The Eye of Anubis: Book Eight

Kaitou Kage · Post by **Kaitou Kage** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 3:20 pm

Kuzan still looked a bit pale from what the Lorelei told him, but a sense of purpose and an awareness of the present time began bringing him back to reality. The priest ran a hand over his prayer beads and murmured a prayer. He swung his arms in a circle around him and a faint glowing ring of light surrounded him for an instant. Those closest to Kuzan felt a little safer and a little more secure against the impending evil.

Prayers offered, the priest craned his neck, straining to hear over the prisoners' voices to see if he could detect anything.

Magic Circle against Evil, targeted on Kuzan.

Listen 29, Spot 28 (taking 10 this turn) to notice things.

Please don't use globe of invulnerability ;_; it is problematic.

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:04 pm

Somewhere?... The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 5:17 PM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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The prisoners fell silent at Khalil's angry hiss, right in time for you to catch the soft steps of a figure approaching the curtain seperating the main courtyard from the side-chamber.

Through this partition stepped the Abbot of Stilled Nightmares. Seen in the half-light of the evening, there could be little doubt that there was something off about his figure. He was too tall, too thin, and his arms too long, like a stick figure. He moved slowly, gliding across the ground in his sheer robe of black, an oddly graceful figure. Where before there was a deformed mask of bronze, however, now the Abbot merely had pulled a black hood down low over his... face? You presumed he had a face, at any rate.

The darkling figure stepped into the courtyard, confident as could be, and crossed his arms, standing in the shadows of the wall, regaling you for a long moment with his shadowed and unseen eyes. The silver chains clinked softly as they swayed in their weapon's racks.

Good Evening. The Abbot's voice said disapprovingly in your mind, sounding like nothing so much as a grim family patriarch. I am quite certain that Tharivas explained this area was strictly off-limits. There is a probably a perfectly innocent explanation for why you are here. I'd appreciate it if you'd enlighten me as to this reason.

Kaitou Kage · Post by **Kaitou Kage** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 4:16 pm

Those chains...

The movement caught Kuzan's eye and he watched intently for a moment.

That's not good, he realized.

"The chains," he murmured quietly, "He's controlling the chains."

yalenusveler · Post by **yalenusveler** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 7:39 pm

"We got lost on the way back to our room. Terrible confusion you see. Most unfortunate." Andre said, his voice filled with false cheer as the amulet of tears fortified his form. "Though with how fetching this place is, you should probably include it on the tour."

OOC:Amulet of tears for full, then holding my action. If he starts an attack, Mr.Abbot eats a sound lance.

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:35 pm

Somewhere?... The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 5:18 PM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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Indeed. Tharivas mentioned you got lost before. The Abbot responded soundlessly. The shadowed-figure didn't move, didn't gesture, didn't make a sound, but behind you, there was a soft click of moving tumblers and the hiss of receding deadbolts. Of its own accord, the door to the public courtyard opened. I can show you the way to your quarters. If you wish to, we can discuss matters along the way.

And would whichever of you has my mask kindly return it?

The Whistler · Post by **The Whistler** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:19 pm

Try as he might, Otto simply couldn't justify hiding as a sensible idea in these circumstances; with so many others visible anyway, it wouldn't make much sense.

He quite wants to, though.

Fates...no chance I'm taking the first shot...but do I even want this to be explained away?

DocBeard · Post by **DocBeard** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:36 pm

"We had words." Tomas speaks, after a long moment. He has been staring at the floor, utterly ashamed that he has eaten and drank in a place of lies and pain. "We spoke as men."

The swordsman looks up to the Abbot's expression, his eyes narrow. "You are going to explain these prisoners to me, and why they believe they will slowly be killed." The room.

No, Tomas. For just a second, it looked like electricity was running all over his body. "I want to assume there is a good reason. But I need to ask. I would cease being a man if I did not-unworthy of even the fickle blessings you mentioned during our conversation, Herr Abbot."

Nathan of the FoS · Post by **Nathan of the FoS** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:35 am

There is a rattle as a loose stone, nudged by an unseen foot, bounces a few feet across the courtyard, and the curtain behind the Abbot is cast aside to reveal...

NOTHING!

Or, rather, almost nothing. All that's there is a chair, a few towels (neatly folded) and a bucket of water. If the Abbot has been perpetuating enormities here, he's hidden the evidence astonishingly well.

If he hasn't, he has a mighty strange place to take a sponge bath. Which is not a crime, but the prisoners were upset about something going on in the general vicinity, and regardless of what the Abbot has behind his mask it probably wasn't his bathing here that has them fearing for their lives.

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 1:19 am

Somewhere?... The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 5:21 PM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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DocBeard wrote:"I want to assume there is a good reason. But I need to ask. I would cease being a man if I did not-unworthy of even the fickle blessings you mentioned during our conversation, Herr Abbot."

There was a sound in your minds that was very much like a sigh, rather like the soft whisper of lonely wind, and yet something different. You have seen... much of the dark side of the Jackal's Ruse. You have seen the dead that lie here, and the foreign opportunists who would use the Ruse's power. There is more darkness.

Consider... all of the people of this Monastery were fishermen or merchant sailors in past lives. Some military men, others passengers. But others prety the ocean currents, and these predators, these pirates, are also caught by the Jackal's Ruse. The Abbot gestured to the prison cells with a too-long, too-slender hand. In Darkon, they would be hanged at the docks. In Nova Vaasa, they are crueler, and whip pirates to death. I give them a kinder death.

I am sorry, Tomas. It is something I do not enjoy doing, but it is necessary.

Rock of the Fraternity · Fri Dec 05, 2008 3:19 am

Lia does not move or speak, and she tries to keep her thoughts under control. But still ... 'And what do you do with them as you give them quick deaths?' the words flitter through her mind. 'Sacrifice them to some morbid insect-demigod?'

lostboy · Post by **lostboy** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:37 am

Khalil freezes to the spot as the voice penetrates his mind, he doesnt turn however instead he keeps his gaze fixated on the prisoners before him.

Not badly treated it seems, at least for what looks like a motley crew of pirates and brigands. Khalil thinks as his eyes roll over them. And then stops as he spots something interesting, something eleven of the fourteen share, a tattoo of a dagger piercing a heart.

Khalil is intrigued but a further bout of the Abbotts words filtering into his mind encourages him to force those thoughts out of it. If he can speak in my mind, what is to say he cannot read it as well?

Turning away form the cells keeping his mind deliberatly focussed on the conversation behind him he silently mouths to the prisoners "Return later" in Vaasi.

[OOC: any need for a bluff / sleight of hand check so the abbot doesnt notice?]

DocBeard · Post by **DocBeard** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:12 pm

Tomas stands statuesque; Charles's bit of sneakery is seen and absorbed, even though the Lamordian's eyes never leave the Abbot's. A seafaring nation, Lamordians know plenty about pirates; and worse, when the ice cold seas of the secret north break enough and the cannibal Voros and mutated Sanguini come a viking. The first time Tomas got in real trouble at the University was when he clocked a fellow student in the mouth over that young man's stout belief that all pirates were misunderstood romantics and freedom fighters.

Still. Tomas turns his baleful glare to the prisoners, taking a moment to, perhaps, carefully choose his words for once. "Do you have anything to say?" Tomas finally says, having calmed down a little. "Because now is the time to say it, mine herren."

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:12 pm

Somewhere?... The Monastery of Stilled Nightmares, Sebua
July 17th, 761, 5:23 PM; Day 122 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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DocBeard wrote:Still. Tomas turns his baleful glare to the prisoners, taking a moment to, perhaps, carefully choose his words for once. "Do you have anything to say?" Tomas finally says, having calmed down a little. "Because now is the time to say it, mine herren."

"We're no pirates!" "Never saw a Jolly Roger in me life." "Honest merchantmen, we are!" The chorus of denials came fast and furious, a medley of voices raised up in vociferous renunciation of the very idea that these men could be pirates. As honest a group of scarred, tattooed sailors as ever could be found. One voice rose up from the rest to restate the accusations. "Don't believe him! He's killing us he is! Drags someone to that little room every couple of weeks and they come out dead as can be!"

[OOC: Few notes.

-Round/Level spells cast earlier will have worn off by now.
-Khalil can make a Bluff check if he wants, but the Abbot's not reacting to it either way, so up to him.
-Sense Motive on the Prisoners (DC 20) or on the Abbot (DC 30) at any time, if you so desire.]

Rock of the Fraternity · Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:31 pm

Lia fades back into view suddenly, a specter of black robes, fiendish mask and white hair. She fixes the prisoners with a red-eyed stare and quite calmly says: "Quiet."

Next, she turns to the Abbot. "I find this disquieting," she says in an even tone of voice. "This is a harsh place, so I accept you must follow harsh rules to survive. But I see no court here. Only a man of great power, holding those who do not have equal abilities, and apparently killing them one by one ... in the presence of a rather disturbing statue. If I am wrong about this, then I hope you will forgive me - but these circumstances smack more of human sacrifice than of justice.

Have these men been given a choice between a quick death and, for example, indentured servitude to pay their debts to society, if they are indeed the blackhearted villains you claim them to be? Even human scum can be made to be useful to society, and perhaps be taught to walk a better path.

I see no choices being offered here, only a cage ... and an executioner. Your hospitality and aid I appreciate beyond measure, and so I am sorry to speak to you in this manner, lord Abbot. But if I did not speak this way, I would not be myself.

Who and what are you, Abbot? What is the nature of this shrouded statue, kept in a place of death? And why practise summary execution in a place where these men could be made much more useful as prisoners of authority until they have finished their sentences?"

Kaitou Kage · Post by **Kaitou Kage** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:45 pm

Liars, all of them.

Kuzan turned a baleful glare on the imprisoned men. "Do you know what we do to pirates where I am from?" Kuzan asked them, a dark tone in his voice. As he spoke, one could think they saw filed, pointed teeth in his mouth. "In Sri Raji, we have priests of Varuna, guardians of the oceans. His priests are given leave to capture and punish pirates we run across at sea. The lucky ones are killed when we raid them."

A dark shadow flickered across Kuzan's eyes, a deep, almost fanatical stare. "The ones we capture are tried swiftly at sea. Once found guilty, they are flogged with a barbed, nine-tailed whip. Their skin is flayed open. It's really quite gruesome. That done, we tie them to the back of the ship and leave them to trail along behind for days. If they manage to survive, we give them a lifeboat and let them go free. After all, if they are allowed to survive, then they are repentant and Varuna has shown them mercy. We give them a lifeboat, a bit of food and water, and send them on their way. I'm sure whatever your fate is here, it's better than that."

There was a faint smile on his face as the fanaticism flickered again. Then, suddenly the smile faded and the priest turned distant and his eyes a little sad. His brow furrowed and he looked a little dazed and confused. "I've never seen anyone survive," he finished softly.

He turned his gaze up to the faceless Abbot. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, "It is not something I enjoyed either."

Café de Nuit

Welcome, friends, to our establishment.

The Eye of Anubis: Book Eight