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The wizards disembodied voice trails away.Dont get your hopes up.
"My life was a vain pursuit in knowledge and power for its own sake. Thank you for granting purpose that I did not know I lacked." I will go directly to spy on our enemies. If I see Modius on the way, I will not confront him. I may be able to learn something that will sway the tide. Stratos draws a few sigils and signs on his hands, then passes them over his body, as if he were wafting smoke toward himself. He vanishes from sight. Don't worry. I can be quiet when I need to.
The great one wished to be buried in a tree under a grove in one of the woods here. I hope it is on the way. We have little time to waste. Barbarian. Your life was purchased dearly. Isat gave seven years of his life to you, and Rufinus gave five. Possibly half his span. We have enemies at the gate. Swear your fealty to Paper. We all did so, and oaths are needed to keep peace. You spoke of the price to pay to your axe, well there is blood aplenty to whet its appetite. Rafi and some fat priest have marched an army into this place, and are killing our friends. This is the man who burned Paper's home to the ground, and tried to kill us.
Perhaps he has had a sudden rash of piety, and is going to save his soul from further peril at the hands of all this Greek wisdom and knowledge. As to Hrothgar. I appreciate that he may be a useful ally in battle, but the man is likely to meet a violent end. I will not give of my span of years to a man who squanders them for bawdy and pointless pursuits. I already have too short a time to learn all that is left, and one philosopher is worth a hundred men at arms. What?
I thought you sent him somewhere. He left after Paper and Lysoskevevos last night. I thought they bade him come. He followed short after they went downstairs. He was quiet, but I thought he was trying not to wake you. Did Paper not summon him?
I'll be downstairs, glutting myself on scrolls.
I will head back along the road then. I will leave while you grant Hrothgar his life again. First, I will be spending a bit of time in the library downstairs. He points to the book on the marble table.Imperator, you have homework. He gives a quick smile.
We are a day and a half away from our foes. We need better intelligence. Perhaps I can go ahead, and see what I can find out. I can turn invisible a few times a day. If you give me leave, imperator.
But there is so much you could still teach us. Surely there is no need for you to throw your life away to save a simple warrior, charming as I am sure he was to those who knew him. It seems a poor trade.
When Levi left, he might have been captured. He would not have the book on him, and might have opened the tomb under duress.
I will protect this realm, and I see the wisdom in investing the title in one person, to avoid bickering, by which I mean to say that I approve, and swear fealty to noble Paper, but first to the defense of this wondrous place, and the treasure of learning in this tower. I will bend my art and will to defend it, and to support your crown. Is there a crown? Regardless of headgear, I swear... Let me try that again. I swear fealty to the land of the marble tower, and to Gnaeus Cornelius Papyrus, the rightful Caesar. I thought Caesars were emperors. Surely you are but a king. Is this an empire? Not that king is lesser, of course. You know what I mean?
The Gates is a book of immense power. It is a spellbook and tome in one. I fear that the followers of Kristos seek the book also, and that they have come to this realm after us. Your land is burning, and we do not know by whose hand. Levi Bram left us in your false tomb. His succubus took the tome, and will use it to gain the brood of Lilith the inheritance they seek.
I am an adept of the hidden way, I have the stone, and I have the flame. My master is Arhithex, and his master was Uriman of the order of Hermes. My name is Stratos Kopteros. I am from Athens.
I am also a notary and lawyer, but that is just to pay the bills. Stratos shows remarkable restraint, and lets the rest speak. He is biting his lip. He looks like a schoolboy eying an unguarded plum tree.
"Let us not tarry. It would be rude, much as I would love to spend a while with these books. My curiosity about their owner presses more."
Don't expect any help from us this time, you treacherous coward.
Trembling slightly, and staring hungrily at the profusion of documents and tomes."We are the most fortunate of men to be here."
"I think we are making good time. Why did Crassus not take us on the path in the first place?" Stratos looks blue with cold. Like most thin men, he has little in the way of insulation.
"I count five possibilities, each more dire than the last. First, we could have unwittingly broken some taboo, and angered Thereus. Second, the centaurs that are foe to Thereus may have made thier move. Third, Levi may have come to this realm, Fourth, Levis succubus may have come through the wards that held her away, and last, and most grim, Rafi and his killers may be upon us. I do not see how that could be possible without magic of their own, but the hellhound they had shows that they are not without arcane resources of their own." Some weirdness is swallowing this post if I try to post as Stratos. I tried about four times.
"I count five possibilities, each more dire than the last. First, we could have unwittingly broken some taboo, and angered Thereus. Second, the centaurs that are foe to Thereus may have made thier move. Third, Levi may have come to this realm, Fourth, Levis succubus may have come through the wards that held her away, and last, and most grim, Rafi and his killers may be upon us. I do not see how that could be possible without magic of their own, but the hellhound they had shows that they are not without arcane resources of their own."
"No names! by all the daeva!"
Stratos moves over to where Isat and Paper stand. He says "Mind if I take a look?" He bends down low over the faerie city, and, to Isat's sudden consternation, picks up the acorn cup. Isat: Spoiler:
Isat suddenly sees two overlapping magisteria. An old acorn cup in Stratos' grip, and the intact acorn house in the jewelled city. Logic resolves the gordian knot, and the illusion evaporates. As he straightens, Paper drifts toward the deep woods. His calves bunch, as he readies to heed a phantom call. Initiative checks again. Anyone who beats Paper's initiative by two or more can intercept him. Crassus is not in line to do so. Rufinus seems not to have noticed, and is moving toward Crassus. Stratos is bent down over the toadstools. Unless Paper rolls an initiative of 18, Stratos will be able to intercept him.
Stratos suddenly twitches back to full awareness, brought back by the pain of the burn, and by Isat's reassuring presence. "I...I was lost in some sort of eudaimonia. I smelled a powerful smell of milkwoods, and felt a presence calling me. It was female, and sensual, and yet startlingly feral. I wanted nothing more than to go to it. To her. She promised me knowledge. It was as if you were all retreating in a mist, no longer flesh, and no longer important. I would have run to my death. "
"I see it now. The eyes of my eyes are open."
Stratos starts walking into the woods directly. He seems completely distracted, and has turned pale. He has his arms open wide, and is muttering under his breath. In Persian:" For the root of all magic is the symbol. The logos. Logos. Creatrix. " It looks like he is gathering to break into a run. Any of you can make a dex check to intercept him. Roll a d20, and try to roll under your dex score.
" I called out their names. When I wanted" points to Modius "him to stop him" points to Paper
Downcast, and obviously upset with himself"I am sorry. I failed you all. I was not thinking."
Stratos speaks in his babeltongue, and presses the palms of his hands to his eyes. When he lifts his hands, his eyes have turned silver and cloudy. "This is not a being we should talk to. It is a fiend from the hells. It is evil through and through, and it is trying to break a ban. I don't know what it needs, but it wishes us spite. I detect great evil here."
How in the hells did you get so close? Who are you?
Quietly "Keep your cross and steel handy too."
Looking wistfully at the tear "My old master told me that at the culmination of my studies, I will be able to cross the sea of silver to distant worlds and other planes. I asked him when I would finish my studies, and he laughed and said "Hopefully sooner than I will." He never lied to me, but I thought him a liar when he told me his master could bridge realities. "
Something beginning with R
"Do you mean that spider is three hundred years old?"
Darkly "A thaumaturgic link more likely."
If we could get this devil back to our home, we could make a few drachma from the curious and idle.
Gentlemen. I trust we have all read or heard The Oddysey. Perhaps it would be wise for each of us to get some beeswax from Isat's prodigal pouch.
I don't think any of us will ever be able to tell people what happened to us here. We would be thought mad. At least I can tell Hermocrates. We still have Rafi and his men after us. We still have no idea how to find the Lilim. I think I am also late for a court appointment.
"I don't like being at the mercy of events like this. What is our plan? We seem to be trusting the centaur, but it is not a human creature. No good ever came of dealing with monsters. Levi is a prime example of that."
Whispers to Modius. Spoiler:
"You have shown great restraint. I too have had to adapt to world changing beliefs. Know that there can be many truths, and we are ill-equipped to deal with more than one." "Before we depart, what would happen if we were attacked, and spilled blood or made a burst of flame in self defence? Would these punishments stand? I would hate to lose the right to lextalionis"
" I cannot draw a bow. Isat, see if you can experiment a bit with the bow. Fire is your element. Shoot a tree, if you can. We know we can't run out of arrows." Isat. Spoiler: Sense motive check in your next post. DC 15.
Stratos seems to consider taking the bow, but he shakes his head. He looks at the path ahead, squinting into the dark. "We do not know how to use the bow. We should definitely take it with us. I think we should make it daytime again, so that we have light to see by. Modius, do you know what your emeralds do? They are enchanted. I am curious why Paper's lips are enchanted too. Did you drink anything strange? I must say, I am delighted to be in such a magical place, but there are pressing matters we need to attend to in the world of men. There are enemies to discover and rout. There is the matter of the lilim, and the book, if Levi spoke true. We need to get Isat to a tutor, so he can learn how to focus his powers. For some reason, the gods have brought us together. We ought to make peace with the fact that this is far from over."
"Incredible. Isat, fire is your element. Try to nock the arrow."
We should all go. Splitting up would be a bad idea. We should take our fallen companion with us, or bury him. I think it would be better to take him.
"Rufinus. Stand where I am standing, and look into this bowl. Look for a wandering star."
" I thought you would know. You really have stumbled into all this, haven't you? You are lucky. The world makes a lot more sense with magic. Red is strengthening, and enhancing of what is already there, or changing of one thing into another. Orange is enchantment. Things that beguile the mind and heart. Yellow is things that fool the senses.
White is simply holy, as black is unholy. I know that purple is energy. Things that summon fire, or lightning, would glow purple.
We should gather these weapons and use them. Would anyone like to blow the horn, to see what happens?"
Stratos has taken a leaf from one of the ferns, and he lights it with a flame from his fingertips. Again, his rapid voice skillfuly dances over a stream of syllables in the strange language of his wizardry. He holds the smoking fern close to the weapons and the horn. Each seems to glow as the smoke engulfs it. The weapons glow red, and the horn glows a deep blue. He passes the smoke over a few of the scrolls. They do not glow at all. " These items are magical. The weapons seem to be magically enhanced, or strengthened. " He lights more of the ferns, causing more smoke to billow out. The pool and pillars, and zodiac statues all glow green. The water in the pool glows blue. As the smoke reaches Modius, three orange specks appear where the emeralds are hidden. Hrothgars axe glows red. Paper's lips appear orange. A soft white glow emanates from the ointment in Isat's healing bag. The ring on Stratos' finger is also orange.
I heard tell of a star that fell from the sky in Carthage. It left a piece of iron the size of a watermelon,in a hole the size of Constantinople. The iron must have got close to the sun as it fell, because it was melted. A piece of the fallen star is in the posession of a friend of mine. He made an amulet of it, but it made him sick. |