The Eye of Anubis: A Third Interlude

[yalenusveler]

And soon, as if there was some strange rule mandating it, Andre made his way over, and decided that certain tales needed a third listener. Never mind considering his own experiences with artifacts in Hazlan, things were bound to be...interesting.

[DocBeard]

Puff puff puff.

"Professor." Tomas nods at Andre, before resuming politely listening.

[NeoTiamat]

The Desert of Har'Akir
August 22nd, 761, 4:36 PM; Day 158 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"That's what we were wondering at first." Carter continued, maintaining a mostly straight face as the small crowd gathered. Only the twitching of the corner of his mouth revealed his amusement at acquiring an audience. "Piotr became excited, sure that Battal had found something and taken off without telling us. Sezem suspected he'd gone to tip off some local bandits about us. Myself... I wasn't so sure either way."

"Well, guide or no guide, we decided to look around the swamp a bit more. Sezem cast some detection spells, while Piotr and Mehmen just poked around. I tried something a bit different. I took a long, steel rod, about twelve feet long, and started poking it into the muck in hopes of hitting something solid. Surveyor's trick, though it only works in soil or mud."

"Pretty soon we figured out that about five feet below the surface of the water was something made out of stone, square, and far too flat to be natural. Sezem cast a few spells of water-breathing, and we started diving down to look for an entrance of some kind." Carter paused, reflectively. "I kept expecting to find my feet being nibbled by something, but there weren't any crocodiles in the area. Or any fish, for that matter... or even insects."

"It was about late afternoon that we found a way inside. Most of the building was completely covered in muck, but there was one hole in the ceiling, right over the altar. Later on we'd decide that the people who made Illarik were sun-worshippers, hence the window, but at the time we were just happy to get inside."

"Illarik was a small temple, completely underwater, and the floor of the interior was covered in at least a foot of mud, but it was still an impressive place. It was a circular chamber, without benches or chairs, with a large, unworked piece of white calcite crystal on a pedestal in the center. Around the edges of the temple were a dozen alcoves, eight of which were occupied by statues of some sort."

"The crystal was nearly transparent, and I imagine that when the sun shone overhead and hit the crystal, it must have been quite the sight. We snooped around it a bit, and found writing on the pedestal once we cleared away the grime. Still, it was getting dark then, so we took some rubbings and headed back to camp."

"That night, Mehmen disappeared."

[Kaitou Kage]

"Yikes," Kuzan exclaimed -- or at least, he gave the equivalent of it in Rajian. "I bet Sezem was upset. Who disappeared next?" He leaned forward even more to wholly consume the next part of the story.

[NeoTiamat]

The Desert of Har'Akir
August 22nd, 761, 4:36 PM; Day 158 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"Upset isn't the word for it. Sezem was furious." Carter recalled the old story. "Piotr was in a panic, and I wasn't feeling very comfortable about things either, really. We looked around for signs of a struggle, but found nothing. Except that Mehmen's pack was still there. Battal usually slept with all of his gear on him, and we didn't find it... but Mehmen's gear was there."

"We decided that we needed to leave." Carter continued the tale. "But Piotr had invested too much to run with his tail between his legs, and Sezem wasn't fond of giving up either. Neither was I, in truth. So we agreed to spend till noon looking through the temple, see if there was anything we could bring with us, and then head out and be well away by dusk."

"Sezem cast her spells, and we dove down again into the temple. Illarik looked the same as it had the day before. The crystal on the pedestal was vaguely luminous as it reflected our magical lights. Piotr decided to at least bring the crystal with us, while I decided to look around the edges of the temple with my steel rod, maybe see if there was anything further below the muck."

"That was when I noticed something odd." Carter said heavily. "The day before, there were twelve alcoves, and eight statues in the alcoves. But when I looked at them, I saw nine statues."

"Piotr had gotten the crystal half off the pedestal, and it was fairly glowing in the light. I had a very bad feeling then, and I think so did Sezem... but weren't fast enough. It's harder to scream a warning underwater." The Mordentish professor paused, before continuing. "The light inside the crystal seemed to emerge, not a reflection anymore, but almost a will-o-wisp of it's own. It touched Piotr's."

"You could see the change come over him second by second, and sainted Ezra alone knew what it must have felt like. His skin grew grey, like stone, and the transformation began to crawl up his elbow. He didn't scream, just stared in shock." Carter spoke in a flat tone of voice, the years having dulled the memories some. "Sezem panicked, and launched a stream of superheated steam at the will-o-wisp. It just went right through the thing, but the spell got its attention. It headed for Sezem, and it was fast."

"I did the only thing I could think of, and threw the probing rod like a javelin. Not at the will-o-wisp, but at the crystal. It hit." Carter gave a brief, gallows-humor smile. "It's a good thing calcite is soft, else I probably would still be down there. The crystal split in half... and the will-o-wisp just winked out of existence."

"Piotr's transformation stopped also, though from the upper-forearm down, his right arm was made of stone. Had to be amputated." Carter's smile died. "We took a hammer to the crystal and beat it into little shards, just in case. We found Battal and Mehmen in the alcoves."

Professor Carter paused for a while, looking up at the sky. Then, in a more normal tone of voice, the Mordentish professor finished his story.

"There are a lot of things we never understood, such as how Battal and Mehmen were petrified, but Sezem thinks they might have found the Temple on their own and tried to touch the crystal. Myself, I think whatever was inside the crystal enjoyed hunting, or perhaps it was some kind of security system."

"We're pretty sure the crystal and the thing within it were worshipped as a god back in the old days, hence the temple. We didn't spend too much longer there, not with Piotr in a bad way, but we found a stash of pottery and some ritual equipment. We took what we could, made rubbings of everything, and headed off to Toyalis."

"Piotr made enough off that expedition to get his manor out of hock, though I don't know if it was worth an arm. I know he took to drinking heavily... might be dead by now, not sure really. Sezem got a fair bit of prestige, she's an instructor at the Red Academy these days." Carter said. "Myself? I wrote a paper on Illarik and submitted it to a Toyalis journal. Eventually managed to get into the Brautslav Institute on the strength of it."

"Also got another offer afterwards. The Order of the Guardians contacted me not long after I returned to Toyalis." Professor Thomas Carter shrugged. 'And that, I fear, is the end of the tale."

[DocBeard]

"I got thrown out of the Bratislav Institute once." Tomas adds, an awkward afternote to the epic story. "Turns out they were serious about that no smoking rule."

Tomas puts an arm around Charles, of all people, grinning as though he were a little drunk. "Heck of a story, eh Martel? What was your favorite part?"

[Kaitou Kage]

"Gods," Kuzan breathed, suddenly feeling very aware of his mortality. "I can't even imagine what it would be like."

He sat quietly for a few moments to absorb the tale before finally talking again. "So is that why you spend so much time in Sri Raji? Or is that just for university work?"

[lostboy]

Sascha sits quietly at the edge fo the fire's glow, head bowed deep in what appears to be prayer or contemplation. But his deep voice ringin out breaks that illusion "a fine tale professor, there are too few heros these days, lets hope at least some of us live to tell of our adventures, eh?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

Tomas puts an arm around Charles, of all people, grinning as though he were a little drunk. "Heck of a story, eh Martel? What was your favorite part?"

"The happy ending," Charles deadpans, slinging his arm around Tomas' shoulder in return. "Although the part where forty percent of an expedition to visit a forgotten tomb inhabited by an evil spirit which was worshipped as a god died in agony also had my full attention. Quite a line of work we've picked out for ourselves, isn't it?"

[yalenusveler]

"Delightful optimism Charles, really wonderful." Andre said, collecting his thoughts somewhat. "Though..not entirely out of place. I suppose I'm lucky the Vossoth Nor arch was beneficial instead of transforming me into some sort of statue or worse."

[DocBeard]

That's right! It's a sign of brotherly affection! Not a headlock!

Not at all.

"Charles, could you help me out with something?" Tomas says innocently, "Namely, I am working on a paper that involves some mathematics and, being a scholar of the humanities, it is as anathema to me. I was hoping to look over your notes and gain some understanding of the subject."

[NeoTiamat]

The Desert of Har'Akir
August 22nd, 761, 4:36 PM; Day 158 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"Both, really." Professor Carter gave a small smile. "I had enough leeway to choose most of my expeditions, so I generally went where the Order neded me. And after the cursed idol or soul-stealing gem had been 'accidentally' smashed or stolen, I could usually find enough material in their surroundings to write a few academic papers on."

"It's not the worst life, satisfying, though this Expedition is far and away the biggest job I've ever worked on." Carter sighed. "Might be too big, but too late for second thoughts now. Anyway, I'll go see about wrestling up something to eat."

[And that is it for the Carter Story-Hour. You can continue to post in the Interlude, I know of at least one PC interaction, but the DM is signing out.]

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Er, certainly," Charles says. "I don't think I have much in the way of notes that would help; I didn't bring much in the way of textbooks. But I can certainly cast an eye over your work, anyway. Would you like me to look at it now?"

[DocBeard]

"Now's good." Tomas's grin is enormous! And he leads the way. Once out of earshot, Tomas eases up on the hug, murmuring, "Look: I don't want someone getting sick or almost killed again because we are not knowing something."

"I'm not going to ask you to show me everything." Because even Tomas isn't that naive. "But I am going to ask you to show me anything that could cause an incident like that which Professor Renier's suffering from at the moment. If it's pertinent, I'll share it with Kuzan or whoever else should know these kind of things. If it's not, it's their private business. But someone almost died because we didn't know he's allergic to wine, Charles, and I can't be having with that."

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles shrugs very slightly and says quietly, "The thing about information like that, mon ami, is that one does not know if ignorance or knowledge is more dangerous. Knowing that Marchand-Renier is extremely allergic to wine is good for a would-be physician to know, bad for a would-be poisoner to know. Your concern does you credit, but I hope you will understand why I do not tell all that I know regarding such things as I do learn."

Charles half-smiles and continues, "I can assure you, at least, that I do not know about any other life-threatening allergies among members of the Expedition."