The Soul Exchange

Seeking a rare or expensive item, the characters travel to a fortress that has a reputation for being a center of trade, particularly for the black market. They find it to be a den of every vice imaginable. The inhabitants of the fortress are actually ghosts, trapped here by the demon that caused their deaths. Each is promised that if they can win a soul for Hell then they can go free; but in fact the demon simply consumes the ghost's essence and traps the spirit of his victim instead. The only way to truly free the ghosts is to slay the demon who haunts the caverns beneath the fort.

Kallama

A town has sprung up around Makuria's smallest cathedral at Kallama, its sole purpose to serve the needs of the bishop and the monastery attached to the bishopric.

Dju Wa'ab is a small flat-topped mountain dominating a bend in the Nile. To the Empire of Kush, Dju Wa'ab ("the pure mountain") was at the center of the world; the creator god stood on top to bring the universe into being. A colossal free-standing pinnacle on the south corner was perceived as a natural statue of a god. The region around Dju Wa'ab has numerous royal burial-sites: distinctive steep-sided pyramids of the Nubian pharaohs, Kushitic rock-cut tombs, and tumulus graves of the pre-Christian kings of Makuria.

The sheer cliffs of the mountain form a useful landmark for travelers; it is only a hundred paces high but rises out of an otherwise flat landscape. It signifies one of the few crossing points of the Nile, and opens trade between east and west. Egyptians call it Jebel Barkal. Dju Wa'ab, as an impressive natural feature, has a Magic aura of 3; the various burial sites might have a higher aura. In their heyday the temples of the pagan gods may have had a Faerie aura that exceeded the Magic aura of the mountain, but most have

The tents at the center of Abu Hamad are the opulent habitation of a powerful Gifted Bedouin sahir and prince of the Ja'alin named 'Izz el-Afram Hamad. This magician was forced out of his home by the Ayyubids, and he fled to the southern reaches of the Nubian Desert along with his Ja'alin subjects and a host of jinni. Hamad is now over eighty years old, and feeling his age despite successes in magically extending his life. His apprentices have brought him rumors of the Cult of Dedun, and he is keen to contact them in hopes of learning the trick of immortality. 'Izz el-Afram Hamad brooks no threats to his power, and is liable to attempt to eliminate other Gifted magicians who could threaten him; he won't even train any Gifted apprentices in fear of raising a rival (although he has several unGifted apprentices). He has a particularly powerful jinn as an ally cum servant, who chafes at its bonds but cannot escape from the sorcerer's power. It is rumored that he has eyes everywhere, and his agents are mostly Egyptians who have worked their way into administrative roles where they can report back useful information to their master.

'Izz el-Afram Hamad makes an ideal recurring villain for a saga. He is powerful enough (politically and magically) for him to be outside the reach of newly created characters but can still cause them substantial grief; as they increase in power so does he, and they will need powerful allies to deal with him. A sample progression of stories follows; such a story arc should be augmented with other clashes with the Ja'alin and other minions of the Master of Abu Hamad. It is up to the storyguide as to the nature of the pacts Hamad has made with the jinni, and the realm to which they belong.

Story Seed: The Magical Basket

A merchant friend of the characters is being ruined by a business rival, who seems to have an endless supply of the product in which they both trade. The rival has come into possession of a magical reed basket that creates the product in question, apparently permanently without the use of vis. When investigating the origin of the basket, the trail leads them to Abu Hamad. 'Izz el-Afram Hamad has engineered this situation so that he can meet and assess the characters, and determine whether they pose a threat to him. If they confront Hamad they will find him charming, inquisitive, and sinister in equal measure; he insists that they keep the basket in compensation for the trouble he has caused. The basket works through a bound jinn, who is transporting the goods from another place rather than creating them. The jinn has a power that makes the basket seem to be a standard enchantment to Hermetic Investigation, similar to a Shell of False Determination.

Story Seed: Attempted Regicide

As they have met Hamad and survived, the Great King of Makuria takes an interest in the characters - Hamad makes sure of this through his contacts. The characters are summoned to Dongola for an audience, and asked to bring along the magical basket. In Dongola, they run afoul of court politics, amply stirred by Hamad's agents. When they finally get into the king's presence, the secondary (and true) purpose of the basket becomes obvious, as a fearsome jinn emerges and attacks the king. Even if they are able to defeat it, the characters may be accused of endangering the Great King's life, and lose any status or favor they may have accrued.