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<blockquote data-quote="Ao the Overkitty" data-source="post: 2854129" data-attributes="member: 9758"><p><em>Synopsis for 5/01/06 session</em></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><strong>"Messages to Mom"</strong></span></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>Okay, A-dom. We’re going to the swamp. Is there anything you want to accomplish there.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom looked confused at this question.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>To… see what’s there.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>Okay… Do you have any plans?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>I think there is an artifact. I’m going with that.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar expressed a desire to sometime check out his father’s manse and make sure his father didn’t catch them all being Solars.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>Okay, Tiger. Your plan for the city is… to kill people?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>Well, that’s the end result, yeah. Just how we get there, I’m flexible.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>I just went out on a limb and figured, since it was Tiger’s plan, it involved killing.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar directed the conversation into a long discussion about killing the people versus taking them over. A-dom ignored him and talked with Gareth and Jade’s Luck about their religion, saying that they should ‘promote <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />ing’. He said he could accept the candy part, so long as they got the sex in there. Gareth and A-dom shook on it, deciding the tenants of the religion of the Unconquered Sun were sex and candy. Thankful for Creation, Jahar refused to sanctify this agreement.</p><p></p><p>They tried to work out mottos for the religion of the Unconquered Sun.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em>'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Here’s some candy!' or 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Go have lots of sex!' Are these really what we wish to say?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>Hatred. 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Hate the Dragon-bloods!'</em></p><p></p><p>Gareth didn’t like that, since he felt dragon-bloods in and of themselves weren’t bad, they just had incorrect ideas. Jahar corrected himself, saying he meant the immaculate philosophy, not the dragon-bloods.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>How about something like 'Worship the Unconquered Sun. We are his servants. How may we help you?'</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar and Tiger didn’t like that one.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em> 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Not everybody we’ve helped has died!'</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom liked that one, because it was true. Jade’s Luck found it amusing.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em> 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> and be happy!'</em></p><p></p><p>It was suggested that they actually use the immaculate philosophy that everyone was on the path to enlightenment and to reincarnate as a higher essence being. All they would have to do is say that the Dragons weren’t the top of the chain, the Unconquered Sun was. </p><p></p><p>The discussion went on for a long time until Gareth curbed it for swamp time. Jade’s Luck left a deck of cards with Fatty and Skelly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> (pointing at the swamp) <em>Gareth. What should I wear in that?</em></p><p></p><p>Gareth told Jahar to put something sturdier on his feet and bundle up good. After all, it was the month of Air Resplendent, the worst part of winter.</p><p></p><p>As the group trudged through the partially frozen swamp, A-dom noticed a very old skeleton leaning against a tree. As he approached it, everyone but Gareth noticed the vine covered skeleton rise. A-dom was very surprised to see the skeleton had eyes.</p><p></p><p>Jahar nodded in greeting to it.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>Greetings! Are you headed for the House of Bottles or the Tomb? And please state your exact business, for the record.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>The TOMB!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>And your exact business at the tomb?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Ummm… site-seeing.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>Might I inquire whom you work for?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>You might.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Wretch?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>No. Yew made me.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>I don’t remember that.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>Not you. Yew.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>The girl?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>The necromancer.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>They didn’t tell me about the necromancer.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>Site-seeing?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Well, yeah. Cause the swamp was kinda named similar to one of my past lives. So, you know, we thought there might be something cool here. So, if there is a tomb, I want to see the tomb. Maybe I have artifacts waiting for me.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>Oh, you want to go rob the tomb.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>No. If it is my own tomb. Is it the necromancer’s tomb?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>No. It’s the Wretched Tomb.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>But not Wretch’s tomb?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>Don’t know. I’m just the guide.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>What’s your name?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>I don’t have one.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Can I name you?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>No.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom proceeded to start calling the skeleton Viney. Viney very slowly moved off to lead them towards the tomb. Viney couldn’t tell Jahar how many corpses were in the swamp (classified information), but he could tell him to watch out for swamp dragons. Jade’s Luck asked Gareth if she could ride on his shoulders. He didn’t have a problem with that. Jahar asked A-dom if he could ride him. A-dom said no.</p><p></p><p>A-dom quickly noticed that Viney shuffled in a straight path towards the tomb, ignoring all things that wouldn’t attack him specifically (like swamp dragons). As they traveled further into the swamp, they found more and more very large, dangerous things. Even the black flies and mosquitoes were bigger. Yes, there were lots of flies, even in the dead of winter. The swamp was just that wretched. Jahar didn’t like being in a murky, knee-deep in muck swamp.</p><p></p><p>While Jade’s Luck made her veil into a mosquito net, Ceri changed into a raven and flew ahead. She could see a large structure covered in snow. She couldn’t really convey this to them, so she just flew on.</p><p></p><p>Jahar found out that Viney had been around when the swamp was originally a forest. Viney said the swamp just showed up one day.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Are you a familiar, Viney?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> <em>I’m not familiar with you, no.</em></p><p></p><p>Eventually A-dom got bored following such a slow skeleton that he picked Viney up and gave him a piggy-back ride. Viney thought this was very odd, but took to it very quickly. What would have taken two days at Viney’s speed took them a day and a half. A-dom went back to asking Viney if his other self made him and being confused when Viney said Yew made him until Gareth explained that a guy named Yew made Viney. Jahar, and A-dom proceeded repeatedly ask Viney questions that required a grasp of time. Eventually Viney broke down and tried to cry.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>You know, if we can successfully do this to the people we capture, we’ll break down their will in no time.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>If you do what we tell you, we’ll shut up!</em></p><p></p><p>As they trudged along, the swamp water got consistently colder until they saw a large, squat building up ahead coated in snow and ice and surrounded by a blizzard. The building was about forty feet long, fifty feet tall, and kind of trapezoidal. It looked like the first step of a ziggurat, but without the subsequent steps.</p><p></p><p>Figuring that this was where more of his ashes were buried, A-dom said that he wanted to gather up all of his ashes into a big pile. The others thought that was a bad idea.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>I’d call him Dusty.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>You need to get a better naming system.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>What’s wrong with my naming system? It’s obvious and fitting!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>There is nothing wrong with your naming system. Your plan is No! They split you up for a reason. Let’s keep it that way.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom picked up some muck and flung it at the building. It hit the building with a splat, started to slide down, and froze.</p><p></p><p>Jahar noticed that the building was capping something of great power. Gareth remembered that the door was somewhere on the outer walls and all of the stuff inside was actually under ground.</p><p></p><p>The group discussed random stuff for a while until Viney started laughing. A-dom marveled at it’s ability to have a sense of humor and have eyes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Viney:</strong> <em>Clearly you are not as good as Yew.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>I know. I tried to kick my ass, but they wouldn’t let me. And then my god got angry.</em> (pause) <em>Now, let me get this straight. Don’t explode. Yew created you. And then Yew had you in the swamp?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>No no. Yew completed him.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Yew created you. And then Yew had you in the swamp, showing people how to get to one of my tombs? And a manse?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Viney:</strong> <em>Well, there’s not much else in the swamp.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Why did Yew have you in the swamp, guiding people? Why did Yew want to show people where these places are?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Viney:</strong> <em>Cause Yew didn’t want to do it himself? Herself? I’m not really sure.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom got bored and went into the blizzard with Gareth following. Since Jade’s Luck was still on Gareth’s shoulders, she went into the blizzard as well. With the wind whipping about and snow and sleet everywhere, Jade’s Luck quickly became very cold. She quickly wrapped herself in her veil to keep warm. A-dom was a little chilly, but mostly just tried to ignore his teeth chattering. Gareth didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was just a little inclement weather. Not even that cold. Ceri rather enjoyed the snowflakes and wind, feeling like a gentle breeze to her.</p><p></p><p>As they gathered near the building, a rain of icicles smashed into the group. All of the Solars but Gareth either evaded or were unaffected by the icicles. Gareth got bruised.. Ceri became a raven-beast and immediately healed from the pummeling. They all dashed to the edge of the building and started chipping away ice from the building. A-dom was most effective with his eight foot long club. It took A-dom about three strikes to scrape off the four foot thick ice.</p><p></p><p>When another spray of icicles rained down on the party, Gareth was encased in a beam light from the sun. As the golden radiance shined out around him, his armor and sword appeared upon him, glittering. The golden glow faded into his sword as he brought it up to block the incoming icicles. The runes sung like a flute as they were swept through the wind towards the icicles.. It all looked very pretty, but he failed to block the icicles as they smashed into the back of his head.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>God damn armor! You’re supposed to cushion the blow. What’d I summon you for?</em></p><p></p><p>Seeing that he was once again the only one truly damaged, he got even more frustrated and started slashing wildly at the snow and sleet.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>Gareth calm down. You have armor. You should be fine. Look at me. I don’t have any armor on and I’m fine.</em></p><p></p><p>This did not help Gareth calm down.</p><p></p><p>They could now see the writing on the wall of the tomb. Of course, it was written in Old Realm, so A-dom couldn’t read it.</p><p></p><p><em>Please, In this tomb I lay to rest</em></p><p><em>Realistically, Those that served me best</em></p><p><em>Arrange, To enter in and take the test</em></p><p><em>You, May leave now as my guest.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>What’s it mean?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>If you back off now, nothing is going to happen.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Well, I can turn around and go home, or I can get something shiny.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>There are more people here than just you, A-dom.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom looked confused at this. Working together rereading the poem and discussing it, they realized that the first word in each sentence spelled out pray.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>Oh Lord, let us into this tomb, so that we might take this test and find nifty <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />.</em></p><p></p><p>Gareth didn’t get smote, but he got the feeling the Unconquered Sun wasn’t exactly pleased with the prayer. Jahar didn’t do much better with his prayer. Ceri did a much better job with her prayer to Luna.</p><p></p><p>The wall in front of the group dissolved into a long hallway going down a set of stairs. A-dom shouted with glee and headed down the hallway. Jade’s Luck yelled behind him to look for traps. He started looking for traps about three or four long strides in.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>Don’t you remember what happened last time you went charging into a tomb?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Yeah. I got nifty <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>You almost destroyed everybody, so slow down.</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom found the stairs to be trap free and that they ended at a wall. Once everyone was halfway down the hallway, trying to catch up to A-dom, the upper half of the hallway slammed shut and wall in front of A-dom faded away. Jahar muttered a curse in High Realm.</p><p></p><p>Ahead of him, A-dom saw a large room that was full of empty glasses. The glasses were made out of every color of glass, were every shape and size and they were covering every surface. The floor had a salt layer, with multiple piles on the floor. There were shelves on the walls covered in glasses. There was even a glass chandelier on the ceiling that had glasses on top of it and glasses hanging down from it. A very large, nine foot tall stone statue stood in the center of the room, looking at the group as they finally caught up to A-dom.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>Good evening.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Statue:</strong> <em>Excellent! Fools who think they’re worthy! Any of you cowards actually have the guts to challenge me in single combat?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> (no pause at all) <em>Yes!</em></p><p></p><p>*<em>Paul scratches off ‘A-dom gets a valor roll’ from his notes.</em>*</p><p></p><p><strong>Statue:</strong> <em>Excellent!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>So, what are you fighting with there, Stony?</em></p><p></p><p>*<em>Stony flexes his fists</em>*</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Aw crap.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar asked what the fight was for and was answered that it was to continue on. When asked about conditions, Stony said that he and A-dom were going to fight. Jahar clarified that it didn’t matter if the glasses got broken, and that they probably would. The group, minus A-dom, put too much thought into the rules of the fight, not understanding that it was a fight to the last standing.</p><p></p><p>When Jade’s Luck asked another question, A-dom ran past Stony to smack him from behind. Stony smashed A-dom as he went past. A-dom became scarier as a big shark appeared around him. As A-dom smacked the statue with his club, the statue tried to smack A-dom back, but he was blocked by the club. A-dom then stood there as the statue put its fists together and brought them forward to smash A-dom away from him. A-dom flew through several of the bottles, smashing them, before hitting the wall and smashing some more. While watching this, Ceri noticed that the statue got better when the glasses broke, so told A-dom this. A-dom leapt back up, bounced off the wall, and flew through the air towards the statue, club first.</p><p></p><p>A-dom continued the patter of approaching the statue to attack, standing there, and getting knocked back into some glasses. During this time, Jade’s Luck and Gareth tried collecting glasses into piles, but this met with limited success. A-dom used his bracers to make his voice louder and tried to hit a high note. The note came out as kind of a strangled wail. The statue eventually knocked A-dom unconscious. The statue laughed. It then told everyone to step outside and then come in so the next fool could challenge him.</p><p></p><p>As expected, the glasses were all repaired when they came back in. Ceri then accepted the statue’s challenge. Once the fight started, everyone but Ceri and the unconscious A-dom went around smashing glasses. Ceri actually did a lot of run by attacks in her beastform. When she actually became damaged enough that she didn’t heal the bruises and cuts immediately, she stood back for a very short while to heal.</p><p></p><p><strong>Statue:</strong> <em>Come on you overgrown peacock, FIGHT ME!</em></p><p></p><p>Ceri ignored its taunt.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>Peacocks are pretty.</em></p><p></p><p>The statue was easily defeated in this manner. Two doors appeared on the wall with staircases leading down. Jahar poked and questioned the statue until he noticed Ceri looking around the doorways for magical warnings. Tiger got bored and wandered off down one of the stairways. Gareth tended to A-dom for an hour to try and wake him up. At the end of the hour, A-dom was still very bruised, but conscious, mobile and wanting to explore.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>We should probably rest for a little while longer. Then we can go and find my artifact.</em></p><p></p><p>Tiger found the stairways both led down into a vast catacombs area. He eventually came back to the group to let them know that.</p><p></p><p>After they had rested for a second hour, A-dom was ready to move on. He wanted to lead on, but Ceri convinced him that they wanted him around for a long time in his leader capacity, so for now he should be second. He bought it. As they argued who should go first, Gareth headed down to the catacombs. As the others followed along, they noticed that all of the biers were empty. Clearly an army wasn’t left here for A-dom. Eventually, Tiger and A-dom noticed a stone cork in the floor that looked a lot like the one from the last tomb. A-dom checked for traps, but thought everything was fine.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>From now on, you assist me.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>He hit me in head many times. It’s okay.</em> </p><p></p><p>A-dom started to run the cork.</p><p></p><p>*<em>Click</em>*</p><p></p><p>They all heard a loud thud, but quickly noticed it was Jahar dropping to the floor and not a trap going off. They all searched around for a caste mark button to press. Tiger noticed that there was a pressure plate in one of the biers that needed to be depressed. He put most of his weight on it and it receded into the bottom of the bier, but he could feel it trying to push back up. He called Jahar over to hold it down. After some yelling at him, he sat down on the bier. They quickly set up a pattern of A-dom turning the cork till it clicked, then the others searching for the pressure plate and pressing it down. After everyone but A-dom was holding down a pressure plate and there was a sixth click, Tiger heard all of the traps disarm and told the others they could let go now.</p><p></p><p>A-dom was staring down a long, dark shaft when they reassembled at the cork. A-dom made his little chant of his stuff being down there. Jade’s Luck told him that he didn’t know it was his tomb.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>If you can prove that this is someone else’s tomb, then I’ll stop doing my little fit.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>Can you prove its your tomb?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Yes!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>How?</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom sputtered as he tried to figure out how. He looked down the hole and considered leaping head first, but decided against it, since he was fairly injured. Someone noticed that there was writing around the end of the hole in Old Realm.</p><p></p><p><em>Here Lies the Ashes of the Wretch of Winter and His Sinister Hand. Do Not Disturb!</em></p><p></p><p>No one read it out loud for A-dom. When he asked, Gareth said that it said ‘Do Not Disturb.’</p><p></p><p>Ceri changed into a raven and flew down. When she was a good chunk down the dark shaft, she heard a disembodied voice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em> Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.</em></p><p></p><p>She cawed back.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em>What would you really like to say to your Mother?</em></p><p></p><p>Again, she cawed back.</p><p></p><p>When she came back into view of the group, they saw the raven was flapping up the shaft really slowly. When she got back to the top, she changed back into human form.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> (breathing heavily) <em>No updraft. That’s hard work.</em> (pause to catch breath) <em>There is a square room down there with lots and lots of writing all over. There is also an eyepatch down there on a little pedestal kind of thing with a piece of paper which I couldn’t read because it was all gunky with dust. And there is a large cloak kind of thing down there on a rack, also with a piece of paper that I couldn’t get a chance to read. I would have had to change forms and I wasn’t sure if there were traps down there or not.</em></p><p></p><p>She relayed that the shaft was about one hundred and twenty feet long. Tiger climbed down. Hearing Gareth repeatedly telling Jahar to wait for Tiger to get all the way down first, Tiger yelled up that they were all forbidden to climb down.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>Crap. I forgot to tell him!</em></p><p></p><p>Now Tiger heard the disembodied voice.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em> Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em> Iselsi Yamah Inea, </em> (three other names listed)</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em>What would you really like to say to your Mother?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> (bright and cheerful with a tinge of sarcasm) <em> Hi Mom!</em></p><p></p><p>Ceri and Jahar heard him say the name of his mother quietly, but no one heard the second response.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>You have to state four generations of your maternal bloodline, so if you don’t know that, don’t go down.</em></p><p></p><p>Tiger got to the bottom and found the room looked exactly like the one in the other tomb, except for the mannequin with the robe and the pedestal with the eyepatch. It did have another screw thing in the floor. It said over the screw <em>Wretch of Winter’s Ashes, Do Not Disturb!</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar started down and, as expected, slipped and fell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> (very quickly)<em> Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.</em></p><p></p><p>Jahar said a quick jumble of names, but managed to say them all correctly.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em>What would you really like to say to your Mother?</em></p><p></p><p>The second question stunned Jahar. He muttered a curse of <em>What?</em> in High Realm before smacking into the floor head first. Thankfully, somewhere along the way he had turned himself to stone, so he didn’t take much more than a bruise.</p><p></p><p>Tiger quickly picked up the pieces of paper before A-dom could come down. Jahar looked at the paper in Tiger’s hands to try and make out the bad handwriting.</p><p></p><p><strong>Eyepatch note:</strong> (very bad handwriting)<em> Property of the next incarnation of the Solar first known as Evening Tide of Autumn. Please inform him of its location and say "You Sir, are a Jerk." For me. - Markus the Mad</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Robe note:</strong> (even worse handwriting)<em> Robes of Essence Domination Yielding. Worn by the Priestess Necromancer Yew during her Reign of Terror. The Robe chooses its Owner, not the other way around. I really wish that Witch didn't make so many things like this when she was a man. - Sara the Beautiful. </em></p><p></p><p>When Jahar finished reading the note, he noticed he was wearing the robe. It was a large, thick, ornate red silk robe with various metal runes (orchalcum, moonsilver, star metal and jade) stitched into it that seem a little more lifelike than they should be. When Tiger saw him in it, the first thing he thought was ‘<em>Oh, he’s a sorcerer. Wait. Why did that thought pop into my head?</em>’</p><p></p><p>A-dom started down and also slipped.</p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> (very quickly)<em> Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Opal of the Seal, Somebody in the volcano, the other one with the thing, and the one with the goiter.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Disembodied Voice:</strong> <em>What would you really like to say to your Mother?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Sorry! </em></p><p></p><p>As A-dom hit the floor, he saw Jahar wearing the robe and Tiger stuffing something (the notes) into a pouch, and the eyepatch on the pedestal).</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>That’s for me!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Jahar:</strong> <em>A-dom, the note says it’s for Evening Tide of Autumn.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>So? What note?</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom picked up the eyepatch and put it on. While doing so, he managed to poke his eye out. Jahar and Tiger saw the blood squirting from his eye socket.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Oww! My eye!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Tiger:</strong> <em>That’s what you get for being stupid. Clearly everything is not for you!</em></p><p></p><p>A-dom ripped the eyepatch off and threw it up the hole. As Gareth, Jade’s Luck and Ceri stood around the hole, they saw an eyepatch fly up. Gareth made a grab for it, but put himself off balance and started to plummet into the hole. Jade’s Luck grabbed Gareth and pulled him so he hit the floor instead of going down the shaft. Ceri grabbed the eyepatch as it floated back down.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> (looking at the eyepatch and Jade’s Luck) <em>I don’t think I need it. And I don’t think you need it.</em></p><p></p><p>Ceri handed the eyepatch to Gareth.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Don’t do it! It’s a trap!</em></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Gareth put on the eyepatch and smiled a cheesy grin.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gareth:</strong> <em>Pretty cunning, don’t ya think?</em></p><p></p><p>The dark leather eyepatch had gold studs around the edge and a Orchalcum Eye in the center of the patch. And it did look very good. So good, in fact, that Gareth was much more handsome when wearing it.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jade’s Luck:</strong> <em>Man, you’re pretty!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Paul:</strong> <em>No, he’s Manly!</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Ceri:</strong> <em>I think A-dom was once Marcus the Mad. It was his and you asked him, you were Pollus? You asked him when he lost his eye and he said he didn’t, it just made him look good. And you asked him if you could have it when he was dead and he said sure. And then one of you, I can’t remember which, Darius, whoever was the Eclipse, smacked you and sanctified the oath. So it’s yours, even though A-dom had it.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Oww, my eye!</em></p><p></p><p>And thus they learned that A-dom lost his eye because he tried to go back on his word. A-dom went over to the screw and opened it. Inside he found ashes drawn out in the shape of a left hand giving the middle finger salute.</p><p></p><p><strong>A-dom:</strong> <em>Stupid other people’s artifacts being in my grave!</em></p><p></p><p>Tiger closed up the hole again.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ao the Overkitty, post: 2854129, member: 9758"] [i]Synopsis for 5/01/06 session[/i] [size=6][b]"Messages to Mom"[/b][/size] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]Okay, A-dom. We’re going to the swamp. Is there anything you want to accomplish there.[/i] A-dom looked confused at this question. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]To… see what’s there.[/i] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]Okay… Do you have any plans?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]I think there is an artifact. I’m going with that.[/i] Jahar expressed a desire to sometime check out his father’s manse and make sure his father didn’t catch them all being Solars. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]Okay, Tiger. Your plan for the city is… to kill people?[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]Well, that’s the end result, yeah. Just how we get there, I’m flexible.[/i] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]I just went out on a limb and figured, since it was Tiger’s plan, it involved killing.[/i] Jahar directed the conversation into a long discussion about killing the people versus taking them over. A-dom ignored him and talked with Gareth and Jade’s Luck about their religion, saying that they should ‘promote :):):):)ing’. He said he could accept the candy part, so long as they got the sex in there. Gareth and A-dom shook on it, deciding the tenants of the religion of the Unconquered Sun were sex and candy. Thankful for Creation, Jahar refused to sanctify this agreement. They tried to work out mottos for the religion of the Unconquered Sun. [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i]'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Here’s some candy!' or 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Go have lots of sex!' Are these really what we wish to say?[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]Hatred. 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Hate the Dragon-bloods!'[/i] Gareth didn’t like that, since he felt dragon-bloods in and of themselves weren’t bad, they just had incorrect ideas. Jahar corrected himself, saying he meant the immaculate philosophy, not the dragon-bloods. [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]How about something like 'Worship the Unconquered Sun. We are his servants. How may we help you?'[/i] Jahar and Tiger didn’t like that one. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i] 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! Not everybody we’ve helped has died!'[/i] A-dom liked that one, because it was true. Jade’s Luck found it amusing. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i] 'Worship the Unconquered Sun! :):):):) and be happy!'[/i] It was suggested that they actually use the immaculate philosophy that everyone was on the path to enlightenment and to reincarnate as a higher essence being. All they would have to do is say that the Dragons weren’t the top of the chain, the Unconquered Sun was. The discussion went on for a long time until Gareth curbed it for swamp time. Jade’s Luck left a deck of cards with Fatty and Skelly. [b]Jahar:[/b] (pointing at the swamp) [i]Gareth. What should I wear in that?[/i] Gareth told Jahar to put something sturdier on his feet and bundle up good. After all, it was the month of Air Resplendent, the worst part of winter. As the group trudged through the partially frozen swamp, A-dom noticed a very old skeleton leaning against a tree. As he approached it, everyone but Gareth noticed the vine covered skeleton rise. A-dom was very surprised to see the skeleton had eyes. Jahar nodded in greeting to it. [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]Greetings! Are you headed for the House of Bottles or the Tomb? And please state your exact business, for the record.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]The TOMB![/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]And your exact business at the tomb?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Ummm… site-seeing.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]Might I inquire whom you work for?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]You might.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Wretch?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]No. Yew made me.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]I don’t remember that.[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]Not you. Yew.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]The girl?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]The necromancer.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]They didn’t tell me about the necromancer.[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]Site-seeing?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Well, yeah. Cause the swamp was kinda named similar to one of my past lives. So, you know, we thought there might be something cool here. So, if there is a tomb, I want to see the tomb. Maybe I have artifacts waiting for me.[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]Oh, you want to go rob the tomb.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]No. If it is my own tomb. Is it the necromancer’s tomb?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]No. It’s the Wretched Tomb.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]But not Wretch’s tomb?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]Don’t know. I’m just the guide.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]What’s your name?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]I don’t have one.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Can I name you?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]No.[/i] A-dom proceeded to start calling the skeleton Viney. Viney very slowly moved off to lead them towards the tomb. Viney couldn’t tell Jahar how many corpses were in the swamp (classified information), but he could tell him to watch out for swamp dragons. Jade’s Luck asked Gareth if she could ride on his shoulders. He didn’t have a problem with that. Jahar asked A-dom if he could ride him. A-dom said no. A-dom quickly noticed that Viney shuffled in a straight path towards the tomb, ignoring all things that wouldn’t attack him specifically (like swamp dragons). As they traveled further into the swamp, they found more and more very large, dangerous things. Even the black flies and mosquitoes were bigger. Yes, there were lots of flies, even in the dead of winter. The swamp was just that wretched. Jahar didn’t like being in a murky, knee-deep in muck swamp. While Jade’s Luck made her veil into a mosquito net, Ceri changed into a raven and flew ahead. She could see a large structure covered in snow. She couldn’t really convey this to them, so she just flew on. Jahar found out that Viney had been around when the swamp was originally a forest. Viney said the swamp just showed up one day. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Are you a familiar, Viney?[/i] [b]Skeleton:[/b] [i]I’m not familiar with you, no.[/i] Eventually A-dom got bored following such a slow skeleton that he picked Viney up and gave him a piggy-back ride. Viney thought this was very odd, but took to it very quickly. What would have taken two days at Viney’s speed took them a day and a half. A-dom went back to asking Viney if his other self made him and being confused when Viney said Yew made him until Gareth explained that a guy named Yew made Viney. Jahar, and A-dom proceeded repeatedly ask Viney questions that required a grasp of time. Eventually Viney broke down and tried to cry. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]You know, if we can successfully do this to the people we capture, we’ll break down their will in no time.[/i] [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]If you do what we tell you, we’ll shut up![/i] As they trudged along, the swamp water got consistently colder until they saw a large, squat building up ahead coated in snow and ice and surrounded by a blizzard. The building was about forty feet long, fifty feet tall, and kind of trapezoidal. It looked like the first step of a ziggurat, but without the subsequent steps. Figuring that this was where more of his ashes were buried, A-dom said that he wanted to gather up all of his ashes into a big pile. The others thought that was a bad idea. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]I’d call him Dusty.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]You need to get a better naming system.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]What’s wrong with my naming system? It’s obvious and fitting![/i] [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]There is nothing wrong with your naming system. Your plan is No! They split you up for a reason. Let’s keep it that way.[/i] A-dom picked up some muck and flung it at the building. It hit the building with a splat, started to slide down, and froze. Jahar noticed that the building was capping something of great power. Gareth remembered that the door was somewhere on the outer walls and all of the stuff inside was actually under ground. The group discussed random stuff for a while until Viney started laughing. A-dom marveled at it’s ability to have a sense of humor and have eyes. [b]Viney:[/b] [i]Clearly you are not as good as Yew.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]I know. I tried to kick my ass, but they wouldn’t let me. And then my god got angry.[/i] (pause) [i]Now, let me get this straight. Don’t explode. Yew created you. And then Yew had you in the swamp?[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]No no. Yew completed him.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Yew created you. And then Yew had you in the swamp, showing people how to get to one of my tombs? And a manse?[/i] [b]Viney:[/b] [i]Well, there’s not much else in the swamp.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Why did Yew have you in the swamp, guiding people? Why did Yew want to show people where these places are?[/i] [b]Viney:[/b] [i]Cause Yew didn’t want to do it himself? Herself? I’m not really sure.[/i] A-dom got bored and went into the blizzard with Gareth following. Since Jade’s Luck was still on Gareth’s shoulders, she went into the blizzard as well. With the wind whipping about and snow and sleet everywhere, Jade’s Luck quickly became very cold. She quickly wrapped herself in her veil to keep warm. A-dom was a little chilly, but mostly just tried to ignore his teeth chattering. Gareth didn’t see what all the fuss was about. It was just a little inclement weather. Not even that cold. Ceri rather enjoyed the snowflakes and wind, feeling like a gentle breeze to her. As they gathered near the building, a rain of icicles smashed into the group. All of the Solars but Gareth either evaded or were unaffected by the icicles. Gareth got bruised.. Ceri became a raven-beast and immediately healed from the pummeling. They all dashed to the edge of the building and started chipping away ice from the building. A-dom was most effective with his eight foot long club. It took A-dom about three strikes to scrape off the four foot thick ice. When another spray of icicles rained down on the party, Gareth was encased in a beam light from the sun. As the golden radiance shined out around him, his armor and sword appeared upon him, glittering. The golden glow faded into his sword as he brought it up to block the incoming icicles. The runes sung like a flute as they were swept through the wind towards the icicles.. It all looked very pretty, but he failed to block the icicles as they smashed into the back of his head. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]God damn armor! You’re supposed to cushion the blow. What’d I summon you for?[/i] Seeing that he was once again the only one truly damaged, he got even more frustrated and started slashing wildly at the snow and sleet. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]Gareth calm down. You have armor. You should be fine. Look at me. I don’t have any armor on and I’m fine.[/i] This did not help Gareth calm down. They could now see the writing on the wall of the tomb. Of course, it was written in Old Realm, so A-dom couldn’t read it. [i]Please, In this tomb I lay to rest Realistically, Those that served me best Arrange, To enter in and take the test You, May leave now as my guest.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]What’s it mean?[/i] [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]If you back off now, nothing is going to happen.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Well, I can turn around and go home, or I can get something shiny.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]There are more people here than just you, A-dom.[/i] A-dom looked confused at this. Working together rereading the poem and discussing it, they realized that the first word in each sentence spelled out pray. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]Oh Lord, let us into this tomb, so that we might take this test and find nifty :):):):).[/i] Gareth didn’t get smote, but he got the feeling the Unconquered Sun wasn’t exactly pleased with the prayer. Jahar didn’t do much better with his prayer. Ceri did a much better job with her prayer to Luna. The wall in front of the group dissolved into a long hallway going down a set of stairs. A-dom shouted with glee and headed down the hallway. Jade’s Luck yelled behind him to look for traps. He started looking for traps about three or four long strides in. [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]Don’t you remember what happened last time you went charging into a tomb?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Yeah. I got nifty :):):):)![/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]You almost destroyed everybody, so slow down.[/i] A-dom found the stairs to be trap free and that they ended at a wall. Once everyone was halfway down the hallway, trying to catch up to A-dom, the upper half of the hallway slammed shut and wall in front of A-dom faded away. Jahar muttered a curse in High Realm. Ahead of him, A-dom saw a large room that was full of empty glasses. The glasses were made out of every color of glass, were every shape and size and they were covering every surface. The floor had a salt layer, with multiple piles on the floor. There were shelves on the walls covered in glasses. There was even a glass chandelier on the ceiling that had glasses on top of it and glasses hanging down from it. A very large, nine foot tall stone statue stood in the center of the room, looking at the group as they finally caught up to A-dom. [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]Good evening.[/i] [b]Statue:[/b] [i]Excellent! Fools who think they’re worthy! Any of you cowards actually have the guts to challenge me in single combat?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] (no pause at all) [i]Yes![/i] *[i]Paul scratches off ‘A-dom gets a valor roll’ from his notes.[/i]* [b]Statue:[/b] [i]Excellent![/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]So, what are you fighting with there, Stony?[/i] *[i]Stony flexes his fists[/i]* [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Aw crap.[/i] Jahar asked what the fight was for and was answered that it was to continue on. When asked about conditions, Stony said that he and A-dom were going to fight. Jahar clarified that it didn’t matter if the glasses got broken, and that they probably would. The group, minus A-dom, put too much thought into the rules of the fight, not understanding that it was a fight to the last standing. When Jade’s Luck asked another question, A-dom ran past Stony to smack him from behind. Stony smashed A-dom as he went past. A-dom became scarier as a big shark appeared around him. As A-dom smacked the statue with his club, the statue tried to smack A-dom back, but he was blocked by the club. A-dom then stood there as the statue put its fists together and brought them forward to smash A-dom away from him. A-dom flew through several of the bottles, smashing them, before hitting the wall and smashing some more. While watching this, Ceri noticed that the statue got better when the glasses broke, so told A-dom this. A-dom leapt back up, bounced off the wall, and flew through the air towards the statue, club first. A-dom continued the patter of approaching the statue to attack, standing there, and getting knocked back into some glasses. During this time, Jade’s Luck and Gareth tried collecting glasses into piles, but this met with limited success. A-dom used his bracers to make his voice louder and tried to hit a high note. The note came out as kind of a strangled wail. The statue eventually knocked A-dom unconscious. The statue laughed. It then told everyone to step outside and then come in so the next fool could challenge him. As expected, the glasses were all repaired when they came back in. Ceri then accepted the statue’s challenge. Once the fight started, everyone but Ceri and the unconscious A-dom went around smashing glasses. Ceri actually did a lot of run by attacks in her beastform. When she actually became damaged enough that she didn’t heal the bruises and cuts immediately, she stood back for a very short while to heal. [b]Statue:[/b] [i]Come on you overgrown peacock, FIGHT ME![/i] Ceri ignored its taunt. [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]Peacocks are pretty.[/i] The statue was easily defeated in this manner. Two doors appeared on the wall with staircases leading down. Jahar poked and questioned the statue until he noticed Ceri looking around the doorways for magical warnings. Tiger got bored and wandered off down one of the stairways. Gareth tended to A-dom for an hour to try and wake him up. At the end of the hour, A-dom was still very bruised, but conscious, mobile and wanting to explore. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]We should probably rest for a little while longer. Then we can go and find my artifact.[/i] Tiger found the stairways both led down into a vast catacombs area. He eventually came back to the group to let them know that. After they had rested for a second hour, A-dom was ready to move on. He wanted to lead on, but Ceri convinced him that they wanted him around for a long time in his leader capacity, so for now he should be second. He bought it. As they argued who should go first, Gareth headed down to the catacombs. As the others followed along, they noticed that all of the biers were empty. Clearly an army wasn’t left here for A-dom. Eventually, Tiger and A-dom noticed a stone cork in the floor that looked a lot like the one from the last tomb. A-dom checked for traps, but thought everything was fine. [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]From now on, you assist me.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]He hit me in head many times. It’s okay.[/i] A-dom started to run the cork. *[i]Click[/i]* They all heard a loud thud, but quickly noticed it was Jahar dropping to the floor and not a trap going off. They all searched around for a caste mark button to press. Tiger noticed that there was a pressure plate in one of the biers that needed to be depressed. He put most of his weight on it and it receded into the bottom of the bier, but he could feel it trying to push back up. He called Jahar over to hold it down. After some yelling at him, he sat down on the bier. They quickly set up a pattern of A-dom turning the cork till it clicked, then the others searching for the pressure plate and pressing it down. After everyone but A-dom was holding down a pressure plate and there was a sixth click, Tiger heard all of the traps disarm and told the others they could let go now. A-dom was staring down a long, dark shaft when they reassembled at the cork. A-dom made his little chant of his stuff being down there. Jade’s Luck told him that he didn’t know it was his tomb. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]If you can prove that this is someone else’s tomb, then I’ll stop doing my little fit.[/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]Can you prove its your tomb?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Yes![/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]How?[/i] A-dom sputtered as he tried to figure out how. He looked down the hole and considered leaping head first, but decided against it, since he was fairly injured. Someone noticed that there was writing around the end of the hole in Old Realm. [i]Here Lies the Ashes of the Wretch of Winter and His Sinister Hand. Do Not Disturb![/i] No one read it out loud for A-dom. When he asked, Gareth said that it said ‘Do Not Disturb.’ Ceri changed into a raven and flew down. When she was a good chunk down the dark shaft, she heard a disembodied voice. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i] Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.[/i] She cawed back. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i]What would you really like to say to your Mother?[/i] Again, she cawed back. When she came back into view of the group, they saw the raven was flapping up the shaft really slowly. When she got back to the top, she changed back into human form. [b]Ceri:[/b] (breathing heavily) [i]No updraft. That’s hard work.[/i] (pause to catch breath) [i]There is a square room down there with lots and lots of writing all over. There is also an eyepatch down there on a little pedestal kind of thing with a piece of paper which I couldn’t read because it was all gunky with dust. And there is a large cloak kind of thing down there on a rack, also with a piece of paper that I couldn’t get a chance to read. I would have had to change forms and I wasn’t sure if there were traps down there or not.[/i] She relayed that the shaft was about one hundred and twenty feet long. Tiger climbed down. Hearing Gareth repeatedly telling Jahar to wait for Tiger to get all the way down first, Tiger yelled up that they were all forbidden to climb down. [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]Crap. I forgot to tell him![/i] Now Tiger heard the disembodied voice. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i] Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i] Iselsi Yamah Inea, [/i] (three other names listed) [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i]What would you really like to say to your Mother?[/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] (bright and cheerful with a tinge of sarcasm) [i] Hi Mom![/i] Ceri and Jahar heard him say the name of his mother quietly, but no one heard the second response. [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]You have to state four generations of your maternal bloodline, so if you don’t know that, don’t go down.[/i] Tiger got to the bottom and found the room looked exactly like the one in the other tomb, except for the mannequin with the robe and the pedestal with the eyepatch. It did have another screw thing in the floor. It said over the screw [i]Wretch of Winter’s Ashes, Do Not Disturb![/i] Jahar started down and, as expected, slipped and fell. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] (very quickly)[i] Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.[/i] Jahar said a quick jumble of names, but managed to say them all correctly. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i]What would you really like to say to your Mother?[/i] The second question stunned Jahar. He muttered a curse of [i]What?[/i] in High Realm before smacking into the floor head first. Thankfully, somewhere along the way he had turned himself to stone, so he didn’t take much more than a bruise. Tiger quickly picked up the pieces of paper before A-dom could come down. Jahar looked at the paper in Tiger’s hands to try and make out the bad handwriting. [b]Eyepatch note:[/b] (very bad handwriting)[i] Property of the next incarnation of the Solar first known as Evening Tide of Autumn. Please inform him of its location and say "You Sir, are a Jerk." For me. - Markus the Mad[/i] [b]Robe note:[/b] (even worse handwriting)[i] Robes of Essence Domination Yielding. Worn by the Priestess Necromancer Yew during her Reign of Terror. The Robe chooses its Owner, not the other way around. I really wish that Witch didn't make so many things like this when she was a man. - Sara the Beautiful. [/i] When Jahar finished reading the note, he noticed he was wearing the robe. It was a large, thick, ornate red silk robe with various metal runes (orchalcum, moonsilver, star metal and jade) stitched into it that seem a little more lifelike than they should be. When Tiger saw him in it, the first thing he thought was ‘[i]Oh, he’s a sorcerer. Wait. Why did that thought pop into my head?[/i]’ A-dom started down and also slipped. [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] (very quickly)[i] Please state the names of your maternal bloodline going back 4 generations, quickly.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Opal of the Seal, Somebody in the volcano, the other one with the thing, and the one with the goiter.[/i] [b]Disembodied Voice:[/b] [i]What would you really like to say to your Mother?[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Sorry! [/i] As A-dom hit the floor, he saw Jahar wearing the robe and Tiger stuffing something (the notes) into a pouch, and the eyepatch on the pedestal). [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]That’s for me![/i] [b]Jahar:[/b] [i]A-dom, the note says it’s for Evening Tide of Autumn.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]So? What note?[/i] A-dom picked up the eyepatch and put it on. While doing so, he managed to poke his eye out. Jahar and Tiger saw the blood squirting from his eye socket. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Oww! My eye![/i] [b]Tiger:[/b] [i]That’s what you get for being stupid. Clearly everything is not for you![/i] A-dom ripped the eyepatch off and threw it up the hole. As Gareth, Jade’s Luck and Ceri stood around the hole, they saw an eyepatch fly up. Gareth made a grab for it, but put himself off balance and started to plummet into the hole. Jade’s Luck grabbed Gareth and pulled him so he hit the floor instead of going down the shaft. Ceri grabbed the eyepatch as it floated back down. [b]Ceri:[/b] (looking at the eyepatch and Jade’s Luck) [i]I don’t think I need it. And I don’t think you need it.[/i] Ceri handed the eyepatch to Gareth. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Don’t do it! It’s a trap![/i] Gareth put on the eyepatch and smiled a cheesy grin. [b]Gareth:[/b] [i]Pretty cunning, don’t ya think?[/i] The dark leather eyepatch had gold studs around the edge and a Orchalcum Eye in the center of the patch. And it did look very good. So good, in fact, that Gareth was much more handsome when wearing it. [b]Jade’s Luck:[/b] [i]Man, you’re pretty![/i] [b]Paul:[/b] [i]No, he’s Manly![/i] [b]Ceri:[/b] [i]I think A-dom was once Marcus the Mad. It was his and you asked him, you were Pollus? You asked him when he lost his eye and he said he didn’t, it just made him look good. And you asked him if you could have it when he was dead and he said sure. And then one of you, I can’t remember which, Darius, whoever was the Eclipse, smacked you and sanctified the oath. So it’s yours, even though A-dom had it.[/i] [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Oww, my eye![/i] And thus they learned that A-dom lost his eye because he tried to go back on his word. A-dom went over to the screw and opened it. Inside he found ashes drawn out in the shape of a left hand giving the middle finger salute. [b]A-dom:[/b] [i]Stupid other people’s artifacts being in my grave![/i] Tiger closed up the hole again. [/QUOTE]
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[Exalted] Solar Circle of the West - whole slew of updates 3/8/09
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