Syria and the Movies Part Two: April 4, 1926

Church and Errands

Those of the group who are feeling religious go to church. Those who don’t do other things. They meet up back at the Tulipe Dorée a short time later to share stories. Here’s what they did in the meantime.

Telegrams: Judge Putnam sent two telegrams—one to Christopher Edwin to let him know he was in Syria and to ask for advice about Bryan Slim, the other to Terrance, his secretary, who was housesitting for him, asking to track down Anne Chantraine and inquiring about any resurgence in the Silver Twilight Lodge. Ron sent a coded telegram to Darragh (with Vivian’s help), to tell Darragh about the imminent mob war and that Darragh should look after Ron’s wife and son. Kane sends a telegram to Horus, telling him that the charm bag that he had purchased was very useful. He also wants Horus to make another one.

Vivian Bernouse and Judge Putnam: Went to the university library to research the Nameless City. They found a very brief mention of an archaeological team that Vivian had researched earlier. The team, consisting of Drs. Masterson, Lavallee, and Thibodeau, allegedly found the gate to the Nameless City using novel methods that they refused to describe. They apparently abandoned their survey when Masterson was critically injured. They also learn that Lavallee currently teaches at a university in Cairo.

The duo also learns of a book called Kinship, Inheritance, and Worship in Arabia, 1804-1900, which is on loan to the University of Beirut. The librarian promises to order the book for them and asks them to check back in a couple of days.

Dr. Black: Visited a local museum set up by the French to display local artifacts. One such artifact was a bronze disc that had a very familiar symbol on the back. Dr. Black spoke with a docent and learned that the artifact was a bronze mirror reputed to belong to the Tahijuh clan, which was originally part of the Druze ethnic group until they disappeared. Dr. Black debated on whether or not to steal the mirror, but ultimately decided against it.

Ron Deluca and Mikhail: Went to the local open-air market. Ron continued his tradition of having a clothes-buying montage. Mikhail purchased an olive wood cane and was also convinced to buy a jar of olive oil and a jar of pickled olives. Shortly thereafter, Ron ditched Mikhail and, through a series of lucky hunches, located one of Damascus’ black markets. Here, he purchased a curved knife and a two-ounce brick of hashish.

Johnny Doukas: Also located the black market, though not at the same time as Ron. He bought his way in with French francs and expensive American cigarettes. He focused on the curio and trinket dealers in the market, and eventually found a bronze disc with a very familiar symbol on it. He purchased the disc for the equivalent of three American dollars. The seller mentions something, repeatedly, about “kaniun al’shaytan,”but Johnny’s Arabic isn’t good enough to understand what this means.

Kane Eastman: He first went to the local Catholic church and inquired about getting a priest to perform an exorcism (his plan to help get Carl Stanford out of Bryan Slim’s body). He learned that there were no priests capable of performing the rite locally, but that the church could contact the Vatican and request someone if the need was dire. Kane also bumped into Brother Theodore, who was in Syria for some reason, and who was staying on the church grounds.  Brother Theodore asked Kane to let Dr. Black know he was in the area.

Kane then has Vivian and Mikhail disguise him as a prim and proper Black woman, complete with a dress and a long wig. In this disguise, Kane hops into the Gate box and travels back to New York City. He goes to Papa Doc Horus, who is shocked to see Kane in his new outfit. Kane explains that he came in secret—and in disguise—because he fears repercussions from the Silver Twilight Lodge. Horus gives Kane another charm bag, but tells him that his energies are waning and that he will likely be unable to make more in the future.

At the Tulipe Dorée and the Black Market

The group meets for lunch at the hotel and shares information. Johnny and Dr. Black learn about one another’s discs. Kane tells Dr. Black about Brother Theodore. Ron tells Johnny about a “really great place” that he just came back from, and asks Johnny, and the group, if anyone wants to go back there.

Vivian remains at the hotel while the rest of the group goes to the black market. She sends a telegram that she and Judge Putnam had worked on to Dr. Lavallee in Cairo.

The others go to the black market, pay off the guards outside, and are let in. Dr. Black goes to examine curios on a trader’s blanket, and picks up an ornate, tarnished silver tube to look at it more closely. The shop’s owner, misunderstanding his intentions, starts shouting at him in Arabic. Her two sons materialize out of the shadows with rifles and point them at Dr. Black. Dr. Black, realizing that he has been mistaken for a thief, gently returns the tube to the blanket and backs up, sweating profusely. Johnny, in an attempt to make amends, purchases the tube.

Dr. Black then talks to a boy with an eyepatch who appears to be a weapons’ dealer. The doctor purchases two .45 automatics—one for him and one for Kane—despite Johnny telling them that they “already have guns at home.” The boy opens up a small trunk containing loose bullets, and convinces Dr. Black to buy several rounds of ammunition.

Mikhail, suddenly hitting on a new and cunning plan, decides to buy several things from the black market, including ammunition, clothing, a bag, and several other things.

Ron, who has apparently given his curved knife to Vivian “for protection,” purchases a replacement from the knife dealer. The knife dealer, who speaks only Arabic and Farsi, points, laughs, and pantomimes until the group is made to understand that he is asking, “Another knife already? Did you kill a Frenchman with the first one?”

The group’s marketplace experience is cut short by a sudden French Foreign Legion raid on the marketplace. The group and the merchants scatter in all directions, leaving behind an empty, dusty plaza.

Brother Theodore

Brother Theodore Returns

Kane, Dr. Black, and Mikhail go back to the Catholic church. They have a private conversation with Brother Theodore in one of the church’s monastic cells. Kane and Mikhail learn that Dr. Black personally invited Brother Theodore to accompany them to Syria. Dr. Black further explains that Brother Theodore belongs to a holy order of monks devoted to fighting evil. Brother Theodore obliquely adds that, while he goes around in the habiliments of a monk, neither he nor his order are, technically, catholic.

The trio tells Brother Theodore about Bryan Slim’s message, and Kane’s exorcism plan is discussed again. Brother Theodore is skeptical that a Catholic exorcism would work, but he does know that his order has some rites which might work just as well or better. Mikhail explains that he could probably just perform an exorcism himself if he had access to the rite. The others inform him that this is impossible, because Mikhail is a) not Catholic, b) not a priest, and c) is a Freemason. Mikhail is undaunted, until he learns that it will take him six years of study at seminary to become an ordained priest. He also spins his Masonic ring around until the symbol is beneath his ring finger.

Dr. Black tells Brother Theodore that the group is seeking the Nameless City. He also mentions to the monk that they believe they will find more information about the city when they explore the now-abandoned movie set in the desert. He asks Brother Theodore to accompany the group, and the monk agrees.

Mikhail ducks out of the meeting early and goes to the marketplace to buy some chickens.

The Museum

Vivian, Johnny, and Judge Putnam go to the museum that Dr. Black found. They quickly find the disc artifact that Dr. Black described and see that it is effectively identical to the one in Johnny’s pocket.

They find a helpful, young French docent, and ask him about the artifact. The docent cannot tell them very much at all. Vivian then enquires about the Masterson/Lavallee/Thibodeau expedition. She explains that Masterson was badly injured on the expedition, and though there is no further mention of him in the literature, it is possible he is still living in Damascus.

The docent searches the records and finds little in the way of new information on the archaeological survey. He does, however, say that he thinks he knows where the professors went on their dig. He shows off a map of the Syrian Desert and points out a site known as As Safa, a large volcanic plain in the middle of the desert. The basic description of As Safa seems to match what Vivian and Judge Putnam discovered in the archaeological survey in the library.

As Safa from the Air

Once Again, The Hotel

The group returns to the hotel, where they encounter a red-eyed Ron. As they catch up with one another, a hotel attendant approaches them to give them telegrams. Judge Putnam hears from both Christopher Edwin and Terrence, while Ron gets a message back from his brother-in-law, Darragh.

Telegram to Ron from Darragh

Telegram to Judge Putnam from Christopher Edwin

Telegram to Judge Putnam from Terrence, his Secretary

Mikhail returns with several dozen chickens, which start wandering around the hotel courtyard and making nuisances of themselves. Mikhail excitedly tells the group that he plans to sharpen the ammunition he just bought into points, after which he plans to cast the Bless Blade spell on them. There is some discussion as to whether or not this will work, as bullets deform on impact. Ron suggests maybe using a bow and arrow instead. Johnny suggests maybe reworking the Bless Blade spell so that it works on ammunition instead of blades.

This conversation is interrupted by the concierge, who demands that Mikhail take his chickens off the premises immediately. A still high, and chatty, Ron, decides to go to bat for Mikhail. He tells the concierge that, since they’re guests, there should be some way for the concierge to put up Mikhail’s chickens for the night.

Unfortunately, Ron, being intoxicated, doesn’t realize that he is speaking indelicately and has badly insulted the concierge. The concierge berates Ron, who responds in the usual way by further escalating the situation until both men are shouting at one another. This comes to a head when Ron, for reasons unclear even to himself, draws the Dagger of Nephrem-Ka from his booth and threatens the life of the concierge with it.

Mikhail flees the hotel while the rest of the group tries to save the situation. Johnny slips on his brass knuckles and decks Ron in the head, knocking the fight out of him. Dr. Black administers some laudanum to calm Ron down, while Vivian takes possession of the Dagger. The group then helps a now mostly unconscious Ron back to his room and into his bed.

The concierge, still quite discomfited about the whole thing, leaves the scene. The group expresses their profuse apologies to hotel management, and just barely smooths everything over.

The Call of Cairo

A short time later, Judge Putnam and Vivian are told that there is a telephone call from one Ambrose Lavallee at the front desk. Both of them take the call and listen in as best as they can as Dr. Lavallee greets them.

Lavallee’s demeanor goes cold when he realizes that the judge and Vivian are interested in finding the Nameless City. He warns them against it, and insists that there is no good reason for them to go there. Vivian presses him for details on what happened at the expedition, and Lavallee explains that they were indeed at As Safa, where they found a free-standing gate that “leads to the gateway of the Nameless City.” The gate, Lavallee explains has “Umr At-Tawil” carved into it in Arabic. This terrifies Vivian, who remembers reading about this gate early in the group’s involvement with the Silver Twilight Lodge.

Lavallee says that they used means he doesn’t specify to open the gate (but which the judge and Vivian suspect is some kind of magical ritual). The gate exploded into “horrible white light” and, when the light faded, the gate was as it was before, and Masterson was gone. Lavallee believed that Masterson either entered or was pulled into the portal, and confesses that he said that Masterson was “injured” only to keep other people from seeking out the gate and the Nameless City.

Lavallee then tells Vivian and the judge that he saw Masterson one last time, very briefly, in spiritual form. Masterson came to him “surrounded by light,” telling him that he had become lost in “the Well of Souls.” Lavallee said that Masterson begged him to never return to the Nameless City, and to prevent anyone else from going there. Then Masterson faded from sight.

When the judge and Vivian express to Lavallee that they need to go to the Nameless City, despite his warnings, Lavallee simply wishes them luck and hangs up the phone.