25/06/2023 – Battle with Horrors (8)
Questioning Van Heuvelen
Back at the hotel, Cassandra talks with Van Heuvelen about making a statement against the Clive Expedition. He is not drunk yet that evening and they carefully give him just enough drinks to keep him happy without letting him become drunk. She also talks about the dig at Giza and wonders why Dr Clive lied about losing his permit. Van Heuvelen says he does not understand why Dr Clive changed locations and when the Dutchman challenged him that was when he was sacked.
He also mentions that James Gardner, one of the expedition members, was gutted when they changed locations, as he was convinced there are tunnels under the Sphinx. He regularly went looking for them and Dr Clive got angry about it and told him to stop wasting time.
Cassandra then asks about Agatha Broadmoor. Van Heuvelen says he has no real idea why she is there. She has no archaeology skills and seems to be more interested in fortune telling and mediumship. She approached the expedition in Giza, offering to help them. Initially, Dr Clive was not interested, then suddenly changed his mind and welcomed her. She has been with the expedition ever since despite having almost nothing to contribute.
Fighting the Horror
At the Mosque, the various defenders begin to attack the monstrous Hunting Horror as it snakes into the building. Alex fires his rifle at a distance from the protection of the back room. Tiger fires his elephant gun and then reloads, instructing Mahmood to now focus on lighting a fire. The ulami Muslims hack at it with their swords. Harry still does to not fire his Lewis gun, but Bill keeps shooting it with his rifle.
All of these attacks annoy and distract the monster, but it continues to pull itself into the building. It moves to attack Nessim Efti, who stands directly the monster’s way, knocking him over and then wrapping its huge mouth around his legs. Other the defenders rally to save Nessim Efti. Tiger tries to shoots the monster in the mouth with both barrels of his shotgun at point blank range, but to his frustration that is not enough. Efti then uses his sword on the monster’s face, cutting deep into its flesh and inflicting a worse wound on it than any other weapon. It releases him and Tiger pulls him and his sword to safety.
Cultists Attack
Mahmood then comes running over, shouting that bad people are outside. A group of six cultists wielding knives enter the Mosque. Seeing human opponents, Harry decides it is safe to open fire on them with his Lewis gun, wounding a number of them.
With green slime dripping from its facial wound, the monster now turns to towards Al-Dhahabi, the leader of the ulami, who appears to be its primary target. Tiger tries to persuade Efti to stop his friends attacking the monster, but the old man smiles and is determined to attack it. Tiger lets him return to the fight, while some of the Muslims turn to attack the in-coming cultists.
Wounding the Monster
The monster begins to attack Al-Dhahabi, who fights fiercely against it. Bill continues to get some good hits on the monster with his rifle, distracting it from its attacks, backed up by fire from Alex. Efti then attacks the side of the creature, inflicting a deep and terrible would. The whole creature convulses in pain, knocking a number of Muslims, cultists and patients on one side of it. It also knocks Efti down, whose age begins to catch up with him and he collapses, clutching his chest.
Tiger talks to Mahmood again and tries to get him to persuade the Muslims to retreat. The boy tells him he cannot make the holy men listen to him, they believe they will become martyrs. He agrees to try though, as Tiger insists.
Cultist Leader
As the last of the cultists has filed in and joined the attack, a new figure enters the Mosque. He is dressed in Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh robes, a Black Pharaoh face mask a little like the bust that Zalkador found and carrying a crook and an ankh staves crossed in front of him, like the ones Gavigan had. Above his head float two red, burning points of light that shimmer in a heat haze.
Tiger runs over to join Bill and they both move down to attack this cult leader, though Tiger is determined to take him alive. The leader sees them approach and points one of his staves at Bill, which causes one of the floating points of fire to streak like a flamethrower across the room, engulfing Bill’s whole body in fire. The soldier cries out and writhes in agony.
Fiery Deaths
Tiger is horrified and takes cover, shooting at the robed figure, along with Alex, but the leader has crossed his staves again and the bullets are deflected somehow. Tiger then covers Bill in some blankets from the bed, putting him out.
Harry has to reload the Lewis gun. The remaining knife-wielding cultists use the lull in fire to begin to attack the Muslims, driving them back and taking one of them down. One of the Muslims turns to attack the robed leader, but he is engulfed in flames when the second point of fire it sent at him.
The Horror Triumphant
The Hunting Horror, with less distractions from gunfire, makes a lung at Al-Dhahabi, biting his arm off and then slowly swallowing the rest of him down. The monster then makes a triumphant noise and vanishes into smoke.
Harry then turns his Lewis gun on the remaining cultists and takes them down, luckily missing the Muslim they were in combat with, who Harry had no regard for.
Cultist Leader Flees
The two remaining Muslims are dismayed at the disappearance of their leader, Al-Dhahabi. They go to help Efti, who is dying from a heart attack.
Tiger and Alex continue to fire at the robed leader, who, seeing his monster gone and his cultist companions all down, begins to retreat. Tiger runs after him, attempting to chase him down, but he trips up. The leader then takes out a whistle and blows it, making a weird, ethereal noise. Tiger attempts to chase after him, but bumps into something invisible that has interposed itself between them.
Invisible Monster
This thoroughly confuses Tiger, but he blasts it with a shotgun, causing part of its innards to become visible and bleeding out. He feels a pair of fangs attempt to dig into this neck, but the wound completely distracts the creature. It makes some sort of blasphemous noise of distress.
Tiger punches it a few times and stuns it. It falls to the dirt floor and the dust exposes its awful, tentacle body. Tiger is instinctively shoots it in its “head”, but this does not kill it. Its failure to die shocks and dismays Tiger, realising the cosmic implications that this creature is unworldly. The creature flies away, while Tiger is mentally stunned. He gets an insane insight that the creature is some sort of other-worldly vampire.
By the time he recovers, the cultist leader has escaped.
The Police Intervene
Alex goes over to help Efti, but the old man babbles at him in Arabic, then hands him the golden Sword of Akmallah. The other Muslims frown at the sword being given to an infidel, but Efti’s words appears to pacify them. There is a lull, but the Police have been alerted by the local residents due to the gunfire and now they arrive. They arrest everyone except Zalkador, who remains in hiding until they are all gone.
Tiger, Alex and Harry are taken into custody with a little more reverence than the locals. Tiger is still shaken by his cosmic realisation, babbling about, “It came from the stars. A vampire from the stars! It wants my blood.”
Jeziah, who has decided after Cassandra went to bed to go to the Mosque, turns up in time to assist with the legal implications and is aware where the Police station is. He will arrange for a solicitor.
Taking the Girdle
Later that night, Zalkador decides it is safe to act. He takes the Girdle from its hiding place and then returns to the hotel with it. He leaves a written note at the Mosque in English saying Zalkador has taken it. He also takes a bag of shotguns that had been left in the back of the Mosque.
Friday, 15 March 1935
What To Do With the Girdle
In the morning Zalkador updates Jeziah and Cassandra over a late breakfast and shows them the Girdle. Cassandra is concerned that the Brotherhood may be able to use magic to find the Girdle and it is not safe being left in the hotel. Zalkador suggests breaking it, which Jeziah tries and after a lot more struggling that it should, breaks it into two pieces.
They then discuss what to do with the two pieces of the Girdle. They resolve to give one half to Dr Ali Kafour at the Egyptian Museum. Zalkador goes to the Museum, but finds Dr Kafour is not working that day. He returns to the hotel.
Jeziah plans to post the other half back to Alex’s shop in England, but he has to wait for Alex to return to confirm the address
Questioned by the Police
The Police question Alex and Tiger in the morning, with their solicitor that Jeziah arranged present. The Police have also confiscate their guns because they do not have permits for them. Alex dismisses talk of monsters, which the Police are pleased about as they do not want to have to report such things. They are surprised that he has the Sword, and they treat him with a certain about of reverence. Tiger continues to babble about vampires and elephants.
Most of the day is taken by questions, but in the end their solicitor secures their release, as they authorities are struggling to find reliable witnesses to what happened. Cassandra has to put up a £50 bail for them, after arranging a banker’s draft with a local branch of Lloyds Bank, following a telegram back to London for confirmation. They are ordered not to leave Cairo though and have their passports taken.
A Late Dinner
That evening they all meet up for a late dinner at the hotel. Mahmood turns up, upset and shaken. Zalkador thanks and reassures him. By this time it is too late to post back to the UK as the Post Office is closed. One half of the Girdle is put into the hotel safe, until Zalkador can get it to the Museum, while Jeziah keeps the other half until it can be posted in the morning. Alex writes a note for his shop keeper to put the item into hiding.
Zalkador tries a Tarot reading, but it is vague and unhelpful. He realises without the statue of the tentacle-face creature, his second site is difficult to trigger. He does realise though that tomorrow is the first day of the dark of the moon.