A Pit Stop on the Way to Greatness

Layla sent me off to Morcucorp's HQ. I expected this giant building rising from the ashes of Egypt's civilization. Instead I got an innocuous little hut where an actual family lived.

When I got there, I didn't see any adults, but two children were there, a boy and a girl. The young girl, called Satis, answered the door. She was a really chatty little thing.

Satis led me inside their house, even though she had never seen me before.



I quickly looked around in there and saw nothing in there that would belie a multi-national criminal enterprise. Then again, looks could be deceiving.
Satis, however, wanted to chat me up. I learned her favorite color (green) and her traits (clumsy, perfectionist, and bookworm). Since I realized she liked books, I asked her what her favorite ones were to read. She cited the usual suspects (Where's Bella, The Adventures of Raymundo, the Jimmy Sprocket series), but then she noted some Egyptian books too.
I realized I had Satis right where I wanted her.
"Wanna play tag?" she asked. I knew her Simlish wasn't very good, but to be fair, neither was her Arabic.
I shrugged my shoulders. Why not?

It reminded me of the times I used to run around our yard with dad when I was little.

"You're it!" Satis said, tapping me on the arm as she disappeared somewhere.

By the time I caught up with Satis, she was behind a second, smaller building that looked like the family's storage shed. I took my leave of her and decided to go exploring in there.

Their storage shed pretty much looked like any other. There were assorted barrels and bales of hay, and even the kids' bikes were kept here. Except...

There was a switch right by the bicycles. I had only seen switches like these inside of tombs and caves. That was my first clue that something was up.

Curious, I decided to try to find out what this switch unlocked when I heard a clicking noise.

The switch unlocked a staircase which led to a basement. Aha, I thought, this is where I need to go. Place the mummitomium in the chest in the computer room...

Of course, this was easier said than done.

M is for Mummitomium

The next morning I woke up with mummitomium (how many m's are in that word?) on the mind. Layla wanted me to find two pieces of the super-rare element with which to bribe a couple of Morcucorp guards. But first, I was ravenous so I found some bread and jam with which to stuff my face until I got to the market for some falafel, fried balls or patties made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. It's a well known Egyptian and Middle Eastern fast-food dish, and during my trips here I've grown to like it.

So, right after eating, I set off on my scooter, searching for any sign of the super-rare material. I did find one of the two required pieces, on the other side of the desert (of course), but couldn't find another.



Meanwhile, I found the town's cemetery, with its own catacombs, so I decided to go in and 'unwind' for a bit. You may think it strange that I unwind by exploring catacombs, but it's true.



But not if you end up scalded by a zombie. I did, however, get a copy of the mystery novel Game of Thorns and a mysterious Sultan Sam Magic Gnome for my troubles. I returned to base camp and vowed to find the other piece of mummitomium the next day.



I slept in till eleven in the morning, which is late for me. Since it was a Saturday morning I decided to fix myself a chef's salad. Finding those materials in the desert was surprisingly easy, as there's a river delta that bisects Al Simhara, and it is there where the plants grow.

So I scooted down to the delta to see if I could find a piece of mummitomium to bring to Layla.

When I didn't find it there, I went further into the desert. After spotting the required second piece, I went back to the marketplace to find Layla.

"I got 'em."

"Excellent," she nodded. "I knew you would find them."

"What do I do with them now?"

"I need you to deliver these to MorcuCorp's HQ and put them in the chest in their main room."

MorcuCorp's HQ? This should be a piece of cake.

The First Relic -- Relic of the Sun

I hightailed it away from the Madboulis and went toward the marketplace to find Layla. I had learned that she worked there as the head chef.

After I delivered the book, Layla sent me to Raffi Barakat, the relics expert and merchant at the market, who would tell me about the very first of the three ancient relics -- the Relic of the Sun. I thought to myself, all right, now I'm in business!

I arrived at Raffi Barakat's small relics shop about ten sim-minutes later. It looked like any antiques store in town, except all the trinkets there were Egyptian, some of them many hundreds, if not thousands, of sim years old.

I had never met him before, but he seemed to recognize me right away. "Savannah Plumb," he said in his Egyptian accent. "The famed relic hunter. I've been told to expect you."

It was a strange feeling, being recognized, but a good feeling too -- and I was recognized as "Savannah Plumb" not "Nathan and Shandra Plumb's daughter."

Raffi and I talked a lot about my adventures to break the ice. He told me he'd gotten interested in antiquities as a teenager and started working in the shop when he was my age, when the shop was owned by his father.

"Tell me about this relic," I said as I leaned closer. "I've heard and read that there are three ancient relics --"

"That the ancient kings of Al Simhara left behind."

"Yes."

"There are three ancient relics -- the Relic of the Sun, the Relic of Life, and the Relic of Eternity." He then paused and told me about the relic that he had. He seemed to dismiss it as a trifle, but apparently Layla thought it was far more valuable. Still, he'd determined its value at five pieces of copper.

I left Raffi's relic shop and scoured the deserts of Al Simhara for the required five pieces of copper so that I could bring the relic back to Layla, who seemed to believe that he actually had the Relic of the Sun.

As usual, these metals were all over town. Thankfully, I'd swiped mom's metal detector, which helped tremendously.

The copper pieces glowed in the hot desert sands. I'd needed five; luckily there were two side by side.

After finding the other pieces (it was now getting on sunset!) I headed back to the marketplace to find Raffi.

"That was fast," Raffi said when I got there. "You are really good at finding these."

"Been finding things most of my life," I told him.

I was paid handsomely for my services and told to give the relic to Layla, and I wanted to get to her right away.

"You got it?"

"You know it."

"Savannah," she said, calling me over, "it IS the Relic of the Sun! Raffi was mistaken --"

"Five pieces of copper --"

"That's all you paid for this?"

"Yep."

"I have to tell you -- it's not going to get any easier from here. MorcuCorp's goons are around at every turn. You cannot let your guard down, at all. They will be highly suspicious of you. But here's what I need from you now. I need two pieces of mummitomium to bribe their guards so that you can get into their headquarters."

"Mummitomium? I've never heard of that!"

"It's an extremely rare and valuable mineral that can only be found in Al Simhara. And since they're worth a lot of money, the greedy guards will be running to cash them in."

After leaving Layla's I decided to go to the bookstore in the marketplace to take in one of their new tomes. Since discovering these libraries I've found books here that are not in the Sunset Valley bookstore or library. I was even shocked to find a first edition of Aunt Margaret's first novel, Paloma of Plumbob Farm, written when she was a teenager!

It was a clear, cloud-free night so I decided to do a little stargazing with the telescope in the town square. The ancients used the stars to tell what time of day and year it was, to tell them when to plant their crops, when to harvest, even when to marry and procreate. As I looked through the telescope, my destiny became clearer and clearer. I was supposed to find these relics, and I needed to find them before MorcuCorp did. If I found them, I'd be known as 'the archeologist who found the Three Relics of Al Simhara' and my name would be on the lips of everyone in the industry. I suppose it's the same mindset the explorers who set sail from Europe all those centuries ago had, the intrepid adventurers who staked claims to lands far from home. Without even trying, I had yet more material for my book. My publisher needed to wait. I had more work to do!

The Ancient Library

Sanaa Madbouli's husband, Farad, came to the door. I'm pretty sure he saw a skinny little girl, not a hardened adventurer, standing in front of him.

After greeting him, I went straight to work. The Madbouli house wasn't a house at all, but a bona fide Egyptian mansion. I wondered if they were descendants of the pharaohs and sultans.

I saw a floor switch rising from beneath the gravel and decided to check it out. When I heard a clicking noise, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

To my left, I saw a staircase leading down to a hidden basement.

As I walked inside, I stepped into another world. The smell of musty tomes filled the air as I entered the ancient halls. Somewhere in here there was a book that contained the information Layla (and just about everyone in town) was looking for. Somewhere in here was the Book of the Three Relics.

Somewhere I knew Aunt Margaret was smiling. This was a quest she would have loved.

In room after room after room my eyes were agape as they fell upon elaborate rooms filled with ancient artwork and hieroglyphics that had been undisturbed for many thousands of years, in addition to more books than I'd ever seen in my entire life. I mean, I realize the ancients didn't have television and computers or anything, but seriously, who had time to READ all of this??? Besides, I don't even think the printing press had been invented before the fifteenth century so how could they have gotten these hardcover volumes?

Finally I came to the end of a staircase. This has to be where the book is, I thought, there isn't anywhere else.

After finding the well-preserved volume in the bottom of a chest, I stuck it in my backpack and headed out.
But there were more questions in my mind. Are the Madboulis aware that this library even exists beneath their house? And if they are, why haven't they told anyone about it?

Back Amidst the Sands

I'd been summoned back to Egypt for a second go-round in the desert. When I left, I had found myself embroiled deep in a mystery pitting the local residents of Al Simhara against a multi-national corporation, MorcuCorp. I had learned that the Landgraab family had long ago cemented a certain sinister alliance with the corporation, and that they'd set up shop here to plunder the land of its myriad riches. I decided that I didn't care how many trips it took me, I was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

First things first, though: I had to get hold of Layla. After all, she was the one who summoned me here. So I hopped on my brand-new custom-made cobalt blue Kenspa scooter (that I bought in France) and rode back into the main town square.

When I spotted what I believed was her house, I hopped off and took off on foot.

When I found Layla, she told me that the Madbouli family had a giant, ancient library in their basement. And that a book about the three ancient relics was hidden in there.

About half a sim hour later, I knocked on the door of the Madbouli residence.