Themes: Police Brutality, Majority-Minority Relations, Repentance

Content warnings: Violence, Murder (abstract and past, not heavily scripted)

 Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Summary #

Rosh Reba Nakum barricades himself in the House of Prayer at odd times, causing him to miss his duties at the weekly Zabbah service. A dybbuk tormenting him is revealed to be a Lumdai soul from the city of Terida who seeks atonement for overlooking systematic violence against the Avodai minority. The soul is particularly haunted by one incident involving her husband, a Terida guard who unnecessarily killed an Avodai young woman while apprehending her for defacement of public property.

The exact circumstances of Hena’s death are left intentionally vague. While specifics often improve storytelling, the authors here resist canonizing most facts of the case to avoid debates about culpability by matters of degree. Individual Storytellers may embellish such as weaving in elements of Black Lives Matter freely, but the material facts are: Hena was engaged in illegal protest graffiti and that brutality while apprehending her was unnecessary and lethal.

Key Characters #

Rosh Reba Nakum, 78 #

Political Alignment: Legalist

Rosh Reba Nakum spends his days in deep study with Kahal’s scholars and interpreting the Word for the community. He believes in upholding the strict interpretation of the Word. He is highly respected, though he scares some people and others believe he is too old fashioned. The fact that he is so haunted and uncharacteristically tepid is a major departure from his norms.
The dybbuk dredges up Nakum’s past traumas: as a boy, he was mercilessly beaten by adult Lumdai.
His relationships with his adult children are fraught because of his strictness and aloofness. Confronted by the dybbuk, he doubts his own legacy and lack of everyday kindnesses. He strongly desires reconciliation.

Reba Livia, 28 #

Political Alignment: Innovator

Reba Livia is the junior Reba of Kahal. Her role in this scenario is covering for Nakum’s disappearance and provide the impetus to check up on him, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Rafa involves her afterwards.
She grew up in Terida, will have heard of the murder, and is a leader of the The New Avodai Society. She is engaged with the community and active in local politics, along with the study of the Word. She is generally liked, but some think she’s too young, liberal, and does not spend enough time studying. Others find her to be a breath of fresh air and much needed change.

Lucia, The Dybbuk #

The dybbuk is a former Lumdai soul, Lucia. Guilt shackles Lucia to this World, and she is haunting Nakum in hopes for absolution about taking no stand against anti-Avodai violence while alive.
The dybbuk doesn’t have perfect memory of her past life, but his core guilt stems from an incident 15 years ago, when her husband killed an Avodai girl (Hena, name unknown to the dybbuk). With moderate effort the dybbuk remembers his husband’s name and occupation, Arturo, guard in Terida.

Optional Characters #

Rebzi Gilya, 79 #

Political Alignment: Moralist

Gilya is accustomed to her husband’s aloofness, but she’s understandably concerned when he uncharacteristically misses the Zabbah sermon. Leading services is a pillar of his responsible persona. She praises how eloquently Livia covered for him without being informed prior.
Gilya is happy to share what she knows: that Nakum has been spending every evening in the House of Prayer. He never told her why, but he requested food sent there if he wasn’t home for dinner.

Netanel, murder victim Hena’s father, 48 #

Political Alignment: Legalist

Netanel was part of the first generation born in the Avodai Quarter in Terida, where he enjoyed the lively nightlife. He married early and waited to have his first (and only) child until middle age, but was overjoyed to welcome Hena into the world. As a weaver, he always thought the diversity of threads of fate made a beautiful tapestry.
Netanel taught his daughter that Terida was where they belonged, contradicting entrenched bigotry, and this moral compass defined her strong sense of improving Terida. Hena died protesting against the brutality of policing in the Avodai Quarter, and her parents moved out of the City after the trial surrounding her death. Netanel is moving on with his life, having buried his only daughter Hena and then his wife Dinah.

Potential Solutions #

Directly contending with the past harm surrounding Hena’s murder, the primary paths are likely some mixture of restorative justice, corrective justice, or retributive justice. Hena’s fate is sealed and grim, but players have many avenues to explore, including directing the dybbuk’s attention back to Arturo, addressing the lack of restitution or apology from the state, or doing anything for Hena’s surviving father.

As a matter of exorcising the dybbuk, most Rafa Circles will probably opt out of a brute force exorcism, choosing instead to investigate the past incident and settling on some resolution to the past. However, should they ignore this, use Nakum’s weakened state to at least force them to contend with legacy and reconciliation in the present. Nakum is not familiar with vulnerability and should open up to them about topics like his childhood beating that cause him to favor actions and appearances over intentions.

Setting #

It is early in the Mourning Moon, and the summer solstice passed a few weeks back. Summer beats on, and the nights are short with particularly active spirits. Counselors bask in taking a break after negotiating the tithes to spirits last month, and Shepards of Souls are gearing up for their procession on the Day of Mourning.

Today in particular is Zabbah, the holiest day of the week and the Day of Rest. Following services in the House of Prayer, families and friends host one another for the noon meals, often outside in covered kitchens to avoid overheating inside. Children run rampant until recalled for lunch, with only a few stragglers who resist the deep rhythms of the day.

Scene: Impetus #

Explore with your players how they spend Zabbah, whether they went to the sermon at the House of Prayer, if they visited family or friends, or if they preferred to be on duty as Rafas. Were they contemplative? Restless? Driven by their spirit, heart, or body?

Because of the nature of Zabbah, your players’ characters may all be in very different places when the story begins. Let the activities guide you, but I recommend the following threads:

• Those attending services: Reba Livia delivered an impromptu sermon about the golden garden of Freka and how important it is to rekindle that lost Light in our hearts if we are ever to experience that lost paradise again
• Those spending time with family and friends: a picnic day in Kahal’s village center brings many parties together close to the House of Prayer. There is some gossip going around about Rosh Reba Nakum missing. It is unseemly that he didn’t even attend to listen, unless he was ill at home
• Those who are on duty: directly receive requests to check up on Nakum, perhaps from his wife Gilya (see optional characters above)

Livia: Have you seen the Rosh Reba at all? He’s been a bit out of sorts lately but told me he’d still be able to do the sermon today. Kept expecting him to come in late and comment on my “interesting interpretations” of the Word, but he never did.

Livia: He’s been canceling meetings with people, spending a lot of time alone in the study room or sanctuary. But it’s not praying or studying, more staring and muttering to himself.

Scene: Locating Nakum in the House of Prayer #

Narration: The sun has set as you approach the House of Prayer. Glistening warmly from within, the glass dome beacon casts beautiful reflections on the crowning metal flame sculpture. The flicker makes it look alive in the early evening.
Inside, the lone Rosh Reba Nakum hunches forward.

Nakum: I didn’t request dinner tonight. No one to send, and no need.

[The light of the Eternal Flame shifts again, the ceremonial chandelier swaying as if in a breeze.]

Nakum: That damn cat won’t stop drinking the oil from the Eternal Flame. Get it to stop, it can’t go out… *Cough, cough*

[In the rafters, a grey-brown cat with dark extremities other than his white socks for paws and a splash of white on his nose. He is perched precariously on the ladder that the Rosh Kahal uses to refill the oil in the chandelier, tongue in the oil.]

Narration: This is no ordinary cat; he’s a Messenger of Death. Rafa Malchi, may his memory be a blessing, named him Zail before he passed away. Every villager in Kahal recognizes Zail, as the Messenger uncharacteristically stayed in this World, surviving his Rafa and often comforting dying patients by gently curling into them and purring.

Nakum: I can’t go yet. If I die now, I don’t think either of us will move on. For what life have I lived? Have I done anything truly righteous? Studied day and night. Beat the law into my children. All our children. But did I do anything good? Did I play with my children? They hate me, you know, my son and daughter. Daughter won’t talk to me. Did I lose the spirit of the law? Maybe Livia is doing something with that damn society of hers. Don’t understand it. The New Avodai, combining machines with the power of the Word? To make life better for our people? How? Why?

Nakum: DO NOT tell anyone about this. They’ll think I’m weak and not righteous enough to deal with this myself. I don’t know, they’re probably right… But there’s a ghost inside me. It hurts… Every joint enflamed. And he goes on and on, asking for forgiveness. I don’t know what she wants me to do—it’s not my forgiveness to give!

[When the dybbuk speaks, a new masculine voice works its way out of Nakum’s body. You see the body hunch further, as if bracing against a soul-deep pain.]

The dybbuk: So much suffering, why didn’t I realize it before? I suppose I did, but I didn’t see what I should do. My husband was a city guard, you see. I was proud he could defend Terida when I was too frail; his name Arturo means brave and courageous, you see. My service was taking care of him, you see, he was the breadwinner and would work overtime so that I could make our home.

The dybbuk: Arturo killed a girl, an Avodai girl, more than a decade ago. What even was her name? There was a trial, and he was acquitted; it wouldn’t have happened if she stopped when he told her to. I stood by him, even hosted a party when his trial ended. The Avodai deserved it, I thought. After all, she ran—a guilty person runs… How did it come to death? Why?

The dybbuk: I did nothing to help anyone. Not really. A few coins to the poor each year. In the Reba’s mind I see a little Avodai boy beaten by grown men and robbed on the way back here. When he was a little boy, Avodai could not stay in the city after dark. And they burnt the village when he was a child. It’s all so awful. But I am dead. What can I do?

Nakum: Yes, it was infamous, the case involving Hena. Her name was Hena bet Dinah v’ Netanel… she’d been caught up in protests against the heavy policing of the Avodai quarter. Her parents buried her in Terida within a few days, but they moved here after the courts did nothing. Netanel had to bury his wife Dinah a few short years later. He deserves his newfound peace, focusing on his craft as a weaver.

Optional Scene: Visiting Hena’s Dad in Kahal #

[The intentions and presentation of the problem greatly changes how Netanel will react to the Rafas and dybbuk. Focusing on the painful imposition of the request and how it would also help Nakum is our key to understanding Netanel’s character.]

Netanel: Rafas, you are calling on me very late. Could it not wait for tomorrow?

Netanel: So this affects the Rosh Reba? He is such a holy man. To think that anyone would haunt him! I should do what I can, but I can’t promise more than to meet with this Lumdai soul. You will protect me if the dybbuk does me or the Reba harm?

Netanel: Ah, what threads of fate. They call this the Mourning Moon after all. To be so alone! My wife died with grief for our Hena, and I think it would only be right to continue this conversation at her grave, so that her soul may witness.

Netanel: Spirit, I want you to hear about Hena. She was a good girl, perceptive and fair-minded. She was always winning art awards in school before she started designing the protest stencils they used on the wall that night. It wasn’t right that she lost her life for bringing awareness of how mistreated and untrusted we were in the Avodai Quarter. A cautionary tale of the very thing she already knew. She didn’t need to be a martyr; your husband didn’t need to kill her.

Netanel: I want you to move on, spirit. Onto the Next World. Take my wife there, too. Show her she doesn’t need to hold on so hard to the grief. The Shepherds of Souls will invite her back for the Day of Mourning, to see how we’re doing.

Optional Scene: Confronting Arturo in Terida #

[Because the dybbuk would have died only a little while ago, Arturo can easily be confirmed as alive and whereabouts known. If players seek to confront the guard, they may choose to do so directly or with allies. Also, don’t be surprised if players try to transfer the dybbuk from possessing Nakum into Arturo.]

Narrator: Arturo leans upon his lance while surveying the streets. Against the strength and resolve that the dybbuk made Arturo sounds like, the man looks more tired and unfocused than the Rafas expected.

Arturo: Yes, I know Hena. I asked for a transfer out of the Avodai Quarter after the trial. The commanders thought it was to appease the Avodai, but I requested it because I couldn’t take being so scared inside anymore. You people have magics, how was I to know that she wouldn’t explode my head if I didn’t incapacitate her?

Arturo: I am sorry, you know. They tell us to always be vigilant, especially in the seedier parts of town. Sure, the Library is nice during the day, but the cafe has that stage open late into the night for all kinds of insurrectionist rallying and propaganda.

Arturo: I… I never saw it that way then. I can see how differently policing is, in these parts of Terida. Maybe if I hadn’t thought about the Quarter so hostilely, maybe I would have caused less harm there. I’m sorry… so sorry. Can you forgive me?

Possible Epilogues #

Given how many directions player agency can go in this scenario, a time skip to the next Zabbah might be appropriate.

In particular, have Nakum show some vulnerability to his family as a result of the scenario. Perhaps some of the walls in his heart protected him from even those who meant him no harm. Perhaps he judged his children harshly about some perceived shortcomings that he now sees made them happier and more vulnerable.

Rosh Reba Nakum can invite the Rafa Circle who participated in his case to a special sermon at the House of Prayer, recounting how his own perspectives on how Avodai and Lumdai cross-cultural understanding has deepened. Follow up on any loose ends from player intentions, and how they would be materialized.

Community Play #

Players are likely to steer this Community Play into political directions if they ever follow up in Terida. If remaining in Kahal, they might focus on the therapeutic needs of the victim’s family or Reba Nakum’s family.

The Haven Cafe Collective #

The Collective is a great partner for broadcasting or public organizing. If players want to address systemic issues from a grassroots approach, engaging an artist or hosting an event with Barista Dov makes a lot of sense.

Avodai Forward Press #

If players opt towards documenting injustice, it makes a lot of sense to engage the Press, either newspaper or book. The Press’s great institutional knowledge may come in handy for contextualizing what’s already been tackled and how to make history alive to modern Avodai.

Mourning Committee #

For the Kahal therapeutic approach, it may make the most sense to engage volunteers of the Mourning Committee for unearthing traumas and reconciling. There are so many ways to enrich Netanel or Nakum’s lives by contextualizing death and legacy, what we want to leave for the next generation.