The Courtyard, Level Four, Dežbār Keep
May 28th, 761, 2:41 PM; Day 72 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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YalenusVeler wrote:Andre said, looking to be in one of his little scholar panics. "And does anyone know how Professor Pellitier is doing? And where's Devereux?"
"Professor Pelletier woke up a bit while you were gone, ate some broth, and went back to sleep." Samael reported with a smile that didn't nearly reach his eyes. "Kuzan said that he should be able to move safely in twenty four hours."
"Now, with all due respect..." The Borcan said with just a
touch of acid in his tone. "What in the Legion's Name is going on? What did the demon want to tell you?"
YalenusVeler wrote:"Fassahd, what do you know about the Cunning Fox...a member of Set's retinue if I remember properly. And whatever you do, do NOT use his name."
Fassahd blinked twice, thinking about the request for a long minute, considering it perhaps, before regretfully shaking his head. "Many pardons honored professor. But the title is unfamiliar to me."
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This was about as far as the discussion reached when a slight...commotion...broke up the conference.
Most of you were looking at each other or at Samael and Fassahd, who had not moved from their spot. No one but Lia, unfortunately, was looking behind you towards the main Keep building. This proved slightly unfortunate.
With a movement like a snake, Samael's hand raced into his jacket and brought out a sizeable pistol. "Lia, down!"
The Borcan fired, and you spun to see a dark red, ugly shape scuttle with break-neck speed down the side of the keep. The shape was human vaguely, but it climbed down the wall head first, its movements more like some kind of bizarre insect. It shuddered as the pistols barked sharply, but didn't slow or swerve, though viscuous black blood bled from heaping wounds in its back.
The unliving corpse jumped off the wall, a full forty feet off the ground, and somersaulted through the air, landing nimbly on its feet in front of Lia, the closest person to the walls of Dezbar Keep.
The undead
thing was hideous. Hideous beyond belief, mutilated and torment and tortured beyond what even the imaginative Miss Mournswaithe could envision. The corpse's skin had been sliced off with mechanical precision. Its... or perhaps rather,
his eyes had been dug out, and now huge, gaping sockets stared at Lia, only a few inches from her own veiled face. His ears had been sliced off, and his nose also, giving the corpse a look of a skull with a few slivers of decayed, rotted flesh still attached.
It breathed something with a mouth missing a tongue, its breath just a movement of air. It didn't smell, except maybe a little coppery from the dead blood that oozed from its back, but instead just stared at Lia without eyes and mouthed some long forgotten words. It was difficult to understand a creature without a tongue, but with effort, meaning emerged from its words.
[Pharazian]
Listen to me.... Stop the Red King.... If you will not leave.... Help....
"Jervis!" You realized Samael was speaking, calling for the taciturn mercenary first. The organizer didn't yell, but his measured tone carried throughout the Keep. "Sarari! Edmund! Dieter! Get over here,
NOW!"
Fassahd, for his part, had pressed himself against the wall, trying to meld into it and avoid being a part of this ruckus. The small Akiri man was shaking like an autumn leaf in a breeze.
The Borcan had both hands on his pistol and was circling slowly around the pair of veiled girl and dead man, making no threatening gestures but merely flowing like a cat into a better firing position. "Upon my word, Lia..." Samael's voice carried softly. "Duck, and we'll get it away from you."
