The Etemmu Within - Episode 3B: The Black Oasis

This post continues my examination of how the classic WFRP campaign, The Enemy Within, can be re-skinned to be played in Mythic Babylon. This study was adapted from the first edition of Death on the Reik, published by Games Workshop and written by Phil Gallagher, Jim Bambra, and Graeme Davis, This edition can be found for sale by Cubicle 7 . Mythic Babylon is published by The Design Mechanism.

DILBAT

At last the PCs arrive in Dilbat, having been led here by the Aruru-harug letter that was discussed in Episode 3A. This section corresponds to the Red Crown/Grissenwald/Black Peaks sections of Death of the Reik.

When the PCs arrive, they discover that the mood in Dilbat is tense. The citizenry seem haggard and pressed, eyeing all newcomers with suspicion. Food is scarce, so if the PCs bring supplies they are willing to sell, they can make some grudging friends. A group of Kassites have camped along the riverbanks, which is creating tensions with the locals. The Kassites had previously been settled in a fertile oasis south of the city where they raised cattle and kungas. This oasis, known as The Well of Damu, is a piece of fertile land they had leased from the local E-ibbianu temple. But the Kassites have since been chased out by Suteans. They now huddle like refugees along the river bank with what's left of their herds.

This has created some tension with the locals, who are now having to share access to the river with the Kassites and their kungas. Several farmers have complained about their lands being trampled. To make matters worse, a number of farmers have disappeared and are assumed to have been murdered. There are rumours of black warriors having appeared in the night to take people to their doom. The Kassites are under suspicion, but so are any travellers. The governor, a Yaminite named Addu-amuti, has done little to resolve the tensions, being far more interested in tending his collection of exotic plants in the palace gardens.

The E-ibbianu temple belongs to the city god, Uraš and his wife Ninegal (an aspect of Ištar). The temple says they can do nothing to restore the Kassites to the oasis because they sold it to Aruru-harug, a priestess of the cult of The Red Crown of Erra, for quite cheap. They have tried to convince the Kassites to move on and leave the community. Aruru-harug was last seen heading out to the oasis with a posse of Mutebal warriors, planning to clear the Suteans out. If the PCs wish to pursue her from a position of strength, they may find a number of Kassites willing to hire themselves out in exchange for food or livestock for their families.

Source: https://idsb.tmgrup.com.tr/ly/uploads/images/2021/01/27/88852.jpg

THE WELL OF DAMU

The steppe between river and the Well of Damu is a desolate, but not an empty place. PCs may encounter ghosts or desolation spirits, or Sutean or Mutebal tribesmen. The Suteans are a desert tribe who inhabit the steppe west of the Purattu river. They control many of the oases in this region, which they use for grazing in the dry season. Some of this land is contested by Mutebal Amorite herders, who are mainly settled along the river's edge but have also traditionally used some of the nearer oases for camping and grazing. Currently, these tribes are in conflict and if members of either tribe are travelling with the PCs, it might make them a target of the other. If they are travelling alone, they may be able to thread the minefield, but will be met with suspicion by either group. Other steppe encounters with wild animals are also possible.

Eventually, the PCs will find the Green Well, a green oasis. It's currently under the control of a rough and bloodied gang of Mutebal warriors, having just reclaimed it from the Suteans with the help of prayers and incantations of Erra, god of war, voiced by Aruru-harug. She is not currently in the oasis, but if asked where she is, the questioner will be told that she has gone further west with a handful of the remaining Mutebal to the Well of Damu, also known as the Black Oasis. There is an old shrine there that the priestess wishes to restore, they will explain. The PCs will be discouraged from following, though, for the way is fraught with danger.

If the PCs ignore this advice and persist in following, they will encounter a group of scorpion men in an isolated valley between dunes, engaged in a pitched battle with some Mutebal. This should serve as an indication they are crossing from the land of humans into a realm governed by other powers. Assuming the PCs help rescue the Mutebal, they will be grateful and willing to lead the PCs on, or offer directions.

Finally, the PCs reach the Black Oasis, first spotting it's sickly looking date palms and grey foliaged Prosopis shrubs on the outskirts. It will soon become obvious that the Well of Damu is no watering hole, but a bitumen pit, and the viscous black liquid bubbles to the surface here. On it's edge lies a small walled compound (the E-SAGMENSU, House of the Red Crown), with a 3-room shrine within. The sound of a woman's voice, raised in chant, can be heard from within.

If any of the PCs speak Sumerian, they may recognize some of the words as being part of a RI'MES, a dark ritual of imbuing blackness. Indeed, Aruru-harug is inside and bringing the corpses of the recently slaughtered Mutebal warriors to life again by ritually rubbing them with bitumen from the black oasis. As they approach the compound, several black humans come shambling out and attack. These are the GARRADUM-GIGGI – “black warriors”. Use the stats for Mummies from Mythras, but give them 3 points of armour from the hardened coating. Unlike mummies, these undead are not susceptible to fire. If set alight, they will burn, and while burning attempt to grapple their foes in a very warm embrace!

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03120/oilhands_3120840b.jpg

Upon defeating the black warriors and Aruru-harug, the PCs may either question her (if she's alive) or find the following information among the letters and tablets in her personal effects. They will learn that she is indeed a priestess of Erra, and experimenting with ways to bring the bodies of the dead to life to fight in battle. Her researches in the ancient cities of Kish and Eridu led her to understand that the Well of Damu ('Well of Blood') is no ordinary tar pit, but a remnant pool of the Blood of the god Qingu, who was said to have been slain to create the essence of life in the creation of humanity. She later found a RI'MES ritual that would allow her to bring these bodies to life, but before she could attempt the ritual, she was chased from the land by the Suteans. Now that the Mutebal have helped her win back her shrine, she plans on making an army of black warriors by luring various nomads and travellers out here and murdering them. She has started with the very Mutebal warriors who accompanied her! She has composed, but not yet sent, a draft letter (unaddressed) inviting Red Crown members to join her here.

Also among her letters is one received from a certain Immum-Ištarat ('A Mother is Ištarat' ), Lagar Priestess of the Temple of the Seven, demanding a sample of the Black Blood for her own purposes of 'binding the blood and the clay in the name of Nergal'. An appropriate lore roll will reveal Ištarat is a goddess local to the Mari region, and a divination (or questioning of Aruru) will reveal that a temple to the Seven has existed in the Mari area for some time and even escaped destruction at the hands of Hammurabi when he ravaged the area. The Seven are a group of demons, previously discussed in Episode 2 of Death on the Purattu.

Also among her tablets is a letter from an unnamed En-Priest of the Red Crown in the city of Aššur, informing her that the twins are no longer conjoined.

We'll learn more about all of this future episodes, beginning with EPISODE 3C – THE TEMPLE OF THE SEVEN