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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 6846641" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 81, “All hell is about to break loose”, September 11, 1882, 12:50 P.M.The past hour has been busy for the party. During that time using a combination of illusionary spells, other magical spells, well-placed rifle shots, some fisticuffs, and just plain dumb luck, they have managed to defeat the High Priest of Horus who had been assisting the revolutionary leader Abdullah and also disbursed the majority of the crowds who had surrounded the royal palace in Cairo. However, the remaining revolutionaries are the most determined.Approximately 200 revolutionaries remain in clusters along the front courtyard of the palace, in groups ranging in size from 6 to 24. The rebellion’s leader Abdulla el Said is with a powerful Sheik. The Sheik’s six sons each have an identical Wand of Fireballs in their possession. They plan to launch an attack on the Palace at approximately 1PM.Abigail Marsters, Callum Stuart, young Henry Jones (disguised as an Egyptian boy and with magical sandals on his feet) and Alsoomse (currently polymorphed as a black cat called ‘Indy’) are in the main courtyard watching the groups of revolutionaries. Abigail currently has a communication spell running.Abby has identified one group of nine men where six have magical auras, mostly on worn jewelry, although two have what appears to be magical ammunition inside their revolvers. Two men in the group have what appear to be magical wands, one hidden inside a robe, the other in a man's hand. That held one is gold (most-likely gold-plated on tungsten) and nine-inches long with an emerald fastened to the wand's end. The entire wand appears magical although the highest concentration is around the gem. The man with the held wand appears to have the most magic in this group.Abby has identified a second group of twenty-two men but less magic. She only spots three with magical items, one with magical footwear, another one with a ring, and the third with a belted wand identical to that of the man with the first group. That man also has a revolver with magical ammunition. She has also identified a third group with eleven men that is sparse on magic, with the only person with magic being a young man with an identical wand, magical ammunition in a rifle slung over his shoulder, and a magical rope belt. Henry Jones had previously infiltrated this group to gather information.George Eastman is in the main courtyard as well, having worked his way into a group of twenty-four men while disguised in Egyptian garb. The leader is a young Egyptian man who has what appears to be one of the aforementioned wands in his belt. He is acting very impatiently. Most of the others in this group are other young Egyptians, most armed with rifles. Two others in the group are an older couple speaking in German. The man attired in a three-piece beige cotton suit with straw hat. The woman is wearing robes and has a large gold amulet worn around her waist that has symbols of Isis on it. She appears unarmed. He has a Colt Piecemaker sticking out of a suit pocket.Ruby West, Willamina Parker and a pair of Egyptian Army soldiers currently assisting them (and disguised as Egyptian civilians) are atop the roof of a four-story building near the palace, where Ruby has her borrowed 1881 Swiss Vetterli sniper rifle trained on those below. The party has discovered that the sounding of Ra’s Chimes from the Temple of Ra, situated three blocks away, will be the revolutionary’s signal to start the attack. George has suggested that Mina go and use Silence spell to stop the chimes from sounding.Lawrence Cantrell has just returned to the courtyard after earlier escaped unharmed with the Priest’s magical staff. John Wesley Hardin is at the far middle of the front courtyard. Near him and in the closest alleyway are two disguised Egyptian Army soldiers who are holding the party’s eight horses. Lawrence’s horse is currently wearing magical horseshoes that only he knows the command word for.Two of Callum Stuart’s fellow British spies, an older man with a Bostonian accent named Maurice Beaujoulais and an English Physician and Alchemist named Doctor Henry Jekyll (currently polymorphed as an Egyptian beggar boy) are watching the groups of revolutionaries at the rear entrances of the palace.Benjamin ‘Fish’ Trout has been following the two British spies referenced above for the past day hours, mistakenly believing them to be some of the French Wizards causing the problems. He had temporarily lost them near the palace an hour ago (when they had met up with Abby and Callum) but then saw these two again. He does not know where another Egyptian boy who had been with this pair has gone off to.Egyptian Army Lieutenant Colonel Dhahabiya Hassan, commanding a group of at least 3,000 army infantry soldiers (and possibly up to 2,000 cavalry if they have arrived) have cordoned off the city in a radius four-blocks away from the palace in all directions to prevent the disbursed crowds from returning. The will remain where they are unless Lt. Hassan receives further instruction from George Eastman.Sabah, the Priestess of Bast, remains a quarter-mile away at the Cairo telegraph office where she is guarding the Bast artifacts known as the Vestments of Djeserit Mew-Shir (crown, belt and necklace) that the party had earlier retrieved. The druids Cetan and Meren are with her. Egyptian soldiers are helping to guard the office.Ruby takes a large breath in. Even though they had been involved now for a couple of days, the real fight was about the start. This was the calm before the storm, so to speak. "Nana, I hate to say this, but I think it's time we split up. You should take George's suggestion and go to the bells and try to silence them. Take the guards with you, at least take one of them, but both if you think both are necessary. I'll stay up here for now but if I am needed I will get down to the fight."Mina nodded. "My spell will only silence the bells for so long Ruby, only minutes. Eventually the bells will ring. But perhaps minutes is all we need for a miracle to happen and other help to arrive. I will take one guard and leave one with you. Of course I prefer you stay up here and stay safe but I know you won't listen to me if I tell you to do so, so I will only ask that you stay safe." Ruby jumps to her feet and into her grandmother's arms. "You too Nana, stay safe. I somehow feel like I got us all involved in this by getting involved with the Princess but I just felt like I had to... I don't know, but I would not forgive myself if any of my loved one got hurt here today.""I have confidence in you my dear. You followed your heart and instincts, just as I always have. I could ask nothing less of you." She then kisses Ruby on the forehead and heads off with one of the guards. Once her grandmother was gone Ruby carefully checks out her options - noting the nearby buildings, looking for emergency ways down in case she needs to get off the roof quickly. She notes that the only exit other than the central staircase inside the building where they entered from is a wooden fire escape ladder along one wall that stops a full nine feet before the ground.She turned to the guard and looks him up and down. "May I ask your name?" He replies, "I am Corporal Hammadi. My primary job responsibility is to keep that weapon and a few other special weapons of the King's in serviceable condition. I trust that it meets with your satisfaction." Ruby takes note of the wooden ladder as she approaches the guard, then extends a hand. "Pleasure to meet you Corporal. Yes, as you can tell, the weapon is working very well, thank you very much. I'm trying to take good care of it. Now, are you able to fight in this battle or are you just a spectator?"Stalling a bit and looking somewhat embarrassed he says, "Neither. My orders are very specific. I am here to do whatever I need to in order to protect the rifle." "Hrm, well, that's interesting. What's your friend up to then? Since my grandmother doesn't have a rifle, why did he agree to go along with her?" He replies, "The Lieutenant Colonel ordered him to protect you two women. Since you have now split up, and I have to stay with the rifle, he went with her. Besides, being an older and more delicate woman she is in more need of protection."Ruby narrows her eyes suspiciously at the guard. "At any rate, since I have the gun, it's in YOUR best interest to keep me alive then, isn't it? I suppose now I'll have to keep an eye on you too." He replies, "You are the current keeper of the rifle, I will look after you both. Protecting you is an honor, you are a beautiful and resourceful woman and I would be honored to take you as my second wife."Ruby laughs a hearty laugh, sending her thick red hair bouncing around her shoulders. "I'll take that as a compliment but believe me, you couldn't handle me as you first and only wife!" Ruby laughs again. "And if my grandmother ever heard you call her delicate that might be the last words you ever spoke!" Ruby gives him a playful slap on the arm, "I like you Corporeal, you have courage." "Thank you Miss," he states. "You're quite welcome," she replies.Ruby looks back to the groups below and speaks to her friends. "Perhaps you should mosey on over to that smaller group with the lesser magic and try to get that wand away. I know how to use that particular wand and perhaps it would even the field a little bit if we had one too. We could take them on wholesale but it would be better if we had someone who could sneak in and try to nab it when he wasn't looking."Down in the courtyard, Abby took a deep breath. She knew what needed to be done, but had not a clue how to do it. "Alright, we need to get those wands. But the only ways I can think of are suicidal and would start a battle in earnest. At least a real short battle where the four of us get killed. We can't take them magically, but we need them out of play. I'm not an experienced wizard. Do we know of anyone with the ability to dispel or dampen magic?" Callum says, "Yes, but it would only permanently negate spells, magical items would only cease to work simultaneous to when my spell is cast on that area. So if my timing were perfect I could stop one fireball from being sent, but the wand wielder could then just throw another afterwards.""No good, but don't forget about that one, it may come in handy later. Do we have any options beside infiltrating the groups and trying to lift those wands? I'm dry other than that. I'm sure Indy can take care of herself, and I don't mind taking a crack at it.” At the suggestion Indy hops down and runs off in the direction of one of the groups that they had not yet approached. Abby continues, “But I doubt it'll be quiet, and it won't go unnoticed. I suppose I could try to charm and distract someone," she laughed. "It has always worked on me," Callum replies.Abby says, "Alright, all hear this. We're splitting up between the groups and then we're going to try to get those fireball wands. Whether it's an accidental bump, you have light fingers, or you throw a punch. Objectors should do so now, or forever hold their peace. I'm going to try to stumble into one." George replies, "Three steps ahead of you Abby"Ruby sits nears the edge of the roof so she can look over but not be seen. "I'm usually in on all the action, it's pretty hard for me to sit up here and do all this waiting around. I wish I knew what they all were planning down there. From here it doesn't look like they're doing anything! I could probably sit up here and just start trying to shoot anyone left down there with wands but that seems awful... well, not good, let's put it that way."Ruby double checks the sniper rifle to make sure it's loaded. She also double checks her own personal weapons, derringer and hidden dagger. It was a habit she picked up from her first love, the one who taught her how to do most of her proper shooting and fighting and, well, a lot of the improper shooting and fighting too. She quickly pulls her mind back from that place and into the present while she sits and waits and tries to think of some clever plan to save the day.George makes his way through the crowd of Egyptians towards the prince. he sends a message back to Ruby "All hell is about to break loose where I am, do you have a bead on me?" he whispers."Alright. Let's go." Abby looked around to see if they were being watched currently. Then she pulled Cal back and planted a kiss on his lips. "Don't get yourself killed." "Wasn't planning on it," he replies. Abby replies, "Cal, you hit that second group, the one with about twenty men there. I'm going to steal Henry if you don't mind. If I can distract that man, I'm hoping he can relieve the man of the wand without him being the wiser. Or maybe he'll suddenly fall down or something. We'll improvise." Cal heads off to the second group on his own.Watching both George and Callum move out Ruby comments, "I guess we started a little early!" She quickly lays on her belly and trains the gun to the group where George is, ready to get him out of trouble if necessary.The impatient young Egyptian in charge of the group that George is with says to those in the group "It is nearly time. When you hear the chimes ring out my friend Willheim and I will start with our magic and the rest of you will be able to charge the palace guards without harm. Willheim's wife Gerta will also cast a protection spell onto you." As George gets next to the prince he shouts out as he points to the palace "The king is here!" While all the men turn to look at the palace, George notes that Gerta's gaze stays trained on him.George grabs at the wand, but not before giving Miss Greta a roguish wink and grin. As George scoops the wand into his hand the older woman screams out in Arabic "Thief! Khalili, a thief!" The boy turns as the others in the group look towards George. The older man in the suit standing beside her begins to draw a revolver from his pocket. "What in HADES is he doing?" Ruby says angrily, shaking her head. "That was just stupid. I can't shoot everyone! Now I'm going to have to wait and hope they don't kill him on sight..."Abby asks, "Henry, you got any oil, anything slippery on you? I already used my Grease spell. Otherwise I can play clumsy and fall into the man's feet. Hopefully he'll fall over and you could grab the wand in the confusion. If we're lucky he'll just think it's rolled away. You know what, let's just go with that. Here I go, making an ass of myself." As they got close Abby began to run and push through the men. "The King has been seen!" she shouted. As soon as she was close enough, she purposely caught her foot on one of the men’s legs and slammed into the calves of the man with the wand like a ton of bricks.Ruby draws in a long breath then waits... ready to take a shot at the man with the revolver. "Drop it friend, no one wants a bloodbath today" shouts George in German as he points the wand at the man and Greta. George points the wand at the group as he slowly backs away. The older man continues to draw his gun and points it at George as he shouts in Arabic, "He is bluffing."As Henry was already with the group before he has no difficulty getting himself into the group. Abby falls over with the man who screams "Ooafish woman! Away with me. Three of the man's companions immediately pull her off of him while Henry moves in and assists the young sheik-to-be to his feet, relieving him of the wand in the process. "Apologies, apologies, Sir," Abby said obsequiously, bowing even as the men dragged her up. She let them toss her out of the group and kept herself crouched over a little, heading toward the group where Cal had gone.As Abby enters the next group she sees that Callum is having an argument with the group's leader, stating that he is incorrect about the time that the priests of Ra will sound the chime. The leader insists it will be momentarily while Callum states that they have another half-hour until then. Abby notes that there is a lot of waving and gesturing by both, but that Cal is still a good six-feet from the man.She asks, "Henry, have you ever seen him do something like this before?" Henry says, "He's making himself a distraction for us to move into position. One of us should get behind the leader and the other should distract the others elsewhere." "He must have seen us coming. You go behind, I don't have light fingers."Abby circled around and came into the group from the opposite site where Cal was. She began to stalk in, letting anger seep into her face. "What in the name of the gods is going on here," she said in Egyptian. "Who is this foreigner? And why haven't the bells chimed yet?" She glared at some of the men on her way through. "Today will be a day of glory! We will take back our country from the despot! We will fight for the glory of Egypt!" Callum screams at her "Can't any of you Egyptians tell time! It's too early!"As George continues backing up he counters the man by shouting in Arabic "Oh I am not bluffing. Why do you trust these foreigners anyway." George spits. "The French the Germans, the English. Bah. Ra, Osiris and Bast will punish us all for allowing them here. The gods will purge our lands with holy fire for allowing these infidels here. I am an agent here from the great god Bast and I am trying to save you. Save you from the insanity that has infected Khalili an infection given to him by the foreigners."The German man replies with a smile "You are bluffing because you lack the command word to use that wand. I haven't even told Khalili that incantation yet. Now put it down immediately or I will shoot." George whispers "Ok Ruby, take him down" As he loudly says again in Arabic "I would put down your gun German before the Gods smite you down."Ruby exclaims, "Damn it! If I shoot this man, the others may pull weapons too! I wish my grandmother was back, she could help!" Ruby pulls out her own weapon and leaves it next to her. Then she prays. "Aphrodite, we're in a real fix here, and as I'm not looking to be fiance-less today, I really could use your help and guidance here. I'm asking really nicely, begging, really. Please help us." "Georgie, get ready to run." And with that, Ruby takes aim at the man pointing the gun at George.</blockquote>

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