The Masks of Nyarlathotep:
The Diary of Dr Eliza Jamieson
It
appeared that the older scholar (Abdul) felt we should be shunned due to the
fact that we were soulless yet his younger companion (Samir
Ahmar Mohamed) was willing to talk to us. However
this decision led to a rather unsavoury incident between the two scholars.
Following this incident Abdul left the inner courtyard while Samir returned to the group to apologise for his compatriot’s
behaviour. Samir then offered to recompense us by
giving us a guided tour of the mosque.
The
mosque itself is made of well fired red brick and at its centre stands the original
ablution fountain or Fawarra (note this area is now
purely decorative as the ablution fountain was moved next to the clinic housed
in the Ziyada for purely hygienic reasons) the
fountain is protected by a large marble pavilion with a decorative dome and this
in turn is surrounded by the main open courtyard, bordering this area is a covered
arcade style walkway very much akin to the cloisters you would observe in a
monastery or at several of the Oxbridge colleges and beyond this lie the Ziyada, which are covered outer courtyards the largest of
which faces East, towards Mecca. The mosque’s minaret actually stands beyond
the confines of the mosque itself as it is positioned centrally on the outer
Western side of the mosque. The minaret is noted for its spiral staircase and Mabkhara finial which displays as a ribbed helmet, carried
upon an open octagonal. The final area in the mosque is the vault or khizanaah which stands at the far Eastern end of the Ziyada, unfortunately we were unable to access this area
even with our guide as we are not Muslims but this is likely to be were the
item we need to find is being housed.
Just
at the end of the tour I was startled by a sharp vibration in the small of my
back which I quickly realised was my phone going off. As I pulled it out I was
able to identify that it was Daniel who was attempting to contact me so I excused
myself from the rest of the group before answering the call.
It
appeared Daniel required the team’s presence rather urgently and he said
something about ancient papyrus documents but I could not be sure what he
wanted us to do. However I could clearly hear a raised male voice in the
background speaking in a language that I could only assume was Arabic. I chose
not take the full message from Daniel at this time as I felt it would be
preferable to leave the confines of the mosque first.
Upon
my return to the team I informed them that the call was from Daniel and that he
required our presence. So after quickly thanking Samir
for the tour we left to make our way back to the car. However Edward appeared
to zone out for a few moments on the way back which he was later to inform us
was due to him sensing a large mystical power source that appeared to be attached
to the mosque, centred just in front of the Mehrab
(Pulpit). This power appeared as of yet to be undirected but he suspected that
it could be used for either good or ill. Edward also remarked that there was another
extremely powerful item in the basement under the khizanaah
which may indicate the presence of the item Hyena was searching for.
I
don’t know if this is relevant but it should be noted here that when we had first
arrived at the Ibn-Tulun Mosque there had been very
few tourists in attendance, but by mid-morning more people had arrived to take
in the sights.
Back
in the car I handed my phone to Miss El Ahmed because I would be on driving duties
at this stage. Plus the fact that Daniel had been talking about papyrus documents,
I felt I should defer to Miss El Ahmed as this is her area of expertise.
Apparently Daniel needed us to acquire items to allow him to transport some
delicate papyrus documents he had apparently discovered. Responding to this the
team suggested we could acquire art portfolios but I suggested that it may
actually be quicker to go back to the museum of antiquities and acquire all the
proper document handling equipment from there.
After
confirming this with Miss El Ahmed we quickly made our way back to the museum
where she was able to acquire two document handling cases. After collecting the
cases we phoned Daniel again were we were given the address of a tailors shop
in the old town and this is where he wanted us to meet him. All I can say is
thank heavens for satellite navigation otherwise I don’t think we would never
have found the place. We noted upon our approach that there were a significant
number of cats in the street outside the tailor’s shop but Daniel had already
warned us about this emphasising that we should not attempt to interact with
the cats in any way. As we drew up we could also hear a raised voice speaking
Arabic which sounded very similar to the voice I had heard in the background
when Daniel had initially phoned me.
Once
parked up we made our way into the shop, where we were able to hear another two
voices emanating from upstairs. However there was an obstacle here, notably the
shop owner who apparently did not want all and sundry tramping into his
upstairs room. Fortunately Mr Zwaiter was able to
take the lead and smooth over these issues by offering to buy some of the
shopkeeper’s wares, which appeared to settle him down.
Once
the shopkeeper had settled down, Miss El Ahmed and Robert made their way up the
stairs while the rest the team remained in the shop; this hopefully would ensure
that there was sufficient room for them to work in. However something untoward
occurred in the upper room as there was suddenly a large amount of noise
somewhat akin to fight and incoherent shouting. This commotion appeared to rouse
the shopkeeper from his sales as he too began shouting in Arabic and Mr Zwaiter later told us that this was due he to him being
afraid of what we were doing to his lodger, ‘Mr Jan’.
Sgt
Hussein then proceeded to make his own way upstairs to try and ascertain what
was going on, but had to make way initially for Miss El Ahmed who was coming
down the stairs with the two document cases. Once downstairs, Miss El Ahmed
informed me that Daniel had requested my presence in the upstairs room so I too
headed up the stairs where I soon found myself in small dingy apartment with a
single window looking out onto the street.
Quickly
assessing the situation in the apartment I noticed my three compatriots
struggling to restrain a somewhat emaciated wild-man and, despite the fact that
these were three well-trained individuals, the wild-man appeared to be
squirming free.
Other than the
struggling men the only other items in the room were a pair of small tables, a
bunk, a chair and two of what appeared at first glance to be ancient Egyptian
style cat statuettes, both of which appeared to be in excellent condition and
facing towards the mysterious wild-man. One of the statuettes was made of
alabaster, while the other appeared to have been intricately painted to make it
appear almost lifelike, however as I had other concerns on my mind I paid them
little heed. Maybe if had paid more attention the regrettable incident that
followed could have been prevented.
I
had clearly been summoned to sedate this mysterious wild-man so I quickly
prepared a sedative, however I would not be able to properly judge the correct
dosage so I chose to err on the side of caution as I should be able to
re-assess the dosage once I had the man stabilised. Fortunately I chose
correctly first time and soon the man was calmed down.
After
making sure that the wild-man was in no immediate danger from the sedative I
began packing up my gear and it was then that the cat (which had obviously been
playing statues hence my mistaken identification as the lifelike statuette)
made its move. Making a beeline for the man's face and even though we reacted
quickly we were unable to stop the cat from leaving two very nasty scratches on
the man's right cheek.
After
examining the damage to the man’s face it was clear to me that the cat was
aiming for the man’s eye and this was why I tried to shoo the cat away but I was
advised by Daniel not to do this. Fortunately however Robert and Sgt Hussein
were quick thinking enough to move the man before the cat could continue to savage
him and hence my shooing became a moot point. I was able to stem the worst of
the bleeding on site but it was clear to me that this man would require
stitches, even on just a cursory glance.
As
the wild-man was now sedated it was fairly easy to get him down the stairs and
into the back of our vehicle. Unfortunately it was also clear that the whole
team would not fit in the car, but Mr Zwaiter and
Robert stated that they would get a taxi and meet with us back at the Embassy. As
I examined the man it soon became clear that we required a secure location
before I could attempt to repair his injuries and we phoned Mr Zwaiter to see if he could arrange this and he stated that
he would try and find somewhere. In the meantime the plan was to get Miss El
Ahmed back to the
Edward
also informed us that he too wished to go to the museum with the intention of
acquiring a list of the items stored within the Ibn-Tulun
Mosque and hopefully form this be able to identify the item that Hyena was so
keen on acquiring.
As
I would be busy with my patient Sgt Hussein agreed to take over driving duties
for the time being. During our return Daniel was able to de-brief the team in
regard as to what had occurred within the upstairs room.
The
wild-man it appears is in fact Mr Jan Van Heuvelen
(Revere) and Daniel believes that he had been cursed by Bast
for removing seven Papyrus scrolls and a cat statuette from the top of the
sarcophagus the Clive Expedition had discovered, apparently Revere had done
this act under the direct instructions of Dr Clive (Penfold).
I suspect this was due to Penfold being aware of this
particular curse, for it was only after this incident that he declared
Of
the scrolls themselves three were still in remarkable condition, considering
their age, and a further two only required minor work and with access to a re-humidifier
should be able to be read, however two of the scrolls have suffered badly
during the passage of time and may be incomplete while the final scroll which
was the one found concealed within the Bast statuette
was literally in pieces. Fortunately it appeared that while
Daniel,
Edward and Miss El Ahmed disembarked at the museum, where they all had various tasks
to complete. While Sgt Hussein and I attempted to locate a temporary bolt hole
where I could start work in regard to
Once
stationary I was able to better assess Revere’s
wounds, where I found that fortunately we had been able to move Revere quickly
enough to prevent damage to eye itself, however the facial lacerations where
somewhat extensive and in my opinion were both too dispersed and deep to have
been inflicted by a cat of the relative size of the Abyssinian. The claw marks
were the equivalent of what I would expect to see where
After
two hours in the car park Sgt Hussein received a message from Mr Zwaiter informing us that he had been able to acquire
access to a boat and emphasised we should meet him there. Mr Zwaiter also reported that he had passed the message on to
the rest of the team as he felt we should all get together before we take the
next step.
The
boat Mr Zwaiter had acquired access to was named the ‘
As
we regrouped we were able to assess were we were up to in regards to our
investigation, also this allowed us to bring Daniel up to speed regarding the
incidents that had occurred within the Bent Pyramid. Strangely enough it
appeared that most of the team were most disturbed by Alpha One’s video nasty
depicting the demise of the Carlyle expedition, despite the fact that I was not
the only one to question the validity of the images shown. We are already aware
that Alpha One thrives upon driving people to madness so that should be an
indication that some of the images are not exactly kosher. Which makes me feel
that were we to find un-refutable proof that someone had actually survived
beyond this date then that would surely help to stabilise the thoughts of the
team, we already have uncovered circumstantial evidence pointing to survivors
so all we need to do is confirm one of these suspicions.
Penfold is clearly of the opinion that
We
also informed Daniel of the demise of Cruella and subsequent
rapid disbanding of MI13 for it is abundantly clear we are no longer under the
protection of a sympathetic premier, nor are we under the leadership of such a
charismatic department head.
Daniel
then informed us that the scrolls and statuette we had just recovered had been
placed on the sarcophagus by a high priestess of Bast
with the intention of imprisoning Nitocris. The scrolls
apparently bear a terrible curse, which it appears Penfold
was fully aware of and Daniel believes that
As
to rest of the team, it appeared that Edward had gained access to the catalogue
of the items stored within the Ibn-Tulun Mosque and
one item in particular sent alarm bells ringing and he suspected that he had
found the item Hyena was looking for in the Mosque, for there was an item titled
the ‘Girdle of Nitocris’.
The
catalogue described this item as a narrow band of gold linked by a fine golden
chain to a large ruby. However Miss El Ahmed interjects that there are a number
of rumours in regard to the validity of this description for it is said the
item in question is stored within an intricately carved box and the shape of the
so-called ruby changes almost daily. This of course only emphasis’ our belief
that this is the item that Hyena is looking for.
Miss
El Ahmed will return to the museum because Jackal allowed her the singular
honour of translating the first five scrolls. Jackal himself would work on
renovating and translating the final three remaining scrolls as these were the in
ones in the worst condition. Because of Penfold’s
accusation in regard to the apparent theft of these scrolls they would still be
contraband so Jackal did not wish it to become common knowledge that these
items had been recovered for that may lead to other complications. Do not
forget the forces opposing us clearly have the ear of a number of government
officials, not least of which is Prince (Gamel Mubarak). Miss El Ahmed also informed us that Jackal
believed the scrolls to be significantly fresher than would be expected, for he
believed the scrolls were of a design indicating the thirteenth dynasty even
though any records that exist in regard to Nitocris
state she was a pharaoh at the end of the sixth dynasty.
Robert
would also leave the
Daniel
also informed us that he intended to remain ashore to do some work regarding
the raising of the curse but was very vague in regard to what this would entail.
I only hope Edward can convince Revere to return the scrolls to their rightful
owner otherwise Daniel’s work is for nought as this appears to be the only way
Revere can hope to survive this encounter.
Just
before we broke up however Mr Zwaiter reported that three
large packages that had just arrived in the Embassy, addressed to Daniel
Wiltshire, Edward Thorn and Stephanie McQueen. I initially questioned why
Robert Sayle had not received a package but once I
realised what was actually in the packages I fully understood why he had been
overlooked as each package contained an occult tome from the MI13 library and
he already bore the Necromonicon, Alpha One had given
him within the Bent Pyramid.
Dealing
with Daniel first, his package contained what was clearly a very old book that
appeared to be written as separate pages and then bound into book form. Daniel
later informed us that the book was the Book of the Dead and that it was
written in hieroglyphics. We also noticed a sticker within the front cover
stating Property of the Library of Occult Security dated
Edward’s
package also contained a book entitled ‘Monsters and their Kinde’
and this too bore the same Library of Occult Security sticker. However on this
occasion there was also a note displaying two very familiar names and these
were Lipstick (Mavis Enderby) and Solomon (Lionel Woodthorpe) who apparently both checked out this particular
tome in
Finally
there was my package and when I opened it I was not surprised to find it
contained a copy of the Book of Eibon. However it
should be noted that this was not the version I had been asked to read shortly
after I had first joined MI13 and was in fact written in English which would
make it less of a strain on the mind while still allowing access to the same
spells available from reading the Tsath-Yo version.
So
with the exceptions of Sgt Hussein who would be required to steer the Isis,
Edward who was to try and change
Of
course we needed to wait for the sedative to wear off before Edward could begin
his work and as it was already
After
lunch Edward began his attempt to convince Revere that it would be in his own
interests to return the scrolls to the Temple of Bast
as they were clearly tainted and not only because they were officially
contraband. But also because they were key to the cat
curse he was now suffering from. However
It
appeared
After
Edward had finished his assessment he felt reasonably confident that
As
no more good could be done here we decided to head back to Beachhead (
Starting
with Robert and Mr Zwaiter who had been attempting to
contact Spillane (Mr Omar Sharif),
it appeared they had been able to find that Spillane
had retired from the police in two thousand and six, But continued to be
relatively active as he was now working for himself as a private detective. Mr Zwaiter was able to acquire an address and telephone number
for Spillane and they then visited his rather rundown
corner office in one of the seedier districts of Beachhead.
Spillane himself appeared to be a man in his
mid-forties and with a rather swarthy complexion, sported a moustache. As to
his dress sense however he was dressed in a rather crumpled cream coloured suit
and it was unclear if this was its original colour.
Mr
Zwaiter began their meeting with Spillane
by inquiring if he could recall a tail job he had been hired to perform several
years previously for Knickknack. Spillane denied that
any such job existed and insisted that he does not know Knickknack. However
once money was mentioned Spillane became furtive for
he got to his feet opened the door to check there is no-one outside and closed
the curtains before stating that he did indeed recall the case and it was the
last case that the two men worked together.
Spillane had first become aware of Knickknack while
he was still a serving police officer and reported that Knickknack was just a
petty criminal with a low profile within the criminal community. However while the
Beachhead police were fully aware of his activities they chose to leave him in
place as occasionally he would prove useful to investigations other slightly
bigger fish.
Knickknack
had apparently hired Spillane on a number of
occasions before this final case which Spillane
reported appeared to be little more than a simple tail job. Spillane
indicated that Knickknack was very interested to discover that Hyena was absent
from his home during the evening of the dark of the moon. He also reported that
Hyena owned a villa in the exclusive Maadi district
and that he apparently has neither family nor servants. However he is known to
be a real power broker and to have powerful friends within the government
including the Mubarak’s. Hyena will of course hire
servants when the need arises but appears to have no permanent staff.
Anyway
back to the case in question Spillane apparently followed
Hyena during one of his dark of the moon soirees and reports that Hyena
appeared to have some street smarts as he was moving in rather haphazard manner
which meant that Spillane believed Hyena was attempting
to draw out anyone tailing him and it may have worked with a less experienced
investigator. After an hour of this Hyena met up with twelve other men and they
then travelled out to the Big Cat arriving just after the big light show had
finished tidying up which made the time just after
Spillane returned to Big Cat in daylight some weeks
later and reported that he was still unable to see where Hyena and his
compatriots had gone. Spillane also reports that
following the demise of Knickknack the case was quickly shelved and he freely
admits that he was quite happy to brush this case under the carpet.
Spillane believes fervently that Hyena did not pick
up on his tail otherwise he suspects that he would have suffered from a similar
accident to the one suffered by Knickknack and following the case Spillane has sworn off taking any commissions involving
anyone with the kind of connections Hyena appears to command.
As
Robert and Mr Zwaiter were taking their leave Spillane gave them one final snippet of information
apparently when Spillane was following Hyena he noted
that Hyena had considerably less hair and that it appeared to be greyer however
this could just indicate Hyena now wears a wig or has had sort of weave because
he can certainly could afford it, so this could be totally innocent. However,
as I am ever the sceptic I do not dismiss this out of hand.
Robert
and Mr Zwaiter thanked Spillane
for his time and took their leave before visiting Big Cat themselves
to see if they could pick up any further clues. According to the spiel they
were given on the tour, Big Cat is believed to be at least twenty-six hundred
years older than the pyramids judging by the water damage it has suffered. This of course may
indicate that the Big Cat is a remnant of a much earlier civilisation and it
appears that there are a number of passageways under the tail of Big Cat that appear
to lead nowhere but these may just be for drainage and hence completely
innocent. However there appear to be no passageways that have been discovered
near the paws.
Also
there is no evidence of an entryway between the paws, but there is a dark stone
with lettering on three of its sides positioned centrally between the paws and
the story is that this stone was apparently positioned here by the Pharaoh Thutmosis IV who ruled in the eighteenth Dynasty.
Apparently this stone was actually removed from a smaller tomb and placed by Thutmosis with a fresh inscription following directions he
had experienced in a vision where he was visited by the young Big Cat and
promised he would become pharaoh if only he uncovered the Big Cat from the
sands and restored its glory. The stone itself is named the Dream Steele and
Robert suspects that the stone may actually conceal the secret entrance and he
has plans to return once the evening light show has packed up for the evening
and cast an open door spell which will hopefully reveal the entry Hyena and compatriots
used.
We
then wait for Miss El Ahmed to give her report as it appears she was able to
translate the first five scrolls and I list her findings below.
The
first scroll apparently relates to the Ancient Egyptian crocodile god named Sebek, God
of Nile products and Fertility and patron of the Army and Military. The scroll
also contains access to two sparklers namely ‘Invoke Sebek’
and ‘Summon Children of Sebek’.
The second scroll appeared to be a
treaty concentrating upon the rise of Nephren-Ka, the
so-called Black Pharaoh, following the death of Huni.
The third scroll to all tense and
purposes appears to be hymn of some kind glorifying the Master of the Sands and
just like the first scroll she found a further two sparklers which would allow the
summoning of the Master of the Sands. These spells are ‘Evoke Master of the
Sands’ and ‘Summon Master of the Sands’.
The fourth scroll appears to cover the
eventual overthrow of Nephren-Ka’s rule by a
combination of Seneferu and his high priest Kagemni and like the second scroll does not contain
sparklers.
The fifth and final scroll she was able
to translate mainly concerned the efforts of Seneferu
and Kagemni in their attempts to contain the essence
of Nephren-Ka involving the initial failure at Meidum and their second attempt using the combination of
the Bent and Red Pyramids. The scroll also contained a sparkler which we have
already found evidence of upon the stone we received from Priest (Ayesha), the spell in question here being ‘The Eye of Light
and Darkness’.
As to the final three scrolls we needed
to visit Jackal back at Control (Egyptian
I noted when we
met up with Jackal that the strain was clearly beginning to tell on him for we
noticed that he looked substantially older than he had seemed in previous
meetings. And he appeared relieved to report that the Abyssinian cat, which had
sat watching him intensely as he worked, had now left the building. This I
could fully understand as I too had felt somewhat unnerved while in this
animal's presence and it was clear to me that this cat had some kind of aura
about it. However, that to one side, Jackal was able to give us the breakdown
on what he had discovered in the final three scrolls and I record his findings
below.
The sixth scroll appears to cover the
time of the fourth and fifth dynasties and concentrates mainly upon the Cult of
the Black Pharaoh and its subsequent breaking up and also how the religion was
literally driven underground during this period. There is also some reference
to an underground tomb of some kind but it is unclear as to the location of
this tomb and who was buried within its walls.
The seventh scroll refers to the rise of
Nitocris for it tells the tale of a queen who rises
to prominence following the murder of her brother and subsequent drowning of
many high ranking officials and nobles at a grand banquet. It should be noted
that this scroll also bares a sparkler ‘Invoke Devourer of the Dead’
The eighth and final scroll which was
concealed within the Bast statuette was apparently
written by Luvet-Keraph, who it appears was the high
priestess of Bast in the thirteenth dynasty, and
describes an attempt to resurrect Nitocris using three
mystical artefacts which are described as a crown (which we believe may be the
crown Knickknack had arranged to have stolen), a necklace and the girdle of Nitocris. It is clear to me that Hyena is in the process of
attempting to resurrect Nitocris once again.
We inform Daniel that we have unfortunately
been unable to convince Revere to return the scrolls to the Temple of Bast, so Daniel returned them himself which appeared to all
tense and purpose to have sealed Revere’s fate. As to
Revere himself, with much heartfelt regret on my part, we handed him over to the
American Embassy, with a notes and pictures I had prepared earlier, stating
what treatment and medication he had received while in my care. Even though I maybe
shouldn’t have done I left a warning in regard to the curse to keep
We then retired to the