15/03/2020 - The Penhew Foundation (4)

As Zalkador leaves Ju-Ju House and heads back up the alley towards the main road, he suddenly finds his passageway blocked by two African men. One is carrying a kukri. They escort him back to Ju-Ju House, where Silas N’Kwane meets him and tells him he will not go to Kenya.

Zalkador tries to convince him he will now not go, but Silas says yes because he is going nowhere. He takes Zalkador to the back of the shop where he unlocks a large door, but Zalkador suddenly rushes past him and escapes.

The Penhew Foundation

Just before 3pm the Investigators begin to assembly at the Penhew Foundation. Zalkador is not there. Jeziah comments that he does not usually miss appointments.

They enter the Penhew Foundation building, which is a large and impressive Victorian building with marble floors. There is a desk with a concierge, who checks their appointment with Mr Gavigan and take him to his office.

Edward Gavigan

Gavigan is a well-dressed, well-spoken and handsome man with an upper class accent with an expensive, oak-panelled office and wearing the latest fashionable item - a wrist watch. He welcomes them to the institute and listens as Jeziah, on behalf of Cassandra, tells him that their investigations into the Carlisle Expedition.

Gavigan is surprised by the suggestion that no Caucasians were found at the massacre site in Kenya and suggests that is not correct. He points out that the Expedition has been a legal nightmare for the Foundation and it does not want re-open that issue. He says he recalls being interviewed by Mr Jackson Elias but didn’t think he could be of much help to him.

Jeziah asks him about correspondence between the Carlisle Expedition and the Foundation, but Gavigan says they are private and he could not release them to anyone outside the Foundation without approval of the Board of Directors.

They also ask him for access to the G’Harne Fragments, but again he says that only Foundation members are allowed to access their rare book collection, along with certain partners. He would need permission from the Board to allow them access. The next meeting they would be able to consider such a request would be in June.

Gavigan’s History of the Carlisle Expedition

Gavigan does tell them that the Carlisle Expedition was based on a false premise from the beginning. Roger Carlisle was infatuated with a mysterious African woman who seduced and beguiled him. She told him they were going to Egypt to investigate a period of Dynastic Egypt supposedly ruled by a sorcerer. Such arrant nonsense.

After they were in Egypt for a while, this woman disappeared along with some £3,500 of the Expedition’s money. Carlisle was upset and they decided to spend the summer in the cooler lands of Kenya. One of the members of the Expedition was a photographer and they wanted to take pictures of the animals there on the Serengeti.

Unfortunately, while in Kenya they strayed into dangerous territory and fell victim to aggressive natives. A sad end to an unfortunately doomed Expedition.

Jeziah shows Gavigan some of Jackson Elias’s notes suggesting that the natives were not behind the massacre. Gavigan says it is hard to be sure in lands so far away, but he accepts the outcome of the investigation by the authorities there.

He tells them the Expedition did make some useful minor finds during its archaeology digs in Dhashur and other areas of Egypt. He offers to show them and takes them upstairs to a huge exhibition hall, full of Egyptology. Gavigan shows them around, talking endlessly about the various priceless items that the Foundation owns. He shows them things uncovered by the Carlisle Expedition, but they are mostly broken pieces of pottery.

Opinions of Gavigan

Jeziah spends a long time sizing up Gavigan. He reveals their plan to travel to Egypt and Kenya, to investigate the Cult of the Blood Tongue. Jeziah gets the impression that Gavigan perceives them as a threat.

Gavigan does reveal that the Penhew Foundation is funding a new expedition in Egypt called the Clive Expedition, which is there now.

They leave the Foundation, concerned that Zalkador has still not arrived. On the way to the car, they discuss Gavigan. Cassandra thinks he wasn’t being completely honest but suspects he is embarrassed about the way the Expedition ended. Jeziah says there is something more and Gavigan is dangerous. Alex says he seemed like a marvellous fellow.

The Need for Protection

As they consider what to do next, Zalkador comes up to them and tells them about his experiences at Ju-Ju House. They resolve to return there, but first Jeziah suggests they need to protect themselves.

Jeziah has an appointment in the morning at an Armourers. The others should come with him and arm themselves. Tiger pulls out a pistol and tells them he has enough weapons. Alex has a licence and keeps a pistol in his aircraft, but Jeziah suggests they need powerful weapons as this is going to be a dangerous investigation.

They return to Astor Manor and pass the rest of the evening uneventfully.

Saturday 19 January 1935

Arming Up

In the morning, Jeziah takes them all the Hallbrothers and Co, an up-market armourers, where they purchase pistols and rifles for those who do not have them. Cassandra and Zalkador have smaller pistols as they are not experienced.

Cassandra then leaves them and the rest head for Ju-Ju House. Jeziah and Alex head into the shopl Zalkador and Tiger try to enter the alley behind the shop, but find that the gate is locked from the inside and cannot be opened from the outside.

Confronting Silas N’Kwane

Jeziah and Alex enter the shop. Silas N’Kwane comes out from the back of the shop to greet them, smiling inanely. Jeziah questions him, but Silas denies all knowledge of doing anything to Zalkador.

Alex heads through the shop, finding the door that Zalkador mentioned, but it is locked. N’Kwane does not have the key around his neck anymore.

Alex instead opens the back door of the shop and heads round to let Tiger and Zalkador in. Tiger is then brutal with N’Kwane and begins to inflict pain on the old man. N’Kwane initially resists the pain and continues to smile inanely, but eventually as Tiger hurts him more, he gives in.

He takes them to a floor board, under which a key is hidden. Jeziah uses it to unlock the side door and finds a small empty storage area. A slight anti-climax until they find a trap door underneath a mat.

Screams in the Dark

Opening the trap door reveals some stairs going down into darkness and a strange smell, like rotting meat. They get a lamp and Jeziah leads them down the stairs, followed by N’Kwane then Tiger and the others.

At the bottom of the stairs, there is a doorway on the right. Jeziah cautiously walks through it, illuminating a large underground room that is mostly dark. As he begins to get his bearing, a loud African voice sudden screams something and a man with a machete emerges from the darkness and attacks him.

Then something responds to the scream of the African man. It gives off a guttural cry that mixes fear, terror, pain and hatred all in one mix. Then another scream in a different pitch responds similarly and then another and another until there are many horrible voices screaming and crying in the dark. This disturbing noise unnerves the Investigators.

End of Episode Four