Nov., 1888. The slopes of Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb
The stone door slid open and Mr. Forester blushed hotly as he found himself looking down a short hallway lined with statues, female, nude, and magnificently endowed. The statuary was of gold and silver, inlaid with faceted gemstones that accented rather than made modest the metallurgist's art. There were only four of them in a 4-hex passage or, rather, a narrow room, for there was no other door apparent -- of white marble, the floor intricately inlaid with gold filigree. Gold sconces with clear crystal half-sphere basins lit the scene. Mr. Forester swallowed and brought his professional skills to bare, er, bear, noting that something in the doorway interfered with radiological effects. Cautiously the young tutor stepped in. He felt a tingling on his skin as he did so.
Miss Costorari followed. She glanced at the improbable statues and commented wryly, "Wishful thinking!" She looked up. The ceiling was arched, giving the small space an airy feeling. Mr. Penrington, too, entered and examined the floor. The intricate patterning did not indicate "stepping stones" but, rather, seemed traditionally arabesque.
Forester continued on. As he passed the first set of statues, those before him turned in place and those behind fell in, bracketing the tutor and moving with him. At the end of the corridor, the forward statues executed a precise right-face. The wall before them then slid away, revealing another corridor some 10 hexes long and lit by the same type of lamp as previously. The crystal sections of those lamps were faceted and gave light back like a diamond. At the end of that corridor, the statues made a left face. Again the wall slid aside. The corridor ahead was shorter, 5 hexes long, and at the end the statues made another left face, with another door opening into a room.
The party followed Mr. Forester into a room six hexes on a side. The statues stepped away one hex on the diagonals from the square they formed, turned in unison to all face Mr. Forester, and stopped. Mr. Blake, at the end of the party, watched each of the doors slide silently back into place after the party had safely passed.
Stuff was scattered about the room. A robe embellished with stars and moons assembled itself into an upright position (as though worn on an invisible body) in one corner and moved towards the party. Mr. Blake bowed and greeted the robe. Miss Costorari said, in some surprise, "Does everyone see that?"
Mr. Forester: "Salaam?"
The robe, in Arabic: "Why are you here?"
Mr. Blake, in Anglish: "We've come to see the wizard."
From another corner a hat, also decorated with stars and moons, rose to above head-height. "I am the muqarribun al Shu'ayb," it spoke in Anglish. (The party recalled that that phrase was the title of the mage of this mountain.)
Mr. Blake: "We had hoped to learn of the Seven Pillars of Wisdom with which you are clearly familiar. Thank you for receiving us."
One statue answered melodiously: "Those who come this far have the beginnings of Wisdom." (The wizard's part of the conversation was shared by the various statues and the hat; the robe seemed able to converse only in Arabic.)
Miss Costorari offered one of her best mechanical trinkets to Mr. Blake who said with some flourishes, "Please accept this insignificant gift."
Wizard: "I have no need of that. Why are you here?"
Po: "We are in search of a memory."
Blake: "There are seven small sculptures that are the solidification of a memory. We understand that you have one."
Robe, in Arabic: "I do."
Blake: "Would you be willing to let us examine it?"
Wizard: "It is up to you whether or not you are willing to face the Void."
Blake: "Must we enter the Void in order to see the statue?"
Wizard: "The statue rests in the Void, in the City of Brass."
Blake, somewhat confused: "I thought you had it."
Wizard: "I have the statue and I have the entrance to the Void."
Dr. Davis: "We should enter then."
Blake, with some concern: "Doctor, I think it may be premature to do so."
Wizard, continuing: "When the Red Star is in Shi-shu-mara and the White is in Al Dalw, then it is time for the re-emergence." (The party may have misheard the strange names used.)
Miss Costorari tried to correlate the Arabic names with what she knew of heavenly astrological features, guessing Red meant Mars and White, Venus; but could not sway the wizardly voice into a less obscure path.
Wizard: "I see the signs that it is time to try again."
Mr. Blake: "Must we know the Pillars of Wisdom in order to make it through the Void."
Wizard: "To negotiate the path this far is to have the beginnings of wisdom."
Steele: "Is there something we could do or learn to prepare ourselves to enter the Void?"
Hat: "The Void is what it is. It is different to different people. I can enter freely. But then I am just a Player in the Game, Manipulated by Someone Else. Otherwise I would go mad."
Dr. Davis swallowed convulsively.
Mr. Forester: "Is the Void what swallowed up the 'efrit on the path up to here?"
Wizard: "The Void is the home of the djinn; they live in the City of Brass within. You said you were looking for a memory."
Mr. Blake told of Miss Costorari's visions, describing the city.
The Wizard robes shrugged at the description: "In the Game I play, Names are important."
Speaking randomly, various party members mentioned alternate names for the City of Brass Irem, Ubar, Omanum Emporium (spread out over the following discussion).
Wizard (in response to Irem): "Irem is an echo of paradise. The ghostly city of the mind."
Po: "Is Ad Irem part or the entire city?"
Wizard: "The Ad Irem are the people who lived at the Gates of Paradise. Irem Zhat al Imad is the city."
Blake: "A name or an aspect of the city?"
Wizard: "To name it is to look for the ghostly city of the mind. It is found by finding one's way through the memory."
Miss Costorari: "Whose memory?"
Wizard: "A traveler who saw it and saw it clearly."
Miss Costorari, persisting: "Who?"
Wizard: "A woman." The robe shrugged again. "Women have no names."
Miss Costorari: "What is the significance of names."
Wizard: "In this game, knowing the name is to command the thing."
Miss Costorari: "If women have no names, then does it follow that a woman cannot be commanded?"
Again the robe shrugged. "Camels, too, have no names."
Miss Costorari: "Once in the Void and the City of Brass, is it possible to leave?"
Wizard: "If the Lord of the Djinn does not forbid it, then all you face is the Void."
Mr. Forester: "Do you know the name of the Lord of the Djinn?"
Wizard: "I walk freely through the City of Brass."
Po, somewhat worriedly: "If the City of Brass is brought back to this earth, would the djinn be freer to commit havoc amongst men?"
Wizard: "If this were a game, bringing the City of Brass back would move those pieces closer."
Po: "Who would be controlling their pieces?"
Wizard: "The One at the Center. They are under the immediate control of 333; behind him is Yog-Sothoth. Call him Coronzon that is a safe name. His real name resolves to 333."
Blake: "What does 'Cthulhu' mean?" Dr. Davis gave the radiologist a puzzled look.
Wizard: "Cthulhu resolves to 'abandoner', the traitor who turned away."
Forester: "Who did he abandon?"
Wizard: "Those who would help him, rely on him."
Someone asked, "What position does he play in the game?"
Wizard: "On the board, he seems to be directing. 'A god' you might call him. He abandoned the other gods. Thus the city was sundered and Paradise was covered by sands."
Miss Costorari, "What do you want?"
Wizard: "I don't want anything."
Steele: "Who controls you? Do you know?"
Wizard: "He who moves me."
Miss Costorari: "What is the Void?"
Wizard: "It is Absolute Nothingness. And Absolute Everythingness. The Test of the Void is the ability to face the Void and is as different as individuals are different. It is a place, a room beyond the door. It is none of the above."
Po: "Where is the door?"
Wizard: "I will show you the door when you say you are ready to face it."
Miss Costorari: "Do you get many visitors?"
Wizard: "Yes. Every time something from the Void must reappear."
Miss Costorari: "Is that frequently?"
Wizard: "What is time? What is frequently? You would think not. Iron-with-some-carbon" the robe gestured vaguely at Mr. Steele, "would think it frequent."
Steele asked about repeat visitors.
Wizard: "Most of the pieces are not on the board long enough for the Void to be opened twice."
Miss Costorari: "Must things from the Void always be retrieved by a group?"
Wizard: "It need not always be a group. But if one is part of a stack, one should move together with the stack, should one not?"
Po: "What would be the effect on the Game should the City of Brass reappear on this world?"
Wizard: "The game would continue to play."
Forester: "How can a piece know if he is a piece?"
Steele, at about the same time: "How many players are there?"
Wizard: "I do not know."
Po: "Can a piece be moved by different players?"
Wizard: "I think not; that makes no sense."
Dr. Davis, hidden in her burka, moved more and more restlessly as this conversation continued.
Forester: "How many pieces are there?"
Wizard: "More than a thousand times a thousand times a thousand. I have only met other pieces."
Blake: "Let's concentrate on what can be determined, not on theoretical movements in a theoretical game."
Po: "Can you bring the statue here?"
The hat nodded up and down, but the wizardly voice said, "No."
Forester: "What is the name of the statue that is in the City of Brass?"
Wizard: "That you will need to know to obtain it."
Dr. Davis: "What is the name of the King of Oman?"
Wizard: "What would you trade me for that? With such a name you would have control over king, his armies, his country. That would be very powerful. For that, Iron-with-Carbon and the Fractured one," the robe nodded in Po's direction, "might do."
The doctor made a strangled sound of horror.
Blake: "What does 'Ubar' mean."
Wizard: "That is also an echo of the City of Brass. It is where camels come together. It is entered from the Valley of Death beneath the Hills of Life."
Someone asked, "And 'Omanum Emporium'?"
Wizard: "That is a name of a would-be-conqueror for a place that was lost. The echo is part of the memory."
Blake looked towards Dr. Davis, guessing: "Alexander the Great?"
The black burka nodded slightly.
Po: "A conqueror named it. Is there power in naming?"
Wizard: "If the namer can enforce his name, he has power over it."
Blake: "Did each echo of the City have a separate name."
Wizard: "Each of those things that are found are different in the finding. Each different echo of the city must have a different name. A worker in metal's name might be, over time, corrupted."
Blake, with understanding: "As in 'blacksmith' to 'Blake'."
Wizard: "Do you want to face the Void?"
Dr. Davis: "Yes."
Miss Costorari: "Eventually."
Miss Costorari: "Various peoples refer to you in manners that are not, ah, complimentary. Is there a real reason for their fear of you?"
Wizard: "Yes. I am evil. I have ventured into the Void," and he hurried to add, "as directed by my player. I have there gathered information, brought it back, and shared it. Some with whom I shared it took it too seriously, and did not know they were but players. Abdul Alhazred went mad."
Steele: "Why did he go mad?"
Wizard: "He put the information in a book and believed it. I have watched the copies of the book move around with great interest."
Steele: "What book?"
Wizard: "Al Azif. In your tongue, The Necronomicon."
Mr. Penrington looked stunned.
Po: "Will facing the Void make us evil?"
Wizard: "That depends on what you do within the Void and what you say when you come back."
Miss Costorari: "Can just one of us go?"
Wizard: "I do not know. I can offer you no advice." Then, in contradiction to his previous statement, "Though if you are a stack, it makes sense to move together."
Blake: "If we are all to go, we should each of remember carefully the names of the statues we have yet to find."
Mr. Steele, the Nasmyth calculating engine, recited: "Hird, 39. Salimah, 20-21-22. Hafizun, 9-15-61." Everyone concentrated on committing those facts to memory.
A pair of Persian slippers shuffled out and oriented themselves at the front of the party. They walked towards the wall opposite that through which the party had entered and the people followed. The wall slid open revealing a courtyard. Once outside, the group was amazed to see a clear night sky; no daylight, no lightning. There were several stone benches in the rock garden and the opposite wall was painted with a black archway over which the Arabic letters for "V" and "D" were written. Miss Costorari and Dr. Davis took a few minutes to make astronomical observations; they determined that, despite appearances, the time did seem to be three in the afternoon, as expected.
Then Blake, the doctor and the gypsy moved towards the painted archway. Ever the gentleman, the radiologist stepped aside to allow the ladies to enter together. As he moved to follow, he found himself instead catching the two female bodies as they slumped back. Penrington hurried to assist lowering the ladies to the ground. They seemed to be breathing but unconscious.
Meanwhile Madeline found herself immersed in a blackness so thorough that she could not see even herself. Although she thought she was walking forward, she could not feel anything under her feet. Voronika, also in darkness, could see Madeline nearby, robed in glowing white. As the doctor moved on, the gypsy tried to take her arm but found that her hand passed through the other woman. "So this is what it is like."
Startled, the doctor stared blindly around. "What is what like?"
Voronika: "Being a ghost."
Madeline: "I do not feel like a ghost. It is just dark."
Voronika: "We're both here."
Madeline: "We can hear each other, but I don't see you."
Voronika: "That would make sense. I think only our spirits are here. But, Madeline, I see you." At the sound of her name, the doctor could suddenly see both herself and the gypsy girl, dressed all in white. She turned to face the other woman, behind whom she could see a white doorway.
Madeline: "And now I see you. I think your act of naming me had some power. Is it safe to name?"
Mr. Blake stepped through the door. Voronika, looking in that direction, could see a thin silver thread connecting herself to the white doorway. Beyond she could make out her erstwhile companions and the prone bodies of those now in the Void. Mr. Blake appeared to be somewhat below herself and the doctor. "Mr. Blake," the gypsy called. Madeline also tried calling, "Mr. Blake", but the radiologist heard only the gypsy, and only the gypsy (and his own body, dressed in white) became visible to him.
Back in the wizard's atrium, Po informed his remaining companions that he thought that only ones spirit could venture into the Void, and that he feared for himself were he to try the experiment. However, he urged the others on, saying that if they could help, they should. Mr. Steele chose to try. The great steel frame, luckily, did not slump as the others had, and the giant blacksmith was able to leverage the inert machine out of the doorway.
Steele called through the blackness, "Dr. Davis? Mr. Blake? Miss Courtney? Uh, Miss Costorari?" Voronika could see an unfamiliar spirit dressed in work clothing. "Yes, I am here," she stated, suppressing the urge to ask, "Who are you?" The gypsy remembered that every time she had previously asked a spirit a question, it had answered and disappeared. That would not do in this situation.
Finally, Penrington, then Smith, and at last Po entered the Void. Voronika took care to name each of them and discovered that, though each could touch her and she could touch each of her companions, all communication had to funnel through her. No one could see or hear anyone else. Conversation, in fact, became rather distracting for Voronika as none of her companions could know when they were talking at the same time as someone else.
Nonetheless, Miss Costorari said, "If I begin to ask you a question, stop me!" Then she explained her intuition about her ability to question ghosts and the risk that posed to her companions.
Po appeared to Voronika somewhat differently than the others, translucent and not altogether present. At times he seemed himself, at times overlaid with a bald image with pendulant earlobes. In addition to Miss Costorari's voice, Po found that he — unlike any of the others — could hear a background noise, pleasant and somehow like the meditative syllable "Om", though fuller, richer, more complete. The sound, unreproducible by human throats, of the creation of the world. In the beginning....
Miss Costorari said, "Follow me."
After some time, it became apparent that without direction or guide, the group would wander the Void forever. So Miss Costorari ordered everyone to try to visualize the City of Brass, the missing statues, the numbers of their names. Po could sense the sound changing near them, as the Void tried to manifest something, but the party was not able to do so. Finally the suggestion was made to try to visualize a path to the City of Brass. Suddenly the thrumming of hooves was heard and a golden horse appeared. Mr. Penrington was the first to mount, quickly followed by the others.
Traveling at an incomprehensible speed, the party was deposited in a rocky area surrounded by lava. Out of the rocks stuck the head of a djinn.
Miss Costorari: "That looks terribly uncomfortable."
Djinn: "It is."
The creature ignored Po's question as to how the djinn came to be in such a position.
Steele: "Are you able to hear us?"
The djinn seemed to ignore that too.
Miss Costorari explained to the djinn that her companions wanted to speak to him.
Djinn: "If they were to name themselves, they could speak."
Dr. Davis felt a shiver of alarm at the suggestion that her friends put themselves into this creature's power.
Miss Costorari: "If you would name yourself, that would be helpful too, wouldn't it?"
Djinn: "Yes." He vanished.
Dr. Davis: "Did you intend to ask that djinn a question, Voronika?"
Miss Costorari, with a touch of regret: "No, I slipped."
Lacking a denizen to question, the group again tried to visualize a path to the City of Brass. Although there seemed to be again a slight fluctuation in the dark aether, the visualization was not strong enough to materialize this time.
Using Miss Costorari as a communication conduit, Smith had Mr. Steele describe the construction of a steam ship. Smith reached down to his side where his hammer was normally carried and found a golden hammer in his hand. With it, he began to hammer the Void and pieces of ship came into existence, visible to everyone. In time, the smith was able to construct a launch with a directional needle. "Everyone aboard," stated Miss Costorari. Unfortunately, the directional needle remained fixed in the direction it had first been pointed. Po, however, was able to use his skill at locating minds to determine that in one direction there was the mind of the 'efrit the group had vanquished on Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb, although it was in part obscured by many similar minds. At right angles to those, Po could tell that there was a small area that contained some 3 billion minds. Overwhelmed by that number, his power could determine no more. Nonetheless, it was enough by which to set the needle. The aethereal steam ship headed towards the jinni minds. Miss Costorari assured the others, "I can get us home."
Gradually, ahead, a shape took form: towers of brass, 50-story-high minarets, huge walls, djinn flying within the city. From the first angle of approach the group could see 5 towers and a central massive stepped pyramid/tower. The ship circuited the city twice in disbelief as eight towers plus the central pyramid were counted, not the expected seven "Pillars of Wisdom." No markings could be seen on the towers.
There were two gates into the city, a main and a smaller gate, opposite each other. Every part of the city seemed made of brass or, perhaps, gold. Venturing closer, an alcove or guard shack was spotted near the smaller gate. Landing the ship, the Adventurers investigated. They found a 4-hex chamber built into the city wall. Before the opposite wall was a shimmering veil of energy across which ghostly shapes of people writhed and screamed soundlessly. Beyond that glowing shell stood the sought-for statuette. It held a scythe, a shovel, a skull (in one lower hand), and an incense burner (in the other lower hand). Above it was a plaque:
"Whoever doth read this writing, let him give up troubling greatly about this world, for the destiny and end of all men is to die, and nothing remains of a man but his good name."
The group discussed for awhile the possibility of naming themselves to pass the energy field. That option seemed risky given the proximity of an entire city of djinn. Dr. Davis suggested that she was willing to give up everything, leaving only her good name, but one of her companions told her, through Miss Costorari, that "she, of all people, might not know her true name." The doctor opined that the plaque did not require a true name, just a good name. That started Mr. Penrington thinking about what might be good names in this situation. Realizing that the group had learned the names of two of the former inhabitants of this city -- the founder and the last king -- he named the latter aloud: "Shaddad ben 'Ad." One of the figures in the energy field stopped moving and looked towards the hunter. "How does one enter the City of Brass?" Penrington asked. "Go through the gates in this land or one of the entrances in yours," came the ghostly reply and the figured vanished. "It works for me, too!" the hunter crowed to the gypsy. Mr. Smith began hammering some long tongs out of the aether.
For a while the others debated using the name "King Ad Kin'Ad" to learn something -- perhaps even the name of the Lord of the Djinn. Not being able to resolve that, others started talking about the statue. When someone asked which it was, Dr. Davis answered, "Hird. The god of death." At the word "Hird", the energy shell stopped swirling and became grey dust. It collapsed, and Po quickly backed away, realizing the dust still hanging in the air was dangerous. Mr. Smith used his blacksmith tongs to reach past the dust and easily pick up the statue. Several shakes of the tongs rid the statue of most of the dust. Dr. Davis was pretty sure that it was composed of the remains of cremated dead.
Our Adventurers backed out of the room, shook off the remaining dust, and boarded the boat. Miss Costorari pointed the return path along her silver thread. Eventually, the craft came to the backside of the door and, still following the thread, swung around to reveal the white doorway (it had been invisible from the direction they had come). Steele was the last to leave the Void, momentarily reluctant to give up the spiritual representation of his true human self. But he hesitated only a moment.
Smith awoke to find himself back in his body, the statuette of Hird lying on his stomach. He had just enough time to take readings as the steel robot was restored to full functionality. There were changes in the magnetic fields of the mechanical man as Steele reasserted control.
Penrington walked towards the opposite wall of the garden but, the wall not automatically sliding aside, bumped his nose. Suppressing a smile, Mr. Blake knocked on that wall once, twice and -- having counted Penrington's bump as a knock -- the wall slide aside. The radiologist entered the room where the four female statues still stood. The hat and robe seemed crumpled and discarded. As Mr. Blake walked past the first set of statues, they again moved into place and escorted him out, the party following. Various people uttered polite thanks to the unseen sorcerer as they left, but there was no obvious response.
Sometime later, the Adventurers rejoined Lord Ava and a very sulky Yemeni prince. They had been gone two days. Miss Costorari, properly assessing Abdul's attitude, informed the boy, "You were really right not to go. It was singularly unexciting." Penrington tried to say, "You thought that unexciting?" but was hushed up. Lord Ava, with a sympathetic twist of his lips, said, "I watched out for his safety. The young man does not like being watched like a hawk." Dr. Davis nodded, saying softly, "Who would?"
Safely reunited, Miss Costorari assembled the group's statuettes and then touched the new one. Her vision continued: The woman in the brightly coloured sari walked along the sandy edge of the stone city, approaching the small gate. Statues came to life and escourted her. Beyond the gold chain that denied access to the city, she could see an open area, buildings and, at some distance, the great stepped pyramid. The symbols on the gold chain read from right to left: Hospitality, Piety, Obedience, Honour.....
Softly Miss Costorari said, "A Memory of an Echo."
Next Run: After a week's journey, Sanaa, Capital of Yemen
[Note: Next run will be Saturday, from 4-9 PM..]
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II
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