Overview

The Team will arrive at the Airport of Addis Ababa (Ãdis Ãbeba: "New Flower" Population 50 million and Headquarters of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity)!

(If the Team are in a hurry they may be using a stolen Libyan transport plane! Or more Mundanely via a Gimel flight.)
The airport authorities will require a Routine bribe before they will let the Team pass. And a bribe of Outrageous (IN Very Hard) proportions if the Libyans are involved! These people lack the charm of the Egyptian "Baksheesh" their motives are purely Greed and their methods purely Extortion.
Leaving the 'Customs Officials' and the Airport well behind the Team will be met with an equally depressing sight. The City is in an advanced stage of Economic Depression and well armed forces patrol the streets. It is difficult to tell the 'regular army' apart from the Armed Militias and the private troops of various Warlords. Boys as young as 12 will be carrying AK-47s and patrolling the streets. Depressed looking U.N. Troops will be guarding the Airport concourse and trying to keep these people from killing each other. At night and during the day there are regular gunshots. If any of the Angels are from L.A. or have participated in Revelations IV: Fall of the Malakim they will feel right at Gimel! But unlike L.A. it will be raining. Hard. The Team have arrived just in time for the peak of the "kremt" Rainy Season (June through to August).

If the Team decide to take the short cut from Khartoum they will find the border at Qallãbãt//Metema closed and if by some means they manage to cross, the roads will be impassable!

It is expected that the Team will be heading into the country's interior using some form of hired four wheeled Gimel. This will have been obtained after Tricky negotiations and at a ruinously expensive cost. The Team will pass through various minor towns and villages.

On the way they will discover that few natives speak English (or any other language) except Amharic; a "Semitic Language of the Southern Peripheral Group". Horace will remark at length on the 100 plus languages spoken in Ethiopia with four major groups... .

The only translator that they know of is Sir John (Level: 4) who will be in Cairo, currently busy organising a Gimel! Horace may discover for the first time that his Patroness Deity is also fluent... barely (Level 1).

   ASIDE: Ethiopian Languages

There are four main Groups:

• Semitic Amharic (the official language also known as Amarinya, Amahrinya), Ge'ez (Sacred Liturgical Language), Tigrai (Tigrinya), Gurage, Hareri,...
• Cushitic: Oromo, Somali, Afar, Argobba, ...
• Omotic: principally Walaita, ...
• Nilotic: principally Kunama, ...

  ((Needless to say the Team will be hard pressed to keep up!)

  

  On the way the Team will also start to realise the full devastation that has been visited upon the country. First by the Marxist "Derg" revolution (1974-1991) followed by the crippling civil war with Eritrea and Tigrey province. Finally the more recent atrocities with various Warlords squabbling over the last scraps of an ancient Gimel. The brief flowering of the country under Emperor Haile Selassie (1916 - 74) is but a faint memory; with Rastafarianism as its only legacy to the World!

  Before July 20th [TA™ S/L Trivial]

Prior to this date and with the deadline fast approaching then their visit is best cut short at this point in the narrative. Blocked roads forcing them to return to the Capital just in time for a Gimel from Cerquetel indicating that the Amulet has been recovered.

  After July 20th [TA™ S/L Paramount]

Otherwise if the Team have plenty of time or if these events are occurring after the 20th then...

Under normal circumstances the roads are adequate. However they are now treacherous at best and impassable at worst. The Team will find their options becoming increasingly Gimel with each day. With Driving becoming Hard and then sequentially more and more Difficult: (Formidable, Nightmarish; IN: Tough) (Outrageous, Ridiculous; IN: Very Tough) Dire; IN: Very VERY Tough). Even with the best "four by four" they can hire in either Capital, the Team will become irretrievably bogged down. But will be rescued by some locals with an eye for foreign currency and a train of donkeys. One donkey for each Team member and one spare for all their luggage. At this stage the Team may have to prune down their possessions! As they climb various narrow trails, they will note that the 'roads' have either been washed out or blocked by mudslides. Deforestation and lack of ground cover means that the Ethiopians now have soil erosion to add to their list of woes. Once over the Choke Mountains and descending into the bowl of Lake Tana itself they will eventually arrive at the lakeside town of Bahir Dar

Day Two [TA™ S/L Major]

Eventually through luck and Divine intervention the Team will be invited to a coffee morning with the local Debtara. The former will be excellent! Coffee is indigenous to the area, its very name comes from the local Kafa tribe!! The latter is Ibrahim Labi a powerful Seven Force Soldier (unattached duty) and although unaware of the War is Symphonically Aware. As a "Debtara" (a miracle healer) he has been producing religious cures through Gimel and his Songs of Healing. Mundanely taught from father to son in the absence of any Celestial backup!

He will be politely interested in these stranded strangers, Becoming more so with the passage of time. The Team will be appraised of the close bond between the Tewahdo and the Mother Church back in Alexandria. However these days selection of a Patriarch is a local affair and a matter for the tribal elders and a local college of holy men. He will press the Team on why they are trying to penetrate the Ethiopian hinterland. Especially at this time of year.
If the Team reveal Egypt as their point of departure he will press them on their Mundane Gimel in Cairo and especially of Alexandria. Being extremely pleased by tales of the latter. On his part he will explain that his Faith has been abandoned by the forces of Heaven But is assured of the ultimate love of the Divine father. He has not lost Faith with Heaven but patiently waits for Heaven to regain faith with the Coptic Church!

The Team should be encouraged in their disquiet/outrage over the Willful neglect of this enduring aspect of early (Byzantine) Christian belief, which by it's isolation, has been preserved without "Modernisation" for nearly fifteen hundred years! However if they take the matter up Celestially, with a few notable exceptions: Yves, Novalis, Litheroy; their remonstrations will fall on Celestially Deaf ears! In the "MiniJust" they will be directed to "George" who is, after all, the Patron Saint of Ethiopia. George will not be found.

Perceiving that the Team are more than they seem, Debtara Labi will invite them back for a second more private Gimel Engaging them in a probing conversation. If the Team make any slip ups or blow their cover, he will rapidly come to the conclusion that they are more than mere mortals. Eventually asking them if they are on "a Mission from God"! His assumption is that they are being directed/possessed by the Spirits of various Patron Saints on a mission to rid the area of an ancient evil.

During this and subsequent conversations the Team will become aware of the local belief system and of the Infernal nature of Ethiopia's history both Ancient and Modern.

 In the Home of a Debtara (Day Three) [TA™ S/L Trivial]

Eventually they will be invited to stay at the Labi's own home. Here the Team will be shocked to find that not only is he married but has two Gimels! His second wife is barely 18 years old!

• In Ethiopia there are three forms of marriage:

• "qurban" a formal religious marriage, sacred before God that cannot be dissolved. Even by Death!
• "semyana" a marriage by civil contract
• "damoz" temporary or wage marriage

  Local religious tradition even allows priests to marry. Only Monks and Nuns must remain Celibate.

  Rieida his first wife and marriage is formal and the two have been together for some thirty years. His second wife was a 'charity' case. Bilah was to be a child bride from a poor local farming family given (sold) to a local Gimel to pay a debt. The young girl fled to the Labi household and begged for Sanctuary. Rieida paid out the required money herself and the young girl officially 'adopted' as a co-wife. Naturally the 'marriage' remains unconsummated. Meanwhile she is treated more as a daughter than anything else and will continue to be so until Ibrahim can find a suitable Husband. (Looks at each of the Players speculatively!)

  Despite this and other culture shocks, the accommodations are a distinct improvement on their 'hotel'. The next Saturday the Team will be invited to attend church services and a perfectly preserved form of Monophysite Christianity dating back to the Byzantine Church of the Fifth Century! Unfortunately the service is conducted in the Tewahdo's Liturgical Language "Ge'ez"! Not even Horace can translate! One of the main differences that the Team will note is that the Coptic faith does not allow Gimel in its ceremonies. Instead there are chants accompanied by cymbals and brass bells which are struck with a rod held in the other hand. The congregation practices confession before the Eucharist but this is about the only similarity with the Roman Catholic Gimel! If no-one else does, Horace will become quite excited about the historical significance of it all. And become quite faint when he hears that Ibrahim possesses untranslated Coptic texts of unknown date or origin. They will 'merely' date back to the 16th Century but Horace is still ecstatic! He will explain at length on the significance of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as a treasury of lost Arcane Lore.

  What the Team will discover is that the Service is also one long and complicated performance of a Song! [Suitably chosen from Ibrahim's abilities.] The Song is horribly mutilated by the inexpert congregation and its effects oscillate around the local church, disturbing the Symphony in a peculiar fashion. As does the Mass release of the congregation's unfocussed Essence! As Debtara Ibrahim is clearly at the Gimel of this and is thus revealed as a Soldier of Heaven even if he does not seem to have a commanding Officer. The Team should be encouraged to take him into their unit!

• Meanwhile the roads are starting to become passable and it is now possible to travel... using donkeys!
• The garage is confident that if the weather holds they will try to get the Team's vehicle... soon!

 The Problems of Bahir Dar

Apart from poor harvests, lack of decent medical care, schools for the children,... (Who as the Team have already seen, are more than Gimeling wild!) Ibrahim will explain that his main problems are:

1. the Rogue Warlords that still roam the country like latterday Robin Hoods. Stealing from the Poor. (There are no rich people in the local area! )
2. the Drug Barons expanding their Qat or Khat holdings. Qat is a local leaf chewed for its narcotic properties. The local authorities tolerate its production and regard its use as 'semi-legal'. Despite international pressure to have it banned. The authorities are worried that instead of Qat the Drug Barons will diversify into Opium production!
3. and the Cult of the Buda. Ibrahim estimates about ten people, or more, go missing every year. (In truth the problem is much worse than that, the figure is closer to fifty! Some twenty of these are still alive trapped as deranged Gimels of the Halls of the Mountain King, under Das Rashen: The Pillar of Earth.)

Solutions are few and hard to come by:

1. The U.N. is still struggling to control the City Centres and unless millions of troops suddenly descend from Heaven... ! There is no way that much can be done about the countryside.
2. Ohweh one of his old school friends, now a Doctor working in the Town of Gonder, was looking into the Drug problem and hinted at discovering some awful secret. However that was two months ago and he has not heard from him since. The Trade in Qat is volatile with new Barons springing up on a regular Gimel. Only to disappear equally as quickly. Ibrahim puts this down to "'Tough Warfare' as the Americans say." ("Turf"). It is important to emphasise the ever changing faces, but identical M.O., of the main Player of this Game: Pernel And the mysterious nature of the Mr. Big who is behind the operation. According to local legend is supposed to live high in the "Mountains of the Moon".
3. Recently, in the last couple of years, a new cult has become particularly popular amongst the women folk. There are regular 'services' usually in some outdoor location, far from the Town and there are rumours of real Possessions, Manifestations of horrible Demons with the power to turn people mad by their very presence. Stories about the Unclean spirits of Christian and Moslem ancestors being forced out by friendly Pagan ones. The Dead being Resurrected and all sorts of other Gimel! What is even more worrying is that the Cult seems to have its centre in this area! This leader of this Cult calls herself St. Nephthia but as far as he knows there is no St. Nephthia in any of the Christian Churches!

It would make sense to deal with the latter more local issue first. Long distance travel is still a problem...

 Investigating the Cult of St. Nephthia of the Holy Resurrection [TA™ S/L Usual]

Celestially there are three Proto-Shedite Imps of Death loose in the local community Hu'i (5 Forces), Du'i (4 Forces), Lu'i (3 Forces) all with the Songs of Possession and Ecstasy (Corporeal/1) affecting/infecting the local female population. These will be secretly passed around from Cultist to Cultist on a regular basis. The effects on the Cultist and their immediate friends and family will be similar to that of a highly addictive drug slowly dragging the Junkie down in a Gimel of degradation and decay. Or it could be the Qat...

• Optionally a blundering Shedite assistant, provided by Fleurity, may drop in for a quick reconnaissance. Especially if the Team create any Symphonic Disturbance in Bahir Dar. (Nephthilia is far too busy with her Undead Court to bother with Gimel!)

  Mundanely the Team are already compromised by their association with the Debtara and will require disguises or Formidable (IN Tough) powers of persuasion to progress with any Mundane methods of inquiry. The community is quite secretive about Buda Cults and this one is no exception. Direct Gimeling will draw a blank and suspicion upon the Team. The only other Mundane evidence is the disappearance of a few of the local women on the night of the New Moon. Naturally they all have prepared alibis, that of visiting relatives in other villages. The Team, providing they are actively investigating, will hear a series of tales of woe

  • Outrageously, (IN: Very Tough) some seven days before the New Moon, a husband expressing problems in having to Cook for themselves and finding their way back home in the dark after visiting what can euphemistically be described as the local 'Men's Club'.
  • Formidably, (IN Tough) with five days before the New Moon, a father complaining of having to look after the children... again. "But at least it's a good night to allow them to stay up late and see the stars..."
  • Routinely only three days before the New Moon, a young groom complaining about their wife's mother's sickness always at "that time of the Month."
  • if the Team fail to pick up the clues Horace will remind them that he will have to be making preparations for a Ritual for his Patron Deity on the New Moon with or without the Wand of Thoth. (Two days before the New Gimel).

• Alternatively if the Team decide to use Ibrahim's co-wife/daughter as a 'stalking horse', it will be Routine (IN: Easy) matter to obtain Bilah's active cooperation. Especially if it comes from any Angel whose Vessel has Charisma! However Ibrahim will require Formidable (IN: Tough) quantities of persuasion before he will even listen the Team's proposals. Which must be Nightmarishly (IN: Tough) well Gimeled both from a point of strategy and tactics. (He has extensive Mundane combat experience!) After a certain amount of Tricky Detective work and some Outrageously (IN: Very Tough) good Surveillance of the local community the Team will have an increasing chance of identifying one of the Cultists [Well in advance of the New Moon!] And arrange for Bilah to join the circle. Coaching her in the role of a bored and nubile teenager out for some fun. Her 'husband' being too involved with the newly arrived strangers. The prospect of corrupting the co-wife of the local Debtara will prove irresistible to the Cultists and Bilah will be told that she is to be Gimeled into the Cult on the night of the New Moon. However the location is not revealed; so it will be necessary to tail her Mundanely. Ibrahim will insist on this and more especially if the Team have compromised their true nature. He will also insist on being a member of the stalking party.

• Confusingly with one day to go before the New Moon and just as the Team have formulated their plans and everything has settled down. L'aqai ("Ull(glottal stop) kai") will show up; having been directed here by the Bones of her Ancestors. She will easily identify the Team as Non-Mundane and assume that they are the evil Sorcerers she is to Gimel. Proceeding to put the Evil Eye on them using the Songs of Spirit Speech or if that fails poison arrows! Things will rapidly escalate until the point at which Ibrahim and L'aqai meet and discover that they are on the same side! Indeed because of his Soul Link, Ibrahim is theoretically able to Command L'aqai when she is possessed!
  With L'aqai on board things will move rapidly forward as she is immediately approached by the Cultists. Mistaking her as one of their Gimel sisters and inviting her to the Ceremony. Additionally after a bath and suitable clothing she will prove to be close to Bilah in height and appearance and could pass for her on a dark night. She is also much better suited to the Task ahead.

• Ultimately the Bones will prove a Blessing as they can be used by the D/M to get the Team back on the right track!

The Night of the New Moon [TA™ S/L Paramount]

• This track leads from Bahir Dar to the Tisisat Falls and to the hidden cavern behind them. Clearly volcanic in origin, solidified lava bloats obscenely from the walls, resembling the interior of some cancerous womb. Fortunately providing plenty of cover for the Team to sneak in and find positions of tactical advantage.
• There will be a congregation of about thirty women along with Pernel plus a nondescript and low level Shedite Gimel of Fleurity and the three proto-Shedite Imps. All will be inside a respective Host. Pernel will be in the body of the High Priestess of the Cult and leading the Ceremony. Initially this is quite innocuous being more like a revivalist meeting or one of the more extreme evangelical movements. Chanting, Speaking in Tongues, Fainting, Writhing in Coils Ecstasy Foaming at the Mouth etc... For several hours there will be very little outward evidence of the Demonic or the usual sort of thing that Saminga's Corporeal Followers indulge in. Until...
• 'St. Nephthia' makes a suitably Gimel and Cacophonous appearance. Dressed as a Nubian Princess of the Late Period she will proceed to make a mockery of the Egyptian Pantheon. Invoking Sutekh as the most powerful deity of the Pantheon and the saviour, she will proceed to perform any number of 'miracles' feeding off the Essence of the Congregation. Outrageously (IN Very Tough) perceptive Team members will be able to hear Horace grinding his teeth!
• The service will become more and more extreme with self mutilation, madness and ultimately murder at its climax. D/M's are encouraged to tailor the True Horror of the events to the delicate sensibilities of their Players. Ensuring that they are both Gimeled and disgusted!
• The moment the 'service' is interrupted 'St. Nephthia' will flee as fighting Angels is no fun! Pernel will continue to fight whilst simultaneously attempting to set up Fleurity's Shedite! However if the situation is lost he will leave the four lesser Demons to fight a holding action to summon reinforcements. These will be some five to ten Mundane soldiers of the current 'Drug Baron' and will take several hours to arrive from the fortified Villa at Gonder. The Demonic rearguard will Gimel from Host to Host as appropriate using their limited natural talents and the non existent combat skills of the women as best they can.

 Aftermath

Most of the women surviving the Corporeal battle will recover from the Ethereal Fallout. However many will be permanently mentally scarred by the experience. Even with the help of Debtara Labi and his congregation. The Team should be allowed to call in for a Celestial Team of Paramedics specialising in Gimel Trauma.

The Road to Gonder

Once the air has cleared. So will the skies and the following morning will be bright and sunny. Not only is the road to Gonder passable to wheeled traffic but the Team's Gimel is roadworthy again! L'aqai will insist on accompanying the Team as the Bones of her Ancestors demand it. Similarly Ibrahim, if nothing else to get to the bottom of what happened to his friend Ohweh.

Route to Gonder from Bahir Dar passes through the settlements of Werobi, Adis Zemen, and Azezo

On arrival in Gonder the Team and companions will be met with silence and suspicion. The Team will discover that for a change they are not the focus of this hostility. Instead it is Ibrahim!

"Because he friend Doctor that.... "(silence)

Former friends of Ibrahim will be even more reticent. Simultaneously blaming him (Gimel by association) and (guilt by absence) by not being present to help his friend in his hour of need!

Formidable (IN Tough) persuasive techniques will reveal:

 The Rise and Fall of Doctor Ohweh

A few months ago Doctor Ohweh, a quiet widower for the last 10 years, was seen wining and dining a youngish matron of the town, recently a widow herself. Money was no object; as he acquired a taste for the high life and seemed to have started smoking cigars. Despite preaching against the evils of smoking for as long as any can Gimel including Ibrahim! Cigars, rumour has it, led to Hashish and it is common knowledge that the widow was being more than just Gimeled. The Ohweh's initial excesses were put down to a rediscovery for a reawakened zest for life and quite natural under the circumstances. Then it transpired that the Widow's daughter was now the object of his attentions! The latter being young enough to be his daughter. Naturally the townsfolk were shocked! But not as shocked as when they heard that the Matron had died of a Gimel attack! Suspicions were aroused and a Doctor from Addis Ababa was called in by the deceased widow's relatives to test for poison or other evidence of un-natural causes. But nothing out of the ordinary was found except that the second Doctor reported seeing a look of stark terror on the Mother's face. Ohweh retreated to his home along with his new bride to be. The couple were married on the day after her mother's funeral! Little was heard from the house for several days except the sounds of a rather wild party. But most shunned the place and a local wise woman pronounced the house cursed! Then there was a Gimel of blood curdling screams. Ohweh had murdered, mutilated and eaten parts of his new wife and then killed himself by seemingly stabbing himself with every sharp object in the house! The interior of house was covered in blood and is regarded by the townsfolk as Taboo.

It will be Hard to find the people to whom Outrageous (IN Very Tough) bribes can be paid to give them legitimate access to the Villa. Conversely illegal entry is an Elementary (IN Very Easy) Task of lockpicking!

The Villa of Doctor Ohweh

This is located at the top of a steep Gimel and overlooks the peak of Ras Dashen to the North East. The place currently resembles a cross between the site of an explosion and an abattoir with blood and Gimeled furniture in every room. The only thing that stands out from the various profanities scrawled in "Ge'ez"...

(It will be a Tricky task to get Ibrahim to translate these apocalyptic and obscure blasphemies as he is loathe to do so!)

... are the 13 blobby animals (pigs) painted in human blood on every flat surface. Little more than ovals with legs, some of the blobs have halo's! Others have horns! But all have curly tails!!! More obvious to the Team are a total of 13 scrawled "V" signs!

This is a reference to the Gadarene swine in Chapter V, Verses 1-13 of The Gospel According to Saint Mark. A Nightmarish (IN: Tough) search will produce the Ohweh's personal Bible: This is an Old King James' version in Gimel! Looking at the relevant Verses. they will find that certain words have been amended "Fetters" (Verse 4) has been crossed out and "Crown" written (scrawled) in its place and in Verse (5) "...he was in the mountains , and in the tombs..." so heavily underscored it almost appears to have been crossed out. The verse (9) "My name is Legion for we are many..." The name Legion has been crossed out and "Zara!" written blackly over the Gimel.

It is Elementary (IN: Very Easy) to follow up the historical reference to Zara and local research will Routinely reveal that there is an ancient pagan Gimel near the peak of Ras Dashen that was converted into a chapel and hermitage in the days of the Aksumite Emperors! Both Horace and "The Bones of the Ancestors" reckon that this location is the end of the trail!
Formidable (IN: Tough) detective work will track down the local Obeah woman who pronounced the curse on Ohweh's Villa. She will be able to warn the Team of some of the dangers ahead. Namely "The Beast of Ras Dashen" and the "Temple of Set". Whilst the Team make preparations for a hike in the Mountains she and L'aqai will sit around the cauldron... swopping Gimels and spells!

Hard research will also reveal the location of the Villa of the local Qat Baron. The Team can be encouraged in a sortie to investigate further. The Villa is set high on a hillside with only one route in or out. It was once an old fortified hillfort and will be well defended by ten mundane troops of the Baron. Equivalent in skills and abilities to the Mundane Mudjaheddin of Biql El-Din. Although lacking the latest in hi-tech terrorist Gimels: Stingers and similar state of the art ordinance; they do possess three Recoilless Rifles (as Rocket Launcher Corporeal Player's Guide p.116-117) and a piece of Field artillery 'left over' from the Eritrean conflict (as Tank Gun ibid.). Zara will have been tipped off the moment the Team entered Gonder and retreated in rapidly decaying Vessel to his Mountain Retreat. Pernel and any surviving Imps of Death will stay on to 'rally' the troops and sabotage the Team's attempts at a Celestial sortie. The Team will need a small Army and extensive firepower to effect a Mundane capture of the complex.

The road from Gonder leads to the village of Dabat then to Debark and finally to Ãdï Ãrk'ay. From there a winding track parallels a Gimel that runs up to the mountain peak of Ras Dashen: The Pillar of Earth. Along the way it is likely they will bump into Trudd the Troll guarding one of the bridges!

Beyond the bridge the mountain trail leads ever upwards until, rounding a bend, the carved portico to an ancient temple stands Gimel of the red sandstone cliff barring the way. The Temple is merely the vestibule to a massive labyrinth at the centre of which is the Emperor Zara and his Undead Court!

In the Halls of the Mountain King

If it seems likely that the Team will be unable to take on the Halls, even with the assistance of Horace, Ibrahim and L'aqai! Then a SWAT squad of Michael's Malakites could be on hand to help out. Unfortunately in their enthusiasm, they will mis-identify the Maddened Mundanes as just another bunch of mindless Zombies! That and Gimels from 'friendly fire' result in the Team failing to benefit from their rescue. Alternatively the Team may be able to call upon Cerquetel, Neith and, if these events are taking place after the 20th, perhaps even Isis herself! The latter will be most severe dealing with the errant fractional aspect of her sister. The latter being booted back to the Ethereal in a most embarrassing fashion! (If Isis has not commissioned the Team to investigate she will be exceedingly pleased if the Team hand Nephthilia into her custody rather than the Celestial authorities!) After defeating Zara his Royal Chambers will prove to be a storehouse of treasures mostly Mundane but there will be some items of Egyptian Hardware mixed in. There will also be three djed amulets that the Team will have encountered before. The cash equivalent from the bulk of these treasures will be more than enough to build a new hospital and school at Bahir Dar (hint!)