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CCC
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:08 am |
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Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am Posts: 11381
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You enter the city of Cimmura before sunset (the gates are closed at sunset) and head on over, following Vanire's directions, to the cathedral.
The streets seem fairly quiet, though there are a number of workmen about, minding their own business.
Nate: Alertness: +4 Roll: -2 Total: +2 Felix: Alertness: +2 Roll: +4 Total: +6 Arkady: Alertness: +1 Roll: +0 Total: +1 Roger: Alertness: +3 Roll: +4 Total: +7
Pandions: Stealth: +0 Roll: -1 Total: -1
The workmen are clearly a squad of Pandion knights, trying and almost hilariously failing to be subtle and discreet. (Roger's pretty sure he caught one of them actually saluting at one point). It's at the point where the normal citizens of Cimmura are deliberately avoiding the area, fearing that the presence of that many Pandions suggests that someone is expecting trouble and it might be better not to be around when the trouble hits. While they don't follow you into the crypt, several of them do head into the cathedral (claiming a need to 'say their prayers') where they will be within earshot, should someone or something leap out to oppose you.
Anti-climactically, nothing does so. You make it safely down to the crypt below the cathedral, where you notice immediately the stench of death that had accompanied the last ghost; and there is a man, seated upon one of the tombs. He is dressed in faded robes, and wears a crown...
Nate: Alertness: +4 Roll: +2 Total: +6 Felix: Alertness: +2 Roll: +0 Total: +2 Arkady: Alertness: +1 Roll: -1 Total: +0
Nate recognises the crown on the ghost's head instantly; it looks exactly like the crown worn by Queen Cehlana, trapped within the crystal that preserves her life.
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balthazar
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:37 am |
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Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:57 pm Posts: 4102
Location: Currently on expedition.
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"Your Majesty."
It's not a question, but a statement.
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:34 am |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:16 am Posts: 9081
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Felix nods in acknowledgment of the ghost.
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:46 am |
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Moderator of DOOM! |
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Joined: Thu May 30, 2002 12:00 am Posts: 15852
Location: Yes.
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His professional training and personal opinions being somewhat at loggerheads here, Arkady opens himself up to take in the scene on another level. He's idly wondering how fast Piper will slip out of his field of vision this time.
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:33 am |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:16 am Posts: 9081
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Out of idle curiosity, Felix activates the video capture function on his visor. Partly to have recorded documentation of this encounter. Mostly to see if the ghost will even show up on the recording.
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CCC
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:11 pm |
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Piper doesn't so much slip out of Arkady's field of vision, as turn out not to be in it at all. Arkady can feel Piper's presence behind him, comfortingly familiar - and ahead of him, Death. Arkady sees the ghostly King as no more than a translucent shade over an animated skeleton; but above and beyond that, this crypt is itself a place of Death. Yet not entirely in the negative sense; the crypt is a place where the Dead go to rest, and perhaps because of that, the Dead can linger as ghosts longer here than almost anywhere else.
"I'm not sure I ever really deserved that title," says the figure on the tomb, sadly. "I was never a very good king, when I was alive. I listened to all the wrong advice, from all the wrong people. And then... one day, they went to far. And I thought I could stop them, so I said 'no'."
He turns to face the Terrans. "He poisoned me, you know. In my last days, when I was on my deathbed, he actually gloated about it. I... wasn't in any state to do anything about it at the time. I imagine he thought that meant it was safe."
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:20 pm |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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"There were suspicions that you had been poisoned," Felix says. "No one who believes it is in a position to legally do anything about it, though. Now the Queen lays poisoned and the forces that be rush to save her life before it's too late."
Felix sighs.
"How can we help?"
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:37 pm |
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Arkady asks "Primate Raven gloated that he poisoned you?"
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CCC
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:06 pm |
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The King nods. "I was," he says. "And the villain hath used the same vile concoction against my daughter, pushing her out to the House of the Dead well before her time. He called the poison Darestim, though that is barely important; what is of import is that there is only one way by which such a deadly poison can be cured with certainty. The Lady Sephrenia knows of a spell that will cure even the uncurable, if accompanied by the use of a sufficiently powerful magical artifact. But know this; there exists in this world but a single artifact that holds sufficient power to cure my daughter from the poison that lies within her body, even now. Only the Blue Rose can cure Cehlana; no lesser artifact has the strength."
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:13 pm |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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"Oh... Oh dear," Felix says. "I thought any artifact would do... This doesn't bode well. I was thinking a combination of a lesser artifact and Terran medical knowledge could do the trick. We can prepare an antidote and everything."
Felix sighs.
"I've heard stories about the Blue Rose. Supposedly we need two rings in order to avoid being destroyed by it. I don't suppose you have any leads for us?"
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:35 pm |
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Arkady's eyebrow rises. "Your majesty, we are needing an artifact that can kill a god to save your daughter?"
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CCC
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:16 am |
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"It's a powerful poison," says the ghost, "it needs a powerful artifact. As to the rings, there I can be of some help; for, by happenstance, one of the rings lies within this very crypt. All my life I wore it, never once knowing of its true significance; and as I lay dying, poisoned beyond all hope of cure, I hid it to prevent even the slight jewel that it held from falling into the Primate's hand." He pats the tomb on which he sits. "You will need to open my tomb."
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weremensh
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 11:07 am |
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Arkady pauses for a second. "Where should we look for it? We would rather not be disturbing your body more than we need to."
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Kajin
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:16 pm |
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Gatekeeper of Niftiness |
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Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:16 am Posts: 9081
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"Permission or not, grave robbing was not among the list of things I signed up for when I came to this world," Felix sighs. He goes to open the tomb. Mindful of Arkady's desires, he waits for further instructions after doing so. He does examine the contents of the tomb to look for the ring, but doesn't touch anything for the moment.
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CCC
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 5:21 pm |
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Joined: Wed May 15, 2002 12:00 am Posts: 11381
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"In my right hand, thou wilt find a spear. Unscrew the blade from the shaft, and look within the socket; there shalt thou see the first ring."
When Felix shifts the heavy stone lid of the tomb - an activity which requires significant effort - he finds a short spear held as described.
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