"So God is a monkey?"

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> Yomi and Sayuri stand in the hall with the fallen around them: a demon, its intended victim, and the girl, all of them still breathing from the looks of things. The girl looks notably different now--darker skin (she could pass for a local), black hair hacked short (obviously without the help of a barber). She looks young. Can't be past her teens.
<Yomi> "You were going to check the rest of the house?" Yomi asks Sayuri, retrieving her communications orb. "Erin, how about you guys get here? It would be a pain to drag people back to our hotel."
<El-Cideon> The air in the hall is acrid, the rug in the hall and the walls singed and steaming from the demon's vile breath. Both doors along the hall are open now.
<El-Cideon> Sayuri nods and briefly disappears into the room the girl had come from.
<Erin> "Alright." Erin turns to the others. "Let's head out. Follow me!"
* Brunilda can barely restrain her questions about the tiny radio, but follows Erin nonetheless!
* Yomi inspects the apparent demon at last.
<Yomi> roll 1d20+3
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+3 and gets 18."12 [1d20=15]
<El-Cideon> Soon enough, the rest of the gang arrives. Sayuri emerges back into the hall after checking the rooms. "That one there's a bedroom. She must sleep there--there's a decent bed, and plenty of clothes along with a variety of wigs and makeup. The other one just has a lot of broken down furniture. Wasn't there another room downstairs, too?"
<El-Cideon> The demon is indeed still alive, Yomi can tell. It doesn't look much more friendly unconscious.
* Erin squints at the demon herself, making her own attempt at identification.
<Yomi> "There was something," Yomi says, grabbing a sheet and draping it over the downed girl. Looking entirely too pleased with herself, she gestures at the demon. "This, here, appears to be a demon the way you see them! It's been months, hasn't it?"
<Brunilda> "Gracious!" Brunilda gasps, leaning over to examine the demon carefully all over. "What I wouldn't give to dissect this specimen!"
<Yomi> "So. We have a demon from beyond going by Belish and spitting acid and abducting men this girl seduces in her various disguises. What next?"
<El-Cideon> Sayuri heads downstairs to check the last door as the rest of you speak.
<Erin> "It's not any particular kind of demon, merely a grunt in the ranks of Hell. At least, that's what I think," remarks Erin, straightening up. "It's barely worth summoning, even for a demonologist. Honestly, I think the rituals to summon the nobility are more prevalent." Her eyebrows rise. "It's still breathing."
<Yomi> "Ah, you've noticed?"
<Erin> "It does beg a question."
<Yomi> "Let us not leave a question unanswered!"
<Brunilda> "We should ask the girl where she came across this fellow, and what he does with the men he abducts?" Brunilda suggests, not taking her eyes off the demon. "Hominid, suggesting primate ancestry... I wonder if it evolved from one of our recent ancestors or its a concurrent evolution? Definitely a carnivore with those fangs," she holds its mouth open like a dentist. "Extra arms suggest
<Brunilda> extremely fine motor control - I'd need to test just now nimble he is at using them. Red skin colouration is strange... not melanin, must be something else causing it."
<Erin> "It's possible it eats them," replies Erin. "It isn't of this world, though. It is most definitely an extraplanar demon, most likely from a plane that we would consider hell. Even just keeping it around is sure to lead to trouble!"
<Erin> "Are you sure you should be holding your hand close to it's mouth? It's possible your hand will be incinerated, or at least exposed to acidic residue."
<Yomi> "We certainly can't let it leave," Yomi agrees. "One way or the other, it's going back to Hell."
<El-Cideon> At this point Sayuri walks back up the stairs, with some haste. She's noticeably paler. "I think I found the missing men. What's left of them."
* Brunilda draws her hand back and looks at her fingers for a moment. "Well, you said it was easy to summon. Could one of you summon it again in my lab?" she asks. "I wonder if it has a higher iron content than humans do...?"
* Yomi looks at Sayuri, before picking up the girl they've captured and carrying her down the stairs. "Let's go take a look."
<Erin> Erin grimaces. "I'm sure that after you see this, you won't have any interest in summoning up a demon. Besides, there are spiritual implications!" she insists, starting to head after Yomi. "There is nothing good that can come of it and nothing worth learning, save how to destroy them."
<Brunilda> "That's a very narrow minded viewpoint," Brunilda protests as she follows along, leaving the demon for now. "If people can find medicines in the Amazon, who knows what we could find from potential divergent branch of humanity!"
<Yomi> "They're not humans," Yomi calls back. "Different species. Trust me."
<El-Cideon> Back downstairs, in the ruined living room, the door below the staircase is open. A sickly smell of rotting meat wafts up from it.
<Yomi> That's where Yomi carries her knocked out captive.
<Erin> "I consider myself an open-minded person, but I do confess to drawing a line at demons. How can I say this... many supernatural beings are referred to in both benign and baneful terms, in various sources," explains Erin. "I believe it is telling that even the sources that speak favorably of demonic association-"
<Erin> "-take pains to warn of the terrible danger and unholy ramifications of dealing with them!"
<Brunilda> "There's definitely a common ancestor in the near past. The body structure is far too similar to be coincidence," Brunilda insists, wrinkling her nose at the smell.
<Erin> "What do you think demons were? The classic explanation is that they were fallen angels who rebelled against God. God crafted man in his own image; angels did not have a dissimilar appearance."
<Yomi> "So God is a monkey?"
<El-Cideon> Not much light makes it downstairs--there doesn't seem to be a light source in the basement itself, so you only have what trickles down from the room above. The basement is bare, unfurnished, likely only meant as a storage room originally. It presently stores a variety of strewn limbs and a couple dismembered torsos, gouged open and clearly fed upon.
<Erin> "It's not a conclusion without some merit..." murmurs Erin, though she stops short when she reaches the room, and raises a hand to her lips.
<El-Cideon> "Speaking personally," Paula says, glancing down the stairs with some apparent distaste, "I must deny any association with either god or the devil."
<Brunilda> "Oh, what rot!" Brunilda rolls her eyes, the debate interesting her more than the charnel scene ahead. "Did he also create Homo Neandrethalis, Homo Australopithiceus, and all of our other recent precursors?"
<Yomi> "Delightful." Yomi grimaces. "Erin, can you get some light? We'll need a chair to tie her up to as well. I believe this woman would be far more truthful if questioned here."
<Yomi> "I'm afraid I don't recognize those names," Yomi says apologetically to Brunilda, shrugging lightly.
<Erin> "I'm not sure I can stand questioning her here," murmurs Erin, waving a hand and illuminating the room. "I've no idea, Brunilda. But that beast is most certainly not a relative of humanity, despite any appearance to the contrary. It is troublesome. You would not believe me if I told you it was of wholly malign intent without a demonstration." (More)
<Brunilda> "Neandrethalis was a concurrent branch of humanity that diverged from our own root and became extinct about thirty thousand years ago. Australopithecus is a common ancestor that became extinct about two million years ago," Brunilda elaborates for Yomi.
<Yomi> "Ah. Not monkeys, then?"
<Erin> "That very demonstration would be an immoral thing to carry out, unfortunately. I won't have it, and that is that."
<El-Cideon> The room doesn't look much nicer lit up. There are some broken boxes, a rickety wooden cot, and quite a lot of blood and viscera.
* Yomi tears a few strips from the sheet she used to cover her prisoner, and ties up her hands behind her back, following up with her feet, before depositing her on the cot. "It's not a very nice place, no, but I really want to see her reaction when I throw her words back at her," she tells Erin. "Can we wake her up?"
<Erin> "Suzume, you can do it, right?"
<Brunilda> "Hah, the last common ancestor between humans and monkeys was a cheeky little lemur fellow that became extinct ten millions year ago," Brunilda goes on. "Anyway, even if these demons are hostile, we shouldn't be afraid to learn what we can from them. Scientifically, I mean, not just listening to them talk and do any corruption that you're so worried about."
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods. "If everyone's ready...But do I have to stay? I don't like it down here."
<Erin> "The very act of summoning it would blacken my soul. Or, if I must be prosaic, it could damage the mechanism within me used to work magic, creating skewed results in the future and most likely resulting in a painful future, both whilst I'm still alive and during whatever future exists beyond death. So, I won't be summoning any." (More)
<Yomi> "No. Would you prefer to keep an eye out on the demon above? With someone to help you guard it, perhaps?" Yomi suggest as a way out for the more squeamish.
<Erin> "Of course not, Suzume." Erin finds herself making a sick chuckle. "I wonder what it says, that we can have a calm discussion in the face of this," she adds, gesturing towards the scene.
<El-Cideon> "I'll go," Sayuri volunteers. "If it moves again, I'll kill it this time."
<Yomi> "Good luck."
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods, presses a hand to the girl's forehead and mutters a couple spells. "You hit her pretty hard, didn't you? Oh, there we go..." The girl stirs, eyes fluttering open. Suzume backs off and rushes up the stairs with Sayuri. (more)
<El-Cideon> She looks all around her with wide eyes of a deep brown. "Oh, this is Belish's room...Where is he? You killed him, didn't you?" If she's shocked by her surroundings, she doesn't show it.
<Yomi> "Good morning," Yomi greets her with a fake smile. "It's a shame you didn't confess to Ali Bousaid's abduction when we met at the cafe. All the unpleasantness could have been avoided, then, and you'd keep your clothes to boot."
<El-Cideon> "Ali...? Oh, the man I brought home a couple weeks ago." She speaks with almost childlike matter-of-factness.
<Yomi> "Why?"
<El-Cideon> She shrugs, craning her neck to try and see what's binding her hands. "Why? Well, Belish has to eat too."
<Brunilda> "Why does he have to eat humans? We're not more nutritious than other mammals, and we don't even taste that different from pork," Brunilda interjects. "A trip to the butchers would have sufficed."
<Yomi> "If you try to escape I'll stab you," Yomi informs her. "You know, I was going to ask who the monster is, now, but it feels pretty pointless. Why did you contact Hell and summon a demon?"
<Erin> "And why is it alright to feed that creature humans at all? That is murder!"
* Yomi glances dubiously at Brunilda. "We don't?"
<El-Cideon> "I hate to interrupt, but I have to wonder how you know that at all, Brunilda," Paula says.
<Brunilda> "Read a book sometime!" Brunilda huffs.
* Yomi gives Brunilda another suspicious look, before returning her attention towards their prisoner.
<Erin> "I would be suspicious of whoever wrote that book..."
<Brunilda> "Just say no if you ever get offered 'long pig' by a street hawker, then," Brunilda suggests.
* Yomi blinks. "How about we just bring them to justice, if that ever happens?"
<Brunilda> "If it's possible, sure," she shrugs.
<El-Cideon> "He likes people most," the girl says. "I can't help it if he likes people most. And there are so many of us, aren't there? I thought, well, if some of the bad ones disappear..." She shrugs, kicks her legs absentmidedly. "I just did what the whispers told me and, well, there he was, so I had to take care of him. And he kept me safe too and he kept me company, so..."
* Yomi frowns. "You can use magic. That's something you studied, isn't it?"
<El-Cideon> She shakes her head. "Nobody taught me anything."
<Erin> "When you say whispers..."
<Yomi> "And what actually made the men you seduced bad? Their weak wills, or having taste?"
<El-Cideon> "Oh, that's what I call it, but it's not always words. Sometimes it just feels like, if I do this, that will happen, and when I do, it does. I just know these things. And aren't most people bad? It would be a better world if they weren't." Another shrug. (more)
<El-Cideon> "The last one I just had to get rid of because he followed me home and found out about Belish. He couldn't leave after that, he'd tell someone. So I just let Belish kill him. I didn't even get to show him a good time first. I usually do. I thought it was the least I could do if they had to be food, isn't it?"
<Yomi> "She's insane and has magical powers that only an environment like Russia's hellish asylums can contain," Yomi states with a grimace, turning away from the girl. "What do we do about her?"
<Brunilda> "How very merciful of you," Brunilda rolls her eyes. "What's wrong with just telling the police? Or the 'mummy' lady?"
<Yomi> "She'll execute her."
<Erin> "I don't know. I can vouch for the 'whispers' experience," admits Erin. "I can't say it ever lead me to anything like this, though. What's your name?" she asks, turning back to the girl.
<Brunilda> "Most authorities do for this sort of thing," Brunilda looks meaningfully at all the body parts around.
<El-Cideon> "Tanith Darzi. What happened to Belish? Did you really kill him?" Her voice is thick with apparent concern.
<Erin> "You said he protected you?" asks Erin, gently. "What did he protect you from?"
* Yomi nods. "I just don't like passing the responsibility on and absolving myself of it that way. It feels fake. If she has to die, then best it be by our hands. If not, I'm open to alternatives."
<Brunilda> "I'd rather leave it to the people in charge," Brunilda shrugs. "I can't see that we can do anything except let her go or turn her in. Unless you want to press gang her into our crew and keep an eye on her forever more."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, you know, bad people. I have to move around in ruined houses like this to find places to keep him out of sight, but that means I have to stay in bad neighborhoods to avoid getting him noticed. Sometimes criminals try to take things from me or hurt me. But I'm safe if anyone tries to break in while Belish is here! Or I was."
<Yomi> A demon-summoning Rena? Yomi grimaces anew.
<Erin> "Weren't you scared when he first appeared? Why did you want to take care of him, especially if he..." She gestures to the room. "People have died because of him. That isn't fair."
<El-Cideon> "It was scary, but I could tell he didn't belong here. I thought, I don't belong anywhere either, so we should help each other out. Did you kill him? Somebody tell me!"
<Brunilda> "Urgh! Not yet!" Brunilda replies in exasperation. "Everyone really wants to, though."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, please don't! I don't know what I'd do being alone again."
<Yomi> "Tanith, was it?" Yomi asks then. "Belish will be returning to Hell this night. Will you be joining him, or follow us instead? Dragging an amoral, unrepentant murderer who would commit more of those crimes in a heartbeat is not my idea of fun, but I can give it a try."
* Brunilda palms her face. "Should've kept my mouth shut," she grumbles.
* Yomi nods at Brunilda, before glancing at Erin and Paula for their opinions.
<Erin> "What if you don't have to be?" asks Erin. "If that was the case, you wouldn't need to help anyone slay and devour other humans. I can understand feeling as though you don't have any options, but I'm afraid you do, now."
<El-Cideon> "Are you...are you going to take me to jail, then? Is that what you're here for? Oh, I knew I should've moved sooner. Three times in one place is too many."
<Brunilda> "No, we'll fly you away in a magical zeppelin, surrounded by weird and wonderful women with strange powers just like yourself!" Brunilda blurts out disgustedly.
<Yomi> "No, you idiot girl!" Yomi exclaims. "If you can stop thinking about how to kill people better for even a moment, you'll see that you're getting a second chance. Take it, or take death and Hell."
<El-Cideon> "Oh! I'd rather not die if I had a choice about it." She looks around. "You're all just like me? Did all your parents throw you out too? Oh, but I can't just leave Belish. Please don't kill him! I'll do anything you say if you let him go!"
<El-Cideon> Paula leans against a wall, sighs. "Are we really planning on taking this creature with us? I have learned a certain capacity for forgiveness over the years, but it's sorely tested at the moment."
<Yomi> "I'm afraid we can't meet his dietary needs. Whether by dissection or a quick stab, he dies. As for you...." Yomi snorts. "I lost my parents too, but I didn't prey on people afterwards. Don't think it's an excuse."
<Erin> "That trait is what I hate most about myself," mutters Erin. "You must understand that Belish is a monster that preys on humans. Even if we let him go, he would kill others. We can't condone that."
<Brunilda> "She's a paranoid delusional schizophrenic," Brunilda sighs in agreement with Paula. "Having her around will be nothing but a trial."
<El-Cideon> "Oh..." Tears stream down her cheeks. "If you must kill him, do it quickly. Don't make him suffer!"
<Erin> "She's not delusional. Delusional people don't get results when they listen to the voices in their head."
<Yomi> "I know. I'm sorry." Yomi shares in the group sigh. "Paula, can I trouble you in watching her? I'll bring some clothes, and we could leave."
<Brunilda> "That aside, her perception on humanity is warped enough to justify the phrase," Brunilda asserts unrepentantly.
<Erin> "Well, perhaps you can consider this an experiment on psychological treatment," retorts Erin.
* Yomi leaves the room, pausing with a glance at Brunilda, in case she wants to come as well.
* Brunilda nods and follows Yomi upstairs to see the demon being dispatched.
<El-Cideon> "If I must," Paula says.
<Yomi> "She's not the first person we picked up that has a warped perception on humanity," she tells Brunilda quietly. "If we can do something... it has to be better than just killing her."
<El-Cideon> The demon's still unconscious on the floor. Sayuri stands by with blade drawn, Suzume huddling in a corner far down the hall.
<Yomi> "Suzume, would you mind assembling an outfit for the crazy girl we're bringing back with us?" Yomi asks her.
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods, enters the bedroom.
* Yomi unsheathes Shishio, pointing it at the demon's chest, and glances at Brunilda again.
<Brunilda> "Rena has some autistic traits, but she seems to function quite ably," Brunilda replies. "Although I suppose Tanith was able to blend into society here so well is a testament to her acting skills. She could probably function better than Rena on a surface level, if she tried... Oh!" she nods and goes to stand over the demon to watch. "Aim just to the left of the centre chest, sliding up
<Brunilda> below the fifth rib. That would find a human's heart, anyway. We'll see about this demon having one in the same place."
* Yomi follows Brunilda's request mechanically. "You weren't there when we just found Rena. I wouldn't have believed the progress she's made if I weren't there myself."
<El-Cideon> The demon jerks reflexively as the sword slides in. Yellow ichor spurts out, searing the floor around the monster. Then Belish goes still, chest no longer rising and falling with breath.
* Yomi decapitates him afterwards, just to be certain.
<El-Cideon> The head rolls away a few foot, mouth agape. Suzume eeps slightly as she emerges from the bedroom with a dress in hand.
<Brunilda> "Liquor puris discharge, not blood..." Brunilda looks at the ichor spewing from the chest. "Or if that is blood it puts paid to my high iron content hypothesis." She looks to see what comes from the severed neck.
<Yomi> "We're leaving," Yomi says, after ensuring that the knocked-out victim is in no danger of being eaten up by the demon's acids.
<El-Cideon> Doesn't look that way, though he's likely got one hell of a shock in store upon waking.
<El-Cideon> More of the same substance dribbles from the neck and head, Brunilda sees. Demon biology is truly mysterious.
<Brunilda> "Definitely not iron... could be zinc based blood. Need to run tests..." Brunilda mutters, resigned to going without answers for now and following Yomi.
<El-Cideon> Another trip along the Nile. Tanith is quiet and forlorn along the way, not seeking conversation with anyone. Although she does gape openly at the Magpie when you bring her to it. Those who stayed behind don't report any trouble in your absence, only noting a stranger walking around and taking pictures of the ship the previous night.
<Yomi> Whether the stranger is an evil demon wishing ill upon them or not, there's hardly anything they can do about it before he makes his move. Therefore, after leaving Tanith suitably guarded, Yomi proposes that they seek out Janan once more.
<El-Cideon> Khaled is at the museum once again and, once you return with news of a successful mission, has you sit in a small conference room until he retrieves Janan. After a short wait, he returns with Janan and the younger woman that had been at the tomb meeting. "Report," Janan says simply.
<Yomi> "No pleasantries? Alright. You were right in that your men were killed," Yomi tells her. "However, they were not targeted for being your men, as such. A demon going by Belish ate them. We killed him in a struggle."
* El-Cideon changes topic to '6Yomi: 77/77, Brunilda: 56/56, Erin: 65/65, Rena: 75/75, Suzume: 43/43, Sayuri: 65/65'
<El-Cideon> "A demon? I have as little contact with such as I can manage, but what little experience I have suggests they rarely work alone. Much more common is some manner of human intermediary. I find it hard to believe two of my men were targeted by sheer coincidence, out of the entire population of Cairo."
<Yomi> "Oh, no. Perhaps I should elaborate?" Yomi asks. "Many more people were eaten by the demon. The first death of your men was an accident. The latter was as a result of your agent investigating things thoroughly and stumbling upon him."
* Yomi glances at Erin. "Is that the wrong word, again? Accident? Random chance?"
<Brunilda> "Happenstance," Brunilda suggests.
<Yomi> "I don't know what that means but it sounds about right."
<Erin> "Coincidence?"
<Yomi> "I know that word!"
<El-Cideon> Janan waves this away. "It is a large city and individuals vanish to street crime on a daily basis. I can see the disappearances not reaching my attention until they took one of my own. But demons rarely walk this world without mortal assistance. Surely it had a summoner. Did you find such?"
* Brunilda finds the wall very interesting right now!
<Yomi> "I'm afraid not. There was an insane human working with the demon, but she was not his summoner. I'm afraid I wouldn't know where to start looking for the summoner, but I do have his name and I could describe him. If you have contacts in Hell, you could make further inquiries based on that, perhaps?"
<El-Cideon> "I do not, as I said, associate with representatives of any of your hells. Tell me what you know, however. I can at least keep watch locally in Egypt. And this lunatic aiding the demon, what happened to her?"
<Yomi> "After some difficult consideration, we have decided to take her out of Egypt to seek treatment for her. If she remains incurable and continues trying to kill others, she is very likely to share the demon's fate."
<El-Cideon> A pause as she studies Yomi for a long moment. "Very charitable of you, taking the risk of sheltering such a person. I have some experience...retraining wayward individuals, however. I would not take it amiss if you left her with me."
* Yomi studies Janan back. "It is a matter of pride. Having decided to try, we can't give up without giving it a real chance. Should we fail, however, we could deliver her to you for your own attempts rather than reunite her with this Belish. How does that sound?"
<El-Cideon> "I believe I understand you," she says with the suggestion of a smile. "This is satisfactory. Updates on your progress will, of course, be appreciated."
<Yomi> "We're all friends here, right? Of course we'll write!"
<El-Cideon> "Of course," she says, again with a hint of amusement. "I should tell you that your assistance is also appreciated. It's not usual for outsiders to help us, so it falls to me to reciprocate. Are you prepared to head to the tomb now?"
<Erin> "Yes, certainly. Give us the tour, as they say?"
<El-Cideon> Across the river, another car ride into the hills, and Janan brings you back to the tomb, Khaled accompanying her there. Past the entryway, she leads you down a long passageway that slopes downwards. Magical light accompanies Khaled as he leads the way. (more)
<El-Cideon> "Mind your step at the end of this hallway," Janan says as you reach the opening to another chamber. "The Germans didn't." She points out a square stone in the floor at the door, which looks to have remnants of some sort of stain on it.
* Erin promptly opens her eyes to magic, willing to take that extra step to avoid sharing the German's fate.
<Brunilda> "Oh... a trap?" Brunilda asks, now distracted from the magic light source and skirting well clear of that stone.
* Yomi looks out for the restless mummies Janan said frequented this tomb, following Khaled's footsteps as precisely as she is able to.
<El-Cideon> "Yes," she says. "It was with some satisfaction that I heard their cries of dismay emanate from this passage after their machinegunner shot me and left for dead in up above." (more)
<El-Cideon> You enter a square room, about thirty feet wide. Carvings of long dead Egyptians cover the walls. The room is ringed with vases, containers, statues of cats and other figures. A trio of figures lurch forward out of the darkness as you enter--two skeletons wielding rusty swords, and a dessicated figure wrapped in ancient bands of cloth--but they turn and shamble back to the wall at a word from Janan.
<Erin> "At last. We've seen a genuine mummy. Our quest is complete."
* Yomi peers at the statue of a cat closely, but as a genuine mummy appears, it gets her full attention!
* Brunilda stares at the skeletons. "How do they stay intact without surrounding musculature?"
<Erin> "Necromantic magnetism."
<Brunilda> "Really?" Brunilda perks up. "I shall have to invent a necromantic degausser in case we ever run into hostile ones."
<El-Cideon> "As I said," Janan says casually, "somewhat restless from recent events. Devotion to their masters yet animates them. Shall we move on? For reasons unclear to me, the Germans found it necessary to descend to the bottom of the tomb to carry out their spell."
<Erin> "Suzume might be able to help you there," remarks Erin, nodding briefly at Janan's explanation.
<El-Cideon> "I don't consider it a fault. Please don't deanimate my servants." She turns to the right--there's another doorway there--and continues onward.
<Brunilda> "Oh, I won't," Brunilda assures Janan. "But it would be handy to have in case someone unpleasant ever animated an army from the nearest cemetery."
<Yomi> "That happens more than one would think," Yomi agrees with a wince.
<El-Cideon> Another passageway, circling around and sloping deep down into the earth. In time it opens up into a long hallway with alcoves along either side. Janan points out another tile to be avoided. Hissing from the alcoves as she walks along, but more commands in another language and the undead limp back to their resting places. (more)
<El-Cideon> "The next room was the site of their spell. I heard some talk amongst them after they'd 'killed' me and it seemed they had difficulty finding a 'signal' from closer to the surface. I could not tell you the mechanics of why this is, however."
<Erin> "I wish we knew what method they had used to find these sites," voices Erin. "I suppose we never will figure it out, now."
<Brunilda> "Weren't they all supposed to be spiritually significant?" Brunilda asks. "What happened down here that didn't in the upper levels when this place was in use, Janan?"
<El-Cideon> "One of them, an Englishman, seemed to have some instinctive knack for finding locations they needed for some great undertaking. But again, this conversation was made around me with many assumptions of background knowledge I do not possess. (more)
<El-Cideon> To Brunilda: "To me, the entire valley is sacred. I believe it mere coincidence that the Germans chose this tomb. It was situated in a geographical position which facilitated their mission. They had nothing but disdain for the 'spiritual significance' of those who built it."
<Erin> "Well, do you mind if we see the interior?"
<El-Cideon> "It's why you came here, isn't it?" She walks on, into a smaller chamber, fifteen feet or so to a side. A sarcophagus sits in the center, carved with the face of a woman in a regal outfit and headdress. The room is crowded with votive objects and displays of wealth, gold coins and artifacts--though some show signs being partially looted. (more)
<El-Cideon> "The soldiers took what wealth they could stuff in their pockets on their way out," Janan says. "I suppose it's fortunate they didn't take it all. Some manner of predatory spirit came back with them as well. They left in quite a hurry and we were forced to exterminate it on our own. Dreadful creature."
<Yomi> "A wraith?"
<El-Cideon> "It attempted to feed on the life of my followers when we came in numbers to banish it, so the description would be a fitting one. If there are more of them in whatever place the Germans visited, I would urge caution in following."
<Yomi> "We are better prepared than most people in dealing with that. Was it in the shape of a human, wearing a uniform of some sort?"
<Erin> "We will do our best to not let anything follow us back on our return," promises Erin. "I imagine we're somewhat better equipped to do so than the germans."
* Brunilda takes this as her cue to open up her travel case and pull out a wood-panelled box with a rifle stock on one end and a metallic spiralling cone on the other, festooned with numerous dials and eyescopes all over. "Focused gamma radiation pulses seem to hurt most things," she declares.
<Erin> "Oh? Even incorporeal spirits?" asks Erin, with some interest.
<Brunilda> "Haven't tested that yet, but it sounds like we'll find out soon..."
<El-Cideon> "It resembled a human only in that it had two arms and two legs. Beyond that, it was nothing I recognized. Deathly pale, face fronted with a long muzzle filled with sharp teeth, large eyes, sloping forehead topped by two long, blunt horns."
<Yomi> "Sounds familiar. Well, I'm ready!"
<Erin> "We're somewhat familiar with those," admits Erin. "Yes, as am I. Let's hold hands, girls."
<Brunilda> "Another demon?" Brunilda guesses, making a few adjustments to her weapon before holding it in the crook of her outstretched arms to take the hands of her neighbours.
<El-Cideon> The rest of your little gang obliges, though it makes things a bit cramped in the room.
<Erin> "Not the classical sort," responds Erin, before speaking the activation word and attempting to transport them all elsewhere!
<El-Cideon> A split-second's transition, and...Elsewhere. Another dark room; you find yourself standing on one of the familiar tiled platforms. You're clearly indoors this time. Well, so to speak--there's a roof not far above your heads. Paula almost has to stoop down here. (more)
<El-Cideon> About twenty feet wide, plain stone walls on every side. South you see a square-framed doorway, west a more crudely-hewn, smaller one. The room itself is unadorned. There are bits of stone furniture scattered around the platform, not much more.
<Erin> "How are you feeling, Paula? I know we're far from the sun, at present," states Erin, rummaging around for a torch and flicking it on.
<El-Cideon> "I feel as I have," Paula says, looking around. "The sun is in the same position above us. Curious--it doesn't bother me to not see it. I know where it is, after all."
* Yomi makes her way to the larger doorway to the south to take a defensive position by it, extending her senses once more in case wraiths are gathered nearby.
<Yomi> "Is it still the same sun?"
<Brunilda> "Wish I had my nightvision goggles," Brunilda mutters, squinting in what little light the torch gives and following Yomi.
<El-Cideon> "Where are we, exactly?" Sayuri asks. she walks over to the westward door, looks out.
<El-Cideon> "Are there others?" Paula asks, amused.
<Yomi> "Elsewhere. A civilization of demons seems to be living in these places, but they are fairly nice if you don't attack them first."
<Erin> "If Paula can still sense the same sun," replies Erin, chewing her lip- "Then we're likely far beneath the earth's surface, rather than another world, as I originally thought."
<Brunilda> "It should be hotter, if we are," Brunilda muses. "The air isn't bad... there must be some mechanism at work to maintain a stable environment."
<Erin> "I'd imagine there's some sort of life support present, though we haven't seen overt signs of such in our other trips." Erin walks to join Sayuri, peering outside the junction room.
<El-Cideon> "'Nice demons' is not a statement I would expect to hear from you after last night, Yomi," Sayuri says. "Shall I chalk that attitude up the evening's events?"
<El-Cideon> The west door leads into a narrow passageway that curves and meanders out of sight around a corner.
* Yomi peers out towards the south. "Nice demons happen to exist. I just get disappointed when I expect them more often."
<Erin> "I think we need a better name for them. I keep thinking 'minions of Satan'. But 'Supernatural beings' is too wordy..."
<Yomi> "We do? What's wrong with demons?"
<El-Cideon> The south door leads to a more regular passage. Still carved from the stone around you, but wider, taller, and straight. From waist-height up, the walls out there are carved with elaborate knot designs up to and across the ceiling.
<Erin> "It's got negative connotations. Closely associated with fiends from hell, like I was saying."
<El-Cideon> "Youkai?" Sayuri suggests.
<Yomi> "I can stop translating it for the sake of others," Yomi agrees, stepping past the southern doorway and heading down the corridor.
<Erin> "That does sound a bit more, how d'ya say, neutral? Youkai," repeats Erin, glancing back and finding the southern door far more interesting than the west door, thusly heading over to step through it.
<El-Cideon> The southern passageway proves to be studded with rooms on either side. At a glance, they look like one-person rooms, small domed cells.
* Erin picks one mostly at random, intending to inspect the contents both magically and ordinarily.
* Brunilda likewise picks through one of the rooms for any interesting artifacts.
* Yomi stands on guard, alert for anyone challenging their presence.
<El-Cideon> It's a very modest room, simple and austere. The ceiling's rather close here, possibly meant for someone a bit below average human height. There's a low stone slab that could be a bed if it had a mattress on it, and some shelves. Mostly covered in dust now, but Brunilda finds a scattering of coins on one, and Erin a handful of small, stone figures. There is also writing on the ceiling above the beds.
* Erin picks up the figures to have a look at what they represent, and then waves a hand before trying to read the writing above her.
* Brunilda takes a few coins for further study before joining Erin in her room.
<El-Cideon> Erin recognizes the otherworldly denizens the carved figures are clearly meant to represent--Grahl, "Uprooted," as the elder she spoke to had told her. Most are dressed in robes, and hold a variety of poses, most exaggerated for effect: one points accusingly at the viewer with a hand on its hip, one kneels and bows its head, one raises a cup to its mouth with some apparent unsteadiness. (more)
<El-Cideon> The writing is a list of rememberances--names, Erin can see. Parents, siblings, friends, it's apparent. Promises to meet in dreams, wishes for prosperity.
<El-Cideon> And down the hall, Yomi can see the hallway branches into a four-way junction not far away.
<Yomi> "Are these cells or private rooms?" Yomi wonders, glancing back towards the others.
<Erin> "I think they're private rooms," replies Erin. "There are personal knicknacks here and there. I'm thinking this may have been a barracks, perhaps, or a dormitory?"
<Brunilda> "I found some coins," Brunilda offers, turning one over to examine the heads and tails symbols.
<El-Cideon> The coins are of all different types, you can tell from a glance. Not a consistent currency, you think--symbols vary from artistic designs to unidentifiable animals to letters, no two of a kind (though most are gold). Grahl appear on a few, but not all.
<El-Cideon> ~