Event:1925/06/23 Day in Cairo

Gunter goes to the lobby and gets the concierge to hire a dragoman for us. The dragoman is Saleem Naziz whose family has been guiding for generations and is noted for being extremely scrupulous. Victor does some shopping to buy better-fitting clothes. Quinn visits the post office and writes back to the Sacra di San Michele about another reported copy of the Necronomicon being in the wild.

At lunch Saleem joins us. We provide him the address of Janwillem Van Heuvelen, ask to visit Najjar's shop, ask him to look at getting us into the Clive Expedition dig in Dashur, and mention that we'd like to visit the sphinx as well. We go to Janwillem Van Heuvelen's place first. It's not in the best part of the city. We knock, but there's no answer. Looking around, there are a lot of cats... like, way more cats than normal. We catch a glimpse of a woman rounding the corner. She is a stunningly attractive lythe woman in her early 20s with thick black hair in a fashionable bob wearing western clothes. Victor quickly goes after her, but doesn't see her at all. Quinn and Charles break down the door, and the cats immediately start coming inside. We get the door shut when only 4 have come in. We hear some noise as we enter. Victor and Quinn head toward the voice and begin grabbing cats that got in. We manage to toss the cats out and talk to Van Heuvelen. He's an average height man, unkempt and unclean, with many cat scratches on his hands. Quinn and Victor notice dirt on the floor indicative of something hidden under the bed. Victor goes to look upstairs while Quinn talks to Van Heuvelen. He says the Clive Expedition let him go due to finances. He worked with them to find the mummy of Queen Nectosis, though he doesn't seem so convinced it was that mummy; however, though the expedition was. Quinn leads him upstairs with Gunter, and he starts swearing in German but isn't really capable of resisting. Gunter realizes that Van Heuvelen was his replacement on the Clive Expedition. Victor finds a German and Hieroglyphic scroll hidden under the bed in a hole and calls for Gunter to come help. Gunter translates The Black Rites of Luveh-Keraphf, though it seems it's only partially translated. There are references to Bast and Apep. The translation seems very rambling and seems to describe some rituals. There are many errors in translation, including Apep being Sebek. Gunter thinks he could fix the translation in 2 days and then another 2 days to finish it. Victor and Charles go through all the other scrolls on the desk and discover that they're the materials he was using to translate the scroll. He's basically assembled a German to Hieroglyphics occult dictionary. Quinn talks to Van Heuvelen, who's very honest except about his dismissal. He got employed because they were looking for a German archeologist that could pick up where the previous one left off. As a Dutchman, he speaks German. He confirms that they were digging in the Giza Plateau working Mykerinos' Pyramid before they left for Memphis. He interacted with Dr. Clive and Johanna Specht, whom he thought was great. She's a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed, Bavarian woman who hates Jewish people. It was one of the most secure sites he's ever worked on, and security was beefed up due to the missing mummy. He's aware of Agatha and that the expedition believed she could talk to the dead. He's not aware of Besart being involved with the Clive Expedition. Quinn gets him to admit that he was dismissed over alcoholism. We come back downstairs. Gunter asks how much it would be to hire him, and he says they could agree on a very reasonable rate. Charles asks who the scrolls belong to, and he says they're his for working on a personal project. He's willing to put that aside to work on a project for us. He believes the project will make him famous. He doesn't want to leave his place though. We leave, stealing the ritual scroll.

Saleem leads us back through the streets. Quinn notices that one of the cats is now focused on Gunter, and as we continue, more cats are interested in Gunter and begin following us. Gunter and Quinn notice a panther-sized cat stalking the group on rooftops. Cats everywhere converge on us as we head back to the hotel.

As we arrive at the hotel, the woman from earlier is outside. We push past her and get into the lobby. She introduces herself as Neris and says we have something of hers. She knows that Gunter has the scroll and wants it back. She has an amulet around her neck, which we cannot place. Her manner is very polished and regal. She offers that we will no longer be pursued. Quinn counters that we'll give it over in 4 days unless she has information to barter now. If Van Heuvelen can survive in his shack with it, we can make it 4 days. Quinn tempers the offer by saying that no one wants the Black Pharaoh to ascend and we need to work together. She offers us each a boon from the Goddess if we return the scroll now. We agree. She sensually traces a clawed nail around our necks, and we have a wooden cat necklace afterward. Then she leaves with the original scroll.

We go back to the room and Gunter works on the scroll translation that we're left with.

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