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SYNOPSIS

 

University geologist TOM MORROW is enchanted by a 500-year-old deerskin map that features clues to a treasure site, plus a Spanish incantation. Map owner and Californio descendant MARTÍN GALLEGOS hopes Morrow will lend his expertise to help find the site, located on the western shores of Drakes Bay in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Gallegos figures the key to the mission is deciphering the chant to QUEEN CALIFIA, who first appeared in a 16th Century Spanish chivalric novel as ruler over the mythical island of California.

Morrow—on probationary status at U.C. Davis—reluctantly agrees to aid the octogenarian find the treasure. Gallegos’ reams of academic research lures Tom in this complicated and historically rich saga. One misstep, however, and Morrow’s academic career is history.

In July 1579, the famous English pirate Francis Drake landed on the west coast of North America (today’s Marin County, California). There, Drake befriended the indigenous native Coast Miwok, repaired his ship The Golden Hinde and purportedly affixed a brass plate to a wooden post to claim “Nova Albion” for the Queen of England.

Sixteen years later, laden with goods from Manila, the Spanish ship San Agustin sank in the same waters. Seventy-five survivors returned to Mexico in a small barco—all except sailor RICARDO CASTAÑEDA who was stranded and left behind. He salvaged some of the shipwreck’s booty (Chinese porcelain, silks etc.) and buried it on the bluff overlooking the Bahía de San Francisco (today’s Drakes Bay) with the help of a “native woman,” who answers to “Califia.” Planning for the future, he plots the burial site on a deerskin map. Seven years later he returns with it to his home in Cadiz, Spain. The map is passed down to his ancestors, eventually finding Gallegos.
 

With assistance from U.C. Berkeley linguist LANA TOULSON, Morrow deciphers the chant and successfully “summons” the woman who identifies as “Califia.” She claims to have helped Castañeda create the original treasure map in 1595. In time, Lana convinces Morrow that Califia likely is a djinn: how else to explain her ability to materialize from thin air and span 500-plus years.

Blocking Morrow’s progress is COMMODORE KIRKOEN of the Drake Navigators Guild. He fears Morrow may find Francis Drake’s actual brass plate in a location other than Drakes Bay, which would contradict the Guild’s raison d'etre. Kirkoen outhustles Morrow for the requisite ARPA permit. Compounding matters, news spreads that Tom’s associate Califia is wanted in a brutal attack of a Marin County man. The scandalous press coverage results in Morrow’s dismissal from U.C. Davis, thus ending his goal of professorship.

While finalizing the treasure site location, Kirkoen suffers a stroke (one of several characters in this book to experience “Queen Califia’s curse”). Despite the removal of Tom’s competition, National Parks refuses to issue Morrow a permit. With little to lose, and with Toulson’s assistance, Morrow excavates the treasure site under darkness, violating Federal Antiquities law. While videotaping their progress, an earthquake knocks Tom and Lana down and hurtling for the cliff’s edge. While struggling to hang on, Lana is given a boost forward from a creature just before it falls over the cliff.

Two days later Morrow and Toulson announce their archaeological discovery on the Point Reyes headland.

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(End Synopsis)​

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Confused by the gamut of players in this story?
Visit this link to ease the pain: cqc-the-players​

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