09/04/2023 – Street of Jackals (1)
Friday, 08 March 1935
Port Said
Alex arranges to fly to Cairo, via Vienna, Belgrade and Istanbul. After a few delays, they arrive at Port Said airport. Alex suggested Port Said because it’s run by the British and he has contacts there. He arranges to pay for his aircraft to be parked there for at least a month. When they land, they go through passport control. Alex also arranges for licenses for all their weapons, which takes a while but makes things easier in the long run. They spend a long time in a hot room with just a weak ceiling fan.
They leave the terminal building and head for the train station. Jeziah arranges for a train to Cairo first class. He has booked ahead and they have a reservation at the Sandringham Hotel, a posh hotel, for a month.
Cairo
When they arrive in Cairo and leave the train, they are swamped by Egyptians shouting and offering to sell them things, take their bags for them and arrange transport for them. This is a little bit of a culture shock for some of them. Some children accost Alex and take his bags from him, taking them away towards the exit at high speed, saying they will take them to a hotel. Tiger manages to grab one of the children and growls in an intimidating manner at the boy, causing him to leave the bags and run.
Another child tries to take Zalkador’s travel case on wheels, but Zalkador is able to prevent him.
The Sheppard Hotel
Eventually, they find a smartly-dressed porter with a “Miss Cassandra Astor” sign. They are from the Sheppard Hotel and immediately help their guests push their way through the crowd and get to the street, where two horse-drawn carriages await them. The porters welcome them to Cairo, load their luggage on one carriage and seat the Investigators in the other one. Then they travel through the packed streets to the Sheppard Hotel.
The Sheppard is a grand hotel in the Imperial style with marble pillars, with a little bit of Egyptians styling. They get out of the heat into the air conditioned reception area, to their relief. They see that most of the guests here are white, European types. The staff are Egyptian, but the managers are white. The Concierge is Egyptian but has a perfect English accent.
Jeziah tells them this is the best hotel in Cairo. They sign in and go to their rooms, unpack and settle down. They discover Cassandra has a large suit room where they can all meet up.
Dinner at the Hotel
After a while, they dress for dinner. Jeziah chides Zalkador for not having a change of clothes. The Maître d’Hotel expects shirt and tie, though he eventually makes an exception for Zalkador. The four-course dinner is amazing and they chat with some of the other hotel guests. Cassandra is pleased to find some Americans to chat with and has a few drinks with them.
She manages to learn that the Clive Expedition, the new expedition from Penhew Foundation, recently had some controversy. They lost a Mummy. It disappeared over night. The Police were involved, as it’s illegal to take Mummies out of Egypt without the government’s permission. Apparently it was a large stone sarcophagus that would too heavy to move quickly.
Zalkador does some fortune telling for the other guests and then does one for themselves. He learns there are allies and enemies. A hidden queen. A magician who is helping her. He does not have much success.
They have a late night meeting to discuss what to do the next day. They consider going through the local newspapers, such as the Cairo Bulletin, a weekly English language newspaper with offices not far from the hotel. There is also Faraz Najjir in the Street of Jackals.
Saturday, 09 March 1935
They have breakfast at the hotel and Zalkador arranges for someone from the hotel to go to the Cairo Chronicle’s offices and get copies of the last four months editions and pays him a tip, getting the money from Jeziah.
The Street of Jackals
They decide to head for the Street of Jackals. Alex says they will need a Drogoman, a local guide. Jeziah asks the hotel staff for help finding one and they recommend Mahmoud, a reliable local boy. They meet him and he tells them the Street of Jackals is in the Old Quarter and they will need to protect their values.
They follow Mahmoud and he takes them into the Old City, a rundown part of Cairo, where there are a lot of locals and they are accosted a lot by people selling things and offering services. Jeziah with help from Mahmoud brushes them aside. A local boy tries to steal from Tiger, but messes it up and runs away when Tiger gives him a smack.
When they get to the Street of Jackals, they are not sure what they are looking for. They are not sure, possibly an antique shop. He points out a burnt out shop that was an antique shop, but according to the locals it burnt down about five years ago. Zalkador has Madmoud ask for Faraz Najjir. The locals tell them apparently a fire demon burnt down his shop and he moved. They make signs to ward off evil and the shop has been left empty as it is said to be cursed.
No one seems to know where he has gone, or they do not want to say. Eventually Mahmoud suggests offering a bribe. Jeziah steps forward and pays a few shillings. Apparently Mr Najjir set up a new shop in Khan el-Khalili, an ancient market place that’s not that far away on the Street of Potters.
Faraz Najjir
They head over there, though some of them start to struggle in the heat. They have not brought any drinks with them. Zalkador buys some colourful local clothes that are cooler. There they find a Curios Shop and go in.
The shop is packed full of things that would appeal to tourists. The shopkeeper, Faraz Najjir initially greets them as tourists, trying to sell them a bust of Tutankhamun. They notice that one side of his face has burn scars. Alex notices that there are some genuine antiques, but nothing occult orientated. Cassandra diplomatically buys a nice bracelet, after Jeziah haggles a little.
They then start to ask for information. First Cassandra asks what happened to his previous shop. He says bad things happened, but he does not seem to want to talk about it. Zalkador asks about Warren Bassett and Mr Najjir says he has nothing to do with him anymore.
Tiger then asks about the Carlisle Expedition and the shopkeeper looks horrified and denies knowing anything, asking them to leave, speaking less in English and more in Arabic. Cassandra persists asking about Roger. Tiger starts to threaten to break things in his shop, but Mr Najjir stands in the doorway, shouting in Arabic. Mahmoud tries to talk to him but he just wants them to leave, as he doesn’t know anything.
Tiger Intervenes
Tiger tells Mahmoud to say that Fire Demons have been seen in the area. Mr Najjir then starts screaming and shouting. A large mob of locals now start gathering outside, shouting as well. Mahmoud suggests they should leave right now. They leave quickly, over Tiger’s objections and head back to the hotel, followed by a shouting crowd.
Jeziah rounds on Tiger and tells him that was a waste of time. Mahmoud says talk of Fire Demons really scared the man.