Forgive me for hiding what I found from you. There is something wrong in camp, and I am certain you noticed given your privileged surgical position. Dr. Clive has been hiding something from the rest of us...
It of course began when you woke me, old friend, and told me you had heard a screaming coming from the rocky outcroppings not far off. Of course, I was skeptical, and believed it was a jackal screaming, but your insistence it was a woman frightened me, Ludwig. And so, we gathered two guards and some torches, and moved towards that outcropping. I must confess I was shocked to find your statement correct, but no trace of the woman. Her footsteps certainly led from the outcropping to vanish in the sands of the Sahara, but we did not see her. Then we heard the noise of a jackal yipping and someone trying to hush it. Then one of the Bedouin we'd hired as guards saw a confused-looking man with glasses fall onto the ground and pointed them out.
All Hell broke loose then, and it became apparent we were not dealing with any ordinary people. I recall watching in shock as the two guards, whom we had thought so normal, withdrew strange-looking clubs and ran at the man. Then two others - a young lady with some form of razor in one hand and a small Arabian child in the other, and a scarred man with a gun - appeared as if from nowhere. The Bedouin were taken by total surprise and overwhelmed with gunfire, falling into the sand and bleeding out, then those guns turned on us both.
"Hands where I can see them," the man with the glasses said gravely. "Stand still."
We didn't have much choice but to respond. After all, we were unarmed... I must admit, asking us to disrobe was rather uncouth, but I suppose given that we later learned they were checking for a cult's identifying mark, it was justified. It is, after all, very difficult to mistrust another once you've been forced to strip nude before them!
Once the group was apparently satisfied we had no weapons or strange markings, they stood down, and that was how we met Clayton Byrd (the man with the glasses), Sarah McCain and her young ward Mah'muhd, and Ewan MacNeill. They confirmed the woman you saw was one of theirs who had unfortunately snapped, and after the story they told us I confess I thought all of them mad! Egyptian death cults, the legendary Black Pharaoh seeking to harm them, Omar Shakti being wrapped up in a terrible conspiracy... You know as well as I how absurd that sounded. Yet Clayton insisted, and claimed the cultists were identified by a curious inverse ankh, a symbol of life perverted into one of death. After examining the dead Bedouin, sure enough you found that very mark on the both of them - and that was enough for me to trust them. Perhaps not the wisest course, but they had quite compelling evidence, and that was enough to get me to beg you to stay at the outcropping with me. I didn't want you to be in any danger, and besides - if what they said was true concerning the mummy of Nitocris that was stolen, then Dr. Clive was in on this entire scheme!
I believe you know the story from there. Mah'muhd was left to watch over the dig in the morning while we plus our new friends moved into the dig proper - they had wanted our aid in investigating the dig site after all. But I must confess I got nosy, and looked through that woman's belongings. There, I found a bizarre scrap of paper, one written in a shaky hand as if in a dream or trance. The words there... they were chilling enough to be etched into my mind, even to this day:
hE is mY GOD He caLls tO Me
I mUsT fLy To AZATHOTH's coURt
ThoSE DAMNED PIPING FRACTALS!
oH GOD they'RE InsIDe mE HE is inSIde mE
SO mANy sO ManY SO MAny so mAnY SO -
It was that morning we moved into the dig in order to fool the remaining group into thinking we had been there all night that I first noticed the oddness surrounding Dr. Clive. You see, as I went to inspect the dig site where we had found the mummy, at Miss McCain's request for material and insistence that I check, I found a certain cartouche, a strange engraving I hadn't noticed before when looking at the mummy. I very loosely translated the hieroglyphs to Chaos Rests at the Doorway, though they were arranged like a name. Yet that is where my confusion begins - no known Egyptian deity or pharaoh bears the name Ni-har-rut-hotep, not to my knowledge. As I proceeded to take a rubbing of the cartouche to show the others, Dr. Clive walked in on me.
"Ah, Dr. Gauthier, what are you doing in here?" He queried, chewing on the stem of his pipe. "I thought you were examining that gilt box we found..."
"I was, but when I checked back here, I had noticed something I missed earlier," I claimed, covering for the friends you took into your tent for breakfast. "I am having trouble translating these hieroglyphs, and intended to take a rubbing to cross-reference with some of my texts."
He bought the white lie, and let me carry on with my duty. Yet, I thought I saw a hint of dangerous intent in his eyes. It was certainly not a look of a friend, nor of the Dr. Clive I knew from the Penhew Foundation... He was hiding something, and that could only mean that I had to get to the bottom of it. From there, I came to the conclusion the box we had uncovered, gilded and intricately carved, did not have scrolls in them as Dr. Clive had claimed, and so I took to peering at it in the storage tent with the other artifacts.
It was a bizarre box indeed, Ludwig! A puzzle box, by the looks, with a multi-hieroglyph locking system of the most intricate calibre. There was no possible way it was an Egyptian invention, unless some pharaoh had been interested in cryptography at the time! Yet, it was as powerful as any code wheel or cryptographic encoding method of our day, if not a bit stronger. How could such a thing be, and what would a queen like Nitocris want so desperately kept secret and locked? I fiddled with it, and realized a code word would open it. At first I attempted to spell "Nitocris", but this failed. Then, I turned to the rubbing and its four characters, and sure enough, spelling Ni-har-rut-hotep opened it. Such a jeweled necklace I found inside! No wonder Nitocris had wanted this hidden... There was no question, the mad story told about warding one of Nitocris' belongings, the cult wanting all three pieces, and everything else had to be true. And if that were true, then mustn't all of it be true as well?
Forgive me for hiding all this from you, friend. I had no other choice; I didn't want our new allies to think me a spy, but I had to bring it to your attention somehow. A letter was the best way I could think, delivered by Gardner whom I implicitly trust with the matter. He is a reporter, and understands the importance of secrecy in getting the truth out. Between you and me, he's been concerned about Dr. Clive's actions and the shady aspects of the guards as well. I certainly think he's well justified now! Please, report back as soon as possible with your response to this letter. I have instructed Gardner to claim he is ill with a case of heatstroke in order to keep him waiting in your tent for some time. Once you have "treated" his "illness", he'll be more than happy to finish the correspondence.
Your Companion in Dust and History,
Dr. Laurent Gauthier
I will confess, I was not expecting this. I have not seen such secrecy and hidden correspondence since the Great War! But it is more than understandable that you would be so quiet after what we have been through thus far. I absolutely believe you are correct to say that Dr. Clive, not to mention that piece of scheiße Winfield, are to be trusted. Fear not! I am the absolute last man on Earth that would chide you for hiding what you discovered.
I am beginning to fear the Bedouin guards are all part of this cult our new friends mentioned. They have given me strange looks as they enter to be treated for injuries, and Winfield has been even more difficult on me than usual. I am certain that they are all planning something, and are trying to distract me from you. I will attempt to protect our new friends from danger as best I can, but please, I beg you, keep them in the tent with you! I know imminent ambush when I see it, and I am certain that -