Masks of Nyarlathotep 11

We sit down at our hotel and go over what we’ve been doing, and what we need to do next. I also have to explain our coins and notes to my American colleagues. I mean, it’s not that difficult. Just shillings, half crowns, farthings, pounds, ten bob notes and other options.

Our people of interest currently include:

• Inspector Barrington – Who is alive, and who we have been talking to
• Inspector Mundon – Seems to be missing. Was previously investigating the Egyptian Murders
• Abdul Nawisha – Owner of the Blue Pyramid. Most of the victims of the murders frequented this establishment.
• Edward Gavigan – Penhew Foundation, possibly a cultist?
• Alice Diamond – Queen of the Forty Thieves. Seems to be a group of jewel thieves, who Jackson was talking to. Jackson was trying to find a safe cracker.
• Miles Shipley – An artist. He has a brilliant imagination, or is demented. He’s worth investing in though.

We head to Soho, and the Blue Pyramid. We get a cab, and the driver asks us if we are members, which we aren’t. Oh well, maybe we’ll need to rely on Clayton to talk us in. We are taken to Meard Street, number 12B. There is a sign on the door stating that it is not a brothel. Which means it probably is.

The doorman requires £5 each to obtain membership cards, and then we are let in. I give my real name for the membership book. Maybe that will turn out to be a mistake.

We get upstairs via a shaky lift, to a ballroom, bar, coffee room and a drawing room. It has very Egyptian decor, with lots of mirrored walls so it looks bigger than it actually is. It’s actually quite clean and well decorated. There is the aroma of Egyptian food – or I guess it’s Egyptian. To be honest, I wouldn’t know other than it’s “foreign” and not French.

There is a very ‘athletic’ young woman belly dancing in the ball room. We are brought drinks and a menu by other lightly dressed young ladies. I seem to be the only woman here who isn’t showing off large amounts of flesh. At the bar, there is a large Egyptian man in a white suit, who seems to be keeping a careful eye on everyone. Asking our server, we find that he is Abdul Nawisha.

Monty tries striking up a conversation about the Carlyses. The dancer doesn’t seem to speak English very well, and just goes off to get us our drinks. When she comes back with drinks, she slips a note on the napkin to Monty, which says:

“Meet me down the street at the Arches at midnight. Be careful who you speak to.”

We sample the food and wines, and finish off with some coffee before we head off. We do tend to stick out, since most of the others here are Egyptian. There is one woman (who is fully clothed) who comes out and sits at a table by herself. Lots of people seem to know her, and stop to politely great her. According to a server, she is Madam Shafik, who is a Very Important Lady.

It is time for us to leave, and there is a sudden silence as we get up. Things quickly return to normal though, and we aren’t given any trouble when we head back downstairs and collect our coats.

We head to the arches, where there is a young Egyptian lady bundled up in a coat. She gestures to us to hide in the shadows. She introduces herself as Yaleesha, and after some conversation she fills us in on some details.

We took a big risk coming to the club. There are many people who use the club for their business. Not all are business people. The owner not able to keep them out. The woman, Madam Shafik, rules them. She runs Empire Spices, but does more than that.

Her friend, Badsru, went to have words with someone who put hands on her. He is now dead. Beaten to death. She loved Badsru, and since we were asking questions, thinks maybe we might be investigating and will do something.

There was another American who was asking questions. A black American, who seems to have been Elias. He came with a man, a fighter. He was asking about the Brotherhood, which is dangerous to ask about.

There is a cellar under the club, where once a month people gather in strange clothes, then get into a truck and drive somewhere. It is not always on the same night.

The Brotherhood are criminals, maybe drug runners – hashish and opium.

A car slowly drives up, and we hear a car door opens and closes. I push Yaleesha to the back behind us, and also make sure the men are between us and the street.

“You might as well come out Yaleesha” comes a male Egyptian voice. Monty steps out, gun in hand, saying “Hello There”. There are two men standing in the street.

“Fuck off Yankee, this is not your part of the world”

I speak out: “This isn’t your part of the world either”

One of the men pulls out a large knife, and the other is waving his hands in strange ways, and speaking strange words. Probably just evening exercises and Egyptian. However, there is a bang and the flash, and Monty puts bullets in the knife man.

The man’s flesh ripples, and the bullets do nothing.

Lefty opens up on the one waving his hand, and the two bullets again do nothing.

The knife man starts strolling towards us, pulling out a spiked club as well. Clayton charges out of the shadows, taking a cut to his suit as he passes the knife man, and tackles the hand waver.

I grab Yaleesha’s hand, and pull her down the street, trying to get her and myself to somewhere safe. It’s probable police may turn up as well.

Behind us, Monty and Lefty continue to shoot at the knife man. The bullets continue to bounce off, and then they don’t. A bullet to the head finally drops him to the ground.

From my perspective down the street, there is the sound of a car backing up, and more gun shots. The car stops, then starts to accelerate hard. It tears past us and away.

I get Yaleesha to a bus, and give her some money, since she now just wants to flee. She tells me that Shafik works for the Englishman. He used to come with another man, a lord, who seemed to have a thing about flogging. She heads off.

I get back to the hotel, and meet up with the others. Clayton needs some medical care, so I clean and bandage his wounds. Most of the blood on him is from when the car ran over over the hand waver who was on the ground.

Friday 6th February

HORRIBLE MURDERS IN SOHO is a headline in the newspaper.

Clayton needs to get a new suit, since his got cut and also quite a bit of blood on his clothes.

I go to the library to try and identify the club weapon that was used by our attackers last night. It looks a bit like a small scythe. It looks similar to something which came out of Howard Carter’s expedition, known as a ceremonial sickle.

That evening, we head to the Elephant and Castle, and to the Coronet Theatre. Our tickets place us in a box, which has eight seats in it. A server brings in some bottles of champagne and puts them on ice. Down on the stage, a woman is having knives thrown at her.

After a while, two young ladies come in bringing champagne glasses. They are followed by a Chinese man, and a large American who looks like a bodyguard. Clayton and the American seem to be familiar with each other. Another American, looking similar to the first enters.

One of the ladies introduces herself as Alice. She is nearly 6ft tall and sturdily built, with diamonds on each of her fingers. She introduces Billy Chang, and Lilly Kendle.

The American brothers are Walter and Burt McDonald.

We introduce ourselves.

According to Alice, Mr Elias wanted to get into a safe in the Penhew Foundation. The Foundation has Sir Aubrey’s money, and it all belongs to Gavigan, who has control over the gangs. It’s attracting attention, interfering with jobs, the girls and generally bad for business.

They have a cleaner who works at the Penhew Foundation, who has been everywhere except down in the basement. He hasn’t been able to find a way into the basement, but he can see it from the back yard, and there’s a coal chute.

Billy Chang has done some work helping to ship things to Shanghai for Jackson.

After discussion, it is decided that we will break into the Penhew Foundation on Saturday night. Our plan:

• Find the safe, find anything incriminating
• Find what’s in the basement

Saturday 7th February

The back gates to the Penhew Foundation has been usefully left open by Alf, so we drive up to the back door.

• Lilly Kendel is driving
• Reg, burglar

The guard is at the front of the building, near the telephone, which we’ve disconnected. We get into the back doors using provided keys. The guard is sleeping at the front door, where he has been pre-drugged.

We are able to get into Gavigan’s office. On the desk is a photo of Misr House, which looks like a rather nice three story country house. There are large paintings of stepped pyramids and of the Nile. There is nothing behind the paintings, but there is a safe under the rug.

Reg is able to open the safe, and get out £500 in pound notes, signed by Gavigan, and a small number of papers. Amongst them is a telegram from Cairo, dated 6th November 2024:

EDWARD GAVIGAN PENHEW FOUNDATION
GIZA DIG WELL ALL AS PLANNED WORK APACE AT MYCERINUS
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE MOST HELPFUL
DR H CLIVE

There is also a small key in the safe, which fits a cupboard behind the book shelves. The cupboard has boxes and crates. There is a mummy case lying on the floor, and it looks like footsteps go to and from it. Pressing its eyes causes it to swing open. Inside, there are steps going down, and a light switch.

We head down the steps, and encounter the smell of burned out candles. There is furniture, desks and chairs. As well as artwork of icons and statues, chests and book cases.

There are pictures of strange winged creatures, strange disfigured humans in a desert, and a flaming humanoid.

There is a statue of a huge bloated oriental woman, her face masked by a fan, which seems to draw my eye, and I’m unable to look away from it. It seems to get larger and look at me as I stare. Eventually I rip my eyes away from it, but it’s burned into my mind.

There are crates marked with Ho Fang Import/Export. 15 Kaoyang Street Shanghai. Inside is a corroded brass statue of a bulbous blob like thing, wearing a conical Asian hat, with a mass of tentacles hanging down from the hat covering the face.

There is another crate marked personal to Mr Randolf, with an address in Australia.

The books are in a variety of languages, and sees to be mostly theological in nature – though nothing a Christian would recognise. There is a scroll which seems to praise the bloody tongue, amongst others.

There are receipts for basic materials from Henson Manufacturing in Derbyshire. Included are details of a cast iron walk in safe made by Ernest Whitfield of Birmingham, which was delivered and fitted at Henson Manufacturing in Derby.

We leave everything as close to how it was as we can, and leave.