JM nodded and set his weapon carefully on the ground.  "You're probably one of the lightest Cynthia.  Let me boost you up."  He interlaced two hands and offered her a step up.  "You might have to climb up on my shoulders to make it all the way up."

Cynthia looks around, before accepting the step.

"You keep your eyes modest, Mr. Falcon. Tonight is not the night for flirting."

She steadies herself with her hands, and tries to climb up as well as she's able.

JM chuckled but managed to keep his eyes in the boat...

With some difficulty, Cynthia is lifted up to the ragged hole in the sloped stone roof.

Cool night air immediately blesses her. From her perch she saw the moon in the est and the first glow of sunlight in the east. They must have been in there for hours!

She could hear more clearly now there were shouts from below in the darkness from someone at the base of the structure. "Hello! Hello up there! We're coming up!"

Keeper's Note: Spot Hidden check please!

"Mr Falcon perhaps you should go next.... Here we can give you a lift." With the help of Mr Perkins he will attempt to get John-Marc up into the hole.


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"Will, do, thank you Count." JM nodded, checked his weapons and using the count's help along with that of Perkins leveraged himself up the narrow passageway.

Chi-yin followed, and managed to get herself up into the narrow passageway. It was very narrow, she thought.

Cynthia, JM and Chi-Yin crawled out the hole into the cool night air.

They could see several dark figures scrambling up the side of the pyramid towards them. It was hard to tell if they were armed or not. Other figures waited below on the ground in the darkness.

The Count then helped Mr. Perkins up and then grabbed his friends hand to ascend into the hole as well. The y shuffled along as best as they could until the met the others.


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Seeing the others approaching JM called out in Arabic; "As-salaam 'alaykum (peace be upon you)."  He continued in that language; "What has happened out here?"

In reply to John-Marc Falcon (msg # 190):

A familiar voice callled back, "Aleykum as-Salam!" (Peace be with you as well) It was Salim bin Kabina, Alexander's right-hand man and Bedouin scout. He was heard calling in English and Arabic to the others clambering up the pyramid with him to hold their fire, they were friends. "Tell me, where have you been? What has happened?"

JM paused as the friendly voice came out of the night. "We have encountered great evil and some of our group were lost.  I fear we must redouble our efforts although this is not the place to talk of such horrors."

"Mr. Bin Kabina, please, what is the hour? Do you know where we might find the cultists still, or has the dark ceremony been completed?"

In reply to Cynthia Jane Holloway (msg # 193):

Salim stopped, almost shivered in the night air.

"The ceremony? That was a fortnight ago, I am afraid.

"You have been inside the pyramid since the 6th. It is now the 20th! Alexander and the others waited for a day or so for you to re-emerge, but this did not happen. He then left a man to keep watch and returned to Cairo. From there he gathered more men and supplies. set up a watch and had the cultist guards.... removed. Since then we've watched and waited.

"Praise God you have returned! Are all of you safe?"

"This time-travel nonsense never seems to go the direction that would be useful, would it?

"Do you know what happened at the ceremony? Perhaps we should visit the site and see if they left anything?"

The Count followed the others as they emerged from the hole. Careful to watch where he is putting his feat so as to not roll down the structure. The words from Salim were not surprising, though had they been delayed enough for whatever was being planned to take place ? He waited for the Bedouins response.


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In reply to Cynthia Jane Holloway (msg # 195):

Once he was up, he and his men began helping the others through the roof.

<Blue>"My master Alexander reported that you disappeared before in the Pyramid of Menkaure for some 6 hours or so. I think the same black sorcery happened here!"

"The cultists finished their ceremony. They got away on a barge on the Nile, we believe.

"One of the cultist guards that we apprehended, he said this ceremony tonight was just to prepare for another, greater ceremony. We couldn't get any more from him, worse the luck. We'll complete other investigations."</Blue>

"Perhaps we should check the area while we're here. I imagine this worse ceremony is linked to that mountain. That too would explain why the took a barge. But it would be a shame to go trekking all the way out there only to find out it was intended to be here the whole time."

JM shook his head as he helped pull the others out of the pyramid and down to the safety of the ground.  "A fortnight?  Given what we experienced I am surprised but not shocked."  He nodded to Cynthia and headed around to the front of the pyramid.  "Let's investigate by all means Cynthia.  I fear the trail may be cold after a fortnight but we'll have to pick up what we can."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:03, Mon 03 Feb 2020.

In reply to Salim bin Kabina (msg # 194):

''My word!'' Chi-yin gasped. They had been in there that long? But it had only seemed like hours!

The situation reminded her of some of those German fairytales she had read once.

In reply to Wong Chi-yin (msg # 200):

Salim peered into the ragged hole in the side of the top of the pyramid. He shone his electric torch around.

"Some sort of foul throne room? And where are those chaps, Chalky and Matt?"

Cynthia flinches at the mention. But there is no way to pretend they were just following behind the group. "We were attacked. They died. Fighting heroically. We should remember them as that."

In reply to Cynthia Jane Holloway (msg # 202):

"May Allah protect their souls." He looked down, the at them. "We have a quantity of explosives with us, we can demolish this foul chamber! But it looks like there are wall paintings and frescoes there?"

"I don't know that I care to preserve them... But yes, if some of the party wants to check for any signs of the cultists, perhaps a quick review of the frescoes might be warranted. Count, you're the best learned of us. Do you have any thoughts?"

"I would be happy to as long as we are not caught unawares by advancing fanatics ?" He continues to scan the area around their perch.


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