The Eye of Anubis: Book Six

[Kaitou Kage]

"I don't know what to think about her," Kuzan shrugged, not looking up from his pacing, "But zombies with heartbeats might not be a bad comparison. That's essentially what they are. Unfeeling creatures that can walk around and do things essentially because they're told to, not because they want to or are driven to."

He shook his head. "Andre and I didn't hear any songs, we saw the fire on the wall and the symbol that was carved into that Barovian farmer's body. So we assume she's involved."

He glanced back up at Lia suddenly. "The dwarf didn't seem too affected by the spell, quite the opposite, but I don't know any dwarves. He's the first one I've even seen. What about the Mordentishwoman? Mary, right? How is she?"

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Stahlreim seemed fine, as far as I could tell," Lia agrees. "But his tent is at the very edge of the village, yes? Nonhumans are often ostracized, perhaps there was something all the others partook of that was denied to him. I have not yet this Mary woman, but she is a newcomer here, an outsider. The same principle applies, I feel. Something everyone else has partaken of or had administered to them, maybe some spell cast upon them. Terrible things can be done with certain spells from the school of Enchantment, my friends. Terrible, wretched things, and they can be bound into potions as well as spoken into the night winds. But I repeat we should camp away from the oasis and regroup there."

And then Lia suddenly lunges at Kuzan, grabbing him by his upper arms. "Wait. That Barovian farmer? But we were never completely certain whether he was slain at the Anubite's behest or that of Cavendish, were we?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

Lia watches Kuzan duck out with narrowed eyes. She quickly turns to Charles: "Well, cousin. I've said what kind of map I need, I'm sure you're the best man to bargain for it. Get it for me, pretty please?" Lia actually moves closer to Charles and fiddles a bit with his collar, as if straightening it. "The air is just a bit close in here, to me. I trust you won't begrudge me for stepping outside, sir wizard? Come along, husband ..."

Charles gives Tomas a bright ironic glance at Lia's sudden announcement of their nuptials--one that clearly conveys a certain amount of amusement with "better you than me". Nodding at Lia and murmuring, "Of course, coz," he turns his attention to the oddly enervated wizard. "A map of the best," he says cheerfully. "One can never been too careful, don't you think? And I suppose a man of your acumen and interests would be very well suited indeed to provide us with a map of the local points of interest. We are most particularly interested in temples--especially old temples or ancient sites of worship--ossuaries, graveyards, things of that kind." Charles smiles self-deprecatingly. "I suppose some might consider it morbid, but, as we might have mentioned, we are an academic expedition interested in the archaeological, and the study of the past is easiest where the past is most present!"

Having delivered this bon mot with a practiced, pleasing smile, Charles urges the mage to draw out his collection of maps for inspection.

[steveflam]

Ishaq accompanies the party to the wizard's but remains outside, having no interest whatsoever in meeting a wizard.

[yalenusveler]

Andre finally spoke up, having joined the egress from the tent. "I had always assumed it was the Anubite. He was a client of ressurectionists, so it would only make sense she would be lethally irked with him." Andre began to pace, since Lia had stopped Kuzan, someone had to.

"The question is of course, why. This is a trading outpost in the middle of nowhere. Utterly dominating the minds of the few permanent residents, leaving them nothing but husks lacking the spark of life...makes no sense. Now, if somone was testing the effectiveness of the method use, alright THEN I might understand.." He fidgeted, tapping a finger against the side of his head, as if trying to motivate the engines of thought to increase their output.

"I'm more willing to put it up to a creature that does so out of a life cycle requirement. Or just out of malice." Andre winced suddenly, like as if someone trying to put on a comfortable pair of shoes, and finding them full of worms.

"Are we sure the Dwarf is a Dwarf? I know stories of them from my mother, but...he's the only one here with any sort of real emotional variance apparently. Is it possible he's somehow draining them to augment his own creativity?"

[DocBeard]

Let her? Tomas has seen her set a freaking sea dragon on fire with the power of her mind, he's letting himself be dragged, giving Charles a hapless smile-in a weird way, he's a little proud of Lia for playing along instead of just getting mad about it. "Forgive the little woman, Herr Wizard, she's very-!"

Ka-dragged!

"Now he won't know what you secretly are, snicker doodle." Tomas smiles, rubbing the back of his head, "I was going for 'dumb older brother', though. Need to work on my..."

And then, Kuzan's theory sinks in. Tomas's jaw drops as he hears the nature of these possible things-they don't talk about that sort of stuff in Lamordia. They talk about, like, yeti, and evil snowmen, and...and...NATURAL things! "My goodness." Tomas manages to say, taking his hat off of his head and looking behind him. "And you are being sure there is nothing we can do? I mean, there has to be a way to save them..."

"...it wouldn't be right if there was nothing we could do and they're still alive." Tomas concludes, moving his hand in his hands nervously and looking behind him again. "Being dead and not even able to have a body to bury? That's just..." Tomas rubs the bridge of his nose, forcing himself past his horror and into focus.

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan nodded at Lia, taking a moment to register her shaking him. "The message delivery seems a lot more like her than it does Cavendish," he said, nodding at Andre's confirmation.

"I don't know if we can save these people or not," he continued, "In theory, there is a way. In actuality? I don't know. It depends on if we can find where their...their emotions and motivations are locked up and who or what holds the key."

[lostboy]

Khalil leaves the tent shortly after the others, giving the man a brief nod. The desert guide had no bsusiness with the wizard, and was far more concerned by the sudden change of mood amongst the others.

"I cannot say for certain who pulled the strings of my body that night in Barovia, whoever it was was tall and bundled in a cloak." Khalil says as he strolls into the conversation with a grimace as another unwelcome memory insinuates itself into the forefront of his mind.

Shaking his head he continues "The Woman Mary appears perfectly normal, she claims to have fallen afoul of the mistst and been shipwrecked many leagues form here, fortunatlye a reclusive order of monks assisted her. I have heard tales of both befoire and we saw no reason to doubt her word."

"As to the nature of oour current predicament, I can onyl say there were voices on the wind, two voices as you say."

[The Whistler]

Otto squints sidelong at the mass exodus from the wizard's tent, but after a swift head-shake, stays in the tent, peering over Charles' shoulder like the prospective customer he's supposed to be.

Mildly out-of-it wizards aside, *somebody's* got to pretend as if a panicked caucus-type-thing isn't happening right outside...plus, subtle "this-isn't-an-interrogation" interrogations work better with two people, rather than one. Pick your moment, and when it comes, pump the guy dry for information--and hope he never knows what hit him.

...

"Husband." Heh heh...

...

No, funnier: "Tomas, Lia's husband."

For no apparent reason so far as Charles or the mage can see, the gunsmith emits an audible "snrk," and turns away, quickly covering a giggle with his hand.

[NeoTiamat]

Bahadur's Yurt, Kermanshah, The Kermanevar, Sebua
June 23rd, 761, 11:41 AM; Day 98 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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Were Bahadur operating at even a fifth of his normal capacity, the sudden departure of two thirds of his customers wouldn't have fooled him for even a moment. Idiots do not become wizards, after all. Instead, he walked over to one of the smallish chests at the side of the tent and drew out a half-dozen large, yellowed maps.

"A graveyard, there is but one. The little valley of the dead, named after the greater in Har'Akir. There is the dead camel drop, which serves as the disposal for dead animals here. It is a small whirlpool, as it were. There is also the cavern called Kerman's Tomb, though the general was not buried there, nor any other. And the Temple of Osiris that was built some century ago."

"Other than those places, only the Statue of the Faceless and the Singing Spire are of interest. The former is an old statue carved out of the side of a cliff, down in the Mazes. The latter is a rock spire a bit north of here. When the wind is right it makes a humming sound."

"Does this meet approval?" Bahadur asked in a somewhat resigned tone of voice. "They are good maps, none better in Kermanshah."

[Nathan of the FoS]

"I'm sure," Charles says, tapping the maps speculatively and glancing at Otto. Not much interested in the sale, is he? "What are your prices?"

Examining the maps again, Charles says, "This of Kerman's tomb is rather interesting...it's a cenotaph, then? No-one knows where the general was laid to rest?"

At the mention of the Statue of the Faceless, Charles thinks back to the dwarf's eerie dancing pair. "The Statue of the Faceless, have you seen it? What does it look like?"

[Kaitou Kage]

"Let's go talk to Mary, then," Kuzan suggested, already moving toward her tent, "And then the dwarf."

[The Whistler]

Not much interested in the sale, is he?

Otto raises his eyebrows, giving Charles a small affirmative nod--a slightly worried one. Now that he's paying attention, that's precisely what's bothering him: No haggling.

Professional magic-user, stranded by choice in the desert with only the occasional merchant or loaded adventurer to shill to, expensive components... Profit margins are sky-high for item enchanters if you know how to butter up high-class customers, but the risk is huge too. You're not canny, you end up with a few thousand gold's worth of vests of outdatedness cluttering up your attic, and a mountain of debt to show for it.

...Curse the fates, why isn't he haggling?

Okay: this, there *must* be a supernatural explanation for. Which means...

"Fascinating work..." Otto mused, leaning over the maps, only a slight quaver in his voice betraying his unease. "Such detail...I imagine that such craftsmanship must be of high demand in such an area, with the grand variety of travelers you must see, yes? I must admit my curiosity, having only been a traveler of the desert for a short time as yet...what manner of folk have patronized Kermanshah of late?"

The gunsmith winced inwardly. Clumsy a segue as all get out, but with that attitude he's hopefully not going to notice. With luck...

Whatever it is that's going on, we'll be that much closer to finding it out.

[yalenusveler]

"What do we do when we talk to the dwarf though? Accuse him of feasting on people's emotional vitality?" Andre offered "As much as I hate to say, we're large on supposition, and small on evidence. And Two voices...two bird faced women. And he wasn't exactly talkative on that statuette."

Andre mused, actually finding some way to pace while walking, which was certainly an achievement that would grant him acclaim from fussbudgets and pedants. "I'm probably over focusing..still..just suspicious I suppose."

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan snorted derisively at Andre. For someone supposed to be a professor, he wasn't very smart.

"I'm not accusing the dwarf of anything," he said with a touch of crossness, "I just want to know if he's noticed anything."