23/07/2023 – The Power of the Black Pharaoh (10)
They go to bed, resolving to go to the Bent Pyramid in the morning. Tiger once again turns over a table and keeps watch on the door to his room, with shot guns at hand.
Saturday, 16 March 1935 – again?
Repeating Breakfast
At breakfast the next morning they have a strong and confusing feeling of déjà vu. The breakfast menu is the same as yesterday and they catch themselves ordering the same things. The newspaper states that the date is the same was it was yesterday.
Things are slightly different though. Tiger has the guns he brought yesterday and they do not have the Girdle. It what happened yesterday did happen, but only to them. Mahmood arrives and does not seem to have noticed anything strange. He is sent off to book a boat to Dhashur, with money from Jeziah.
The Egyptian Museum - Again
After breakfast they head to the museum. The feeling of déjà vu is overpowering and everything seems to be happening in slow motion. Some strange-looking Egyptians in the crowd of the museum look at them oddly and suspiciously.
They find themselves waiting for Dr Kafour to finish talking to the same people he was talking to yesterday. He welcomes them in the same way as yesterday, then talk to him about this strange feeling of déjà vu. They tell him about the half of the Girdle they gave him yesterday, which he was initially not aware of but has a strange memory of it happening. He checks in the vault and half of the Girdle is there in his locked cupboard.
Tiger then brings up vampires and after a while the Investigators realise are having the same conversation as yesterday. They decide it is time to go to the Bent Pyramid and find out what the hell is going on. They say goodbye to Dr Kafour and head for the docks. Jeziah gets Van Heuvelen from the hotel.
Another Boat Trip
As they head there, Tiger tries to talk them out of taking a boat trip as he has a phobia of water. Jeziah points out there is no alternative, but Tiger argues all the way to the boat. Finally, Cassandra convinces him he will safe from vampires on a boat and he accepts this.
Along the way, Cassandra reminds them to pick up some extra sources of light and they acquire electric lights, as well as remembering to take food and water this time. Tiger goes off to buy guns and takes a long time. Jeziah has to round him up and after several attempts to delay the inevitable, Tiger accepts he will have to get onto the steam launch that Mahmood has hired for them.
As they board the ship, Zalkador sees the surface of the Nile and sees himself with green tentacles growing out of his face. He is shaken worse than Tiger and they both hide from the water in the middle of the boat. The steam boat chugs its way up the Nile to Dhashur. They have definitely been here before when they visited the Clive Expedition. They hire two cars to get to the pyramids, but head for the Bent Pyramid rather than the Clive Expedition.
The Bent Pyramid
When they arrive, Van Heuvelen begins to give them the history of the pyramids, the same as he did the previous day. He does give them new information about the Bent Pyramid, pointing out that some of its limestone cladding is still intact. At the pyramid, the guard examines the document and lets them in. Mahmood tells them the guard probably cannot read, then he starts to finally get the déjà vu that everyone has been feeling all day.
Inside the pyramid, they get a general feeling of foreboding. They wonder around trying to find something of significance and Zalkador is the first to notice what appears to be a slim crack, suggesting a hidden door in the main burial chamber. He pushes the wall and a hidden door opens. They are a little suspicious that this has never been found before, but there does appear to be a chamber beyond the door. Van Heuvelen is fascinated and heads through, telling them there are stairs leading down. He begins to descent and reluctantly, the others follow him.
Great Chamber of the Black Pharaoh
At the bottom of the stairs is a colourful underground corridor painted in red, green, yellow, gold and black. Van Heuvelen tells them it says “Here lies the Great Chamber of the Black Pharaoh according to the prophecy”. They ask him about the prophecy, but the writings do not elaborate.
They proceed through the tunnel and emerge in a large underground room that has an altar, a throne, six plinths and various writings and images on the walls. The throne is black, like obsidian with specks of colour that look like precious stones. The plinths are about five feet high with a golden bowl on the top, in the middle of which is a crystal. On the altar lies a golden headdress and a golden necklace. Cassandra points out that they are of similar design to the Girdle.
Interesting Walls
The walls have a lot of different things on them. There is a large, black hole, a few feet off the ground in one place. Cassandra tries to beam her torch through it, but its darkness seems to just absorb the light. On another part of the wall is an archway, but it has been bricked up.
Van Heuvelen sees one of the walls has a lot of writing on it. He heads over the read it and says it talks about the prophecy. A child will be born of Nyarlathotep. As he speaks the name, a shudder goes down everyone’s spine. A crystal on one of the Plinths lights up. The others tell him not to speak that name again. He continues to read, the child will be born in the Mountain of the Black Wind.
Tiger decides that, as the items on the altar are what they are looking for, he is going to take them. He picks up the headdress, but after he picks it up, he finds he no longer has the item in his hand. It is still on the altar. He tries several times to pick the item up, but he never succeeds.
Cassandra notices that the crystals on the tops of the plinths have started to light. Three of them are now light and as she watches a fourth lights up. She also notices that the tunnel they walked through to this room through as vanished. There is just wall where it was.
Solar Eclipse
Alex examines another section of the wall and he sees some sort of timeline, involving stars and planetary positions. There is to be an alignment of Earth and the Moon – an eclipse - on 14/01/1936. The strangest part is that the date is in Arabic numerals. There is also a map of East Asia, showing three points, one in Africa (Kenya), one in Western Australia and off the coast of China. The points are marked on the map by red rubes. A line then follows a curve from the African point, crossing the Indian Ocean between the three points somewhere around the Dutch East Indies.
The fifth and then sixth crystal lights as they discuss what they are going to do, what this all means and how they are going to get out of here.
Vision of the Carlisle Expedition
As the sixth crystal illuminates, they all see a vision. A group of people walk into the chamber they are in and Cassandra recognises Roger Carlisle. They soon realise the others are Audrey Penhew, Dr Huston, M’Weru and Hypatia Masters. Most of the members of the Carlisle Expedition. Roger tells the others that he has seen the crystals in his dream. This is his throne. They have been directed here, but only since they broke the Eye have they been able to get in.
They ask for an audience with the Black Pharaoh. At that point, a figure appears on the Throne, a humanoid figure in black, wearing a black face mask. It is the Black Pharaoh. The vision fades, except that the Black Pharaoh is now seated in their room too.
The Black Pharaoh
The Black Pharaoh speaks, his voice booming in their heads. He welcomes them. Tiger immediately draws a gun. Cassandra says they would like to go now. He tells her they may not leave, save by his will. How dare these petty mortals dare to attempt to block the plans of the Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep.
He asks them to tell him what they seek and he can grant it. He looks at each of them in turn. Zalkador, Alex, Cassandra say nothing. Tiger tells him he wants he guns back. Jeziah tells him he wants to marry Cassandra. Van Heuvelen tells him he wants a drink, to be respected and to get revenge on those who have looked down on him. Mahmoud says he wants his parents back and he wants to be loved.
Offering Them What they Want
The Black Pharaoh mocks Cassandra for defying him and he offers to give her Roger Carlisle, he can give her his parents back and he can put her life back to what it was. She says she knows that will just be evil. He mocks the mention of evil. He offers anyone who wants what they want, to go through the archway in the corner. He gestures and the bricked-up archway suddenly opens up.
Van Heuvelen starts to walk towards the archway. Cassandra tells Tiger to shoot him in the legs, but the Black Pharaoh gestures and Tiger’s gun goes flying across the room. In response, Tiger draws his shotgun and fires it at the Pharaoh, but it has no effect. The Pharaoh makes a spinning gesture with his hands and two points above him start squirming, as though two Hunting Horrors are coming through. Van Heuvelen passes through the archway and it bricks up again.
Cult Mass Sacrifices
The Black Pharaoh tells them he has bound them in time and he will undo what they have done. They then see another vision. After they prevented the cult from obtaining the Girdle of Nitocris, messing up their plans, the cult gathered its member from various places around Cairo and drive them to Giza. Near the Sphinx, they stop, go down a little cave and enter some underground tunnels below the Sphinx.
The mass members of the cult follow these tunnels and reach a huge chamber, with an altar and a large pool of water. The cult leaders arrange for significant numbers of their followers to be thrown into the water, where huge leeches in the pool devour the bodies of the sacrifices. More and more members are thrown into the pool, sacrificing most of their membership in order to get the attention of their dark god.
Eventually, the cult leaders indicate that enough have been killed. The pool is thick with blood and flesh. They invoke another magic ritual which causes the remains of their dead cult members to ooze out of the pool and form into a horrible shape. This horrible thing convulses into a huge black face, which then becomes possessed with the spirit of the Black Pharaoh and they petition him to intervene and recover what has been lost.
The Black Pharaoh Intervenes
The Black Pharaoh then reaches out magically and take the half of the Girdle that Jeziah posted to England and takes it, placing it on the altar in front of them. He then reaches to take the other half from the Vault in the Egyptian Museum, but he is unable to do so.
The Dark God then tells his followers they must obtain the item themselves from the Egyptian Museum. The Black Pharaoh uses his awesome power to play with time, forcing the Investigators into a time loop, forced to repeat the same day until they come to the Bent Pyramid.
The vision continues. While the Investigators are stuck repeating the same day, cultists go the Museum and attack Dr Kafour, torturing him in the Vault until he reveals where the Girdle is. Once it is taken out of the Vault, the Black Pharaoh reaches out magically into the vision and takes the item, bringing it in the chamber where they are, attaching it to the other part. Then all three of the golden items disappear.
Let’s Get Out of Here!
The vision then ends. He tells him they cannot defy him. Join him or die. Tiger fires his shotgun at the Pharaoh, but it again has no effect. The Black Pharaoh begins to laugh, louder and louder until it is too loud for them to cope with. They cover their ears in pain.
Suddenly the laugher stops. They look up and the Throne is empty. The tunnel they came in through is back. The ground begins to shake and they decide this is a good time to depart. They flee back through the tunnel and up the stairs while the whole pyramid shakes violently.
When they reach the room in the Bent Pyramid, they pause for breath. The shaking quickly stops, but when they look back, the hidden doorway they had found has disappeared. They are all shaken and angry.
Need to Stop the Cult
Cassandra laments that Dr Kafour has suffered due to their actions. Mahmoud mumbles about dark, terrible evil. They somehow work out that they were trapped in some kind of time loop, but now the loop has been broken. It is still daytime and they realise the cult will be doing the ritual to awaken Queen Nitocris tonight. It has to be stopped and they now know how to get into the tunnels under the Sphinx.
They leave the Pyramid while discussing this. Cassandra is keen to get back to Giza as fast as possible. They return to the steam launch and head back to Cairo.