Egypt, land of the Pharaohs. Egypt, watered by the Nile. Egypt, land of penury for poor old Otto. Yes, it`s the return of Otto von Flaschmann - resident of a very cheap room in Shepherds Hotel.
The past years have been eventful - China, Poland (you and your drinking chum Pilsudski showed the Bolsheviks the right about face), Mexico, China again. You have studiously avoided Austria or Germany; you suspect that ever since you declined Ernie von Strohm`s invitation to join his merry band of Freikorps in `21 your card has been marked as it were. Now with a Nansen passport, a broomhandle mauser and an assortment of medals from various (defunct) regimes you are an airman, soldier, gunboat skipper of fortune. Two things are vital; one, side with countries with a bit more than a League of Nations declaration and newspaper headlines on their side and second, stay more than one step ahead of the gentlemen in the leather trenchcoats who insist that you accompany them back to Berlin.
Cairo in the `30s is an odd place; assorted spies, gunrunners, adventurers (and that`s just the British ! Rub shoulders with White Russian emigres, Spanish Republicans and Mexican anarchists. You have even seen some Wehrmacht chaps in tropical uniform, complete with a palm tree badge and the legend DAK but your friend Indiana said they`re only archaeologists. Oh yes, the Italian Secret Police are still after you after the nasty incident in Albania but the less said soonest mended.
Roll every few days to see what happens:
- 1 - The Italian Secret Police try to kidnap you - see "kidnap" below:
2,3 - you buy a warm beer in a warm bar; how you wish it was ice cold in Alex
4 - A pair of Abyssinian Princes hire you to fly several crates of ammunition to Addis Ababa. It goes off OK on a 1,2, 3 or 4 +1 next roll as word gets about; on a 5,6 you attract the attention of the Italians, -1 next roll.
5,6 - A chance meeting in a bar turns up a job - see Rick`s Bar
RICK`S BAR
What`a that tune that`s been rattling round in your head over the past few days now ? Let`s see how does it go again; Dah-da-Dah-da-di-Dah. Dah-da-Dah-da-di-Dah . . . perhaps the pianist would oblige you.
A drink from the bar and the promise to straighten things out with the patron if he turns nasty about this little ditty and the keys start to tinkle. Time to relax with a Martini Schnapps. Things don`t remain quiet around you for long, do they dear Otto ? Your choice of music seems to be attracting some attention. Roll 1xD6:
- 1 Joel Cairo wants help recovering a work of art in the shape of a black falcon. Maltese apparently.
2 Your friend 'Indiana' needs a pilot.
3 An Irishman and an American want you to run guns into Barcelona
4 Captain Richard Hannam of MI6 asks a "favour" for old time`s sake
5 The Gentleman at the Reich Embassy "offer" you a flight home...
6 A rather pretty librarian and a maniac from the French Foreign Legion hire you as an assistant "archaeologist".
"Italian Kidnap Attempt On Austrian War Hero Pilot"
Basically 1xD6+1 lads in linen suits, five o`clock shadow and aftershave try to comer you. Roll higher than their number on a D6 and you leave them in mess in the Casbah. If not, it's a shootout.
"Shootout in the Souk - Scandal"
Roll 2xD6 for each D of enemy - if they roll 2 they hit you and if they roll less than their number they pin you for a turn. To shoot back roll a D6 and get 3,4,5,6 (-1 if you are hit). Each hit drops a gunman. You can take 3 hits before passing out to awake cuffed to a chair somewhere horrible ... use these rule for DAK, Arabs, you name it.....So here we go, off into the souk for an afternoon of intrigue and mayhem.
Episode 1
Joel Cairo, or Joey, to his friends, is a rather small and rat-like man with a soft voice - he insists on frisking you for a gun and searching your flat for "IT". The "IT" is a large statue of a black falcon worth a lot of money. Finally you persuade the creep that you do not have "IT" but that you saw the damn bird in the flat of General the Grand Duke Ivan Skavinski-Skavar, a Russian emigre you worked for in the early `20`s. Cairo insists you burgle the flat or he will tip off the Italians as to where you can be found. So you and Cairo burgle the flat.
Roll 1xD6:
- 1: The General and a fat man called Guttman are waiting up for you accompanied by two Armenian heavies with saps, the General has a sabre and Guttman a .22. On a 4,5,6 you can drop Cairo in it and get out - if not it's a fight; if you lose they drop you off at the Reich Embassy - go to "Gestapo" below. Cairo is pretty useless in a fight although he does have a .38.
2: Guttman offers you a deal, you drop Cairo in the Nile and you get half the loot. This is fine by you; Cairo goes for a swim but as you go to meet Guttman, 1xAvD of Italian Agents show up instead - it's a shootout.
3: Cairo bottles out of the burglary. The General is out but his mistress is in - she is none other than Ursula Undresski, who you knew in the good old days. You and Ursula lift the Falcon and leave. Next day Undresski is gone, as is the Falcon.
4: Cairo helps you burgle the flat but pulls a gun on Undresski; you pistol whip him and you and she make off with the Bird. When you try to sell it, you find it's a fake and La Undresski is thrown out by the General - so she joins you instead.
5: All the Birds have flown; you turn Cairo in as an undesirable alien - a charge met with irony by the British.
6: You get arrested for Burglary but Captain Richard Hannam gets you off "for old times sake".
Episode 2
You are accosted by a small ragged urchin who says "Indy says -- fly him out of Siwa Oasis at first light". Aha! You "borrow" a Gloster Gladiator from a friend in the RAF and turn up with Dawn (who has never flown before but is an adventurous lass). Roll 1xD6:
- 1: You land OK, but Indiana is held prisoner by 4xAvD of German stormtroopers. You have to rescue him and fly off. Indy is in a tent, hand-cuffed to the Chair. You remember! There is an old Lewis Gun on the Gladiator...
2: Indiana is behind a truck in a gunfight with the Reich's finest, go on help him out.
3: As 2 except that a large Nazi has a 'Spandau' and decides to take a potshot at your plane.
4: Indy runs for the plane and you take off - back to Cairo for breakfast.
5: Indy runs for the plane, you take off but the mad archaeological fool has left his notebook on the runway. Back you go.....
6: As you fly off a CR42 appears, piloted by an Egyptian nationalist. It's a dogfight; shoot him down and the British are grateful for foiling an arab plot....
Episode 3
You meet Rick Blaine, a chain smoking american and his colleague, a short man called Liam Devlin - who has a Dublin accent. They want you to pilot a leaky freighter, full of mexican rifles and Lewis guns, to a secret rendezvous off the coast of Spain. Rick describes the pay as "a hill of beans" while Devlin drinks your Bushmills. Roll 1xD6:
- 1: All goes off fine. If ever you need help, on 5,6 you will be rescued by 1xAvD of Spanish Republican sympathisers and gun runners.
2: As 1, but the British pull you in for questioning
3: Ok but the Italians hear of it -1 to next roll
4: The guns are stolen by Egyptian Nationalists - you and Devlin pay them a 'visit' to sort it out. Fight a gun battle between you two and 2xAvD of gunmen in fezzes.
5: Your ship is sunk by a "Mystery Submarine" - you are rescued and arrested by the Royal Navy for gun running
6: As 5 but you recognise the culprit as an Italian "Marscapone II Class" submarine. The RN will release you in exchange for the information.
Episode 4
Captain Richard Hannam is a public school type with a penchant for intrigue, dressing as a native and hanging about in the casbah, spitting out date pips. As he is in charge of Military Intelligence in Cairo he can afford the time. He is an old rival from your Russian Civil War days. As he will arrest and deport you if you decline, you agree to fly Victor Laszlo, the famous Anti-Nazi journlist out of Egypt. Heydrich`s minion are after him and with Chamberlain in charge, HMG is powerless to intervene.....Roll 1xD6:
- 1: Pick up Laszlo at his hotel and fly him out to Casablanca - he'll be safe there.
2: En route to the airfield you car is rammed by a black Opel - 1xAvD+ 1 of Teutonics in leather trenchcoats and trilbys leap out waving lugers. It`s a shootout.
3: You are chased by two trucks, full of those DAK fellows. On a 4,5,6 they catch you and you have 1xAvD of DAK per truck to deal with.
4: You take off but you Tiger Moth crashes in the desert. Roll 1xD6; on a 1,2,3 you are picked up by a DAK patrol, based at some obscure archaeological site. Go to "Gestapo" below. On a 4,5,6 you are rescued by a Hungarian Count and his dashed pretty English mistress; excellent couple, but why is he mapping the desert south of Bir Hakiem?
5: Laszlo will not go without his wife - as the Moth will only take two, you have to make two flights - roll again !
6: Laszlo is in fact still in Budapest - this is Major Brandt - infamous Abwehr agent - a gun at your head, he insists you fly him to Benghazi. On a 4,5,6 you can turn the tables by flying him to Casablanca where Captain Loius Renault deports him. Otherwise, go to "Gestapo" but treat as an Italian encounter - allow +1 in your favour for shootouts, punchups etc.
Episode 5
A telegram arrives:
. . . LEAF SNOW STOP HIGH DRINKS AFTER YOUR SOCK CANARIES . . .
Damnable Egyptian Telegraphists ! But wait, Admiral Canaris of the German Secret Service, whose daughter you saved from the clutches of notorious scandle-monger Wolfgang Von Bogle, has a lisp! After several Martini Schnapps the message becomes clear . . . "Leave now. Heydrich after you. Canaris".
As realisation finally dawns, and Dawn finally surfaces, that Black opel pulls up outside.
- 1: Too late, the Trenchcoats have the back covered too.
2: You can shoot it out with them - there a 3xAvd of them though.
3: Out the back window you go - they collar you on a 1,2,3
4: They come in from all directions - have a punch up treat as a shoot out but with more damage to furniture)
5: You claim to be the Latvian Charge d'affaire and direct them to the room above - where they find the real Latvian Charge d'affaire
6: As 5 but they point out that recent Nazi-Soviet Pact and kidnap you anyway.
"Nazi Kidnap Gang In Hotel Holdup"
If you are collared by the Nazis you are taken to their secret archaeological site before being flown to Berlin (via the secret submarine base naturally) roll 1xD6:
- 1: Indiana ambushes the convoy (one car, two trucks - 1xAvD of DAK per vehicle and a motorbike and sidecar).
2: Richard Hannam is impersonating a German officer and cuts you loose at their site. Shoot your way out, steal a car and blow up the plane.
3: Liam Devlin and assorted (1xAvD+1) POUM gun-runners on the run attack the site.
4: Ursula Undresski waltzes in and distracts Major Brandt with a statue of a black falcon while you chew through your ropes and cosh him with said bird. Armed with a luger and a dubious antique the pair of you must fight your way clear.
5: You impersonate Otto Skorzeny, the Austrian. You escape on a 3,4,5,6, but on a 1 or 2, the real Skorzeny is here and you are arrested as a spy.
6: A patrol of the French Foreign Legion turns up unexpectedly, hotly pursued by arabs. In the confusion you escape - and find a map leading to the Lost City of The Pharaohs....... Time to buy a torch and lots of ammunition.
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