Date: Wednesday May 30–Thursday May 31, 2057
Primary Locations: Alexandria Research Institute → Executive Suite → Cafeteria → High House → Medical Lab → Light Wing → Boardroom
Session Overview
Session Seventeen begins with the one thing no one expected from the board meeting: a day off.
It is not mercy. It is not strategy, at least not openly. It is exhaustion. Naguib Sawiris is too depleted to continue, and Marcus Blackstone postpones the session until the following day. The board is placed in a strange holding pattern. They may leave the Institute if they wish, but if they fail to return in time, they lose their seats. Stay, and they remain protected. Leave, and the world gets a vote.
The pause gives the party something they rarely receive: time.
Naturally, they spend it discovering that everything is worse.
Sawiris’ exhaustion confirms the cost of resisting the Master. Yusuf visits him and finds not a villain recovering in luxury, but a man under crushing strain, still trying to speak around the thing that watches him. Michael studies his staff and learns that the relic is tied to Ra but not yet fully unlocked. Rana begins turning the Arbiter Network from vision into institution. David reopens Masonic channels. Tariq pushes humanitarian aid outward and deepens his artifact strategy with Layla. Yusuf begins tracking rumors of atrocities against storm-touched people in China.
By the end of the off-day, the party has learned that the Unknown Pharaoh story may have been a cover for relics tied to the lost Library of Alexandria, that the plane passengers were almost certainly selected through ancient bloodline records, and that their enemies are already trying to test the Institute’s defenses.
Then Thursday morning comes.
Rana gathers the surviving storm-touched board members in the Light Wing for a ritual of alignment. Tariq invokes diligence through the Rod of Command. Rana calls the group to clarity, purpose, and release from corruption. The ritual works—but not evenly. Isabella Rossi is violently freed from an effect, while Luca watches from the doorway and vanishes before the end.
The board resumes at noon. The party walks knowingly into the influence. The ritual helps, but does not save everyone.
Yusuf fails.
And as Sawiris turns the meeting back over to the party, the session ends with the board still compromised, the agenda still dangerous, and the next vote waiting like a trap with paperwork.
The Story So Far
After the second day of the board meeting, the party had advanced the Rana Protocol, completed major structural votes, and witnessed the Master surface directly through Sawiris. The Master named David “Mage Knight,” addressed Tariq as “Pharaoh,” and revealed both vanity and recognition before fading, leaving Sawiris exhausted.
The party ended Session Sixteen knowing that Sawiris could resist, but only briefly. Luca was identified as a broken receptacle for the Master’s rage or violent aspect. Layla Kareem emerged as a bloodliner connected to a relic of ancient weights and measures. Dr. Kovács revealed the existence of a storm-linked chromosome. The next major danger remained the executive committee expansion, which could concentrate power inside a system already being manipulated.
Session Seventeen begins with that danger delayed—but not removed.
Major Events & Key Moments
1. Postponement — The Price of Resistance
The session opens before dawn with Marcus Blackstone calling the board members directly. Sawiris is under the weather. The meeting is postponed until Thursday at noon.
The explanation is practical, but the party understands the deeper truth. Sawiris did not simply get tired. He was drained by resistance, by shielding, by the Master surfacing through him, and by whatever internal struggle allows him to remain himself at all.
Blackstone offers the terms clearly. Board members may leave, but security ends at the facility boundary. Anyone who fails to return in time forfeits their position. The message is corporate, legal, and brutal in the way only a legal notice during supernatural crisis can be. Humanity really did invent paperwork so it could threaten people politely.
David and Rana ask whether they can help Sawiris. Blackstone says Sawiris is receiving the best care available and mostly needs sleep. When David asks about Luca, Blackstone gives the kind of careful answer that says nothing while confirming the question was dangerous.
The meeting stops.
The situation does not.
2. Morning Rituals — Private Thoughts, Private Sleep
With the day unexpectedly opened, the party begins their normal morning rituals. They check their possessions, reconnect with their items, and settle into the small repeated acts that have become part of post-Storm survival.
The quiet draws out personal truths.
David fears that the Master may be more powerful than even his magical understanding can grasp—perhaps something truly godlike in ancient terms. Tariq reflects on Alexander as a man who rose toward divinity through action or selection, not birth alone. Rana questions whether her refusal to judge individuals too harshly may one day become a flaw, especially after realizing she might have resurrected The Grenade if she had not known what he was. Michael admits that he has largely forgiven Tariq after seeing how completely the Master can override will, but fear remains. Yusuf still considers Sawiris a friend and remains grateful for the gift that allows him to better protect humanity.
The strangest part is not the thoughts.
It is the privacy.
For once, the party does not believe their sleep or meditation was observed. No intrusion. No watching presence. No hand reaching through dreams.
The silence itself becomes information.
3. Layla’s Blocked Memory
Tariq follows the thread opened the night before and uses postcognition connected to Layla Kareem’s relic. The vision begins not in ancient Egypt, but in something more immediate: Layla on a street near Alexandria, concerned by a slowing vehicle one street over. She cuts into a building.
Then the vision shifts to her recovery at the Institute. She is badly injured from the crash, burned and bruised, with grafts and facial trauma. Her relic remains in the room with her, just as the party’s items had to stay near them during their own recoveries.
When Tariq tries to see further back, the memory fails. It blurs, tangles, and resists him. He recognizes the shape of it. Layla has a block in her mind, something similar in kind to the damage done to Michael’s memory.
Layla is not only newly awakened.
She has been hidden from herself.
4. Yusuf and Sawiris — The Human Thread
Yusuf goes to see Sawiris.
Yusuf does not interrogate him. He shows him pictures of his wife and daughter and reminds him that they miss him. The sooner the board gets through this, the sooner he can return to them.
Sawiris starts to speak more than once and stops himself. Instead, he turns to metaphor, talking about authors who can describe landscapes beautifully but do not understand human emotion. Yusuf follows the thread: only a human understands that.
It is a small conversation, but not a small moment.
Sawiris is still in there. He is still choosing his words. He is still trying to tell them where the Master is weak.
5. Breakfast — A Facility Holding Its Breath
At breakfast, David takes a quiet observer’s position, continuing the note-taking he began the day before. The cafeteria food is excellent, because apparently apocalypse facilities still know how to poach an egg while everyone is quietly terrified.
The room is uneasy. Conversations are shorter. People gather in smaller clusters. This is not normal fatigue. The previous day left marks even on those who do not understand what happened.
Tariq speaks with Layla and tells her directly that something is blocking her memories. With Rana’s help, he may be able to recover what was hidden. Layla is interested, but not there. Not in the cafeteria. Not in the Institute if she can help it.
The party discusses whether to remain at the facility during the break. They choose to stay. It is safer, and Michael agrees that he should not come in. His absence remains deliberate, not disconnected.
6. Michael and the Staff of Ra
At the High House, Michael continues studying the staff given to him by the party. As the bond deepens, Egyptian runes appear along it, including symbols of Ra. The staff is attuned to him now, but not fully unlocked.
Michael realizes the item contains or requires a daily reserve of magical energy. It was made to be charged, spent, and restored through ritual. The staff can be his, but not casually. Ancient relics, as usual, refuse to come with user manuals because that would make too much sense.
He steps into sunlight and offers a prayer to Ra, thanking him for aid in the clash that seems inevitable. Nothing obvious happens. Then the answer comes as knowledge: Rana or David can likely perform the ritual needed to unlock the next stage.
The prayer is answered, not with fire.
With instruction.
7. The Arbiter Network Begins
Rana uses the off-day to move her vision from intent into structure.
She contacts Basira Haddad, her attorney, about the acquisition of the Veil and the formation of the Arbiter Network. She also contacts the Egyptian Chief of Staff to begin fast-tracking official recognition. Rana does not want a church. She does not want to be folded under an existing organization’s board. She wants a humanitarian organization with its own purpose.
The suggested model is closer to Doctors Without Borders, with potential UN recognition to help with multi-country access. Rana agrees, with the clear understanding that the work begins in Egypt.
Basira has already moved quickly, filing protections, securing domain names, and guarding against impersonation and parody. The legal groundwork is beginning to form around the thing Rana has been describing for days: not a symbol, not a cult, but a network built to help people.
The Arbiter Network becomes real enough to require signatures.
A dreadful sign that an idea has entered civilization.
8. Amira, Isabella, and the Ethics of the Storm-Touched
Rana also spends breakfast with Amira Haddad and Isabella Rossi.
Isabella’s concern is Ahmad Farouk. She wants to know whether Rana will use the unexpected break to save him. Rana tells her the first step is locating the body and arranging legal transfer. Isabella agrees to contact Blackstone and begin the process.
Amira’s concerns are different. She asks medical questions about the resurrected soldiers: their condition, their personalities, whether they showed stroke-like recovery symptoms. Rana admits she had little time to observe them before the situation escalated.
Then Amira raises the chromosome.
She did not sleep well after learning about it. She wants the company to become the leading medical authority on storm-affected people. Not publicly reckless. Not exploitative. Medical. Scientific. Ethical. If they do not get ahead of the issue, someone else will weaponize it.
Rana agrees.
The board has been debating power as law, finance, and governance.
Amira brings it back to bodies.
9. David Reopens the Masonic Network
David reaches outward for the first time since the Storm, contacting the Grandmaster of his home lodge in England, Vanguard Thorpenhall III. Michael watches the communication for security.
The call is formal, coded, and very British, meaning it manages to be both helpful and emotionally refrigerated. David authenticates himself through the proper challenge and response, then arranges for a message to reach the Masonic Hall of Philadelphia.
The message is direct: the Arcane Knight has important knowledge regarding a new Russian asset involving bloodline magic. Contact him.
Vanguard then gives David something in return. He asks whether David is familiar with the Zaghloul family and points him toward Saad Zaghloul’s family mausoleum. David understands the implication: if Masonic structures are outlawed in Egypt, they may be hidden beneath or within family mausoleums. Cairo may contain a major center.
 |
| Beit El-Umma |
It has just gone underground.
10. Create Water
David then turns to study.
Using the zero-level spell scrolls, he spends hours learning how to prepare a spell through his own magic structure. The first one takes work. Four hours of it. But eventually he masters Create Water.
It is not dramatic. It is not a blade of finality or a divine beam from the sun.
It is water.
Which, in a world of refugees, deserts, damaged infrastructure, and storm-touched survival, may be one of the more practical miracles anyone has learned.
The first step is the hardest. David believes the next spells will come faster.
11. Yusuf Looks Toward Gansu
Yusuf contacts Vakeman Chou about the reports of Chinese storm-touched people being dissected or experimented on.
Chou does not confirm the exact rumor, but he does not dismiss it either. He points Yusuf toward Gansu Province, where reports suggest rebellion, disappearing officials and military personnel, and atrocities. Chou suspects this may not be official government policy, but something happening within a rebellion or local breakdown.
 |
| China Provinces |
The horror may be real, but the actor is uncertain.
Yusuf begins looking at Gansu, Mongolia, and the long shadow of history along that border. The world is changing everywhere, and not every new power is wearing a corporate suit in Alexandria.
12. Kovács Protects the Files
David and Rana visit Dr. Mirela Kovács in the medical lab. Dr. Hassan El Kameen is with her and appears frustrated, but leaves when they arrive.
David volunteers for further testing. The doctors in the room all take a very noticeable step closer, because nothing excites scientists faster than a superhuman saying, “Please examine me.” Humanity survived this long mostly by poking glowing things with sticks and calling it methodology.
Kovács puts David through an hour-long decontamination process. Afterward, she identifies recent minor lung damage, likely from prior gas exposure, and says the process should help accelerate healing.
Rana then asks about the chromosome discovery. Kovács says her working theory is that the structure may always have been present and was awakened by the Storm, but she does not yet have enough data to be certain.
Then she reveals something more important: she has refused to share the board members’ medical data with the other doctors since discovering it.
Rana hugs her.
Kovács intends to tell the others that the files have been secured by the board members themselves, and that any future sharing requires their permission. It is a quiet act of medical ethics in a building full of pressure.
13. Rana in the Light Wing
Rana spends four hours in the Light Wing, praying and trying to commune with Ra.
She is not asking for spectacle. She is trying to understand. The Master does not fully understand the modern world. Does Ra? Is Ra limited in the same way? Does divinity see the world as it is now, or through what it once was?
The answer she receives is not technical.
The sun understands everything it falls upon.
The world still needs sunshine.
That simplicity gives her peace. It also gives her ritual confidence. She understands that the ceremony she plans for the next morning will work better because she has laid the groundwork through relationship, shared purpose, and time. These people are no longer abstract targets of protection. They are fellow survivors, fellow board members, and allies.
The language of true names has another side.
Connection can also be a key.
14. The Lost Library Returns
That evening, Michael’s research finds something hidden in plain sight: files on the party’s .THOTH phones.
One file is a long-developed list of relics believed to be connected to the Library of Alexandria. The other contains communications among archaeological treasure hunters racing to recover objects believed to have been removed before the Library’s destruction.
The party realizes the Unknown Pharaoh story may have been the cover.
The relics were not random. The collection was not merely eccentric wealth. It was tied to the lost materials of the Library of Alexandria and the recovery of objects that had survived its fall.
Then the implication deepens.
The names, bloodlines, and family records connected to those materials likely formed the basis for choosing who would be on the plane.
The contest was not random.
The plane was a convergence.
15. The Gate Incident
After dinner, danger sense triggers.
The party sees Colonel (Ret.) Viktor Malenkov, the former security officer, riding in the back of a vehicle with suited figures in black sunglasses. Tariq warns security, and the timing proves perfect: three strange vehicles are already at the gate, arguing for entry under the claim of medical need.
Michael links into the security cameras and watches the attack unfold.
The vehicles release small drones, attempting to scout or penetrate the facility. The Institute’s hidden defenses activate. Ion beams or EMP-like systems rise and destroy the drones. Security surrounds the vehicles. A brief fight breaks out with gunfire and stun batons. Two vehicles escape, but the front vehicle is stopped and two occupants are captured.
The attack fails because the party warned the facility in time.
Malone is not seen among the captured, but the conclusion is clear enough: someone who knew the Institute, its patients, and its secrets has begun selling or using that knowledge.
16. The Star Maps
Later that night, Tariq spends time with recovered relics and the strange star maps that do not match the modern sky. Michael, already working through ancient sky modeling, understands the significance.
A star map is not just astronomy. It is a timestamp. It is also location.
Certain skies can only be seen from certain places at certain times. The old maps can function like ancient coordinates, marking where and when to find something.
The group realizes the maps point toward the location connected to the lost items of the Library of Alexandria. It is in Egypt, near Alexandria, tied to an earlier incident involving a military base and a chase.
The same discovery also confirms what the party has long suspected: the plane passenger list was almost certainly built from recovered bloodline records. Each person chosen was connected to something older than the contest itself.
The River did not gather them by accident.
17. The Alignment of Purpose
On Thursday morning, the invited survivors and board members gather in the Light Wing.
Then Luca appears.
He asks what they are doing. Yusuf says they are having a ceremony. Luca asks if he can watch. Rana allows it. Luca approaches the doorway but stops there, almost as if something prevents him from entering. He watches from the threshold.
Tariq steps forward first with the Rod of Command. He speaks to diligence, the fourth virtue, calling the group to hard work and perseverance through what may be their most difficult day yet. As he invokes the virtue, he feels a question inside himself: does he love them?
He looks over the people before him as a Pharaoh looking upon his people.
He cares what happens to them. That is enough.
Then Rana speaks. She tells them that through accepting Ra, she has been granted knowledge. She calls this ritual the alignment of purpose: a way to let go of yesterday’s failures, frustration, uncertainty, and corruption so they can face the day with clarity.
The ceremony succeeds.
The Tear of Ra rattles within the ankh. A beam of light strikes Isabella Rossi in the chest above her heart. Her eyes roll back. There is a sizzling sound, but no burning flesh. When she returns to herself, she is confused. Her last solid memory is arriving on Monday. The votes and days since are fragmented. Something has been removed from her.
And Luca is gone.
18. The Third Day Begins
Before the meeting, Yusuf requests files on Colonel (Ret.)Viktor Malenkov. Security confirms Malone was relieved after attacking Yusuf and the group earlier, and the files will be routed through Blackstone’s people.
Rana checks on the attempt to locate Ahmad Farouk’s body. Basira reports that no body, death report, or record has been found under that name. Rana realizes that Ahmad Farouk may be a stage name, and his legal identity may need to be found before the body can be recovered.
At noon, the boardroom opens. Sawiris and Luca are already seated.
The party knows exactly what they are walking into.
There is no Fortitude drain on entry this time, but the Will effect is there. The morning ritual removes the disadvantage, but not the danger. Rana passes with a natural 20. David spends a hero point and passes. Tariq passes.
Yusuf fails.
Rana reads the room and sees the suggestion at work. Mei Lin and Naomi appear to have resisted. Layla, Amira, and Isabella fail. Michael successfully shields the remote lawyers from the visual influence.
Sawiris thanks everyone for their patience and explains that he was exhausted from work with the UN. Tariq toasts his return to good health. Luca raises his own jug in response, now drinking the prepared meal Tariq once suggested. Sawiris turns the meeting back over to the party.
The session ends before the next agenda item is chosen.
Character Spotlights
Rana Al-Masri
Rana uses the off-day to turn faith into structure. She advances the Arbiter
Network legally, supports Amira’s push for ethical storm-touched medicine,
protects Kovács’ handling of private medical data, spends hours seeking
understanding from Ra, and successfully performs the alignment ritual in the
Light Wing. Her ritual frees Isabella from an effect and gives the board a
fighting chance, even if not everyone survives the next wave of control.
Tariq Mansour
Tariq continues becoming more than a businessman with relics. He deepens his
work with Layla, expands humanitarian aid through Clausius power support,
identifies the importance of the scraphite and relic cataloging, and invokes
diligence through the Rod of Command. His moment in the Light Wing forces him
to confront what Pharaoh means: not dominance, but responsibility for people.
David Hassan
David reactivates his Masonic network and uses it with precision, sending
intelligence about Russian bloodline magic toward Philadelphia while gaining a
lead on hidden Masonic sites in Egypt. He also advances his own magic by
mastering Create Water and volunteers for medical testing, reinforcing the
theme that he is building power through institutions, records, and disciplined
practice.
Yusuf Khalid
Yusuf keeps the human thread alive with Sawiris, reminding him of his wife and daughter and recognizing the meaning behind his metaphor about human emotion. He also opens the China thread through Vakeman Chou, tracing rumors of storm-touched atrocities toward Gansu Province. His failure against the suggestion at the end of the session becomes the cliffhanger that places the party’s internal reliability back under pressure.
Michael Adeyemi
Michael remains physically separate but deeply active. He studies his staff,
discovers its tie to Ra and its need for ritual unlocking, builds secure
research methods with Omotola, investigates Ra and Apep, and uncovers hidden
.THOTH files connecting the Unknown Pharaoh cover story to relics of the
Library of Alexandria. His data-link work also protects the remote lawyers from
the boardroom influence.
Layla Kareem
Layla’s role continues to expand. Tariq confirms that her memories are blocked,
she expresses interest in recovering them somewhere safer, and she becomes a
likely participant in the artifact oversight structure. Her relic and bloodline
connection remain active mysteries tied to the larger relic network.
Dr. Mirela Kovács
Kovács proves herself as more than a researcher. She protects the board
members’ medical privacy after discovering the storm-linked chromosome and
refuses to share their files without consent. In a world where medical data
could become a weapon, that choice matters.
Isabella Rossi
Isabella begins the session trying to help locate Ahmad Farouk’s body, then
becomes the most visible subject of Rana’s ritual. The Tear of Ra frees her
from an effect, leaving her confused, embarrassed, and missing clear memory of
the days since Monday.
GM Notes & World Narrative
Session Seventeen is an off-day only in the most technical, deeply misleading sense.
The board does not meet for most of the session, but the campaign world moves aggressively. The party learns more about Sawiris’ humanity, Luca’s boundaries, Layla’s blocked memory, Michael’s staff, the Arbiter Network, storm-touched medicine, Chinese instability, hidden Masonic infrastructure, and the Lost Library of Alexandria. This is what happens when powerful people get a free day and decide to spend it responsibly. Horrifying.
The session also advances one of the campaign’s central themes: systems matter. Rana builds a humanitarian network. David reopens Masonic channels. Tariq routes power to underserved regions. Kovács protects medical data. Michael builds secure research protocols. Even the Institute itself reveals layered defenses against drone intrusion.
The Master’s threat remains present without dominating every scene. His influence is felt in the need for ritual protection, the relief people feel when Sawiris is absent, Luca’s inability or unwillingness to cross into the Light Wing, and Yusuf’s compromised state at the end.
Most importantly, the Library of Alexandria returns as a central mythic and historical axis. The Unknown Pharaoh was not just a false narrative. It may have been a cover for finding relics tied to the Library, and those records may have helped select the bloodlines brought onto Sawiris’ plane.
The campaign’s origin point just got older.
Again.
Because apparently
one ancient conspiracy was not enough for these people.
Loot, Clues, & Reveals
Items Acquired
No new items are acquired by the party. Michael further attunes to the staff
tied to Ra. The recovered star maps become newly understood as
time-and-location markers.
Clues Found
Sawiris implies that the Master does not truly understand human emotion. Layla
has a magical block over parts of her memory. Michael’s staff requires ritual
unlocking and daily magical recharging. Amira wants the company to lead ethical
storm-touched medical research. Gansu Province is connected to rumors of
rebellion, disappearances, and atrocities. Masonic sites in Egypt may be hidden
through family mausoleums. Dr. Kovács believes the storm-linked chromosome may
have always existed and been awakened. The star maps function as ancient
coordinates. The .THOTH phones contain hidden files tying the Unknown Pharaoh
cover story to Library of Alexandria relics.
Reveals or Twists
The party’s sleep was not watched or invaded. The Unknown Pharaoh story appears
to have covered a search for relics saved from the Library of Alexandria. The
passenger list was likely built from bloodline records. Colonel Viktor Malenkov
appears connected to an attempted reconnaissance breach at the Institute.
Rana’s ritual frees Isabella from an effect. Luca stops at the Light Wing
doorway and disappears before the ritual ends. Yusuf fails the boardroom
suggestion save and enters the resumed meeting compromised.
Active Plot Threads
Sawiris’ exhaustion and ongoing resistance to the Master.
Luca’s role as broken receptacle and his reaction to sacred space.
The executive committee expansion vote.
Yusuf compromised by suggestion at the resumed board meeting.
The Arbiter Network’s legal formation and future recognition.
Ahmad Farouk’s body and unknown legal identity.
Dr. Kovács and storm-touched medical privacy.
Amira’s push for ethical storm-touched medical authority.
Layla’s blocked memories, relic, and bloodline.
Michael’s staff and the ritual needed to unlock it.
Gansu Province and possible storm-touched atrocities.
Hidden Masonic sites in Egypt.
The Library of Alexandria relic cache.
The star maps as ancient coordinates.
The bloodline records used to select the plane passengers.
The five hidden temples connected to the Chamber of the Unseen Sun.
Next Session Preview
The ritual worked.
Not enough.
The boardroom is open again. Sawiris is rested. Luca is present. The votes are waiting.
And this time, one of their own wants to say yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment