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On the Trail of Copper Bloodhounds… [16August06]
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<blockquote data-quote="Monty Tomasi" data-source="post: 3010240" data-attributes="member: 40137"><p>Part XIV:</p><p></p><p></p><p>Perrin, Oho and Ella emerged from the tunnel in to a large underground chamber. In the centre of the chamber stood a structure of copper, brass and glass consisting of a central column of glass with brass and copper globes floating around it. Gears and clockwork machinery powered the device and connected the globes to the central column. Inside the glass pillar was a fluid consisting of a mixture of colours that moved through each other like Limbo chaos matter colliding.</p><p></p><p>Near to the glass and metal structure in a far corner stood a circle of black mirrors with a wood and metal chair in the centre. The chair was covered in copper wires, metallic plates with runes etched on to them as well as gem-stones embedded in to the wood. Boxes and crates were piled nearby with one open crate displaying several large uncut gems carefully nestled amidst some packing material.</p><p></p><p>In the corner opposite was a structure that was partially completed. Scaffolding had been erected around it revealing only a massive clock and extensive gear-works. That corner of the room had metal sheets covering the floor and walls that had etched on to them rows of magical glyphs and runes. Boxes, crates and sacks lay strewn around with building materials spilling out across a corner of the metallic floor.</p><p></p><p>On the other side of the central structure were a staircase leading upwards and a heavy set of double–doors that stood ajar at the base of the stairs. Surrounding the central structure were four mercenaries including a mace-wielding figure dressed in plate armour that had been decorated with leering faces. Next to him stood a handsome man in a long, glyph-woven robe and carrying an ornate wand made of blackwood and mithril. On the other side of the mace-wielding man was another man in a dashingly handsome outfit that included two rapiers in scarabs on either side of his belt. The final figure was dressed in a simple shirt and breeches and his fingers were covered in rings crackling with arcane might.</p><p></p><p>Two female figures stood next to the scaffolding of the partially completed structure. The shorter woman had mousy brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a simple red dress without any adornments or belt-pouches. She held a small wrench in her hand and was facing the other woman who was looking with concern at the stairs. The woman standing next to her was half a foot taller, stunning beautiful in a leather bodysuit and carrying a barbed whip and a serpent-like short sword.</p><p></p><p>Just as the three Harmonium officers emerged in to the central chamber the four mercenaries surrounding the main structure of glass and metal leapt to intercept them. Ella crushed a bead she’d been holding in her hand and the three Harmonium officers were instantly surrounded by a globe of clear force. The momentum of their charge carried them forward inside the sphere and the trio were soon tumbling head over heels as they smashed through the line of four defenders in to the main structure.</p><p></p><p>The four mercenaries picked themselves up quickly and began pounding on the outside of the sphere as well as assaulting it with spells. The mace-wielding man went in to a frenzy as he tried to batter through the globe of force. The man with the glyph-covered robe spat out one word of power after the next but each time the magical onslaught dissipated across the surface of the sphere. The man with the many rings waited patiently whilst the duellist paced impatiently.</p><p></p><p>The two women stared at the three in the sphere. The mouse-haired woman smiled in delight at witnessing her friends and colleagues mounting a rescue. The other woman frowned as she surveyed the destruction that the sphere’s entrance had caused.</p><p></p><p>“This was your plan?” Perrin asked as he tried to right himself within the sphere or force.</p><p></p><p>Ella laying upside in relation to Perrin grinned like a child playing her favourite game and Oho groaned from having tumbled over and over too many times after they entered the room. Oho covered his mouth with his hand and turned a paler shade of green.</p><p></p><p>“Now comes the cavalry,” Ella stated as she pointed with her foot towards the tunnel that they’d just come out off.</p><p></p><p>A moment later the enraged Baatezu came charging from out of the tunnel. The Abishai spilled outwards like a seething mass of giant black wasps intent on destroying all in their path. The Barbazu behind them stepped more cautiously in to the chamber, took one look around and charged for the leather-clad woman.</p><p></p><p>Pinned between the three Harmonium officers inside the globe of force on one side and the Baatezu onslaught on the other side the four mercenaries fought like cornered rats to defend themselves. Ella dispelled the globe of force shortly after the Abishai reached the central structure and the trio of Harmonium officers found themselves in the midst of a savage, no-quarters given melee.</p><p></p><p>“We have to reach Valori,” Perrin shouted over the din of the battle. He’d swapped his dented short blade for number forty three, a hefty scimitar with a silver skull as a cross-piece.</p><p></p><p>Ella and Oho fought back to back against the mace-wielding mercenary and two of the black, reptilian Baatezu. Ella was about to shout a response when the pair of Harmonium officers were cut off from their commanding officer. She shook her head in frustration and fired both pistols point blank at the mace-wielding mercenary. A space was opened up briefly as the armoured figure was thrown backwards on to one of the Abishai, but another of the Baatezu soon filled his place.</p><p></p><p>“Go!” called out Oho from amongst a tangle of arms and legs, fighting off the devils in a desperate bid to stay on top.</p><p></p><p>Perrin sprinted round the back of the structure made of glass, brass and copper; past the stairs and around to the unfinished structure. As he passed the stairs he heard the sounds of many booted feet drawing rapidly closer. The din of a rabble of men coming down the stairs was unmistakable and was accompanied by shouts of anger and calls for revenge.</p><p></p><p>Shortly after he reached the section of the floor covered with metal plates Perrin glanced over his shoulder briefly to see a wave of Godsmen bearing heavy tools and all manner of anvil-forged weapons come crashing from the stairwell in to the chamber. They soon joined the melee and the Baatezu, remaining mercenaries and two Harmonium officers did not miss a step as a free-for-all battle ensued.</p><p></p><p>The leather clad woman was battling against the two Barbazu with her whip and blade. One of the bearded devils fell beneath the blows that she rained down on it and the other began to back away just as a whole mass of Godsmen came charging in to join the fight. The erinye’s delight was evident as she laughed at the repressed emotions erupting in to an orgy of mayhem and death.</p><p></p><p>“Valori, we…” Perrin grabbed hold of Valori’s arm and was about to drag her away from the fighting when he felt her brush his cheek. He looked down at her hand and saw coloured liquid dripping from her fingers that was exactly the same as that inside the glass column.</p><p></p><p>Huh? Perrin heard himself think aloud.</p><p></p><p>I’m sorry Sarge but there’s little time to explain, Valori thought back to him.</p><p></p><p>Valori first pointed mentally in the direction of the black glass mirrors in a circle. That is where she extracts the past lives; she uses them as fuel for the device in the central chamber.</p><p></p><p>The device in the central chamber is a possibility condenser. Valori indicated with her mind at the device in the centre, her thoughts tracing the outline of the tall glass pillar filled with coloured fluid.</p><p></p><p>A what? Perrin thought in utter confusion.</p><p></p><p>A possibility condenser, it’s a device that looks at the likelihood of an event occurring and then influences the outcome. The device uses the same principles as a celestial etheroscope but allows one to influence outcomes. It’s powered by the past lives through the choices that they have made and the karma that each choice has accrued. Valori closed her eyes momentarily and imagined the flow of lives in to a river of energy in to which a seemingly infinite number of streams were flowing in to.</p><p></p><p>This sounds awfully like chronomancy to me, Perrin thought dubiously.</p><p></p><p>It is and it isn’t’, it’s complicated, Valori thought. When I have more time I’ll explain it further. In any case, although the condenser can change things it’s very hard to control and hence why we were building this third machine. The other snag that we hit is that there is some kind of spell woven in to the city that prevents the condenser from working properly.</p><p></p><p>I’m sorry did you just say… I mean think “we”? Perrin furrowed his brow.</p><p></p><p>Well it was either work with her or be horribly tortured, Valori mentally shrugged.</p><p></p><p>Oh… right, Perrin nodded. So what can we do? And how long has this conversation taken us, it seems like this is all happening at the same time.</p><p></p><p>This conversation has taken place at the speed of thought, Valori took a step forwards and Perrin felt the connection between them beginning to fade. The possibility of us communicating this way can only be sustained for a couple of heartbeats in any case. We have to get to the central pillar and I can hopefully get us out of this mess.</p><p></p><p>No chronomancy, you hear? Perrin thought as he fell in to step behind his colleague.</p><p></p><p>Valori and Perrin quickly made their way around the back of the combatants towards the central device. The Godsmen crowding around the stairs and trying to get in to the fight parted around them as if they were not there and within a matter of seconds the pair of Harmonium officers found themselves next to the glass pillar.</p><p></p><p>Impressive, Perrin thought.</p><p></p><p>I can’t keep this up much longer, Valori replied wearily. I’m not a possibility mage, mechanika is my strong suit.</p><p></p><p>What about the erinye? Perrin asked.</p><p></p><p>Katya is a possibility mage at least that is how I mentally refer to her. Right now she’s playing with the Baatezu and Godsmen fighting here as she can leave at any time. The only thing is that she does not want to lose the power that she has stored in this pillar.</p><p></p><p>What happens if she catches us? Perrin thought</p><p></p><p>“Too late”, Valori said aloud as she looked to where the erinye was cleaving a path straight in their direction. “Quick, lift me in to the pillar,” the short mouse-haired Harmonium officer commanded.</p><p></p><p>Perrin wasted no time in lifting Valori up and in to the opening at the top of the glass pillar. He watched his colleague slide feet first down inside the glass column and stood transfixed by her for what seemed like an eternity.</p><p></p><p>The battle raging around them slowed to what seemed like a crawl. It was as if each participant was moving though treacle and the din of battle became a dull muted roar. The erinye had a look of utter contempt and hatred on her face as she continued moving slowly towards Perrin and the pillar.</p><p></p><p>The red dress swirled around Valori inside the coloured fluid in which she was suspended a foot off the base of the pillar. The globes, combatants and everything else around her seemed frozen in time. For that one moment in time she felt as if she could reach out and touch every strand of possible futures. It was a moment of pure and simple enlightenment in which reality took on a whole new level of meaning and awareness. Valori was for an instance in touch with the Multiverse without filters or impediments.</p><p></p><p>Her thoughts drifted back to the scene around her. Viewing the battle from numerous different possible futures she felt a slight tug and a whisper of blades slicing across her consciousness. Remembering suddenly the stories that she’d heard about Her Serenity The Lady of Pain, Valori’s thoughts turned to the City of Doors in general and she saw in her mind’s eye the spell woven in to the streets of the Cage.</p><p></p><p>As she felt the presence of the city’s ruler approaching she desperately tried to reach out to the strands of the spell as a means of linking it to the strand of the future that she desired most. A single word dear to her heart that reminded her of home escaped her lips inside the fluid filled pillar and suddenly the world around her became a cloud of colours and light.</p><p></p><p>Perrin had only just lifted Valori up in to the pillar when it suddenly exploded. Glass and coloured fluid sprayed outwards in all directions filling the room with clouds of memories and experiences. As each person and creature was covered with the fluid they experienced memories and emotions of the past lives that had been harvested and trapped inside the central device.</p><p></p><p>The battle stopped instantaneously and when the cloud evaporated the scene that Perrin witnessed was quite different to the way that he’d remembered it only moments before. </p><p></p><p>The Godsmen were still carrying tool and weapons but also muskets, pistols and gear-bows. Several of the Godsmen were wearing hulking great big suits of armour that had conduits connecting rune-marked metal plates along the outside. Steam belched out of the vertical pipes at the back and at the base of the stairs he spotted what looked like a metal golem powered by steam as well. Instead of having two arms though, one of its arms ended in a large barrel with the other arm wielded a large hammer that crackled with lighting energy.</p><p></p><p>The Baatezu also had mechanical and magical devices that they used to fight instead of the simple blades they’d been using previously. The Barbazu still had their barbed glaives and they too had metallic armour similar to what some of the Godsmen were wearing. One of the Barbazu had a metal arm that was attached at the shoulder and yet it seemed to function in exactly the same way that a normal arm would.</p><p></p><p>The biggest surprise that Perrin got was when he looked at the erinye as well as Valori and Ella. All three women were wearing long dresses that reached down to their wrists and ankles. Ella’s dress had hoops that expanded it at the back and she wore a small flower-decorated hat that sat at a slight angle on her head secured with large pin. Valori wore a similar outfit, although it was noticeably plainer and she had long gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. The erinye wore the most severe and yet somehow most enticing dress of all. She looked more like a school headmistress than a devil in the midst of battle.</p><p></p><p>Looking around him Perrin saw that Oho was wearing a smart pair of trousers, starched shirt, pin-striped jacket, a funny little butterfly-like tie and a rounded hat with a rim around the outside. For a moment Perrin thought that he would burst out laughing but the he noticed that many of the Godsmen were dressed in a similar fashion.</p><p></p><p>The erinye let out a very unlady-like scream of rage and disappeared from sight, leaving behind a honeysuckle-scented breeze. The other Baatezu followed suit except for the fact that they left a palatable smell of brimstone. The Godsmen began to pick up their wounded and their dead whilst others surveyed the wreckage left behind in the hidden laboratory underneath the Foundry.</p><p></p><p>“What the sodding hell is going on?” Perrin asked angrily.</p><p></p><p>“Now, now, my dear Sergeant Perrin,” Oho said amicably as he tried to nonchalantly saunter over with Ella support. “It’s been a ghastly day chasing down that no good wretched devil and now it seems that she has got away.”</p><p></p><p>“No truer a word have you spoken my good man,” Ella said with a smile.</p><p></p><p>“I fear that our good Sergeant has been rather taken aback by what has gone on today,” Valori interjected. “Perhaps we should all go for a nice cup of tea and we can all try to make sense of this curious affair.”</p><p></p><p>“Damn straight. You’d better share the dark of what just happened,” Perrin said through clenched teeth. “I’m not a berk who likes surprises and right now I feel as though I’ve peeled right and proper.”</p><p></p><p>Perrin made his way towards the stairs and stomped up them. The ladies lifted the hems of their dresses jus enough not to have the front trailing along the ground and each of them accepted the arm that Oho offered them.</p><p></p><p>“What an adventure it’s been,” Ella said in a sing-song voice as the trio ascended the stairs. “I do hope that the tea shop across the road has fresh crumpets today. I had some jam tarts in a café in the Lady’s ward only yesterday that were positively divine.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Monty Tomasi, post: 3010240, member: 40137"] Part XIV: Perrin, Oho and Ella emerged from the tunnel in to a large underground chamber. In the centre of the chamber stood a structure of copper, brass and glass consisting of a central column of glass with brass and copper globes floating around it. Gears and clockwork machinery powered the device and connected the globes to the central column. Inside the glass pillar was a fluid consisting of a mixture of colours that moved through each other like Limbo chaos matter colliding. Near to the glass and metal structure in a far corner stood a circle of black mirrors with a wood and metal chair in the centre. The chair was covered in copper wires, metallic plates with runes etched on to them as well as gem-stones embedded in to the wood. Boxes and crates were piled nearby with one open crate displaying several large uncut gems carefully nestled amidst some packing material. In the corner opposite was a structure that was partially completed. Scaffolding had been erected around it revealing only a massive clock and extensive gear-works. That corner of the room had metal sheets covering the floor and walls that had etched on to them rows of magical glyphs and runes. Boxes, crates and sacks lay strewn around with building materials spilling out across a corner of the metallic floor. On the other side of the central structure were a staircase leading upwards and a heavy set of double–doors that stood ajar at the base of the stairs. Surrounding the central structure were four mercenaries including a mace-wielding figure dressed in plate armour that had been decorated with leering faces. Next to him stood a handsome man in a long, glyph-woven robe and carrying an ornate wand made of blackwood and mithril. On the other side of the mace-wielding man was another man in a dashingly handsome outfit that included two rapiers in scarabs on either side of his belt. The final figure was dressed in a simple shirt and breeches and his fingers were covered in rings crackling with arcane might. Two female figures stood next to the scaffolding of the partially completed structure. The shorter woman had mousy brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail and she wore a simple red dress without any adornments or belt-pouches. She held a small wrench in her hand and was facing the other woman who was looking with concern at the stairs. The woman standing next to her was half a foot taller, stunning beautiful in a leather bodysuit and carrying a barbed whip and a serpent-like short sword. Just as the three Harmonium officers emerged in to the central chamber the four mercenaries surrounding the main structure of glass and metal leapt to intercept them. Ella crushed a bead she’d been holding in her hand and the three Harmonium officers were instantly surrounded by a globe of clear force. The momentum of their charge carried them forward inside the sphere and the trio were soon tumbling head over heels as they smashed through the line of four defenders in to the main structure. The four mercenaries picked themselves up quickly and began pounding on the outside of the sphere as well as assaulting it with spells. The mace-wielding man went in to a frenzy as he tried to batter through the globe of force. The man with the glyph-covered robe spat out one word of power after the next but each time the magical onslaught dissipated across the surface of the sphere. The man with the many rings waited patiently whilst the duellist paced impatiently. The two women stared at the three in the sphere. The mouse-haired woman smiled in delight at witnessing her friends and colleagues mounting a rescue. The other woman frowned as she surveyed the destruction that the sphere’s entrance had caused. “This was your plan?” Perrin asked as he tried to right himself within the sphere or force. Ella laying upside in relation to Perrin grinned like a child playing her favourite game and Oho groaned from having tumbled over and over too many times after they entered the room. Oho covered his mouth with his hand and turned a paler shade of green. “Now comes the cavalry,” Ella stated as she pointed with her foot towards the tunnel that they’d just come out off. A moment later the enraged Baatezu came charging from out of the tunnel. The Abishai spilled outwards like a seething mass of giant black wasps intent on destroying all in their path. The Barbazu behind them stepped more cautiously in to the chamber, took one look around and charged for the leather-clad woman. Pinned between the three Harmonium officers inside the globe of force on one side and the Baatezu onslaught on the other side the four mercenaries fought like cornered rats to defend themselves. Ella dispelled the globe of force shortly after the Abishai reached the central structure and the trio of Harmonium officers found themselves in the midst of a savage, no-quarters given melee. “We have to reach Valori,” Perrin shouted over the din of the battle. He’d swapped his dented short blade for number forty three, a hefty scimitar with a silver skull as a cross-piece. Ella and Oho fought back to back against the mace-wielding mercenary and two of the black, reptilian Baatezu. Ella was about to shout a response when the pair of Harmonium officers were cut off from their commanding officer. She shook her head in frustration and fired both pistols point blank at the mace-wielding mercenary. A space was opened up briefly as the armoured figure was thrown backwards on to one of the Abishai, but another of the Baatezu soon filled his place. “Go!” called out Oho from amongst a tangle of arms and legs, fighting off the devils in a desperate bid to stay on top. Perrin sprinted round the back of the structure made of glass, brass and copper; past the stairs and around to the unfinished structure. As he passed the stairs he heard the sounds of many booted feet drawing rapidly closer. The din of a rabble of men coming down the stairs was unmistakable and was accompanied by shouts of anger and calls for revenge. Shortly after he reached the section of the floor covered with metal plates Perrin glanced over his shoulder briefly to see a wave of Godsmen bearing heavy tools and all manner of anvil-forged weapons come crashing from the stairwell in to the chamber. They soon joined the melee and the Baatezu, remaining mercenaries and two Harmonium officers did not miss a step as a free-for-all battle ensued. The leather clad woman was battling against the two Barbazu with her whip and blade. One of the bearded devils fell beneath the blows that she rained down on it and the other began to back away just as a whole mass of Godsmen came charging in to join the fight. The erinye’s delight was evident as she laughed at the repressed emotions erupting in to an orgy of mayhem and death. “Valori, we…” Perrin grabbed hold of Valori’s arm and was about to drag her away from the fighting when he felt her brush his cheek. He looked down at her hand and saw coloured liquid dripping from her fingers that was exactly the same as that inside the glass column. Huh? Perrin heard himself think aloud. I’m sorry Sarge but there’s little time to explain, Valori thought back to him. Valori first pointed mentally in the direction of the black glass mirrors in a circle. That is where she extracts the past lives; she uses them as fuel for the device in the central chamber. The device in the central chamber is a possibility condenser. Valori indicated with her mind at the device in the centre, her thoughts tracing the outline of the tall glass pillar filled with coloured fluid. A what? Perrin thought in utter confusion. A possibility condenser, it’s a device that looks at the likelihood of an event occurring and then influences the outcome. The device uses the same principles as a celestial etheroscope but allows one to influence outcomes. It’s powered by the past lives through the choices that they have made and the karma that each choice has accrued. Valori closed her eyes momentarily and imagined the flow of lives in to a river of energy in to which a seemingly infinite number of streams were flowing in to. This sounds awfully like chronomancy to me, Perrin thought dubiously. It is and it isn’t’, it’s complicated, Valori thought. When I have more time I’ll explain it further. In any case, although the condenser can change things it’s very hard to control and hence why we were building this third machine. The other snag that we hit is that there is some kind of spell woven in to the city that prevents the condenser from working properly. I’m sorry did you just say… I mean think “we”? Perrin furrowed his brow. Well it was either work with her or be horribly tortured, Valori mentally shrugged. Oh… right, Perrin nodded. So what can we do? And how long has this conversation taken us, it seems like this is all happening at the same time. This conversation has taken place at the speed of thought, Valori took a step forwards and Perrin felt the connection between them beginning to fade. The possibility of us communicating this way can only be sustained for a couple of heartbeats in any case. We have to get to the central pillar and I can hopefully get us out of this mess. No chronomancy, you hear? Perrin thought as he fell in to step behind his colleague. Valori and Perrin quickly made their way around the back of the combatants towards the central device. The Godsmen crowding around the stairs and trying to get in to the fight parted around them as if they were not there and within a matter of seconds the pair of Harmonium officers found themselves next to the glass pillar. Impressive, Perrin thought. I can’t keep this up much longer, Valori replied wearily. I’m not a possibility mage, mechanika is my strong suit. What about the erinye? Perrin asked. Katya is a possibility mage at least that is how I mentally refer to her. Right now she’s playing with the Baatezu and Godsmen fighting here as she can leave at any time. The only thing is that she does not want to lose the power that she has stored in this pillar. What happens if she catches us? Perrin thought “Too late”, Valori said aloud as she looked to where the erinye was cleaving a path straight in their direction. “Quick, lift me in to the pillar,” the short mouse-haired Harmonium officer commanded. Perrin wasted no time in lifting Valori up and in to the opening at the top of the glass pillar. He watched his colleague slide feet first down inside the glass column and stood transfixed by her for what seemed like an eternity. The battle raging around them slowed to what seemed like a crawl. It was as if each participant was moving though treacle and the din of battle became a dull muted roar. The erinye had a look of utter contempt and hatred on her face as she continued moving slowly towards Perrin and the pillar. The red dress swirled around Valori inside the coloured fluid in which she was suspended a foot off the base of the pillar. The globes, combatants and everything else around her seemed frozen in time. For that one moment in time she felt as if she could reach out and touch every strand of possible futures. It was a moment of pure and simple enlightenment in which reality took on a whole new level of meaning and awareness. Valori was for an instance in touch with the Multiverse without filters or impediments. Her thoughts drifted back to the scene around her. Viewing the battle from numerous different possible futures she felt a slight tug and a whisper of blades slicing across her consciousness. Remembering suddenly the stories that she’d heard about Her Serenity The Lady of Pain, Valori’s thoughts turned to the City of Doors in general and she saw in her mind’s eye the spell woven in to the streets of the Cage. As she felt the presence of the city’s ruler approaching she desperately tried to reach out to the strands of the spell as a means of linking it to the strand of the future that she desired most. A single word dear to her heart that reminded her of home escaped her lips inside the fluid filled pillar and suddenly the world around her became a cloud of colours and light. Perrin had only just lifted Valori up in to the pillar when it suddenly exploded. Glass and coloured fluid sprayed outwards in all directions filling the room with clouds of memories and experiences. As each person and creature was covered with the fluid they experienced memories and emotions of the past lives that had been harvested and trapped inside the central device. The battle stopped instantaneously and when the cloud evaporated the scene that Perrin witnessed was quite different to the way that he’d remembered it only moments before. The Godsmen were still carrying tool and weapons but also muskets, pistols and gear-bows. Several of the Godsmen were wearing hulking great big suits of armour that had conduits connecting rune-marked metal plates along the outside. Steam belched out of the vertical pipes at the back and at the base of the stairs he spotted what looked like a metal golem powered by steam as well. Instead of having two arms though, one of its arms ended in a large barrel with the other arm wielded a large hammer that crackled with lighting energy. The Baatezu also had mechanical and magical devices that they used to fight instead of the simple blades they’d been using previously. The Barbazu still had their barbed glaives and they too had metallic armour similar to what some of the Godsmen were wearing. One of the Barbazu had a metal arm that was attached at the shoulder and yet it seemed to function in exactly the same way that a normal arm would. The biggest surprise that Perrin got was when he looked at the erinye as well as Valori and Ella. All three women were wearing long dresses that reached down to their wrists and ankles. Ella’s dress had hoops that expanded it at the back and she wore a small flower-decorated hat that sat at a slight angle on her head secured with large pin. Valori wore a similar outfit, although it was noticeably plainer and she had long gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. The erinye wore the most severe and yet somehow most enticing dress of all. She looked more like a school headmistress than a devil in the midst of battle. Looking around him Perrin saw that Oho was wearing a smart pair of trousers, starched shirt, pin-striped jacket, a funny little butterfly-like tie and a rounded hat with a rim around the outside. For a moment Perrin thought that he would burst out laughing but the he noticed that many of the Godsmen were dressed in a similar fashion. The erinye let out a very unlady-like scream of rage and disappeared from sight, leaving behind a honeysuckle-scented breeze. The other Baatezu followed suit except for the fact that they left a palatable smell of brimstone. The Godsmen began to pick up their wounded and their dead whilst others surveyed the wreckage left behind in the hidden laboratory underneath the Foundry. “What the sodding hell is going on?” Perrin asked angrily. “Now, now, my dear Sergeant Perrin,” Oho said amicably as he tried to nonchalantly saunter over with Ella support. “It’s been a ghastly day chasing down that no good wretched devil and now it seems that she has got away.” “No truer a word have you spoken my good man,” Ella said with a smile. “I fear that our good Sergeant has been rather taken aback by what has gone on today,” Valori interjected. “Perhaps we should all go for a nice cup of tea and we can all try to make sense of this curious affair.” “Damn straight. You’d better share the dark of what just happened,” Perrin said through clenched teeth. “I’m not a berk who likes surprises and right now I feel as though I’ve peeled right and proper.” Perrin made his way towards the stairs and stomped up them. The ladies lifted the hems of their dresses jus enough not to have the front trailing along the ground and each of them accepted the arm that Oho offered them. “What an adventure it’s been,” Ella said in a sing-song voice as the trio ascended the stairs. “I do hope that the tea shop across the road has fresh crumpets today. I had some jam tarts in a café in the Lady’s ward only yesterday that were positively divine.” [/QUOTE]
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On the Trail of Copper Bloodhounds… [16August06]
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