The Eye of Anubis: Book Twelve

[DocBeard]

"Right!" Tomas exclaims, rushing forward, ducking through the crowd and leaping over a chair. "Excuse me, pardon me, sorry ma'am, woah!" Tomas somehow stumbles and trips his way through the crowd, before cooling his heels in front of the catatonic Jean-Pierre Theroux.

Tomas reaches his hand out, clasping the older man on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay." Tomas says, in that strange tone of voice he sometimes gets when his sincerity becomes a palpable quality. "But you need to step up. Your people need your help."

(OOC: Double move to n13. Let me know what I should roll for trying to snap Theroux out of it.)

[Nathan of the FoS]

Charles lets his "voice" continue speaking as he looks around. Fortunately, the crowd has reverted from "frenzied mob" back into "group of respectable queue-forming citizens" and is filing out at double speed. This is such a good idea Charles resolves to follow their example immediately.

Hurrying down the aisle, he gestures largely to the stragglers to follow him as he whispers.

"Well done, M'selle Mourneswaith. You're right, Kuzan, I think it's inevitable Ramsey will escape at some point; I agree we should get to the Opera House as soon as possible."

Finishing my full round action for Diplomacy 41 and taking a move action to N17 (giving a standard action, a full round action, and a move action over two rounds, which seems fair).

[lostboy]

Sascha nods to Kuzan as he steps forward trying to herd the rest out, relexively ducking under the magical fire flying overhead., and bumping straight into an anemic looking noble of some kind loitering next to Devereux.

A red flash crosses Saschas eyes as the man looks at him with a mixture of shock and disdain, ".... and what exactly are you waiting for... an invitation?" Sascha growls pushing the man forcefully towards the exit.

"Professor's would you care to vacate the establishment? And make sure the sheep keep moving once they are outisde.." he adds in an undertone to Carter and Devereux.

The raising his voice again. "The rest of you, heads down, orderly, keep moving! But by the mists move quicker!"

[OOC: intimidate 28 and moving to M14 and doing crowd control, once everyone or most people are heading outside, Sascha will do a rearguard thing.]

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia does not address the people already filing neatly out of the building. Rather, she taps Remy on the shoulder. "Please," is all she says, indicating the exit even as she starts to make a move in that direction herself.

'I have scrolls galore for this,' the wizard thinks as she eyes the confrontation. 'And I dare not read a single one. It'll be a bad showing on all our parts if Ca -- if Ramsey doesn't manage to break out of this one and get to the Opera House.'

Continuing to try and keep every one of the power players in her sight, Lia waits for a chance to gracefully exit the room. She knows she could just fly over everyone's heads and be away, but her comrades are in here as well. While she waits, she tightly clutches her cane.

(OOC: Moving to T14 and waiting for the right time to bug out.)

[Kaitou Kage]

"Ready, D?" Kuzan said, "I think Charles has this mostly under control, so let's get ready to head out."

Readying to move once the crowd clears out a little more.

[The Whistler]

You knew Otto was good at moving in ways that no human had a right to--of spontaneously "showing up" all the way across the room when you could have sworn he was right behind you. You couldn't be sure whether it was attributable to Fey influence, or whether it was a character trait, or what--but you did know that he was capable of it.

You had not, until now, seen Otto move through the middle of a crowd.

Come to that, you *still* didn't see Otto move through the middle of a crowd. There was no visual sign that he actually *existed* within it. Rather, the massed nobles between him and the exit had the momentary impression of an inexorable force pressing southeastward between them: as if someone had summoned the Platonic Ideal of Conscientiously Elbowing People Out of the Way.

And look! There was Otto outside the hall, one spare handkerchief in each hand, directing traffic in symmetrical rows to either side of him. How did he get there, again?

Moving to AD12, with the help of Flawless Stride and Fast Movement

[yalenusveler]

OOC:I am away from my computer and not sure when i'm going to get back tonight thanks to some idiot deciding that rules of things like driving don't apply to them. However, rules like laws of motion do. I am fine, my car is fine, they are fine, their car is VERY not, but they are waiting to make the road passable. As such, I will double move towards the exit by moving into column 13, then straight down, ending hypothetically in N13, since i'm crowded no matter where I go. If there's a better route availalbe i'm not seeing due to seething at stupid drivers, please assume i took that, and provided witty and entertaining fluff text as well.

[NeoTiamat]

Guignol Auditorium, University of Dementlieu, Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu
September 18th, 761, 2:22 PM; Day 184 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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PC Actions:

Lia steps towards the exit.
Charles runs for the exit
Otto runs really fast for the exit.
Tomas moves to Thereoux.
Kuzan readies a move.
Andre runs for the exit.
Sascha moves back

Tomas reaches his hand out, clasping the older man on the shoulder. "It's going to be okay." Tomas says, in that strange tone of voice he sometimes gets when his sincerity becomes a palpable quality. "But you need to step up. Your people need your help."

"I doubt it." The Councilor said softly, then shook his head. He wasn't a handsome man, but he wore the latest fashions and the most elegant clothing you had seen here. His face though, was bitter. "But forgive me. I... lost my wits for a second there. Thank you, m'sieur. I'll let the professionals do their task here."

Jean-Pierre Thereoux gave Tomas a thankful look, then joined the line of fleeing people. He did, however, pause beside D'Honaire's body. You knew it was impossible, of course, you knew that no Dementlieuse nobleman, far less a member of the Council of Brilliance could do what you thought you saw. Nevermind the impossibility of it being done in the middle of an evacuation from a Wizards' Duel.

But, had it been possible, you would've sworn that Thereoux kicked D'Honaire's corpse and whispered something under his breath, likely to the effect of 'Rot in Hell'.

Of course, no Dementlieuse aristocrat would do that, let alone a Councilor of Brilliance, so you obviously didn't actually see Jean-Pierre Thereoux do that. Obviously.

Sarari, Dieter and Carter help people out and function as rear-guards.
Devereux and Remy hustle out.

Josephine Chantreaux makes a Diplomacy check, also helps people get out faster.
Helene deSuis and Jean-Pierre Theroux make for the exit.
Claude LaGrange is invisible, but presumably escaping.

The various members of the Fraternity were certainly whittling away at the Anubite. It is said that "Quantity has a quality all its own", and this held true for this battle. None of the Serpent-ringed mens' spells did more than nick Menetnashte, but these nicks added up. Blood flowed from more than one wound, and entire chunks of flesh had been torn loose by the concentrated force of one or another spell, but though the Anubite resembled less woman and more corpse now, she still moved as though none of this was happening.

Even as you looked, her wounds pulled themselves shut, bone hiding behind layers of organ and muscle and skin, till even the cloth of her robes restitched herselves.

For her next magic, the Anubite chose an old spell, and not one of her own making. Andre recognized this spell, deep in the old carvings of his temple, and Lia could recall reading of it in the most obscure texts. It was considered a fanciful spell, impractical. There was nothing fanciful here now.

Out of the ether, Menetnashte conjured serpents to attack the Fraternity. Brown-scaled vipers and hooded cobras, puff-adders and water snakes fell upon the Brotherhood from above. They looped around limbs and torsos, striking time and again, burying their fangs into the bodies of the Brotherhood, pumping their venom deep into veins.

Dupin cried out, still blind, and fell to the ground, rolling under a chair in his pain, and somehow scraping off most of the serpents in the process. Lacomte was not so lucky, born down under the weight of a thick serpent almost as large as he was. If he lived, it was by sheer luck. Vedarrak struggled against an adder that had looped itself about his neck and spat venom into his eyes, trying to cut off its head with a sword not meant for such close-in work.

This was the distraction Cavendish had been waiting for. With a whispered incantation, he shattered Vedarrak's cage of force like it had never been there. Cavendish sprinted for the nearest door, and then he was out, beyond the reach of the Brotherhood and their teleportation-interdiction magics. A single scroll, a hurried spell, and John Lancaster Cavendish, was gone. There would be time for banter later. He had a demon to bind and a future to conquer.

"You..." Lord Balfour de Casteelle emerged from the pit of serpents, blood and venom dribbling down his body, only as Cavendish disappeared in a thundercrack of energy. The serpents searched for purchase on the old mage's body, but slipped off as he stood. His voice a hiss of rage, De Casteelle whirled on the Anubite. "You... You've ruined everything! You... you... OBLITERATE!"

With a wordless snarl of rage, Lord de Casteelle opened a rift between the worlds, and tossed the resulting void directly at Menetnashte. With a swift pirouette, she dodged, even as the Father of the Fraternity brought around his jet-black void for another pass.

Lars Lorenz double-moves towards the Anubite.
Pierre Lacomte readies a Counterspell against the Anubite with Greater Dispel Magic.
Armand Dupin is blind, and tries to Dispel his Blindness. Fails.
Markos Vedarrak casts Sound Lance. Anubite saves, takes 24 damage.
Eonarda Roeccha casts Horrid Wilting. Anubite saves, takes 22 damage (embarrassing day for the guy, really).

The Anubite casts Plague of Darkened Serpents at De Casteelle, Vedarrak, Lacomte and Dupin.
De Casteelle fails two Fort saves, takes 2 Str, 1 Dex damage. Is not grappled due to Freedom of Movement.
Vedarrak fails two Fort saves, takes 2 Str, 5 Dex damage. Is grappled.
Lacomte fails all three Fort saves, takes 7 Str, 8 Dex, 5 Con damage. Is grappled.
Dupin fails all three Fort saves, takes 3 Str, 3 Dex, 1 Con damage. Is grappled.

Lord Balfour de Casteelle moves out of the mass of vipers and casts Sphere of Ultimate Destruction into L30, attacking the Anubite. She saves, takes 22 damage.

Cavendish casts Dispel to shatter the Resilient Sphere and makes a break for the door. Vedarrak is otherwise occupied.



Victory Conditions!
Primary Condition: Survive and Escape, with minimal expenditure of resoruces that you may need later.
Secondary Condition: Help the Expedition NPCs escape.
Tertiary Condition: Get the rest of the crowd out before they're killed by this Wizard's Duel.

Map Notes: Exits are the door at the top of the map (C21/C22), and any of the edge tiles once you're outside. Merely enter one of those tiles and make clear your intention to get the hells out of there.

Teleportation is not allowed within the auditorium. You can teleport outside however.

Chairs are difficult terrain, that is, they cost 2-squares to move through (this is, I freely admit, an approximation, but I don't want to get into figuring out vertical and horizontal movement rates, I really don't).

The platform is two-feet tall, which does not interfere with movement in any way.

Crowds: This is the big problem on this map. Rather than cover the map in purple dots, I will deem a square to be within the Crowd if there is at least one purple dot adjacent to it. This is an approximation (see below for how many people are actually supposed to be here.)

Moving Crowds: It takes a DC 20 Diplomacy check or DC 25 Intimidate check to convince a crowd to move in a particular direction, and the crowd must be able to hear or see the character making the attempt. It takes a full-round action to make the Diplomacy check, but a free action to make the Intimidate check.

Movement in a Crowd: People in crowds are packed together tightly, sometimes shoulder to shoulder. As a general rule, a single 5-foot square occupied by a crowd of Medium creatures contains three Medium creatures. These cramped conditions make moving in a crowd diffi cult. It takes 2 squares of movement to movethrough a square occupied by a crowd. The crowd providescover for anyone who does so, enabling a Hide check and providing a bonus to Armor Class and on Reflex saves.

A character who ends his movement in a stationary crowd square fi nds it diffi cult to do anything but move with the crowd. He takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, Refl ex saving throws, and all skill checks that are affected
by armor check penalties, and he loses his Dexterity bonus to Armor Class. Being in a stationary crowd square counts as vigorous motion for the purposes of spellcasting (requiring a DC 10 Concentration check).

A character who ends his movement in a crowd square that moved in the last round faces an additional danger. He can take a full-round action to stand his ground, he can take a full-round action to move with the crowd, or he can try to resist the crowd’s motion. A character who tries to resist a crowd in this manner must make a DC 15 Reflex save. Success indicates that he takes the same penalties as for being in a stationary crowd, except that the action constitutes violent motion (requiring a DC 15 Concentration check to cast spells). Failure indicates that the PC loses all actions for the round and is subjected to a trip attack. The crowd has a +8 bonus on the opposed attack roll to resolve the trip attack. If the character is knocked
prone, he is trampled for 2d6 points of damage.

PCs:
Kuzan: 96/96, Stalwart Pact, Greater Resistance, Darkvision, Longstrider
Charles: 68/68, Stalwart Pact, Glibness, Message
Tomas: 129/129, Stalwart Pact
Andre: 39/39 Stalwart Pact,
Lia: 64/51 HP, Stalwart Pact, Superior Resistance, False Life, Greater Mage Armor
Grimmric: Imbue with Spell Ability
Otto: 68/68, Stalwart Pact
Sascha: 108/108, Stalwart Pact,

NPCs:
Carter: Stalwart Pact,
Dieter: Stalwart Pact,
Sarari: Stalwart Pact,
Marchand-Renier:
Devereux:
Remy:
Jervis:
Samael:
Lily:

Fraternity of Shadows:
Lord Balfour de Casteelle: -2 Str, -1 Dex
Lars Lorenz: Anti-Magic Field
Markos Vedarrak: -2 Str, -5 Dex, Shield, Draconic Might, Plague of Darkened Serpents
Pierre Lacomte: -7 Str, -8 Dex, -5 Con , Plague of Darkened Serpents
Eonarda Roeccha: Superior Invisibility
Armand Dupin: -3 Str, -3 Dex, -1 Con, Blinded, Plague of Darkened Serpents

Menetnashte: -134 HP.

Cavendish:

[Rock of the Fraternity]

'This,' Lia thinks as she views the sphere of ultimate destruction, not to mention the swarming serpents, 'is a good time to leave.'

"Moving out!" she calls to Charles and the others. "Excuse me, excuse me," she mutters as she starts to forge through the mass of nobility. "Yes, I am talking to you. No, I do not care if you have a title, move, please."

The cool night air comes as a bit of a relief after the auditorium. The sight of the thick fog covering the city does not. 'We're going to have to run through that? This is a problem,' Lia thinks, frowning behind her mask.

(OOC: Moving through the crowd to X12. If anyone needs spells cast, I may be able to do do that from this position, still.)

[Nathan of the FoS]

It's a dazzling display of magical prowess the likes of which the Core can rarely, if ever, have seen in the past--six master magicians and a terrifying millienia-old priestess going at it hammer and tongs. They will almost certainly write books about it someday--in addition to all the other things this day will give future generations to write about.

Hopefully the apotheosis of one Adrian Ramsey, alibi John Lancaster Cavendish, is not one of them.

And that, in a nutshell, is why Charles is doing his best to ignore the fascinating goings-on surrounding him and pressing for the exit. That and a healthy desire to keep his skin intact and his mind his own. (Charles, for one, is not in the least surprised to see Thereoux kick d'Honaire's body, and is slightly regretful that time does not allow him to do the same before leaving.)

Time is now certainly of the essence, however. Cavendish--Ramsey--the doppelganger is now at the Opera House, presumably, putting his plan into operation. Which means the Opera House is where the group must be, as quickly as possible.

"Meet outside just west of the, ah, hole in the wall," Charles advises as he hurries toward the exit. "Let us get our heads together before we go to the Opera House."

Double move to X11

[lostboy]

Sascha grunts in acquiesence as Charles passes him.

"Move everyone, out, right now!" He shouts to the last remaining stragglers, before physically manhandling any slowpokes away form magical fiery death.

"You too Milady, time to leave before hell itself gets conjured up" he calls toward Josephine Chantreaux on the stage.

[OOC: Sascha will move towards the gap at the pace of the last few people inside. 28 on the intimidate, although frankly if they cant see this as a bad place to be then they dont deserve breathing priviledges....]

[Kaitou Kage]

"All right, let's get moving," Kuzan nudged Dieter and then scurried off, nimbly navigating the path through the chairs and the crowd and landing neatly outside.

Moving or double moving or whatever to get to AD15

[The Whistler]

It seemed scandalously impolite to point out to Charles that he was already outside the hall, so Otto did not do so. Still, the part of him that wanted to justify purchasing a pocket watch with some of his back pay (as opposed to the truly staggering array of arcane safeguards and contingencies that he'd had cast into his tuxedo) was now wishing it could have taken said timepiece out and glanced at it impatiently.

Thankfully, this part of Otto was extremely petty, and easily out-shouted by the threat of wizard's duels and/or incipient mass murder. So, you know.

[yalenusveler]

On one hand, Andre was half tempted to assist the other members of the fraternity. On the other, he was fairly certian that in most faiths of the world, suicide counted as a sin, and he had no desire to add yet one more to his list before any final accounting the Lorelei held. And with that, he continued to make his egress, heading towards the alternative exit Lia had so helpfully provided.

Cavendish escaping...well, some things you just plain expect.

OOC:Double Move to U14, and I believe that is all the movement I can manage due to crowd rules. someone correct me if i am in fact, wrong.

[NeoTiamat]

University of Dementlieu, Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu
September 18th, 761, 2:24 PM; Day 184 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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It was strange. You knew that somewhere behind you was the most frightful duel of magecraft as had been seen in an age. You knew that when you had left, you were in a stream of evacuees and refugees, all fleeing the blood-maddened struggle in the auditorium. You knew that on a clear day, you could've heard the battle between Menetnashte and the Fraternity clear to the Ste. Meres des Larmes. It would have attracted the attention of everyone.

But in this fog, you couldn't see more than thirty feet away. Off to your right, vaguely, you could see the streaming shapes in the mist, the nobility and academia of Dementlieu fleeing. From somewhere behind you, you heard a series of dull thumps, the sound of whatever was happening in the auditorium muffled by the cloying fog. You were not a hundred yards from everything, but you may as well have been in a different world.

It was quiet.

It was cold.

It was not natural.

"There are wounded." Remy panted out. The Expedition, or such of it as remained, gathered in a little group around Charles. Of Guy and Michel, there was no sign. Samael, Lily, and Jervis were long gone. Even Marchand-Renier had disappeared, doing Ezra alone knew what.

"Some of those snakes got loose. We need to help them." Remy bled a little from where a piece of stray glass had sliced his arm, but he barely noticed it. He had grown, over the months of the Expedition, in breadth if not in height. He was still a beanpole of a graduate student, but now there was a calmer, steadier look in his eyes. A more cynical look, perhaps, but Remy was still Remy. "I'll go and see if I can help. I still know a few of those healing charms, Professor Theroux."

"And," Remy quirked a quick grin. "I don't think I'll be much use against Cavendish."

"I'll go with you." Professor Devereux said. The violet-eyed man said nothing else.

"I'm after Cavendish, then." Thomas Carter said, letting out an explosive breath. "I owe him one. My rifle's in my office along with the rest of my gear, we can duck inside, shouldn't take more than a minute."

"I would go with you." Sarari said softly, her eyes locked on to Charles's. "It is proper."

"Me too." Dieter said with a quick grin. "Besides, we had to sit out the whole Tomb, no way are we staying here while Cavendish does whatever it is he does."

Alright! From where you are, on a normal day, it would take about six minutes at a dead run to reach the Opera House. At the moment, given the reduced visibility, the timing is closer to 10-15 minutes.

Now is the time for any last minute strategic distributions, planning, or what-not.

Also, now is the time to decide which NPCs to take with you. On the one hand, more NPCs = more allies. On the other hand, more NPCs = significantly greater chance of one of them being killed. Remy and Devereux are staying behind to care for the wounded. Carter, unless a lot of people try to dissuade him, will be coming along. Sarari and Dieter are offering to come along, but can be dissuaded by Charles and Kuzan respectively.

Grand Opera Nationale, Port-a-Lucine, Dementlieu
September 18th, 761, 2:24 PM; Day 184 of the Menetnashte Expedition
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James Blake paced behind stage at the Grand Opera House, dressed in his work clothes. Actually, two sets of work-clothes, since he'd thrown the janitor's apron over his own clothing when he came here, and the empty bucket he had contained both mop and augmented repeating crossbow. Up on stage the matinee performance of some Borcan work was going on, whose name James would have had trouble pronouncing. One of these days James made a note to become cultured.

"Where is the bastard?" James grumbled under his breath. Something had gone wrong at the ceremony. He just knew it. The boss had been caught, or the Eye wasn't there, and everything was going to hell in a handbasket. James knew it. He better get out of here before the Fraternity showed up. He had zero intention of ending up on a dissection table.

But James had taken Ramsey's money, had for years, and it wouldn't be right to bug out, not now. Besides, you don't betray a supremely powerful heresiarch without making sure he's dead unless you want a very elaborate way to commit suicide.

"Five minutes." James grumbled to himself. Then he'd be out of this place in a minute, out of the city in fifteen, and out of the country by nightfall. He'd heard Nova Vaasa was good this time of year. Too many cats, but James could live with cats. "He gets five minutes."

================================================

Three minutes had passed by James's watch when he heard screaming coming from up on stage. He pulled back a curtain to watch. He'd already subdued the whole backstage crew and stuffed the snoring bodies into the janitorial closets anyway.

He arrived just in time to see the tail-end of a flash of acrid green light, light that had transformed itself into the familiar top-hatted figure of John Lancaster Cavendish. He stood upon the stage, dressed like the undertaker of hell, while dancers and singers stood about him and stared. It was certainly a show-stopping event. A miniature sandstorm whirled about him as he put both hands on the broken quarterstaff and looked out across the crowd, grinning like a shark. Literally.

"“Ladies and Gentlemen! I fear I must interrupt the scheduled showing to bring you the performance of a lifetime! A two-parter, folks, beginning with The End of the World as We Know It by John Lancaster Cavendish, and continuing with The New World Order by Adram of the Pomath!”

Someone in the crowd screamed.

"Philistines." Cavendish sighed. He waved a hand. "Schrodinger, kill them."

The swirl of sand leapt forward, transforming into a frenzy of stone talons and scimitar-sized fangs. James withdrew his crossbow and headed onto the stage. Cavendish turned and smiled.

"Ah, Blake, I was looking for you. Go find some survivors and tie them up, we'll need hostages. We've company coming in..." Cavendish withdrew a silver pocket watch and consulted it. "Ten minutes. I want everything ready in seven."

"And then.... it's showtime."