Nebulous
Legend
continued..."Mad Warren Besart"
Part 2: Warren's Tale
Neville Longbottom wields knowledge of both the Mythos and Egyptian lore, and coupled with Ali’s expertise, they tell the others that Bast is a benevolent deity, surely mythical under most standards, but from what they’ve experienced so far, gods are more real than previously imagined. For this reason, the Black Rites could offer a magical advantage if translated and used against the enemy.
But tonight the investigators have a date with Faraz Najir. They are supposed to meet him at the El Hussein mosque at 5pm where he has agreed to answer their questions. So, arming themselves as usual, the investigators follow Ma’Moud back to Old City where they wait for the antiquities dealer to finish his evening prayers.
Along the way, Ma’Moud tells them that it is extremely disrespectful to interrupt the processions, and unrepentant foreigners could find themselves stoned for doing so. It is sound advice. They pat Ma’Moud on the head and tell him what a good boy he is. He beams with pleasure while holding Morty’s hand.
They find the mosque without any trouble, and by 5:15 Faraz Najir looks annoyed to see them there. Perhaps he thought they would forget. Morty and Neville speak with him while Ma’Moud, Oscar, and Chang wait outside.
The horribly burned Arabic man answers only when cash is offered, but his lips are soon flapping:
“Under the holy grace of Allah, I will tell you people this:
A) He had previously sold artifacts to Roger Carlyle's agent, a man named Warren Bessart. This was some years ago, and he does not know where Bessart, a Frenchman, is now. Bessart might have more information. Or, he might be dead. Who knows?
B) With prodding, (verbal intimation) he reveals that the artifacts he "procured" were in fact STOLEN from Omar Shakti, a powerful businessman who lives on a cotton plantation outside of town. One of these artifacts was a bust of the Black Pharaoh, incidentally seen (and acquired) by Morty in Gavigan's workshop in London. This very bust is now locked in a steel vault at the museum, along with their other artifacts.
C) The Black Brotherhood, a gang of killers and madmen, wants something from the mosque of Ibn Tulun, but he does not know what. Even when pressed, Faraz insists he knows nothing.
Meanwhile, while Morty and Neville are interviewing Faraz, Oscar Ochenta is lighting a cigarette, wondering how he can eventually scam these Americans. But his thoughts are interrupted when the same staggeringly gorgeous woman from before approaches him again.
“Return what was stolen!” she says in a husky voice. “For your own good!” Ocho assumes that she meant her heart, naturally, being the kind of man he is, but she vanishes without elaboration, almost as if the air blew her away. He mashes out his cigarette, wondering if he’ll ever have the chance to seduce this sexy, sexy woman!
Besides, there’s no telling what she wanted back from Ocho; her virginity perhaps?
Neville and Morty exit the mosque and tell the others what they found: Great, they think. Even more clues, and the trail through Cairo thickens. They have a feeling it will only get worse before it gets better (and they’re right). Nevertheless, they lay out their options:
1) This guy named Warren Bessart sold stuff for Roger Carlyle. Find him.
2) The stuff that he sold was actually stolen by Faraz Najir from a rich Cairo businessman named Omar
Shakti. Check him out? Maybe.
3) The Black Brotherhood, the local branch of Nyarlathotep, wants something from the Ibn Tulun
mosque. What exactly, Faraz has no idea, but that was the word on the street.
The group (sans Chang Chin who is sick and laid up) tries to find Warren Bessart first, and after inquiring at the French Embassy, find that the man is still registered in Cairo on the Street of Scorpions at a place called The Red Door. They go there together, but are very, very tentative about entering once they arrive. There IS a door painted red, but something smells like a trap. [That’s what I led them to believe anyway]
But once inside this small clothing shop, Oscar smells hash. His nose twitches. DRUGS! He forges ahead, leaving the others behind, and worms his way into a squalid room.
The owner tries to stop him, but Oscar is on a mission, brusquely pushing the man aside. Neville is able to calm the shopkeeper and tell him that they are dear old friends of…Warren. Right? Neville smiles, and the shopkeeper believes him.
So Oscar follows his nose to a small room. There is a man here all right, a Caucasian who might be Warren Bessart.
He looks sickly and sallow, and offers Ocho a hit from his pipe, but the pipe is empty. That’s just no good, and the man becomes sullen, irate, and tries to leave. But Oscar is mad too! He feels cheated. The others enter moments later, and this is when Oscar devises the (selfish) plan of scoring more hash to supply Warren, and coax him into talking later. Supply his habit, Oscar tells them, and Warren will reveal all they want to know. They promise Warren Besart that they’ll bring him more hash, and the crazed man actually agrees to wait for their return.
So, still being daylight, the group splits up three ways:
Prong A)
Neville investigates the mosque of Ibn Tulun, searching for clues that might explain why the cult is interested in it.
Faraz gave them the sketchiest hint possible, and they’re not even sure it’s true, but Neville tries anyway. He asks to meet the nazir, a white-haired gentleman named Achmed Zehavi.
The nazir is willing enough to talk, but Neville’s ultimate problem stems from his line of questioning: in his attempt to remain vague and inconspicuous, he fails to ask the right questions.
The Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep, and the Black Brotherhood are never mentioned.
Still, Neville learns that several recent robbery attempts have made the mosque nervous. “To steal what?” he asks, but Akhmed shrugs. “Many valuable holy artifacts here. My dear friend, are you searching for something particular?”
Neville can only say no, and leaves his line of questioning vague, especially since he is alone.
Neville walks around the mosque several times, admiring ancient paintings and architecture, but can’t shake the feeling that he missed something, somewhere, somehow…
[GM Note: I shudder to think what would have happened if they had stolen the Sword of Glory or the Girdle of Nitcrosis hidden at the mosque].
Prong B)
Oscar tries to score cheap hash from the one contact he has left in Cairo: a seventy-three year old woman named Oolah with only five teeth, so Oscar offers his “services” and gets paid with a small bag of drugs. He immediately finds a scalding shower and hopes the degradation was worth the payoff. Oolah KNOWS it was worth it.
Prong C)
Morty and Ma'Moud take a rattling bus 15 miles outside of town to the cotton plantation of Omar Shakti, but are reluctant to raise suspicions. All they see are workers in the hot white fields surrounding the house. Morty debates getting closer and seeing if he can spy anything suspicious, but without backup he knows it could be dangerous. Even if this is a legitimate business, trespassing might not be taken lightly. Besides, the sun is setting and he fears to be out after nightfall. From experience, this cult thrives in the dark hours…
They regroup later that evening, reach Warren Bessart again (miraculously still waiting for them), and with the help of Oscar’s sex-purchased narcotics, they are able to wean a horrifying story out of the Frenchman. Bessart is a physical and psychological mess, a train-wreck of a man who slips between reality and delusion as frequently as a sober man might blink. But Oscar Ochenta squats beside him to share the hash, and Bessart begins unveiling his tale in stops and starts, swapping from French to English to broken Arabic.
In fact, Bessart's addiction stemmed from what he saw in the desert that fateful night, so long, long ago...
“I acted as a purchasing agent, permit holder and equipment liaison for an American--a man named Roger Carlyle. At his instruction, I purchased items from Faraz Najir and shipped them illegally to Sir Aubrey Penhew in London. I only know that they were ancient artifacts, nothing more. I swear it!”
Warren recalls that their main dig was at Dhashur, also know as the Bent Pyramid. One day he saw them all enter the Bent Pyramid and disappear. All that is, except for a man named JACK BRADY. Brady, he says, was disturbed by the others vanishing, but having nothing else to do but wait, they drank. And drank, and drank some more….
When Carlyle and the others returned the next day they were somehow "different." They seemed very excited by what had happened to them inside, but would not elaborate.
That very evening, an old Egyptian woman named Nyiti visited Warren. She said that her son had been a digger and fled the Carlyle Expedition because they consorted with ancient evil: The Messenger of the Black Wind! But this old seer could see that Brady and Warren’s souls were not corrupt, but if they needed more proof, they could witness a ritual at Meidum that very night.
And foolishly, Warren went.
The whole Carlyle Expedition was there, in addition to an unknown robed man and hundreds of raving lunatics. The desert came alive under the moonlight with unspeakable horrors, and an orgy of death devoured nearly everyone! Horrible creatures slithered from the sand and ate nearly every human being present. But the worst thing Warren saw, the sight that drove him mad, was a great beast the size of an elephant with five shaggy heads…
…until Warren saw what it truly was.
Even recalling these memories brings him to the brink of hysteria and he begins puffing madly on the hash pipe. Oscar yanks it away before he finishes it all. The other investigators are crowded near, the ones who can understand his broken speech, trying to piece together what this madman is saying. And wondering how much is true, and how much is just crazy talk.
Warren finally says that after the monsters left, there were only a few people alive. Warren was hidden, and he wandered deep into the desert, wanting to die after what he had seen. If the world were truly this mad, he did not want to live in it.
As he was about to slash his wrists with a chunk of sharp rock, he says that a young man named Unba found him and took him to his nearby village in El Wasta. Unba had been the digger that fled the Carlyle Expedition before the ritual. There, Unba and his mother Nyiti cared for Warren and nursed him back to sanity, but it took several long, difficult years.
After returning to Cairo, Warren has spent the days since trying to banish the memories from that night.
He has never quite succeeded.
Next chapter, the investigators brush with annihilation closer than ever before, with unexpected results...
Part 2: Warren's Tale
Neville Longbottom wields knowledge of both the Mythos and Egyptian lore, and coupled with Ali’s expertise, they tell the others that Bast is a benevolent deity, surely mythical under most standards, but from what they’ve experienced so far, gods are more real than previously imagined. For this reason, the Black Rites could offer a magical advantage if translated and used against the enemy.
But tonight the investigators have a date with Faraz Najir. They are supposed to meet him at the El Hussein mosque at 5pm where he has agreed to answer their questions. So, arming themselves as usual, the investigators follow Ma’Moud back to Old City where they wait for the antiquities dealer to finish his evening prayers.
Along the way, Ma’Moud tells them that it is extremely disrespectful to interrupt the processions, and unrepentant foreigners could find themselves stoned for doing so. It is sound advice. They pat Ma’Moud on the head and tell him what a good boy he is. He beams with pleasure while holding Morty’s hand.
They find the mosque without any trouble, and by 5:15 Faraz Najir looks annoyed to see them there. Perhaps he thought they would forget. Morty and Neville speak with him while Ma’Moud, Oscar, and Chang wait outside.
The horribly burned Arabic man answers only when cash is offered, but his lips are soon flapping:

“Under the holy grace of Allah, I will tell you people this:
A) He had previously sold artifacts to Roger Carlyle's agent, a man named Warren Bessart. This was some years ago, and he does not know where Bessart, a Frenchman, is now. Bessart might have more information. Or, he might be dead. Who knows?
B) With prodding, (verbal intimation) he reveals that the artifacts he "procured" were in fact STOLEN from Omar Shakti, a powerful businessman who lives on a cotton plantation outside of town. One of these artifacts was a bust of the Black Pharaoh, incidentally seen (and acquired) by Morty in Gavigan's workshop in London. This very bust is now locked in a steel vault at the museum, along with their other artifacts.

C) The Black Brotherhood, a gang of killers and madmen, wants something from the mosque of Ibn Tulun, but he does not know what. Even when pressed, Faraz insists he knows nothing.
Meanwhile, while Morty and Neville are interviewing Faraz, Oscar Ochenta is lighting a cigarette, wondering how he can eventually scam these Americans. But his thoughts are interrupted when the same staggeringly gorgeous woman from before approaches him again.
“Return what was stolen!” she says in a husky voice. “For your own good!” Ocho assumes that she meant her heart, naturally, being the kind of man he is, but she vanishes without elaboration, almost as if the air blew her away. He mashes out his cigarette, wondering if he’ll ever have the chance to seduce this sexy, sexy woman!
Besides, there’s no telling what she wanted back from Ocho; her virginity perhaps?
Neville and Morty exit the mosque and tell the others what they found: Great, they think. Even more clues, and the trail through Cairo thickens. They have a feeling it will only get worse before it gets better (and they’re right). Nevertheless, they lay out their options:
1) This guy named Warren Bessart sold stuff for Roger Carlyle. Find him.
2) The stuff that he sold was actually stolen by Faraz Najir from a rich Cairo businessman named Omar
Shakti. Check him out? Maybe.
3) The Black Brotherhood, the local branch of Nyarlathotep, wants something from the Ibn Tulun
mosque. What exactly, Faraz has no idea, but that was the word on the street.
The group (sans Chang Chin who is sick and laid up) tries to find Warren Bessart first, and after inquiring at the French Embassy, find that the man is still registered in Cairo on the Street of Scorpions at a place called The Red Door. They go there together, but are very, very tentative about entering once they arrive. There IS a door painted red, but something smells like a trap. [That’s what I led them to believe anyway]
But once inside this small clothing shop, Oscar smells hash. His nose twitches. DRUGS! He forges ahead, leaving the others behind, and worms his way into a squalid room.
The owner tries to stop him, but Oscar is on a mission, brusquely pushing the man aside. Neville is able to calm the shopkeeper and tell him that they are dear old friends of…Warren. Right? Neville smiles, and the shopkeeper believes him.
So Oscar follows his nose to a small room. There is a man here all right, a Caucasian who might be Warren Bessart.

He looks sickly and sallow, and offers Ocho a hit from his pipe, but the pipe is empty. That’s just no good, and the man becomes sullen, irate, and tries to leave. But Oscar is mad too! He feels cheated. The others enter moments later, and this is when Oscar devises the (selfish) plan of scoring more hash to supply Warren, and coax him into talking later. Supply his habit, Oscar tells them, and Warren will reveal all they want to know. They promise Warren Besart that they’ll bring him more hash, and the crazed man actually agrees to wait for their return.
So, still being daylight, the group splits up three ways:
Prong A)
Neville investigates the mosque of Ibn Tulun, searching for clues that might explain why the cult is interested in it.

Faraz gave them the sketchiest hint possible, and they’re not even sure it’s true, but Neville tries anyway. He asks to meet the nazir, a white-haired gentleman named Achmed Zehavi.

The nazir is willing enough to talk, but Neville’s ultimate problem stems from his line of questioning: in his attempt to remain vague and inconspicuous, he fails to ask the right questions.
The Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep, and the Black Brotherhood are never mentioned.
Still, Neville learns that several recent robbery attempts have made the mosque nervous. “To steal what?” he asks, but Akhmed shrugs. “Many valuable holy artifacts here. My dear friend, are you searching for something particular?”
Neville can only say no, and leaves his line of questioning vague, especially since he is alone.
Neville walks around the mosque several times, admiring ancient paintings and architecture, but can’t shake the feeling that he missed something, somewhere, somehow…
[GM Note: I shudder to think what would have happened if they had stolen the Sword of Glory or the Girdle of Nitcrosis hidden at the mosque].
Prong B)
Oscar tries to score cheap hash from the one contact he has left in Cairo: a seventy-three year old woman named Oolah with only five teeth, so Oscar offers his “services” and gets paid with a small bag of drugs. He immediately finds a scalding shower and hopes the degradation was worth the payoff. Oolah KNOWS it was worth it.

Prong C)
Morty and Ma'Moud take a rattling bus 15 miles outside of town to the cotton plantation of Omar Shakti, but are reluctant to raise suspicions. All they see are workers in the hot white fields surrounding the house. Morty debates getting closer and seeing if he can spy anything suspicious, but without backup he knows it could be dangerous. Even if this is a legitimate business, trespassing might not be taken lightly. Besides, the sun is setting and he fears to be out after nightfall. From experience, this cult thrives in the dark hours…

They regroup later that evening, reach Warren Bessart again (miraculously still waiting for them), and with the help of Oscar’s sex-purchased narcotics, they are able to wean a horrifying story out of the Frenchman. Bessart is a physical and psychological mess, a train-wreck of a man who slips between reality and delusion as frequently as a sober man might blink. But Oscar Ochenta squats beside him to share the hash, and Bessart begins unveiling his tale in stops and starts, swapping from French to English to broken Arabic.
In fact, Bessart's addiction stemmed from what he saw in the desert that fateful night, so long, long ago...

“I acted as a purchasing agent, permit holder and equipment liaison for an American--a man named Roger Carlyle. At his instruction, I purchased items from Faraz Najir and shipped them illegally to Sir Aubrey Penhew in London. I only know that they were ancient artifacts, nothing more. I swear it!”
Warren recalls that their main dig was at Dhashur, also know as the Bent Pyramid. One day he saw them all enter the Bent Pyramid and disappear. All that is, except for a man named JACK BRADY. Brady, he says, was disturbed by the others vanishing, but having nothing else to do but wait, they drank. And drank, and drank some more….
When Carlyle and the others returned the next day they were somehow "different." They seemed very excited by what had happened to them inside, but would not elaborate.
That very evening, an old Egyptian woman named Nyiti visited Warren. She said that her son had been a digger and fled the Carlyle Expedition because they consorted with ancient evil: The Messenger of the Black Wind! But this old seer could see that Brady and Warren’s souls were not corrupt, but if they needed more proof, they could witness a ritual at Meidum that very night.
And foolishly, Warren went.
The whole Carlyle Expedition was there, in addition to an unknown robed man and hundreds of raving lunatics. The desert came alive under the moonlight with unspeakable horrors, and an orgy of death devoured nearly everyone! Horrible creatures slithered from the sand and ate nearly every human being present. But the worst thing Warren saw, the sight that drove him mad, was a great beast the size of an elephant with five shaggy heads…

…until Warren saw what it truly was.
Even recalling these memories brings him to the brink of hysteria and he begins puffing madly on the hash pipe. Oscar yanks it away before he finishes it all. The other investigators are crowded near, the ones who can understand his broken speech, trying to piece together what this madman is saying. And wondering how much is true, and how much is just crazy talk.
Warren finally says that after the monsters left, there were only a few people alive. Warren was hidden, and he wandered deep into the desert, wanting to die after what he had seen. If the world were truly this mad, he did not want to live in it.
As he was about to slash his wrists with a chunk of sharp rock, he says that a young man named Unba found him and took him to his nearby village in El Wasta. Unba had been the digger that fled the Carlyle Expedition before the ritual. There, Unba and his mother Nyiti cared for Warren and nursed him back to sanity, but it took several long, difficult years.
After returning to Cairo, Warren has spent the days since trying to banish the memories from that night.
He has never quite succeeded.
Next chapter, the investigators brush with annihilation closer than ever before, with unexpected results...
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