Your words got the Sultan’s interest, enough that he thrusted slower if only to better make them out. It was hard to tell if the last ones in particular had an effect on him or not.<br/><br/>“Well, I’m already in too deep,” he replied to your threat of disease. “So I won’t stop now!”<br/><br/>He fucked you like a man possessed, the concubines flanking his sides and placing their hands on his back and buttocks as if to help ‘push’ him further against you. His breathing grew heavier, his penis noticeably throbbing against your womanhood’s grip, his sturdy chest pressing against your generous breasts. It felt as though the glass would give way any minute, but thankfully it held. The Sultan moaned as he shot his warmth deep inside you, burying his face in your hair. His thrusts grew weaker, his erection subsiding as it finally slid out coated in your mixed fluids. One of the concubines caught him as he took a wobbly step backwards (and the other one you as well). It seemed that even a man as strong as him had his limits.<br/><br/>“I am glad that fate placed you into my lap,” the Sultan said as he reclined back on the bed, your body lewdly draped over his like some kind of living blanket. He lifted your chin with a finger to lock eyes with yours. His were brown irises, unfocused and hazed from the post-orgasmic pleasure still running through his body. “You’re not just a rare prize, but also a good fuck.”<br/><br/>“She certainly has all the fine breeding of her family name, master,” one of the concubines said as she laid down beside him.<br/><br/>“Laleena, Tsatsuna, prepare me some refreshments. I need to quench my thirst as well as my curiosity. So Celeste, about this book...a book so valuable it drove two men to commit the unconscionable to learn of it from you...or at least, that’s what you’re telling yourself.”<br/><br/>The Sultan’s unseen hand squeezed your ass hard. “Or we can skip the tale and resume for round two. I’m fine either way…”<br/><br/><hr/><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Monotype Corsiva;">The Black Magic Book of the Alexandrian Bazaar (Celeste POV)</span></span><br/>(https://i.imgur.com/KSaTCK1.jpg)</div><br/>Scene Music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27_rSQm4VbY)<br/><br/><em>To Lady Celeste Lake,<br/><br/>As a woman of few words, I would not pen you this letter were it not of greatest import, but as heir to the Lake family name I petition your aid in an urgent manner.<br/><br/>The fascination with Egypt’s days of yore has picked up greatly within the last decade, due in no small part to the contributions of your late great father. Alas, not all have intent which remains in the realm of scholarly appreciation. Whether they’re indigenous, among our number, or one of the Continental Powers I know not, but I heard talk of some local mystic proclaiming some revelation in the dominions of not just history, but life itself supposedly ‘gleaned from the tongues of the escapees of the underworld.’ I spotted men of means in the bazaar discreetly passing small tablets between each other with the urgency of a gentleman caller late for their paramour, and one such tablet which you hold in this letter (https://i.imgur.com/JG7qREA.jpg) I found glued beneath the corner table of an opium den back in London. I believe it represents the Egyptian concept of life, but you may have more luck delving into its meaning.<br/><br/>While I’d entrust such a thing as a silly secretive ritual of London’s many gentlemen's clubs, what is concerning is the kinds of people it’s attracting. Armed men from Prussia, tomb robbers, the stranger fringes of the Golden Dawn occultists, and not to mention the more local attention of the Ottomans!<br/><br/>I am heading up the Nile River to the village of Dendera, where the greatest temple to the goddess Hathor once stood. I figure that this is my best lead for such gatherings and plots given her divine connection to fertility. I passed the word to Hessa Ganim in Alexandra to keep a watch out for you. She’ll likely be minding the curio shop as usual, which looks just as quaint as it does amid the newer Rosette Street shops.<br/><br/>Sincerely,<br/><br/>Lydia De Trafford<br/><br/>PS Bring your father’s last writings with you. It may be a red herring, but this talk of the underworld may indicate this occultist society’s paths of interest may have crossed with spelunking.</em><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Monotype Corsiva;">Give me a History roll at regular difficulty to better ascertain the tablet’s meaning.</span></span><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Fumble</div><div class="spoiler_body">The shipping to Arkham has not been kind, for the tablet breaks into dusty pieces before you can get a closer look at it!</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Failure</div><div class="spoiler_body">You no nothing more than what De Trafford wrote in the letter. However, you believe that the local chapter of the Golden Dawn in Alexandria will know more, although it’d be wise to think up a cover story for your interest.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Success</div><div class="spoiler_body">This is symbol is the djed, or “the god’s backbone,” harking to the god Osiris and his resurrection. It represents stability and fertility as well as resurrection and eternal life.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Critical Success</div><div class="spoiler_body">The symbol also represents the sacrum, the back of the bone that is close to the sperm duct. As such, it is also representative of the god’s seed. As such it is believed to have been paired with symbols of Isis to represent copulation. (https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/tjet/) The groove marks upon the tablet are shaped such that one can run a knot or knot-like loop through it; perhaps it’s meant to connect to a similar symbol among this mysterious society?</div></div><br/>The sail from America to Egypt was a lengthy, if uneventful one. It took slightly less than a week of sailing from Arkham, Massachusetts to the Straits of Gibraltar, and from there a similar length. The ocean liner was well-stocked and comfortable for a lady of your means, and Baozhai’s interest in the workings of the engine (“a most unladylike curiosity” as one female passenger remarked to you in passing) meant that you had enough time to yourself should that be so desired. Your cousin Angelica arrived as well when the liner stopped at Gibraltar.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Monotype Corsiva;">In Pulp Cthulhu, Mythos Tomes take half the time to read. As such the G’harne Fragments take a total of 6 weeks of study, 2 of which have passed on the ocean liner. As it is in English you have an 80% chance for an initial reading roll at Regular difficulty.</span></span><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Fumble</div><div class="spoiler_body">Not only do you make no progress, you lose 1d3 Sanity points as you feel a creeping sense of dread whenever you open the tome. But still your eyes keep being drawn to it...</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Failure</div><div class="spoiler_body">You get an inkling as to your father’s writings, but fail to make any inroads on where this G’harne may be specifically or a comprehension of the more obscure places referenced.</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Success</div><div class="spoiler_body">You get a sense that this city speaks of something miraculous...as well as dreadful, for it surely unseats humanity’s lonesome nature upon Earth as intelligent life. G’harne may have been a city built not by humans after all! You gain 3 points in the Cthulhu Mythos skill.<br/><br/>Your father has a strange way with words. The repetition of certain letters and numbers point to a sort of cryptographic code which...seem to be discussions on how to contact said entities. You may learn one of 4 spells below in 1d6 hours (negligible for the ocean liner cruise):<br/><br/>1. “I believe that G’harne’s inhabitants were worm-like entities. Sound cannot carry through the earth in conventional manners, so I believe that the right application of vibrations are used to convey meaning. As such, places with earthquakes and volcano chains serve the best means if humanity should hope to make first contact..that is, if their descendants still live.”<br/><br/>2. “It seems that G’harne’s inhabitants also tried to contact those beyond their underground confines. Large tunnels ventilating to the surface carried sound and smoke vast distances. Most of said tunnels I believe are oriented towards the various nearby seas. Could this be evidence of undersea colonies, or perhaps attempts at sending signals to the many civilizations among the Meditteranean?”<br/><br/>3. “Like our own societies, G’harne’s inhabitants had a leader. The vacuous spaces and caverns nearby far exceed required living space, likely being a sort of palace for their King or Queen. What knowledge such beings may have about the unexplored realms beneath our feet!”<br/><br/>4. “Oddly, G’harne’s inhabitants have a means of using said vibrations to cause internal tremors and therefore bodily harm in living beings. Likely used for warfare or hunting. Theoretically a human can make use of it, although I dread to see any more ways for our kind to inflict death and pain upon each other.”</div></div><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Critical Success</div><div class="spoiler_body">As success, save that Celeste is able to more quickly and clearly read to get in 1 extra effective week.</div></div><br/><div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/w8uJHmA.jpg)</div><br/>Alexandria’s Port was a place that Celeste seen more than a few times in her youth during her parent’s globe-trotting. Although newer construction and cranes are present to handle the increased mass of people and trade, the rest of it was just as she remembered: people shielded their heads and features from the omnipresent sun, be they turbans of the locals or wide-brimmed hats of European gentlemen. A veiled women sold oranges to passersby while a lady in a bonnet was escorted onto a waiting carriage. The air smelled of sea salt and steam smoke, and a captain with a distinguished Irish accent barked orders down to sailors as they handled a large wooden cargo labeled “FRAGILE” on each and every side.<br/><br/>The Midsummer Hotel was similarly-animated, located in the eastern neighborhood of Victoria where the omnipresent tram stations sent people over land where the sea or Nile could not. With ample shade indoors and out it provided a necessary relief from the climate.<br/><br/>Baozhai walked behind you in a white dress, her brass-colored backpack-like device standing at odds with the softness of her fabric. A waiting butler offered to carry it for her along with the rest of your luggage, but she shrank at his touch and shook her head.<br/><br/>“Wow, Midsummer Hotel is more beautiful up close than in the postcards,” she said to you. “Although the tram lines leading here could use some work; the gauges were spaced too far apart; I was worried we would’ve crashed any moment!”<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: Monotype Corsiva;">Now that you’re in Alexandria you have several leads beyond the hotel, although they will be detailed in the next post. They include: Rosette Street (curio shop), Golden Dawn Chapterhouse (occult doings), Marketplace (buy various goods), and Jesuit College (De Trafford is a Catholic). You can roll Charm or a similar social skill to learn about subjects from hotel visitors and staff.</span></span>