Full Transcript for Annabelle Underwood's adventures: Sandy Snow (Part 2)

WEBVTT 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:27.920 Welcome to the world of Annabelle Underwood, a audio fiction full of mystery, adventures and exploration set at the beginning of the 20th century. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:37.840 Through letters, memories, and fragments of stories, we follow Annabelle Underwood in each of her investigations, each one more incredible than the last. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:43.679 Sit back and let yourself be drawn into this new story called Sandy Snow. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:50.719 I will now summarize the first part for you, but if you want to listen to it, you can find the link in the description. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:56.719 In July 1911, Annabel Underwood joins an expedition to the North Pole. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:06.560 Moreover, their progress is abruptly halt when the vessel becomes trapped in the pack ice and suffers severe damage during an Arctic gull. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:19.280 Just as repairs are nearly complete after days of labor, a stray ice flow violently strikes the ship once more, watering the bridge as a various new blizzard set in. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:29.680 Trapped inside a growing vessel under crushing ice pressure and with moral at rock bottom, the crew desperately seeks an escape from the anxiety. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:41.200 The captain then asked Annabelle to recount one of the finest cases to divert their minds, prompting her to begin the tale of the investigation she solved the previous year in Egypt. 00:01:41.599 --> 00:01:44.079 So now I'm reading the letter again. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:46.879 Let us stay back in time together, if you will. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:02:00.319 I shall try not to point the finger at the Cupid too earthly, as I am so often prone to do, and as you so frequently reproach me for, yet you know how quickly the connections form in my mind. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.239 The criminals' guilt often strike me as plain as day. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:11.520 Like a clock tricking noon in my head, the cupid's identity reveals itself almost instantly. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:17.039 Not always, of course, to her is human after all, but often enough. 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:21.840 And as you well know, I hate being wrong, I despite it. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.520 Yet I cannot help but admire the rare criminal capable of outwitting my deductive facilities. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.319 But I digress, as always. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:38.719 Let us return to the matter at hand and begin with the opening chapter of this singular affair. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.800 Cast your mind back to Egypt late last year. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:55.360 I have received an invitation, the grand opening of a magnificent hotel in Heliopolis in early December 1910, the Heliopolis Palace Hotel to be exact. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:12.960 A sparkling complex boasting over 400 rooms, a breathtaking establishment, through to be completely candid, I used the occasion primarily to visit a dear acquaintance residing in the country, Professor Yassin Hassan. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:20.319 I had met him years earlier during a lecture on Pharaohic Egypt at Imperial College London. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:36.080 He had come to present his research on the role and significance of various Egyptian deities across the Pharaohic dynasties, a monumental, thoroughly engrossing study that had kept my mind pleasantly occupied for many afternoons. 00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:48.080 He had once served as an excavation assistant to the renowned professor Hadmed Kamal, a distinguished Egyptologist and senior member of the Egyptian Antiquities Service. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:57.439 Yassin himself had been attached to this service for several years, tracking the illicit trade and disappearance of ancient artifacts. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:04.400 A thrilling occupation for one that left him precious little time for his personal scholarship. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:12.000 Since our first meeting, Yassin and I correspond regularly about our respective adventures and discoveries. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:17.120 The hotel opening was therefore the perfect opportunity to reunite in Egypt. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:21.920 I arrived in early December 1910 just in time for the opening gala. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:32.800 The evening was delightful, but what truly captivated me was exploring the neighbor archaeological sites in Yassin's company over the days that followed. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:37.680 We spent about a week surveying the ancient ruins near the hotel. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:39.920 The journew by. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:43.679 She showed a keen interest in pharaohing Egypt and spent a good part of the evening conversing with Yassim. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:49.120 And once the conversation turned to his fiery deity, there was no stopping him. 00:09:49.279 --> 00:10:07.440 Indeed, while Yassim had studied the entire Egyptian pantheon, his true passion lay with the goddess Sekmet, the lion head deity, unbodying destructive fury, war and vengeance, but also healing and the divine protection of Pharis in battles. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:10.960 But I digress, I am no Egyptologist. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.039 The journey through the temples promised to be extraordinary. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:42.559 The vessel was to take us up to Abu Simbel before making a leisury return downstream to explore the great lands of upper and lower Egypt, Aswan, tabes with Luxor Karnak and the Valley of the Kings, followed by the extensive stay in Amana, the ancient city of Akinaten, where numerous excavations were underway, before concluding with ascends through Memphis and Cairo. 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:35.600 In truth, the trio behaved rather poorly, doing little credit to the aristocratic standing and showing controversies for the historical sites. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:45.279 They act like small children touching everything, climbing over winds and growing quickly bored at the slightest historical