IX
Universita degli Studi di Milano
Not surprisingly Professor Anzalone is not here, but you speak with a colleague named Paulo Bacci in the history department. Bacci has the false story: that Anzalone secured funding for an expedition to locate the lost city of Jiwakhar in Tibet. He informs you that the expedition departed for Bombay on 17th August 1929 and consisted of Prof Roberto Anzalone, a graduate named Carlo Schippone, an Englishman from the British Royal Society named Malcolm Quarrie and a chaperone appointed by the Fascist Party, an Alpini army officer - Major Ricardo Delnegro.
Mustang
Bacci is taken aback at the suggestion that the expedition may actually be headed elsewhere. He knows nothing about the Kingdom of Mustang or the Kali Gandaki and has never heard of Drakmar. Making use of the university library and searching Anzalone’s office you piece together scant information: Mustang is an ancient kingdom situated in modern day Nepal. The major feature of Mustang is the Kali Gandaki river valley, the deepest river gorge in the world. You find a text with a passing reference to Drakmar but no real information. There is reference to a place called Lo and a people named the Tcho-Tchos and a leader named Amapal to whom nomads gathered in his Drakmar lands.* You cheekily pocket photographs of Anzalone and Schippone.
*The scenario wants to drip feed information to you so you continue to investigate more as you travel. Initially I said that no map shows the location of Mustang or the Kali Gandaki, but glancing at contemporary maps both are clearly shown, only the exact site of Drakmar remains elusive for now. Therefore the investigators will know where the river valley and the kingdom of Mustang are located.
Marseilles
To follow in the footsteps of Quarrie’s expedition you book passage to Bombay aboard a steamship that departs Marseilles on the morning of 7th January 1930. This allows time to get Blossett out of the hospital and to procure a few items suitable for high-altitude trekking. Most items you’ll pick up in India, but good quality Alpine winter coats and Italian boots are acquired before leaving Europe.
The Viceroy of India
The Viceroy of India is a P&O cruise ship carrying 675 passengers and crew, 4,000 nautical miles from Marseilles to Bombay, via Port Said in Egypt, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea; and calling at Aden before crossing the Arabian Sea to India. The trip takes eleven days. You quickly settle into the routine of morning walks on the decks, shuffleboard, piano lounge, afternoon classes and the social niceties of the evening: dinner, brandies and cigars, and a full orchestra playing in the ballroom.
At the Dinner Table
You share the same company at the dinner table each evening: - Reverend Ian Gore. Baptist minister. Affable. Taking up a missionary position in Jabalpur; - Stephen Thomas. Accountant. Straight-laced. Taking a post with the Department of Trade in Bombay; - Julian Knight. Diplomat. Bounder. Bit of a cad. Enjoys a good laugh; - Mrs. Henrietta Tullis. Matriarch. Wife of the British Cultural Attache in Bombay. Friendly but has no time for impropriety; - Miss Francesca Nicholson. Young and carefree. Giggly. Travelling to visit an aunt in India. Flirts with Piper and the two become quite close over the days. Gives Piper a cheeky kiss; - Miss Patricia Berry. Friend of Francesa. Also a pretty-young-thing. Not quite as forward as Francesa but coyly flirts with King. One day out from Bombay suddenly gives King the cold shoulder. Seems she’s upset as she’s getting over a broken engagement.
Bombay
On the morning of Saturday 18th January, everyone from the table gathers on deck for a photograph. Suddenly Francesca realises Patricia is missing. A crescendo of voices down on the harbour quay draws your attention. Patricia has gone overboard. Billy King wastes no time in gallantly leaping into the harbour waters. Unfortunately King can’t swim and both he and Patricia have to be rescued from drowning. Nevertheless, Mrs Tullis is impressed by King’s gallantry and insists on booking you all rooms at the finest hotel in Bombay – the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Furthermore, she recommends an excellent local guide and interpreter for your travels in India. She’ll arrange for Sivakumar Patel, or “Siva” as Mrs. Tullis calls him, to present himself to you at the hotel.
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