The exploits of the Monday Temples & Tombs group ...
*Dr Charlie Takajima (Andy) *Hendricks (Lynne) *Dr 'Frank' Francis Lionel Secord (Neil) *Sam 'Ace' Kirby (Steve) *Jenny (a plane) (aka Coughlin-Curtiss-Robin)
In Alexandria
The adventurers assemble !!!
Returning from looking for Pharaoh Hataheput's cartouche, in the Mabira Forest in Uganda.
We got to meet with Professor Henri (Egyptologist) in his office in Alexandria ...
He shows us a letter from "The Ancient Plumars", which was delivered by hand ...
It's discussing the "Knights of the Feather of Ma'at", who protect a precious artifact.
They need the feather returning to "its rightful place in Thebes".
But first we have to find them !!!
Henri knows a bit of the legend of the feather.
It was used to weigh the souls entering the afterlife.
Allowed them to learn the true secret in a persons heart.
Then it fell into Alexander's hand, and then the Romans came, took it, and went ...
And it was rumoured that Emperor Constantine had it moved to Constantinople.
Hall of Ma'at was discovered about 20 years ago. It was hidden by building a museum on top of it !!!
Knights of the Feather were mentioned 1204, just before the fifth crusade/sacking of Constantinople.
Professor Henri reckons we need to head to Constantinople ...
He has a contact, Asrah Teckin works at the Hagia Sophia Museum. She curates the Byzantine antiquities.
He says the hieroglyphs suggest that the golden feather of truth was used as part of the weighing of the soul.
And he warns us ... Do not enter the temple without the feather !!!
In Constantinople
Hendricks notices four gentlemen, similarly dressed, scattered around the room watching.
Ace Kirby sees two pairs of gentlemen, similarly dressed, in a pair of nearby cafes, watching people coming and going from the museum.
Asking for a light, they're Italian
Dr "prof" Frank is approached by a young lady; Asrah Teckin (middle eastern origin).
The "prof", Doc Charley, and then Hendricks go with her to her office to discuss matters.
Ace wanders into the museum, again asks for a light ... this lot is posh Brit's.
And one of them proceeds to walk around, telling Ace all about the building ... YAWN
Asrah focussed on the Roman period ...
The local knights, who were guarding the treasures of Hagia Sophia, aka the 'Plumars', evolved into the Knights of the Feather.
Said they spirited the feather away before the Crusader Knights sacked the city.
The city has vast underground chambers, tunnels, passages, etc, with access by barred gates, locked each night.
Mr. Hendricks gets shown the ossuary by Abdul, and takes Ace with him, down into the tunnels ... were we wander for the rest of the day.
He spots a Crusader marked route through to the inside of the wall, right next to small gatehouse, also with a Crusader mark.
The "prof" does his thing, and starts poking around the archives ...
He's found a letter, from Brother Thomas Ambrosia, signed as "Commander of the Knights of the Feather".
Address to the "Bishops of Hagia Sophia" ... We are going to remove the Feather under protection of Venetians, and funded by the minting of special coins.
Asrah points at their coin collection ...
Passing through the narthex ... spot a portrait of a knight, with a symbol on his shield ... Ma'at !!!
And in the background is a fortress ... in greek around edge, partial word "KOUF..."
Continue on to the collection, where there is a coin, supposedly Venetian, and on one side of it, a plume.
Checking the back ... another plume, and this has some greek writing around it ... "KOUFONIFI".
... the greek islands of 'Koufonisi'?
Whilst everyone is engrossed in the "prof's" examination of the coin, Asrah excuses herself, and heads out of the room ...
Hendricks, ever the gentleman, offers to escort her, but before he can catch up with her, she closes the door and there is the CLICK of a lock ...
Ace thinks ... "sadly, she hasn't seen Hendricks in action ... he's so amazing, it's like magic!"
Hendricks picks the door with ease, and we give chase to Asrah through a crowded Hagia Sofia ...
Hendricks catches up with Asrah at the main entrance
And gets warned about "Agents Ahead" (the Itie's) by one of her associates (the Brit's)
Hendricks, Asrah and Brit agents jump into a car, and head off
The Italian's get into their car and give chase
Frank jumps onto the italians car's running board
And Sam hijacks a taxi, and joins the chase.
Gun fire is exchanged between Brit's, Italian's and Sam in the trailing taxi
We deal with the Itie's and head of towards the airport --->
Asrah reckons we're seeking "The Plume", and we should go with them to Koufonisi ... actually we should be the lead, and she and the SIS agents will escort us
Sam takes the planes controls, saying goodbye to Jenny leaving her in Istanbul, and the group heads for Koufonisi --->
Land the mail plane at Naxos, and get a boat over to the island of Koufonisi.
Walk up the hill towards the fortress on the hill.
There is a house with three old people sat outside ... Dmitri, Nicolas and Sophia.
... Frank reckons Sophia is understanding us speaking in English!
Frank gets them to admit to them being the last of the "Knights of the Plume".
They need "The Plume" needs to be returned to the Temple of Ma'at, but they are no longer capable.
We must show ourselves as worthy ... Inside the fortress is a passageway down, where there are guides who will direct you to the location of "the Plume".
The passageway splits into two; one has Anubis, the other has Set ... which is the right way to go?
Frank scratches his head ... and points at Anubis.
Continue on the passage, to a chamber with a "river" running through it, with a "coracle" on the side, and an overhead pulley system.
We all cross the "river", and proceed further ...
Hendricks spots some trip wires ... and warns the rest of the party.
Eventually is arrives at a cavern, with a niche on the wall.
This niche has an engraving of Ma'at over it, and in it, is a large, ornately carved box.
Frank reckons it contains the feather, and opens it to find a large blue & white ostrich feather.
We head back out.
Whilst crossing the river, Sam hears gun fire from outside
Cautiously advancing, avoiding the traps, the party emerges to find the French are attacking.
Trying to avoid them, while Asrah and the SIS agents keep them engaged, we climb down the fortress wall.
Frank and Sam descend ok, but disaster strikes when Hendricks has an accident ...
And even worse, he's brought down the rope, leaving Charlie stranded on the top of the wall.
Charlie yells to "meet me in Alexandria", and turns to face the attackers with the fake feather
Frank, Hendricks and Sam are stood at the bottom on a narrow ledge ... leaving Charlie is stuck on the top of the fort.
The three head down to the boat, gesticulating with the captain to leave now ! And the boat heads towards Naxos, and the mail plane ...
Meanwhile Charlie tries to negotiate with the French ...
They demand the "english agent" come out, and Asrah steps out.
She is taken away be the French agents ... and hear them moaning about the feather being a fake
... return to Alexandria and the party reunites ...
Head down the Nile to Luxor, and meet up with Professor Henri in his office.
Stepping in to his office, and are ambushed by two brit's with guns.
Henri apologies, and a third man (Bishop, SIS) comes in and goes to take Henri's seat.
Hendricks dodges out of the room, barges into a third agent, dodges past him, out into the main body of the museum.
Bishop wants the plume returning to the temple, and is demanding it be done.
And reckons the path to the temple has been compromised.
He confirms that both Henri and him had sent, and lost, men to the underground temple beneath the museum.
Meanwhile Hendricks takes cover in a side office.
Swaps the plume for an ostrich feather.
The party head down into the underchambers, passing a card "For Nico, you will be missed".
Entrance way has a symbol for the god, Sia.
People have been sent through her, and none have returned.
The snake hieroglyph presses in, and there is a "click".
Frank leads the way, and spots a "blade trap", thankfully restrained!
Continuing on to the next portal ...
There is a body ahead, missing his head!
Ace crawls through, and a blade, and then a second blade sweeps across to de-head any person.
And there is a third portal, with a large snake, Stinger, where Ra would pause and draw breath
Charlie takes a deep breath, and steps forward ... there is a "sump" in the corridor, with a faint green gas in it.
And on to a fourth portal, with the hieroglyphs of the gods above the portal
And either side of the way is the hieroglyph of the mortals.
The two mortals can be "bowed down" by pushing the top.
Head through a low passage ... the "roof" is a large block
And another portal; next symbol is Apep, enemy of Ra, who would try and plunge the world into darkness.
The Apep symbol is all over the room, similar to plaster appliques to the wall.
Frank reckons we should remove them all ... and there is a "frump" noise as if something has settled?
Beyond is a room, with symbols carved all over for the gods, the sacred scarab, and many more ...
Hendricks reckons the "tiles" are very brittle, and there is nothing beneath them.
Frank reckons the scarab's are an outlier!
We have to jump across the scarab tiles ...
And now we're at the Temple of Ma'at !!!
There is a scale, which is just not level
Charlie, the young & fresh medic, goes forward with the feather and places ...
The scale balances level...
The temple starts shaking ... and it's coming down !!!
The party turns and legs it !!!!
We get back to the museum, with the dust bellowing out of the collapsed tunnel.
XP - take general talent [Stunt Person] ... You get a Hero Die whenever you use Stunt
In Lima, at the Hotel International, when get an invite to the Society of Global Naturalists
Black tie dinner party at Dr. Sara Luispe
The night of the dinner ...
Few members of the society are circulating around
Greeted by Dr Sara ... and chat about our search for the Andean "yeti"
Conversation moves on to the next expedition of the Society, using their latest equipment; a zeppelin
It has been customised with a zoological laboratory along with animal pens.
We're invited to crew the "Sky Zeppelin" in the search for the lost Alvarez expedition.
Dr Hugo Alvarez is a leading naturalist, working at the museum.
Just over 5 years ago, assembled a team of 28, who planned an expedition to the high mountains of Cordillera Blanca to investigate the source of some unusual large bones of a non-hominid ... an Andean elephant?
They headed to Yungay, and then a storm hit ... and they have not been seen since.
This area was a centre of the Inca, maybe even pre-Inca.
Only document, do not remove anything.
The original bones were from a "Dr Chambi"
Depart to Yungay taking 4 days in the zeppelin.
Head into town and met Dr Chambi.
He has a cupboard with more examples, including some which are as tall as Hendricks
Could have been from a predator, some 40' high!
Depart Yungay heading for the mountains ...
There is an enormous storm coming in ...
Turn the zeppelin into the weather ...
The ship is driven down, fortunately into a valley as opposed to the actual mountain.
Manage to land the ship ... the valley is a rainforest!
After a nervous night, dawn shows the plants are nothing like what we know ... it's a "lost world" !!!
Check the ship out, and find some damage that needs fixing before we fly ...
Suddenly a dinosaur (Spinosaurus) charges out of the jungle, attacking Ace...
Hendricks shots at it, and scares it off
Settle down for the night with a small camp fire
Usual jungle nighttime noises ... but there is an unknown deep rumble ... brontosaurs!
Next morning, something is approaching the camp ...
And four figures break out into the clearing!
Eugene Hillman
Grace Tennyson
Oscar Sanchez
Sara Vasques
The remains of the Alvarez expedition ...
The expedition entered some caves, and came out in the strange valley ...
There are 3 types of big dinosaurs; spiny, horny and brontosaurs
Go with the survivors to their camp, about 4 hours away.
They have some rifles, but they don't want anyone to touch them.
They do have some dinosaur bones, which they say can be taken back.
... they are steering us away from certain caves!
Frank reckons the caves are pre-Incan !
Charlie spots some graves over near the caves ... about 10-12
... quizzing Grace about deaths, and notes that Eugene has an old wound that could be a bullet graze
Survivor Eugene is keeping watch, including the caves above !
City in a set of caves, Alvarez and four others have split from the 4 survivors
Take the spark plugs from the airship, so no-one else can fly it away !
Head out to the Alvarez camp in the caves.
Hendricks disables their traps.
And then into the cave and come through to a large cavern with a small Incan settlement in it.
Charlie persuades Alvarez to let him examine him ... all Ok if a little paranoid ... with reason !
Alvarez details how the other survivors only wanted to take the "money & run", i.e. steal the gold
He wants to do a proper archaeological retrieval.
Settle down for the night, with a view to an early start to avoid the other group
With Alvarez in his hidden city of the Incas, about 2 hours to the camp, and 4 hours to the zeppelin.
We've each got a backpack with notes, small Incan artifacts, etc. but the majority is being left to a proper investigation.
Checking outside the cave entrance ... all looks clear
Getting to the camp ... deserted !
Hendricks checks it out ... it's been cleared out.
There are tracks, including marks of a travois, heading towards our zeppelin
Head out ...
Close to the zeppelin we spot a few bits of jerked meat ... and a "wack wack" sound ... a dinosaur!
Taking cover off the path ... a pair of horned dinosaurs :-(
Blast one of them is looking at us ...
Hendricks starts the shot-out, followed by Ace and Charlie ...
It's well wounded and pulls back ... sadly the other one charges !
It grabs Alvarez, and throws him with a big wound
We shot a second round at it ... which looks to have scared it off
Charlie works on Alvarez's wounds ...
Here shots from towards the zeppelin ... finding two dead dinosaurs
And a voice (Hillman) threatens us ... which is a mistake!
... COMBAT ENSUES ... and Hillman falls from the tree
Grace and Sara are also in cover, but let Charlie advance to sort out Hillman
... no sign of Sanchez
Negotiate with the two women to get everyone out of the valley
and take them all to Yungay or Lima as they want
Everyone will surrender their weapons, and stay in their cabins for the return journey
Finally get agreement from the two parties ...
Ace manages to navigate the zeppelin through the clouds & winds above the valley ...
Get to Yungay, and drop off the group, who head off into town with their ill gotten gains ...
Back in Lima, we get congratulations for showing the potential of the zeppelin
After arrival at Lima, Frank finds a telegraph waiting for him, from Jasper Bing which arrived 3 days ago ...
Get 1st class train tickets for the journey to Rio.
At the harbourmasters office, Frank gets an envelope.
The letter mentions the "Seal of Solomon", and having the exact location.
Asks to met in Dar Es Salaam before the end of September, and then "travel up country" ...
Frank checks with home base on the Seal with the Institute ...
... last seen in the birth place of the Queen of Sheba, nothing else known.
Try to blag a ride on the Zeppelin ...
... but hear a whisper of potential delay in New York, so decide to go with the steam ship route
Frank researches the Seal ...
... device reputedly used to "bind demons".
Charlie remembers that Solomon was involved in something about "jinn".
35 days later we arrive in Dar Es Salaam in Tanganyika Territory (under British mandate)
There is a note in the hotel ... "when you arrive, meet me in Room 305".
Hendricks checks the room out ... seems clear ... there was a record playing in there.
Magic Huskington was out in India. Came over here when territory taken over by Brits.
Retired and bought steamboat on Lake Victoria.
Found notes from German archaeological team, which included map to the Seal
Location looks to be the marsh land south of the lake.
And Charlie remembers article about the "Leopard Society" who are anti-white settlers in an aggressive way.
Meet up with Bing and chat about the Seal.
The seal is an engraved disc, about 6" diameter.
He reckons we head to a place called "Usenge (aka Ussenje)".
Meanwhile Hendricks breaks in to Room 305 ... common bits, but also automatic pistol and some dynamite, plus a timetable for railway across Tanganyika
Ace goes poking around for some "ju-ju" to protect against animals ...
... and also get a "bunch of feathers" tied in specific pattern for "protection" against the Leopard Society
... ju-ju is good for +10 for shooting hippo's
Poking around Frank gets more details on the Queen of Sheba ...
... in 1913, German archaeological team were exploring in the region
Set off in the train to Lake Tanganyika, heading for Usenge ...
Just out from Tabora, evening after dinner in the dining car, Bing is finishing his cigar ...
... train brakes slam on !!!
... shots being fired !!!
Hendricks spots someone (who is wears leopard skin) incoming through the skylight of the dining car !
Dead bodies in the dining car ... but no Bing!
Head towards the engine, looking for Bing
Hendricks checks the engine ... armed guards are there ... "We fought them off"
Charlie spots Bing's jacket on a chair ... the map?
In the calm after the storm, Charlie "borrows" the map from Charlie's coat ... before Bing appears out of the rear toilet
Show the train conductor our maps ...
... he reckons we'll need a boat
... and a good idea to take native guides!
Arrive at Usenge ...
... bodies being stretchered off the rear of the train
... taken by local "police" ... more military
Hendricks Tambo, Juma, Ewana from the station master, and Badu from the cousin of the porter
... showing ju-ju and Juma has a bit of a "tick"
We end up going with Tambo as guide
Stay for the night in the station hotel
Tambo has arranged boats and bearers, so we set out ...
... first day goes fine, and arrive at village
... quiet night
... second day also goes fine, and arrive Niamagonga
... quiet night
... third day nearing destination ... remaining bit of river, and into the marsh/boggy lands
Arrive at mound, with a "stone doorway" ... an entranceway down into the mound
There has been some digging to expose it ... maybe 20 years ... Germans?
Frank reckons the doorway construction has a "flavour" of early Egyptian "old kingdom" design
The porters seem upset with the "doorway" ... bad spirits live in there
We enter the underground ....
Passageways, crossroads, pools of water ...
... out of which a giant snake attacks Hendricks ...
... fusillade of shots and one dead snake later
Continue checking more passageways ...
... there's a door !
Frank reckons he can hear a voice !!!
Hendricks thinks it has been previously opened (scratch marks) recently!
... and a voice "Quiet now"
Hendricks gently cracks open the door ...
... and a sophisticated voice "Bing, is that you ... what rabble have you brought with you this time!"
... Professor Lansdale
After a face off, we come to a "gentleman's agreement" to shelve the fight while we search for the seal ...
We enter the chamber where they were ... looks like they were searching for something "secret", but failing
Hendricks eyes the room, and reckons there isn't one
Frank leads the Prof to believe the main chamber is the likely place to check ...
Hendricks sneaks off with no-one being the wiser ...
Later Frank joins him, and they find a possible location for the seal
Charlie gets Ace to slip away from the main group, and Ace joins Hendrick & Frank
They force open the doorway, and enter the likely location of the seal
There is an alcove with an possible altarpiece?
Hendricks pokes around and pulls out a "metal disk" ... seems to be a mashup of jewish & egyptian markings!
Frank convinces the prof that there's something there ...
Meanwhile we sidle out of the room and retreat ... convincing Eustace that there are more snakes!
The chase is on ...
... and we win it