Dateline: 27 April, 1925 – SCENE 01 – At Nairobi State Hospital, Mohammud Asad has been well-taken care of by the staff. With the actual source of his injuries being a mystery, the Ugandan Railway has taken responsibility and is paying for his medical bills. Asad’s stalwart companion, Ishaq Rahad, though not a holy man, has stayed by Asad’s side, protecting both Asad and the Sword of Akmallah, which is kept close to hand.

Asad will be released from the hospital soon, and is eager to begin his personal studies on how to restore his lost eyesight. When the sorceress burned out his eyes, the wound was cauterized such that his ocular cavities are now just empty holes.

SCENE 02 – Ms Shosenberg wastes no time upon arriving in Nairobi. She knows time is short. There is a telegram from Carlton Ramsey awaiting her upon her arrival at the hotel.

SCENE 03 – Stopping at the KCA, Ms Shosenberg meets Kenyatta Johnstone. He is cordial enough, but asks Ms Shosenberg to meet him at his home that evening to discuss matters pertaining to the Carlyle Expedition and Elias Jackson.

SCENE 04 – Leaving the KCA, Ms Shosenberg runs into Ishaq Rahad, who is investigating the identity of the strange sorceress; he has it on good authority that her tea shop is, in fact, here in Nairobi, and he means to investigate. Ms Shosenberg tells Ishaq Rahad where she is staying and extends an invitation to him, which he heartily accepts; sleeping on a hospital chair has not been easy for him.

SCENE 05 – Heading to the Nairobi Star, Ms Shosenberg meets with Mrs Smyth-Forbes, typesetter for the single-page daily newspaper, and de facto Editor-in-Chief. Inheriting the paper after her husband died, Mrs Smyth-Forbes is a direct and no-nonsense person. She tells Ms Shosenberg what she knows of the Carlyle Expedition and has a freelance photographer for the paper, Allen Lawson, escort her to the archives. Ms Shosenberg feels that Mrs Smyth-Forbes is holding something back but is unable to get her to speak more of the matter.

Lawson is a gregarious fellow, and curious, and tells Ms Shosenberg that he ‘couldn’t help overhearing’ discussion about Elias. Lawson says that he was going to meet with Elias before he disappeared, as Elias was interested in having a photo journalist on his team. However, Elias never passed through Nairobi upon leaving Africa. Lawson has stuck around in Nairobi, taking side jobs, waiting to see what would become of things. Ms Shosenberg tells Lawson that she has an appointment that evening, but if he would come to the hotel at 9 o’clock, she will tell him more. Lawson agrees.

Running short on time, the archives only turn up one piece of evidence: The newspaper reports the Carlyle Expedition as mounting a trek to confirm data gathered in Egypt, concerning the followers of a religious leader who migrated southward into Kenya.

SCENE 06 – Meeting Ishaq Rahad at the Norfolk Hotel, he volunteers to watch after the collected artifacts and clues while Ms Shosenberg meets with Johnstone.

Arriving at Johnstone’s house, Ms Shosenberg learns that Johnstone has tracked a large number of people moving through Nairobi headed towards Mt Satima, which the local people refer to as the Mountain of the Black Wind. It is a horrible and feared place, the stuff of nightmares, and the Cult of the Bloody Tongue is avoided at all costs. Johnstone never met with Elias but hearing Shosenberg’s mission intrigues him.

Johnstone tells Ms Shosenberg to return to his home at 9AM the following morning. He will have an associate lead them to someone who Johnstone believes can help them. They are not to interact with their guide at all, just follow him to the place where he leads them and enter the hut. When asked who this person is, Johnstone replies, “Old Man Bundari“.

SCENE 07 – Ms Shosenberg returns to the Norfolk hotel to find Lawson sat on an armchair with Ishaq Rahad standing close by, rifle trained on him. Shosenberg explains that Mr Lawson is here by appointment and Ishaq Rahad lowers his rifle. He leaves the two to discuss matters while he does security rounds.

Ms Shosenberg fills Lawson in on what happened to Elias and what her mission is. Lawson is eager to join the cause and knows of a hunting lodge they can to go not far away — owned by a Brit, Colonel Endicott, but run by an American names James Starkweather, recently arrived from New York. They make plans to head out to the lodge as soon as the meeting with Bundari is concluded.

Dateline: 28 April, 1925 – SCENE 08 – The next morning, Ms Shosenberg, accompanied by Lawson and Ishaq Rahad, follow Henry Chesterfield, an engineer who works with Johnstone and was tasked with seeing they remain safe while in Kenya (who also shares a fear and hatred of the Cult of the Bloody Tongue) to hut of Old Man Bundari.

Within his small hut sits Bundari, seemingly lifeless. At his side are two attendants: Bundari’s grandson, Mwai, and Okomu. It takes several hours for Bundari to return from his trancelike state. He says his mind is able to travel great distances and learn much.

Bundari is aware of the Birthing about to take place at the Mountain of the Black Wind. He informs the team that there is a way to seal the God of the Mountain inside it but it requires knowledge from the Seven Cryptical Books of H’san, to be found far to the East.

Bundari offers the team two items to help them if they decide to stop or interrupt the Birthing: a fly whisk fetish, which can find unseen evil, and a strange chameleon-like lizard named Who; short for She-Who-Is-Not-What-She-Seems. Bundari says once let out of her cage, Who can assist them.

SCENE 09 – The team leaves Bundari’s hut and makes with all speed towards Endicott’s lodge, having lost a full day. It is noon, 29 April, when the team arrives at Endicott’s lodge and hires expert tracker and big game hunter, George Allen, for the princely sum of 10 Pounds per day. Allen is unphased by their talk of rituals and gods, for he has walked the spirit paths of the Native Americans and fears no man or god.

Dateline: 30 April, 1925 – SCENE 10 – Making all haste towards the Mountain of the Black Wind, the team is able to successfully navigate past the end of any road and through the deep jungle at the foot of the mountain.

They arrive a Ndovu Village, where they meet with the village elder, Mwangi. Mwangi explains that many people have been kidnapped from the village but he fears going to the Mountain. He does offer his four finest warriors to aid Mwai in his quest for Old Man Bundari, who is revered by the Kikuyu people.

SCENE 11 – The next day, 1 May, 1925, is a somber one. Black rain clouds hang low over the peak of the Mountain of the Black Wind, and the team, bolstered by the Kikuyu warriors, follow a footpath up the mountain. Using the whisk gifted to them by Old Man Bundari, the team finds a disguised entrance leading into the mountain itself…