The characters left Switzerland after an altercation with men, possibly sent by the Gestapo, to stop them in their quest to find the Eye — a mystical or superscience device left behind by…they don’t really know who. (See here for the first episode, and here for the second..) After a tense night where Lady Zara fell asleep at the yoke of their plane, Dr. Guld as able to wake her just as the lane stalled out. A few tense minutes of plummeting to the ground later, they were able to limp into Istanbul and land.

While a local mechanic was trying to suss out the damage they’d done to the motors, the band got a hotel room and started looking for the whereabouts of Rudolf von Sebottendorf. Zara checked in with the British Embassy, Gustav with the Germany, and Gould touched base with the local Jewish relief group that was aiding Jews escaping the communists in the Soviet Union. They quickly learned the address for Sebottendorf, but found they’d picked up a Gestapo tail while in the Grand Bazaar.

Gustav, rather that eluding them, engaged the men in conversation (they wouldn’t admit they were following them, but he was able to keep them busy) while Gould and Zara (who had bought a money she named Rigoletto) secured a taxi with some difficulty. The driver of the vehicle that picked them knew they were being followed, as well, and quickly, expertly, lost the Germans. Nathan, it turned out, had been sent by Cantor Rabinowitz to aid them.

At Sebottendorf’s house, the old man who started the Thule Society, only to be cast out, was shocked to hear they had discovered another “Eye” in Africa, and that they had gotten it to work! He figured out Gould was the key — an actual descendent of the Thule! He brought out a scroll with runes similar to Linear A, hoping he could read it. (He could not.) But when he had him hold a spear with the runes, Gould could feel it wake.

That’s when four men burst in, armed to the teeth. They wanted the spear, but also to stop them from their mission. Gould knocked Sebottendorf down to save him, Gustav threw himself on top of Zara, but before Gould could hand over the spear to prevent violence, the ir masked attackers realized the runes were glowing — he was a child of Atlantis! Zara has secretly given her wee Astra .32 to Gustav, who took the opening and dropped two of the men. For two style points, Rigoletto suddenly became useful and jumped on another of the men; he is now a full-fledged “follower” for Zara and will get statted out. Gould let fly with a blast of electricity or something from the spear, dropped the last man.

With a shot in the ass for good measure from Zara, they questioned the two men still conscious — they were all carrying a pendent: a triangle with the All-Seeing Eye. They learned they were members of a secret organization bent on protecting dangerous bits of knowledge and ancient technology like the spear — and the children of Atlantis, like Gould — from forces that would misuse them. They are the Terra Arcanum!

Knocking at the door might be Gestapo, or reinforcements for the Terra Arcanum people, or the police, but they quick made their get-away down a secret staircase to the Istanbul catacombs with the aid of Sebottendorf (who kept the spear.) His last words were that the Eye — last he knew — was in a cave under the Northern Chapel of the Potala Palace. After retiring to their hotel with the aid of Nathan (who had been the man at the door, it turns out), they find out the plane still has a day left until fixed, and they get an invitation to see one of Zara’s old friends who is here in Istanbul.

Her husband is a member of the India Survey (also the Indian Army’s intelligence corps), and it turns out Terra Arcanum. They had no knowledge of Gould’s nature, but now that they do, they are eager to help them get to the Eye in Lhasa before the Germans do. A contact in Simla, a member of the Survey, who knows Lhasa…

The race continues!

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