The Masks of Nyarlathotep:
A field report by Capt
Sandy Wood
Arriving
in
I had spent most of September in
Reported to Tulip. I am to join a team investigating some
cult activity. Tulip gave me a pile of reports to read.
MI13 was alerted to the activity by the
ritual murder of the author Elton Jackson in July. He had been investigating
the massacre of Roger Carlisle and Professor Penhew's
safari on the Kenyan/Ugandan border. MI13's investigations lead the Penhew Institute in
While I was studying the reports, Black Cat
and Ice Maiden were off in
Black Cat, Ice Maiden, Sphinx and myself flew to
The main focus of the investigation is an
archaeological expedition from the Penhew Institute
led by Dr. Henry Clive. Zwaiter had been making
inquiries about a number of individuals who had had contact with the Penhew Institute. Most of them were dead-ends with the
stress on ‘dead’.
Faraz Najir: a
shop-keeper and black-market dealer in ancient artefacts is dead. He apparently
died when his shop burnt down. There does not seem to have been any real
investigation into this.
Warren Besart: a
local fixer was murdered in early 2004, in a particularly sadistic
beating.
Masoud Sawalha: a
contact of Hussein's who had been Dr. Clive's most trusted group of
archaeological diggers was murdered a few days ago, in precisely the same
manner as Besart. This method of execution is
associated with a cult. It isn't the same cult (at least not using the same
name) as the cult, we believe murdered
Jan van Heuvelen:
a student archaeologist that Dr. Clive dismissed in June is missing. According to
his family, he is still on the dig. His mobile phone does not seem to be
switched on; we have GCHQ investigating, but they will take a day or two to
report. [Our low mission profile precludes a high priority request.]
The main discovery of Clive expedition was
a previously unknown and undisturbed chamber in Khufu's
pyramid. This contained the remains of Queen Nitiqreti
(a regnant Queen who's existence had previously been
widely disputed). This chamber was close enough to one of the sides of the
pyramid to allow excavation by dismantling part of the pyramid. During
this excavation, the queen (complete with her coffins and sarcophagus) was
stolen.
Our general assessment is that this was
most likely an inside job. Either Clive's security was completely incompetent,
or he was complicit. In-spite of ostensibly having lost the most spectacular
archaeological find since Tutankhamun, they still
seem to be on excellent terms with the authorities. Gamal
Mubarak, the son Hosni is
grooming as his successor, has been observed visiting Clive's compound.
About a week ago, Clive went off for a
nocturnal drive in the desert. Hussein followed him to the second pyramid of Sneferu, the ‘Bent Pyramid’, so called for its gambrelled profile. He seems to be recognised by the guards
and was allowed to visit it via the western entrance. [Unfortunately Hussein
got the car irretrievably stuck in the sand and had to abandon it.]
Black Cat reports gaining some intelligence
in the Dreamlands, that the Bent Pyramid is in
some way evil; that Sneferu's third pyramid, the ‘Red
Pyramid’ was in some sense watching over the Bent Pyramid but that
this surveillance has recently failed.
As the Red Pyramid is open to the
public, it seems worth visiting it. We will start with a day-time visit posing
as tourists. We may return at night for a proper external examination.