The Eye of Anubis: Book Eleven

[Kaitou Kage]

"Please, Sam, if that's really your name," Kuzan said quietly, "We all know better by now. We know who killed Pelletier and we know that you beat up Ed in your 'escape.' You do not have the authority to tell us to stay put. If your intentions truly were genuine, you would not have felt a need to poison us and run away in the dead of night -- and nearly kill someone on your way out. You claim the path of righteousness but there is so much evidence pointing against you."

He shook his head. "If anyone should not have come here, it is you. All of you. None of you have any idea what you are going up against. None of you had any clue until now. Lia's words are sharp and harsh, but she is right. The gem must be destroyed. You speak of the lord killing us all in terrible ways, but if he -- or Cavendish, or any number of people -- get the Eye, then more people than just us will be killed in terrible ways. The gem is not simply a key to eternal life. It is a weapon. It is a tool of domination the likes of which has not been seen in the world since Menetnashte's time."

He looked Maleagant directly in the eyes. "You told me once you are afraid and you don't want to see anyone get hurt," the priest said softly. "I do not know now if you spoke truth, but if you did, listen to me. I was born a thousand years ago, during Menetnashte's reign. I have seen firsthand what the Eye's holder is capable of. I lived through the war that brought Menetnashte's demise. It was horrible, terrifying, something the world should never see again. It was full of demons, plagues, sheer evil. If you give the Eye to the lord in Dementlieu, and do not let us destroy it, that history will repeat itself and you and everyone else here and back home will likely be killed."

[yalenusveler]

"Actually, and I absolutely cannot sodding believe I'm saying this.." Andre finally spoke up, with one of those "I'm getting a headache" expressions on his face. "On the stelae in that delightfully warped city we passed through on our way here, Lord de Casteele was specifically depicted as an enemy. Meaning..and goddess do I regret saying this..his hands might be the best."

Oh, this was certainly one of those days.. "Never mind that outside we've got a fairly large contingent of Falkovnians, one of which is a rather potent spellcaster in his own right. Certainly, he can't use divination on us..which matters little to none if he decides that frying us all with evocation is in order. We have been dragged through tableaux by a fiend, specifically designed to pick at us emotionally, drive us apart, make us doubt, make us hurt. All a fight does now is make that thing giggle all the more, and I am not fond of that option in the slightest." Andre sighed, and looked to the group, praying that for once trying to be the voice of reason actually managed to work out for him.

"Samael, you could have easily just had us all killed in the night. You didn't, so I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt here. Can we all PLEASE stop throwing accusations and barbs at each other for long enough to discuss things like rational people, come up with a workable plan that benefits all of us maximally, deals with the fiend in a way which doesn't set it loose on the world, and drives a flaming spear through Cavendish's brain?"

OOC:only a 20 on diplomacy

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Casteele being an enemy of Menetnashte does not make him a friend of the rest of the world," Lia notes quietly. "The brotherhood will try to use the fiend, Andre. You know this, surely. If it becomes necessary, I can probably arrange for us all to be moved safely from this place -- after the Eye and the fiend inside have been destroyed."

[NeoTiamat]

The Tomb of Menetnashte
August 30th, 761, 1:13 PM; Day 165 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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To Guy, Charles says, "I arranged for the pardons, yes. I am a soldier of Dementlieu--as you once were. My superiors, who actually procured and delivered them, told me about your...personal tragedy. I am ashamed to know such things were done--especially to a man who was, and is, one of the heroes of our country."

"My 'personal tragedy'. Is that what you call it." Benoit said, voice rough and eyes glittering darkly. The man's hand hung near the axe by his belt, and Charles could feel him straining against the spell-fascination. "Did you superiors tell you who started the fire? Did they tell you it was arson? Did they tell you they killed Aloise?"

"Your shame doesn't matter, soldier of Dementlieu." Guy said, voice suddenly soft. "But you're not even a soldier, are you... you're a spy. One of D'Honaire's knives in the night. Did you kill Aloise? Or was it one of your 'colleagues'?

"I used to think you were a good man, Charles. But you're more of a dog than Loup is."

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"Fasshad's been working for the thing that is hidden in the eye. He's been using you all." Tomas is careful to keep an eye on the reedy little man. "The Anubite-remember her? Turns out, long story and all, she's the original Meneshante, damned to live until she can make up for letting this thing out in the first place. -look, if you don't believe me, and if any of you can see the spirit world, just look at the thing, look at this whole tomb!"

"She taught us a ritual that can kill the Beherith." Tomas continues, keeping his eyes towards the eye, though at least some of his attention stays towards Guy and Jervis, the two most probable aggressors. "If it works, we can stop this thing before Cavendish even gets here. Then, the Eye will just be a pretty rock, I'll be dead, and you guys will all but outnumber us. What do you have to lose?"

"Effendi... I think you are mistaken. Note well, I do not name thee slanderer." Fassahd said quietly, letting his arms drop. The shadows stayed away from him, avoiding his touch as though it pained them. "I have done nothing more than what I have promised to do. Your Core University wished the treasure, and I have brought you to it. I have kept faith. Tell me, Effendi, what have I done to make you think I serve this dark thing?"

"As for you... Effendi..." Fassahd took a step forward, and the shadows fled him. "You would trust the word of the greatest tyrant Har'Akir has ever seen? Tomas Eisenwald, you speak truly. Someone is being used. But it is not I."

Movement in the corner of Charles' eye catches his attention, and he looks, first with incomprehension and then with real alarm, at Samael. "What are those shadows?" he asks sharply, pointing at the Borcan's feet, and then, glancing around the room, he says to Fassahd, "And why, m'sieur, are they avoiding you?"

"I do not know." Fassahd said simply, his eyes flicking to the Eye and then at all the upraised weapons in this room. "But you are not so free yourselves. Now it is important not to lose our control."

And it was true. The shadows clustered thickly around all of you. They hovered around Lily, they thickened beneath the Charles's feet, they clung to Tomas. Even Edmund, who was staring at the Eye of Anubis as though fascinated himself, had shadows about him. The shadows of this dread chamber had found new meat, and they did not leave it. Only Fassahd, standing alone and distant, was free of their clutching grips.

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"Please, Sam, if that's really your name," Kuzan said quietly, "We all know better by now. We know who killed Pelletier and we know that you beat up Ed in your 'escape.' You do not have the authority to tell us to stay put. If your intentions truly were genuine, you would not have felt a need to poison us and run away in the dead of night -- and nearly kill someone on your way out. You claim the path of righteousness but there is so much evidence pointing against you."

"PELLETIER WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE!" Samael screamed. With that one sentence, the Borcan's facade cracked open. "It was all Cavendish's fault. Pelletier should've been sick in Phiraz. He'd have stayed at the hospitals there, they have good ones. It was all planned out. No one was supposed to die. Then along came CAVENDISH."

"And you forced me to poison you. You think I wanted to? You think this is what I had in mind?" Samael raged, his whole body shaking. He had a dagger in his hand, a sharp, needle-thin stiletto, though where it came from you could not say. "It was the only way. You wouldn't have left if I'd asked you to, not with all of you so hell-bent on this Eye. It was the only way to keep you safe."

"YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED BEHIND!" The Borcan yelled at you, the twitching dagger in his hand acting like punctuation to his words. "I gave you an out. No one would have said a word against you if you had stayed put. You shouldn't have come here. You could have died. Like Pelletier. Pelletier wasn't supposed to die. NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE."

"You." Samael turned towards Edmund, the stiletto in his hand whistling through the air. "You shouldn't have come then. I told Vladimir not to kill you. I didn't want you hurt. But you shouldn't have come. I had no choice."

"Hmm?" Edmund said, breaking his eyes away from the eerie, glowing green gem. He looked at the Borcan, Samael's face white with rage and horror combined, and said quietly. "I understand. It's alright, I'd have done the same in your place. I forgive you."

"Look, what's happened has happened." Lily said soothingly, putting a hand on Samael's shoulder as the Borcan deflated at Edmund's words. "Look to the present and how we're going to all get out of this in one piece. If there's a pack of Falkovnians outside, then we'll need to think of how to work this through."

"Samael, you could have easily just had us all killed in the night. You didn't, so I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt here. Can we all PLEASE stop throwing accusations and barbs at each other for long enough to discuss things like rational people, come up with a workable plan that benefits all of us maximally, deals with the fiend in a way which doesn't set it loose on the world, and drives a flaming spear through Cavendish's brain?"

"Andre's said the smartest thing anyone's said all day." Lily said, still holding on to Samael's dagger-shoulder with one hand, and holding the emerald-green fan in the other. "Let's all just calm down."

"Tomas asks what have we got to lose. Our heads if Lord de Casteele decides that we've cheated him. Oh, and the Falkovnians outside? They might be a problem too. Not a warm and forgiving people." Lily pointed out. "So let's give Lord de Casteele the Eye, he's trained to handle it, let him deal with demons and Cavendish and whoever else wants it. Meanwhile, let's figure out how to get the treasure past the Hawk's men."

"Look around, there's more here than we'll ever carry." Lily said, snapping her fan open and closed absently. "So let's focus on our immediate priority: survival."

[yalenusveler]

"Never mind who happens to be leading the Falkovnian contingent. A certian ambassador with..family ties." Andre added. "So we're in an unpleasant situation. Lily is right. We focus on immediate priority, THEN figuring out exactly who is playing who for a fool."

Andre looked around "Lily, have you magically assessed this area? Beyond the tenebrous company here, do we know if any of the rest of this bears any sort of enchantment? I'd rather not cart off grave goods if there exists a chance that they cause something unpleasant like nephritic rot."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Survival ... is not enough," Lia says, voice low. "And if we hand that gem over to De Casteele, we won't even have that. There is an archfiend inside that thing. It allowed a novice priestess to become an infernal empress. What do you think it will do for a powerful wizard, who is incidentally also the head of a secret organization of unknown scope?

I can summon someone who probably has the power to carry us all safely away from this place and past the Falkovnians. He will want payment, this is true, but we are surrounded by treasures of legend. There is sure to be a way for us to compensate him.

But before I summon him, I wish to see that gemstone destroyed, and the fiend slain. Call that my price, if you need to."

[yalenusveler]

"Yes, because a fae lord is going to certainly want payment in cash." Andre said, trying to keep from rolling his eyes and failing utterly. "You have no idea what will be desired as payment, or if he CAN be summoned here. Plus, we don't know if destroying the gem will release the fiend unto the world to cause havoc and demand infinite rice pudding." Andre sighed, now certainly feeling the headache coming on. "As for Lord Balfour, there are certian...rules. When one desires the world, one tends to not want to have it only as a puppet to another. I trust him about as much as I'd trust myself to win single combat against Jervis, while I was drunk, and hopping on one leg. However, considering that the Ambassador is NOT a madman, unlike Pelletier, or at least the sort of madman one can make understand that certian things ARE dangerous, they're appraised of the Cavendish situation."

Andre shook his head. "Nevermind the bastard decided to play "I've got your shape!" with the Ambassador. That's the kind of thing which certainly would create some bad blood, and make one want to stop a general violation of concepts of reality."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"You are right," Lia admits. "I do not know whether the ritual Menetnashte gave us to kill the fiend is legitimate. I do not know what kind of price the BloodThorn will demand for such assistance."

She looks the professor right in the eye: "Shall I call him now and find out, just so we'll have the matter clear for all of us?"

[yalenusveler]

"We're also forgetting that some of our companions are in the hands of the Falkovnians. And after the "Steal back Andre's heart" escapade, the Ambassador likely expects such from them. We absolutely cannot take steps that would put them in undue danger." Andre sighed. "How likely is your fae patron to know anything even remotely useful? Or be able to get here? I'm not taking it off the table, mind...but I think the Oracle might be a better bet. *IF* it's even safe trying to call her here."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"He has seemed well-informed before now," Lia replies placidly, "and he certainly knew about Menetnashte. I do not know how useful he can be. But by all means, let us consult the Oracle; she seemed to be fine with Ronov's aura, so why not that of his master? Call her, do, if you like. ... We really should have made such enquiries before now," the mage sighs.

[DocBeard]

Tomas closes his eyes and takes a slow, calming breath. Those nearest to the warrior might feel a familiar pressure in the air, much like the charged air of the previous room of the dungeon.

"Fasshad, what exactly is your plan, here? You're talking a good game, and you are sincere, but your actions are contradictory. Professor Devereaux said this thing should work-I trust him, and I trust that Meneshante has a legitimate reason to want Beherith dead." Tomas's eyes narrow. "So what is the other option?" Apparently Lily's 'let's give it to an evil wizard' idea is being ignored. "Because if there was ever a time to lay your cards on the table, including why you are so worried about what the Eye'll do if a fight breaks out, it's now."

A pause. "Your grandfather's okay, by the way." Tomas offers, perhaps as a peace offering. "He was out of town when Muhar was occupied."

[Kaitou Kage]

"No, Lia," Kuzan said softly, "I won't leave the others outside in Vedarrak's hands."

He turned to Sam once more. "We forced you to do nothing," he said calmly, "Nothing."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to keep the growing storm at bay. The priest had countless words he could say to Sam right now, dozens of accusations, reprisals, and claims. But Sam was so convinced he'd done the right thing that there would be no convincing him otherwise. It was time to divert the storm. When he opened them again, it was like looking into the golden sunlight at the eye of a storm.

"No one is supposed to die, but people will. If de Casteele gets the Eye, then we have to kill him. If anyone forges the pact with the demon in the Eye, we have to kill him. Or we must leave this thing buried forever and tell people it never existed in the first place. But the Eye must not go back to de Casteele or to Cavendish, no matter whose authority you claim to be working under."

He glanced at Charles, then back to the Conspiracy as a whole. "Clearly something you were doing is illegal -- why else would you need official pardons?" He held up a hand. "There is no need to explain, but you also have no claim to high ground here. However."

Now Kuzan looked directly at Fassahd. Part of him wanted to berate the man. Some follower of Anubis he was. Bringing people here to plunder a tomb he was religiously bound to protect. If he wasn't acting under Berith's command, then he was an apostate of the highest order. But it wasn't a time for such judgments.

"You may not take Tomas's word, but perhaps you will take mine. You think you know what Menetnashte was, but you only know what you have heard. You did not live through it. You did not see the terrors she unleashed on the world, nor the struggle to overthrow her. You have no idea what that Eye is capable of. I saw the terror firsthand. My mother and I fled Har'Akir to escape it. And Menetnashte would never have gained her power if not for the Eye."

He breathed deeply again. "Whether you all act legally or not, surely you can understand what this means. Do you all really wish to see Menetnashte's reign repeated in our timeline? Imagine what would happen if Cavendish got ahold of the demon's power? Or Vedarrak? We may not have a choice to risk our heads, but we can't give it to de Casteele."

An idea seemed to strike Kuzan like a bolt of lightning. "Can we fake it?" he wondered, "Can we somehow make a false Eye with magic? This place can't be scryed on -- you can barely find it if you don't know where it is. If enough of us tell them that it turned out to not be what everyone expected, we might buy ourselves time to deal with it."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"I would not have made any kind of deal that excluded our comrades, Kuzan," Lia says, her voice still soft. "As for creating some kind of decoy ... How? You have created some fine items during our trip, but this ... I could contribute some illusion spells to the cause, I suppose, but to make something that defies the attempts of powerful spellcasters to identify it and simultaneously makes them believe it is the genuine article ...? What all would the thing need to be? And how would you have us make such a thing?"

[Kaitou Kage]

"I don't know, I don't know," Kuzan said, "But there haven't been many other ideas. I'm not saying we make an all-powerful magic device, only that we make something that looks like the Eye is supposed to. But then how do we hide the real Eye?"

The priest considered for a moment, then uttered a short prayer in Rajian. "शो जादू"

Detect magic

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"We don't," Lia replies. "We destroy the wretched thing as well as its occupant, so there is no proof that what we bring out is not what we were sent to get. It might work. Provided the right people are willing to speak for all of us."