The Masks of Nyarlathotep: Egypt part 4

A field report by Capt Sandy Wood

The Scrolls of Nitiqreti

Wednesday, 8th October 2008

As Farez Najir’s shade had told us that something important to the Black Pharaoh was stored in the mosque of Ibn Tulun, we decided to pay it a visit. The place is vast; a couple of hectares in total. It is an enormous cloistered courtyard with a fountain for ritual ablutions in the centre.

There were rather more (and untypically competent looking) AK47-toting tourist police than usual. It seems that there had been a ‘terrorist’ attack a couple of weeks earlier. Talking to one of the clerics, Samir Mohammad, it seems that they had been trying to get into the Khizanaa (the mosque’s treasury/strong-room). It also seems from the clubs they were carrying that they were from the Cult of the Black Pharaoh. Our discussions were interrupted by a rather more hostile and senior cleric, Abdul, who clearly disapproved of Samir discussing such matters with infidels. We nevertheless got the standard tourist guided-tour of the mosque. Our conclusion is that there is almost certainly something of real mythos/magical significance here, but that it has almost certainly been here since before any of this started.

Dr. Jamieson received a phone-call from Alex requesting assistance and an attaché case. Once we were out of the mosque, I phoned back for clarification. It seems that he needs equipment to transport some ancient scrolls. Apparently he has managed to track down Jan van Heuvelen; Good man! The proper kit isn’t readily available anywhere except the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, so we stop off there on the way, and Fatima requisitions the necessary cases. We then proceeded to the address Alex is at, which proved to be a tailor’s shop. John Zwaiter engaged the proprietor’s attention as a customer while Fatima and myself went upstairs. There we found Alex and van Heuvelen in a tiny room in which van Heuvelen has evidently been working on the scrolls. Fatima started securing the documents, and she mentioned that they were going to the museum. At this, van Heuvelen went berserk. Alex and I jumped on him and Syed piled in shortly afterwards. Any one of us could have dealt with him in a few seconds if we had been indifferent to his safety. However, trying to restrain him without hurting him, proved damned difficult. Syed and I managed to get him face down on the bed and held him there, until Dr. Jamieson could apply a pharmacological cosh. While this was going on a cat, which had been there all along but I hadn’t really noticed, gave van Heuvelen a nasty gouging about the face. We got the cat away from him, but it really did seem a remarkably fearless and aggressive cat; to van Heuvelen at least, it was disinterested in the rest of us. I wanted to get the creature out of the way, but Alex indicated that he wouldn’t stand for it. I had enough problems without a confrontation with Alex so I let it pass. 

As we bundled van Heuvelen down the stairs, the proprietor was understandably askance, especially given his semi-conscious state and obvious injuries. I explained that he was unwell, that he would not be returning and asked if he owed any rent. The tailor claimed that he did and I paid what he asked without demur. He probably asked for more than he was entitled to; I hope he did as it will make him so much less likely to contact anyone in authority about the matter. 

There were too many of us to all fit in the car, so we ordered a taxi for John and Adam. The rest of us got into the car and headed off to the museum; van Heuvelen was between Syed and myself, Fatima was nursing the papyruses. To my disquiet the cat came too. On the way Alex told us that van Heuvelen is under a curse of Bast. The papyruses were taken from the tomb of Nitiqreti by van Heuvelen at the instigation of Clive. Clive subsequently accused him of stealing them and disowned him. Apparently Clive wanted rid of the documents, knew that taking them would incur the wrath of Bast and used van Heuvelen as the scapegoat. Bast is no doubt aware of this, but such is the caprice of the gods that no mercy for van Heuvelen can be expected. 

Alex’s reverential and authorative references to Bast suggest that he has some affinity to the goddess. He maintains that the papyruses must be returned to Bast, and that van Heuvelen’s only hope of lifting the curse is for him to formally return them himself and beg forgiveness. If not lifted, the curse is a death sentence. This doesn’t really have very much to do with our mission, but it is clear that Alex is immovable on the subject. If the team isn’t going to have a major ruction, we are going to have to go along with Alex for the moment. Nevertheless this is awkward as the papyruses are very important ancient artefacts and stolen property. The Egyptian authorities are not going to take kindly to this, should they ever find out about it.

We delivered Fatima, Alex and the papyruses to the museum, and met up with John and Adam. Van Heuvelen is in danger from both the Egyptian authorities (who want him for stealing the papyruses) and all cats everywhere. We need somewhere safe to keep him for a few days and the best option seems to be on a boat on the Nile. John makes enquiries and manages to borrow a seven berth cabin-cruiser owned by the embassy, called ‘Isis’.

Meanwhile at the museum Fatima discusses the papyruses with Ali Khafour. It seems that he is willing to go along with preserving the scrolls and delivering them to Bast, without there being any official record of this. He is even willing to lend a hand with the preservation. I am a little surprised that he goes along with this quite so readily. However I wasn’t actually present at any of these discussions, so I cannot be sure that there isn’t more to it than meets the eye.

Meanwhile Adam had a look at the catalogues in the museum. It seems that these included an inventory of the Ibu Tulun Khizanaa made while the mosque was being restored in 2004. One item is called the ‘Girdle of Nitiqreti’; described as a large uncut ruby on a gold chain, with the allegation that the ruby changes in shape. It seems certain that this must be what the cultists were after.

Thursday, 9th October 2008

Being a little concerned about the possibility that MI13 has been disbanded and that we have potentially been recalled. To be on the safe side I phoned regimental headquarters and had a chat with the adjutant. Asked if there was anything of any importance had happened, any messages for me, any plans for my next assignment. He said there was nothing; so at least for the moment my orders remain unchanged.

Adam, Alex and Eliza have all received packages from the UK. They are all books from the MI13 library (according to the labels from the ‘Library of the Office of Occult Security’ most registered in the 1940s). Adam has ‘Monsters and their Kind’. Alex has a copy of the ‘Book of Coming Forth by Day’, the Egyptian text commonly known as ‘The Book of the Dead’. Eliza has a copy of the ‘Book of Ebon’.

At this point we split up. Van Heuvelen is put ‘Isis’ with a minding/persuading team, while John and myself try to track down Omar Shafik. We asked around in the Street of the Jackals where Faraz Najir had his shop in the hope that he would be a local policeman. No joy. John put in an official enquiry via the embassy to see if he is a serving police officer.

Friday, 10th October 2008

We receive a reply about Omar Shafik; he is no longer a policeman, but he is working as a private investigator. John and I pay him a visit. Other than that he expects to be paid for the information (fair enough given his profession) he seems to be quite forthcoming.

He tells us that Abaza is a man with highly influential friends. He is close to Gamal Mubarak. In spite of having obviously very considerable wealth, he does not seemed to have any household servants. Shafik said he had been hired by Najir to monitor Abaza’s movements to provide a period of time when Abaza could be guaranteed to be away from home.

In spite of Adam’s best persuasion, van Heuvelen could not be induced to return the papyruses to Bast. Any attempt to compel him is pointless, a coerced delivery without the proper contrition for taking them would not lift the curse. We would merely be delivering him to where the curse would be brought to fruition and we would have a badly mangled body on our hands. Van Heuvelen remains convinced that the preserving, translating and publishing of the papyruses is his key to success as an egyptologist. It is delusional. He cannot keep the papyruses. Even if he did, there is no way that any respectable publication would accept his work based on stolen property. Unless and until Clive is thoroughly discredited so that his accusations don’t matter, van Heuvelen’s career is unsalvageable. His best hope would be working with us to discredit Clive (albeit discrediting him isn’t actually one of our aims). Unfortunately we have completely failed to make van Heuvelen see sense.

It is a pity, but we have done our best for the man, diverting ourselves from the main task to do so. Alex set off to returning the papyruses himself. Once they were safely out of the way, we delivered van Heuvelen to the U.S. embassy explaining that he is a US citizen, a fugitive from local justice and if asked about him we will obviously deny ever having seen him. I also warned them about the curse. I told them that for some reason cats were currently attacking him on sight, perhaps he had been sprayed with some pheromone that cats react violently to. I suggested that they kept cats away from him until they were sure it had worn off. With any luck, they will get him back to the states before Bast has her revenge.

No doubt he will make complaints about us to the US officials. However I don’t think they will care about that. We have prevented him turning into a nasty diplomatic incident, and the fate of ancient Egyptian papyruses is not their concern.