun for Sarah and Dylan, it was great to have them with us digitally.

The service for Reggie was touching and a wonderful way to remember him (and to refocus us all).

Evangeline berating the clerk about “a gun is a gun” to get permits for bringing Colby’s Tommy Gun into Cairo was hilarious!

I liked the moment when Jimmy talked to Francois about the things he had seen. I love these human moments.

Oh Thackery, sweet Thackery. How you try.

I had fun shopping with Iris. They were frivolous things, but also hopeful ones.

Holy hand grenades of Antioch, that scene with Al-Shakti was terrifying. I was pretty confident the party might have been cut in half after that scene… but we did it. And we learned a lot. I hope we can put it to good use. A sweat stained shirt revealing the inverted ankh to make our story plausible for the win (hooray Francois!).

I had a delightful time verbally sparing with Lady Evangeline about the value of having the nicest things and the wastefulness incumbent with it.

There was a hysterical moment when Amos said “Catherine, have you thought of asking the Yith about the Lord of the Waters? Oh, and how are you?” It was a very Amos thing to say and it was delightful.

Despite all of Catherine’s grumbling I really enjoyed having to go back to Port Said and intimidating our way into getting back our belongings.

I really appreciated that Sam gave the offer to raise by Precognition in lieu of Mythos when I read the Pnakotic Manuscripts. It’s going to be a hard skill to raise, so any chance I have at making it usable is fantastic.

Dr. Kalfour was great. I t was very cool to meet someone who was in the know and wanted to help. I understand why he was suspicious of us. I hope he isn’t secretly another person trying to manipulate us like Shafik did, but even if so, we’ve learned a lot. If we visit any of the pyramids I think we should try to bring him with us!

Colby just absolutely saving us all but single handedly catching Besart was incredible. There are so many time I swear we just barely make it through this adventure but a few lucky rolls!

Other thoughts

Probably not something that will ever change but wow, I wish you could spend luck on Sanity Checks. Barely missing and then losing a boatload of sanity was rough. On the plus side, I got to run around shouting Ancient Greek at everyone which was fun!

Only after the game did I put together that the sands that buried Pnakotus could be Egypt! Wish I had thought of that before. It’s okay, we’ve got time…at least some.

We realized at the start of the game that were 0 for 3 when it comes to collecting masks. I really hope that doesn’t mean game over in the end. I guess we’ll find out!