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Inside the tent there is a writing desk with a field typewriter, a traveling bench of wood and canvas, designed to fold up, and drafting tables covered with papers.

Ooooh what papers.

They find diagrams of the Seven Kings, other obelisks, and the tomb they’re excavating, digging permits issued by the Axum Ministry of Culture, a telegram, and a site report.

WUA375 452PME PA512    NOV 5 1934  O225A

BANGKOK, THAILAND

LOUISE FAUCHE OR REPRESENTATIVE

CENTRAL OFFICE, MASSAWA, ERITREA

CONTINUED FUNDS APPROVED THROUGH BANCO D’ITALIA. SHE REQUESTS REGULAR UPDATE OF FINDINGS. PREPARATIONS BEGIN FOR INVERMERE.

DANIEL LOWMAN

Savitree,

Unfortunately, the quick successes I reported to you in my last were a short-lived enjoyment that only served as a precursor to the rapid disappointments of the past fortnight. 

A cursory survey of the Northern Field has confirmed that the other Axumite stelae are merely imitative of the original Obelisk. We have therefore focused our attention wholly on it. 

Inaaya’s survey of the Obelisk has confirmed the presence of an unusual metallic network within the plutonic stone. She reports a “strange scuffling groping sensation” from this network which seems to be “reaching out for my mind as though my own thoughts touched upon it.” Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for Inaaya), the breaking of the Obelisk upon its collapse has also shattered this network. All of these seems to corroborate the strange crystalline structures evident within the mineralogical samples. 

Reconstruction of the Obelisk may be possible, but my current recommendation is against this course of action. Measurements taken here strongly conform to those taken by Braunlich at the Black Stone in Hungary, including those sampled using non-traditional instrumentation. This suggests that this is merely another Fisher site. My frustration with those false seeds of the Forgotten Old One grows ever larger. They seem to have been laced deep into historical records and I am increasingly skeptical of any references to “earthly pillars” sealing the Liar’s prison. It is possible this iconography exists only to confuse the identity of the demesne spikes of the Fisher and to create false correlations between the Liar and the Forgotten.

We have not completely abandoned hope for the current site, however. Our local diggers have continued to excavate the tomb beneath the stele. It appears that the looting and defacement of the tomb was extremely thorough before the resubsimation of the complex. In addition to the inscription I described in my last (which appears to post-date the defacing), only two additional inscriptions have survived. 

These symbols, however, have raised one possibility of potential interest. Before abandoning my work here, I am going to spend some time researching at the Cathedral of Tsion Maryam to see if the Book of Aksum will confirm my suspicions.

We are keeping the diggers on retainer while these researches are completed. This will no doubt infuriate Daniel’s purse strings, but it makes little sense to rehire them in a week if further excavations prove necessary.

Louise Fauche

Might not be able to read all of this before they come back, so she is going to take a picture of it and then continue reading in such a way that it isn't, like, super obvious that she's going through their papers if they come in before she's done.

"Savitree was in contact with Trammel -- seemed very sensible from her letters --"

And Anchisa comes in with two other women.

"Hello! I hope we didn't call you away from anything urgent? We didn't want to interrupt, but your associate seemed to think it would be fine? We're anthropology students from the University of Los Angeles."

"...why did you let them in the tent."

"You said 'don't let people into the tomb, Anchisa, it's secret, Anchisa, people will steal our important archaeological discoveries, Anchisa.'"

"The tent also contains information about our discoveries."

"Oh. Well, your discoveries are stupid and no one is going to want to steal them anyway because no one knows who the Liar even is."

" - oh, I'm sorry? She told us to wait here - we can step outside if that would be better?"

Sigh. "It's fine. I assume you respect our privacy enough not to rifle through our papers. I'm Joan Kramer."

"James White, pleasure to meet you," Mordred lies.

"Mariam Soliman," Mariam says, "and this is Anchisa Sirikhan, our funder's niece."

"Mary Bell. We were initially here following up on what happened to George Ayers's expedition several years ago, but it seems that the entire dig site was destroyed in 1926. But we did run into Bartolo Acuna, who we understand worked with him? And he suggested that we might find some of the work you were doing here of interest as well. I wasn't aware that it was very secret, I'm sorry."

Something flashes across Mariam's face. She recognizes the name.

"Oh, it's not secret at all," Mariam says smoothly. "Joan here just wants to preserve Louise's right to publish papers. She can be a bit paranoid sometimes. Unfortunately, as I'm sure Anchisa has told you"-- slight laugh-- "there's absolutely nothing of interest in the Obelisk." 

"Nothing at all? Do you know whose tomb it is?"

"A minor noble of the second century. With an interest in very large rocks that unfortunately outpaced his ability to cause them to stand up."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose that happens, doesn't it. Some dig sites are more interesting than others. Acuna said he thought there might be a hidden chamber inside the obelisk, have you definitively ruled that out?"

"What? Why would he think that? It's just a perfectly ordinary tomb."