The Unburnt Bush

The Unburnt Bush
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Region:	Valley of the Sun God
Zone:	Scorched Desert
Start Coords:	432, 634
End location:	549, 544
Given by:	Khalid El Sayad
Type:	Investigation
Reward:	1,055,660 Experience Experience
Repeatable:	Yes
Game Version:	TSW
Added in:	No Data

An old man argues that the Plagues of Egypt are no single occurrence and that they may have returned once again. He suggests a way to understand and combat them, perhaps from experience.

Dialogue

Introduction

(A bush behind Khalid bursts into flames)

Khalid: (looking back at the bush) Not now!

Khalid: (back to you) My brother. He likes to put on a show.

Khalid: We have a...complicated history,

Khalid: but we've learned to coexist in relative peace.

Khalid: Me as a restless wanderer, him as a bothersome spirit.

Khalid: That is where our paths diverged, my brother's and mine.

Khalid: He escaped into death, while death has escaped me.

Khalid: The awful thing about immortality is that it tends to go on and on, forever. You'll see.

Khalid: This is not the first time Egypt has been struck by Mephistophelian misfortune,

Khalid: I'm sure you know, although it's only been written about the one time.

Khalid: Chalk it down to experience. We did get better at covering things up as we went along.

Khalid: As is always the case, there's much to learn from history.

Khalid: "The books of the past may contain word of the future."

Khalid: That was one of the tenets of the four-and-sixty.

Khalid: Our ties were severed long ago,

Khalid: because they claimed I was too close to those I was supposed to silently observe.

Khalid: That I cared too highly for mortals, as if this was an inexcusable weakness.

Khalid: I've gotten better at it. For example...

Khalid: I could have simply shown you the way, but I shall not.

Khalid: Instead, I might simply...

Khalid: mislay my staff where someone could...

Khalid: accidentally retrieve it.

Khalid: Also, I might warn you to be on the lookout for brush fire.

Khalid: It would need to be stamped out before it spreads.

Khalid: In my experience, staffs are good for stamping things out.

Khalid: (as the bush behind him bursts into flames again) Too much? I'll never get this right.

Journal Entries

• Tier 1: Khalid's mysterious words suggest he has lived to see many things and many ages. He claims he an his brother have witnessed the plagues before. He was once punished for interfering in the ways of humans, he says, but he is willing to do it again by loaning you his staff to combat the plagues.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

• Tier 2: The tablet reads: He lifted the artifact and smote the rivers, but the heart of the Black Pharaoh was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

• Tier 3: The tablet reads: When the Black Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he hardened his heart yet more, and sent his servants to seek an artifact to match that of the brothers.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

• Tier 4: The tablet reads: And the Black Pharaoh used it to cast the locusts into the Red Sea, and was prepared now to cover the face of the whole earth, so the land would be darkened.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

• Tier 5: The tablet reads: The Black Pharaoh stretched forth his hand, and cast out the brothers, cast out the old gods, cast out all who would not heed to the whispers of the Aten.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

• Tier 6: The tablet reads: Seven were created to stand far from the houses: for whosoever watches over the Black Pharaoh must watch over the lost city in which he lies buried with his dead.
  • Activate the staff.
  • Follow the path illuminated by the staff.
  • Examine the altar
  • Activate the staff
  • Examine the stone tablet

Reward

• 1,119,610 Experience total
  • 111,960 XP for Tiers 1 thru 5
  • 559,810 XP for tier 6, upon report
• 4 Sequin of the Valley of the Sun God for tier 6, upon report
• 22,500 Pax Romana for tier 6, upon report

• Unknown Experience for subsequent completion of this mission

Report

Dragon

Time is a circle. We know this. Events repeat themselves. All our models tell us that. The Plagues of Egypt being a one time occurrence was a statistical unlikelihood. Hence we are not surprised. We rarely are.

Khalid is an interesting figure, and his life's work should be studied. We don't know everything we need to know about him. He is a source of forgotten knowledge and we would do well to find out as much as we can.

He seems willing to share, he showed you that, and he seems willing to help. We should use that to our advantage.

Illuminati

Damn! When you do something you don't do it halfway, do you?

This last report is positively bursting at the seams with nuggets for the history buffs. I'm not one of them, but I'll pass this stuff along. The nerds down at the library will go bananas.

The four and sixty Khalid was talking about, now that's interesting. Divide that number by eight and we're in business. That stuff's unfortunately way above both our paygrades, but I'll let you know if any of us reach the need-to-know level.

Actually, strike that, I'll only let you know if you do.

Templar

I can practically hear Gladstone spinning down in the library from my office. That's how excited he's going to be by this.

There is much more to both Khalid and his staff than meets the eye. He's been in business a very long time, and the sixty-four he was talking about are important. It is ringing a lot of bells.

Unfortunately, a lot of that knowledge was lost at Alexandria, and more was stolen by the Illuminati. I will be sure to have all the historians look into this.

R. Sonnac

Walkthrough

Staff Controls (used for spoilers below):

Spoiler

Tier 1/6

• Activate the staff
  • Use it, from your inventory
• Follow the path illuminated by the staff
  • Look for a burning bush, as you approach it, others should catch on fire.
  • NOTE: It may be the the timing of the graphics, or graphics settings on players options menus, but you sometimes cannot see the next burning bush you're supposed to go to. Typically there is only one or two possible options for the next bush to go to and so you may sometimes need to run towards unburning bushes to see if they will catch fire
• Examine the altar
  • Located at (360,607)
  • The symbols on the altar are دم
• Activate the staff
  • Use the staff from your inventory
  • Enter the staff sequence

Clue 1:

Spoiler
Make sure to read your mission journal entries. There are clues that sometimes show up in there that aren't explained elsewhere

Clue 2:

Spoiler
It's talking about the Plagues of Egypt.

Clue 3:

Spoiler
The characters on the altar are Arabic.

Clue 4:

Spoiler
The characters on the staff are Hebrew.

Clue 6:

Spoiler
Google Translate, From Arabic to Hebrew

Clue 7:

Spoiler
Both Hebrew and Arabic are written from right-to-left

Clue 8:

Spoiler
The character at the bottom of the staff is "Enter"

Solution:

Spoiler
دم is Arabic for "Blood", and translated into Hebrew is דם . The plague of blood is the first Plagues_of_Egypt referenced. Because Hebrew is written right-to-left ד is the first character you'll enter. And then ם Using the image at the start of the walkthrough, they are characters #1 and then #6 and then the "enter" character at the bottom.

• Examine the stone tablet
  • It appears on top of the altar

Tier 2/6

• Activate the staff
  • Use it from your inventory again
• Follow the path illuminated by the staff
  • Follow the burning bushes again
• Examine the altar
  • Located at (500,638)
  • The symbols on the altar are وابل
• Activate the staff

Clue 1:

Spoiler
There may be a slight error in this. This time when you translate, do it to English first. When you think you have the right meaning, translate from English to Hebrew

Clue 2:

Spoiler
Remember, what it translates to in English should have something to do with the plagues

Solution:

Spoiler
وابل has multiple meanings, but one of them is Hail, which is the 7th Egyptian Plague. The Hebrew for Hail would be ברד . Again, entering from right to left it would be symbol #2 and then #4 and then Enter.

Solution additional note:

Spoiler
The Arabic used here is slightly incorrect, واجل means barrage (as in, a hail of bullets). The Arabic should read برد which means (weather) hail

• Examine the stone tablet

Tier 3/6

• Activate the staff
• Follow the path illuminated by the staff
• Examine the altar
  • Located at (449,540)
  • The symbols on the altar are جراد
• Activate the staff

Clue 1:

Spoiler
Again, you may need to translate from Arabic to English and then from English to Hebrew

Solution:

Spoiler
جراد can mean "locust" which is the 8th Egyptian Plague. In Hebrew, locust is ארבה So, on the staff enter symbols #5, then #3, then enter. You can attack the cultists and assist the locusts, or you can simply stand back and watch.

• Examine the stone tablet

Tier 4/6

• Activate the staff
• Follow the path illuminated by the staff
• Examine the altar
  • Located at (506,475)
  • The symbols on the altar are ظلام
• Activate the staff

Clue 1:

Spoiler
What happens when you click on the altar should be a big clue

Solution:

Spoiler
ظلام is Arabic for darkness. Plus, when you clicked the altar, everything went dark. Hebrew for darkness is חושך This is symbols #9, then #7, then Enter on the staff. Darkness is the ninth Egyptian Plague

• Examine the stone tablet

Tier 5/6

NOTE: This tier has a time limit, and unless you've been doing the previous steps quickly in your head, you may not going to make it through this one on the first attempt. If you want the solution immediately so you don't die, read below. Otherwise, you may have to run back to the Altar for a second attempt.

• Activate the staff
• Follow the path illuminated by the staff
• Examine the altar
  • Located at (549,543)
  • The symbols on the altar are

    موت أول مولود 

• Activate the staff

Clue 1:

Spoiler
If you're checking for clues, you're probably dead. For this tier, you have a time limit of sorts. After examining the altar, you must enter the staff symbols before the monsters reach you, or you will die. Unless you naturally write both Arabic and Hebrew, you're probably going to die the first time you look at the Altar

Solution:

Spoiler

First off - when you use the Altar, a ring of "Firstborn" spring up around you. They will slowly begin walking towards you. If they reach you before you enter the correct sequence in the staff, you die and must try again. The symbols on the Altar موت أول مولود are Arabic for "The death of the first born", which was the tenth Egyptian Plague. In Hebrew, that would be מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת On the staff, use symbols #10, then #8, then Enter.

• Examine the stone tablet

Tier 6/6

• Activate the staff
  • The staff becomes a serpent and returns to Khalid El Sayad, although you do not need to follow it if you do not want to.

Other Information

Related Achievements

• This mission is required for the How Can We Be Sure? achievement

Trivia

• It is uncertain who Khalid is referring to by "The four-and-sixy". He mentions them in other missions as well.
• See the "solution" spoiler in each of the tiers for links to articles with more detailed information about what each tier relates to

Media

Images

• 

  Arabic from Blood Altar

• 

  Tablet off the Blood Altar

• 

  Arabic from Hail Altar

• 

  Tablet off the Hail Altar

• 

  Arabic from Locust Altar

• 

  Tablet off the Locust Altar

• 

  Arabic from Darkness Altar

• 

  Tablet off the Darkness Altar

• 

  Arabic from Firstborn Altar

• 

  Tablet off the Firstborn Altar

Missions
Solomon Island Missions	▪ Kingsmouth ▪ Savage Coast ▪ Blue Mountain
Valley of the Sun God Missions	▪ Scorched Desert ▪ City of the Sun God
Transylvania Missions	▪ Besieged Farmlands ▪ Shadowy Forest ▪ Carpathian Fangs
Tokyo Missions	▪ Kaidan
South Africa missions	▪ New Dawn
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