The Eye of Anubis: Book Ten

[yalenusveler]

"Tomas, the next time I tell you to invoke the name of a god of evil, please listen." Andre said with the quiet exasperation that can only come by way of "I told you so".

"Kuzan, when you get over here, can you patch Tomas up? If we're wandering into some hideous deathtrap, I'd prefer that we stood a fighting chance."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"I hope none of you minds if I wait until you find out which is the correct name to speak," Lia says quietly. "I am not as sturdy as some of us, after all." Having spoken, Lia turns to survey the rest of the temple with a suspicious eye. 'If there are any guardians out here, they must have heard the racket by now. And attacking us from behind at a time like this would be right up Cavendish's alley ...'

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles looks up at the instructions again and half-smiles. "I do hope this works," he says. "Someone be ready to heal me if not, please?"

Stepping forward, he squares his shoulders and says, "The Victor!" in Akiri and then steps through the door.

[NeoTiamat]

The Temple of Osiris, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 11:38 AM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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Charles, it seemed, was also wrong.

On the bright side, it was a lighter level of cranial lacerations than the last time. Only a little bit of blood flowed from the mathematician's eyes and ears.

23 damage, Will DC 22 for half.

[Kaitou Kage]

Kuzan nodded to Andre and pulled a wand out of his magic bag. This was going to be interesting, to say the least. He steeled his mind, approached the gateway, and looked up at it, then spoke a single word.

"Set."

He stepped through the portal.

[yalenusveler]

"Again, this would all go far less painfully if one of you would just try invoking Set and walking through." Andre said, his quiet exasperation becoming far less quiet, and the look of frustration becoming far clearer. "Now, can we all please stop trying to be clever, say Set's name, prove me right, and move on after healing people?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles staggers back and wipes his hand across his face, grimacing at the blood.

"Obviously set by someone with no sense of humor," he mutters.

[Kaitou Kage]

There were no flashes, no stunning zaps, no nose- and earbleeds. The Rajian-Akiri priest looked just fine.

"Well, thank you, professor, for the lesson." He brandished the wand.

I have like 256434564352345 charges of cure light wounds wands. Who needs patching?

[yalenusveler]

Andre nodded to Kuzan, glad someone had some practicality, and then simply proceeded to give Charles and Tomas both very "I told you so" looks. Of course, he was blatantly ignoring the fact that he fell prey to the trap as well, but he at least gave a mythologically proper answer.

"By the by, considering we now know what the password is, I'm fairly certain we have evidence that the acolytes of Snefru that are likely the ones stirring up trouble..are NOT followers of Osiris. Unless of course, they were simply ignorant of blasphemous additions to their own sodding temple."

[The Whistler]

"Obviously set by someone with no sense of humor," he mutters.

"I thought your answer was being appropriately reflexive. 'Set.' " (Otto steps through, somewhat relieved that he actually remembered to *say* the name mid-discourse). "Though I presume that if one is a secret cultist of a malevolent deity, then precision in language is not one of one's most closely held priorities, yes?"

The gunsmith cocked his head slightly, thinking for a moment. "Although, I suppose...it is depending on how complex the prayers are being. Never matter--is everyone being all right, I hope?"

[Nathan of the FoS]

My answer was better, Charles thinks rebelliously as he gives in to force majeure and says, "Set", crossing the boundary himself.

"Well. Onward, then?" he says. "Perhaps it's not too late to lend a hand to the forces of light in this struggle, after all."

[NeoTiamat]

Beneath the Temple of Osiris, Muhar, Har'Akir
August 27th, 761, 11:48 AM; Day 163 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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Once all members of the Expedition were healed and duly proclaiming Set's name, you continued downward into this very odd basement below the Temple of Osiris. Eventually, several yards below ground, you found the extent of Andre's "Blasphemous additions."

They were considerable.

The long passageway opened up into an underground chamber, a low-roofed cavern supported by a pair of columns. In the center of the room was a waist-high platform carved of some dark, volcanic rock, not glassy so much as dull and dark. Small chambers led off from the main room at a regular interval, no bigger than large closets, really. In front of the platform was a fissure in the earth, a deep, gaping pit that led to a sharp, bone-breaking stop a dozen feet below. Four statues to the god Set stood in the corners of the room.

All this you took in during the first few seconds, as your attention was rapidly diverted by the contents of the small rooms. They were filled with bodies. Corpses, corpses of old men, corpses of young men, of women and youths. Mostly Akiri, though a handful of Falkovnians as well. A few in each room, they were laid out carefully on the ground, restful in repose, perhaps twenty bodies all total in the room. Someone had been busy here indeed.

Of course, there was one final thing that attracted your attention by virtue of its sheer incongruity with the rest of this dark, dank chamber beneath the earth. Atop the ominous stone platform, surrounded by little chambers filled with the dead, was a small wooden table, an end-table perhaps a foot square. And atop this table was a green Lamordian music box.

The box was about six inches to the side and open, revealing a complex arrangement of gears and springs and tapes. The musical contraption was painted a lime green color that shone like a beacon in the dark room. A wind-up key was stuck into the side of the box, waiting for someone to give it a few turns before it began to work.

[Nathan of the FoS]

"The corpses show no signs of spellcasting...there's an illusion on the box," Charles observes, after a few moments of arcane observation of the scene.

"I do wonder what happens when the tune starts...although there's one obvious guess. Cavendish is quite fond of the danse macabre, isn't he?"

As he speaks Charles moves forward, keeping well clear of the corpses, to get a better look at the box, stopping perhaps ten feet away. "Is there any way to make sure these...unfortunates don't suddenly spring up and attack us?" he asks plaintively, keeping his eyes on the box as if expecting it to do something horrible. His rapier is out, and just a hint of sweat on his brow hints that Charles is not quite as easy in his mind as his demeanor would otherwise suggest.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"If your own spell has not revealed any necromantic triggers on them, Charles," Lia replies in a sombre tone of voice, "then I imagine the only way to make sure of that is to burn or dismember them before someone uses that music box." She eyes the corpses with an air of distaste. "Would anyone like me to try and blast that thing before someone gives the key a twirl? Just a thought." Already, Lia is raising her hand, aiming for the music box ...

[lostboy]

"Is there any way to make sure these...unfortunates don't suddenly spring up and attack us?"

"I would suggest dropping them all in the chasm but that seems disrespectful. Perhaps instead we just tie them up before you play with the lurid thing?"

Looking around he thinks for moment before adding "It would be easier if they were all together in one room but we do have rope dont we?"

Considering the implications of moving a load of corpses in an evil underground temple Sascha prods the nearest corpse with the tip of his sword to make sure a) its actually dead, and b) that although its dead it isnt just playing dead.