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Storyteller Leaving the corpses of the temple guards behind in the room where they'd discovered Melody, the very attractive and sharp-tongued blonde sacrificial victim-to-be, the Solars are now faced with the difficulty of reclaiming their lithic friend Xar while keeping hold of Melody, a big metal-bound book of "magic", a sacrificial knife and an unconcious (finally) priest!
Storyteller They can at least be glad that Melody isn't making any trouble, she's settled in to simply being a very quiet and biddable would-be-sacrifice, clinging to Myrrh.
Corve looks around as they try to decide how to do what they've got to do. The Assessor is a shapr man, he knows about deadly and tight predicaments, but right now, he's a bit worried. "I've got the sinking feeling this might be a tight fit," he murmurs, almost under his breath.
Myrrh "Well if we can get Melody out we can just go and get Xar in the confusion. Either that or Xar can make his own way out. He can fly after all..."
Corve clarifies their dillema for his friend: "Melody -and- the deadweight... and the book."
Carmine "Don't we need to be in here until ... something happens though? And we're not just leaving the horrific beast free to rampage are we?"
Corve looks at Carmine and raises a brow. "Love, I can find as many excuses and reasons to stick around as we'll ever need--but we have a big one why we need to go out at least for a bit: we can't fight if we're worrying about Melody and our black-robed friend over here. It'd be a lot easier to fight the beast if we could interrogate him," he nods to the unconscious priest.
Myrrh "No we aren't but we can't have these two in the crossfire..."
Corve "He might have pertinent information as to how to beat the beast back into its hole in hell."
Corve mutters under his breath again, as he looks around nervously. "Not to mention I'd be a lot more comfortable knowing what the fuck it is I'm fighting."
Carmine gives an unconvinced look. Still, it would let her get Eminence back, and that was important.
Xar'Rex is now known as High`Priestess
Corve smiles at her. "Anyway... we need to get -out- of here."
High Priestess hurries down the hallways, looking for a handy servant to bitch at.
Myrrh "Well maybe we can find a handy window..."
Corve looks at Myrrh with a raised brow. "It's a ziggurat."
Carmine scowls "It's ...her!" she says, in a harsh and annoyed whisper.
Corve blinks, looking up at the sound of footsteps. "Errrm," he says. "We've got a problem..."
Myrrh "Then we make a window."
High Priestess corrals a servant, probably two corridors away from the sound of it, and her piercing voice reaches the wary Circle. "Where is he? That stupid assistant priest was supposed to be assisting with the preparations!"
Myrrh "Well i don't think we can handle another body..."
Corve "We have a more pressing matters... everybody hide," he says, tossing Myrrh his share of the priest's weight and shooing them off as he hides Judging Thunder again and fixes himself back up as a servant. "Go!" he hisses.
Myrrh finds a nice wide shadow to hide in!
Carmine hides with Mrryh
High Priestess is now known as Harassed`Servant
Harrassed Servant speeds down the corridors, mumbling to himself
Corve moves towards the sound of the High Priestess' steps so as to intercept her incoming.
Harrassed Servant pauses, asking another servant, "Have you seen The Assistant Priest, Ithulan?" "That way? Thanks." he heads towards you.
Corve looks up at the incoming servant and steps right in front of him. "You look agitated. What's wrong?"
Harrassed Servant "The b...-ahem- The High Priestess is demanding I find Ithulan." he gives you a conspiratorial look, servant-to-servant. "They're so incompetent. They'd never function without us, eh?"
Corve grins at the other servant and rolls his eyes. "Tell me about it. I saw Ithulan going that way just a bit ago, actually," he says, pointing down a random hallway that would take the servant in a completely erreneous direction. He pats the man's shoulder and gives him a sympathetic look--it's actually genuine, as he knows the High Priestess is a bitch--and nods. "Go get'im, before she comes looking for -you,- hmm?"
Harrassed Servant "Thanks. Good luck staying out of her way, right?" He hurries off.
Corve chuckles a bit. "Thanks."
Corve motions for the rest to stay hidden, as he moves forward to see if he can get any idea of hos close the priestess is.
Harrassed Servant is now known as High`Priestess
High Priestess can be heard yelling at another hapless servant about how the silver isn't properly polished
Corve tries to figure out if there's anyway they can all get by her without her seeing them... this is getting complicated.
High Priestess chases the servant off down a different hallway
Corve waves the rest of the group over frantically. "Let's go," he says. "Before she comes back."
Carmine nods emphatically. She really didn't want to meet her again. Unless she could kill her, and she just knew Corve would complain at that
Corve would only complain if it hindered this whole affair. After the beast and all that, he wouldn't mind. He didn't like the priestess at all.
Storyteller is now known as Melody
Melody "How are we going to get out of here?" she whispers quietly
Corve looks at his companions. "Alright... umm... you guys stay here. I'm going to find some less conspicuous clothes for Melody... try to think of how we're going to get the idiot out with us," he says quietly, sneaking off into the shadows, quickly making his way down the hall that he sent the servant down.
Myrrh "I think we're going to sneak you out as a servant...and sneak him out somehow..."
High Priestess is now known as Harassed`Servant
Harrassed Servant is muttering to himself, down the erroneous corridor, looking in doors, and otherwise not finding Ithulan. "Cursed man.. where ARE you?"
Melody "Is that the -whole- plan? And who's he?"
Carmine "He?"
Melody "He said you had to sneak "him" out somehow"
Carmine gestures at the unconcious body, now lying on the floor
Melody "Oh."
Melody "Why are you bringing him?"
Corve siddles carefully towards the servant from behind, his footsteps quiet, his eyes sharp as he slides his hand under his clothes to slide Judging Thunder out. He doesn't plan on shooting the man, but it'll be easier to knock him out with a sharp blow to the head. As he nears the back of the man, he raises the rifle, and brings it down with a vicious, sharp jab.
Carmine "We want to know who you were going to be sacrificed too."
Myrrh "Yes, so we can fill it full of lead."
Harrassed Servant *URK!* "Ow, what'd you do that for? Did the Priestess send you after me?"
Corve rolls his eyes. What's with the tough mooks, anyway? Wasn't this hard back in the day! He swings the butt of the rifle sideways, orichalcum shining meaningfully as he slams it into the man's jaw.
Harrassed Servant squeals, and collapses against the wall
Carmine "Anyway, what do /you/ know about what you were going to be sacrificed too?"
Melody "Of course I know."
Corve quickly undresses the man and bundles the clothing up, shoving the body inside one of the rooms and closing the door, locking it if possible. He hides his rifle again and heads back, sneaking up behind Melody and dropping the clothes on her shoulder. "So talk to us about it," he says.
Myrrh "Well what is it? Does it have any weaknesses?"
Melody "How should I know what its weaknesses are? They weren't teaching me to kill it!"
Corve "Well, -what is it?-"
Melody starts changing into the servant's clothes, handing her sacrificial victim clothes to Myrrh.
Melody "The Shajumani."
Corve looks at Carmine while Melody changes.
Melody "You, um, man with the big gun. Can you tie up my laces?"
Melody turns her back to Corve.
Corve looks at Melody, then Carmine, then Myrrh. "Myrrh's the clothes man," he says.
Melody "Oh. Well will you do my laces?"
Melody turns her back to Myrrh
Carmine steps up. She isn't as gentle as perhaps she could be, but the laces are tied up.
Melody coughs once or twice when Carmine jerks very hard. "Thank you."
Carmine smiles "You're welcome."
Corve coughs and smiles. "Now we just need to figure out how to get this jackass out of here," he mutters, prodding Ithulan with his foot.
Melody "You have lovely hair, you know? With a little bit of highlights it'd be just stunning. Ever considered the sap of the jupinga tree?"
Carmine blinks, surprised. "...No, I haven't." she smiles a little
Myrrh "Hmmm...a behemoth..."
Corve looks at the girls and rolls his eyes. "While I appreciate you two getting along, I think we have a more pressing concern," he says, pointing at the schmuck under them. "So, we--" he looks at Myrrh. "--you're kidding."
Myrrh "It was defeated but not killed. Punished somehow. If I had more time..."
Myrrh "This was back in the first age though."
Myrrh "Not kidding. Huge primordial monster."
Carmine smiles broadly
Melody "Oh, yes. It's a behemoth. A huge monstrous nasty thing that lives underground now."
Melody "They were going to send me down into the pit and make me its 316th wife, so it could father misshapen children upon me to help it raise its army of servants."
Myrrh "...oh my."
Corve looks at Myrrh and Carmine, jaw gaping for a moment. "... just my fucking luck."
Melody "Oh, I wasn't really worried about that. You see I'd bribed one of the guards. He was going to kill me tonight before they could send me down."
Myrrh "Well you're in much better luck!"
Corve rolls his eyes. "You people are crazy," he says, leaning down and grabbing one of Ithulan's legs, beginning to walk away.
Myrrh "We can get you out of here without the slightest bit of killing you."
Melody "I had rather hoped."
Myrrh helps Corve drag him.
Corve stops. "Hold on. Why the hell are we carrying this fool if we already know it's a huge primordial creature with tentacles?" He assumes, of course, since there were tentacles on the book cover.
Carmine seems in a much better mood. Apparently she had nice hair AND she was going to get to fight a behemoth.
Carmine "...Maybe we should go and get Xar?"
Melody "Who's that?"
Myrrh "Well then tie him up and leave him somewhere.."
Melody "I didn't know it had tentacles...but then I never saw it."
Melody looks thoughtful.
Corve "Our friend. We're definitely going to need him. Alright, you guys stay here again," he says, lifting Ithulan and tossing him over his shoulder, walking towards the hallways he got the servant at.
Melody "It's fine with me if you shoot him! Don't have to spare my sensibilities or anything!"
Myrrh "Oh just leave him alive. It'll be fun to see his reaction when we kill his god."
Melody sighs, saddly.
Corve drags the man to the same room he took the servant, undresses him, and proceeds to use the clothes to tie them both up nice and tight, and gag them so they can't scream. He then returns, dusting his hands off on each other. "Right then."
Carmine "Where did you leave him anyway?"
Harrassed Servant is now known as Xar`Rex
Xar'Rex contemplates life as a statue. So underappreciated.
Myrrh glances to Corve. "Alright, are we ready to go?"
Myrrh "Up in the main dining hall where you can go otherwise our cover will be blown.
Corve "Some empty room down the hall I sent the servant. Tied and gagged them. Hopefully it'll hold. I think our best bet is to get Melody out now, while one of us gets Xar, then come back." He looks at Carmine. "Besides, you need Eminence, love, if we're going to do this."
Myrrh "I'll wheel him and the rev out. And then we'll run in and blast this dang behemoth."
Myrrh "What will you two do then?"
Corve "We're going to sneak Melody out, take her back to the hotel. Carmine can grab Eminence, and we'll come back. Wait for us with Xar at the closet where he got put when we arrived."
Melody "I'm just supposed to sit in a dirty hotel room all night?"
Myrrh nods. "Well we can just leave you here and let you be molested by the tentacle behemoth..."
Corve turns to Melody and raises a brow. "Unless you want to grab a sword and try to help us... but if that's the case, I'm not going to be responsible if you die a horrible, messy death."
Carmine "We won't take all night anyway."
Melody sighs. "Alright. I'll stay in the hotel room."
Myrrh smiles and heads out to go and grab Xar!
Corve "Thought so. Alright, split up, let's go. We'll hurry as much as we can, Myrrh." He nods to his friend and claps him on the shoulder. "Good luck." Then he grabs Carmine's hand and points Melody towards the general exit of the ziggurat. "Let's go."
Carmine "Good. Then we can talk about jupinga trees and things later..." Carmine walks out with Corve
Xar'Rex catches sight of how pretty he is, in the reflection of some vacant bureaucrat's eyes.
Corve drags his insane, amnesiac girlfriend and her new beauty-buddy out of the ziggurat steathily. Once they're about a block away, he makes a sharp, reptialian-seeming sound. The scraping of large talons can be heard, as Jaks comes into view.
Melody is somewhat startled, reasonably considering the result, as a large dinosaur appears before her, with a saddle on its back. "What is THAT?"
Carmine "Hi Jaks"
Xar'Rex goes back to contemplating statuehood as a life-path.
Corve "My best friend. Get on."
Myrrh wheels the cart into the main hall, looking for Xar amidst Hisskit, the Salamander goddess of lust and Kirkpaw the reptilian god of apathy.
Corve smiles as Jaks nuzzles Carmine, sniffing her hair.
Carmine helps Melody get on Jaks
Melody looks at the lizard under her. "I don't know about this..."
Melody "I don't really get along with reptiles.."
Xar'Rex spots his friend out of the corner of his stony eye
Carmine gets up behind her
Myrrh wheels the cart behind Xar and whispers. "See anything good?"
Corve lifts Carmine onto the reptile and then leaps on behind her. "Let's go, buddy," he says, and Jaks bursts into a sprint, his taloned feet pushing off the paved streets and ripping through them occasionally as he practically flies over the pavement.
Xar'Rex "Mmmhmmm"
Myrrh "Good! We have some interesting news as well but I can tell you when you get in the closet again..." Starts to put Xar on the cart.
Xar'Rex idly wonders if their past few hours have been as interesting as his.
Corve speeds with the two women on the raptor. They get to the hotel quickly, and dismount. He barely says 'hello' to the receptionist as he makes his way up the stairs, checking to see if the girls are following.
Myrrh wheels Xar towards the closet where the Revolution is hidden.
Carmine leads Melody upstairs.
Corve opens the door and reaches under the bed, holding up Eminence in its sheath. With a smile, he hands it to Carmine, and then points at the bed, looking at Melody. "-Stay here.-"
Xar'Rex waits until they are away from people before stretching a little, and settling back into his statue stance. "Well, did you have fun?"
Storyteller It takes about two hours, but everything goes smoothly. Like silk. Not raw, nubbly silk, but the smooth, processed silk. Without much more trouble the Circle is reunited inside a closet in the ziggurat, happily sitting around on boxes and crates, discussing the events of the past day. Myrrh has already been caught up by Xar, but now everyone is getting the news.
Myrrh "Well we knocked out a assistant priest and stole their sacrificial victim from the tentacled behemoth and his wives and minions. You?"
Corve is carefully checking that he has all his armaments back (including his machete) and several more clips of ammunition for Judging Thunder and his sixshots as he listens.
Xar'Rex "Oh, there was a big party. Lots of food that I could not eat."
Xar'Rex "They dedicated the party to Rivoshi, and the Great Serpent of Shadows."
Myrrh "...oh..."
Xar'Rex "Oh, and the other two City gods. But you do not know them."
Corve blinks. "Great Serpent of Shadows? Great..."
Carmine "...Oh..." She guilty glances down at her wrist
Xar'Rex scratches at that itch he's been ignoring for the past several hours
Xar'Rex "There's a behemoth?"
Corve sighs."Yes..."
Xar'Rex nods a bit, "Then I shall keep the stone form on. I do not wish to be crushed."
Myrrh "Yep, leftover from the first age, breeding an army of monsters below the zig."
Xar'Rex "How many monsters in his army?"
Carmine "Lots!" Carmine remarks, happily
Myrrh "Well he had 300+ wives...average birth rate assuming it's low..."
Myrrh "And since they sacrifice once every..." Does a few mental calculations...
Myrrh "Lots."
Xar'Rex "Is he bringing them?"
Myrrh "Not sure but he'll have alot less once we get through with him."
Carmine "Maybe." hopefully.
Corve snorts. "We need a strategy. This isn't like that one-eyed idiot... we need a plane this time around."
Carmine "...plane?"
Corve "Plan."
Carmine nods.
Corve looks at her with a raised brow, and then smirks.
Xar'Rex "Yes. What do we know about the behemoth?"
Corve "Not enough."
Myrrh "Well we might try saving his many many wives..."
Xar'Rex "And is the Serpent of Shadows going to come?"
Corve "You tell us."
Xar'Rex shrugs, "He was not at the party."
Myrrh "I should hope not..."
Myrrh "Especialy since his followers are against the worship of other gods..."
Corve sighs. "Again, I say, we need a plan. We can't just barge in there and shoot it..." then again, that's probably exactly what they were going to do. He sighs.
Xar'Rex "Why can we not?"
Corve "Because that's most likely going to get us killed."
Xar'Rex "A Behemoth, it is a large being. We should try to make it hard for him to reach us."
Corve "Anyway... you know, we're assuming the beast is going to rip the ground and slither out because it didn't get its sacrifice. What if it -can't-?"
Myrrh "Well it was punished..."
Carmine "Then we go in and find it."
Carmine "I guess it /can/ get out, or why do they placate it with pretty girls?"
Xar'Rex "It was punished? For what?"
Corve "Who says they placate it? The sacrifices are for it to build it's army. My thoughts is that they WANT it to come out, and are trying to help it."
Xar'Rex "You should let it eat you, and then cut it apart from the inside."
Carmine considers this idea
Corve looks at Carmine with a look that explicitly says 'no.'
Myrrh "For fighting on the side of the primordials..."
Xar'Rex "Or I can, but I do not think it will find me tasty."
Carmine pouts
Corve doesn't want to lose her because she wanted to pretend to be beast-chow.
Xar'Rex "What does it like to eat?"
Carmine shrugs
Myrrh "Well I'm not sure behemoths need to eat...they just kind of eat because they think they need to."
Corve "Does it really matter? We just need to evade its eating us."
Xar'Rex shrugs
Xar'Rex I have always wished to see the inside of a Behemoth.
Corve "You can look at its insides after its dead."
Xar'Rex "How will you kill it? The outsides are known to be tough."
Myrrh "Well we could crush it with the ceiling..."
Xar'Rex "Hmmm.
Carmine "Wouldn't that involve collapsing the city too?"
Xar'Rex "That may work, but it will fall on us too."
Myrrh "Drat..."
Xar'Rex "The city is corrupt, they celebrated the coming of the Serpent."
Corve sighs and scratches his head slowly, shaking it and putting his forehead on Carmine's shoulder, trying to think of something useful.
Carmine plays with Corves hair idly.
Carmine "That's true."
Myrrh "Well I don't think everyone knows about the cult. It would be a bit harsh to abandon the whole city for the actions of a few..."
Xar'Rex "All the ones at the party did. There were many."
Xar'Rex "The ones who were not here, will not be harmed. They will not be in the zig-gu-rat."
Corve nuzzles Carmine's hand and then finally raises his head up, looking at them. "It occurs to me it's not really relevant. We can't know what kind of plan we need unless we know the creature, and we won't even see it until we fight it. I suggest those that can stay away and keep fighting do so... and provide cover to those that can't." He's not happy to say it... he doesn't like the idea of Carmine being the only one near the behemoth.
Carmine on the other hand, seems quite happy with this arrangement
Xar'Rex "Maybe we can make a cage, or bindings for it. One can sneak down and see what it looks like?"
Corve doesn't like that arrangement.
Corve "It's risky."
Xar'Rex "All is risky. Are you Chosen or not?"
Corve "I'm Chosen, doesn't mean I lose the right to choose how crazy I am. I'm going to fight the thing, but I'd rather do it with you by my side, not because I tripped and woke it up while I was alone trying to figure out how to chain it."
Myrrh "Well having a cage wouldn't change the fact that it's breeding an army down there...hmmm.."
Corve "That, too."
Xar'Rex "No but it would be easier to kill if it could not reach us."
Corve nods. He puts his head back on Carmine's shoulder, sighing.
Xar'Rex "You seek to protect her. It is crippling you."
Xar'Rex "And she, I think, does not want such protection."
Corve doesn't say anything, closing his eyes.
Carmine "It's true." she says softly into his ear
Myrrh "Xar, I don't think we can trap it easily without it knowing. And it's minions might just release it."
Xar'Rex "I am not suggesting a permanent solution, but a way to kill it more easily."
Corve lifts his head. "Xar... Myrrh... how big do you think the hole under the ziggurat is?"
Xar'Rex "Behemoth big."
Corve "Isn't it conceivable, then, that with your combined archtectural and crafting knowledge, you could find the weak spots of the ziggurat's support structure, and drop the entire thing on it if we hit those spots?"
Xar'Rex "The key will be not dropping it on YOU."
Myrrh "The key would be not crushing everyone in the entire place."
Corve "As long as we four survive, I don't care about the rest."
Myrrh "-I- care Corve."
Myrrh "If we run around not caring about who gets hurt we just become like the deathknight and the cult."
Xar'Rex "Then you must warn them."
Corve sighs.
Carmine "Why do we even have to collapse the place? All that will do is mean we can't reach the thing."
Xar'Rex "Go, warn them. I will look at the behemoth."
Corve "You're right... but..."
Xar'Rex "But, but but. We will never do a thing with all of your but."
Xar'Rex rises, and heads for the door.
Corve looks at Xar and sighs. "Yeah, alright. Let's go."
Xar'Rex heads for the behemoth's chamber!
Myrrh nods and goes to scare everyone out of the ziggurat!
Corve follows Myrrh. "Hey, how are we going to get them all out, exactly?"
Carmine heads with Xar. The high priestess certainly wouldn't listen to Corve or Myrrh with her around
Myrrh "Oh by the way Carmine I think I found something that's even better than the root..."
Myrrh "I'm a glowy man with a giant gun. It should atleast get their attention!"
Carmine "...Myrrh?"
Myrrh "What carmine? I'm an alchemist! I know a thing about dyes!"
Myrrh I'll show you once you wash all the behemoth bits off of you."
Carmine lets out a small hmpf. She liked her hair the colour it was. She stalked off with Xar
Xar'Rex matches his thudding steps to Carmine's lithe ones. The ziggurat shakes a little with his passing.
Corve pauses, looking over his shoulder at Carmine. He doesn't want her there... her choice. He bites his tongue and walks past Myrrh, unholstering Judging Thunder. "So let's scare some idiots."
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