The Nocturnum
Episode 17: The Tomb of Ash
Original Air Date: 6/6/2005This episode is based upon a Call of Cthulhu scenario by Dr. Michael LaBosierre. The adventure can be found here.
Special Guest Stars:
Omar Sharif as Dr. Armedt
Marisa Tomei as Amara
Lea Salonga as Kay
Omid Djalili as Mubarek
Synopsis
Returning from the desert, the tired, dirty, and hungry cast is greeted by Amara and Dr. Armedt, who bring both good news and bad. The good news is that they've brought an old friend with them: Cyan, who has completed her time with the Devonshire Coven and returned to lend her services once again. Cyan brought gifts, as a means of apology for hurting her friends. For John: a nickel-plated and engraved .50 caliber Desert Eagle with a single bullet in a locket. Included, a note that reads, "My heart and life are in your hands." For Drake: a hand-forged katana from Japan, the metal in the blade folded 1,000 times, his name etched onto the blade. For Anita: an original, hand-illuminated copy of the Malleus Maleficarum, dated to 1485. This volume contains a later-excised section on demonology including the names of many Qlippothic entities.
As the group catch up, John notices everyone stops moving, and a hand falls on his shoulder. He sighs and says, "What do you want?"
Ebonor stands behind him and says, "Can't stay long. Not my part of the world, but just wanted to say 'hello'." He then puts a bottle in John's hand. It's an exact replacement for the $3,000 bottle of wine John and Anita drank. Ebonor then proceeds to arrange Anita and Cyan so that they are (well and truly) lip-locked, winks at John, then disappears.
Normality resumes and Anita and Cyan realize (with some shock) that they're kissing. They break apart and have an awkward moment complaining about Nyarlathotep.
Armedt and Amara launch into their story: the Covenant War is escalating out of control, with members of every Covenant killing each other in back alleys and abandoned parking garages all over the U.S., and possibly the world. In the midst of all this, the Rosicrucians are racing to finish the translation of the Voynich Manuscript copy. Just as they thought they'd hit a wall, an astounding find from Egypt turned up. A millionaire collector and afficionado of ancient Egyptian culture and religion was excavating a small tomb outside of Cairo. A few low-ranking Rosicrucian scholars stumbled upon the man a week ago, gibbering mad in the desert, the rest of his expedition vanished. Among the man's possessions was a photograph of a wall inside the tomb, which contained markings very similar to those found in the Cipher Tome!
Further research revealed another expedition to this same tomb back in the 1920's, an amateur no-name explorer named Johnathan Southport. Southport's expedition were also all killed, with only Southport escaping. The surviving documentation provides a description of the tomb.
If indeed these markings are what they appear to be, Armedt says, it could be the final, missing key to unlocking the Voynich Manuscript. With some reservations, the Cast agrees to investigate the situation. As they make plans, Drake and Amara share a few uncomfortable moments together.
John and Cyan have a lot of sex over the next couple days, as the Cast drives across Saudi Arabia and through Israel, taking a long circuitous route so that they can spend a couple days in a more U.S.-friendly part of the Middle East.
Arriving at Cairo in the early evening, the group debates on whether to investigate the tomb in the middle of the night or wait until the next day. They opt to wait, against Kay's insistence that it's no more dangerous at night, and in fact will be easier going. Kay decides to scope out the tomb via remote viewing, using the wall photograph as a focus. She sees the exact description as written in the Southport document, but senses that there is definitely a presence of some kind there, and notes that inside the sarcophagus in the final room are piles of bones, many of which have modern and pre-modern (20's era) clothing, guns, and wallets. She informs the rest of the Cast, except John and Cyan...who are having sex.
The next day, the Cast sets out. They find the tomb using GPS systems, and after a brief reconaissance of the abandoned camp site, they enter. They have a close call and brush with madness as they enter a room that is inhabited by a powerful astral entity who infects the area with all the pain and suffering that has gone on in this tomb for thousands of years. With ingenuity and more than a little luck, they survive the psychic onslaught and continue.
In another room, they do battle with three bronze-masked mummies, and Cyan reveals her newly-focused powers by utterly incinerating all three of the abominations. John takes a mask as a souvenir.
They enter the sarcophagus room and begin snapping photos with digital cameras. Then the sounds of clattering bones erupt from outside. John sees twenty re-animated skeletons wielding war clubs and khopesh coming down the hall. He takes up a defensive position, hoping to give the rest of the Cast time to finish photographing the room.
Anita notes that the hieroglyphs on the wall seem to indicate some sort of passage to the underworld through the sarcophagus in the middle, but notes that they don't have time to check it out before the undead overwhelm John. They take their cameras and as a group manage to fight their way to the exit.
Back at Cairo, they give the photos to Dr. Armedt, who admits that much of the pictures they got seem to be beyond his and Anita's expertise, but that he has people he trusts at the University of Cairo that can send someone to help. The Cast agrees, but is concerned that the Church of Revelations might take action against the tomb. So John, Cyan, and Drake go to stay at the abandoned camp outside the tomb, while Anita stays behind with Armedt. Kay agrees to act as a go-between for the two groups.
Looking at the glyphs, Armedt points out to Anita that there seem to be two sorts of incantations present in the tomb: one set is to imprison evil forces, and the other is to awaken them. "It's almost like," Armedt says, "Someone is playing some kind of cosmic pratical joke."
Anita turns pale. "And we just happen to know the greatest pratical joker in the universe."
The next day a portly, friendly man arrives from the University, introducing himself as Yassir Mubarek, a cryptolinguist. Mubarek begins to translate the hieroglyphs with Anita and Armedt, and comes to the conclusion that the glyphs are part of a spell designed to keep a dark force imprisoned in the tomb. This dark force is apparently the spirit of a priest who made a deal with a dark god known as the Dweller in Darkness, which Anita later realizes could also be interpreted as the Haunter of the Dark. The priest was executed for his actions, and his spirit forever imprisoned--along with his servants--inside the tomb.
He then confesses to being something of a student of the occult and claims he knows people who can help to modfy and focus the spell, to trap the spirit within a single stone, thereby rendering it inert. By now Anita and Kay have become quite distrustful of Mr. Mubarek, and Kay tries to read his emotions. After what seems to be a brief "hiccup" in her powers, in which she can't get a reading, she determines he seems to be on the up-and-up and is genuinely interested in helping. She informs Anita of this, and then goes off to let John, Drake, and Cyan know the status of things.
Against her better judgment, Anita gives Mubarek a copy of the files to take to his occultist friends (who wish to remain anonymous because they all purport to be good Muslims, and such things as spells and rituals would be looked upon as evil by the proper Muslim community). Kay later on tries to view Mubarek via Remote Viewing and locates him in the city, doing exactly what he promised to do: translate and focus the spell. Kay is unsure if her vision is genuine or if Mubarek can somehow fool her powers, but she reports her vision to Anita.
A few days later, Mubarek returns with the completed spell. He informs the Cast that they must journey to a hidden second level of the tomb, a room filled with ash where the spirit of the dark priest is housed. There they must perform the ritual while withstanding an onslaught of the priest. In other words, business as usual.
Anita and Kay rejoin John, Drake, and Cyan at the tomb site, where they reason that it took the skeletons about fifteen minutes to animate last time they were here, so if they hurry they might make the second level before having to deal with any undead. Their plan is successful, and through use of their metaphysical abilities, John and Drake are able to easily remove the stone from the sarcophagus. The group journeys down a narrow staircase into a lower room that seems to mirror almost exactly the one they just left.
Journeying down a dark hallway, they come upon a vast chamber that seems to be guarded by two enormous statues of Anubis. John takes a few steps in and freezes as he is certain he's seen one of them move. Kay suggests removing the swords from the statues, and John tells her she's welcome to try if she likes. For an eternity of seconds the Cast stands, waiting to see what the statues do. John begins to cautiously approach one, when Kay dashes through the chamber and makes it to the other side. Anita and Cyan follow, then Drake. Finally, John brings up the rear.
The Cast enters the room covered with ash. As they set up the ritual and begin, they feel an ominous chill sweep through the room, and are sickened by the sense of Taint filling the place. One by one, they are assaulted by the mental attacks of the invisible priest, but the steel themselves against the attacks and stand firm, completing the ritual. The screaming spirit is sucked into a stone. From upstairs, they hear clattering as the awakened skeletons crumble to the floor.
It's then that they notice this room is covered with Voynich-Manuscript-like glyphs and pictographs. As the temple begins to quake and stones begin to fall from the ceiling around them, John and Cyan yell for everyone to get out and begin to snap photos.
The Cast dodges and weaves falling blocks as the tomb begins to collapse around them, with John and Cyan following after they finish photographing the room. John is clipped by a falling block, but manages to roll clear and the two of them leap from the entrance just as the stones collapse around.
Silence falls for a few seconds, and just as the Cast thinks they're safe, a massive shadowy form emerges from the wreckage and looms over top of them. The Cast looks horrified into the face of the Haunter of the Dark as it comes for them. Anita loses it and collapses to the ground, giggling maniacally.
John pulls his sword and begins backing away, when a voice rings out from behind, saying, "If I were you, my friends, I would run, now."
It's Mubarek, who seems to have come out of nowhere. He steps forward and begins conversing with the Haunter in a strange language none of the Cast recognize. Drake throws the still-giggling Anita over his shoulder, and the Cast get into their truck and head back to Cairo with the photos.
Back in Cairo, Armedt is thrilled with the photos and says he'll get them to Daniel as soon as possible. He believes this may be the breakthrough that gives them all the answers they need. Amara takes her leave, saying she has to consult an old friend about a few things, but that she'll meet them back in Pittsburgh. Before leaving, she turns to Drake, and Katherine's voice asks Drake if it would be okay if she gave him a "proper farewell. I thought I'd ask first, given the state o' things, which're awkward to say the least."
Drake agrees, and the two kiss goodbye. The Cast then boards a plane and flies off into the sunset, back towards home...
Great Quotes:
Armedt: There are three sections in the manuscript. One is botanical, another planetary, and the third seems to be devoted to fertility rituals.(Everyone looks at Anita)
Anita: What? Don't look at me!
Kay: Repetitive rape is hardly a fertility ritual.
Kay: We'll never pull this off.
John: Remind me to tell you sometime about the giant bug zapper.
(out of game comments)
Julie: He'd shoot Anita, then Alan would just wish for her to come back...
Jason: Yeah, except every time Alan makes a wish like that, his sanity drains just a little more. It'd be like, "BANG! I wish she was alive. BANG! I wish she was alive..."
Robert: "BANG! Leviathan...I wish for cupcakes!!!"
Kay (to Anita): Hey, the important thing is you don't have Leviathan's cupcakes in your Easy-Bake Oven.
John: Okay, just so we're clear...we're just going to trust this stranger to fix this spell to seal in the guy, instead of changing it to set him free?
Kay: Pretty much, yeah.
John: Okay, just so we're clear.
(out of game comments)
Jason: Remeber, Nyarlathotep has a thousand masks. He's got Ebonor back in Pittsburgh, he has the Crawling Chaos, he might be Mubarek--
Robert: And he's...Santa Claus!!!
(out of game comments)
Jason: It says right here: "The Keeper should do everything possible to convince the players [that the statues are more than just statues]"
Eric: You don't actually have to do much in that situation.
Great Moments:
Cyan returns! And demonstrates her new power by completely incinerating three mummies in one fell swoop.
The Cast gets to meet one of Nyarlathotep's...less friendly...avatars.