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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 6896377" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter 90, “The Great Pyramids” September 11, 1882, 8:30PM.</strong></p><p></p><p>The sun has finally set to the west as the party comprised of George Eastman, Ruby West, Wilamina Parker, Abigail Marsters, Lawrence Cantrell, Freya and Sahah are approaching on foot one of the three smaller Subsidiary Pyramids immediately south of the Pyramid of Menkaure at Gizah (the smallest of the three large pyramids). As a cool breeze whips across the sands no other sounds are heard. There is enough residual light coming from the moon and from Gizah City beyond the pyramids to see by. Sahab falls back to the rear, leading the party's horses.</p><p></p><p>"Is anyone any good at tracking in this sand?" Abby asked quietly. "Otherwise we're going to have to check each of these pyramids, and I'm not sure we have the time." Abby searched her memory for any remembrance or bit of fact that might make one pyramid more likely than another for the meeting. Sabah says, "I have been here many times, but never at night. We should be careful, the sphynx do not like intruders on sacred ground." Abby says, "That sounds plural. More than one sphynx? A creature of some kind?"</p><p></p><p>Sabah replies, "A family, the guardians of the pyramids. The Priests and the gods created them in the image of the Earth Spirit that watched over this land three thousand years ago, the one that the great statue was modeled after." Abby comments, "The King being who he is, and the Princess being who she is, they were probably able to pass freely. Which doesn't really help us figure out where they passed."</p><p></p><p>Abby begins to walk near the first pyramid, looking for any signs of recent disturbance, or anything the looks out of place. They see nothing to indicate anybody was here recently. They circumnavigate around this smaller pyramid and are now in the space between this trio of small pyramids and the larger Pyramid of Menkaure.</p><p></p><p>Less than a half-mile away, Benjamin ‘Fish’ Trout, tanned as brown as a chestnut, thinks to himself as he looks up at the night sky above Egypt,"Damn, but I'm a long way from New Orleans!" He wipes his brow and plods along. It has been nearly two days since 'Fish' separated from his companion Alsoomse. She was following a black-garbed Egyptian while he was following a 'begger boy' that didn't act like one, both thinking their prey to be a French Wizard.</p><p></p><p>In the time since then, the 'Boy' met up with a Frenchman by the name of Maurice Beaujolais, and he witnessed them both using wizard magic. Following them from Heliopolis to Cairo, they then joined before noon today with the Scottish boy Henry Jones. Jones had assisted Fish and Abby at Tanis with the rescue of British archaeologists. Not knowing what to make of this development, Fish moved back from the crowds surrounding the palace in Cairo. Then all Hell broke loose, as fireballs were flying everywhere and cannon fired from the roof. The French dirigible then arrived and opened fire onto the palace.</p><p></p><p>When the smoke started to clear Fish witnessed a battle in the air between the dying dirigible and a large black dragon. Both crashed near the Nile a mile off. Fish thought of going there, then spotted the French wizards and young Mr. Jones, now accompanied as well by Abby's old boyfriend Callum Stuart. Fish continued to follow these four as they purchased a wagon and headed west to Gizah. They are now approaching the largest pyramid from the west, with Fish a safe distance back.</p><p></p><p>Benjamin rather enjoys the fact that he's stowed his sandals in the duffle slung over his shoulder. With the sun having set hours ago, the sand isn't crazy-hot 'neath his toes. Stretching a thousand feet west of the towering Khufu pyramid are various smaller structures, burial chambers for the various priests and officials from Khufu's court. The cart with the quartet turn south prior to these and begin to travel due south, some three-hundred feet west of the next large pyramid, that of Khafre. He feels nervous around this place of the dead.</p><p></p><p>Fish sees the cart approaching the east-west wall north of the Menkaure pyramid. They turn east, riding parallel the wall for around 100 feet until the reach the corner of the intersection of the north-south wall situated west of the Khafre pyramid. Once in the corner the four secure the horse, place a stepladder on the cart, and begin to scale the wall. Fish gauges the odds for stealing the horse.</p><p></p><p>A mere 600 feet away from Fish, Abby says "Let's check Menkaure and leave these behind us. Might the Princess have left something behind to tip us off?" Ruby says, "It's possible, she knows we're coming I'm sure. But in this darkness it would be awfully hard to spot. Unless Freya can spot something from up in the air and at this point I think we shouldn't take the chance of sending her up and alerting anyone else to our presence just yet."</p><p></p><p>They do not see anybody along the southern wall of Menkaure's pyramid. Walls and the mortuary extend out from the pyramid's east side, requiring the party to go around this pyramid on its west side. Once the party reaches the northwest corner they stop after seeing people some 400 feet away to the northeast. These people are climbing over a wall between the Menkaure and Khafre pyramids.</p><p></p><p>Abby stilled herself and focused on her senses. She focused on her eyes and her ears. There was no reason for someone to be out here unless they knew about the meeting, or were grave robbers. Either of which might mean a fight. She laid a hand of the hilt of her sword, not wanting to bring attention to the group with the sound of gunfire should it come to that.</p><p></p><p>Fish watches as the two boys are lowered down by Callum, who then jumps down himself on the other side. Maurice swings over the wall and then is helped down. Since all four men have abandoned the cart and horse, having climbed out of sight to the other side of the wall, Fish decides it is safe to move in. He then disables the cart’s axle.</p><p></p><p>Ruby whispers "Apparently we're not the only ones with this very same idea." She squints, "Does anyone here recognize any of them?" They are too far away to make out details in the moonlight. The people appear to be a man and pair of boys. Another man then lowers himself down from the wall, joining the other three. The four move on cautiously eastward, staying close to the wall. Abby shook her head and replied, "Not yet, but two of them the size of children... possibly not a threat."</p><p></p><p>Lawrence sneaks up to the wall separating the group from the quartet. He whispers, "What do you think they're up to?" Mina replies, "Hard to say without knowing who they are. They're clearly looking for something or someone." The quartet continues to move eastward for another 500 feet. Some 100 feet ahead of them the wall is intercepted by a southern wall extending for 300 feet. Rather than traveling this they instead throw a grappling hook liked to a rope up and over the corner of the walls. One of the men then scales it. The other man helps the two boys up. The man atop the wall then helps to pull him up and they drop down on the opposite side, no longer visible by the party.</p><p></p><p>"Oh no, no you don't," Abby said quietly. Ruby says, "Boys? Could that be one of the boys you were with earlier today Abby? Either way they must know something... should we follow them?" Abby waved to the others to follow and began moving as silently as she could, keeping to the shadows herself, to follow where the other group went. Ruby asks "Can we all climb? Either that or Freya, can you carry us over?"</p><p></p><p>The group quickly covers half the distance between the far corner of Menkaure's pyramid and the corner 900 feet away where the men had climbed the wall. "Now is the time to hurry friends, any sentries will spot the first group before us. Let us hurry and catch up to them and find out who they are. If a small group of our foes, better to take them out there than in a larger group." suggests George. The party does their best to move silently, but one of the horses whinnies. On the opposite side of the wall Fish recognizes the sound of the horse he had been riding earlier in the week.</p><p></p><p>Standing up on the cart and hoisting his head to the top of the wall, Fish looks down in the courtyard below north of the Menkaure pyramid. Fifty feet before him is the Priestess of Bast named Sabah, leading five of the eight horses belonging to his group. Ahead of them some 50 to 125 feet he spots six other people, moving eastward along the wall and already beyond where he is. One is an armored blonde female who he does not recognize, but the other five are the people who he had traveled to Egypt with.</p><p></p><p>The group of Lawrence, Ruby, George, Mina, Freya and Abby reach the corner where the two walls intersect and the quartet climbed over. The wall is at a nine-foot height, so hoisting each other and using a rope the are able to get over it. Meanwhile Sabah leads the seven horses south along the north-south wall from this intersection, as that wall ends at open desert approximately 300 feet further down. Benjamin Fish Trout discretely follows from behind.</p><p></p><p>From the other side of the wall they see that the east-well wall they just scaled is part of a perimeter wall around three walls of the middle (Khafre) pyramid that is 400 feet north of where the party is now standing. The open side is to the east. Immediately east of the pyramid beyond an open area of 40 feet is a large stone building approximately 80 feet north-south by 250 east-west. From the eastern end of that a long covered corridor-style building extends eastward for over a thousand feet, making the only way around this pyramid being the open area the 40 feet between the pyramid and building east of it, as they spot the quartet of men heading north though this opening and then turn east behind the large building.</p><p></p><p>The moonlight shines down on the impressive pyramid, and illuminates at the very top the outline of a large winged creature with the body of a lion that is perched on the structure and keeping watch below. George nods towards the top of the pyramid "Let's hope it asks riddles as well" George whispers dryly.</p><p></p><p>"Anyone have an illusion or a sound spell we can use to distract and lure away that sphinx?" asks George. Mina says, "No need to borrow trouble. As long as it stays up there we shouldn't have to worry about it." Lawrence replies, "As long as it doesn't try to eat us, George." 'You haven't read much history have you Lawrence?" asks George wryly. Lawrence says, "Can't say as I have. I'll keep my distance from it then."</p><p></p><p>Fish decides to trust an intuition. "My friends must be nearby!" he thinks to himself. Then he remembers: Wilamina had given him a breath mint and told him, "Suck on it if you need to send a mental image to me or a short message. Understand that its range is limited, so use it carefully." He pops the lozenge into his mouth and thinks, "Lady Wilamina, I think I spy you! I'm north of the wall, hiding in a horse cart."</p><p></p><p>After commenting about the sphynx, Mina suddenly pauses as if deep in thought. She then raises up her hand and says to her companions "It's Ben Trout, he's nearby." George says, "Ok, let's push on, Trout can catch up to us." Lawrence says, "Fish is here? Excellent. I wonder what they're up to." Mina looses the clerical robes she is wearing and removes an object from a belt pouch which she places in her mouth. She concentrates on Ben and thinks back "Ben, we are now east of the middle large pyramid. We are following a group that appears to be comprised of four men and boys."</p><p></p><p>The breath mint tingles in his mouth upon reception of Mina's message. Licking his lips, Benjamin quickly but stealthily attempts to join his friends. Making his way over the wall to his east and continuing to the northeast in the direction of the Khafre pyramid, he soons finds himself at the southwestern corner, almost to the opposite side as the party. While deciding whether to circumnavigate around the southern or western side Mina asks him</p><p>"Ben, do you have any idea who those four men we were following are?" "A coupla wizards, Henry Jones, and Callum Stuart...I think," replies Fish thoughtfully. Mina says to her companions "Ben believes those four we are following are Callum and his British spy friends."</p><p></p><p>Ruby exclaims, "Oh would that be the man we were with earlier today? He ended up being quite helpful, actually. Abby pulled in a loud, deep breath, and sagged for a moment. She had kept her mind carefully away from what might have happened to Cal back at the Palace when she had gone haring off to a rooftop and he had stayed below. "We're too far away for a message spell, but at least we know now they're friendly.</p><p></p><p>Fish is soon able to join the others. “Ben, I'm glad to see you!" Ruby says cheerfully as she plants a kiss on his cheek. "It seems like so much has happened since we've seen you it feels like forever. I'm sure you have just as many adventures to tell as we do, I mean, after we get this whole save Egypt thing over with."</p><p></p><p>Mina comments "Sabah still hasn't rounding the bend of the southern wall 800 feet away. She should have by now." They then note the reason why she may have hesitated to do so, as a quarter mile to the south they see a dust cloud and then the distant shape of two mounted horses galloping swiftly towards the pyramids.</p><p></p><p>"Late to the party I suppose" quips George. "I wonder who they could be now. Wish we had a good telescope. Anyway it is getting late and all eyes will be on those two now so let us hurry." Lawrence says, "Yes. Those horse can cover the ground much faster than us." The pair of horsemen continue to ride in the party's direction towards the gap between the Khafre pyramid and the building east of it. By moving to the north side of that building the party cannot be seen by the oncoming horsemen, at least until they pass through this gap.</p><p></p><p>The only real illumination at this spot is moonlight, as the residual light from the city to the north is somewhat blocked by the large pyramids to the north and west of the party's current location. As the horsemen near to a distance of 100 feet those peering around the corner are able to better see them. They are two of the three French wizards who had been aboard the Dreadnaught dirigible that the party helped crash five hours earlier. These two are Joseph-Michael Montgolfier and his still unnamed companion from before, with the then very wounded Jules-Henri Poincare no longer being with them.</p><p></p><p>Ruby says, "Well, we knew they were involved in this plot, didn't we. They are certainly here to cause trouble. We should try to disable them before they get to their destination. However, they are powerful wizards and we don't want to alert the whole army to our presence with a huge battle. Anyone have any ideas?" Grateful to have rejoined his friends but more than a little anxious, Fish presses his back against the wall as though seeming to want of folding himself into the nearest, darkest shadow.</p><p></p><p>Mina replies, "It is hard to say what the best course of action would be. A battle could alert the other wizards, while letting them through would also give us the opportunity to follow them right to who we are seeking. On the other hand, if we let these two through they will surely tell the King and the others that we were responsible for the Dreadnaught's destruction, and possibly ruin any chance we have of negotiations." Lawrence says, "We'll have to take them by surprise and knock them out. We could use them as hostages. If we spook the horses or kill them, they'll throw the riders."</p><p></p><p>The riders have now closed to fifty feet. Mina states "We'd better act fast. What is the plan?" Ruby says, "I have two ideas. One is that I can make their horses fall asleep. That would certainly disrupt them. The other is that I can try to detect what they are thinking. It would take a little longer but if I am successful then we would know their plans and can act from there."</p><p></p><p>The horses continue to gallop through the space between the pyramid and building to the east that the party is behind the corner of. They are 20 feet from emerging into the area past the building at which point they will be able to spot the party. George says, "Quick, everyone make your way back around to the east side of the building. We can come around behind them so they don't spot us and we can watch their actions from behind them. Fish maybe we can get you on the roof from there to be our eyes."</p><p></p><p>Ruby casts sleep at the two riders, aiming really for the unnamed companion’s horse. The horse immediately stops and falls to the ground. Interestingly enough, the French wizard riding it manages to jump upward as it falls, his cape fanning out to the side like a pair of wings, and provides him with a light cushion of air as he gently glides forward and lands on his feet. Meanwhile, Montgolfier noticed his friend’s house falling and slows from a gallop to a trot as he begins to pivot around.</p><p></p><p>Fish quickly scampers up to the building's roof 20 feet above. Unfortunately it is over 100 feet to the east wall, so the party is unable to get more than 20 feet that distance by the time that Montgolfier's horse turns and he spots them. Ruby waves to the others to move as she does what George asks, moving to the east side of the pyramid, taking Mina with her. Lawrence readies himself for action.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 6896377, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter 90, “The Great Pyramids” September 11, 1882, 8:30PM.[/B] The sun has finally set to the west as the party comprised of George Eastman, Ruby West, Wilamina Parker, Abigail Marsters, Lawrence Cantrell, Freya and Sahah are approaching on foot one of the three smaller Subsidiary Pyramids immediately south of the Pyramid of Menkaure at Gizah (the smallest of the three large pyramids). As a cool breeze whips across the sands no other sounds are heard. There is enough residual light coming from the moon and from Gizah City beyond the pyramids to see by. Sahab falls back to the rear, leading the party's horses. "Is anyone any good at tracking in this sand?" Abby asked quietly. "Otherwise we're going to have to check each of these pyramids, and I'm not sure we have the time." Abby searched her memory for any remembrance or bit of fact that might make one pyramid more likely than another for the meeting. Sabah says, "I have been here many times, but never at night. We should be careful, the sphynx do not like intruders on sacred ground." Abby says, "That sounds plural. More than one sphynx? A creature of some kind?" Sabah replies, "A family, the guardians of the pyramids. The Priests and the gods created them in the image of the Earth Spirit that watched over this land three thousand years ago, the one that the great statue was modeled after." Abby comments, "The King being who he is, and the Princess being who she is, they were probably able to pass freely. Which doesn't really help us figure out where they passed." Abby begins to walk near the first pyramid, looking for any signs of recent disturbance, or anything the looks out of place. They see nothing to indicate anybody was here recently. They circumnavigate around this smaller pyramid and are now in the space between this trio of small pyramids and the larger Pyramid of Menkaure. Less than a half-mile away, Benjamin ‘Fish’ Trout, tanned as brown as a chestnut, thinks to himself as he looks up at the night sky above Egypt,"Damn, but I'm a long way from New Orleans!" He wipes his brow and plods along. It has been nearly two days since 'Fish' separated from his companion Alsoomse. She was following a black-garbed Egyptian while he was following a 'begger boy' that didn't act like one, both thinking their prey to be a French Wizard. In the time since then, the 'Boy' met up with a Frenchman by the name of Maurice Beaujolais, and he witnessed them both using wizard magic. Following them from Heliopolis to Cairo, they then joined before noon today with the Scottish boy Henry Jones. Jones had assisted Fish and Abby at Tanis with the rescue of British archaeologists. Not knowing what to make of this development, Fish moved back from the crowds surrounding the palace in Cairo. Then all Hell broke loose, as fireballs were flying everywhere and cannon fired from the roof. The French dirigible then arrived and opened fire onto the palace. When the smoke started to clear Fish witnessed a battle in the air between the dying dirigible and a large black dragon. Both crashed near the Nile a mile off. Fish thought of going there, then spotted the French wizards and young Mr. Jones, now accompanied as well by Abby's old boyfriend Callum Stuart. Fish continued to follow these four as they purchased a wagon and headed west to Gizah. They are now approaching the largest pyramid from the west, with Fish a safe distance back. Benjamin rather enjoys the fact that he's stowed his sandals in the duffle slung over his shoulder. With the sun having set hours ago, the sand isn't crazy-hot 'neath his toes. Stretching a thousand feet west of the towering Khufu pyramid are various smaller structures, burial chambers for the various priests and officials from Khufu's court. The cart with the quartet turn south prior to these and begin to travel due south, some three-hundred feet west of the next large pyramid, that of Khafre. He feels nervous around this place of the dead. Fish sees the cart approaching the east-west wall north of the Menkaure pyramid. They turn east, riding parallel the wall for around 100 feet until the reach the corner of the intersection of the north-south wall situated west of the Khafre pyramid. Once in the corner the four secure the horse, place a stepladder on the cart, and begin to scale the wall. Fish gauges the odds for stealing the horse. A mere 600 feet away from Fish, Abby says "Let's check Menkaure and leave these behind us. Might the Princess have left something behind to tip us off?" Ruby says, "It's possible, she knows we're coming I'm sure. But in this darkness it would be awfully hard to spot. Unless Freya can spot something from up in the air and at this point I think we shouldn't take the chance of sending her up and alerting anyone else to our presence just yet." They do not see anybody along the southern wall of Menkaure's pyramid. Walls and the mortuary extend out from the pyramid's east side, requiring the party to go around this pyramid on its west side. Once the party reaches the northwest corner they stop after seeing people some 400 feet away to the northeast. These people are climbing over a wall between the Menkaure and Khafre pyramids. Abby stilled herself and focused on her senses. She focused on her eyes and her ears. There was no reason for someone to be out here unless they knew about the meeting, or were grave robbers. Either of which might mean a fight. She laid a hand of the hilt of her sword, not wanting to bring attention to the group with the sound of gunfire should it come to that. Fish watches as the two boys are lowered down by Callum, who then jumps down himself on the other side. Maurice swings over the wall and then is helped down. Since all four men have abandoned the cart and horse, having climbed out of sight to the other side of the wall, Fish decides it is safe to move in. He then disables the cart’s axle. Ruby whispers "Apparently we're not the only ones with this very same idea." She squints, "Does anyone here recognize any of them?" They are too far away to make out details in the moonlight. The people appear to be a man and pair of boys. Another man then lowers himself down from the wall, joining the other three. The four move on cautiously eastward, staying close to the wall. Abby shook her head and replied, "Not yet, but two of them the size of children... possibly not a threat." Lawrence sneaks up to the wall separating the group from the quartet. He whispers, "What do you think they're up to?" Mina replies, "Hard to say without knowing who they are. They're clearly looking for something or someone." The quartet continues to move eastward for another 500 feet. Some 100 feet ahead of them the wall is intercepted by a southern wall extending for 300 feet. Rather than traveling this they instead throw a grappling hook liked to a rope up and over the corner of the walls. One of the men then scales it. The other man helps the two boys up. The man atop the wall then helps to pull him up and they drop down on the opposite side, no longer visible by the party. "Oh no, no you don't," Abby said quietly. Ruby says, "Boys? Could that be one of the boys you were with earlier today Abby? Either way they must know something... should we follow them?" Abby waved to the others to follow and began moving as silently as she could, keeping to the shadows herself, to follow where the other group went. Ruby asks "Can we all climb? Either that or Freya, can you carry us over?" The group quickly covers half the distance between the far corner of Menkaure's pyramid and the corner 900 feet away where the men had climbed the wall. "Now is the time to hurry friends, any sentries will spot the first group before us. Let us hurry and catch up to them and find out who they are. If a small group of our foes, better to take them out there than in a larger group." suggests George. The party does their best to move silently, but one of the horses whinnies. On the opposite side of the wall Fish recognizes the sound of the horse he had been riding earlier in the week. Standing up on the cart and hoisting his head to the top of the wall, Fish looks down in the courtyard below north of the Menkaure pyramid. Fifty feet before him is the Priestess of Bast named Sabah, leading five of the eight horses belonging to his group. Ahead of them some 50 to 125 feet he spots six other people, moving eastward along the wall and already beyond where he is. One is an armored blonde female who he does not recognize, but the other five are the people who he had traveled to Egypt with. The group of Lawrence, Ruby, George, Mina, Freya and Abby reach the corner where the two walls intersect and the quartet climbed over. The wall is at a nine-foot height, so hoisting each other and using a rope the are able to get over it. Meanwhile Sabah leads the seven horses south along the north-south wall from this intersection, as that wall ends at open desert approximately 300 feet further down. Benjamin Fish Trout discretely follows from behind. From the other side of the wall they see that the east-well wall they just scaled is part of a perimeter wall around three walls of the middle (Khafre) pyramid that is 400 feet north of where the party is now standing. The open side is to the east. Immediately east of the pyramid beyond an open area of 40 feet is a large stone building approximately 80 feet north-south by 250 east-west. From the eastern end of that a long covered corridor-style building extends eastward for over a thousand feet, making the only way around this pyramid being the open area the 40 feet between the pyramid and building east of it, as they spot the quartet of men heading north though this opening and then turn east behind the large building. The moonlight shines down on the impressive pyramid, and illuminates at the very top the outline of a large winged creature with the body of a lion that is perched on the structure and keeping watch below. George nods towards the top of the pyramid "Let's hope it asks riddles as well" George whispers dryly. "Anyone have an illusion or a sound spell we can use to distract and lure away that sphinx?" asks George. Mina says, "No need to borrow trouble. As long as it stays up there we shouldn't have to worry about it." Lawrence replies, "As long as it doesn't try to eat us, George." 'You haven't read much history have you Lawrence?" asks George wryly. Lawrence says, "Can't say as I have. I'll keep my distance from it then." Fish decides to trust an intuition. "My friends must be nearby!" he thinks to himself. Then he remembers: Wilamina had given him a breath mint and told him, "Suck on it if you need to send a mental image to me or a short message. Understand that its range is limited, so use it carefully." He pops the lozenge into his mouth and thinks, "Lady Wilamina, I think I spy you! I'm north of the wall, hiding in a horse cart." After commenting about the sphynx, Mina suddenly pauses as if deep in thought. She then raises up her hand and says to her companions "It's Ben Trout, he's nearby." George says, "Ok, let's push on, Trout can catch up to us." Lawrence says, "Fish is here? Excellent. I wonder what they're up to." Mina looses the clerical robes she is wearing and removes an object from a belt pouch which she places in her mouth. She concentrates on Ben and thinks back "Ben, we are now east of the middle large pyramid. We are following a group that appears to be comprised of four men and boys." The breath mint tingles in his mouth upon reception of Mina's message. Licking his lips, Benjamin quickly but stealthily attempts to join his friends. Making his way over the wall to his east and continuing to the northeast in the direction of the Khafre pyramid, he soons finds himself at the southwestern corner, almost to the opposite side as the party. While deciding whether to circumnavigate around the southern or western side Mina asks him "Ben, do you have any idea who those four men we were following are?" "A coupla wizards, Henry Jones, and Callum Stuart...I think," replies Fish thoughtfully. Mina says to her companions "Ben believes those four we are following are Callum and his British spy friends." Ruby exclaims, "Oh would that be the man we were with earlier today? He ended up being quite helpful, actually. Abby pulled in a loud, deep breath, and sagged for a moment. She had kept her mind carefully away from what might have happened to Cal back at the Palace when she had gone haring off to a rooftop and he had stayed below. "We're too far away for a message spell, but at least we know now they're friendly. Fish is soon able to join the others. “Ben, I'm glad to see you!" Ruby says cheerfully as she plants a kiss on his cheek. "It seems like so much has happened since we've seen you it feels like forever. I'm sure you have just as many adventures to tell as we do, I mean, after we get this whole save Egypt thing over with." Mina comments "Sabah still hasn't rounding the bend of the southern wall 800 feet away. She should have by now." They then note the reason why she may have hesitated to do so, as a quarter mile to the south they see a dust cloud and then the distant shape of two mounted horses galloping swiftly towards the pyramids. "Late to the party I suppose" quips George. "I wonder who they could be now. Wish we had a good telescope. Anyway it is getting late and all eyes will be on those two now so let us hurry." Lawrence says, "Yes. Those horse can cover the ground much faster than us." The pair of horsemen continue to ride in the party's direction towards the gap between the Khafre pyramid and the building east of it. By moving to the north side of that building the party cannot be seen by the oncoming horsemen, at least until they pass through this gap. The only real illumination at this spot is moonlight, as the residual light from the city to the north is somewhat blocked by the large pyramids to the north and west of the party's current location. As the horsemen near to a distance of 100 feet those peering around the corner are able to better see them. They are two of the three French wizards who had been aboard the Dreadnaught dirigible that the party helped crash five hours earlier. These two are Joseph-Michael Montgolfier and his still unnamed companion from before, with the then very wounded Jules-Henri Poincare no longer being with them. Ruby says, "Well, we knew they were involved in this plot, didn't we. They are certainly here to cause trouble. We should try to disable them before they get to their destination. However, they are powerful wizards and we don't want to alert the whole army to our presence with a huge battle. Anyone have any ideas?" Grateful to have rejoined his friends but more than a little anxious, Fish presses his back against the wall as though seeming to want of folding himself into the nearest, darkest shadow. Mina replies, "It is hard to say what the best course of action would be. A battle could alert the other wizards, while letting them through would also give us the opportunity to follow them right to who we are seeking. On the other hand, if we let these two through they will surely tell the King and the others that we were responsible for the Dreadnaught's destruction, and possibly ruin any chance we have of negotiations." Lawrence says, "We'll have to take them by surprise and knock them out. We could use them as hostages. If we spook the horses or kill them, they'll throw the riders." The riders have now closed to fifty feet. Mina states "We'd better act fast. What is the plan?" Ruby says, "I have two ideas. One is that I can make their horses fall asleep. That would certainly disrupt them. The other is that I can try to detect what they are thinking. It would take a little longer but if I am successful then we would know their plans and can act from there." The horses continue to gallop through the space between the pyramid and building to the east that the party is behind the corner of. They are 20 feet from emerging into the area past the building at which point they will be able to spot the party. George says, "Quick, everyone make your way back around to the east side of the building. We can come around behind them so they don't spot us and we can watch their actions from behind them. Fish maybe we can get you on the roof from there to be our eyes." Ruby casts sleep at the two riders, aiming really for the unnamed companion’s horse. The horse immediately stops and falls to the ground. Interestingly enough, the French wizard riding it manages to jump upward as it falls, his cape fanning out to the side like a pair of wings, and provides him with a light cushion of air as he gently glides forward and lands on his feet. Meanwhile, Montgolfier noticed his friend’s house falling and slows from a gallop to a trot as he begins to pivot around. Fish quickly scampers up to the building's roof 20 feet above. Unfortunately it is over 100 feet to the east wall, so the party is unable to get more than 20 feet that distance by the time that Montgolfier's horse turns and he spots them. Ruby waves to the others to move as she does what George asks, moving to the east side of the pyramid, taking Mina with her. Lawrence readies himself for action. [/QUOTE]
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AGELESS Campaign Episode 2 - Temple of the Cat-Goddess
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