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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9411189" data-attributes="member: 7041055">(Don't rob emperor Haile Selassie!)Adwa that ends well!Semya leaned against the stone telegraph shack. "Funny… Normally a dame walks into your office, right?”The group had been earning a bit of a reputation lately. Still, it was a surprise when they were invited to Addis Ababa for a meeting with emperor Haile Selassie.Russian explorer Captain Semya Ivanova and detective JP Diamond were obvious picks. Less likely but still useful were Hawaiian gambler Penny An’Te, stuntwoman Lala Santinella, her daughter the mystic Devika Velyapur. The oddball: the cat burglar raised by apes, Thaza O’Rourke!A gigantic stele, 30m tall, had disappeared from the capital. It had given the country fortune during the last attempted invasion, and now was utterly gone! Surely the adventurers could handle the situation.Penny went to work questioning bureaucrats. An interior minister, under cross-examination, admitted to taking enough bribes to make his family wealthy for generations. so he had no fear, his family would be fine no matter what they did to him. Captain Ivanova took the man aside to a private room… and told JP to stand outside and count to 30.The bureaucrat, now a member of the wealthy elite, was no chance against the Soviet’s greatest mind breaker. After 10 seconds, he was willing to snitch. After 20, he agreed to get back the money.***Penny and Lala had shared an up-and-down relationship over the last two adventures. Addis Ababa was not teeming with romantic opportunities, but they took some time to get together in one of the quiet rooms of the presidential Presidio.***Semya had names, but wanted more information. She and JP headed to the telegraph office, where she flirted (in native Amharic) with the operator. Detective Diamond told the ravishing ruskie not to waste her lipstick: there was a real man around. She obliged him with a kiss or two, but told him that was a clue… He still had to work for the rest of the case.A classic story: a war veteran goes home, gets put under a voodoo curse, and falls in love with the coldest blooded woman in the Soviet block.The telegrams came back: Helmut Wagner was the Italian’s man, a collector of mystic rarities, last seen 100 miles northeast of the capital. The sextet reunited at the scene of the missing Stele, and found not one foot print or tire track! How exactly had the Italians done it?The answer came after a blisteringly hot drive. As the jeeps crested the hill, they saw an ancient fortress… and floating above it, the missing monolith!O’Rourke proved her worth, finding a secret passage in the underbrush. In the fortress, soldiers laughed and gossiped as they headed to the roof. Lala translated… it was time for a mystic ritual!Thaza snuck behind them… and, overwhelmed by instinct, clambered onto the floating pillar. There’s only so much you can do about a perfect climbing opportunity when you’re raised by gorillas…The battle was joined. JP threw haymakers, Penny put airholes in soldiers, and all Ivanova had to do was crack her whip. She had a worse rep than Spanish flu.Unfortunately, the Italians had an equalizer. They were harnessing the power of the enormous artifact, its aura making them tougher and deadlier. Any one of them was a match for the heroes, and there were dozens!Thaza and Lala were essential to victory. Miss Santinella used her stunt training to belay Miss O’Rourke, who launched from the floating stele, past the roof… penduluming spear first onto Helmut! As the spell slinger in charge, he needed to maintain the magic… hard to do with a lady Tarzan on top of you. Devi, with the help of the groups’ tactics and intel, stole the power of the Stele for the good guys. Penny’s empowered purse pistol shot four hats off four soldiers. (They surrendered.)She wanted to kill the boss, but schemer Thaza brought up a great point. An Italian arrested for witchcraft would make Mussolini disavow the operation. A few military casualties and talks of massive magic would make Europe dismiss Abyssinia’s problems as bunk!***Romance was in the air back in Addis Ababa. JP stopped by the telegram office again, having used his investigative skills to find the best chef in the country. Elsewhere, Lala surprised Penny with a steel commitment ring. Her previous wedding had been a huge flop… And it only taught her how important it was to find someone she loved. The group has lots of reputations.</blockquote>

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