The Eye of Anubis: Book Five

[lostboy]

Khalil pauses before the wall for a moment studying the ebb and flow of the flames. Despite the magical protection the desert guide was not keen on being burnt alive in any way shape or form. So when the opportune moment arrives he sidesteps gracefully through a suddenly desert guide sized hole in the flaming inferno.

Once out into the dawnlight of the courtyard, he swiftly retrieves Karsh and smoothes the hawks ruffeled feathers. He too nods at Samaels words, "Yes if we can leave we should do so most swiftly!"


[ooc: Reflex 20, so nada damage again]

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan, through some kind of unearthly, divinely-inspired grace, leaped through the wall of fire and past the doorway, hitting the ground in a tumble and rolling neatly to his feet. As he stood, he even seemed a bit surprised with himself that he'd managed to do whatever feat of tumbling he just accomplished. He neatly patted down a few smoldering parts on his clothing and then espied Sam and the others.

"Gods, man!" he exclaimed in relief, "You have no idea how good it is to see you! But respond next time!" He could've hugged the Expedition organizer, save for the direness of the situation.

"Like they said, we have to hurry. That fiend wasn't willing to let us leave. If we can't get the portcullis open between the twenty-odd people on this Expedition, we probably don't deserve to leave."

He glanced around for whoever was holding the book. "If it comes down to it, we can teleport the book outside the keep. But come on, let's hurry!"

Ajad be praised! I made a Reflex save with a brilliant 23! I swear, my Reflex luck has been awful this entire game, no thanks to a low saving throw anyway.

[yalenusveler]

Andre muttered something most unkind as he passed through the flames, his timing just a second off, getting the full brunt of the fire as he passed through the wall, and into the presence of the others.

"I have been attacked by an overzealous bed, vomited upon by an overgrown snake, and now burned by a fiend in a fit of pique." Andre said, examining which bits of char were him, and which were his jacket.

"If we can't get that damnable portcullis open...and we don't all get killed in some horrible matter for our failure...I want to scour this place for whatever we need to END this. We have one piece...there HAS to be more here, damn the eyes of strange fiendish metaphor..." He launched into a rather foul invective that seemed to switch between Sourangien and Vaasi, and then into a rather inspired burst of Draconic. He then took a deep breath.

"Alright...Calmer now." And with that, he chanted a Cure Moderate Wounds, and faked a smile that wouldn't convince a simpleton.

OOC:10 on the reflex save. CMW heals me up 15, putting me at 27

[DocBeard]

"Well, at least I'll be a dry corpse." Tomas notes with the sort of sense of humor you get after you've escaped being eaten, challenged a fiend, and are now escaping a haunted castle but the ride's not over yet because there's a wall of fire.

Tomas closes his eyes, leaps...and nearly all of the damage Kuzan healed comes back when Tomas trips, trapping himself in the fire for another few seconds before he can roll out, putting himself out with a few desperate blows! "This just isn't my day, nicht war?!"

(OOC: 11 on the reflex save. Casting Endure Elements on myself and using my lay on hands to heal up 18 points of damage which leaves me with 12 HP worth of damage if I have done the math properly. If I can't do both, I'll put priority on the healing.)

[NeoTiamat]

The Keep, Level Five, Dežbār Keep
May 29th, 761, 7:04 AM; Day 73 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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Darkling shapes scurried through the dungeons of Dezbar Keep, a series of shadows that ghosted through the old halls without a pause. The 'firelings' didn't see, not in the conventional sense, but they knew where they went. The castle was as familiar as a mother's womb, and the firelings navigated by memory. Only it was not their memory.

....here Ahmet abandoned his brother-in-arms....
....here Idris cheated and stole....
....here Ishmael cracked his old friend's neck....
....here Menekeraf cut down the schismatic....
....here was hatred....
....here was greed....
....lust...
....hatred....
....despair....
....pride....
....HATRED....

By old sin, the firelings guided themselves. The cistern was a momentary obstacle, for water, the cool, fresh water that now occupied the subterranean pool was anathema to these shapes of flame. A half dozen darkling flames gathered on the causeway, examining the breach in consternation. Even the slight damp was a torture.

Sikarba'al had chosen well his prisoner's abode. Were Marchosias a lesser fiend, or had he not been lord and master of this castle for a millenia, the cistern would have been an imposing barrier indeed. But the Marquis of Hell was not so easily foiled, and thus the shapes of flame gathered themselves.

....and jumped. Like bats with black wings, the shapes leapt across the forty foot gap, one by one touching down lightly, weightlessly on the opposite side. All but one. Faulty footing, a loose stone, and the shape undershot. It was clear to all that the fireling wouldn't make it.

There was no panic. No frantic careening to try and help, or to avoid their fate. With fatalistic grimness, the shape of flames fell into the cistern, and its candle of life, arcane and unnatural as it was, extinguished in a heartbeat. The other shapes never hesitated, and floated up the stairs, their number reduced by one.

At the keep, they were confronted with a new dilemma. The Holy Storm still pattered its water down the wall of fire, now guttered down to weakness due to the lack of necessity. They could go around, but new issues would be present there, and regardless, the firelings were not celebrated for flexibility of thought.

So they moved away and set about creating a door.

The Courtyard, Level Five, Dežbār Keep
May 29th, 761, 7:05 AM; Day 73 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"I have been attacked by an overzealous bed, vomited upon by an overgrown snake, and now burned by a fiend in a fit of pique." Andre said, examining which bits of char were him, and which were his jacket.

"Sounds like an almost normal day." Samael said dryly, though there was a certain amount of sympathy in his gaze. Not very much though. "Look on the bright side, you're alive, and with a bit of luck this might even continue. Now move."

Guy spoke something in Falkovnian, and Loup trotted along beside him, though the dog kept looking over towards the well. The ex-militiaman clicked his tongue and the obedient hound followed.

Most of the rest of the Expedition was in the lower courtyard, before the gatehouse, loading the camels and making ready for a quick departure. Edmund oversaw it with the usual Mordentish practicality, though he paused to tip his head to Samael and the rest of you as you returned.

"We'll be ready to go soon as someone gets the portcullis up." The Mordentishman said as soon as you were in earshot. "I gave Professor Pelletier a shot of morphine and Dieter is with him to keep him in his seat if we need to move faster than a walk."

You assume, Edmund. A familiar, all too chilling voice announced. As a one, your heads snapped towards the source of the mental whisper. You were not disappointed. Out of the shadows, the Marquis of Hell, the Red King of Dezbar Keep stepped out, his eyes aglow with all the fires of the abyss.

Literally.

You assume that you will be doing any moving whatsoever. Now then, let us observe the formalities. Marchosias smiled coldly, his eyes like twin bonfires in the dim dawn light. Do you give me the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, or will there be war?

Player General Hitpoint Report
Ishaq: -16 HP
Khalil:
Kuzan: Mass Aid (+6 Temp HP)
Charles: Shield (+4 AC),
Lia: Extended Mage Armor (+4 AC), -8 HP
Tomas: Magic Weapon (+1 AB, +1 Dmg), Endure Elements, -12 HP.
Andre: -10 HP,
Otto: Barkskin (+2 AC)

[Nathan of the FoS]

"At the risk of redundancy...rot in Hell," Charles replies cheerfully.

[NeoTiamat]

The Courtyard, Level Five, Dežbār Keep
May 29th, 761, 7:05 AM; Day 73 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"At the risk of redundancy...rot in Hell," Charles replies cheerfully.

Charles, Dezbar is hell. And you're all in it with me.... With a grim chuckle, the fiend dissipated into oily smoke, leaving you all alone in the courtyard of Dezbar Keep.

[OOC: Spot Check DC 22! I'll collect all answers and send them off in the morning.]

[steveflam]

After the fiend departed, Ishaq growled. He looked to the others. Determination in his eyes, he asked "Do we fight this fiend, Effendi's, or do we try to open the portcullis and flee? Might one of you magical people be able to weaken the portcullis so that Otto and I might open a passage for all of us?"

[The Whistler]

"Do we fight this fiend, Effendi's, or do we try to open the portcullis and flee?"

"We do both." Otto peered grimly at the portcullis, his eyes darting from bar to bar and around the rest of the room. "The first of these we do if the second is too long in taking."

He pats a pocket on his shoulder holster, then mutters a short curse under his breath. "Three, I have, that are not of smoke--but if there was ever a time to wish I had brought a tür-brecher... Anyway. Spells to weaken the material, first; then I begin?"

OOC: 24 on the Spot.

[Kaitou Kage]

"You, demon," Kuzan challenged in a low, cold voice, "Can and will meet an ignominious end. We will leave Dezbar alive, we will take your book with us, and there is nothing that you can do about it. Nothing."

He glanced at the others. "Keep moving," he said, "He's just making an illusion of himself to try and scare us. You might have to get started on your own, Otto. We'll get out of here fine."

Spot check 19

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Get bent," is Lia's only reply to the fiend's question; after that, she dismisses the illusion from her attention and turns to Otto. "I very much fear that it is up to your bombs," she tells him. "I am completely out of offensive spells, unless I burn those two scrolls we found in the cache. I am not unwilling to use them, mind, but do let us try the bombs first. I can fly them up to the point where the portcullis comes down from the ceiling, or allow you to fly them up there if needed. If anyone else has combat spells, I suggest using them. I didn't like what that fiend was implying -- let's get out of here as fast as possible!"

Muttering to herself for a moment, Lia suddenly throws back her head and shouts: "Ishmael!"

(Spot check: 19. Better than I expected to get, but not enough ... Grimmric's is a 20, so alas ...)

[yalenusveler]

"Fiend, in the names of all the Gods that stand for light, hope, and justice within this poor blighted world, I rebuke you." Was Andre's only response to the fiend's little commentary.

And with that, the scholar picked up his cat, petting her in a very much "Daddy missed you" fashion, and scanned their surroundings.

OOC:Spot of 23!

[lostboy]

Khalil mutters something under his breath about dogs and the fiends mother, as he pointedly refuses to look at Marchisaias or whatever his name was. The Desert guide simply wants out of this hell hole, although he winces rather markedly as Lia shouts Ishmaels name, that was also someone he'd rather not face again...

Looking pointedly elsewhere his eye casts over the camels and he alights on a particularly heavily laden beast, carrying an assortment of barrels. Turnign to the others he motions towards the creature "Wait perhaps a large keg of gunpowder will provide a means of escape, if not on the portcullis then perhaps on the walls themselves?"

{OOC: spot 13}

[The Whistler]

"I can fly them up to the point where the portcullis comes down from the ceiling, or allow you to fly them up there if needed."

Otto nods, decisively. "Break at the top, yes; the rest is gravity. I will fly to place them there, if you allow me." With a series of small movements, he opens several vest pockets and belt pouches, revealing a brace of two small bombs and the makeshift gunpowder explosive from the Muzeavh, (left hand) as well as a small flint (right hand). He stand in the ready position, waiting on Lia...

perhaps a large keg of gunpowder will provide a means of escape, if not on the portcullis then perhaps on the walls themselves?"

...And turns to Khalil. "Brilliant. Always best not to be wasteful, but if someone may carry it over to this place, we may use it as a contingency if the initial charge fails."

OOC: Just to make sure...any place to wedge the explosives in near the top? I'm unranked in Architecture and Engineering so can't get better than a ten on the roll, but maybe someone smarter than Otto could make a check to find a weak point in the gate?

[Kaitou Kage]

"Come on..." Kuzan murmured agitatedly. They didn't have time to stand around and leisurely discuss how to open the door. Something had to be done, and something had to be done quickly.