The Eye of Anubis: Book One

[NeoTiamat]

Lily had a remarkably rich, throaty laugh, you discovered as she responded to Andre's comment. She looks at the three of you directly. "Well, I've always thought I'm mature enough to admit my mistakes, so maybe you should've been my first choice instead of Prof. Pelletier."

The honey-blond woman considers for a second, then, with a quick flourish of a hand-purse, produces a notepad and pencil, the green silk fan disappearing as quickly.

"So can I have a few comments from the rest of the Expedition? Perhaps a few scholarly words from the theologian...? Any foundation to the rumors of curses and ill omens?" Lily points the pencil at Andre.

"Or a few kind words for our readers from a member of a nation renowned for practicality? Is this as well-organized as it seems?" The pencil-tip drifted to Otto.

"And what does our exotic visitor have to say for himself? How do we measure up to distant Sri Raji, hmmm?" The pencil turned like a compass needle to Kuzan.

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"Devereux?" de Angelis asked incredulously. "Mr. Haunted-History-of-Mordentshire Devereux? Mr. Supernatural-Tales-of-Port-a-Lucine Devereux? That Devereux?"

"My condolences." Benoit said simply.

"Tomas my young friend, you are going to have all the excitement you could want." De Angelis turns to Benoit. "Should we tell him about the St. Elmo's Fire Incident? Or maybe the Gold Watch Affair?"

Dieter was keeling over with suppressed laughter.

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Prof. Carter laughed, an open sound much unlike Ramsey's dry chuckle. "What budding philosophers I have! Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay here and dispute morality and ends and means with Prof. Ramsey rather than go dig up old pots with me?"

"Lia's right you know, but so are you Charles." Carter sobered. "If there's one thing I've found from exploring ruins is that while people always try to gain control over reality, but that sooner or later, reality snaps back." A sly smile played on the Mordentishman's lips.

"Probably why there are so many ruins for me to explore, come to think of it."

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay here and dispute morality and ends and means with Prof. Ramsey rather than go dig up old pots with me?"

"Quite sure, Professor," Charles said. "One can dispute philosophy anywhere, after all. Pots can only be dug where the pots are. One of the great things about studying abstractions is the great appreciation it gives one for the concrete!"

"Probably why there are so many ruins for me to explore, come to think of it."

At this Charles nodded. "Nothing built by men can last forever, I suppose. Unless they become gods after all..."

A movement from another part of the room caught Charles' eye; smiling to himself, he said, "If you'll excuse me, Miss Mourneswaith, Professor. I'd like to have a word with one of our fellow-travelers."

After bowing to Miss Mourneswaith and shaking Carter's hand the young mathematician made his way to the card players. "Michel, you old rascal, are you corrupting these innocent youths? Here, let me help."

[The Whistler]

"Or a few kind words for our readers from a member of a nation renowned for practicality? Is this as well-organized as it seems?" The pencil-tip drifted to Otto.

...And another opportunity you wouldn't get in Andermatt...the chance to be On the Record. The gunsmith smiled inwardly, recognizing his own eagerness--then calmed himself a bit. Better pace yourself, old boy...there'll be a *lot* of firsts on this trip.

Otto stepped forward, unconsciously drawing himself up to his full height--and enunciating the Mordentish words even more precisely than his norm.

"Well, I would hardly say that I am a representative member of my nation, no more than any one Lamordian is...and I am here as a student and not as an organizer. But any expedition that brings together so many great minds, skilled hands, and different cultures--and all with the goal of bringing more knowledge to the world?"

He broke into a broad grin. "I doubt that any one of my countrymen would say a thing against it."

Hooh! Not bad for a "first oration"--I hope.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Prof. Carter laughed, an open sound much unlike Ramsey's dry chuckle. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather stay here and dispute morality and ends and means with Prof. Ramsey rather than go dig up old pots with me?"

"Of course," Lia replies. "I very much wish to go into the field and put my skills to the test. It always seems such a waste for great minds to study their utmost at the universities of the Core - and then never to try their hand at what they've learned, but rather to keep teaching theory. Besides, too many discussions with Mr. Ramsey would end in hardship, I feel. He is an agile conversationalist, but I did not get the impression that he is a flexible thinker, ready to adjust his thoughts to the opinions of others." Lia shrugs. "I will not claim to be completely flexible myself, but still. A man in a position of power with a firmly held set of opinions can be hazardous to one's health unless one is constantly careful."

"If there's one thing I've found from exploring ruins is that while people always try to gain control over reality, but that sooner or later, reality snaps back."

Lia's reply is very sober: "Yes, it does, doesn't it? Maybe that is why so many of the ancient Akiri are now the Ancient Dead, rather than deities in their own paradise ... The price of overreaching."

[yalenusveler]

"So can I have a few comments from the rest of the Expedition? Perhaps a few scholarly words from the theologian...? Any foundation to the rumors of curses and ill omens?" Lily points the pencil at Andre.

Andre looked thoughtful for a moment, phrasing his response after Otto got his bit of oration completed. "Do I believe we need to be on our guard? Of course. We set out into territory that for a good many of us on the expedition, will be entirely unfamiliar, and a culture far from our own. As for mystic issues, the Akiri respect for the noble dead is well known. I would be aghast if we didn't run into some sort of curse or magical trap." Andre paused a moment, then continued "However, I believe with the minds we have assembled, and the broad spectrum of perspectives we've got for this expedition, we should face no real trouble."

[DocBeard]

"Jo, that's the Professor." Tomas blinks at the gentlemens's reaction to his hero. Well, obviously they don't know him that well! ...or they know him too well, a secret, more pratical part of Tomas's soul slyly points out. "I was really looking forward to seeing more...overt supernaturalities in Port-a-Lucine. I must not be terribly lucky though, the closest thing I've seen so far has been a broken lantern that looked terribly like a william-o-the-wisp from a distance."

Tomas looks a little embarrased at this, not the least of which because good Lamordians don't believe in anything of the whisps, and because he has a vague feeling that he's screwing the language up again. Stupid Mordentish. There are no consonants! How can you have a langauge with no consonants!

This reluctance vanishes like the morning fog when the offers for story time rap out. "Golly!" Tomas blinks, sitting up straight, "You fellows have worked with the professor before? Well, um, I'd love to hear about it! I mean, if you don't mind..."

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan had to catch himself from staring. He'd never actually seen a woman with blonde hair that long and that rich. Some of the sailors not native to Sri Raji occasionally talked about people with exotic hair colors, women whose golden or red tresses reached almost to the floor. He'd seen a couple of men with lighter hair, but it was always so dirty. Even his own hair color was noticeably lighter than any natural-born Sri Rajian citizen.

But to see it so beautifully done on such a lovely woman in person was quite a culture shock to the priest. A good one, though.

After the others gave their statements, Kuzan smiled. The lovely woman was not only pretty, she was charming, almost aggressively so.

"It is very different from my homeland," the priest replied, "This is my first time out of Sri Raji. In truth, I've only barely been beyond the city of Tvashtri. This party and the people are unlike anything I've seen before. I've only heard tales of such things here in distant Dementlieu. It is an extremely enlightening experience and I wish I had a bit more time to spend and learn more of this land."

His smile widened. "I feel the food could be more filling, but the company so far has been very warm overall. Especially yourself, Miss D'Envers."

There. Now was there anything he'd missed? Any social faux pas made? He didn't think so. Compliment to the 'host' of the conversation, compliment the other guests, compliment the nation. All in good order.

Now to see how well it went over...

[NeoTiamat]

"Charles! I knew I could count on your help! Have a seat, watch the dog." De Angelis dealt out a fifth hand for the newcomer, as another chair was pulled up, discomfitting Loup in the process. The Alsatian rose up with a martyred sigh, walking over to Tomas and sitting by the Lamordian, resting his heavy head on Tomas's lap.

"Traitor..." Benoit muttered. "Tell him the story of Devereux and the San-Quernain ghost?"

De Angelis laughed as he looked at his cards. "Well..... Prof. Devereux has a bit of a history as a paranormalist, his books are popular, so one fine day he gets called to investigate this haunting out in the worker's quarter. There's sounds in the night, lots of little accidents, supposedly a ghost haunting an inn. So Devereux walks around there a bit, claims that something evil had once happened there, and that so long as the evil taint remains, the ghost will never leave the inn."

"So what does the good professor do? He gets this idea for cleansing the inn." De Angelis took a moment to let the curiosity lengthen. "He decides that as evil energy is the problem, good energy can remove it. And what better, purer energy is there then that of nature?"

"He's got a point." Benoit interjects.

"Well, yes. Anyway," De Angelis continues "The Professor convinces the owners of the inn to make a small hole in the roof, then he rigs up this thirty-foot-tall iron lightning rod, right in the middle of the inn. A storm will come by, the lightning will hit the rod and enter inn, and the energy will purify the building. And so that's what happens. There's this great big whale of a storm, and not just one, but three lightning bolts hit the rod. By the time its over, the lot the inn's on is as cleansed as they come."

"Not even an inn left..." Came Benoit's comment.

"That was a minor point. But here's the thing. When they were digging up the foundations to replace the building (Devereux was paying), they found two old skeletons bricked up inside a wall. After they were buried, no more haunting."

"True story."

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"Good day Carter." As the archeologist was preparing to answer Lia, two more men came by, a professor accompanied by a somewhat harried looking student, who was taking notes.

"This is your pupil?" The man gave Lia an appraising look. He was tall and elegantly dressed, and handsome in a severe fashion, though there was a singular absense of warmth in his pose.

[Akiri]
.Can you understand me when I say this? What is your name in this tongue?.

Behind the professor, the lanky graduate shrugged and rolled his eyes, smiling sympathetically at Lia.

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"Proper politicians, aren't you all?" Lily smiled a bit cynically as she took comments down in what looked to be a strange sort of shorthand. She cast a speculative look at Kuzan, but continued.

"So have any of you been on something like this before..? Any..." Lily gives the next word a special twist. "Adventures...?"

[lostboy]

Khalil leans back against the wall in contemplation, this evening was getting more and more interesting, a far cry from the tedious, round of self congratulating backslapping he had expected from the Dementliuese.

Samael had puts his fears to rest about the expedition, at least they are willing to listen to one with experieince of the desert, he thinks. Still this new development was intriguing....

He moves slowly along the portion of the walkway protected from the rain deep in thought, coming to a halt before one of the huge windows, near the door. Gazing distractedly through he catches a glimpse of the golden hair of Miss D'Envers, and his pulse races slightly. That will do me no good here, he thinks, I will need my wits about me, this night .Concentrating on the smell of the rain on the garden he stills his being.

Khalil glances out into the rainy night, judging the time by the moon, and with a sigh heads back into the door, approaching the group he recently left, coming to stand next to Otto.

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan shook his head.

"Until this trip, I have never been too far out of Sri Rajian waters," he said, "I have stopped in a few small port towns while recovering lost ships."

The priest paused, smiling reminiscently.

"But when we come across an uncharted wreck, the artifacts we can recover often reveal a great many mysteries."

[The Whistler]

Otto paused to finish off the last few sips of his punch.

"Until this trip, I have never been too far out of Sri Rajian waters," he said, "I have stopped in a few small port towns while recovering lost ships."

"Nor have I been out of Lamordia, until I came here," the gunsmith put in. Khalil having come up to the group from behind him, he nods an acknowledgement at the desert guide while he comments.

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Truly it is better to be lucky than to be wise," Charles says, grinning, examining his cards carefully and placing a small wager. "The purity of nature, forsooth! I will certainly be very careful to follow Professor Devereux's counsel--at a safe distance."

[lostboy]

Khalil flashes a quick smile at Otto as he returns.

"As I mentioned before Afandi I would be most keen to see your home, it is one of the places I have yet to visit. Although I must admit I do not favour the cold, the Balinoks in winter are most difficult, and I am told Lamordia is frozen in winers icy grip year round, no?"

[The Whistler]

"As I mentioned before Afandi I would be most keen to see your home, it is one of the places I have yet to visit. Although I must admit I do not favour the cold, the Balinoks in winter are most difficult, and I am told Lamordia is frozen in winers icy grip year round, no?"

The gunsmith's response is a bit distracted, initially--apparently, having to switch rapidly back and forth between "official reportage" and casual conversation isn't something he's used to--but he rallies quickly.

"Ah, yes... See, that is where you go wrong, Khalil: always listening to what the Southern propagandists would have you believe about our weather. 'Frozen year round'...ha!"

He grins sardonically. "In reality, we are frozen for eight months only; the rest of the time it is as hot as a furnace in August. You should immigrate!"

Re-registering the fact that an interview is still going on, and gesturing at the other three: "Oh! I am sorry to interrupt... Please, continue."

[Kaitou Kage]

"Fro-zen?" Kuzan seemed curious, having picked up a bit of what Otto was saying. He sounded the word out carefully, trying to remember what it was that was said exactly.

"What's that mean?"

It was genuine confusion. Certain words just never get translated when a man lives in a place that never sees ice or snow unless some wayward mage calls it down. Kuzan himself had never seen ice or snow, or really even experienced temperatures below about 70 degrees. The Sri Rajians had plenty of words for hot, sweltering jungle, many more colorful than others. But 'frozen?' The priest didn't know it but he'd be lucky if he could grasp the concept without experiencing it firsthand.