Masks of Nyarlathotep 17
This is our 17th session of Masks of N10p, a campaign with a name I still struggle to spell. We are in Cairo, investigating the Clive Expedition (which I had always heard as the Clyde Expedition, so that’s what I’ve been writing in my notes) and following up on the lead of a Dutchman named Janwilliem Van Heuvelen.
From a meta perspective, I’ve decided that my character Evelyn Wooldridge is writing these accounts as letters going back to her brother. That way, if she dies (or goes insane), I’ve got another possible character to bring in who will have a reason to find out what happened to her, and who will also know what has been going on.
We got out some miniatures for this session, for the fighting in the narrow streets of Cairo. I’d actually picked up some miniatures from Wargames Foundry for the cultists, plus had various animal figures already. The summoned monster was a ‘Beloved of Sobek’, from the Wargods of Ægyptus line (I also have lots of Basti, but they weren’t needed).
I lose sanity twice in this session, and gone a little bit mad at the end. However, some very good dice rolls means that everything turns out okay in the end. Though Evelyn can’t remember exactly what happened.
So continues the account of Mrs Evelyn Wooldridge.
Tuesday 10th March
Apologies, but I’ve released that Clyde is actually Clive. I blame it on all those American accents. So it’s been the Clive Expedition that we’ve been investigating, not the Clyde Expedition. Our plan for today was to try and track down Janwilliem van Heuvelen.
Janwilliem had fallen out with the Clive Expedition, possibly due to being a drunkard. We are hoping that he will be able to tell us what happened to the sarcophagus of Queen Nitocris, who Clayton seems to think is now walking around as Madam Shafik.
We fallow Mamood into what is possibly one of the poorest sections of the city, to the Street of the Moths. There seem to be a number of used clothing Emporiums here, and we are pointed towards a tailor shop where an elderly tailor is cursing in Arabic and trying to get cats out of the shop.
Mamood talks to the tailor, who curses and gesticulates. He then storms off to the local tea house. Mamood said he was complaining about “more visitor”. Monty grabs Mamood, and follows the man.
The cats are acting up, as if something has put them on edge. Inside the shop, there is a small curtained off area which has a cot and a lamp, and a European looking man who is attempting to fend a cat off with a book.
He is Janwilliem, and he suggests lunch, so we take him to a much better part of the city to have a decent lunch. Once he is fed, he becomes a lot more sociable.
Talking about the Clive expedition, he says that Dr Clive is an excellent archaeologist, but has an unfair view on others and what they did in their down time. It sounds like he disapproved of his team getting blind drunk over night. I can’t say that I blame him, but I play along with Janwilliem to keep him on our side.
I ask him about the sarcophagus of Queen Nitocris. He says that there were also some scrolls there, and that they were marvellous. The scrolls were stolen, but he doesn’t know who by. The sarcophagus was stolen as well.
He says it was a 4th dynasty alabaster sarcophagus, which would link it to the Black Pharaoh. Alabaster is related to reincarnation. They found a secret room in the great pyramid, and Dr Clive knew exactly where to go. Apparently Dr Clive had a map. Dr Gardner, one of those working with the expedition, is influenced by the theories of Yeung, and thinks the sphinx represents a ruler from before the Black Pharaoh. He also thinks that there is a complex between the pyramid.
About the hieroglyphics, the person who really knows is Johanna Specht, a very ‘athletic’ and tall young lady. She can sight read them. She works for the Clive Expedition, but apparently has some troubling political views.
He has recently come into possession of some fantastic scrolls from the 13th dynasty, towards the end of the middle kingdom. They are the Black Rites of Luveh-Keraphf. He is translating them into Dutch. Great. However, he could translate them to English if given some time.
So the scrolls are about the worship of Bast. Around this point I noticed that there seem to be a lot of cats around the restaurant.
Martin Winfield, Dr Clive’s assistant, gave Janwilliem directions to a shrine in the older part of the city. There was the statue of Bast there, which had a box under the statue which had the scrolls in them. I do wonder how he found the box of scrolls when nobody else had noticed it? Apparently the cats have been following him around since then.
He thinks it would take another month to finish his translations.
When he leaves the restaurant, a dark haired young woman gets up to follow him. We follow her.
She is waiting for us as we turn a corner. I introduce myself, she calls herself Neris. She says that the dutchman is in possession of something which isn’t his. There are cats all about us. The Lady Bast is wanting return of her property apparently.
I’m not sure what to make of the woman. I ask her where she stands with the other factions who are looking for things, and she says that what they have does not concern her. However, I point out, what she has may concern them.
She offers that Lady Bast would ‘smile upon us’ if we were to help her re-obtain the property of the Lady.
Clayton has gone missing – we think that he possibly went off following Janwiellem. So Monty heads off looking for him.
Late that afternoon, a very drunk Clayton turns up at our hotel, along with Monty and a box of scrolls. We take them up to the room, and have a look in the box. There are some very well preserved scrolls. I ask Lefty to take some photos of them.
There are some Dutch notes in the box as well. The scrolls are very well illustrated, and just from looking over them, I feel that my mind has been opened a little bit more onto the reality of the universe.
Lefty seems to be freaking out about lions running around on roof tops.
We head down to the bar, and I ask one of the cats there if its Lady is there. The cat gets up and stretches, and gets up and leaves.
Clayton and Monty head off to mee tthe Dutchman at the expensive restaurant, whilst myself and Lefty wait around to see if Neris turns up.
There is no sign of Neris, but we are handed a note, in a delicate feminine hand, that gives us an address in the old city.
Lefty insists that we go to find the others before heading to the old city address, so we do, and rejoin at the restaurant. They get rid of the Dutchman, and we head into the old city.
We seem to be followed by a group of three cats, and led by Mamook. As we head through the twisty streets, a couple of Arabs bearing spiked clubs and guns yell out of the darkness, yelling “Die in the name of Nephren-ka!”.
Monty opens up with his pistols, taking down one of them. Another takes a shot at us, but it goes wide. Lefty opens up behind us, shooting down a different street.
The sound of chanting fills the air, and we hear want sounds like roaring as I try to keep my head down to stop it from being blown off by the bullets flying around.
Someone with a gun pops out from a side street, and Clayton charges at him firing his gun, driving him back. The swarm of cats near to us give a screech, and race down the street, leaping upon one of our assailants.
There is more shooting, and cultists with knives start charging us out of the darkness.There is a loud roar, and a lioness drops onto him from above. Lefty shoots at the one at our rear, taking him down. He is lucky, and doesn’t hit any of the cats on him.
There is the sound of chanting again.
I ran down the street to the dead cultist being mauled by cats, and grab up his rifle. It’s almost as if one of the cats knocked the rifle towards me as I went to pick it up.
On the roof, there appears a …. thing. I don’t recall what it looks like, but my mind seemed to close in on itself, and a red mist descended across my vision…
I found myself standing on the roof, surrounded by cats. A rifle is in my hands, and I’m looking down the sight at the dead corpse of some awful crocodile monster that is laying in the street.
