The Etemmu Within - Episode 2: Shadows over Bad-Tibira

This post continues my examination of how the classic WFRP campaign, The Enemy Within, can be re-skinned to be played in the Mythic Babylon setting. This study was adapted from the first edition of Shadows Over Bogenahafen, published by Games Workshop and written by Graeme Davis, Jim Bambra, and Phil Gallagher. This edition can be found for sale at DriveThru RPG. Mythic Babylon is published by The Design Mechanism.


EPISODE 2: SHADOWS OVER BAD-TIBIRA

The PCs arrive in Bad-Tibira at the beginning of the Taklimtu festival and they enjoy the various sights of the festival (buskers and wrestlers, gaming and pageantry). If the PCs look for the shrine of Manzat, they will find no sign of one and conclude the whole 'rite of divestment' letter was a hoax to lure their look-alike to Bad-Tibira.

However, there much talk among the attendees of one travelling merchant who has a collection of curious exotic animals, including a pure white monkey which is much the talk of the festival. So that draws their attention.

Just as the PCs are arriving to see the pure white monkey (which they may assume to be a good omen) it bites the hand of it's keeper, Nanna-mene, (actually a bad omen) and it runs off and ducks into an open drain in the ground. The keeper raises a commotion and the watch arrives with a judge in short order. The judge, who goes by the name Atkalšum (literally “I trusted him”) asks the PCs to speak as witnesses. The owner of the monkey claims it actually belongs to Sin-Iddinam, governor of Sumer, and he was only transporting it from the lands of the Elamtu to the governor's palace in Larsa. He has been capitalizing on it to earn some cash (and defray his costs) over the course of his journey, and Bad-Tibira is his last stop. Seeing an opportunity to please his king, and with local districts being responsible for covering merchant losses, the judge offers the PCs 30 shekels in silver if they can retrieve it. The drain it crawled into is connected to a larger network of catacombs and drainage tunnels beneath the city.

The PCs enter the catacombs, where they are subject to random spirit encounters like lavatory haunters, bad news demons, or ghosts. In the tunnels they stumble across the body of a dead copper-smith (as determined by his obvious dwarfism) – his heart has been removed. They also find a hidden shrine, guarded by an Ugallu underworld demon which they must fight off.

 

Ugallu (Wikimedia Commons)

They don't find the monkey, though, and so they return to the surface world where the Taklimtu festivities are growing in attendance. Crowds are starting to throng the streets.

When they go to find Judge Atkalšum, who is holding public trials at the festival, he informs them that the monkey has since been found, killed, in a granary by the river. The judge denies them any reward, and tells the case is closed. Furthermore the judge doesn't seem interested in their hidden shrine story.

When they return to Nanna-mene, the monkey's owner, he understands that it has been killed and accepts his loss. However, he explains; he asked for the body so it's pelt could be recouped and presented to the governor, and his request was refused. He doesn't understand why, unless the judge wants to remove evidence of a crime. He agrees to keep an ear to the ground for reports of a missing copper-smith.

Later, the PCs overhear talk of a prophet in the square who claims that the Anunaki gods are displeased with the city and it's fate will be revealed in the face of Sin, the moon. Sure enough, that evening, the PCs are surprised to see the moon is almost full, rather than a crescent as might be expected. They suffer the effects of a bad omen.

The next day they encounter the prophet himself, who proclaims “I see the Seven, and I see the Nine; all they had will be mine! Mine! Mine! A star within the crucible is the sign of death; beware the man who is not a man.”

The Babylonian student will of course recognize the threat, for The Seven are a group of dangerous demons bent on mischief. The Nine, presumably, are the cultists.

"They are seven!
They are seven!
They are seven in the depth of primeval water,
They are seven adorned in heaven,
They are not male, they are not female,
They are drifting phantoms,
They have no spouse and never bore a child,
They do not know the result of their actions,
They do not pay attention to prayers and offerings.
They roam about the streets to cause trouble,
They cruise the canals to cause mischief.
They are seven,
They are seven."

Source: Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia by Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat.

Events and investigations eventually lead them to several businesses and warehouses, then to the Crossed Boat-hooks tavern, and finally back into the catacombs. They get the sense they are being watched, and may even be victims of sorcery (yet another bad omen). On the second night, a group of thugs approaches them to deliver a threatening message to keep out of other people's business.

That evening, a leering face appears in the full moon.

Eventually the PCs catch wind of a meeting to be held at the house of the wealthy Amorite merchant named Samuh-Tammuz. They stake the place out and uncover a plot restore the god Dumuzi the throne of Bad-Tibira, supplanting the current city god Lulal (Ištar's son). Samuh-Tammuz claims that their plans will entrap Ištar herself in a crucible of copper to be offered to her sister, Ereškigal, queen of the underworld, as a betrothal gift by the god, Nergal. Returning Ištar to the underworld will free the god Dumuzi from the underworld permanently, and allow him to overthrow Lulal, who will be weak without his mother's protection. The crux of the plan hinges on an important sorcerous ritual to be performed the next night in an undisclosed location.

Little do the PCs or these conspirators know, though, that this is all part of a larger plan by the god Nergal to scourge the earth in an effort to help his matrimonial suit with the queen of the underworld. The ritual will also open the gates of the underworld and release the dead for one night, and when they return they will take as many of the still-living as possible back with them as gifts to his queen. Nergal has sent an underworld demon, Neti, to see his plan through. He is currently disguised as Samuh-Tammuz's slave servant, 'Gabiri' ('Mountain'). Tammuz thinks that he controls the demon, but if anything the opposite is true.

As they explore the house of Samuh-Tammuz, it's important they they find this piece of correspondence, as it will lead them into the next section of the adventure:

To the Captain of the Crucible of Life, thus says Aruru-Harug:

I have received your gift of strong copper crucibles and will put them to good use. But I am unable to supply you with the product that you have requested. For one, it seems our lords have parted paths; who once were twins are now adversaries for the heart of Arali, and the Red Crown has it's own concerns in The Land. It would be unseemly for me to assist you.

Even were I willing, the Well of Damu has been overrun by Suteans and I am unable to approach. I must seek Mutebal allies in Dilbat before I can return. I have also had to turn down your divine sister in The House of the Seven.

In gratitude for the gift, I send a fine wool garment from Dibat, and a box of candied locusts. May we speak again after the nuptials.

The next morning, the face in the moon is now visible during the day and leers down on the city. Early in the day, one of the of the cultists named Mannu-ki-Erra approaches the PCs and expresses his doubts about Samuh-Tammuz's plan. He tells them he will send a note to let then know the new location of the ritual. When that note later arrives, though, it is delivered by the demon Neti in disguise as a runner. It urgently invites the PCs to the house of Mannu-ki-Erra. When they arrive, they find Mannu-ki-Erra dead and themselves framed for his murder!

Neti also sets a building on fire while disguised as one of the PCs, and the party sees this exact copy of the player-character in question fleeing from an angry posse of citizens. So, both the watch and the townsfolk are after them as they race through the night to disrupt the ritual.

Eventually they find the warehouse that belongs to Samuh-Tammuz (it bears the symbol of a star inside a crucible) over the door. The ritual is underway – can they stop it in time? The adventure ends either with the ritual being completed and the dead being unleashed, or with the ritual being foiled and the PCs hunted by every able-bodied citizen in town. Either way, they must leave Bad-Tibira in a hurry.

What happens next will be covered in EPISODE 3: DEATH ON THE PURATTU