NationStates Jolt Archive

Holy Panooly, Delapesca

"Gentlemen, I am pleased to see every one of you around here. Today is a special day because we are going to start a serious search for the Ark of the Covenant, a most important Christian artefact lost for almost two thousand years." Fretch looked into the brewing hot room, everyone sipping from a pure Scotch while listening to him.
"You mean, thé Ark?" someone asked.
"Yes indeed. I have done much research on the subject and I have reason to believe it doesn't rest inside a Coptic Monastery but King Sol's mines." Men and women sat up straight, even more concentrated on the story of Fretch. Cigarette smoke drifted through the moist air, while the air conditioner pushed a cool breeze through the room; little did it matter. Warm and moist air of the jungle penetrated everything. The beige cloth of the men and women was filled with stains of sweat, and the smell irritated each other.
"The reason why I think..."
"So you aren't sure?"
"If I was we would have found the thing already. My assumption is not based on popular theories but on subtle hints and facts. During the reign of Ancient Egypt Somalia was called 'Punt' and was a very wealthy place. They got their vast wealth from trade; the central African continent and the eastern Empires of the ancient world. King Solomon lived from ninehundred senty till ninehundred twenty eight BC. During that time the Egyptians traded with the old people from Somalia."
"Hold it right there Fretch, King Solomon had a vast wealth at his disposal, the Bible doesn't mention he got it from trade and good deals."
"Correct, and there's where the myth of the mines started. Although, it has been labelled as a mythical place. I know the Ark is there, down in King Sol's mines."
"But Mr Cather, this story is well and good, but where is this mine located?"
"Good question Mr Meissner, there cannot be a hundred percent guarantee, but I believe the entrance to the mines, a single shaft, is hidden somewhere on the cursed mountain of Tullu Wallel. We must start searching there. Findint the Ark will prove to be difficult, because maps of the mines are non-existant. We have to rely soley on navigation and rumours. We cannot ask the locals for help, they will surely notify the authorities."
"Well Fretch, the plan sounds good. We are gonna find the blasted thing."

*****

Guffingford, Oslo

"With all respect for Solan Rixx, our Great Leader but I must..." Solan didn't even look up at Moorehouse who seemed to have a very urgent message.
"Shut up Moorehouse." While still writing, Moorehouse stayed at his place, and all of a sudden he pressed the button to let someone in. Two dark figures dressed in black leather raincoats with the typical GESTAPO hats stepped in the room, not with the SS boots but with stylish shoes of the NCP. One of the figures walked straight to Solan Rixx and gave him one hell of a blow on his right cheek while the attacker yelled "How could you!" Solan fell back but still standing. Squatted he was spitting blood and cursing.
"Jesus who the fuck are you? Why the fuck... Moorehouse call security right fucking now goddamnit." The two men in black bowed down to Rixx grinning, they showed their faces for mere seconds but Solan Rixx knew who they were.
"NO! I killed... This cannot be happening!"
"Shut up Rixx. You know fully damn well that we are alive and kicking. Next time hire an assassin who isn't from Holy Panooly." The other man stepped around the room, tapping Moorehouse on the shoulder.
"You've done well Mr Moorsehouse, now go."
"Yes sir."
"Now where were we Mr Rixx. Oh yes, you are terrified by our return. I can understand why, but it didn't took us as long to convince the assassin not to target us as you tried to convince him our deaths were necessary for the life of the Empire."
"Indeed Mr Leighmar, as a matter of fact, We ought to thank Mr Rixx for doing what we could not. He united the troubled nation of Holy Panooly, our homeland with the strong and honourable Guffingford."
"We Mr Rixx, it's not like we are going to kill you or the Baron Templeton. No, you are going into exile. But given the fact you did us a great favour... We are banning from Guffingford. I don't care where you go or where you are and who you kill. No shall never set foot here again, understood?"
"yes Mr Schilling."
"Settled then, Mr Schilling I believe we have to tell Solan something."
"You do...?" Solan stood up and let himself fall on the old couch near the fireplace.
"Yes. I believe you ordered a friend of you, Fretch Cather to search for the Ark of the Covenant. I do not appreciate you using old Panoolian plans for the Guffingfordii cause. Again the fist of Leighmar landed on Solan Rixx' face, this time right on his nose. Blood streamed down from his nostrils and again he was cursing "You fucking bastard you've broken me nose! Guards!"

Adolph Leighmar and Doctor Klaus Schilling exited the room, leaving Solan Rixx behind, confused and bleeding.

Tag for interest.

TAG as well. I'll post on this someother time.

Ethiopia

"Goddamn it's hot here. Which idiot came up with the genius idea of going here in August?!"
"That would be me Mr Fretch..." Fretch growled and stamped on the ground while cursing and insulting him and his family.
"It's fucking high in 110°F! Why... Why the hell did you put 'August' on the agenda??"
"Shut up Fretch. We need to go to the Tullu Wallel mountain, according to the bible a devil keeps watch over the entrance."
"What a load of nonsense, let's go there and have a look around."

After hours sitting in a jeep on a 'road' literally littered with potholes, small ditches and rocks. It was a rough ride but the spectacular sights made it worthwhile. Once they reached Tullu Wellel the sun was high in the sky above them; the hellish heat was even a bit much for the men from Holy Panooly who were used to heat.

To be continued...

OOC: Tag for interest

~ Romandeos.

Map of Ethiopia (http://www.sweetmarias.com/ethiopia.gif)

High on the Ethopian plateau, Fretch and his men unloaded the jeep, weary of the long journey. Everyone was complaining about the sunshine, the pain in their backs after the long trip through the desolate Ethiopian lands and about the long upcoming search operation. Getting home empty-handed was not an option. The Guffingfordii government paid five hundred million to bribe many Ethiopian officials to let them search for the mines, not telling Fretch was going after the Ark of the Covenant.

Early fragments of the Bible cannot be called 'specific' about the location of Tullu Wallel but we know it's located in King Solomon's Rift also known as The Great Rift Valley. It's a clue, but still. The Great Rift Valley is a damn large place to search for one single mine shaft. Not to mention all the rumours about the traps inside... There's no way none of the men won't take the oppertunity to raid the place for valuebles. In early Coptic history annals there's talk of small abandoned chapels between the mine shafts hidden from Muslim marauders. To this day, no one has found them. Tomorrow the first search party would start heading north, while Fretch would go south-east. At this point, no one knows where they have to start searching. Searching for a place that only exists in folkore and myth, reputed to hide the Ark of the Covenant with the only lead a cursed mountain and some vague references to the Bible.

It's a tough job, and Fretch is going to do it.

To be continued...

The Great Rift Valley

"Ok Fretch, what have we found today?" The tired and beardy man from Holy Panooly was sipping from a glass of gin, an alcoholic breath tickled the nostrils of Fretch.
"Oh, the myth about these churches is absolutely true. We have found several ruins inside cavern systems to the south west. Me and Bushy haven't found any relics there or valuables. All looted by grave robbers and plunderers." Fretch looked up again to Paulliac and looked at the map of the area.
"You know Fretch, to the north I found some pretty damn interesting wall carvings. Malteser crosses and some sort of box underneath with with thunderflashes around it."
"Are you serious? We must go there right away! Why haven't you told me immediately?! Never mind, grab your coat I'll start the jeep."

Fretch and Paulliac raced through the red evening sun to the site where Paulliac noticed the 'marker'. Pending investigation, Fretch was certain this was a major lead. If there were more of these signs found, it would clearly mark a way to something. In the middle or to another direction? When Fretch and Paulliac arrived, the serene darkness of night cloaked the land, only in the far west a thing red horizon was glowing softly. From the soft light of their flashlights they clomb up the small rocky hill and Paulliac showed him the carving. After a little searching Fretch found more drawings and some unreadable latin(?) text. Erosion has rendered it useless, but this was clearly some sort of roadsign to the mine entrance or the Ark.

"Say Paulliac, did you noticed when you look at the relief we looking directly to the north pole?"
"The magnetic?"
"No the geographic. This is amazing, there must be something here! Tomorrow we go back to this place and head straight south. I am sure something is in the middle."
"Or to the north?"
"Possible, but I left for the south-east not the south."
"Let's go back to camp, I need to sleep."

Fretch and Paulliac left the site, marked it on the map and drove back to the camp where they shared the news with the baffled team. They were all discussing the impact of this amazing discovery. The box with the lightning flashes was clearly the Ark of the Covenant, there could be no doubt about it. But it was reputed to be hidden inside the mines of King Solomon. Were they on a false trail? Or the right track? No one knew, but this was worth finding out, true or not. But the latter wasn't worthwhile checking; all evidence where the Ark would be is lost. Heck, even if it was in the mines is questioned by some.

To be continued...

Proffessor Artur Schliester and his entourage arrived at Addis Ababa that day, and Schliester was very eager to get off the aircraft, not just to meet up with old friends, but to finally stretch their legs out after a seventy-six hour flight all the way from Macabea City. Schliester turned to his right hand man, a wrestler from the college who Schliester depended on for protection and said, "Bloody hot isn't it, mate?"

The body gaurd, a Mr. Wester, looked at what was once his proffessor, now his responsibility, and simply replied, "Aye."

A rented jeep took both Schliester and Mr. Wester plus two other archeologist, to the other side of the airfield where a bought Black Hawk was waiting for them. The simple, but highly weather worthy, Black Hawk would be taking them to the Ethiopian Plateau, where the Guffingdorf archealogist team would be waiting for them. They all fit perfectly well inside the chopper and soon enough they had risen into the air and made their way north towards the fabled camps of Mr. Fretch....

The Great Rift Valley

"Mr Fretch, some Macabee archaeologists are coming to help us in the search for the Ark. We haven't found a marker to the south or east we still have to wait from out team in the west. But I believe Miss Marby found something interesting twenty miles from here." Fretch looked up, amazed and filted with excitement.
"Let's go!" he yelled and ran to the jeep, forgetting Macabee visiters were due to arrive in the hour. On the way he dragged Miss Marby from her tent and she led the way.
"We were just hiking around and then suddenly we arrived at a canyon. So deserted and the whole place literally covered in Malteser Crosses..." She talked about the construction of the monastery - being heavily fortified. "...When we walked around the compound and through the old dusty halls I noticed a very detailed and a bit frightening symbol on a brass plate covering a small part of the steel door of the Abbot's chamber."
"A box with lightning? Me and Paulliac found one two days ago to the north, this is amazing! Tell me, did is also had some Coptic writing or latin?"
"Yes... Oh my God!" Miss Marby finally understood what she and three others found that day. Fretch drove on franticly to the old building inside the canyon. Upon their arrival Fretch immediately spotted other signs - high above on a rock, like a foreboding warning to travellers to steer away from this place.
"It seems there's more than just a cross, maybe some writing too. I can't see it from here, better get up there."
"I ain't gonna break my neck for such a thing carved in rock..."
"Damn, is that marker pointing anywhere?" Fretch walked around the old monastic homes, all crumbling. He kicked a few stones away in some shallow looking hole in the ground...
"No, these are all scattered around. It must be some kind of warning I guess."
"Okay let's head back to... What the hell?" The few stones Fretch kicked away landed on a clanging piece of metal. Silently Fretch and Marby listened to the echo in the canyon as they walked to the pit. He dropped a small boulding in the hole, and the dull roar of stone hitting metal came up.
"What the hell is there...? Call the men, we have found something here. Do not touch anything or go down you hear Marby?"
"Yes yes." But Fretch was already on his way to the jeep grabbing the phone and hastily what he and Miss Marby found. One hour later the whole gang arrived with climbing equipment and all sorts of stuff you need for cave expeditions. When they dug out the hole to make it larger it appeared to be an opening in a thick layer of rock and brick. Once Fretch and Paulliac went down by rope a spotlight was lowered with them. Not surprisingly, it appeared to be a hall under the monastery. Soon three others went down, it was a hall with three doors all blocked by debris. All the walls were covered in light, showing spiderwebs, eroded vandalized wallpaintings of Christ and old junk left in a corner. While Fretch and the others were down Marby tried to decypher the writing on the Abbot's door. It said: 'Gods wrath awaits thee'. Not a very promising. Meanwhile a call came in, the Macabee archaeologists had arrived and the team from the west have found a marker too; on almost the same distance from the camp as the first sign found by Paulliac. The numbers add up, this monastary is the gate to somewhere.

"Okay people, where are we?" Fretch went over the walls with his flashlight when he saw to his amazement the old fascist flag of Italy.
"People must have been before us, Italians. Gentlemen, I believe we have found the entrace to King Solomon's Mines. Everything makes sense, we are in the middle of King Solomon's Rift, the Ark is supposed to be hidden in a monastery... Yes, this is it."

To be continued...

King Sol's Mines

"You know Fretch?" The party was has reached the surface again as Paulliac questioned this remarkable finding. What was the Fascist Italian flag doing there? Why was there metal, it didn't fit in the design of the shaft.
"I have been wondering, the Tullu Wallel is supposed to be a mountain with a shaft doing down from the top, the legend doesn't say it's in a canyon."
"That's true... But, look at the architecture of the building. Marby said it's fortified but I think it's the cellar of the monastary. The 'tower' where a part is missing is the staircase down. The whole summit of the mountain is flattened, we should check it out to see if there's evidence to prove this theory." And to Paulliac and Fretch climbed up the moutain and indeed, there were ruins of walls, timber and some rusted metal tools. Nothing more.
"I admit it Fretch, you are right again. Let's go down, I think the whole canyon is artificial."
"Yes, the bricks floor covering the pit must be done by the Italians who didn't want anyone to find this site. Maybe an earthquake revealed it." After being such a short while on the summit both were back at the newly established base camp on the bottom of the canyon. First few riddles solved, now to find out what the purpose of the metal plate was. Perhaps a lift down?
"I say we lift it out and see how deep this shaft goes." And Fretch wish came true, it wasn't a really thick place ot steel but it took a good three hours to finally get it out of the hole onto the bottom of the canyon.
"Can you see anything?"
"Nope."
"I believe it goes down for hundreds of meters..."
"Get our own mobile lift. How much meters of cable does it have?"
"About two thousand meters."
"Put it in position, now!"
The lorry with the lift moved the platform above the hole - now fully opened by the team workers. Now in position, Fretch and two others went down to see what the hell was down there. The air was extremely dry, sucking all the moist out our skin. No, it wasn't pleasant at all going down, but when we saw the grand hall, so vast. Astounding greatness, fit for a man like King Solomon. As we gazed upon the statues, artefacts and all sorts of other riches. We asked ourselves the question: 'Why didn't the Italians took this with them?'. Actually, we didn't care, we would take all that we could carry. I don't know why, but something told me the Ark was placed north of these halls. A wild guess, but sometimes you have to rely on your feeling.

To be continued...

King Sol's Mines

Fretch and Lord Haussman (a High Tutor on the Imperial German Academy) have decended into the hall we now called the Entrance Room. More people came down, but not Paulliac. He was ordered to keep a bit too nosy Ethiopians away and suspicious foreigners - no one was allowed to know this except Germans and Macabean's. Again the group was faced with two major problems: how big are those mines; 2) where on earth can the Ark be? Both could not be answered at this point, instead of mapping the place and searching for gemstones Hausmann suggested to look for the Ark right away instead of risking to get lost. Everybody including doubting Fretch agreed.

Now, the plan would be as follows: Fretch, Hausmann and three others would go north (as Fretch insisted) while four other teams would go south, east, west and to even lower compartments or vaults; and to see if the myths about tombs of the Kings of Aksum are true. The mystery around the chapels and churches inside the mountain has been partially solved; but richly decorated like the rock chapels in Kappadocia hadn't been found. Still, all the valuebles inside the Entrance Room were lifted up to the surface; packed and shipped towards the German Reich. But the real prize, the Ark of the Covenant would be more well hidden than King Sol's mines. A dauntling task, dangerous and the success ratio of this mission lies below the critical twenty percent treshold. Anyway, the team members grabbed their backpacks and each went their respective way.

A few hours later...

This wasn't going anwhere, the red signs on the walls showed the right way back to the Entrance Room, but the place is one big maze. Clearly, the place has to be mapped before a real search can begin and what's even worse: Russian Forces is going to attack Guffingford or vice versa. Any further delay is out of the question, the Ark must be found to give the Axis the morale they need when facing the Godless communists. Fretch knew he couldn't return to Guffingford empty handed, living on with six bullets in your face will be quite hard. He had to find a way to made the search easier.

To be continued...

King Sol's Mines

The teams went their ways again deep into the tunner systems. Gem deposits were found, diamonds the size of eyeballs collected. It is proven King Solomon got his wealth from this place. It was strange, but at one point there were ancient electrical lights, not built by the Italians. A strange, unreal world laid before him, built in the bowels of the earth. A forebidding place, the alien tunnels of copper and brass and the soft blue glow at the end. Did Fretch found the Ark because he's indeed the genius Mr Rixx says or was it the sheer luck of this whole crazy expedition? We may never know. But what we do know is: Fretch found the ark, but things didn't go as people plan.

*****

"My God! The Ark! We found it! We found the blasted thing! All this suffering and it's ours! Lift it from the platform and carry it back to the entrance hall, I must notify hometurf." Fretch walked behind the men carrying the Ark to the entrance hall, and when it has been pulled by - with him sitting next to hit, the remaining men of the team awaited anxiously for the elevator to come down, but it never could reach the bottom again. On the surface Haussman already awaited Fretch and congratulated him with this amazing piece of work. But before he got in the truck, he had to take care of some people first.

All of the team members except Fretch, Haussman and Paulliac left the Great Rift Valley with the Ark. Where they took it is unknown, at least to the people of the Imperial German Government. Some say they sold it to the British Empire, others say they hid in the vastness of the Panooly Jungle or they just took with them - and this is probably the most realistic version of the dozens of theories - they wanted to humiliate the German Reich. A punch under the belt, no one would ever notice. But the government will and they still feel the pain everytime a new rumour pops up in the international press.