[Note: Sunny was missing. Marian played the part of Forester.]
London, Anglia. Spring.
The ensconced Mr. J.A. Smutts invited our Heroes into Mrs. Oliver's Boarding House parlour. Voronika recognized that name as the one who'd written a letter to the Times and to which she'd sent her card requesting an interview.
Smutts: "I understand you are looking for the Dagger of Tihuta."
Steele: "If we are, this is the first we've heard of it."
?Voronika: "What are we to do with it when we find it?"
Smutts: "There are few things that can be used against the Plague Carrier you have encountered." His gaze rested on Mr. Homme at that. "This is one of those things."
Homme: "The Plague Carrier - is the creature who," he pressed his hand against his chest, indicating the now-healed wound, "and not me, myself?"
Smutts: "That is correct. The ancient Greeks knew it as Nosophorous." Sunshine and others, no doubt, recognized the Greek for "plague carrier".
Voronika: "Would the dagger of Tihuta be the iron dagger found in Egypt by the Turnball Expedition?"
Smutts: "The ancient Egyptians knew what they had encountered. They used tools to imprison this creature. It should be no surprise if it was found nearby with other tools."
?Steele: "How did you know about the dagger?"
Smutts: "There are those who have encountered this before. My dear friend Count de Saint-Germain, for one."
Ramsey: "That would be a French count, unless I am mistaken?"
Smutts, with a smile: "You are mistaken. It is German. He died the first time some 100 years ago."
?Ramsey: "How are we to talk with him?"
Smutts: "He is known mostly to speak with princes and kings. A peculiar man; he's almost never been seen to eat."
Penrington: "Not being kings and princes, what should we take to get this St.-Germain to speak with us?"
Smutts: "He is fond of unusual jewels and gems. He was rarely to be seen without an open case of jewels."
Homme: "Would he be found near the Black Forest?"
Smutts: "Possibly. He died in Castle Eckernförde (Eckrenford) in Schleswig-Holstein, near Denmark."
?Ramsey: "If he's dead, how can we talk with him?" The gypsy gave him A Look.
Smutts: "He was a remarkable man. During the 112 years that he is recorded as having lived in Europe, he always presented the appearance of a man about forty-five years of age. He ate no meat and drank no wine, his favorite beverage being a tea which he prepared from certain herbs, and which he frequently presented to his friends."
Some in the group couldn't help wondering if the count had had access to the "flower of memory", taduki.
Voronika: "Where can we find the dagger?"
Smutts: "The dagger is nowhere near. It should be now en route to the Sultan, the head of the Ottoman Empire."
Voronika: "Was the dagger in Akram Fahmi's box?"
Smutts: "It seems likely. But whether he carried it or a decoy in the box...."
Homme: "Is the Plague Carrier responsible for the Observation spell on me?"
Smutts: "Most who encounter the Plague Carrier die. Sometimes," he looked significantly at the pale young man, "something he doesn't expect happens. He did not expect you to keep moving. It may have left him vulnerable."
Voronika: "How so?"
Smutts: Such a spell might reveal where something in which he is interested is hidden. However, the spell that allows him to see others, allows others to see him." He looked at Mortimer Homme intensely. "You know how to point the way where he is hidden."
Ramsey: "Why did he take my silver cigarette case?"
Smutts: "Silver should not concern him at all. Perhaps he had local help which was sensitive to it. They might break out in rashes, so to speak."
?Voronika: "What will we need to combat the Carrier and his Help?"
Smutts: "You will need to find aid and tools before you encounter him."
Steele: "Tools other than the dagger? Can we find such tools here in Anglia?"
Smutts: "I fear that the vaunted powers of steam and radiation will be of little aid in this. You must find older help. Would anyone here in Anglia take seriously this threat in order to loan you their tools?"
Penrington: "If not Anglia, where should we look?"
Smutts: "There are older and wilder places."
Homme: "Please tell us the Plague Carrier's capabilities. Is he a shape changer? What aides can he enlist?"
Smutts: "He can call on any of the animals of the plague. Wolf, rat, bat ... they will do his bidding. He can see through the eyes of the animals he calls and can cause them to act with his super-human intelligence. And in a shaft of moonlight, he can change into mist."
Homme: "Can we prevent his using me as a monitor?"
Smutts: "If you were destroyed in fire, he could not look through you nor could you find him."
Homme: "Is this...," he tugged down his collar to exhibit the puncture marks.
Smutts: "That is his mark. You can remove it by fire, but then you would cease to move." The druidess looked at the dark-haired young man with concern.
Penrington loosely described the deaths associated with the Mummy Murders.
Smutts: "He has caused millions of deaths throughout history. A few more laid at his door are nothing."
Penrington: "How is he motivated?"
Smutts shrugged: "He kills people. He fights those close to him or those who can damage him because they are a threat to him. Now he is weak and will seek to regenerate himself wherever Home is."
Penrington: "Where is his home?"
Smutts: "The Plague Carrier is where he," gesturing to Mr. Homme, "points."
Voronika: "If he kills those who oppose him, why are you still alive?"
Smutts: "I am difficult to catch and kill. I Know things."
Homme: "Does he know about you?"
Smutts: "Not specifically. He has encountered my kind before. After all, Saint-Germain is a member of," he spoke a phrase in what the druidess and others recognized as Tibetan, "<the Great White Lodge.>"
Penrington: "If we find Count Saint-Germain, should we mention your name? Would that induce him to speak to us?"
Smutts paused for a moment: "Please tell him he still owes me 20 pounds."
Steele muttered: "Sounds like we'll still need a shiny rock."
Smutts: "A shiny rock, as your metal friend puts it, will give you entrée. Tell him that you seek the one whom the ancient Egyptians call Katabet." Ramsey recognized the word as ancient Egyptian meaning "he who is written". He realized that it was an unusual name for an Egyptian. The entire party recognized the word as the name of the tomb that was excavated by the Turnball Expedition; it was, in fact, the name of the missing mummy. "Katabet was not Egyptian although the Egyptians imprisoned him."
Penrington: "What do you seek above all things?"
Smutts: "I guard the Mysteries, and this is one of the things I do."
Sunshine: "Helping adventurers find and defeat evil?"
Smutts, correcting her: "Preventing the Plague Carrier from killing even more than it has."
Voronika: "Why do you not act directly?"
Smutts: "That would not work."
Homme: "Is he afraid of fire?"
Smutts: "Fire is a tool that works against part of him. It would be difficult to burn all of him in one flame."
Voronika: "What sort of plague does he carry?"
Smutts, sternly: "It is THE plague!"
Voronika: "Forgive my lack of education. What is that?"
Steele: "What are its symptoms?"
Smutts: "People die. Lots of people die. It travels."
Homme: "Is it possible to stop the plague after the Plague Carrier moves out of an area?"
Smutts: "Caught early enough, fire will take care of the area."
Homme, quietly: "London hasn't burned lately."
Smutts: "It made such a mess last time."
The druidess shuddered.
Mr. Smutts rose to his feet. "Lord Truro has graciously received your card. Good day." There was a puff of smoke and, as it cleared, the group saw that the window behind their guest's chair was open. There was no sign of Mr. J.A. Smutts.
The group looked at each other, then started making plans as though the mysterious visitor had crystallized their future actions.
Voronika: "I will check the Museum Map Room for information on Schleswig-Holstein."
Homme: "Mr. Steele? You have access to the Egyptology Department at the Museum. Can you find out more what has been learned about the scarab that was found with the dagger?"
Sunshine: "It might be one of those tools the dagger was used with."
Steele: "We can't simply take the scarab without a reason or a Sponsor to authorize it."
Homme: "You might at least be able to tell how it was used."
Ramsey: "It was not typical of Egyptian scarabs. The semi-precious stones were glued on, like a mosaic."
Steele: "If we need silver against the 'helpers', perhaps we also need lapis lazuli?"
Sunshine: "Perhaps what is significant is the shape of the beetle, a symbol of Life. The Plague Carrier is anything but."
Voronika: "What about the dagger? It has already booked passage to the Ottoman Empire."
Ramsey: "If we believe anything Smutts said here tonight, we should believe that we should seek the dagger."
Sunshine: "It was the first thing he told us to do."
It was decided that in the morning:
Forester's mother was fascinated with Penrington and plied him with tea and cookies, encouraging him to tell stories about his lifetime adventuring. The hunter decided that it was good practice in honing his storytelling skills for a less rowdy audience than the typical pub. As tea ended, Penrington heard the older man say to his son, "There's an odd property to that beetle, shared by a few others about whom I've read. If one views the carapace in a mirror, it looks washed out, tan. The blues have vanished. It is a matter of the shell having the property of circularly polarising light. But it is a property of no known use, as there is no predator known to hunt using polarised light."
Penrington: "Sir, I did not know there were such interesting facts about beetles."
Forester, with pardonable pride: "My father is one of the world's experts on the order Coleoptera. Beetles."
Forester Sr. beamed at the hunter: "Let me show you my collection, Mr. Penrington."
Druid's Grove
Mr. Ramsey escorted the druidess and their undead friend across London to the Grove where her father was staying. The newest addition to the Party kept insisting that Sister Sunshine call him "Morty". The druidess was clearly uncomfortable even using the more formal "Mortimer"; perhaps she felt that having examined his lacerated body and helped in his restoration did not entitle her to a position of intimacy with the young man. Or perhaps she felt that such informality emphasized the handful of years that made up the probable difference in their ages - although she did not look to be "on the shelf" and he did not appear to be still a child.
As they reached the entrance to the grove, Mr. Homme hung back, saying, "Where did you go?"
The three quickly established that Mr. Homme could not see the grove; he saw an empty square. And when Sister Sunshine tried to draw him in, holding his hand, he found that the single step he made transported him to the other side of the square. The Druids Grove simply did not exist for Mortimer Homme.
Sister Sunshine felt uncomfortable leaving the young man on his own, but she, Lungta and Mr. Ramsey proceeded on in order to ask the questions the group had come up with. After ordinary civilities with Brother Oak, she asked who in the druidic community had the best knowledge about druidic relations with necromancy, soul transfer, exorcism, and the like.
Brother Oak: "Necromancy is evil, the animating of soulless creatures. You, daughter, have never put much effort into Lightning and Wind spells, but weather spells - and rifles - are good versus a necromancer."
Sister Sunshine explained what had happened to Mortimer Homme and his concern about how long and - healthily - he could inhabit his own reanimated body. She carefully commented that she did not feel his continued existence was due to necromancy but, rather, to the will of the Old One who used Lungta as an avatar. She concluded with, "We'd really like to know more about how spirits can be attached to bodies."
Brother Oak: "That's quite a corker."
Sister Sunshine explained what they knew of the Plague Carrier and that there'd been indications that old and ancient tools (and possibly Old Ones) of Egypt and Germany might be of aid in the quest to stop the evil creature's depredations.
Brother Oak: "The foremost druid expert on Egypt is
Then the druidess made the mistake of mentioning the dagger that had gone to Turkey.
Brother Oak, clearly moving into a favourite rant, held forth: "One could say that One of the Ancient Evils of the Ottoman Empire is currently running it...."
Sunshine thought to herself, sighing, "My father, have strong political views? That he would share given the slightest chance? That he would share at loud volume in a rapid manner without stopping to even take a breath as he demonstrated categorically the nature of the evil of the Ottoman so-called Empire? I do hope Mr. Ramsey will forgive my carelessness."
Eventually excusing themselves, Ramsey and Sunshine returned to Mortimer Homme.
British Museum, Egyptology Lab
Lawrence Feld, head of the Museum's Egyptology department, greeted the mechanical man and his new assistant eagerly. "Mr. Steele, I was thinking of sending for you. It's so in your bailiwick!"
On an examination table, on a white cloth in a tray, lay the odd scarab. Professor Feld held out a jeweler's loupe to the steel man, "You can use one of these, yes?" Steele took the magnifying instrument and examined the ornament while Feld continued, "Look very closely at the joint of this specimen. I cleansed it with alcohol. I was going to try disassembling it to determine its origin. It's certainly not Egyptian."
Steele could see that the leg went through a hole in the metallic body. "It appears to be a mechanism of some sort."
Having brought the gypsy for the purpose, Steele surreptitiously allowed Voronika to touch the scarab. It was as though she could feel it with only her fingers; there was a deadening effect upon her mystic senses. She remembered that at various times the Party had been told that great Museums were rather well defended from magic; the problem might well be the room itself. She turned to Steele and said, "If you're going to be busy at this, I'll just join McGregor in the map room." As she took her leave, she saw the mechanical man settle down on a bench to commence the work of a steam mage.
British Museum, Map Room
Voronika and McGregor determined only that Castle Eckernförde (Eckrenford) in Schleswig-Holstein was near the city of Kiel.
British Museum, Reading Room
Voronika researched "Count de Saint-Germain".
A drawing showed a man of about forty-five years of age, of medium height, with a slender, graceful figure, a captivating smile, dark handle-bar moustache, and eyes of peculiar beauty. He was carrying a box of jewels.
Saint-Germain was an extraordinary linguist. His extraordinary popularity was due to his prowess as a raconteur, to his well known intimacy with the greatest men and women of the day, to his extraordinary skills in the fine arts (violin, painting, etc.), and especially to the mystery of his birth and nationality, which he consistently refused to reveal. In addition, it was said that he was "steeped in the mystic arts."
He was the intimate friend of Frederick the Great of Prussia, of Louis XV of France, of the Landgraf von Hessen, and of various princes and other great nobles. St.-Germain had been called to St. Petersburg, where he played an important part in the revolution that placed Catherine the Great upon the throne of Russia. Although he entertained kings and princes, it was alleged that his visible diet was only what we might call oatmeal porridge.
Rumour had it that he'd lived a very long time. The Count de St.-Germain was said to have died on February 27, 1784, and the Church Register of Eckernförde in Danish Holstein contained the record of his death and burial. But as it happened, some of St. Germain's most important work was done after that date. There were records of St.-Germain resurfacing in Paris and of his efforts to avert the horrors of the French Revolution. [Hm. I didn't say the last, but it is perfectly appropriate to have found such a description of him.] He warned Marie-Antoinette herself of the dangers to come.
McGregor observed, "This St.-Germain was what we'd call 'a character'."
They moved on to research "Great White Lodge".
Tibetan books were not a major collection in the Museum library. By closing time, the gypsy felt that the only lead was a coded book that had a cover design featuring a circle, a pyramid, and an eye - reminiscent of Mr. Smutts' medallion. She was not sure whether the book was in code or a strange unfamiliar language, but the linguist in her said that it was not written in any of the alphabets she'd encountered. Some of the characters were vaguely Greek-like but nothing else was at all familiar.
"I'll have to bring Steele here," she told McGregor, knowing the Naysmith engine's cryptography programs might succeed in deciphering where she had not.
British Museum, Egyptology Lab
Mr. Steele carefully dissolved the accumulated grime and opened the scarab's metal casing. Inside he saw clockwork -- corroded, the spring damaged -- but clearly clockwork. Something that could have been used for steam magic. Each leg was designed to move independently, but the spring - when it worked - would not have been able to run for a lengthy period of time. The closest analogy for its purpose that he could come up with was "like a watch that can't tell time." [Inventor Skill by 10.]
He checked to see if the mechanism had, perhaps, been powered by radium but could not identify enough of the dirt particles that had been removed to make any guess.
In later discussions with the Group, he mentioned that the lapis lazuli was clearly not affixed by the same type of meticulous craftsman that had built the mechanism. It almost seemed an after thought.
Ramsey: "Primitive cultures are known to decorate venerated artifacts. Perhaps this was such a case?"
Homme: "Perhaps the decorations were needed to hide the mechanism's purpose? Perhaps it was 'prettied up' as a disguise?"
Vo: "Perhaps it was sent to dig its way into the tomb?"
Scotland Yard
After the druidess and the Egyptologist had left the grove and rejoined Mortimer Homme, the latter asked, "Do we know where that reporter is being held?"
Sunshine: "No, but your uncle could tell us."
Homme: "Would you mind stopping at the Yard?"
Sunshine: "I'd be happy to see your uncle again."
Inspector Gregson greeted his visitors in a gentleman-like manner. The druidess had thought before that the inspector was not a flashy man, but today she noticed that he wore on his right hand a ring the upper surface of which had a peculiar six-sided shape. [But I don't believe the druidess has mentioned this.]
They inquired about the reporter Travis and learned the man was held at Westgate Prison. Gregson could not understand why the group would concern themselves further, "We will string him up for Windibank." When concern was expressed about the other murders, the druidess found herself shocked into silence by Gregson's insistence that he was not concerned with things outside his jurisdiction.
The inspector did tell them that Abdul al Saud, the Arabic 2nd-class passenger on Capt. Ramsey's ill-fated airship, had taken passage for Italy but, when the ship was searched in France, the man was nowhere to be found. As well, "No one has seen Uruburu in two days." The group recognized that name as that of the servant who was the last survivor (other than the reporter) of the Turnball Expedition.
Homme asked, "And his last known location was where...?"
Gregson: "Portman Square. Not far from your boarding house, I believe. About a 15 minute walk."
Hurriedly they climbed the boarding house steps. Forester rang the bell and Polly opened the door just as Penrington, from the corner of his eye, spotted movement. As the wolf lunged, snapping and snarling, the hunter yelled, "Get in and slam the door!" He drew his sword. Forester turned and cast a Flash spell but missed such that the effect caught both the wolf and Penrington. Polly's scream did not distract the hunter from the sound of a second wolf leaping for his throat. His sword swing was answered as the wolf yelped in pain.
"Get in the house!" the blinded hunter shouted again. Forester, blushing and stammering, dragged the teenaged housekeeper inside.
Penrington dodged one wolf, but the other bit and clawed him in the chest [2,4,18].
Homme: "Get in and I'll close the door behind you!"
Penrington: "Are Forester and Miss Oliver out of the way? Good plan!" He disengaged and backed up. The door slammed shut.
Dr. Fisher emerged from his rooms as Mr. Ramsey ran up past him, also after a gun. Penrington raced past as well. "What's all this then?" the doctor sputtered, looking askance at Mr. Forester who, scarlet-faced, removed his hands from around Polly's waist.
Downstairs, the steel man stepped outside carefully, closing the door behind him.
Forester and Dr. Fisher took Polly into the parlour to calm her down.
Steele could see a squadron of bats overhead, aimed at the window. He fired his Entangle upward into the cloud. It caught on the roof of the building, spider-webbing the winged vermin overhead, like a macabre balloon.
Steele heard squeaking and realized that a horde of rats was climbing up and into his clothing.
Forester stepped back into the hallway to check on the group's state, only to hear behind him the crash of a parlour window. He whirled around to see one bloody-jawed animal staggering under a welter of glass cuts, followed by an unhurt wolf. Polly screamed and Dr. Fisher swore.
Homme ran past Forester, aiming a kick at the foremost wolf. He missed. The hale wolf leapt and sank its fangs into the doctor's forearm, dragging him down. Fisher gave an anguished cry. The damaged wolf looked at Homme, then turned away to grab Polly's leg and start dragging her back towards the window.
Steele did a drop and roll, down the porch stairs, squishing rats and ruining his clothes.
Ramsey headed downstairs, rifle in hand.
Forester put up a Force Wall to block the window exit while Homme hit the wolf with the umbrella he'd picked up at the door [2,9]. It yelped.
Outside, Steele found that more rats were mobbing him, as he lay prone.
In the parlour, the wolf released Polly and grabbed Homme's brolly, resulting in a tug o'war. The wolf won and tossed the umbrella away. The other wolf attacked Forester, hitting him in the chest [3,5,32]. The pedagogue went down, stunned, and unconscious. The Force Wall disappeared.
Ramsey stepped into the parlour and shot point-blank the wolf on Forester, ignoring the chance of hitting the man. Penrington entered and also swung on that wolf. Voronika stood in the doorway, aimed her rifle and shot the other wolf. After a moment, the first wolf dropped, like a puppet released from its strings. Morty noticed that, just for a moment, its eyes glowed red. The second wolf fell dead.
The group breathed an unsteady sigh of relief. Sunshine hurried over to Dr. Fisher whose neck bled from a small bite and whose left arm hung in tatters "This man needs Regeneration or he will lose his arm."
Ramsey: "If we are worried about these animals carrying the plague, I suggest all who have been injured avail themselves of your spell." He helped Forester over to the Sister.
The druidess nodded, working quickly and competently over the doctor. The area around her began to glow with healing energies. "Mr. Penrington, Miss Costorari, Miss Polly Oliver and Dr. Fischer all took damage and should be regen-ed. They should also be watched carefully for signs of disease, in case druidic regen isn't as good as radiological regen. We ought to be afraid at least of hydrophobia even if we know that the records of the bubonic plague (from Elizabethan times, if not more recently) make no mention of animal bites (just animals 'in attendance'.)"
Steele added, "One possible line of inquiry that occurs to me is whether either radiology or steam magic (and/or inventor skill) could provide a way for us to circularly polarise the light reflecting off of us, in case the plague carrier or one of his minions turns out to be such a predator. Of course, this polarisation business could also be leading up to the villain having no reflection, but even so, it seems likely that some knowledge of and/or technique for polarising light might be useful."
Sunshine said, "I can think of a whole list of lines to pursue:
Next Run: How does Mr. Homme "point" to Nosophoros? Who is Lord Truro? What can Druid Woodward tell us? What does the Inspector's ring denote?
Will & Barry are out Aug 5; Barry and Don & Sheryl are out Aug 12; Pat and Marian are out Aug 19; is Aug 26th the next Bowling Run? Or will it be Sept 2? These and other mysteries will be answered in our next run, August 26. :)
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II (c) Cumulative since Volume III
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