ENTRY 15: LONDON
----------------

We join our stalwart friends on the docks in glorious, shining, sunny,
peaceful..... oh wait. Never-mind. We join them on the docks in
London.

As they were milling around, trying to find drivers, cars, long lost
friends, etc, several members of the party spotted one of the men they
had seen in the glass; a moderately sized Roman Catholic Priest.

Elizabeth decided that she should go back to her father's townhouse
alone first, and then meet her friends for dinner before returning
with them. Adrian needed to check out his flat, and Don had 'things to
do', so they all decided to split up and then meet at a restaurant
later. Elizabeth was walking to the car her father had sent when the
aforementioned priest caught up with her. He introduced himself as
Father Vincent Kelly, and said that Jonah Kensington had told him of
'The Essex Expedition', and that the group might need some help while
they were in London. He mentioned that he was a researcher in 'the
odd', and he and Elizabeth were having a nice chat when Don recognized
the Father and came over to say hi. More pleasant chatter ensued, and
the good Father was invited to dinner; he suggested the Seashell, a
fairly casual restaurant. Everyone split up for the afternoon, and
dropped various things off at various places. (The loot went home with
Elizabeth.)

Dinnertime approached, and everyone met at the restaurant. Elizabeth
was quite unaccustomed to 'casual' restaurants (especially in London),
and was singularly unimpressed with the food and beverage. Everyone
else had a fabulous time. Kelly was informed of the basics of the
story so far; Elizabeth lent the Father her diary of the journey so
far. After dinner, Smythe took the book "Cthulhu and the Necronomicon"
for some light reading, and Elizabeth curled up with the "Key to
Wisdom" after catching up on the gossip with her old friend
Beatrice. (No, not that Beatrice.)

The next day, everyone met at Elizabeth's house for breakfast. The
food was better than the night before, as was the china. Katya got
disgusted at the excess. :P More filling-in of the newcomers
commenced, and the group decided to go upstairs to show them the loot
they had gotten so far. Vincent made a rubbing of the markings inside
the bowl.

Things all went well until Don got his hands on the mask. He was able
to inform everyone that the mask was not made of wood, but
hide. Everyone was still recovering from the shock of hearing that
when Don (the idiot) put the mask on.

The mask promptly melted around Don's head, and Don started to
flail. After much confusion, during which Katya drew a gun and Kelly
prevented her from pointing it at Don, Elizabeth persuaded everyone to
hold Don down so that she could shoot him full of morphine. As
Elizabeth got close enough to give him the shot, she (and everyone
else) say Don's pupils getting larger, until they flowed out of his
irises and covered his eyes. Elizabeth sedated Don, and things were
uncertain for about five minutes. At that point, the mask oozed off
Don's face, pooled into a puddle on the floor, and then reformed
itself. People freaked out a little bit.

The morphine would last around 3 hours, so Elizabeth had Don put in a
bed, and everyone but she and Adrian left.

Katya managed to find the communist party of the UK, and found out
some information about the mysterious Count. Apparently, he is second
in line for the throne; his family had left the country when the
revolution hit. He had a reputation of being fairly devious, was
considered a great chess player, etc, etc, etc. Dark and mysterious
fellow; Katya wanted to kill him. She got the name of a contact in the
party, a drop point for information, and left.

Vincent and George went out drinking. George, being tiny, did not have
as much to drink as Vincent. After his drink, he went to the museum
and researched the Black Pharoah. He discovered the following:

 - The black pharoah was between the 3rd and 4th dynasties.
 - His name was Nephrym Ka. He was considered a powerful
   sorcerer, and ruled until he was overcome by Snaferu.
 - It was speculated that the black pharoah's body was buried
   in Egypt somewhere.
 - After his death, Snaferu tried to have record of the black
   pharoah wiped out.
 - He was one of a pantheon of abominable deities (non-human)
   dedicated to insanity (this was very strange and did not fit
   in with the rest of the Egyptian gods / mythology)
 - The voice of the black pharoah was said to carry the 'dark
   wind'.
 - There was also a prophecy in the records: The Black Pharoah
   will arise again "fingers and toes after great good one",
   and then a new age will begin where the pantheon is again
   worshiped.

After Don woke up, he left, not seeming to recognize Elizabeth. He
went to his company and recommended against purchasing the
Mauritania.

Elizabeth had dinner with the Count. He again alluded to how wonderful
a companion would be in his future. She did not decline.

Adrian researched the Penhew foundation after Don left; his contacts
told him that it was well-run by Edward Gavigan. It enjoys a moderate
to good reputation, and specializes in early Egyptology & the
peripheral communities (before and around the 4th dynasty).
 

The next day, Adrian went to the British Museum, and discovered much
the same information about the black pharoah.

Vincent, having had recovered from the previous day, did some research
at the church library. Neither Vincent nor anyone else could decipher
the rubbing from the bowl. He researched Balukistan, and discovered
that it was a small region in what would now be considered Western
Pakistan. It suffered through a bloody series of priest/kings just
before the Islamic expansion reached it. Around 200 years or so of
priests finding and rooting out the "cult of the tooth-less one". The
king/priest would keep finding evidence of usurpers in the cult,
leading to bloody purges. The tooth-less one was considered to be one
of the many guises of a particular deity; Vincent got a tracing of
him.

Don started researching the elder sign, and found that it was not
actually protective, but rather made to block passages to magical
creatures.

Later on, when the group met again, Vincent showed them his sketch of
the 'tooth-less one'. Of course, it was the same figure as was modeled
in the gruesome figurine that the gang had found in the room in the
ship. (Huge head figurine.) George and Katya freaked out when they saw
the sketch.