Masada shall not Fall
Part Three - The Middle East, 1963
June 7th, East Jerusalem, Jordan
The Servitors were instructed to descend to Earth at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in East jerusalem, where they would be met with instructions. The following dawn, they appeared in one of the church's side chapels - just as 6 o'clock mass (in the Latin rite) was starting. They were met by a young monk who silently gave each of them a book of matches before going off to join the congregation in the pews.Somewhat nonplussed, the angels looked at the book of matches they had been given - they were from "Club GiGi" and a single match was missing from each one.
The others having failed to get much information from the young monk or his superior, eventually decided to head
out into the city.
Magda pointed out that a nightclub was unlikely to be open at 8.30 in the
morning, so they asked around for a decent hotel, eventually taking rooms in
the nearby Pilgrim's Inn.Back at the police station, Solo was being interviewed by an officer who spoke English. The malakite claimed to have no memory of how he got there, and as he no papers, money or anything other than a book of matches and a pen-knife on his person, the police assumed he had been mugged. They arranged to have him transferred to the nearest hospital. Alisha who had been lurking across the street, followed, her ofanite abilities easily allowing her to keep up with the police car.
Back at the Pilgrim's Inn, the Magda and Yoshiel decided to exploit Jude's newly discovered American Express card and went shopping for clothes for their trip to Club GiGi that night. Jude and Solo exchanging messages via the Song of Tongues eventually came to the conclusion that Solo should drag himself away from the doctors fascinated by his amnesia and join them at the hotel. Ensuring that the police guard was safely outside his door, Solo assumed Celestial form and made his way across the city.
That evening they servitors turned up a Club GiGi around 8.30, only to discover that their old friend Cartiel - the "Israeli Dean Martin" - was top of the bill. After his set was completed they invited him to join them at their table and caught up on the last 19 centuries or so.
About half-an-hour later a waitress turned up with an envelope for them. Solo opened it, but all it contained was a newspaper clipping from the day's Jerusalem Times mentioning an exhibit of artefacts from the Essene community at Qumran which was opening on Monday at the Rockerfeller Museum. Alisha commented that she had left Paul and his key with the Essenes after the events at Masada.
June 8th – August 1st, East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Cyprus, Masada, Alexandria.
The next day servitors stopped by the Rockefeller Museum to pick up a flier for the exhibition. Yoshiel and Alisha pored over the pictures of the exhibits and were convinced they could spot the Key in the background of one of the cabinets. The rest of Saturday was spent in relaxation, next morning however; they received unwelcome news.Yoshiel read in the paper about a break-in at the museum and the murder of two night watchmen. Later that afternoon Jude, in his role as a representative of the Israeli Department of Antiquities, fetched up at the museum with Magda in tow requesting an interview with the director,
Aref al-Aref. The others scouted around outside the museum to see what clues they could find, but to no avail.
Al-Aref was more than happy to receive Jude’s assurances that the Israelis would co-operate in attempting to solve the theft (and murders). He confirmed that only a single artefact had been stolen - and to no-one’s surprise it was indeed the Key.
They reconvened back in the bar at the Pilgrim Hotel to consider their options. One of the Keys was in the hands of the enemy – presumably a servitor of Fana, but four keys still remained. One of the Keys was presumable still at Masada, buried somewhere in the ruins. Another was lost in the desert with James’ corpse, John’s Key was last known of in the Jewish quarter in Alexandra and the final key – Joseph’s - was last seen in Cyprus. Cartiel and Magda decided to join the volunteers on the dig at Masada to see what they could find out there. Jude and Magda decided to head to Tel Aviv and check out what they could find at the Department of Antiquities. Yoshiel, meanwhile, took a plane for Cyprus and Solo switching to his hawk vessel began heading west across the occupied Sinai toward Egypt.
In Tel Aviv, Jude ensured that the theft was reported to Interpol and began ploughing through the records of known collectors who weren’t fussy about where the items in their collections came from. Magda meanwhile ascended to heaven and began researching in The Library to see what she could find out about the Keys and about the victims. Both lines of enquires led to dead ends. Both he night-watchmen seemed to be clean – no indication they were Soldiers of Hell or linked to the criminal underworld. Research into the Keys led inexorably to Yves “Private Collection” where knowledge too dangerous to be shared freely was kept. Lacking the clearance to have access to that Magda returned to Tel-Aviv, where she and Jude headed south to Masada to meet with Yigael Yadin and ensure the Key had not yet been found.
At Masada, Cartiel had joined enthusiastically with the student volunteers on the dig, becoming the life and soul of the evening sing-songs round the campfire. In between long bouts of heading off into the desert to run-off her frustration, Alisa somewhat less enthusiastically prowled the dig-site searching for signs of a disturbance in the Symphony – but found nothing.
In Cyprus, Yoshiel too came to a dead end, finding no trace of Joseph or his descendants – not really surprising after 2000 years.
In Alexandria Solo had a bit more luck. The Jewish community in the town was a pale shadow of it’s former self, in what had been the Jewish Quarter there was now only a single synagogue - the Eliyahu Hanavi. Across the road from the Synagogue was a brick-makers and Solo took a job there as a labourer. He began attending the synagogue and befriended the aged rabbi there. At the weekends he went to the Alexandria museum prowling through the records of the Jewish Quarter, discovering that the area around the synagogue had once been a Jewish cemetery and chatting to the rabbi he discovered that when the synagogue had been built remains had been found and again after the renovation in the 18th century. Eventually after securing the confidence of the rabbi he told him that he had been sent by the Department of Antiquities to secure an important relic. The rabbi confirmed that the relic was not in the possession of the synagogue nor mentioned in the archives. However her suggested that if someone at the time had been entrusted with such a thing he might well have taken the secret to his grave. Solo began a survey of the graves in the surrounding area using his ability, and eventually located an ossuary buried under the eastern part of the synagogue where the Torah ark was. The malakite immediately used the Celestial song of Tongues to summon the others.
August 2nd - September 13th, Alexandria and Rome
Once everyone had gathered in Alexandra, Solo brought everyone up to speed with the situation. Over several Turkish coffees in Hamad's Coffee Bar across the street. They reviewed and discarded several plans before settling on the most improbable!
They decided to hire the vacant shop next to the synagogue and tunnel from it's basement to where James' ossuary was buried using the need to refurbish the shop as cover for their operations. Working day and night, it took then nearly five weeks to dig a small tunnel under the synagogue. Guided by Solo's attunement they secured the ossuary and recovered the Key.
While the others laboured in the tunnel, Magda ascended to Heaven ad tried to find some trace of what might have happened to Joseph in Cyprus. Eventually, in an obscure Latin source she found a judicial record of a trial where a Joseph from Cyprus had been arrested and brought before a consul in Rome on suspicion of being involved in the uprising in Iudea. According to the record his goods had been confiscated and then he had been executed. The consul turned out to be none other than their old friend Lucius Flavia Silva. It looked like their next destination was the Eternal City
Once they had recovered the Key, their next problem was how to get it out with them to Rome. Cartiel, having no Celestial forces could handle the thing, but following the international alert issued by Jude, every customs officer in the Middle East was on the lookout for the damned thing! Eventually Magda and Yoshiel cooked up a plan that involved smuggling Cartiel and the Key aboard a tramp steamer bound for Naples
Eventually arriving in Rome they began searching for some clue as to the whereabouts of the next Key. They decided to start with Silva and set about trying to locate his grave. Unfortunately Silva had fallen into disfavour later in his career and his accomplishments were erased from Roman archives in what Romans called damnatio memoriae. Thus the Silva family's name and its prestige were lost. Eventually, researching in the Vatican, Magda discovered that Silva had been buried either in or near the Catacombs of Praetexatus. She also discovered that before the war when the catacombs had been excavated, several workmen had disappeared there.
They headed along the via Appia that night and broke into the catacombs, descending into the darkness of the passages. Eventually they found their way to a part of the catacombs that was partially blocked. Making their way past the blockage they descended deeper still. Somewhat disconcertingly they discovered the lowest level of the catacombs was infested with undead. Even more disconcertingly they discovered they knew one of them - not Silva, but his soothsayer Cyaxeres!
Cyaxeres now a mummy, greeted them as if he had been waiting for them for a very long time. he explained that he knew what they were after and would promise to give it to them if they discharged a task for him. After the events at Masada, his master The Legate had fled, however he had been captured by agents of Alaemon, the Demon Prince of Secrets and dragged down to Hell and imprisoned there.
Cyaxeres, still devoted to his master had done a deal with Saminga and become a mummy. Over the years he had received messages from his master via the Song of Tongues and had been able to piece together where in Hell he was imprisoned. In the twisting tunnels of Stygia near Gebbeleth's Garden of Stones. If the servitors would descend to Hell and free his master from his imprisonment, then Cyaxeres would give them the Key in payment.
The angels departed a way off to debate this offer. Eventually, somewhat reluctantly, they agreed.
Hell
Having agreed to help free The Legate from his imprisonment, the servitors then pondered for some time how they would achieve this. Magda was despatched heavenward to try and find out as much as she could about Stygia and Gebbeleth’s, Garden of Stones; Cartiel and Jude cooled their heels in the hotel while the ofanites dashed around Rome sightseeing. Solo meanwhile sought guidance from his archangel David – getting the sage advice “not to get himself killed!”After Magda reported back with what she had discovered about Stygia and that the Gebbeleth Garden of Stones was hidden, the servitors decided to try invoke Litheroy the Archangel of Revelation to see if he could help. Somewhat to their surprise, not only did Litheroy turn up but he also seemed to know all about them and their mission. He gave Solo a card that he said would ensure they found their way to the Stone Garden and wished them luck. Later that evening they made their way back to the catacombs, which as a Tether of Saminga, would make it easier to descend to Hell.
Without further ado,they assumed Celestial form, and dragging Cartiel along with them, descended to Hell. The found themselves at the base of a great chasm, the walls of which were honeycombed with cave entrances. An unearthly wind whipped round them filled with the cries of the damned souls borne along by it and continually being ripped to shreds and reforming. Several imps and gremlins capered around, occasionally ripping a soul out of the wind and feasting upon it. The demonlings, seeing the angels appear, leaped to attack in a suicidal fury. The demonlings proved little challenge to the seasoned servitors, but one of them did manage to land a lucky blow on Solo. The demonlings dealt with, Cartiel and Magda sought refuge from the howling gale in the nearest cave, only to discover somewhat miraculously that it was in fact the entrance to the Stone Garden. The called the others to join them, and they began exploring the cave. As they explored Cartiel noticed that the Key, no longer protected by it’s clay cross was humming with a single pure note. When he pointed this out to the others, however, they were unable to perceive it.
There were literally hundreds of exits leading off form the cave and the servitors noticed that they seemed to shift and change positions whenever you weren’t looking at them – in fact the way they had come in was no longer there! Eventually taking lead from Jude and Yoshiel they picked a entrance at random and began wandering through the maze of tunnels that twisted through the mountainside.
They wandered for some time, somewhat aimlessly, when suddenly Magda called out – she could see a shining light pouring from one of the passageways. They followed the light which, as suddenly as it had appeared, vanished! Ahead of them they cold see a fork in the passageway. The right hand passageway was guarded by two Calabim and immediately battle was joined!
Hall of the Betrayers
Swiftly disposing of the two calbim guards, Jude and Alisha led the way down a short passage which ended abruptly in a stout iron bound wooden door. In the centre of the door a bronze human face screamed the howls of the damned at them. They spent some time looking for a way past the door, but there didn’t appear to be any lock or mechanism to open it. Eventually they tried brute force, but neither Jude nor Alisha could make any impression on the door. Eventually Cartiel was summoned forward to see if either of the two celestial artefacts he was carrying had any effect – they didn’t. Suddenly however, as he regarded the tortured face and it’s inchoate screaming, the Remnant had an idea. He began singing softly to the face, unconsciously invoking the Song of Harmony. The song seemed to sooth the tortured spirit bound within the door and the screaming bronze face gradually dissipated.With the face gone, the door opened easily to reveal a massive slavering Hellhound, chained to the wall beyond. Jude and Alisha immediately moved to confront the massive celestial spirit, while the others engaged in celestial combat form a distance. Faced with a combined assault from so many angels the great beast stood little chance and was soon subdued. Moving on down the corridor, the servitors were confronted by a huge wall of flame – the ofanites, impatient as ever rushed straight through! The others followed more cautiously – passing through one by one with only minimal damage. Cartiel was the last through and as the flames licked around him he suddenly stopped – the flames were imbued with the Celestial Song of Fire and he stopped entranced, uncaring as the fire burned him alive. Eventually however he shook himself free of the effect and hauled himself out.
The passageway beyond led to a large cavern, dominated by the souls of the damned pinned to the walls w
ith brass pegs and being tortured
by three calabim. Immediately on spotting the angelic nature of the arrivals the
damned souls began piteously begging forgiveness and for the servitors to redeem
them. The calabite torturers somewhat, miffed that their fun was being spoiled
leaped to attack the interlopers and battle was joined. At first things went
well on of the calabim dropped, his single ethereal force ripped asunder by the
combined celestial assault of Alisha and Cartiel. Suddenly the dull clang of a
cloister bell and the cloying reek of rotting incense filled the room – Lucifer
it seemed had taken an interst and intervened! One of the calabim, struck by a blow from Solo staggered, his celestial form splintered and then, as Solo and the others watched in horror, coalesced into a larger much more dangerous looking calabite bearing a flaming whip.
Jude continued targeting the second calabim – chipping away at his soul hits while the others focused their attention on the now larger one, whole flaming whip lashed out at them. Solo dashed forward and grabbed at the whip, using his attunement as he did, to run himself to stone – the whip firmly in his grasp. As Solo and the large calabite grappled for the whip, Alisha and Toshiel redoubled their assault.
Even deprived of his flaming whip the calabite was a formidable foe, and battle raged. Suddenly the air was filled with the sound of another bell - this one ringing with a crystal pureness – and the air was filled with the sweet smell of frankincense. The large demon looked around stupidly as it’s body reverted to its original form.
Once in its normal form the demon was swiftly disposed of and in short order the last of the torturers was dispatched by Jude with assistance from Cartiel.
Two passages led off from this chamber – eventually they decided to take the right hand path.
The Baron of Deceitful Destruction
Cartiel led the way down a tunnel that exited the large cavern to the east. After about 20 yards the tunnel forked to the north and south. To the north the tunnel was blocked by a large pit, so the south massive blades of force swung pendulum-like blocking the way.Lacking any clear direction or ideas about where to go, they decided to split up.
Solo flew over the pit to the passageway to the north and began exploring a huge cavern beyond. This cavern too was “decorated” like the first - with the souls of the damned who screamed at the angelic presence to save them from their damnations. It held little else of interest, but two other passageways ran off from it to the north-west and south-east
Yoshiel and Alisha took the southernmost tunnel, manoeuvring cautiously past the swinging blades of force. Almost immediately they ran into another trio of calabim guards and were swiftly embroiled in Celestial combat. As they fought, Yoshiel used the Song of Tongues to send a message to Magda calling for help.
Solo, who had returned from exploring the northern cavern, immediately began trying to copy the ofanites manoeuvring to get past the force-blades, but found it much more difficult to get his bulk through the small gaps, taking some damage as the blade nicked him. Magda meanwhile began looking for a way to switch off the blades – reasoning there must be some way to do so. She found some script in helltongue hidden in the shadows, and casting the Song of Tongues, uttered the words - even though the strain of using the infernal language twisted at her very being. As she uttered the words the blades vanished and she, Solo Jude and Cartiel were able to join the fray.
Mourning his falling, his comrades then slew the spirit, quickly followed by the one that had been calmed by Cartiel. Magda used the Song of Tongues to discern that the script on the door was the name – presumably of a prisoner – and list of the crimes they had committed. There was only one cell that contained a servitor of Fana - Makar, Habbalah Baron of Deceitful Destruction. Alisha looked for a way to open the door, but here didn’t seem to be any kind of lock.
In frustration Cartiel kicked at the door and was somewhat nonplussed when it swung open easily. Unfortunately all they found within the cell was the soul of a mortal – whom Cartiel identified as Silva, pinned to the wall with brass pins – the Legate was long-gone!
Cartiel overcome with pity, released Silva's trapped soul, which immediately ascended to Heaven.
Return to Masada
Their visit to Hell having proved ultimately fruitless, the Servitors returned to the corporeal realm. Yoshiel spoke to Cyaxeres, and being very careful with her words informed the mummy that his master was “free from his prison”. The mummy was overjoyed at the news, even doing a little dance – which was somewhat disconcerting – and true to his word handed over the key that had been in Silva’s tomb. Somewhat relieved, though saddened at the death of Solo, the Servitors returned to their hotel in the city centre to discuss their next move. They now had two Keys, which Cartiel noted were now humming with resonant frequencies and their unknown opponents had at least one! One they believed was lost in the desert , the other at Masada. After some debate they decided to return to the archaeological dig. That still left them the problem of how to Cartiel back while in possession of they keys that every customs officer and Interpol agent in the middle east was looking for.Jude, returning to his room, found a note from Litheroy, commiserating the loss of Solo and giving a number to call if he needed help. Jude put a call through to the number finding himself speaking to Mel in his role as a reported for the Jerusalem Times.
After explaining the situation, he asked if Mel could help him with their problem. Mel said that he had some contacts and would make some calls and someone would be in touch.
Next morning the Servitors were visited by a gentleman calling himself Luigi “Lo Squalo”. Luigi told them he could help with their problem and told them to be outside St Peter’s at midday. At St Peter’s they were met by a nun – somewhat incongruously wearing lipstick and eye-shadow. The “nun” led them to a tour bus where they were given cassocks and habits and joined a party of priests and nuns on their way to a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On arrival in Haifa they were met by Mel, who arranged fresh clothes and transport to Masada.
After several hours driving they arrived at the student’s camp beneath Masada to find the place in turmoil. Cartiel grabbed one of the students and asked what had happened. The student told him that Professor Zimmermann had found something near the cistern that afternoon and suddenly a bunch of soldiers had arrived and took control of the site, placing it under Martial Law. Professor Yadin had headed to Tel Aviv with some of the other senior archaeologists to find out what was going on, leaving the student diggers puzzled and uncertain. Cartiel and the others decided they couldn’t wait for Professor Yadin’s return as they could sense a huge build-up of disturbance on top of the mesa . Cartiel could also feel a subtle pull on the two keys he held as if they were somehow being attracted to the top of the mesa.
Yoshiel, Cartiel, Jude, and Mel decided to head cautiously up the Snake Path – despite it being pitch black, which made the treacherous ascent even more dangerous. As they neared the top, Mel lost his footing an nearly fell to his doom, however a divine intervention saved him. As they neared the top they could see two armed guards standing in the ruins of the gatehouse. Mel took out one of the guards with the Song of Harmony while Yoshiel charged forward at full speed, overbearing the other and knocking him down. Jude chased after and used the Song of Entropy to revert the Soldier to a baby.
Having secured the gatehouse they moved on to the top of the mesa. To the east they could see where the dig-site was illuminated by arc-lights and guarded by soldiers. They moved towards the light as cautiously as possible, and as they got close they could see Professor Zimmermann, a young woman in her thirties, performing some ritual in the excavated cistern, round her three of the Keys circled. As the angels approached, Zimmermann paused the ritual and looked directly at Cartiel, asking him to hand over the keys. When he refused she ordered one of the Soldiers to open fire!
As Cartiel went down in a hail of bullets, his colleagues leaped into action. Mel sang the Song of Harmony taking most of the Soldiers of Hell out of the combat immediately. Yoshiel used the Song of Thunder two take out two of the Soldiers who seemed more resilient and she and Jude opened fire on Zimmerman, who seemed barely bothered by the bullets. Jude and Mel charged forward and Zimmerman used the Song of Annihilation – revealing herself to be Makar!
Mel despite being badly wounded pressed forward, and he and Jude forced the Servitor of Fana to retreat back into the cistern. Makar used the Song of Annihilation one last time, rendering Mel unconscious, before realising that he was short of Essence and that his troops had proved useless, went Celestial. Jude and Yoshiel followed suit. Makar, realising that he had no chance of outdistancing an ofanites, took the only option left to him and descended to Hell. Jude, anticipating this, used the Song of Tongues to notify Asmodeus that his escaped prisoner had returned, leaving the Legate to Hell’s Judgement!
The Servitors gathered up their wounded and unconscious – Cartiel managin g to charm one of the Soldiers of Hell into helping hims downs the treacherous part with the remaining Keys. Once there after Cartiel received some first aid they got back in the truck and returned to Haifa where they were met by Litheroy. The archangel took possession of the Keys and thanked them for their efforts in revealing the Truth of what was happening at Masada.