The team arrived at port Said where they met Dexter who had travelled from America, having finished his flight trials. They caught a train to Cairo. The train broke down on the way and was delayed for five hours. Eventually they arrived in Cairo and met Dexter at the shepherd hotel.

Rufus had a restless night with bad dreams and a pain in his shoulder where the monster from Lesser Edale had injured him. Dexter read an interesting article in the local newspaper 'Cairo bulletin' written by a journalist called Nigel Wasif:

The team hired a translator to take them to the old city to follow the lead of the letter found in Jackson Elias's room when he was murdered in New York. The translator had heard of Faraz Najir. He said his shop had been cursed and destroyed by a fire demon about six years ago. The team found the street of Jackals in the old city where Faraz's shop had been. There was only a burned crater left. Penelope recognised the crater as being caused by a minion of Cthuga called a fire vampire. Rufus and Dexter started poking about in the crater. It was quite dangerous, Rufus cut himself on something sharp and Dexter slipped and knocked one of the locals into the crater. The local got upset but left when Dexter pulled out his gun.

The team then visited a police station to find out if Faraz had applied for a new licence to deal in antiquities. They learned he had set up a shop in the street of potters selling curios. They had lunch then took a tram to the street of potters where Dexter spotted a shop with Faraz Najir written on the window. Faraz had some nasty scars from burns on his face. Rufus detected an aura round him. As he concentrated on it he found himself in darkness then he saw the creature that had attacked in Lesser Edale and sensed it had marked him. He learned it was called a hound of Tinderlos. It could time travel and captured its prey by pulling them into the past. It could only be destroyed by magic. Rufus pulled back before it could drag him away.

Faraz got insulted by something Rufus said and left the shop. While he was outside a black cat came up to him and brushed round his legs for a while. Dexter persuaded Faraz to talk by offering money. The story was about artefacts stolen from Omah Shakti [See here]. Omah is also a businessman and owned many cotton plants. Omah lived in a small town called Gazira Mohammed. When Rufus mentioned the black cat, Faraz said black cats were a bad omen.

The team then went to the French consulate. After the exchange of some money they were told to come back tomorrow for the address of Warren Besart. The team spent the evening in their hotel.

Rufus had a bad night again. The team went to the French consulate. They were told Warren lived in the street of Scorpions, also known as the red alley, in the house with the red door. They went there and found Warrens house. The individual in the shop was called Abu Udrek. Their translator spoke to him. He denied knowing Warren until money was offered at which point the team were shown into a room at the back of the shop. The room was filled with smoke from a hookah being smoked by a cloaked man. He tried to flee past the team. Richmond pulled a gun and told him to sit down. It was Warren and when asked about the Carlisle exhibition he told a tale about the fate of the Carlyle expedition and how he was saved by one of the diggers, Umba, and his mother Nyti who live in El Wasta. [see here]

Afterwards the team had lunch. While they were eating, one of the waiters chased out a cat with a broom. He said there had been a lot of cats around in the last few weeks and they were a nuisance. There was another customer in the restaurant called Yan Willan Van Heulelen. He recommended a Dr Ali Kafour as an expert at the Cairo museum as a source of information. Yan had been part of the Clive exhibition but had been recently dismissed due to having a problem with drink. He said when he was dismissed, Martin from the Clive exhibition had suggested he investigate a small hidden temple in the old city. He found the temple there a couple of weeks ago and in it found a statue of a cat which he thought was the Egyptian god Bast. In the statue he found old papyrus which he believed was an ancient text called the black rites and he was trying to translate them. He was looking for work and the team recruited him.

After lunch the team went to the Cairo museum. Nothing there was related to the Cthulhu mythos but there were some finds from the Carlisle expedition. The team spoke with Dr Kafour. He knew Sir Aubrey Penhew for several years before the expedition. He believed they discovered something relating to the black Pharaoh which resulted in their subsequent deaths in Kenya. [See here] He had read an arabic version of the Necronomicon and offered to share a translation. The team arranged to return the following day to collect it.

In the evening the team travelled to El Wasta. Umba was missing his right arm and had bad injuries to the side of his face. The team asked him about when he worked for the Carlisle expedition. He invited them into his hovel where his mother was. She was missing her lower jaw and both hands. He did not want to discuss their injuries but eventually said she had been attacked by a fire demon in the desert. He had been attacked by a large flying demon. He thought they were the only survivors other than Warren. The mother had a rush basket. From it she took a piece of white limestone with a red glyph painted on the side and gave it to the team. It looked like it had been broken from a larger piece, probably it had originally been part of the facing of a pyramid. In the light it had a reddish tint to it. Umba said it would provide protection.

The team returned to Cairo. Yan managed to get drunk while Richmond purchased a tent to send to Umba in gratitude for the information he provided. After some persuasion Yan agreed to show them the papyrus he had found. A woman was watching while he dug them up from where he had buried them. Richmond went to talk to her. She was called Nerys. She said she wanted what Yan had stolen be returned and would be back tomorrow, when she expected it to be returned. Rufus read part of one scroll and translated 'summon carrion feeders of the desert'.

Rufus spent time carefully photographing the papyrus scrolls while the others went back to the museum to collect the information about the Necronomicon [see here]. Richmond learned how to create an eldar sign from the Necronomicon and taught Penelope how to cast it. In the evening the team met with Nerys to return the papyrus. She was not very grateful to the team except for Richmond who she seemed to have taken a liking for and she spent the evening with him.

In the morning the team went to the office of the Cairo bulletin, but It was closed. There was a sandstorm which was getting worse so the team returned to their hotel where they did some research.

Dexter read through the panoptic manuscripts. Something he read caused him to go temporarily insane. He found himself on the edge of the desert with someone who was selling him a plane though he could not remember how he got there. The man said he had wanted to fly back to the states to see a friend. He decided to complete the purchase of the plane as it would be useful travelling round Egypt.

Rufus read the papyrus manuscripts he previously photographed and found they contained 7 spells.
Contact the goddess of cats
Summon/bind cat
Bring forth the faceless master of the sands
Call the black pharaoh
Summon the carrion feasters of the desert
Call forth the terrible lord of the river banks (a god called Sabek)
Summon and abjure the children of the river banks. (Crocodiles)

Herbert read the Libre Ivonis and found it contained three spells.
Enchant knife
Wither limb
Voorish sign

The team went back to the office of the Cairo bulletin. They asked about articles in back issues about the Carlyle expedition. They were able to browse through the back issues. Dexter noticed in one of the articles there was a photo showing a newspaper dated May but the article was dated July. [see here]

The team then attempted to fly in Dexters plane to Memphis. There was a lot of turbulence during the flight. Something broke on the plane and Dexter had to make an emergency landing near Giza. Dexter tried to fix the plane but only succeeded in breaking it completely. He then got the team lost while trying to walk to Giza, and it took several hours to eventually find the Giza Outpost. None of the staff in the bar spoke English, but they found a German who Dexter was able to speak to. Through him the team got camels to take them back to Cairo. Dexter made arrangements for the plane to be towed back to Cairo and repaired.

The team took camels to Memphis. It took half the day to get there. They checked into the local hotel. The locals did not seem to want to talk about the Clive expedition but the team located one member of the Clive expedition drinking in the bar. He was German but Dexter spoke German and was able to talk to him. He hated the English and refused to talk until Herbert left. He then played cards with Dexter and Rufus. Rufus won every hand which made him very angry. Dexter spotted he was marking cards though it did not seem to be helping him.

Dexter then started talking with him. He was an archaeologist and mystic in the Clive expedition and Agatha was the lead mystic. Dexter identified him from the description as Johannes Sprech. Johannes seemed to take anything badly that reminded him of Germany's loss in the great war. Dexter offered that the team could help the expedition as they had much experience. Johannes said Henry Clive would need to decide whether the team would be permitted to help. Another of the expedition members, Martin Winfield spoke with the team. He was abrupt and rude until it was mentioned that the team knew Gavigan and the Penhew foundation, at which point he agreed the team could look round.

After looking round the excavations, the team spoke to Henry. He spoke of finding the remains of an unknown Egyptian queen Nitocris in the Menhuria pyramid which vanished a few days later. [see here] Henry showed photos and plans of the interior of the Menhuria pyramid. Rufus noticed there seemed to be photos around the base of the pyramid interior that were missing and the same areas were missing in the plans. Dexter challenged Henry about the missing information. Henry got angry at Dexter and told the team to leave. As the team left, Henry started a heated conversation with Martin, and Dexter heard Henry say 'Omah Shakti'. The team realised they may have pushed things too far and may get an unpleasant visit in the near future.

The team travelled back to Cairo.

The team spent the day learning the flesh ward and elder sign spells.

Dexter and Penelope cast the spell flesh ward on themselves before the team flew to Giza. The pyramid of Menkauraa was open and the team entered. The walls were covered in hieroglyphics. In several sections of the wall the dust had been brushed off to clean the hieroglyphs. Rufus translated it as 'mighty is the god whose breath brings death and form brings madness'. Penelope thought it was referring to Cthulhu. Rufus spoke Cthulhu in Egyption but nothing happened. When he spoke Nyarlathotep, Richmond thought the passage of hieroglyphs became very clear to him. When he said Nodens, Dexter felt an itching on his skin. When Dexter lifted his shirt to see what was causing the itching, he found the passage of hieroglyphs written across his chest. As he walked towards the wall the lettering turned bright red and as he touched the wall some of the hieroglyphs started glowing. Penelope gave some power and half the hieroglyphs started glowing. Rufus then gave some power to make the rest of the hieroglyphs glow, and part of the wall became translucent. The team stepped through.

There were purple and orange fungi on the wall. While the team was examining the fungus there was a blue flash and the wall behind them became solid again. The passage started descending. After a while Rufus heard a knocking sound. He could not see where it came from, but the team noticed the passage now appeared flat. There was also a side passage to the right which seemed to be doubling back. Richmond heard a noise from his tommy gun. When he dismantled his gun a bent bullet sprung out.

As the side passage was too narrow to fit a sarcophagus, the team continued on. They started hearing the noise of something approaching and decided to turn and run back to the side passage. They made it to the side tunnel, except for Rufus, who was buffeted by a gust of strong wind which subsided. The wind had blown away some of the dust revealing a jet black rose with violet thorns growing on the floor. Dexter thought it came from the world of Nyarlathotep.

The team returned down the main passage. There was another very narrow side tunnel to the right. Penelope felt blood dripping onto her head. When she looked up it seemed to be seeping from the ceiling. Suddenly the blood vanished. The team continued. Richmond thought the walls ahead appeared to be moving in time with the sound of a heartbeat. He ran forward to get through. The rest of the team perceived the walls to be normal.

The tunnel took another turn to the left. Richmond heard some whispering. Dexter and Richmond saw something move across the corridor ahead, Something grabbed Rufus and pulled him through the wall. He had been grabbed by a female figure with a cheetahs head. Rufus broke free and she attacked him. Rufus shot her with his revolver and she collapsed to the floor. The rest of the team found the secret door Rufus had been pulled through. Richmond tried to save the cat woman but she died. The team then continued down the corridor.

The team came to another side tunnel from which they heard moaning. The team continued down the main passage. Two figures suddenly charged the team. Richmond opened fire with his tommy gun and missed. Dexter shot them and they both collapsed. One had the head of a bull, and the other had the head of an ibis. They both had inverted ankhs hung round their necks.

Further ahead the whole passage was illuminated with a crimson light spilling out of a large doorway at the end of the passage. There was a human sized form standing in the doorway with its back to the team. When Richmond shouted, the figure leapt sideways into the shadows. The team looked into the shadows and saw the creature on the ceiling heading towards them. Richmond opened fire and his gun jammed. Dexter opened fire and killed it.

The crimson light was coming from the archway to a chamber. There was chanting from the chamber. Steps descended into darkness as the crimson light did not illuminate the chamber. The steps were made of a black shiny rocks with white specks. Richmond peered at the spots and saw his own face screaming back at him. He jumped back, startled.

The team descended the stairs. The chamber was full of pillars made of black stone. There was a vile green pulsing light from far ahead. The team crept into the room using the pillars as cover. In the centre of the chamber was stairs descending downwards, with a ruby light spilling out. There was a scream and the chanting turned to Nyarlathotep. The team could see hundreds of people chanting in the centre of the chamber which was hundreds of feet across. There was a pit in the centre of the chamber which they were all facing.

The team descended the stairs towards the ruby light. They felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end. As they got closer to the ruby light the feeling got painful. Dexter thought the stairs lead to a gateway to Nyarlathotep's realm and it would be fatal to anyone who stepped through. Richmond threw the bracelet on which he inscribed an elder sign through the gateway, causing it to close. The bracelet fell to the floor and the stairs now lead to a blank wall. The team then turned and went back up the stairs.

The team then crept round the edge of the chamber to get past the chanting cultists. Beyond the pit was a large altar. On top was a sarcophagus. There was a group of people being held captive near the pit and at intervals one was thrown into the pit. Beyond the altar was a large throne carved from a vile green stone from which the green light emanated. Above was some hieroglyphics. A bridge lead from the throne to a stele at the edge of the chamber. Martin Winfield, Dr Henry Clive and another individual, probably Omah Shakti, were at the altar. Agatha broadmoor and James Gardener where also there but tied up.

The team crept back towards the stairs into the chamber. Rufus then cast the spell 'Red sign of Shudde M'ell' as an area of affect blast centred on the pit. The strain caused him to briefly lose touch with sanity and he burst out laughing. Dexter tried dragging him out. Everyone at the altar except Omah were affected by the blast. He appeared to be protected by a bubble of energy. Richmond then emptied his tommy gun into the crowd. Rufus came out of his insanity and the team fled, with Richmond providing cover with his tommy gun. Omah assaulted him with some mental attack but Richmond managed to resist. Richmond then turned and fled.

Rufus was slower than the rest of the team and dropped behind. Several of the cultists caught up with him. He killed one with a blast from his shotgun then pulled his revolver and killed another three before running out of bullets. Two of the cultists managed to inflict some serious wounds on him but he clubbed another cultist to death with his cane club. He then turned and fled, managing to get out of the pyramid before the portal that Penelope had opened, closed behind him and Dexter who had waited at the portal.

There were two cultists waiting by the plane who got shot by Dexter and Rufus. Penelope saw two large bat like creatures emerge from another of the pyramids. Rufus recognized them as Byakahee. Dexter made it to the plane and got it started as the bat creatures swooped to attack. Richmond fired a long burst from his tommy gun but missed. Rufus finally made it to the plane and Dexter started taxiing to take off. After some time he finally outflew the creatures.

The team returned to Cairo. Rufus was checked into the Cairo hospital. They spotted a news article of interest about the Mosque of Tulun. Richmond enquired after an explosives expert with the intention of destroying the chamber beneath the pyramid. He contracted the expert to source the enormous amount of explosives required.

The team spent the night watching over Rufus. Richmond disguised himself as a doctor and the others checked into a room in the hotel opposite the hospital. Penelope woke from a nightmare about being pregnant with some abomination and the attending doctor looked like Dr Houston from the Carlyle expedition. During the night Dexter and Penelope saw two figures dressed in black climbing the wall of the hospital. They opened fire on the figures but missed. Hearing the shots, Richmond attacked one of the figures with his sword cane as they climbed through the window.

One attacked Richmond, stabbing him in the neck just as Dexter burst in having ran from the hotel opposite. The other attacked Rufus. Rufus shot his attacker with a revolver Dexter had given him earlier but barely scratched him. The cultist then killed Rufus before Dexter killed both cultists. Richmond was still alive but badly injured.

Dexter spent the day making arrangements for the funeral of Rufus.

That evening Richmond woke from a nightmare about dancing at a glitter palace with Hypatia Masters from the Carlyle expedition. As she pressed close to him she said 'despair' and her features turned to a terrible aspect and her eyes glowed.

During the week the team received a letter form Delores [see here]. They replied by telegram advising her of Rufus's death. Delores arranged for one of her friends, Ailsa, to meet with the team at Rufus's funeral. The team rested while Richmond was recovering. They attended Rufus's funeral where they met Ailsa Mellon. She was in Cairo visiting some archaeological digs. She offered to help the team who were clearly in some difficulties.

The team went with the explosives expert and this team to Giza. Dexter got the expert to say a phrase in Egyptian to open the portal. He did so but collapsed unconscious. When all the children unloading the explosives saw the blue glow of the portal they ran away. Eventually Penelope persuaded half of them to come back. The team then lead them with the explosives to the chamber.

Dexter and Richmond went back with the children to get the rest of the explosives. Ailsa waited with the explosives while Penelope went to explore the room with Herbert covering her. Penelope was attacked by four of the humanoids with animal heads. Herbert opened fire on them, and when Ailsa heard the shooting, stepped into the chamber to help. Penelope was successful in dodging all the attacks from the humanoids, but was less successful in avoiding Herbert's covering fire as Herbert managed to shot and seriously wound her before killing all the humanoids. Herbert treated Penelope and stabilised the wound he had inflicted.

While the explosives were being placed, Dexter and Ailsa went to examine the altar at the far end of the chamber. Ailsa spotted the seam of a door in a nearby pillar which opened to reveal a stairway inside leading upwards. They called the rest of the party over and Richmond started climbing the staircase. At the top of the stairs was a ramp leading upwards. Eventually the ramp ended at an asymmetrical arch beyond which was a dark room.

In the room was a throne made of black rock surrounded by six pillars with a gem on top of each. The throne was also studded with gems. Behind the throne were murals on the wall, to the left side was a wall chart and to the right was a map. The wall chart contained a star chart of some sort. The map was a distorted version of Asia and Eurasia. When Dexter looked at the map he saw lettering appear which said 'The old ones shall come hence, all shall tremble at their might.' Dexter had a flash of inspiration that he had read about this room in the book 'Life as a god'.

Penelope started removing gems embedded in the throne. As she removed one, all the gems on the pillars lit up and the parties torches went out. A figure started forming on the throne which Penelope thought was the Black Pharaoh. Ailsa, Dexter and Herbert ran through the archway which solidified behind them, trapping Richmond and Penelope in the room.

Richmond threw his elder sign onto the throne and with a scream the figure vanished in a discharge of energy. The archway remained blocked leaving Richmond and Penelope trapped in the darkness. Richmond managed to repair his torch eventually while Alisa went to get the explosives expert to unblock the archway. He blew the arch open, freeing Penelope and Richmond, though they were hit by some falling stones when part of the roof collapsed. Herbert took one of the gems from a pillar before the team left.

Dexter flew Penelope back to Cairo for treatment while the rest of the team supervised the placement of the rest of the explosives. Finally all the explosives were set and the fuse was lit. The team heard a muffled series of explosions as the chamber was destroyed. When the team returned to the hotel Dexter received a telegram saying he was needed back in the states for some flight trials in a few weeks.

The team rested and studied for a week while Penelope recovered. The team went to the Mosque of Tulun. Penelope and Ailsa went to a tea room as women were not allowed in the mosque. The ulema would not talk until Dexter said the team were enemies of the Black Pharaoh. He then said an artefact was stolen when a Cthulhu beast burrowed up and killed the guards of the temple. Only Naseem the head guard carrying a sacred sword was able to injure it. He warned Omah Shakti was a powerful sorcerer. He was willing to lend the sword and several guards to the team help defeat Omah.

In the tea room Penelope spotted the person who served their tea was not the waiter. She followed him and he left through the kitchen. The manager said he was delivering tea and was confused why he was serving. The tea was kept for Herbert to test later but when Herbert examined it he could not determine if anything was amiss with it.

The team travelled to Gazira Mohammed by train. Before they set off, Richmond disguised everyone as locals. When the team arrived they went to observe the house of Omah Shakti. There were people working in the cotton fields surrounding the house. Ailsa spotted an inverted ankh on one of them. Dexter spotted Omah Shakti come out of the house at one point. He was carrying a cat and a hooked cane.

The team waited until darkness fell. Richmond and some of the Mosque guards crept in to kill the house guards. Several of the house guards were killed silently but one of the mosque guards were spotted and killed by a house guard who raised the alarm.

The team burst into the mansion while the temple guards covered their backs. They were confronted by Omah Shakti and an extremely attractive Egyptian woman, Queen Nitocris, standing on a balcony with six cultists. There were sounds of more cultists in rooms to each side. The team opened fire killing five cultists, but another twelve burst in from the adjacent rooms. Ailsa shot Omah's cat which seemed to infuriate Omah. Omah cast a spell and surrounded himself with a flaming shield with a fiery whip which lashed out at Ailsa. She dodged but the cat turned into a hideous monster which leapt from the balcony and attacked Dexter. It lashed out at Dexter with a barbed tongue and claws but he avoided the attack.

The cultists attacked and Herbert got hit with a club. Richmond pulled the sacred sword and charged Omah. However when he swung the sword it slipped from his grip and clattered to the floor. Dexter killed the cat monster as the rest of the team fired at the cultists. Omah cast a spell on Dexter and his flesh started to blacken and wither. Ailsa was stabbed by one of the cultists as the temple guards moved to help fight the cultists. Richmond punched a cultist and grabbed the sacred sword from the floor. Most of the cultists were killed but more appeared and attacked.

Nitocris cast a spell, summoning a serpent which attacked. Richmond attacked Omah who fought back, the burning whip cutting Richmond in half. Naseem picked up the sacred sword and attacked Omah. The fight continued and Naseem beheaded Omah, at which point the cultists threw down their weapons, crying out in grief. The Egyptian woman ran upstairs and the team pursued with Naseem while the surviving temple guards killed the cultists. Nitocris was cornered in one of the bedrooms but cast a spell and vanished from the room.

The mansion was searched and a note was found in a desk drawer. Some tablets were found in a safe and there was the hooked sceptre that Omah had been carrying. The body of the cat creature had turned into what looked like a mummified cat. The sceptre was left in the mansion which was set ablaze before the team left to return to Cairo where they rested and spent two weeks recovering from their wounds. Dexter returned to America.

The team booked passage on a ship to Kenya. The trip took ten days. Herbert met with a Wilfred Perkins who helped him decipher the tablets. They were called the Zanthu Tablets and were written in old English, by Prof. Harold Hadley Copeland, 1916 and were a series of black jade tablets describing the worship of the Mythos Outer Gods: Ghatanothoa, Shub-Niggurath, and Cthulhu. Wilfrid was interested in the occult and joined the team as he had been travelling to Kenya to learn more on the occult practices there.