< Talking Up A Storm | Ex Pulplogs | Lady In The Red Dress >
ST The storm god had hemmed and hawed before finally agreeing to their request. An hour after dawn the next day was the soonest he could manage such a thing. The Circle had given him the information as to where the storm should start and how long it should last and left him to his muttering and whimpering. "Effie" wasn't pleased to be involved in this, but he had agreed.
ST The Ill-Omen whisked the Circle away from Gem, carrying them through the night until they arrived at the supposed location of the City Under the Sands. Peering over the side of the Omen, no one could see anything but sand and scrub. A few rocks. Nothing that hinted that once a vast city had stood here and was now under the desert, still intact.
ST Sixth had taken the time to rouse from his slumber in the back of Corve's head and confirm they were in the right place. But that was all Corve could wrangle from the ghost living in his mind. This was where they needed to be. Sixth didn't know anything about what might wait for them under the sands or any ways in or out. He and his Circle had intended that no one ever enter again.
ST There really wasn't much to do except wait until the storm started. Though Carmine took exception to that and went down to the desert to wander for a while.
ST Corve had gone with her, but returned to the Ill-Omen alone and looking quite unhappy.
Xar`Rex "So, when the storms come, we go in? Loud or quiet?"
Corve "I'd much prefer quiet, at this point," Corve says, looking grumpily in the direction her returned from.
Myrrh "Well that depends on if the thing is awake...I don't relish having to fight a giant monster and his hundreds of undead minions."
Myrrh glances at the glaring Corve. "Trouble?"
Corve says, "Ruby. She dropped by. Carmine and her left to talk alone."
Xar`Rex frowns. "I do not trust her."
Myrrh "I don't see why Carmine would bother. She's not a very talkative woman."
Corve "Unless she has questions." Corve nods to Xar's assessment, and pushes a hand through his hair.
Myrrh "So will it be safe for her when the storm kicks up?"
Xar`Rex "She will be fine. She's Carmine. Sand will not hurt her."
Corve shrugs, "I don't think storms are something Carmine worries about. Her Charms are advanced when it comes to handling herself in wild areas."
Myrrh "Well I just know that if I was dressed in as little as she is, i'd have issues with sand."
Corve "If you were dressed in as little as she is, I'd have issues with blindness," Corve tells Myrrh, smirking despite himself. He's still grumpy! But that's a damn funny thing to mention.
Xar`Rex "Hm." He lays out the relics from the tomb. "I hope these are enough."
Corve squeezes his smashfist-clad right hand. "Me too."
Myrrh "Should be. Could be anyway. Too many unknowns."
Captain Oteki wanders on out of his quarters, and approaches the gathered Solars, listening in on their conversation.
Xar`Rex waves to Oteki
Xar`Rex runs a claw over the assembled artifacts: a pair of Ori bracers, a diamond necklace, a set of Ori earrings and a golden arrow. "We should decide who will use what."
Myrrh "Well Carmine can't use the necklace. I have the bow...I'm not sure what to do with the earrings myself. I think I could use them but...they seem much too powerful to be sure."
Corve "I can wear the necklace."
Myrrh "Well it does bring out the color of your eyes...
Xar`Rex "IF you wear the necklace... be careful not to hurt Carmine."
Myrrh "Well Xar, do you think you can wear the earrings? I mean you don't have...ears."
Xar`Rex "My people wear such jewels here," he says, gesturing to the ridges above his eyes and along his head.
Corve "That should work. Hand over the necklace," Corve says, rolling his eyes at Myrrh.
Myrrh carefuly hands them over to Xar, these things were scary.
Xar`Rex takes the earrings
ST Time passes slowly, but eventually enough has passed for the Circle to have arrived at the correct juncture. The Sun has risen and the winds are picking up. Soon the sandstorm promised by Effie will be in full force and the way into the city, with Sixth called Daskim, will be revealed.
Corve has on a purdy purdy necklace. "I hope Carmine makes her way back before we actually go in. We sort of need her for this one." He clenches his smashfist. He's like a walking tank. There's a sword on his belt, Valor's Fist on, and he's loaded with ammunition for both his six-shooters and his orichalcum rifle. His coat's on; and he's got a nice, matching fedora.
Myrrh would normaly have his rifle at the ready but it's slung on his shoulder, instead he has a rather common looking shortbow in one hand and the deadly golden doom arrow in the other.
Xar`Rex has arrayed himself in his battle gear as well, looking like a marble statue clad in shining golden armor and jewels. He has added some war-paint for the occasion as well. "I hope so too."
ST As much as everyone hopes, Carmine still has not reappeared by the time the storm starts lifting sand into the air. Nor has she appeared when the skies darken with the flying clouds of sand. By the time the Ill Omen is shaking and shuddering, trying to resist the pull of the raging sandstorm and everyone has eaten more then their share of sand, there is still no sign.
ST Xar, well accustomed to sandstorms, informs the others that the storm is nearing its peak and Carmine has not yet appeared.
Corve pulls his fedora's rim a little lower, to keep the sand as much from his eyes as he can. "She'll be here. Or she'll follow." He sounds certain of it; and he keeps his eyes semi-shut. Sand hurts.
Myrrh has his goggles down, confident in them to keep the sand out. He had added a few...widgets.
Myrrh "I'm sure she wouldn't miss a chance to fight a gigantic monster."
Xar`Rex simply doesn't seem bothered by the sand. It just bounces off the stone of his eyes.
Xar`Rex "She will probably be there before us."
ST As the storm rages huge clouds of sand blow away from the desert and more sand is revealed. Still no trace of the city, secret passages...anything...Well, that's somewhat unhelpful. The Circle glares angrily at the desert, wondering of Ogon was wrong about this whole "giant sandstorm" thing.
ST But no, as a truly amazing blast of wind scours away a sheet of sand, the way into the City is revealed. The blowing clouds of sand have scoured away an illusion, revealing a vast skeletal body laying in the depths of the dunes. The whole of the Ill-Omen is barely as large as one of the skeletal hands.
ST Clearly not the body of the Shadow Serpent, it still represents the only thing they've been able to find under the desert. This must be the way into the city!
Corve "Great. More giant things." Corve pulls his hat down lower to protect him from the sands. "We ready?"
Xar`Rex "Into the belly of the beast..."
Myrrh "Well I wouldn't call it a beast. I think the traditional term would be Behemoth although since it's dead..."
Corve "Don't make me smack up upside the head, Myrrh," Corve jests lightly, jaw tense. He nods forward. "Let's go."
Xar`Rex leaps off the side of the boat, and hovers next to it
Myrrh leaps off the boat and tries to aim for Xar's back. Although give the windshear...
Xar`Rex slips sideways a little to catch him
Corve follows Myrrh. It's like a Leap of Faith. Only instead of an invisible path, there's a dragon king!
ST With the two Solars on his back, Xar flies to the skeletal giant. Even Sixth would have to pass on his wrestling trophies to this beast. It appears to have been some kind of massive human-type creature, though it had four arms instead of two and a single massive eye instead of two slightly less massive eyes.
ST Xar lands before the skull.
Xar`Rex looks into the eyesocket
Corve "He's a big'un, ain't he?" Corve snorts. "Do we just wlak into its mouth? Last time I walked into one of these things' mouths, you died," he tells Xar.
ST Which, apparently, is what must be done. Xar can see faint traces of wear on the bones of the eyesocket.
ST Also, there doesn't appear to be a back to the eyesocket.
Xar`Rex "I haven't died." He snorts. "I think we go in here."
Corve "Well, I thought you had!" Corve would stick his tongue out at Xar, but it's all sandy around here. "Let's go then. Carmine and Oteki will find us."
Xar`Rex climbs in
ST The vast hollow of the skull is not empty. It opens into the spine, which is nearly five feet across. And hollow. A person, short admittedly, could easily climb down into the spine and...to where ever it may lead.
Myrrh "Hm. Hollowed out."
Corve "I guess we have to crawl. Do you fit in there, Xar?"
Xar`Rex climbs on in to see
Xar`Rex grunts as he gets stuck, and then, stretches himself oddly to make himself long and narrow, and slithers on down
Corve "Weirdo." Corve follows. He can fit if he crouches; but he prefers to crawl. Much easier on the knees, in the long run.
Myrrh crawls easily, with his long history of manse infiltration he's used to tight spaces and deathtraps
ST There don't seem to be any deathtraps inside the spine. And aside from the experience of crawling through a spine longer then many redwood trees are tall, there are no problems. Arriving at the tail end of the spine is an interesting experience as the hollow widens rather then narrows.
Xar`Rex steps aside to let the others through, in the wider area. Well, squishes aside.
ST And opens into a stone building, full of sand, dust and footprints. Hundreds of prints left from no doubt years and years of travel through the spine.
Corve "Place looks hospitable enough, no?" Corve asks them, dryly.
Xar`Rex "There must be people here." he gestures to the footprints
ST The only way out is through a simple, ordinary looking stone door in the stone wall. About seven feet tall, four wide. Pretty thick looking. Grey stone, like the rest of the building. If anything else was ever inside this building it has long been removed. So long that not even traces in the dust remain. Looks like just a square stone room.
Xar`Rex tries the door
Myrrh "Careful Xar, Carmine isn't around to re-attach limbs
Corve "Don't lizards grow their limbs back naturally?" Corve asks, absently.
Xar`Rex "I hope not to find out." He pushes the door
ST The door doesn't budge, but a curious thing happens. Xar is blown backwards into Corve and Myrrh when there is a flare of black from the door and an even bigger explosion of golden light from Xar's face. The blast leaves Xar woozy and staring at the door, which has developed a black coating of ash and grime.
Xar`Rex grumbles and picks himself up off the floor, testing all his limbs to make sure they're still working.
Xar`Rex "Traps." He grunts.
Corve "Well. That was fun."
Myrrh "Figures. Although frankly i'd prefer crushing boulders."
Xar`Rex wipes the ash from his face, basically ending up with whitish streaks. He approaches the door with more caution this time, checking to see if there are any further traps.
Corve "Well, I do get cardiac exercise from the boulders," Corve comments, watching Xar and moving aside, in case he gets blown back again.
ST As best Xar can determine, it was thanks to the earrings in his head-ridges that saved him from having his soul ripped from his body by the enchantment surrounding the door. There doesn't appear to be another trap laid into it, but this one still survives.
Xar`Rex touches the earrings thoughtfully, then nods to himself. "The trap is still there. Myrrh, help me to disable it? But stay behind me - these give me protection. I do not know about your arrow."
Myrrh nods and stands behind Xar, not really wanting to be blasted.
Xar`Rex studies the workings of the trap, and how to trigger it... and working backwards with the knowledge to how to disable it
Myrrh studies the essence laden formulas as pointed out to him by Xar, considering the dust and thinking about the intent of the designers. If I was a mad dead behemoth how would I turn it off?
ST It appears the trap requires a fairly simple ritual to disable it, allowing the cultists to pass. The nature of that ritual, however, is not so easily apparent.
Xar`Rex grunts, and tries the stone wall next to the door
ST The stone wall has no reaction to Xar.
Xar`Rex pushes his palm flat against the wall and moves the stone aside, allowing him to pass through,
ST The wall offers no resistance, allowing Xar to pass through easily. He steps into a whirling sandstorm and even his stone eyes are challenged by the virtual wall of sand flowing through the area.
Xar`Rex retreats back through the wall, shaking sand from himself
ST The magic of the door yields to Myrrh in just a few minutes, allowing them to pass through the door rather then having to deal with passing through the wall like Xar. But, saddly, they don't have any way past the vastly horrible sandstorm raging beyond the small cubicle.
Myrrh "Hm. I think Effie is laying it on a bit thick."
Corve "Not sure this is Effie's doing."
Xar`Rex "If it is, I shall have words with him."
Myrrh "Well any idea how we're going to get past?"
Myrrh "The door should be fine by the way. A smudge here, a counter arc there..."
Xar`Rex "I cannot stop the sand. But I might be able to shield you from it."
Corve "It ain't so bad, tho'." He closes his eyes a little. "Shielding'd be nice so's we can see where we're goin', tho'."
ST Between Xar's magics and Myrrh's goggles, everyone can see where they're going. At least to a vague degree. A few feet of clearance isn't much in a vast and uncharted city inhabited by deadly deadly cultists and more. It is, therefor, fortunate that the first living being the Circle encounters is human.
ST Wrapped in heavy layers of black cloth and a veil protecting his eyes from the sandstorm, the cultist doesn't even notice the giant lizard and two Solars until he is practically walking up their feet. When he does notice, he takes a moment longer to realize they aren't friends.
ST Belting out a coarse yell, he tries to lose himself in the storm!
Corve asks, "We did say stealthy, right?"
Xar`Rex snorts. "Catch him!" And he lunges for the robed man in service to his own suggestion.
Corve prefers to do something a little less physical. He pulls a sixshooter and delivers two hard-lined bullets, straight at the cultist's ankles. No one's going to hear the shots in this raging storm, anyway.
ST Xar's tackle takes down the fleeing cultist, though just barely. Between a clever kick to take Xar's feet from under him and a lunge toward an open doorway the man almost escaped. But Xar's wings saved the day. Both of Corve's bullets strike into the ground as Xar and the cultist are no longer where they were a moment ago.
Corve "Hrm. Lucky bugger." Corve walks towards Xar.
ST The veiled cultist doesn't struggle in Xar's grip. Odd.
Xar`Rex hauls the man back to the others, and gestures back towards the doorway they came in, out of the storm.
Myrrh heads back to the DOOM DOOR.
Xar`Rex brings the man out of the storm into the first room.
Xar`Rex "You worship the serpent?"
Corve back with'em, and twirls his gun a little, looking at the cultist with a raised brow.
Cultist does not reply to this rather stupid question. He stares blankly forward, his face hidden by his protecting veil. Just as Xar's question was ignored, so is Corve's posturing. The bundle of robes stands in Xar's grip and does not respond.
Xar`Rex pushes the hood back from the cultist's face
Cultist The face revealed is female, not male as previously assumed. She looks at the three holding her captive with supreme disdain on her soft golden features. She's really quite pretty with her clouds of inky black hair, flawless olive complexion and shining black diamond eyes.
Corve curses, and reaches over, grabbing the cultist by the throat tightly as fast as he can manage. "She swallowed something!"
Corve adds, tilting his head a little. "And... she's damn gorgeous..." Like he feels the need to say it.
Myrrh "Be careful! Don't bruise her neck you oaf!"
Xar`Rex squeezes her stomach to try to make her spit up whatever it was she swallowed
Cultist gags a little as Xar tries to make her vomit, which she avoids with grace.
Corve "Too late," Corve mutters, letting go of her throat. "She swallowed whatever it was."
Xar`Rex dangles her upside down, not at all unhappy when that causes her robes to slip down.
Corve coughs a little, and doesn't seem to object.
Myrrh "What's a woman so beautiful doing in a horrible place like this?"
Cultist gives a cry of protest as Xar dangles her upside down, revealing the tight leather pants and supportive, functional bra she was wearing under the robes.
Corve "Well, being gorgeous doesn't necessarily mean she's nice, do it?" Corve scrubs at his beard a little, eyeing the woman. "And she don't look like she's gonna talk, either."
Cultist wiggles in Xar's upside-down grip, trying to free herself.
Myrrh Well I rather doubt we can just hitch her over our shoulder and infiltrate the base." Gets some rope!
Cultist The closest thing to "rope" Myrrh can produce is the robes that their new prisoner is wearing.
Cultist is slightly muffled, being upside down and all. "What do you think you are doing? This is no way to treat a lady."
Myrrh "Well while you're certainly a lady you're also running around the guts of a dead behemoth in the middle of the desert in a huge storm."
Myrrh "Kind of suspicious."
Cultist "Dead behemoths don't have guts.
Xar`Rex "But you are here."
Cultist "So are you. Isn't that suspicious too? I'm a reasonable woman. I see no reason not to discuss this without such uncouth treatment."
Corve "You're the one dressed as a cultist," Corve points out.
Xar`Rex "We are not here to worship. Stop wasting our time."
Cultist "There's no need to be so hostile." She gives Myrrh and Corve sultry looks.
Xar`Rex "Tell us who the carrier of the spark is."
Cultist "I refuse to have this conversation upside down."
Xar`Rex sighs and rights her, a bit more gently than he really ought
Cultist brushes at her concealing robes. "There is no need to hold me. I have only a knife, what am I going to do with that against three powerful men?"
Xar`Rex "That is enough distraction. Corve, ask her."
Xar`Rex can't help but watch her as she moves though he doesn't relinquish his grip, it loosens quite a bit.
Corve blinks, shaking his head a little and looks at Xar. "Hrm? Oh, right." He turns to look at the girl, and with a charmed voice, he asks: "Now. Who is the carrier of the spark?"
Cultist smiles at Corve now that she is being treated a bit better. Between her smile and her eyes, Corve is having some considerable difficulties not the least of which is concentrating on his questions. "Why, I don't know what you're talking about."
Corve blinks. He doesn't ask again. He just kind of... looks at her, tilting his head a little.
Cultist laughs a little at Corve in a charming way. Myrrh finds himself somewhat offended that the woman is paying so much attention to Corve and hasn't even glanced at him!
Myrrh frowns at Corve. "Anyway..."
Xar`Rex looks from one man to the other, the scents of human lust and jealousy mingling in the air. He pulls the hood down over her face again, and glares at his companions. "ENOUGH!" he shouts at them. "Do you not remember what her goals are? Do you not remember the women you love?"
Cultist gives a muffled protest!
Corve BLINKS! "What the..." He frowns at Xar, and then shakes his head a little, snarling. "Damn. Little bitch. Keep that mask on her."
Myrrh "Oh that's just rude..."
Cultist has achieved her goal, however. Distracting the intruders long enough to allow the alert raised when Xar first activated the soul-trap in the door to draw attention. There is a rather massive explosion as the door into the room is blown, along with most of the front wall, into bits. Standing in the sandstorm are several cloaked and masked figures, all armed.
Corve says, "Damn," rather unecessarily.
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