USAF XXX-XXXXX X-XX Nevada 1938 / INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION / SUBJ. WFF / OMAR SHAKTI
US SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS OPERATIONAL OFFICER (USSAOO): “You’d stopped the crazy ritual. They were finished. Why didn’t you leave Omar Shakti and just get the hell out of Egypt?”
FOCK: “For a monkey in a uniform that’s the most pertinent question you’ve asked me all morning.”
USSAOO: “Goddamn it Fock! Any more of your smart-ass bullshit and I’ll see to it that your file gets lost and you the hell with it! Now you had stopped the Cult of the Black Pharaoh from doing that ritual and destroying the planet but you just couldn’t leave it at that: Why?”
FOCK: “First of all, we became obsessed. There is no other way to describe it. A normal, sane person would have taken a step back. Waited. Got the authorities or the British involved. But we could not leave Omar Shakti to hatch some new terror into the world. Because we knew the risks. We knew the cost would be high. But we had stopped thinking in those terms. The cult was like an infestation: Every last piece of the nest had to be destroyed. Furthermore, only extermination would prevent the vermin from returning, multiplying and spreading their diseased credo.”
As the dust settles the grey outlines of the many corpses that litter the floor have lost their definition – like an echo of their recently extinguished existences. The investigators spring into action. Myles and Joe head towards the right-hand staircase and Trixie, Irma, Simon and Wes head to the other. Myles spots movement out of the corner of his eye… Trixie shouts:
Trixie: “They’re coming round to assault us through the door!”
Arabic shouting can be heard from above. There is a telephone in the hall. Destroyed. And hopefully no one had the opportunity to use it.
In the meantime at the top of the stairs more cultists are again ready with grenades… All thrown simultaneously, the cultists demonstrate how inadequately trained they are with modern weaponry. All of their grenades miss. At the top of the stairs the grenade throwers switch to rifles and shoot. Donelly is hit but the Skin of Sedefkar saves him from a horrific injury. He also has an opportunity to shoot and does so gunning two of them down. Wesley finishes off the last of them with his M16.
Donelly suddenly hisses:
Joe: “Spell caster!”
He gestures towards a corridor. Trixie and Wesley rush to cover him. There is an open door at the end of the corridor. A murderous chanting can be heard when suddenly a figure jumps out!
Trixie fires her lightning gun and as a result kills him! On the other side of the door, three men are still chanting. Simon feels something but is able to resist whatever cursed magic it is. He rushes into the room and shoots at one with his M16. They are all in black robes with upside-down ankh symbol of the Black Pharaoh. Wesley rushes in behind and plugs another of them in a spray of claret. The remaining cultist draws a weapon and screams while Simon casually guns him down. Another door opposite is closed. Was that a noise? What was it?
Back at the front door, more of Omar Shakti’s cultists are probably supplying reinforcements. Myles, Gupta and Irma are ready for them. Even if Myles unusually is unable to understand them, the investigators know what is coming. Back upstairs, Joe throws a grenade into the room. It explodes and then a voice says:
Omar Shakti: “You killed my cat.”
Trixie and Joe retreat back down the corridor, Wesley joins Simon in an antechamber to the room with the spell casters. It is Omar Shakti.
From outside:
“They have come upstairs! Come and kill them!”
Wesley and Simon hear something in the room where Shakti is. A few steps and then nothing.
Downstairs, guards enter carrying rifles. Myles throws his grenade and the explosion causes death and destruction. Fire from the machine gun installation outside comes rattling into the room. Irma throws a grenade and completely annihilates the installation and any standing near it. But there are more cultists still coming.
Myles: “They’re getting grenades chaps!”
It’s an Egyptian stand off.
Gupta, Irma and Myles sneak back up the stairs, until Myles knocks over an objet d’arte.
The Sikh hands Myles one of his grenades:
Singh: “Good luck with that Mr. Bloody Imperialist Sir!”
Myles and Irma throw their grenades through the opening into the entrance hall below.
Upstairs, Simon throws a bundle of dynamite into the room where Shakti is, the mummified remains of a cat, shrapnel damage and a completely undamaged door is all he can see but he throws the dynamite in anyway… It explodes destroying the wall and and sending a huge cloud of dust billowing through the remains of the building. Even some of the floor has been destroyed. Arabic shouting can be heard from outside. With all of the walls destroyed, Omar Shakti is nowhere to be seen. Wesley remembers the spell “Find Gate” and prepares to cast it.
Wes: “I can see it! A gate! The glyphs! I can see it all. Quick we must follow!”
Back downstairs the remaining cultists prepare for their last charge. Chanting for courage they bundle through the battered front door. A tightly packed group. Myle’s grenade lands close to them:
Myles: “Damn I put to much spin on it!”
He exclaims. Gupta tries to pick off the remaining attackers but mid-spray his Tommy gun jams! Irma fires with his shotgun, hitting some of them.
The sound of the rolls Royce being started outside can be heard. One of the injured surviving cultists is running towards Irma. He shoots him dead.
Myles throws a grenade at the final wave of cultists taking out four of them. The rest are consequently taken out by Joseph. A moment to reload and take stock.
Simon: “Use the ankhs and go through the gate! We have to follow!”
Wesley hesitates. Is this it? The end? He runs to the gate and enters, the ankh and sceptre before him. Whoosh. In a brief moment the universe dissolves into a handful of quantum particles before suddenly reforming: A room lit with a single light. Three of Omar Shakti’s guards are waiting and ready: Wes casts fist of Yog Sothoth and blasts one back, knocking him into another, both are down. The remaining two try to strike and one hits but the Skin of Sedefkar incantation saves the professor. Trixie comes through next and aims a kick at another, while Wes drops the Ankh and Sceptre and goes for his .32, dropping his attacker, and another with two deft shots.
Wes: “Trixie I’ve never been so glad to see you!”
says the professor as he shoots another. Simon decides to join the party as Trixie indulges in some martial arts but takes a hit to lose her Skin. Wesley finishes off the last of them.
Back at the house the car is driving off – a flare is sent up by Joe to summon Natalja to intercept.
Gupta: “Come with me Mr. Connington, Sir, they are going to get Omar Shakti!”
Myles: “Lead the way, Gupta wallah!”
Gupta: “Don’t worry, I’ll do all the bloody work you bloody imperialist bastard. Here take another grenade!”
The dead and dying litter the entrance hall. It seems there are possibly as many as forty people dead. Is this a coffee house? A shisha bar?
Fearing another trap, the investigators return through the gate. Myles rigs a trap at the gate. A grenade surprise for anyone who decides to follow us.
Meanwhile the Rolls Royce is taken out by Natalja as it tries to escape by some well placed shots. Steam is coming out of the engine. The car is brought to a stop and two men try to flee. Natalja guns them both down. A spell is cast at her by another of the cultists who emerges from the car – luckily it fails as she drives closer with the truck and prepares to throw a grenade. He runs and dives into a ditch, taking some damage from the grenade. Someone is coming up the road. Running. Natalja recognizes Irma because of his miner’s helmet. Irma spots the injured cultist in the ditch and delivers the coup de grâce.
Myles reads the note Wesley found. It seems to contain instructions for a spell to kill the “unbelievers” i.e. the investigators. In addition, Wesley has the idea that the writing is written in the style of one of Huston’s cronies. This means one of Omar Shakti’s cronies has a lightning gun. And consequently explains the grenades and rifles. Furthermore, they were ready. Shipton-Connington has a hunch that the British grenades have probably been raided from an arms cache. Mills bombs are salvaged.
Suddenly, a section of the floor collapses from within the house.
The hall of paintings are of Omar Shakti painted probably in different eras. There is also a letter from Gavigan which seems to indicate that Shakti may be immortal.
Joe repairs the phone and calls. Myles is connected to the operator. He tries a previously called number. An Australian accent answers: “Yes?”
Myles: “It’s Shakti, Omar Shakti.”
Australian: “What’s the code?”
Myles: “Errr…”
“bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”
