The Eye of Anubis: Book Eleven

Rock of the Fraternity · Mon May 18, 2009 12:27 am

Lia listens to the elder priest's descent and winces minutely when she hears the sound of his final end. She casts an unreadable look at the younger priest and shakes herself. "How do we get out of here?" she asks quietly of no one in particular. "I should like to leave."

yalenusveler · Post by **yalenusveler** » Mon May 18, 2009 4:02 am

Andre's response wasn't quiet as decorous as Lia's. Turning to the sobbing young priest, he quite simply said "One of us isn't truly real in some sense, and is serving as a test for other. I think I'm the real one..but..I would think that, I suppose. I doubt it's much comfort..I've..never really been good at that. One of my endless multitude of failings."

Then, he all but shouted, at the chamber as a whole if nothing else. "And I'm sick and tired of mindgames and shadow plays. In Barovia, we dance to some necromancer's tune, we manage...and yet innocents die and we question if we did something more, could we have saved them? In Phiraz, we work to stop a monster, yet thanks to his tricks, we get considered to be colluding with him, forced to run without time to mourn. A fiend bids us to barter, for bloody once his soul, and not ours. Then oh look, it's back to a lunatic necromancer feeding off of other's misery, creating a bloody gaping pit of the stuff." Disgust practically dripped off his voice.

"Then, it's some poor girl who only made the mistake of living in some town we were traveling to...we think we get to know her, but Whoops! Another trick at our and her expense! Put one more checkmark in the cackling madman column!" Andre clutched the knifehandle practically as if to break it, knuckles white. "I am sick and tired of people...places...things that get their pleasure from other's pain. We're all flawed people. We've all probably done something or said something, or thought something that goddess only knows we wish we didn't. Or it's the things we didn't do. We ALL have scars. It's the bloody price we pay for coming into this world." His words were coming more rapid now, as if he could barely find time to breathe between them, sometimes sounding less like individual words but more one constant sob, indicting someone or something for all of this.

"And now this...Kuzan faces that Kali devoted doppleganger...goddess only knows whose that last tableaux was for, and now you put me to test. And oh, you picked a great person. Because if there's one thing that Andre Issac Theroux is, it's a deeply flawed, pathetic excuse for a human being, and even the human being part is up for debate in some circles, how delightful must that be, I wonder? Prodding the secret sins and personal failings of someone who has the potential to live long enough to truly contemplate their enormity." What came was a dry half laugh, half sob. "Will he kill a child wearing the face of his daughter? Maybe it is his daughter? Or will he kill someone else? Who knows? Let's find out! It'll make for marvelous sport!" Andre shook his head, nigh apoplectic with rage.

"So many emotional scabs, things done, hurtful words said, I love yous and I'm sorrys left unsaid, emotional wounds just starting to heal, at least as much as they can. But no, all for entertainment or some test, or just because you bloody well CAN and no one before has had the good sense to tell you No, you tear it away, prod at the wounds, make them fester, make them drip pus. Make him doubt faith, make him fear, give him something else that makes the bile rise every time he makes the mistake of looking in the mirror in the morning." Andre threw his hands up, knife still clutched.

"And now, now I've some poor man's blood on my hands, and thanks to all the utterly bizzare things I've seen, I can't even take the solipsists easy path to being able to sleep at night. I bet that must be just DELIGHTFUL, knowing you've got to me like that. A hearty belly, or whatever you have laugh. Fine. I admit it. I've been a terrible person, and at times..I still am. I'm quite frankly amazed that a Goddess would WANT me for a priest, but being one of knowledge, she must see something in me that I just plain can't or won't so I can continue to be poor old self castigating Andre, who sacrificed his wife and daughter a hundred times over, and a hundred and first just now when I did something awful for "their" sake, when it's really just been my own selfishness preventing me from even trying to think of another alternative other than the "Easy" path, delaying the pain now so I can pay it back with interest when I can't sleep at night." Andre shook his head, disgusted with himself, and perhaps just the world in general.

"At least I can TRY to be something better than what I was. Can you do the same? Or is this all you can do, all you can ever be? I'd pity you almost, if I wasn't so utterly disgusted. Other people's hearts, their minds...their triumphs and their tragedies both great and small are NOT there to be objects of amusement for others. Not for you, not for Cavendish, and not for whatever other sick bastards there are out and about in the world, and I'm sure there are a great many."

Andre then settled at least somewhat, if one considered still looking nigh seething as settled. At least he didn't look moments away from a seizure anymore. "It at least brings me some small pleasure that I have personally been involved in what may end at least two of their number."

Catharsis was a strange thing. And Andre Issac Theroux was a strange little man.

Rock of the Fraternity · Mon May 18, 2009 4:15 am

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lia walks over to Andre ... and puts her arms around him if he'll let her, pressing gently against the back of his head, urging him to lay it against her shoulder. The wizard spreads her wings and folds them around Andre, eclipsing the professor-turned-priest from the rest of the people in this cave for the moment.

"Weep if you wish," she whispers to him. "Rage if you wish. I can't make it alright. But I will listen to what you need to say or shout. And I won't poke at your wounds."

DocBeard · Post by **DocBeard** » Mon May 18, 2009 6:38 am

"...damn." Tomas murmurs, unable to look at the grim drama playing out before him.

Nathan of the FoS · Post by **Nathan of the FoS** » Mon May 18, 2009 9:50 am

"Seconded," Charles mutters. Actually, it is to be hoped that things will not get quite that far, but he understands the sentiment. This presumes they are not damned already, of course.

NeoTiamat · Post by **NeoTiamat** » Mon May 18, 2009 3:16 pm

The Tomb of Menetnashte
August 29th, 761, 10:46 AM; Day 165 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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"A-Andre," Devereux's reedy little voice reached his ears. The professor looked terribly awkward, ducking his head nervously, but still managed to continue. "You said it yourself... we all do things that... that we regret. We all have the potential to become... inhuman. Monsters." Devereux spoke that last word with a whisper, his eyes flashing for a brief moment.

"And... you weren't so fortunate... to have friends to pull you back," Devereux added, looking ashamed.

"But your story hasn't ended yet, Andre," he continued, his confidence beginning to grow. "Y-you lost your way... is all." Devereux strayed over toward where the huddled family stood, a tiny picture of happiness that had long ago been lost in the real world. "And I-I think... it was stronger to have to turn from it... to admit you were wrong..."

"After everything you lost..." Devereux leaned over Angelique, a small little smile on his face. He was utterly enchanted by the little child. "She was a beautiful child."

"And... Andre..." Devereux said after a moment, his eyes sad, "so long as you're alive, you can always... change things. If... if there's something you want... d-don't leave it to chance. Ask for it... please?"

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Meanwhile, the dripping of the water over the altar had turned into a veritable waterfall, a small flood that fell onto the implements of the old ritual and washed everything away.

Then you noticed something a little odd, that when looking through the water, the cavern looked different. Not a cavern at all, but the hint of something brighter and sand-colored.

Through the water was the pathway further out. Away from this place, and closer to the interior... towards Beherith and the Eye.

yalenusveler · Post by **yalenusveler** » Mon May 18, 2009 3:47 pm

"I'll try, Charles" Andre said, trying to at least weakly manage what could almost be an exhausted smile. Lia received much the same, and a hug that was as awkward as it was heartfelt. He then looked at the family, his daughter's parents for this tableaux.

His voice went quiet, a whisper more intended for Devereux and Lia than anyone else. "I'd..ask them to come along, give them a chance..but I don't know if they can, never mind they'd be walking into a deathtrap.. I don't know..if I could put them through that."

Rock of the Fraternity · Mon May 18, 2009 3:56 pm

"They are of the past, Andre," Lia whispers back, giving the professor a final squeeze before releasing him. "Regardless how much reality they possess, they are of the past."

Slowly, making no threatening movements, Lia approaches the little family. Spreading her arms wide, she speaks the same message in every language she knows: "Go. Go to where you and your family can be safe and free. Go now, go swiftly, go wisely. But go."

DocBeard · Post by **DocBeard** » Mon May 18, 2009 4:11 pm

Another failure.

"Are all gods so hungry for blood?" Tomas asks, looking in Charles's direction. He daren't intrude on the almost familial intimacy of that moment by the altar, but he needs to look at someone. "And are you going to tell us who that man in the mask was, Charles? If it's your business, it's your business, but I like to know if I should worry about something slitting my throat at night."

Nathan of the FoS · Post by **Nathan of the FoS** » Mon May 18, 2009 4:56 pm

Charles shrugs and sighs. "Ezra is supposed to have sacrificed herself for her followers..." He touches the medallion at his chest as he speaks. "I've never been so devout, myself, but the more I see the better she looks as a divinity." Pausing, he continues, in so low a voice that even Tomas has a hard time hearing him, "The man in the mask is dead; I think about him often, which is, I suppose, why he was elected to take a starring role in my...trial by combat, or whatever that was. I've no reason to believe he lies uneasy in his grave, though."

Charles chuckles sourly. "He only haunts me."

Kaitou Kage · Post by **Kaitou Kage** » Mon May 18, 2009 5:49 pm

DocBeard wrote:Another failure.

"Are all gods so hungry for blood?" Tomas asks, looking in Charles's direction.

"No," Kuzan replied immediately, "No, they are not. The gods I choose to serve do not demand blood. Only my worship and service."

lostboy · Post by **lostboy** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:08 pm

"Whereas mine asks that I turn away from blood, although it is a lesson I struggle with..." Sascha says.

Nathan of the FoS wrote:Charles chuckles sourly. "He only haunts me."

"It seems what haunts each of us is no longer confined within" he adds clapping Charles on the shoulder. "But we are yet still alive, let us hope we have the strength to overcome each and everyone of them."

Nathan of the FoS · Post by **Nathan of the FoS** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:23 pm

lostboy wrote:"It seems what haunts each of us is no longer confined within" he adds clapping Charles on the shoulder. "But we are yet still alive, let us hope we have the strength to overcome each and everyone of them."

"Indeed." Charles gives the two strongmen a quizzical glance and says, "So. Any advice on what we should expect when it comes to the two of you? My apologies for involving you in something so...sanguinary. Certainly the professor and the priest's...tests, or whatever they are...were less dangerous to the rest of us. If no less disturbing."

DocBeard · Post by **DocBeard** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:46 pm

Tomas shrugs at this. "I'm a simple man and I led a simple life." This is true, to a point. "I honestly don't know what my 'test', if anything, is going to be. I don't really have any regrets..."

This is not a lie but it is not entirely true, either. "I don't know. I have no idea how this...thing thinks, or why it is judging us."

The Whistler · Post by **The Whistler** » Mon May 18, 2009 7:51 pm

lostboy wrote:"It seems what haunts each of us is no longer confined within" he adds clapping Charles on the shoulder. "But we are yet still alive, let us hope we have the strength to overcome each and everyone of them."

"Catharsis is being a helpful sort of thing, in the abstract...it is when it is becoming physical that problems are caused."

Wonder how much worse it'd be for totally unrepentant types, though...I guess I should be glad that we're walking through the psyches of some relatively standup people.

Yeah--if old top-hat-and-fangs tried to muscle his way in, guy would be ground beef inside of thirty seconds. Probably means he'll just wait for us outside, though.

You're not helping.

Café de Nuit

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The Eye of Anubis: Book Eleven