SCENE 01 – Mohammud Asad can see, after a fashion, as long as he holds the Black Blade of Ubboth — though everything is in shadows and shades of grey. The one thing he can see with absolute clarity is the City In the Clouds.

SCENE 02 – Arriving on the deck with Ishaq Rahad, he senses that something is wrong, there is some great loss; but there is no time to morn — the City approaches and Asad will not be dissuaded from going. Miss Shosenberg and George Allen also awaken and join the others on the silent deck of the Excalibur.

SCENE 03 – As the City draws closer, what they thought were birds becomes clear: massive, jet-black Night Gaunts stream out from under the City and circle the ship. Asad doesn’t know who sent them, but suspects Nugguth Yugg had something to do with it. All but Asad reluctantly climb aboard the strange beasts. Asad strides his mount with confidence, brandishing the Black Blade,and rises into the air; the others follow.

SCENE 04 – The Night Guants rise to impossible heights and circle the City from above. The team can clearly see the star shaped tower, but lose it during their descent into the city. The buildings are all impossibly large and a deep cloud-mist shrouds the streets.

SCENE 05 – Venturing forward, the team hears the sound of footsteps in the distance. Veiled just at the edge of the mist, they see the form of a woman with long, bedraggled hair, wearing a white, formless dress. They try to engage with her, but she vanishes into the mist … only to suddenly appear next to Asad out of thin air, her long, razor sharp nails swiping out, her blackened teeth filed to deadly points.

SCENE 06 – Before anyone can react, Allen raises his rifle and fires a shot directly into the torso of the creature; she goes flailing back and disappears into the mist. The party does not investigate further and makes with haste to where they think the star shaped tower is; the sun is beginning to set.

SCENE 07 – After a time, the party hears the sound of a large crowd; they see hundreds of people carrying torches and crude mob implements like rakes and scythes. Suspecting that the woman Allen shot is an ally of the mob, the party flees, but the mob pursues them.

Running into a massive cyclopean building, the party barricades the door but the mob tears down a statue and begins using it as a battering ram. Chesterfield finds a hand-pulled freight elevator and the party runs for it, but the woman-creature appears again and attacks the party. They can now see that her eyes are completely missing. In a panic, they are able to fight off the creature and begin the endless ascent.

SCENE 08 – After four hours, the party finally reaches the topmost floor. Exhausted and nerve-wracked, they enter an open atrium. They can hear that the mob is not far away and can see faint torchlight in the mist below. They also suspect that the strange woman-creature is not far behind. They exit to the roof.

From the roof of this building, they can see the star shaped tower just a couple of buildings over. But there is no way to get across at this height.

The sun begins to set, and the city turns into a magnificent array of hues to pink, deep red, and gold. It feels tranquil, but alert; coiled for something, some finality the party cannot fight or resist. The sound of the mob becomes audible.

SCENE 09 – Asad unrolls his prayer mat and puts the Black Blade before him. He wracks his mind for the prayer that he saw Nugguth Yug perform when he appealed to Nodens, the god who commands the Night Gaunts. He feels his essence seep into the Black Blade, and it begins to thrum.

Misinterpreting his actions as praying to Allah, Ishaq Rahad follows suit, as does the rest of the party. Standing at the edge of destruction amidst the pastel hues of an impossible cityscape; each prays in their own way, the feeling strangely tranquil before their final doom as they make peace with themselves and their maker.

SCENE 10 – Four Night Gaunts, perhaps the same four that carried them earlier, appear. Whether they were in response to Asad’s plea to Nodens, and what Nodens may want in return, is immaterial — it’s a means of escape from the mob.

The Night Gaunts carry the party to the roof of the star shaped tower where they see a gazebo-like structure made of metal and emitting a green light.

SCENE 11 – Approaching the gazebo, they see that inside is a massive chair, like a throne, but more technical looking, almost like a chair you would see in some sort of operating theatre.

Sat upon the chair is a figure in black robes, a hood over their head. In their hands is clutched a baseball-sized sphere of green crystal. Electrodes run from the person into the throne and the strange machinery surrounding them.

Casting back their hood, the person reveals himself as Augustus Larkin. His eyes are milky and clouded over and his demeanor is downcast. He tells the party that he has been expecting them for a long time and that his time is almost finished, and he now craves oblivion.

Larkin also tells the party that if they truly wish to defeat Nyarlathotep, they must take the sphere. When Asad takes the sphere the party will be making their first real step towards thwarthing the dark god’s plans.

The party debates what they should do but Shosenberg detects something sincere in Larkin’s tone; whether its regret, contrition, or fatigue, she does not know. But she feels that Larkin is telling the truth.

Asad reaches out to the sphere being proffered by Larkin and upon touching it, the world dissolves in a blinding white explosion; the only thing that can be seen is the woman-creature, now approaching directly behind Asad …