20/08/2023 – Ritual of Queen Nitocris (13)
Fire Vampire
The second Fire Vampire is bobbing towards Alex. Tiger shouts a warning that it can set people on fire and goes to help Alex move out of the way. He ducks behind a column, hoping the creature will waste its energy, but no such luck. As it moves around the column, Tiger picks up Alex and runs away, weaving between the columns for cover. He moves towards where the cultist bodies are lying.
Zalkador is hiding at the back with Mahmoud. He finally gets a bit of courage when he hears Agatha scream and decides he will try to help her. He gets his grenade ready and runs around the edge of the room towards the altar, followed by Mahmoud. Jeziah has been binding up Cassandra’s wounded arm. When they have finished, they reload and head towards to the altar after Zalkador, moving slowly and carefully.
Agatha in a Trance
As they approach, they see that Agatha has falling into a trance-like state. The cult leader, Al-Shakti, now points his crook and ankh at her and tells her, in English, to bring forth Queen Nitocris. Under some sort of hypnotic control, Agatha begins to use her medium ability to contact the spirit of Queen Nitocris.
Another hooded cultist steps forward, revealing himself to be Dr Henry Clive. He rises up a parchment and begins to read from it, in ancient Egyptian. As he does, the air behind him begins to boil and twist, suggesting another Hunting Horror is coming.
Tiger manages to pick up the body of a cultist and uses it as a shield against the Fire Vampire, while still carrying Alex, a feat he is able to do for now because of his powerful physical strength, but he will tire over time.
Magical Protection
As Cassandra and Jeziah pass the pool, they see that the huge black leeches are emerging from the water and moving towards the bleeding and dead bodies of the cultists, feeding on their blood.
Zalkador approaches the altar and throws his grenade, but is seems to slow down as it reaches the edge of the altar area and explodes, but the blast mostly comes outward. He realises there is some sort of magical protection around the altar and the grenade has only distracted Dr Clive while he is casting his spell from the parchment.
Instead, Zalkador takes out his heavy crystal ball and charges, intending to attack the cult leaders. As he comes to the edge of the altar area, he finds an invisible barrier requires him to force his way slowly in, as though wading through treacle. He’s not very strong and struggles to make any progress. He turns to Mahmoud and tells him to run. The boy tells him to be careful then flees.
Tiger vs Fire
Tiger finds a safe place to put Alex down and gives him a grenade. Then he uses the pillars and the body of the cultist as a cover against the pursuing Fire Vampire, trying to goad it into attacking him and expending itself.
Attempting to dash from one pillar to another, Tiger trips on a body and the Fire Vampire shoots flames at him. His clothes melt and his sleeve is on fire. His handlebar moustache is burnt off, but the brunt of the flames was taken by the cultist’s body.
The Fire Vampire has shrunk in size, but not disappeared. Tiger decides to simply run as far away as possible.
Summonings
Al-Shakti at the altar continues to lead Agatha in summoning the spirit of Queen Nitocris. James Gardner tells Agatha to stop, don’t do it, and in response one of the cultists cuts his throat. They hold his gushing throat over the body of Queen Nitocris and let the blood pure over her wrapped body.
Jeziah and Cassandra approach the altar. They see the squirming, boiling areas behind Dr Clive. Jeziah reminds his mistress that he has two powerful electric torches, in case any more of those large creatures appear.
Al-Shakti steps away from Agatha momentarily and says something in Arabic to the leeches emerging from the water. The creatures start to move over towards the nearest dead bodies and start to drain them of blood.
Zalkador is making very slow progress through the invisible barrier around the altar, due to his weak strength. Cassandra and Jeziah reach the invisible barrier and begin to push their way through as well. They are stronger than Zalkador and make quicker progress, but it is still going to take some time.
Leeches and Hunting Horrors
The shrinking Fire Vampire continues to chase Tiger, speeding up and getting closer to him, burning his back before vanishing. Tiger rolls around, putting out the flames. Unfortunately, he is near to one of the huge leeches and bumps into it. It moves toward him, but in a great struggle he is able to get away from it.
Another giant leech has crawled over to Alex and it rears up, trying to land on him. Alex crawls away from it and hits it with his sword, injuring it and persuading it to find an easier target.
A large, black Hunting Horror monster starts to crawl out of the one of the boiling areas – and it immediately attacks the one who summoned it, Dr Clive. Taken by surprise from behind, Clive is quickly consumed by the monster, which then vanishes.
Sanity Takes its Toll
All these events, especially the arrival of the Hunting Horror, take their toll on the sanity of the Investigators. Zalkador is affected badly, deciding that the only way to be safe now is to not move at all. He remains still, held in place by the barrier around the altar, unable to move.
Cassandra suffers a bout of paranoia. She suddenly thinks Jeziah wants to sacrifice her and pushes him away from her. Jeziah asks what she is doing and she tells him to stay away from her, which upsets him a lot. Alex suffers a bout of amnesia and delusions, thinking he is back at the hotel and starts to call for a waiter to bring his dinner.
Electric Torches
A second Hunting Horror emerges from the squirming points, which now disappear. It turns towards Zalkador. Jeziah takes out his electric torches and beams it at the monster. It flinches and backs away. Cassandra turns on her electric torch too, but she points it at Jeziah, trying to keep him away.
Tiger has burns and he is in a lot of pain, but he has survived. Through sheer willpower, he ignores the pain and decides to head to the altar, to get revenge. He opens fire at the figures at the altar and after a few shots, realises there is a barrier.
Approaching the Altar
The remaining cultists on the altar are busy finishing their ritual, some continuing to let the blood from James Gardner pure onto the body of Queen Nitocris, while Al-Shakti continues to direct Agatha to bring the spirit of the Queen closer. Tiger runs at the barrier to get the altar. Thanks to his strength, he makes quick progress through.
Cassandra snaps out of her initial paranoia and instead becomes very angry towards the cultists. One of these men must have been responsible for taking Roger Carlisle away from her. She leaps at the barrier and tries with all her strength to break through. Alex starts to realise he is not at the hotel, but is now unsure where he is or what is going on.
The Hunting Horror targets Jeziah, trying to attack him. He tries to keep it away with the torches, but it is able to knock into him, pushing him away from the altar. Cassandra turns her torch on it briefly, causing it to back away, then she continues to force her way into the altar area, wanting to attack the cultist leaders.
The Spirit of Queen Nitocris
The ritual on the altar is now coming to an end. James Gardner’s body has been drained of blood, while Agatha begins to speak in a very strange language in a voice that is not hers. The Spirit of Queen Nitocris has arrived. Tiger breaks through the barrier. The cultists who were holding up James Gardner drop his body and head towards him. He shoots one and pistol whips the other, but one of them stabs him. He is badly injured but fights on for now.
Al-Shakti waves his ankh and crook. Strange white strands begin to come out of Agatha’s mouth and float over to the mummified body of Queen Nitocris.
Attacking Al-Shakti
Zalkador realises that the only way to survive the situation is to get back his statue that he threw into the river. He decides to leave the altar area and heads over to Jeziah. He ignores the Hunting Horror and grabs Jeziah by the arm. He asks to be driven to the river. Jeziah is incredulous and punches Zalkador, venting his rage at all the snide comments Zalkador made, beating him into unconsciousness.
Tiger fights his way past the two cultists who are trying to attack him and shoots at, Al-Shakti, but only grazes him. Al-Shakti struggles but is able to keep control of the spell summoning the Queen. Cassandra then breaks through the barrier due to her extreme anger at Al-Shakti. She shoots him in the shoulder, even though he aimed for his head.
Breaking the Spell
This shot does distract Al-Shakti, causing him to lose control of the spell and Agatha starts making a very strange, loud noise. The noise becomes an incredibly loud scream, until everyone is forced to cover their ears. Then suddenly the spell breaks. The barrier collapses and there is a release of energy, causing everyone near the altar to be throw ten meters away from the altar, taking further injury from the concussion.
The Hunting Horror reacts to this and starts to fly up into the air. In the area in the middle of the circle, they see the angry face the Black Pharaoh appear. The Hunting Horror then suddenly leaps directly at Al-Shakti, swallowing him and disappearing in an instant.
The surviving cultists begin to wail and cry out at the turn of events. Tiger pulls the pin on a grenade, walks over and puts it into the hand of one of the cultist. He backs away and some of the cultists are killed in the explosion.
The remaining three cultists flee. Cassandra, still angry, shoots at them, hitting one, causing him to fall off the walkway and collapse.