The Bedouins come over the hill and their snipers start taking out the Nazis manning the machine guns. As soon as the Nazis start dropping, the Bedouins on foot let out a yell and start running in on foot with their swords, and combat begins.

Tailspin runs in with guns blazing toward the half-tracks, and with one perfectly placed shot he takes out the gunman on top of one of the half-tracks. The Nazis start retaliating, by shooting at Tom on the ground. The second gunner swings the machine gun around and targets the group, and opens fire. Gunfire is heard all throughout the camp as well as Bedouins shouting and Germans yelling.

Clayton runs in tries to punch the German, the German blocks with the gun and Clayton busts his hand on the German’s rifle. Frédéric runs in and with the one shot from his musket he takes out the second gunner. Tailspin then uses his shotgun to blast through the window and take out the driver of the first half-track. Other party members take out select Germans around the vehicle while Tailspin jumps in and starts the half-track.

Gabriel is on foot just slicing through Germans as he moves from tent to tent. The Bedouins are also mixed into the fray. Frédéric jumps on top of the half-track and mans the machine gun. Tailspin starts driving with the half-track, smashing a few Germans in his path. Clayton mans the gun on the other half-track, while a German commander sneaks up on him.

Frédéric starts taking people out with his machine gun. Gabriel fumbles and cuts through one of the tents, hears a yelp as there is now blood running down the side of the tent.

Clayton swings the machine gun around to try and knock the commander off his feet, commander manages to stay up. People are dying and fighting and moving out of the way of the half-track. Tailspin smashes over a few more Germans and stops the half-track in front of Gabriel, and the tent where the archeologist should be. Maiura is attacking random Germans.

Gabriel rips open the tent, and sees an unarmed man in sand clothes bleeding out his side, staggering back.
The party and the Bedouins have taken out most of the Germans. The Bedouins are rounding up the remaining Germans. Clayton and the commander are at a stand-still on top of the half-track, neither one having an advantage over the other. Gabriel picks up the archeologist and tosses him in the back of the half-track. He passes out. Tailspin backs up immediately and Gabriel jumps in. Tailspin whips it around and heads toward the other half track to meet Clayton and the commander in combat. Gabriel jumps onto the other half-track.

Frédéric fires the gun over the commander’s head and shouts “Stop what you are doing right now or take a few bullets to your face.” The Commander throws up his hands and says “You win this round.” The remaining Germans throw down their weapons and surrender. We bind up the commander “Walter Rolf” and take him prisoner.

Bedouin chief Abdula comes over and says “You seem to have fared well!”

Clayton asks “What are you doing out here, Walter?”

Rolf: “Nothing you’d understand…what are YOU doing here?”

Clayton: “I’m on vacation.”

Rolf: “I see you brought your friends with you.”

Clayton: “Nice setup you got out here…tents, planes, and Italian scientists? What’s going on out here?”

Rolf: “We take care of our own.”

Clayton: “Your own?”

Rolf: “Our own people.”

Clayton: “Look Rolf, I’m not in the mood for your stupid games, or i’ll feed you to him…or HIM…he doesnt like your kind.”

Rolf: “My kind? What do you mean?”

Clayton: “He’s not too fond of the Germans.”

Rolf: “We are just helping the archaelogists.”

Clayton: “What are you guys looking for out here?”

Rolf: “Ruins…artifacts.”

Clayton: “What do you need them for?”

Rolf: “Knowledge…museums…I don’t get you.”

Clayton: “I’m just wondering what possible interest you can have in this.”

Rolf looks like he has no idea what Clayton is talking about

Clayton: “Who gave you the order to come out here?”

Rolf: “It came through the ranks. We protect many of our archaeologists and those of our allies.”

Frédéric: “Did you find anything?”

Rolf: “Nothing of interest. The artifacts are on the tables. This was some old Roman outpost so we were digging here looking for the ruins.”

Frédéric mentions to Clayton it was the romans who had the relic we are looking for. Clayton and select group members decide to start searching through all the tent, and tables. Clayton and Frédéric look through the artifacts on the tables, the rest of the group searches through the tents. A few Bedouins are keeping the commander in check. Frédéric notices that it is most likely Roman artifacts. Nothing of interest so far.

Frédéric and Clayton hear a sound in the tent, draw their weapons and go to check it out. The rest of the group finds the commanders tent and find booze, etc.

Slate says “Ah, this looks interesting,” and reads: “We have been successful! The double is in place, and we have the rock. I will send a courier to you when we reach Rome. You may tie up all loose ends as we discussed and return to Germany”

Frédéric and Clayton open the tent, and see 2 bunks and equipment and some stacked crates.

Frédéric says: “Anyone there? Come out, we won’t harm you!” and moves to check behind some crates. There we find a trembling man almost pissing himself in the corner. We tell him we aren’t here to hurt him and that we came to find him.

Pierto: “You speak German? You are not German. Who sent you?”

Clayton: “Dr. Thomas Westmore sent us.”

Pierto: “Of the Chicago museum…yes, I recognize the name.”

Clayton: “We work for him.”

Pierto: “Strange, but okay, I am glad nonetheless.”

Clayton: “Apparently you were looking for something here…not willingly?”

Pierto: “they showed up a few weeks ago at the dig, I was here with my own people. The Italian soldiers were gone, and I was left here with these people.”

Clayton: “Did you have other people with you?”

Pierto: “My assistant.”

Clayton: “I think he may have been injured do you need food, drink, have you been treated okay?”

Pierto: “No, I am fine. So why are you here? Why would someone from another museum send you here?”

Clayton: “You have been looking for a tablet or a stone of some kind? Crystal?”

Pierto gives us a startled look.

Clayton: “Yeah, we don’t want these guys to have it. As you can probably tell, they aren’t the greatest people around. We’d rather them not have it.”

Pierto: “No…well…basically the way this came to be is my mentor Ronaldo Bartochini a well known archalogist. He spent most of his life searching for these…messiah stones. He began to dig on the island of St. Helena. He determined that Napoleon had owned the stone last. A year ago while he was looking around St. Helena he was investigating, and I don’t know how he did it but he found it. Shortly afterwards we were called to Rome just like that. Within weeks of returning to Rome, I was sent out here to these ruins. This is nothing. I think they wanted to keep me out of the way. I recieved a couple of crates of equipment from Rome. In one box there was a letter from Ronaldo, that Eldoche took possession of the stone and demanded to know how it worked. Ronaldo refused at first, and he was tortured and feared for his life. He mentioned that Eldoche had his stone cut and fit for a grand mlitary baton. He said I should burn the letter and never speak of the stone or risk losing my life. I’ve been asked about the stone many times and feigned my ignorance. I said I was just an assistant. What would i know? Truthfully I don’t know more than I just told you. That’s pretty much it. It supposedly has powers, and from what Ronaldo alluded to, it must be some big power that Eldoche wants.

Clayton: “Did he say what kind of power or effects?”

Pierto: “We would talk at night and it seems throughout history, that the people he guessed that had it seemed to hold sway over people.”

Clayton: “Napolean, sure, and others.”

Pierto: “The first Emperor of China, Xerxes, Indian kings. The interesting thing is that it was thought Jesus went to India and when he retuend his cult started in a huge way. It is as though the Indian kings lost their stones. So it seems to have gone from the Indian kings to Jesus, to Gall, back to the east to Atilla the Hun, further heast to Ghengis Kahn, and a few others…eventually to Napolean.”

Clayton: “And now Mousellini has it.”

Pierto: “So it seems. WAIT!” (He digs through his things and finds a newspaper dated within the last week and shows a picture of Mousellini. He is holding a baton with a big crystal on the end of it.)

Clayton: “Hmm….well that’s not good, looks like we have to go to Italy. Can I offer you a ride?”

Pierto: “I’m not sure i want to go back to Italy.”

Clayton: “We dont have to take you there.”

Pierto: “Damascus would be fine, I have French allies there.”

Clayton: “Very well, we can do that.”

Pierto: “Can I pack a trunk?”

Clayton: “We have a plane… pack whatever you’d like.”

The rest of the party busts through and presents the note to Frédéric and Clayton.

Pierto: “You know, Mousellini is in Ethiopia right now.”

Clayton: “So Eldoche’s rock is a fake, and the real one is on its way to Germany.”

Clayton takes the note to the commander and says, “You sure you dont want to tell me anything else about what you are doing out here?”

Rolf: “Ummm…no.”

Clayton: “Well, we’ll let the Bedouins have you.”

Rolf: “If you take me with you I will talk.”

Clayton: “Okay so now you want to talk.”

Rolf: “Yes. Do I have your word as a gentleman?”

Clayton: “Why were you out here?”

Rolf: “To keep an eye on the Italians until we secured procurement of the rock.”

Clayton: “Tying up loose ends, you mean?”

Rolf: “Throwing the bodies in trenches and burying them.”

Clayton: “I see. Well, you’re coming back to Damascus with us.”

Gabriel tries to intimidate Rolf and falls on his face.

Clayton: “It’s my understanding that you have the real crystal and Mousellini’s is fake?”

Rolf: “Not currently.”

Clayton: “Where is it? On its way to Germany?”

Rolf: “Yes! Eldoche.”

Clayton: “He’s taking it to Germany?”

Rolf: “Probably eventually.”

Clayton: “Maybe you just need to talk to my friend.”

Gabriel comes over to Rolf with a lead pipe, cracking his knuckles and smiling, blood dripping down his face.

Rolf: “I thought I had your word as a gentleman!”

Clayton: “You do, but I cant tell him what to do!”

Gabriel grunts.

Clayton: “And I left that gentlemanly bullshit behind in England.”

Rolf: “Eldoche’s dead.”

Clayton: “Excuse me? uh…was he eliminated by you people?”

Rolf: “Yes. We did it months ago.”

Clayton: “I see. Was he not cooperating?”

Rolf: “He had something we wanted.”

Clayton: “So the double was Eldoche and not the stone. So, why Ethiopia?”

Rolf: “Test ground.”

Clayton: “Yeah, that’s a valliant test of your war machines’ ability to take over people armed with spears.”

Rolf: “That wasn’t the test.”

Frédéric: “They were probably there to test the stone’s power.”

The party decides to return the scientist to Damascus and get supplies before going on to Ethiopia. Time is of the essence. Through their network of resources the party finds out Mousellini is currently on a train toward Alexandria from Ethiopia.