Dear God! Knowing that some of his friends are, shall we say, men of decisive action, Halifax quickly says, "I'm all right, ladies and gentlemen! Some sort of illusion...I guess." Halifax, through conscious effort, resumes breathing.
Printable View
Dear God! Knowing that some of his friends are, shall we say, men of decisive action, Halifax quickly says, "I'm all right, ladies and gentlemen! Some sort of illusion...I guess." Halifax, through conscious effort, resumes breathing.
The priest nods, satisfied, and withdraws the sword. He begins speaking again, directing his comments to Halifax. He speaks slowly, with hand gestures.
Hassan translates, though it's obvious there are still subtleties in the language he's missing:
"Nyarlathotep walks the earth and does the bidding of even darker creatures. He seeks to open the gates to let those creatures through. There are many locks and many keys. The Openers have tried many times before and they have partially succeeded, by opening the gates long enough for children to be altered. So long as seven new locks are cast into the gates, they will close again."
The priest pauses, holding up all five fingers on one hand, then flashing two more for seven. It would appear he wants them to remember that number.
"I have a lock, but it takes many years to create a new one so do not lose it."
As the priest has been speaking, a statue has gone through the doorway. It comes lumbering out with what looks like a stone vase in its hands. It's covered in markings and appears to be completely sealed, with not so much as a seam at the top of it.
"This is Set's Urn of Storms. Who will carry it?"
Athens sighs to himself and speaks up. "Does anything we ever talk ever make any sense? What are the two of you on about? Locks, keys, gates? This makes sense to you?"
Halifax steps back, thinking that giving the valuable and difficult-to-replace stone urn to the blind guy is probably not such a hot idea.
How big is the urn?
The urn is eight inches tall. Aside from the fact that it is sealed, it's similar in shape to:
http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/c...es/battery.jpg
"It sounds like the gates being opened is what made us ... different, Athens" says Millie, who is really not liking the sound of 'darker creatures'. "I suppose I can carry the urn - I haven't had any destructive mishaps yet."
Is this the individual who is projecting the sadness and loneliness Mille felt earlier?
It is.
Hassan translates and the priest gives a short nod. He takes the urn from the statue and carries it to Millie to hand it to her. He says something with a faint smirk.
"He says, 'be careful, mishaps will find you now.'"
When Millie takes the urn she will feel a faint tingling, similar to static electricity only not quite so strong and more constant.
"Yipe! Um ... alright. So is this the lock? How would I ... lock things with this?" She looks from the jar to the priest and asks "how long have you been down here?"
As the sword is thrust through Halifax's chest, Hong Kong tenses, ready to rush to the other man's aid. When Halifax doesn't scream or bleed, though, he relaxes again. Despite a strong urge to examine both the sword and the wound it should have made, Hong Kong stays back.
The priest waits for the translation, then smiles slightly. "It is one of the locks. If you cannot stop the Openers, then when they attempt to open the gate you push the locks through it. They will help it close again. Where the gates are changes each time, so I can't help you determine where to go or how to find the other locks."
He frowns at the last question. There's a brief moment of confusion as Hassan asks him several questions to confirm before translating, "Nearly five thousand years."
"Someone should leave him a book" laughs Athens. "Ask him if he's got any other useful information for us before we go back up and away from this crazy place."
Knowing that exits can be just as risky as entrances, Athens again cradles this Thompson in his hands in preparation to lead the party back up and away from the tomb.
Sydney lets out a low whistle when he hears how long the guardian has been here. He also has an odd thought after Athens's jest, and says to Hassan, "Please ask the poor bastard if we can leave him anything now, or bring him back anything if we ever come by this way again."
Berlin has held back during the interaction, the hair on the back of his neck rising when the sword is used but apparently causing no damage. These things are in no way his expertise! The Jar catches his attention though and he slides up beside Millie to get a better look at it.
Hassan translates Athens' question, then struggles a bit trying to figure out what exactly he's being told again. "The Openers will have an easier time finding you when you carry locks. They're always looking for those that may try to stop them. If you follow the--I don't know what he's trying to say--some sort of lines? A river? Current? If you follow them from the places where omens begin to occur, you'll find the gates. Omens are odd happenings, apparently."
When Hassan translates Sydney's question, the priest laughs, then responds with a suggestive quirk of his eyebrow. Hassan turns red as he tries to translate. "Writing to learn your foreign tongue would be pleasant as would...um...a woman's company."
Berlin's accute senses will notice a few things about the urn. Despite the fact that it appears to be quite solid and dry, it smells of damp earth. The whiff of copper and ozone he'd smelled when they entered the tunnel is apparently coming from it as well.
When there's a free moment, if this is feasible, Sydney will take one of the novels from his baggage and, with Hassan's help, write a short English-to-hieroglyphic glossary on the inside covers. That should get the ancient guardian started, at least (and it appears that he has plenty of time to learn).
As for his other request, I don't suppose any of our party's women would care to volunteer...? Er, no, never mind.
Sydney also says, "I guess I don't quite understand why we're supposed to take the urn with us. Wouldn't it be safer here?"
As soon as Hassan finishes translating Sydney's question, the priest is stepping over to Millie again. He gently plucks the urn from her hands, turns back toward the doorway he had come through and touches several of the symbols on its side.
Everyone except for Halifax is temporarily blinded as a lightning bolt shoots out of the urn. It lights up the other room, which looks like an ancient Egyptian laboratory with all sorts of strange instruments in it. The bolt hits a post of copper near the far wall, buried deeply into the ground. To Sydney it would appear to be roughly equivalent to the maximum amount of electricity he can manipulate in a day.
"It is Set's Urn of Storms," he repeats.
"Well, that's a handy little stunt," Halifax says. "Hassan, would you ask him if just anyone can make it do that, or is there some trick to it?"
Millie cocks an eyebrow at Sydney. "Volunteer? she whispers. "Really?"
After the priest performs his demonstration and Halifax asks his question, she asks "does it have to do with the writing on the Urn?"
After Hassan translates Halifax and Millie's questions, the priest looks quite pleased.
"Only those with the mark of the gate on them can use it. Your entire party can. Yes, it is the writing."
The priest turns the urn in his hand as he demonstrates which symbols to push and in which order. There are three, in this order: the "squiggly line" water symbol, a quail chick, and a crocodile's head.
"In this order only. Any other and it will kill the one holding it."
Millie cautiously takes the urn back, closely examining the symbols. "How often will it work? May I try it?"
The priest seems to be quite pleased with all of Millie's questions. As soon as Hassan has translated, he responds. "Three times a day before it needs to recharge. Only do it through that doorway away from everyone or you'll be traveling alone."
"Well, we couldn't have that," smiles Millie.
She carefully positions herself as the priest was standing and very carefully touches the water symbol, the quail chick and the crocodile head.
When he sees what Millie is doing, Halifax immediately drops flat to the floor, prone, and covers his head with both hands.
Just as before, the urn shoots lightning across the room to strike the copper post. Millie will feel it grow warm in her hands and that tingling she'd felt before grows stronger. She'll feel it in her feet, as well.
The priest says something, which Hassan translates. "He says that using it will attract attention and we should be on our way again quickly. To the north of here there's an island where we may be able to find more information and another lock. I...think he's describing Crete."
Halifax stands back up and dusts off with a small smile.
Sydney sidles up to Millie and says, "Thanks for agreeing to carry the urn. It'll be good to have someone else in the party with an electrical talent. I'm, ahem, positive it'll come in useful."
Millie beams at Sydney and Halifax, saying "all of a sudden I don't feel quite so bad that I never learned how to shoot a Tommy gun."
She nods and smiles at the priest. "Thank you very much."
Recife, "Ah Crete, I have always desired a visit to Crete. Do you suppose we might journey to the labyrinth? After today I would not be surprised to get the next piece of the puzzle from the Minotaur himself. By the way, remind me to pick up some heavier arms. Maybe something that is armor piercing."
The priest smiles and nods to Millie. "He says you, specifically, are welcome to return any time you like."
Athens nods to Recife, "I may know of a place where such things could be obtained in Crete. However it is very important that we remain, ahem, discrete while visiting. There are many kinds of unwanted attention we could attract."
Recife replies, "Thanks Athens, let's also plan on a small shopping trip for the group on my expense. So if you come up with something and we can buy it on the way to Crete let's do so. Greek and Italian ports would hardly be out of the way by much."
Mille takes a break from blushing to reply to Recife: "Shopping would be a good idea; I didn't exactly pack with an eye towards tomb-raiding."
As the party discusses the next leg of their adventure, there is a sound from the room behind the priest. It sounds somewhat like cymbals rattling. The priest turns back to the party and says something sharply.
Hassan translates, "He says we must leave now and hurry. The use of the urn is already being noticed. There's no more time."
"I'd ask what that noise is, but I don't really want to know," says Millie as she unconsciously starts backing up. She looks at Hassan: "Is our friend going to be safe down here?"
Hassan translates and the priest responds, "Put the stone in place as you leave and leave quickly for your own sake. It's doubtful anything will enter here because of my defenses, but you can be trapped."
"All right then, it's time to go! No need to stand here gawking." Holding her lantern in one hand, and the urn underneath her other arm Millie starts making her way out the way they came in.
Sydney will bring up the rear, ushering the others along ahead of him if necessary, and watching for any attack from behind.
The party makes it out of the tunnel easily. The sun blinds them when they first step out, however, and Millie will notice that same unpleasant atmosphere she had felt in Rosetta. There are no people in sight for it to be coming from, however, and while the horses seem uneasy it isn't coming from them.
On the eastern horizon it appears that storm clouds are accumulating and moving quickly in their direction.
"How long is the ride back to the port? Can we beat the storm?" asks Athens to Recife. "I don't want to wait it out down there and I don't want to get caught in whatever is coming with that storm."
Halifax bends his mind towards the oncoming storm. He allows his sight to show him what it will, hoping (but not expecting) that it's but wind and dust, nothing more sinister.
Halifax will see that the clouds are formed of something far worse the human mind could readily conjure. Behind the dust that's being stirred up by the movement, they are massive mounds of flesh, tar-like in color and consistency. Occasionally eyes seem to float to the surface of the bodies to look around or limbs lash out to pull them across the ground, but for the most part they are structureless blobs.
"I agree with Athens," Halifax says quickly. "That storm is bad news." He shares the details of what he sees with the group.
Upon hearing Halifax's description, Millie says: "Oh, well that explains it." She'll go on to describe the unpleasant, joy-removed feeling she's getting. "I felt it in Rosetta too - I don't know if it would be a safe place even if we could get there in time."
Do we have any chance of out-riding such a storm? Have any of my occult studies suggested an analog to what is being described? This sounds a bit worse than a spontaneous sponge migration.
At the speed the "storm" is approaching it's possible the horses could outrace it, but not definite. Recife does not recognize the creatures from the description.
"We must ride. Now." says Athens flatly as he mounts his horse.
(Silently) thanking God that the Greek meathead doesn't seem to want to try to fight these things, Halifax mounts up as well.
After taking the time to carefully wrap the urn in a spare blouse and packing it in a saddlebag, Millie will also get ready to ride.
Recife mounts up fast and rides like the wind (well a little faster I hope). He realizes he is going to be hurting badly at the end of the ride but adds a few quick safety lines just to be safe.
Sydney, too, will take to the saddle and ride quickly, but will keep an eye out to see that no one falls behind.