Escaping Cairo
The investigators started out in the Cairo hospital where some party members were still healing from the battle wounds inflicted by the cultist encounter in the pyramids. They had saved two new acquaintances, [Agatha Broadmoore] and James Green from the cultists. As James was staying in the hospital he could tell them about the Clive expedition that he was participating in. The expedition had found a mummy (most likely [Nikotris]) and a coffin with papyrus that later had disappeared along with the people guarding the found. Following this, the expedition had moved to Memphis for further excavations.
Basile visited the Cairo bulletin and discovered that a wealthy egyptian lady [Sharifa Rawash] would be organising a society party in the upcoming days. The investigators were keen to learn more about this lady, as it seemed very plausible that she could be the resurrected queen [Nikotris]. While waiting for the society party, they visited the pyramids in Giza once more to investigate the teleportation mechanism (by which Rashkolnikov had “disappeared”) to see if it worked to teleport anyone from the outside into the pyramid. Two egyptians were following the party and observed them during this experiment (which failed).
Back in Cairo some investigators went for a shopping tour on the bazaar and Frank decided to visit the museum on his own, despite warnings from Jude about wandering off alone. He had an encounter with some back-alley egyptians that led to some severe wounds and a lecture from Jude as he returned bleeding to the hospital.
Finally, as the society party took place, all investigators happily showed up as servants and friends of Basile who had managed to get a press pass. Jude snuck away to try to lockpick his way into the house, but returned to the rest after a failed attempt. Luckily, someone allowed the whole group of investigators to enter. This “someone” turned out to be Omar Al-Shakti who interrogated the investigators about their business in Cairo while showing signs that he already knew who they were. As Al-Shakti showed up with [Sharifa Rawash] who was wearing a stunning selection of accessories – a girdle, necklace, and crown – the investigators decided to get out of there.
The escape was interrupted by a giant flaming sphere that attacked Rashkolnikov. While fleeing, Basile heard the noise from the fight and turned around to try to save Rashkolnikov as neither bullets nor holy water seemed to do any damage to the creature. Rashkolnikov violently burned to death and Basile’s bravery turned to his demise. After being hunted trough the streets of Cairo the beast of fire turned both Basile and some innocent bystanders into piles of ashes.
Terrified by this encounter, the party assembled at the hospital of Cairo and decided to send the still wounded members to Port Said, while the rest escaped south, to [Meidum], to trace down a woman, Nuri, whose son had participated in the Carlyle expedition. During this train trip Frank started doubting the saneness of continuing to follow the traces of ancient legends that only seemed to end with the death of his fellow investigators.
As the investigators arrived in [Meidum] they attempted to find Nuri but only managed to irritate a clerk in the local post office. Finally they found a young student, Muhammed, who spoke english and could act as a guide to the city [Al-Wasta] where Nuri supposedly lived. The investigators managed to find Nuri, and by bribing her son, managed to talk to her. She gave the investigators a piece of pink-colored limestone with some carvings that had been taken from one of the pyramids nearby. She and her son had been attacked by one of the creatures of doom, so the party did not bother them further.
Having suffered the loss of two investigators and friends, Frank decided to take a break from the adventure and bid farewell to the rest of the group. He hinted at a return after some time, but for now he needed some moments of solitude. The remaining team did not allow themselves to be let down from the numerous losses, but instead continued their investigation, traveling towards the Red pyramid.