The Marylebone Mummy Act One: A Mysterious Investigation In their various domiciles, from the most stately of grand country residences to the lowliest of hovels (actually, a reasonable flat in a slightly less fashionable part of London), our heroic Ladies and Gentlemen received a most unexpected and mysterious invitation, with a portentous note attached. The invitation read: On the reverse was scrawled: Several of our heroes made inquiries and learnt much of Egypt, although none thought the postscript worthy of their attention. They learnt that Dr Cantwell was a highly regarded physician, with a great collection of antiquities. Act Two: Cantwell's Soiree At the appointed hour, in separate carriages and conveyances (or in Algy's case, by the use of Shanks's Pony) they made their way to the Cantwell residence, to be greeted by a Gnomish butler and shown trough to the Library. A mild altercation nearly became most unfortunate at the door when Nathaniel, Richard and Algy arrived together but impropriety was averted most judiciously. Time passed in contemplation of the artifacts within the room and in pleasant chatter, aside from Algy, who found the Butler most accommodating with his requests for repast and a little tipple to stave off the cold (although the Arctic winds would soon have had difficulty in chilling him). The evening wore on pleasantly enough, with both Lady Eliza and Algy sensing something unsettling in the room. Shortly after a welcoming speech from their host, they repaired to the next room for a cold collation, prior to the event of the evening, the unwrapping of the Mummy. Act Three: The Fire, The Thieves And The Marylebone Mummy All went well until halfway through the meal, when there was a crash from the Library almost simultaneous with the arrival of a flask of lighted oil through the window, which caused the curtains to ignite and the air to become quite unpleasant. Algy moved to open the door as a means of escape but found the way barred. He applied his shoulder to his self-appointed task with great rigour and was most discommoded by its dislocation (or at least, a little bruising). Meanwhile, lead by Richard, the Gentlemen broke what was left of the window and began escorting the Ladies out into the night. Dr Gideon attended Algie and helped him across the smoke filled room, as Nathaniel and Richard moved to intercept the Rogues who were pilfering the artifacts in the next room. They noted that the Mummy Sarcophagus was gone but saw little else but the two men with rifles and the Ogre who were present. The men were soon dealt with through the use of magical powers as the Ladies moved to aid them. The Ogre made off but did not get far before being brought to ground. Meanwhile, Algy and the good Doctor had escaped the fire and the sound of whistles could be heard in the distance, as the other guests commenced the arduous work of instructing the servants in the fine art of dousing flames. A little distance off, a carriage could be seen, moving away from the house at a rapid but sedate pace, due to the great weight it was carrying. Act Four: The Chase is on! Our heroes gave chase, at differing speeds and with widely varying levels of enthusiasm. As they turned a corner, they saw the carriage, crashed and with bodies lying around it. Cautiously, they approached. As they did so, movement caught their eye on one of the bodies and the realized there was a cobra on it. This caused a certain pause for thought, before Archie called for a policeman, since they would clearly be trained for such a situation. Unfortunately, the local bobbies were a little busy back at the site of the robbery. A man stepped forward from the crowd and called for a fishing rod and some twine. On of the onlookers who had come out of his house procured these items and the chap set about catching the snakes, which the party happily hit with anything they could find. Finally a policeman arrived and the situation was explained to him. He immediately set about crowd control. The party searched the area, finding the sarcophagus empty and a trail of blood leading from the scene. They followed it, with the help of a passerby who had seen a man walking with a Mummy (of the heavily bandaged variety). The trail lead to a high class perfumiers called Devonshire Scent. The shop was locked up and appeared empty. Going round the back, Archie and Nathaniel shinned up a drainpipe and entered through an upstairs window. They worked their way back through the house as Phillamena collected a lamp from her carriage and shone it into the back workshop. Through the small window she could see that the room was occupied by a man and his Mummy. As Archie and Nathaniel entered the room and discovered that there were snakes on the floor, all went black. Outside, Eliza and Phillamena gave instruction to Phillamenas coachman to break the door down, while Gideon started to climb the drainpipe. From the front of the building, there was a loud crash and it became clear that another person had been following the trail. Inside the perfumery, things went from bad to worse, as  Nathaniel tripped and knocked himself out cold, leaving Algie on his own in the darkness. Meanwhile the doctor climbed in through the upstairs window as Phillamena climbed in through the back door skylight, dressed less than appropriately having had to remove her skirt to get in. Algie moved to the back door as a shot rang out and a voice obviously accustomed to command told everyone to halt - only to be equally imperiously ignored by everyone present. Richard made his way to the front of the shop and entered through the now smashed front door. As he did so, the mummy burst out of the back room and stopped; they both viewed each other in surprise and trepidation before the Mummy made its way out through the front of the shop. Richard gave chase. In the meantime, the darkness spell in the back room went down and Captain Luddington (the chap who had burst in earlier and cried halt), appearing somewhat drunk and waving a pistol a little randomly round the room, addressed Phillamena: 'Madam, you appear to be improperly dressed for the occasion' He then staggered backwards into the wall and propped himself up once more. As he did so, the bad guy (Al-Gareeb, made a break for it. A slightly silly battle ensued, with Phillamena throwing highly decorative perfume bottles at him, Algie shooting and Gideon giving him a good stiff talking to for being unpleasant in the presence of a lady. The Captain, meanwhile, seemed slightly obsessed with the reputation of Phillamena with regard to the skirt department and went off to help Richard. Al-Gareeb was finally defeated and, with the good Captains help, so was the Mummy - Phillamena immediately saving the Captains blushes by getting dressed at the end of the combat, as well as mentally resolving to get some form of under-trouser. After a brief interlude with our gentlemen of the constabulary, they made their way back to Cantwells. Once there, the Captain returned a number of stolen artifacts he had found in his drunken meanderings after the party and helped himself to several stiff brandies, to recover from the shock of discovering that women had legs - the poor chap had had such a sheltered upbringing. Cantwell was so grateful for their unsolicited help, that he rewarded them with a full five pounds each!