You cautiously follow Winfield into the narrow and claustrophobic passages of the pyramid. The entrance slopes down to a long descending passage, ending in a small antechamber with a ‘false door’ motif.

"False doors", also known as "Ka doors" as they allowed the Ka (an element of the "soul") to pass through them, were common in the mortuary temples and tombs of ancient Egypt from around the Third Dynasty and temples of the New Kingdom. The false door was thought to be a threshold between the world of mortals and the world of deities and spirits. The deity or the deceased could interact with the world of the living either by passing through the door or receiving offerings though it.

From there, another narrow passage leads to a larger chamber (14 x 4 meters), with a sloping passage leading further down. A side passage on the right leads to a chamber with six niches, and further on, a large hole in the wall takes you to the burial chamber. It is 7 x 3 meters, and the ceiling is 3.5 meters above you. The chamber is elaborately decorated with hieroglyphs, and a large dust-free area in the middle of the room shows where the sarcophagus rested.

“Hey, watch this!” grins Winfield and turns off his flashlight. The chamber is immediately plunged into total darkness and you can feel the massive weight of the pyramid closing in on you.

Winfield click his torch on again with a smirk. “Pretty dark, eh?”


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:18, Fri 15 Mar 2019.

“Yes, that was quite dark, Winfield. Now let’s have a look about.” Dermot’s beginning to regard Winfield in the way one might a particularly stupid dog.

Aided by the flickering light of a few flashlights, you begin to examine the ancient burial chamber. The air is stuffy and the feeling of being enclosed begins to wear on you all.

Johan is poking around the side wall with his cane when he spots a small depression near the floor. It looks like a tiny lever, almost invisible behind the dust.

In reply to GM (msg # 90):

"Wait, halt.  There is something here.  Please point a light over here..."  Johan motions to the tiny lever near the floor.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:34, Sat 16 Mar 2019.

"Bloody hell!" exclaims Winfield as he shines his torch on the spot. "How did we miss that? Well, go on. Press it!"

"Allons-y"...Johan pokes the lever. There is a 'click' and a small section of the wall slides back, revealing a narrow sloping passageway, leading down into inky blackness. You imagine you can hear distant sounds of roars and cries of wild beasts.

Johan shudders as he recalls the visions he had that time in Peru, when he touched the Golden Mirror found in Larkin's room;

An ancient stepped pyramid on a plateau breaks apart as greasy white tendrils dripping with huge maggots reach upwards from its remains...

A small man huddled in a corner of a dingy room feverishly painting... something that reminds Johan of his dreams...

Looking out of a train window, sweeping vistas of African plains passing by, accompanied by the strong smell of smoke, then the sound of screaming…

A series of endless, dark tunnels, filled with the roars and cries of wild beasts...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:49, Sat 16 Mar 2019.

Far below the earth, the silence is ceaseless and oppressive. Above is a terrible weight of suspended stone and earth. Occasional drafts pass along the tunnels, causing candles or torches to gutter momentarily.

The tunnel is of hewn stone, obviously man-made; its floor is generally level, and the tunnel is approximately 8 feet (2.5 m) wide and 8 feet (2.5 m) high. There is no light, except for the occasional glow from livid purple or putrid green fungus—slimy stuff, disgusting to touch.

Branch tunnels and tiny votary alcoves frequently open to either side. Along the main tunnel, loathsome images panel the walls, depicting men with the heads of animals, animals with human limbs, and unidentifiable entities performing cruel, disgusting, and obscene activities.

In the flickering light, you also see alcoves with mummified remains of long dead Egyptians. Some of them are missing their heads, but have the heads of dogs, cats, crocodiles or other beasts sewn onto their necks instead. Others have contorted skeletal faces, screaming in silent agony.

Can I have a SAN roll, please? (0/1D4)



This message was last edited by the GM at 02:57, Mon 25 Mar 2019.

In reply to GM (msg # 93):

Dermot is glad to be in a party full of stout adventurers who laugh in the face of macabre dangers. All but that ponce Winfield. Poor sap, he may be going mad already!

"Winfield? Winfield, lad! Get a hold of yerself! There's no danger to be had just now."

Incorrectly perceiving Winfield to be nearly hysterical, Dermot grabs the man by the shoulders and gives him a good shake.

Hearing what sounds almost like a faint chuckle from a side passage, Dermot stops short. Still holding Winfield by the shoulders, he asks, "D'ye hear something just then?" He peers down that side passage into the darkness.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:54, Sat 16 Mar 2019.

"Let go of me, you bog-trottin' Irish bastard!" Winfield curses, and takes a step back from Dermot. He shines his flashlight down the passage and Dermot swears that he sees an unholy shape with the head of a crocodile for a brief second before it disappears from sight...

Dermot's head is spinning. Now ignoring Winfield, he slowly draws his revolver and undoes his sheath hand, gritting his teeth and staring toward the vanished apparition.


This message was last edited by the player at 23:26, Sat 16 Mar 2019.

In reply to Martin Winfield (msg # 95):

The journey into the pyramid wasn't quite the route Cedric intended for his investigation, but he tursted Gustav and, to a lesser extent, his compatriots.

Their obsessive nature to venture into the claustrophobic conditions didn't inspire Cedric... but "stiff upper lip"  and all that. Cedric also had taken a degree of hositlity towards the character Winthrop and his rudeness. There was something not right about him.

Still the others seemed to be a plucky bunch. The irish man taking the lead.

"Let go of me, you bog-trottin' Irish bastard!"

Some kind of ruckus up ahead. Cedric pauses and waits for the others, but makes  a point of checking behind them.

 Cedric shines his own torch in the direction from which they came.

You aim your flashlights down the dark side tunnel, but there is nothing to see.

"I wouldn't go in there if I was you," says Winfield to Dermot. "Could be dangerous. We should stick together." He fishes out a pack of Woodbine cigarettes and lights one, neglecting to offer any to you.

"What are we even looking for down here?" he asks to no-one in particular, leaning nonchalantly against a particularly horrific wall carving. "What have you guys discovered that lead you here?"

In reply to Martin Winfield (msg # 97):

Now ignoring Winfield, he slowly draws his revolver and undoes his sheath hand, grtitting his teeth and staring toward the vanished apparition.

He sucks a breath through his teeth and says slowly and clearly, "It's happening again.... Some beastly abomination was down yonder."

He takes a tentative step in that direction, but stops short of heading down the passage.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:42, Sun 17 Mar 2019.

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 98):

"It's happening again.... Some beastly abomination was down yonder."

Cedric, on hearing the irishman,  turns nervously back around to the rest of the group.

Giving a slight gulp of trepidation, he speaks up:

" What, what exactly do you mean by abomination? "

Cedric peers in the same direction.

( any chance of spotting anything not yet noticed?)

In reply to Cedric Rothwell (msg # 99):

With revolver in hand, and a torch in another, Gustav gestures to get Cedric's attention for a moment.

Ah my old friend, one of these days, if we are lucky enough to reach that point, I shall recount to you our experiences and to why we act like this. That man - points at Mr. Dermot, saved my arsch a couple of times already, and I him, and I feel before everything is over, we shall reciprocate that kind gesture a little bit more.

For now, try to keep your wits together, hold up your revolver, and prepare for anything.

Gustav follows Mr. Murphy forward and tells Mr Rothwell as well as Mr. Winfield to be on a lookout for anything, and keep your weapons at the ready.

You take a few cautious steps down the side tunnel despite Winfield's warning. Shining your torches down the tunnel, you can make out the shadowy forms of numerous silent mummies with bestial heads, standing in alcoves along the walls. They appear motionless. They have the heads of bulls, crocodiles, falcons and even cheetahs.

As Dermot peers down the tunnel, a mummy with a cheetahs' head turns its head slightly so it's looking directly at him, its yellow eyes reflected in the torchlight!

(SAN rolls please: 0/1D6)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Tue 19 Mar 2019.

Terrified but not unnerved, Dermot slowly raises his revolver to level it at the creature’s feline head. He’ll fire if it moves toward him aggressively. “There’s another one!” he says in a loud whisper.

Gustav looks shaken. "Gah, whats next? All of the heads move?", he mutters.

“Ah, for fuck’s sake!” curses Winfield and fires a shot down the tunnel from his .38 revolver. He hits a mummy with a crocodile’s head and the thing slowly falls to the ground. You hear the creaking joints and nitrous wheezing of five more mummies as they stagger from their alcoves and walk towards you.

Rachel has seen enough. With a terrified cry, she bolts down the main tunnel and is quickly lost in the dark….

In reply to GM (msg # 102):


"Ah, Scheiße! here we go"

Gustav aims for the mummy with the cheetah head and proceeds to gun it down.

"At least this untermenschen had a bright idea" Gustav quips after a volley of revolver fire.

Gustav then looks at Mr. Murphy and Mr. Johan, both of which are reading their respective weapons. He then proceeded to tell the rest of the group to go back as we hold the line.

Gustav shoots the cheetah-headed mummy twice and it goes down. The remaining four mummies are cut down as you put round after round into them, making your ears ring with the din of gunfire in the narrow tunnel. They crumble into dust and brown bones as they die again.

Winfield checks his revolver with a frown. “Down to one round. Wasn’t expecting to spend my day like this, I must say.”

He grins at you as he closes the weapon with a snap. “Still, bloody good fun, eh? What now – we’re going after what’s her name?”

In reply to Martin Winfield (msg # 104):

Dermot can’t decide who makes him more incredulous: Martin Winfield for his sporting nonchalance at gunning down ACTUAL MUMMIES, or Rachel’s hysterical nerves. Either one could get us all killed.

“Bloody Englishmen have some sense of sport, eh.” he mumbles.

Relaxing his shoulders a bit, he ponders the choice ahead. He makes a suggestion.

“I suppose we oughta hunt Rachel down, fool as she is. Any objections? Let’s keep our eyes peeled, in front and back of us!”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Fri 29 Mar 2019.

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 105):

Gustav doesn't wait for any reply when he realised that Rachel was no where to be found. since there was only one way back, he decided to run after her, never waiting for Mr. Dermot or Mr. Winfield for a reply.

"Gott im Himmel! that woman will be the death of me" then with torch at hand, Gustav proceeds into the darkness

Gustav sets off down the main passage at a rapid pace, leaving you no choice but to follow him. You travel through the noxious tunnels for what seems like an eternity, passing fetid side-tunnels and nearly stumbling over piles of rubble.

The endless tunnel feels like a feverish dream; Warm liquid drips from the tunnel ceiling, the stone beneath is slick and red. A violent blast of wind extinguishes all unshielded candles and carries off any loose papers. A shapeless thing is glimpsed in the shadows. Growls, whispers, or screams of pain can be heard in the distance. You feel that the walls of the tunnel are rhythmically moving in and out, like bronchial tubes in the lungs…

A single object can be seen up ahead lying in the middle of the tunnel. It is a small sandal, possibly Rachel’s.

In reply to GM (msg # 107):

Sweat pouring from his brow....walls closing in.   Memories of the trenches.....  Gun fire from Dermont....
Johan attempts to maintain what composure he can  as he does his best to follow Gustav down the tunnel and hopefully towards wherever Rachel is...

Finally, after what seems like hours of walking, you see something other than endless tunnels. On your right, the tunnel opens up to a wide set of steps, leading further down below the ground. The dirt on the tunnel floor bears the mark of many sandaled feet in all directions. The stairs go on even beyond the feeble light from your flashlights.

You cautiously descend the stairs, with Gustav leading the way. From the main tunnel, wide steps lead 100 feet (30 m) down into a massive chamber. The hall is approximately 400 × 500 feet (120 × 150 m), with ceilings soaring more than 100 feet (30 m) high. The hall is so vast that only loud noises echo—ordinary voices are damped by the huge space.

Numerous torches light the way and illumine the vast courts within, reflecting everywhere from the gleaming black marble walls. The floor is of black marble flecked with white. The floor is exceptionally shiny and slick. Numerous ebon pillars support the enormous vaulted ceiling. You shine your torch along the length of the closest pillar, and the top seems to splay out into the tops of a black tree, the branches of which visibly sway to and fro in extra-dimensional winds.

Ahead are stairs (2) leading to a floor (or somewhere...) lower than the hall. They disappear down into a hideous, glowing ruby mist that pours up from below. Occasional ghastly shrieks and moans can be heard drifting up into the main chamber.

A large square pit (3) in the middle of the cavern turns out to be a pool of water, 75 feet (23 m) across and filled to within 8 feet (2.5 m) of the top of its stone wall. This water looks totally black and featureless. A set of narrow and slippery black marble steps without railings leads down into the pool. Tethered beside the steps is a jet-black ceremonial raft.

An altar (4) constructed from white marble stands beyond the pit, about 25 feet (7.5 m) square at the top. From three sides, steps lead 15 feet (4.5 m) up to where a sarcophagus rests. Stone braziers, which burn with a sickly yellow light, are built into the four corners of the altar.

Beyond the altar is another structure: a hideous double throne (5) of vile green, sweating stone, carved with numerous images of violent and cruel acts performed by humans and other horrifying, almost mythical-looking, creatures. The throne’s two seats are designed for human-sized figures. The throne block stands 30 feet (9 m) above the floor. To the front only, facing the hall, a set of narrow and precarious steps leads steeply down to the floor of the hall.

As one faces the hall from the throne, a long bridge leads sideways to the left wall of the hall. Its supports are also carved with disgusting figures and writhing tentacles. The bridge is of the same bilious green, weeping stone as the throne block, and has no railings. Its surface is 30 feet (9 m) above the floor.

A few feet out from the where the bridge joins the chamber wall stands a stele (6). It is very similar to the one you saw at Misr House in England.

In the rear wall of the Great Hall, behind the throne, is an enormous irregular hole (7), about 100 feet (30 m) wide. The hole is pitch black.


This message was last edited by the GM at 18:02, Sat 30 Mar 2019.

Wary but curious about the sarcophagus ahead, Dermot cautiously approaches it, avoiding the pit and the pool on the way. He slowly climbs the stairs to the altar and approaches the stone sarcophagus. The lid is still on, but the sarcophagus is resting on wooden supports, making it fairly easy to move. He moves over to peek inside and catches a glimpse of a wrapped-up mummy inside.

“That’s close enough!” shouts a familiar voice from behind you. Turning, you spot Winfield and six other people approaching you from the main entrance. Winfield is carrying a submachine gun, and one of the cultists is carrying a weakly struggling Rachel, holding a sharp knife to her throat.

In reply to Martin Winfield (msg # 111):

Johan moves toward Winfield with slow pace, "Ahhh...the rich whelp returns.  I must say I'm beginning to wonder how England accomplished what it did in the Great War with stock like yourself." Johan's right hand slides down to the flask on his hip.

"Or are you made of something more? Come here and prove it.  I'm an old man...I'm unarmed. Unless your afraid..."

Johan stares down Winfield.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:10, Sun 31 Mar 2019.

Winfield chuckles. “Unarmed indeed. I’m sure you have some trick up your sleeve. Do you think I’m stupid?”

He pauses for a moment and lowers his weapon slightly. “Look, I have an idea. You must surely realize by now that whatever actions you take, this world will soon be the playground of the Old Gods. Tomorrow night, right here in this sacred chamber, we will awaken Queen Nitocris and let her take her rightful place as ruler of this land. It will be magnificent! I would like for you to see this for yourselves, so that you may recognize Her glory and majesty! I promise you, no harm will come to you.”

His eyes shine with mad glee as he awaits your reply.