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It is very dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Started by Sierra, November 14, 2009, 10:59:44 AM

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Sierra

<El-Cideon> ---------------------------------
<El-Cideon> It takes you several days to gather funds and make the necessary travel arrangements. When you do finally land outside of Jerusalem, it takes little time to notice a tense atmosphere hanging over the city like a cloud. British troops can be seen patrolling the streets, the region being under their jurisdiction since the fall of the Ottomans. (OOC: Roll GI for initial leads. Also, PM incoming, Rat.)
<Nadia> roll 1d20+10
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d20+10 and gets 27."12 [1d20=17]
<Erin> "I don't know if I mentioned it, but Grace was able to tell me a little of the ruined city our friends are headed to," states Erin, whilst the group indulges in a compulsory post-flight tea-drinking session. "It seems it is called Petra, in the vicinity of South Jordan- with the name in hand it shan't be too difficult to find."
<Yomi> The name doesn't mean much to Yomi, who merely nods in acknowledgement.
* Nadia returns from making a few enquiries and sits down to join her new friends. "We missed them, I'm afraid," she begins. "It seems Elgin hired a local man named Yasef Najem as a guide to explore below the city. Perhaps we could find this man and find out exactly what they sought?"
<Erin> "We'd best. There may be a rhyme to their thieving yet," replies Erin. "Do you have a way to find him?"
<Nadia> "He supposedly haunts a street corner on one of the slums at the outskirts," Nadia replies. "Apparently he used to be quite respectable but is now down on his luck."
<Erin> "Perhaps his karma will improve by helping us," replies Erin, standing up. "The slums. We shall seem dreadfully out of place."
<El-Cideon> Your search takes you what seems to be the local skid row, old residential homes in obvious lack of repair. The residents aren't in much better shape, many looking damaged mentally or physically by the recent ethnic flareups. Among the beggars, though, Nejem stands out. Even the other vagrants give him a wide berth, it seems. (more)
<El-Cideon> He looks like he might once have been tall, but is now stooped, thin and gangly. He looks *filthy*, his skin so crusted with dirt that it looks grey. Well, hopefully it's dirt. His hair is lank and patchy, his nails frighteningly long. He looks up at your approach. He doesn't look happy.
<Nadia> Clearly Elgin didn't pay him enough for a bath... more's the pity. Squashing her distaste, Nadia approaches the bedraggled man and greets him in English. "Hello. You are Yasef Nejam, yes?"
<El-Cideon> Obvious suspicion plays across his features while he looks over the three of you. "Might be. Is there something in it for me if I am?"
<Yomi> Down on his luck appears to be quite the understatement in this land, Yomi muses, responding with a "Might be" of her own.
<Nadia> "Perhaps," the French woman gives him a smile despite her disgust. "We understand you recently helped some Germans, yes?"
<El-Cideon> "Pah!" He spits noisily on the ground--it's hard not to expect it to start sizzling or something, as it doesn't look like something that should come from a living creature. "Sure, sure I did. And *they* said they'd pay me too." He laughs bitterly.
<Nadia> "The man named Elgin, he is a bad one," Nadia agrees. "A thief and a liar, it seems he has wronged us both."
<El-Cideon> "Him and that weasel of a scientist that followed him around--THAT one I want to find, find him an introduce him to a rusty screwdriver." He makes some alarmingly graphic jabbing motions with his hands.
<Nadia> "Ah, yes. Doctor... Ivo, was it?" Nadia glances at Erin for confirmation as she recalls the name of the weaselly little SS man they saw with Elgin at the Hagia Sophia.
<El-Cideon> "YES. Yeeees, that's him." He twitches and smacks the ground at his feet, raising a cloud of dust. "Told his men to shoot me once I'd led them back to the surface, but I ran. Couldn't find me, no one knows the tunnels like I do."
<Erin> "He's A known dabbler, and thoroughly disreputable," replies Erin, not quite looking at Nadia nor Nejam. "Well, ah, Mr. Nejam, we don't much like those fellows, and our goal is to prevent them from reaching theirs."
<El-Cideon> "Than whaddya need me for?" he asks, still looking a little suspicious of you.
<Nadia> "We believe they have since gone to Petra, and will be following them," Nadia volunteers, in case it prompts any helpful connections with him, "But we would like to know what they found so fascinating about Jerusalem's undercity - what were they looking for down there?"
<El-Cideon> He shows no interest at the mention of Petra. However: "Some place. Wanted to get beneath some big old church. Why don't they just visit it, I wonder? Heard 'em talking to each other, said surface wasn't good enough, needed to get far underground where the signal was stronger. I took 'em there."
<Nadia> Probably another of those seals, Nadia would bet. "Did they find a place with a strong enough signal, then?"
<El-Cideon> "Sure. I took 'em where they wanted to go, they did some witchcraft and disappeared with their soldiers. Told me to wait there. Hadn't been paid yet, so I did. Come back a few minutes later, one less soldier."
<Nadia> "They do not seem particularly respectful of human life, even among their own men," Nadia comments with a frown.
<El-Cideon> "Telling me? That scientist called me a degenerate! When he told his men to kill me, said the world'd be better off."
<Yomi> In all honesty, the man quite likely is a degenerate, Yomi is forced to admit to herself.
<Erin> "They have some very odd ideas about who should live and who should not, from what I have heard," remarks Erin, starting to glance at the sky. "Well, I must trouble you to lead us to the same place- is it far?"
<El-Cideon> "Have to walk a ways, little climbing. Jerusalem old city. Ollllld. People dig for all sorts of reasons--sanitation, place to hide, burial--forget what they've done over the years. Tunnels are complicated, but I can find anything down there if I've got motivation. How do I know you won't shoot me like the others?" He adds, squinting up at you.
<Nadia> "Please, we are not uncivilised Germans!" Nadia replies in an affronted tone, stepping back and placing a hand over her chest.
<Erin> "What? Why would I do that?" asks Erin, looking faintly offended. "Sir, I'm not a German soldier!"
<El-Cideon> He casts a skeptical look over the group. "Might be pretty young things, sure, but you don't have to be German to lie. I get a hot meal in advance, or I don't go anywhere."
<Nadia> "We'll throw in a trip to the bathhouse as well!" Nadia responds almost too quickly.
<El-Cideon> "Fine the way I am," he grouses, though he does relent. After retrieving a meal from a nice restaraunt in a better neighborhood (he eats like a ravening beast and sucks his fingers clean heedless of the filth), he takes you back to a dilapidated hovel that he apparently calls him. After surreptitiously removing a set of boards from the floor, he gestures to a dark hole leading underground. "Made my own backdoor. Hope you got some light."
<El-Cideon> *calls home
<El-Cideon> Hope you got some light."
<Nadia> "I have a torch," Nadia confirms, mortified that he never took her up on her offer to pay for a trip to the bathhouse. Reaching into her handbag, she retrieves a small delicate looking torch which she lights up, shining into the hole.
<El-Cideon> A crude ladder leads below. You can see a landing not far away; the tunnel is not very tall. Just barely standing room, really.
* Erin is just happy that there is a bathhouse at all, as after this venture she will surely be paying a visit. "Are there any others who, you know, frequent the underground?"
<El-Cideon> Renewed suspicion is apparent. "Not with the police, are you?" he says, descending the ladder to lead the way. "I might see things, people moving weapons around. Won't talk about it, they'd kill old Nejem dead if they found out."
<Nadia> "We just don't want to run into anyone who might want to protect their privacy at all costs," Nadia soothes, holding her torch in her teeth as she follows down the ladder.
<El-Cideon> "Not a problem. They don't like the place we're going. Neither do I. Hang around too long and you hear things, wings buzzing around in the air, but look around and you can never can see anything." He stalks ahead of you in the darkness, outlined in the light from behind. He doesn't seem to need it to find his way.
* Nadia hopes it's not more magic. But it surely is... "Mosquitos?" she asks, on the off chance it might be something mundane. Albeit unpleasant.
* Erin gingerly follows after Nadia, being a little more careful than the the ladder really demands. "How comforting," she remarks.
<El-Cideon> "How am I supposed to know? Just said I never saw anything." He sounds irritated. "Just the normal scavengers. Only we grow 'em big down here." The tunnel presses in around you as you start to move. It's dry and mostly unused, the miasma of ordure that hangs around Nejem is oppressive in these narrow confines.
* Nadia wrinkles her nose and breathes through her mouth, the stench making her altogether ill. It would be rude to ask how much further to go, but she can only hope this won't take long.
* Yomi makes a face, choosing to bring up the rear for less than selfless reasons.
* Erin has produced a handkerchief from somewhere, and holds it up to her face whilst she stumbles along.
<El-Cideon> It's a bit of a walk. You travel through old, forgotten basements, long since cut off from the surface by collapsed walls, through sewers, and eventually through bare stone tunnels whose purpose is lost to history. These latter open up a bit more; you can never really escape the smell, but at least you have enough space to walk side by side now. Occasionally you can see boot tracks in the dust, though rat trails are more common. The claw marks are rather unnervingly large.
<El-Cideon>  more common. The claw marks are rather unnervingly large.
<Nadia> Rats. Why did it have to be rats?
<El-Cideon> You're at the center of a four-way crossing (which Nejem proceeds straight across) when suddenly--OOC: listen checks.
<Erin> roll 1d20+2 suddenly, Erin hears nothing at all!
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+2 suddenly, Erin hears nothing at all! and gets 15."12 [1d20=13]
<Nadia> roll 1d20
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d20 and gets 4."12 [1d20=4]
<Yomi> roll 1d20
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20 and gets 14."12 [1d20=14]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 Nejem listens too!
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 Nejem listens too! and gets 14."12 [1d20=12]
* Erin nudges Nadia. "Shine the torch down to the left, would you?" she asks, and she takes a moment to unbutton her handbag.
<Nadia> "Hmm?" Nadia makes a questioning noise as she stops at the intersection and swings her torch down the left-hand passage.
<Yomi> Firing a gun in this setting would be an interesting experience, so Yomi subtly prepares to unwrap her sword if this turns out to be more than pests.
<El-Cideon> At the egde of the cone of light, perhaps thirty feet away, a pack of rats are watching you. At least, they're in the right shape to be rats, though you are not used to seeing them come in the size of a golden retriever. There are four of them; their eyes glitter in the torchlight and they show none of the skittishness you'd expect from vermin. Quite the contrary, they turn to charge at you once you get a good look at them!
<El-Cideon> at them! (OOC: init goes here)
<Erin> roll 1d20+7
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+7 and gets 12."12 [1d20=5]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+1
<Nadia> roll 1d20+7
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+1 and gets 14."12 [1d20=13]
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d20+7 and gets 14."12 [1d20=7]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 1
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 1 and gets 10."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 2
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 2 and gets 18."12 [1d20=16]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 3
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 4
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 3 and gets 6."12 [1d20=4]
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 rodent of unusual size 4 and gets 17."12 [1d20=15]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 Nejem
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 Nejem and gets 13."12 [1d20=11]
* Retrieving #HometownHeroes modes...
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'RUS 2 > RUS 4 > Nadia = Yomi > Nejem > Erin > RUS 1 > RUS 3'
<El-Cideon> OOC: You guys are travelling in a close group, I guess? Nejem has been about ten feet ahead of you the whole time, so.
<Erin> OOC: We were told it was cramped, so I guess
<El-Cideon> One of the rats rushed forward and bits at Nadia with shapr, yellowed fangs!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+6 bite bite
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+6 bite bite and gets 22."12 [1d20=16]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4+3 chomp
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4+3 chomp and gets 6."12 [1d4=3]
<El-Cideon> OOC: 6 to Nadia
<El-Cideon> Another rushes forward to assault Erin!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+6 bite bite
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+6 bite bite and gets 22."12 [1d20=16]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4+3 damage
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4+3 damage and gets 4."12 [1d4=1]
<El-Cideon> OOC: 4 to Erin. Nadia and Yomi are up.
<Nadia> "Owww!" Nadia yells in pain as her sleeve is torn and a ragged strip of flesh ripped from her arm! Biting off an expletive in French, she launches a kick square in the chest of the massive rat assailing her, hoping to stun it and push it away from her!
<Nadia> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d20+6 and gets 24."12 [1d20=18]
<El-Cideon> OOC: Hit.
<Nadia> roll 1d6+2
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d6+2 and gets 6."12 [1d6=4]
<El-Cideon> The rat squeaks in pain and irritation, but remains standing!
* Yomi triggers a latch on her sheath, the sword within leaping out and slicing through the air to target the unnatural rat assaulting Nadia! Pulling on the chain which keeps it connected to the sheath as soon as the strike goes through, Yomi then sends the sword to impale Erin's attacker.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 and gets 29."12 [1d20=18]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11 heroic surge
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 heroic surge and gets 19."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> OOC: both hit
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 18."12 [2d6=5, 4]
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 18."12 [2d6=6, 3]
<El-Cideon> The rat attacking Nadia is severed and two and collapses in a pile of gore. Its companion is horribly wounded, but barely clings to life! Meanwhile, your guide has chosen this moment to shriek in terror and run down the hall! OOC: Erin is up.
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'RUS 4 > Nadia = Yomi > Nejem > Erin > RUS 1 > RUS 3'
<Erin> Erin manages a choked, startled gasp at being bitten, and her voice rises comically high! She steps back from the offending rodent and fires off a gunshot at it from point-blank range!
<Erin> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+6 and gets 22."12 [1d20=16]
<Erin> roll 2d6
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 2d6 and gets 5."12 [2d6=4, 1]
* El-Cideon changes topic to ' Nadia = Yomi > Nejem > Erin > RUS 1 > RUS 3'
<El-Cideon> The bullet slams into the creature's head and puts it down for good. The carnage only seems to heighten the bloodlust of the remaining rats, however, who charge with unnatural ferocity.
<El-Cideon> The first rushes forward to attack Erin and avenge its fallen partner!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+8 charrrrging
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+8 charrrrging and gets 27."12 [1d20=19]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4+3 chomp
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4+3 chomp and gets 7."12 [1d4=4]
<El-Cideon> OOC: 7 to Erin.
<El-Cideon> The last rat makes a similar rush at Yomi!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+8 charge
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+8 charge and gets 11."12 [1d20=3]
<El-Cideon> OOC: Failure. As per agile riposte, AoO if you want.
* Yomi sidesteps it almost negligently, before bringing the sword down upon the rat's skull.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 and gets 16."12 [1d20=5]
<El-Cideon> OOC: Hit.
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 16."12 [2d6=1, 6]
<El-Cideon> A pitiful squeak as the creature is nearly rent limb from limb. It clings to life somehow. OOC: Nadia and Yomi are up again.
<Nadia> Nursing her wounded arm, Nadia brings up her leg high, causing her skirt to trail off her exposed leg before she brings her heel down with a resounding crack on the wounded rat's head!
<Nadia> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d20+6 and gets 12."12 [1d20=6]
<El-Cideon> OOC: haha, hit because they charged.
* Yomi moves off to defend Erin, for her part!
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 and gets 21."12 [1d20=10]
<Nadia> roll 1d6+2
* Hatbot --> "Nadia rolls 1d6+2 and gets 4."12 [1d6=2]
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 20."12 [2d6=5, 6]
<El-Cideon> More pained chittering, but both creatures remain a hairsbreadth away from death, dripping blood and barely staying on their feet. Meanwhile Nejem continues his terrified flight away from you! OOC: Erin.
* Erin manages to stumble backwards from her latest assaliant, and fires another shot towards the creature's bloated body; some litany of prayers is mutters at a fast pace, as if invoking as many religions as she can will ensure at least some protection!
<Erin> roll 1d20+2 it's in melee with yomi, isn't it
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+2 it's in melee with yomi, isn't it and gets 5."12 [1d20=3]
<El-Cideon> OOC: +2 For an attack roll? Fighting defensively I guess?
<El-Cideon> OOC: right, miss.
<El-Cideon> Both of the rats continue their frantic assault, some twisted love for violence blotting out any instincts to flee!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+6 attacking Nadia
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+6 attacking Nadia and gets 20."12 [1d20=14]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+6 attacking Yomi
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+6 attacking Yomi and gets 14."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4+3 chmp
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4+3 chmp and gets 5."12 [1d4=2]
<El-Cideon> OOC 5 to Nadia and Yomi gets an AoO.
* Yomi seeks to put the freakish thing out of its misery.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 and gets 17."12 [1d20=6]
<El-Cideon> OOC: hit.
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 16."12 [2d6=6, 1]
* El-Cideon changes topic to ' Nadia = Yomi > Nejem > Erin > RUS 1'
<El-Cideon> The creature's head falls from its body, leaving it quite dead. OOC: Nadia/yomi again.
<Nadia> Yomi seems particularly skilled at killing rats, and Nadia doesn't want more of the thing's blood on her shoes, so she'll wait and see if her Japanese friend can kill it first.
* Yomi drives her sword through the large rat's skull, nailing it to the ground.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+11 and gets 19."12 [1d20=8]
<Yomi> roll 2d6+9
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+9 and gets 18."12 [2d6=5, 4]
<El-Cideon> The last creature dies and falls still, leaving the tunnels silent again save for the sound of your breathing (and Nejem running down the passageway). OOC: free act.
* Nadia winces and looks at the wounds she's taken, arm and leg both bleeding from rat bites and surely infected with something vile. Turning to shine her torch down the passage their guide ran off, she calls hopefully, "Mr Nejem? It's safe, now! You can come back!"
* Yomi calls upon one of her few arcane talents, looking down upon the unnatural corpses to determine whether they are a sort of local demon.
* Erin appears to be positively ill, and kneels down to cradle the vicious-looking bite marks on her legs.
<El-Cideon> The sound of running feet stops. "Rats dead?" he calls back.
<Nadia> "Very dead," Nadia confirms.
<El-Cideon> Nejem returns and cautiously takes a look at the rat corpses. After a moment, he prods one with his foot and then jumps back. He eventually seems satisfied that they're dead.
<Nadia> "We'd like to go back to the surface, now," Nadia tells him. "The sooner we can clean our injuries the better." Exploring can wait when they're not at risk of having their limbs turn black and fall off.
* Yomi shakes her head in disbelief. "This city is very wrong," she states, looking in puzzlement at Nejem.
<El-Cideon> "But we are almost there," Nejem says. "It will only take a couple minutes' walking. If we go and back back, you have to pay me again!" he adds, seizing on an opportunity for more further personal gain.
<El-Cideon> *go and come back
<Nadia> "Ehh... will it take long for you to do what you have to do when we get there?" Nadia asks Erin uncertainly.
<Erin> "It is the center of many conflicts," wheezes Erin, who manages to give Nejem a dark look at his petulant request. "I just wanted to look around," she adds, looking up at Nadia. "I can't copy their magic, you know. But I might figure out what they're doing. Maybe only a few minutes of looking around."
<El-Cideon> Nejem looks defiant at Erin's expression!
<Nadia> "Alright," Nadia relents unhappily, picking some fabric out of the oozing wound on her arm. "Lets hurry, at least."
* Erin slowly puts her gun back into her handbag. "Lead on, then."
<El-Cideon> Nejem finally brings you to a clearing of sorts, a wider cavern with a ceiling tall enough that you don't feel in danger of knocking your head on it. Nejem points to a patch of floor in the center of the cavern, seemingly indistinguishable from any other area. "That was where they did their witchcraft."
* Nadia looks around, not terribly interested but passing the time while Erin does what she can to figure out Elgin's magic.
<El-Cideon> Nejem himself seems distracted. He looks up and around, sniffing at the air, before walking out of the circle of torchlight. "This wasn't here before..." he mutters.
<Erin> "We are below a church, at the moment?" asks Erin, walking over towards the patch of cavern, and taking a moment to incant one of the most basic spells.
<Nadia> "What wasn't?" Nadia asks, aiming the toech where Nejem is looking.
<El-Cideon> It's a dead body. There's a pool of dried blood beneath it, and a slight trail from the patch of ground Erin's inspecting, as though he crawled away from that before tiring and falling dead.
<Nadia> "Is this the soldier who never returned?" Nadia asks, keeping her distance from the corpse while she bears open wounds of her own.
<Yomi> "Which church would this be?" Yomi asks, never taking her eyes off their guide.
<Erin> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+11 and gets 15."12 [1d20=4]
<El-Cideon> "Oh, I don't know, some old Christian building. I don't keep track of them all," Nejem says dismissively, seeming rather distracted by the corpse. He kneels down and looks at the face. "Is him. I remember.
<El-Cideon> "
* Nadia looks the body over from a distance. Was it shot or mauled or what?
* Erin glances around the rest of the clearing, looking for any other interesting signifiers that may be present.
<El-Cideon> Nejem turns the body over, respect for the dead not being among his priorities, apparently. Something mauled the dead soldier badly, some animal. It actually looks like he's been gored through the abdomen. He's still clutching a pistol in one hand, and a small pack is attached to his belt.
<El-Cideon> Erin finds nothing else magical in the clearing.
<Nadia> "You think the rats got him?" Nadia asks Nejam as he examines the body.
<El-Cideon> OOC: strike last line. I'm an idiot.
<Erin> "If they used a portal to go to some other place, then I suppose there's nothing saying they don't all need to come out at the same time," remarks Erin, glancing at Yomi. "Where they're going to must be very dangerous, and I can't imagine the soldiers are thrilled about it."
<El-Cideon> Nejem shakes his head. "Rats bite," Nejem says, gesturing with his fingers to mimic pointy fangs.
<Nadia> "Well, I hope whatever did this is gone... is there anything else we need to do, here?" she looks towards Erin.
<Yomi> "Who would be thrilled to cut something so unworthy," Yomi mutters, looking disgusted at the mere thought of killing more oversized rats.
<Erin> "The soldier has magical equipment with him," replies Erin, gingerly stepping towards the corpse and peering down at it. "This is disgusting..." she adds, uncessarily.
<El-Cideon> Nejem looks more interested. "Anything valuable?"
<El-Cideon> At first sight, nothing is obvious. You'd have to search him.
* Erin looks really hard at the corpse until the distinct magical auras make themselves clear.
<El-Cideon> It's easy enough to tell they're in the pack buckled onto his belt.
* Erin leans down to unclip the pack, and shrugs her shoulders. "Well, I'll soon find out, won't I?" she remarks, turning away from the corpse after she recovers the container.
<El-Cideon> Inside the pack are two objects of note, and a slip of paper. The first of the objects is a bracelet that looks exactly like those Elgin and Ivo wore in Istanbul, the other is a translucent crystal sphere somewhat larger than an orange and colored a deep brown. The piece of paper contains writing in German.
* Nadia leans over Erin's shoulder and shines the torch onto the paper so she can read it.
* Erin inspects the bracelet and the sphere, attempting to reconcile the artifacts with her mystical background!
<Erin> roll 1d20+12 arcane!
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+12 arcane! and gets 20."12 [1d20=8]
<Erin> roll 1d6 action point, since I hate not knowing things
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d6 action point, since I hate not knowing things and gets 1."12 [1d6=1]
<El-Cideon> It's a promise to settle a gambling debt, written with perhaps needless formality given the subject. The writer, one Private Wilhelm, swears to pay 100 marks to Private Schmidt when they next meet, though it would have to wait for both to return to Germany since the former had been assigned to the collection team in Mecca. (more)
<El-Cideon> The writer sounds rather peeved about having to make such a formal note for trifles.
<Nadia> "It is an i-o-u," Nadia announces after reading the note. "Although it does mention a collection team in Mecca, so perhaps we could investigate that if Petra doesn't work out, no?"
<Erin> "Jerusalem and Mecca, the end of the two great pilgramages," murmurs Erin. "Is there anywhere like that in the orient, Yomi? Where all the believers feel they must go at least once in their lives?"
<Yomi> "There is certainly an abundance of holy places, but I don't believe there is any temple or shrine so sacred to all they feel they must visit it."
<El-Cideon> "You are all don here?" Nejem asks suddenly. "Not caring about the body?" There's something like eagerness in his voice, for some reason.
<El-Cideon> *done
<Nadia> "I'm not carrying it out of here," Nadia declares firmly.
<Erin> "Yes, I'd rather look over these items in a more pleasant setting," responds Erin, depositing them back into the bag. "And I am of the same inclination."
<El-Cideon> Nejem looks rather pleased at this response.
<Yomi> "Looking for some extra food?" Yomi asks their guide bluntly.
<El-Cideon> "I don't know what you're talking about. I already had breakfast today!"
<Yomi> "Let's just go back."
<Nadia> "Yes. We saw," Nadia replies deadpan. "The memory will remain for a lifetime."
<Erin> "That is the best thing about learning magic, you get very good at remembering and forgetting things on demand," notes Erin.
<El-Cideon> The trip back to the surface is mercifully uneventful. The only challenge is enduring the smell of your guide as he leads you back to the surface. Once you're back up in his shack, he recovers the hole in the floor. "I should get something extra," he says in desultory fashion. "I did not object when you took the shiny things, after all."
<Nadia> "You can have anything else that was on the body. We did not lift the man's wallet," Nadia replies dismissively.
<El-Cideon> He sulks, but doesn't press the matter.
<Yomi> "What are you?" Yomi finally asks, having waited until they were back to do so.
<El-Cideon> "What do you mean, what am I? What kind of question is that to ask a person?" His face, already grotesque, twists into a frown.
<Yomi> "It is a question people ask of something that looks humans but isn't quite that."
<El-Cideon> "I help you and then you say things like that? Go! Get out of my house! You are just like the Germans."
* Nadia looks uncertainly between Yomi and Yasef, not sure where she's going with this. But as he tells them to piss off she's happy to comply if it means getting herself cleaned up sooner. "Thank you for your help," she nods, heading for the door.
* Yomi walks out without another word, frowning to herself.
<Erin> Erin's mouth twitches, but it seems she thinks better of saying anything; she gives Yasef a nod and leaves as quickly as she can, intending to get out of the ghettos and to find a decent doctor before she undertakes anything else.
<El-Cideon> Nejem doesn't seem eager to talk to you any more anyway. He watches you leave without a word. It's mid-afternoon, you find once you're back on the street. OOC: going anywhere/looking for anything in particular before we wrap?
* Nadia doesn't expect to find a doctor easily here, and her first port of call is a shop where she can buy some strong booze to rinse off their wounds with, as well as some bandages.
<El-Cideon> Alcohol and bandages are easy enough to find. Perhaps equally welcome at this point is a VERy thorough bath.
<El-Cideon> ----------------------