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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 6920422" data-attributes="member: 8530">Hard to say, prior to the recent ENWorld reset we were at around 250 views a week.  We're now averaging 100 to 150 per post, some of whom are probably new readers and others are waiting for us to get caught back up to where we were before. Chapter 102, “Battle on the Armide" September 12, 1882, 5:15 AM.George, Ruby, Abby, Lawrence, Freya and Maurice enter through the opening. The ship's hold they are currently in is not the one they have viewed through the crystal ball, as instead of having the Princess it has the Princess's dowry. Hundreds of containers of coins, jewels, and items made of gold and silver fill most of the available space in this darkened room. There is a single door on the opposite wall of where they entered. Ruby's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She could not believe such treasure was right in front of her. Her thoughts wandered, just a tiny bit of this treasure and she would never have to worry for money again...She suddenly shook her head, knocking the thoughts away, and getting back to business. Ruby put her finger to her lips to indicate quiet. She stealthily made her way to the door and checked it over, looking to see how it was locked and if it was trapped. The door appears to be locked. She also sees that the other side of the door is lightly illuminated, and from the blocked light at the bottom of the door there appears to be a pair of shoes or boots on the opposite side, most likely a guard. Ruby went back to the group and whispered. "There is a guard there and the door is locked. We can surprise him, obviously he's not expecting the door to open this way. Perhaps sleep?" she grinned. "But of course, I also need to get the lock open."George whispers back "Okay, get the lock open and be prepared to cast sleep. This may be just a guard for the dowry, but there may be more than one." Ruby manages to quietly open the lock The group takes to the walls on either side of the door. Once everyone gave her a nod that they were ready, she tried to open the door ever so slightly to peek out. She barely moves the door when she notices not only the French Foreign Legion soldier whose back is to towards this door but another one across the hallway, looking bored but slightly in this direction, in front of another door. Ruby holds up two fingers then points out the door. Then, in a soft voice, Ruby spoke the words of the slumber spell.Lawrence pulls a gun from his pocket. He takes a deep breath. Abby stood a bit back, sword in hand as a hopefully silent backup to Ruby's spell. George signals to Lawrence to put the gun away. He points to Abby's sword and to his ears and to the gun and shakes his head. The spell is cast and Ruby sees the shadow beneath the door move followed by the sound of both men collapsing onto the floor. This is immediately followed by a French voice further down the hallway exclaiming "Jacques! Frances!" Several voices sound from the corridor outside. One then barks out in French "Rene, head topside and tell Chevruel we are under attack. Carlos, head below and get reinforcements. Charles, keep your gun trained on that door." Ruby sighed. "Well, that didn't work." George says to Abby, "Now's the time if you have a silent spell."George also steps out into the hall and gets shot by the soldier named Charles who had been watching the door. The bullet hits George in the right shoulder. George calls out in German to the dowry room "Freya, we need to stop them from raising the alarm" Ruby enters the corridor, which is filled with smoke from the rifle that has just fired into George. Ruby can now see the entire corridor. The corridor to the left of door she just exited and the one opposite it go another 8 feet, ending at a wooden staircase up.The men are in the other direction, where the corridor continues for 25 feet. There is a door on each side 10 feet further down with the two men, the one holding the smoking rifle and the man beside him who is drawing a wand of some sort. The door continues for another 10 feet further, the corridor ending with a flat wall with a ladder going up to a closed trapdoor and an open trapdoor on the floor before the ladder. One man is near the top of the ladder, starting to open the trapdoor.The hallway is illuminated by a lantern fastened to a ceiling hook by the center pair of doors. While the two men she put to sleep are both lying on the floor before Ruby, there are four more French Legion Soldiers in the hallway, one before each of the other four doors. One of the two at the furthest doors moves in the direction of the ladder. The one had had apparently spoken a moment before exclaims in French "Who are you". The other two begin to raise their rifles in Ruby's direction. Freya rushes out into the hallway and draws her sword, charging the two men in the center of the hallway. Ruby has to step back to let her by.Ruby stepped back to let Freya by, then stepped up again, targeting the man going up the ladder. Freya's charging makes her the target of the two center men, rather than Ruby. Ruby's spell goes off, and the man on the ladder falls asleep, sliding down the ladder and onto the floor, one leg dangling down through the open trapdoor. The man with the rifle fires another shot, this one deflecting off of Freya's magical armor as she closes the distance. A beam of light goes forth from the wand striking Freya in the center of her chest. The beam of light wraps around her chest in a circle and solidifies into a grey four-inch-thick rope-like substance, pinning her arms to the side, and causing her to drop her sword.Despite this handicap, she continues to charge the men, and knocks the man with the wand into the door behind him with such force that part of the door splits open, revealing another room filled with treasure. The man is dazed but still conscious, the wand still in his hand. Ruby rushed forward, circling around Freya and attempted to grab the wand from the fallen man's hand. She deliberately tried to use the door as some protection in case he tried to use the wand on her.He is too dazed to use the wand but does tighten his grip on it as Ruby grabs at him. Meanwhile, the other soldier near him with the rifle uses the rifle as a club to strike Freya. The gun strikes her armor hard, but her reaction in minimal, with her flexing her arms in an attempt to break the magical rope-like substance. Ruby grabbed tighter onto the wand, then kicked his arm to get him to loosen his grip. Her kick is slightly off and he regains him footing. He continues to hold the wand in his hand. George bends down and grabs the rifle from the unconscious soldier outside the door and runs down the hallway. George hated getting shot and was channeling his pain into anger. He swung the rifle butt hard against the soldier facing Freya.The rifle hits and the man turns to change his target. Either Freya has exceptional strength, her magical armor is powerful, or some combination of the two because she manages to break free, the magical ropes dissipating into dust. George sees the ropes disappear, turns to the soldier, grins and says to the man "Tu es foutu" as he strikes with the rifle butt again. The man crumbles onto the floor, leaving only Ruby's foe still conscious.Seeing he is alone, the remaining soldier slips past George and starts to run towards the staircase (unaware that their allies Abby, Lawrence, and Maurice are inside the open doorway he will soon run past). When Lawrence hears the guard rush past, he holds out his arm neck level. The guard grunts as he gets knocked down. Lawrence hits the stunned man on the back of the head to quiet him. Lawrence notices that, unlike the other soldiers lying in the corridor, this man's uniform has officer's insignia on it. Lawrence checks the man's pockets for orders or identification. He finds neither, but he does find a metal key ring with a dozen keys. Lawrence pockets the keys.Now that the fighting has died down those in both the treasure room and corridor hear sounds of people rushing around and yelling out in French on the decks both above and below. George heads up to the ladder and reaches up to pull the upper hatch down. He then shoves the rifle barrel through the handle on the hatch until it jams, effectively bolting it closed. He then turns to the lower hatch and closes the hatch. George signals Freya to drag the unconscious soldiers to the trapdoor, laying them on top to hold it closed. George then grabs a rifle and wedges it under the handles of the lower trapdoor as well as the upper, sealing both doors from all but the most extreme efforts to open it.Freya does as George instructs. At the opposite end of the corridor Maurice tosses a "Web" spell in front of the staircase up, making a thick coating of spiderwebs that block the entire entrance way from the stairs. He comments to Abby and Lawrence "That won't top them for long. The easiest way through it would be to burn the webs, but I doubt they will light a fire on their own ship." George calls out, "Ruby, Abby start checking holds here, open every door, be cautious as there may still be a guard inside."Abby moved to the farthest door back (starboard side north) and listened, then attempts to open it carefully. She does not hear anything. The door is locked. Using her knowledge of Engineering and Architecture, she looks for a way around the lock. (Looking specifically for hinges on the outside of the door that can have the pin pulled, break the door frame where the lock enters, etc.) The lock appears to be very solidly built and the door's hinges are on the inside. "Want me to take a look?" Ruby grinned while she reached into her robes and pulled out some small metal keys. "Maybe I'll get lucky." Ruby begins working the lock with her picks as Abby looks on (North Starboard door)."Lawrence, try the keys you found on the officer in these locks" calls out George as he gathers up the rest of the rifles and ammunition from the downed soldiers. George take a moment to tie up and gag the two soldier who were put to sleep before returning to the trap door and loading all the rifles in preparation to hold the doors. Lawrence goes to the closest door, the south port side, and soon finds the key that opens it. It is also filled to the brim with treasure. "Maurice, what is the draft on that submersible of Nemo's? And how much hold does he have?" asks George peering into the room and sending Lawrence onto another door.Maurice says, "Are you insane? Those wizards will be here momentarily, we don't have time to transfer treasure. Besides, Nemo can retrieve it all from the bottom after he sinks this ship" George replies, "Ah Maurice ever the pessimist. And what if we kill the wizards eh? In any case you are right, the priority is the princess. Let's get more of these doors opened."Abby nodded and said, "I'll go check the other door." She moved down and again listened, then attempted to open the other starboard door. Just as Abby begins to step away Ruby manages to get the lock sprung, the inside not being filled with treasure but instead looks like the room viewed through the crystal ball. The room has three occupants, all tied, gagged, shackled to the walls and unconscious. Abby returns and says, "I'm completely out of magic, Ruby. You might want to see if you can sense any traps on that door, then go use your skills to get them free. I don't think they want me shooting those shackles and locks off."Ruby nodded. "Quite wise, Abby." She took a deep breath and concentrated on looking for any kind of magic in the room, also looking for mundane traps while she was at it. The only magic that she sees which could be potential traps are on the shackles by the wrists of the three unconscious prisoners. "I think it's okay," Ruby said to Abby, "But I'll go first just to be sure." Ruby walked slowly into the room, looking about for any surprises. She approached the smaller of the tied up prisoners first. As Ruby walks around the person's back she sees that it is indeed Princess Neferka. "Princess! Is that you?" Ruby said excitedly. The Princess remains unconscious. Ruby yells, "Hey everyone, in here!" She looked over the shackles again, not wanting to touch them just yet.Abby followed Ruby in and helped to untie the other two prisoners, waiting to remove the gags until last, in case any of them were to be shocked and shout. Certainly it was already known they were there, but there was no reason for the French to know they'd gotten to the prisoners. After looking at how the shackles are attached, George tells Maurice to go back to the Nautilus for screwdrivers, Yankee Drivers, and wrenches to remove the shackles from the bulkhead. Ruby sighed. She might have to wait for George's idea. In the meanwhile, she looked at the other two prisoners. One is General Ahmad Orabi. The other is wearing a British military uniform. Ruby then exclaims, "Wait a minute! I have lock picks. I can try to get them open myself. But, I thought I saw some magic on them that might mean they are trapped. That I can't do much about. Anyone else? Maurice?"Maurice is half-way back down the corridor when the webbing on the staircase is dispelled and he is then struck by four magic missiles. Chevruel, Daguerre and one other French wizard are on the stairs, flanked by four French foreign legion soldiers with their rifles drawn. Lawrence and Freya are also both in the corridor, the other three in the room with the prisoners. Lawrence yells over his shoulder, "We have company." He tries to drag Freya into the room with him.Ruby pulled out two items, one was her magical dagger. The other was a wand of fireballs. She ran to the doorway but stayed just inside. "Everyone in a room, quickly!" She called to her friends. Then she called down the hallway, and bluffed her heart out. Or did she? "I would stay right where you are, if I was you. I have a wand of fire and I'm not afraid to use it! I will sink this entire ship! We all came prepared for the water, have you?" She hoped Lawrence and Freya got into a room, and fast. Daguerre laughs and exclaims with laughter "The American trollop thinks she can threaten us!"Freya gets struck by several magic missiles as she and Lawrence attempted to make their way back to the room with the others. Lawrence says, "Freya, are you all right?" He pulls a hanker-chief from his pockets and tries to blot her wounds. Freya just grunts and says "Let's complete the mission." Lawrence tucks away his hanker-chief and draws his gun. "Then let's get to it." The still Maurice has apparently been "playing possum" on the floor, as once the wizards and soldiers begin moving forward off of the stairs he tosses a spell in that direction and that part of the room is filled with magical darkness."Quick, someone get Maurice in here," Ruby whispered. "And Abby, try to figure out how we can get the Princess off the wall if you can!" George crouched down in the darkness and recalling where Maurice was, grabbed him to pull him into the room, but not reaching far enough. Since Maurice was the one who cast the spell the party he has to assume that the man knows what he is doing. Ruby then said in a loud voice, "Yeah, well, I've heard worse.""We may just have to open the portal under the shackles and get out of here," Abby said, but still took another look at where they were attached to the sides of the ship. With just a rifle, a sword, and archaeologists tools she wasn't sure what she could manage. Creating the portal where the shackles are fastened to the wall indeed looks to be the best solution.Lawrence points his weapon down the hall into the darkness and fires. Ruby cast a fireball as far down the hallway as far she could. And then she prayed her friends would be okay. Ruby sees the fire light leave her wand and continue down the corridor. However, one of the wizards was simultaneously casting a Dispel Magic on the area to eliminate the darkness, which also negates the ball before the fireball erupts. The hallway is now visible for all to see, with the soldiers turning their guns on George, the only one in the corridor.Lawrence's first two shots fire just as the darkness ends. This has the effect of the soldiers turning their rifles away from George and towards Lawrence. George quickly jumps back into the hold. George makes it back inside just as gunshots from the soldiers strike at and around the door, one bullet grazing Lawrence. Hearing the gunfire, Abby turned and swung the rifle up, moving to the door to back the others up.Ruby swears and fires off another fireball as George makes cover. Freya bolts out after the fireball explodes, targeting the wizards. The hallway erupts in fire. "Lawrence, return fire and keep those soldier's heads down" calls out George as he heads back to join Abby. "Here let's try this" he suggests taking the steel point of a bayonet on the rifle and inserting it into a link and twisting the link to break it along the weld seam, using the long rifle as a lever. Adding his skill in mechanics to Abby's in engineering, as well as the extra muscle. They manage to pry off where the shackle holding the Princess is fastened to the wall. The two men are still secured in place. Lawrence grits his teeth against the pain. He continues firing at the wizards. "If we have a plan, now's the time." 'Abby says, "I know it's going to be difficult to move them, but I'm serious. We should just open the portal under those shackles and lets get out of here. At least as soon as Maurice gets in here." Freya says, "Don't wait for him. He's an adult and responsible for his own actions." George replies to Abby, "Mina still has the amulet to create the portal, and she is on the other side of the hall filled with fire and death. So until those wizards are dead, help me get the other two off the wall." Abby says, "Well, then let's finish this so I can go shoot Frenchmen. I at least seem to be good at that." "That you are Abby, go to it" says George.Much to the party's surprise, a portal now opens in this room (although not where the shackles are fastened). Mina is right by the door with the portal and Maurice is beside her, the Nautalus having moved some 60 feet further down along the ship to this spot. George signals Maurice over as he twists yet another shackle from the wall. Freya assists and they soon have the shackle holding Orabi snapped off from its wall moorings. George and Freya move over to free the English military man, whom George suspects is Woolsely, while directing Maurice and Mina to begin moving the princess to the Nautilus.Ruby looked back over her shoulder. "Oh, good. You guys figure that out. I will keep having fun here until you are done." She grinned then shot another fireball down the hallway. Soldiers scream and the fire spreads. The French wizards are nowhere to be seen. Lawrence looks into the corridor and says, "The wizards are gone. I think I got one, though."The British soldier is not Woolsely, but George still recognizes him, as it is General Drury Curzon Drury-Lowe, the cavalry officer who had been gravely wounded during the Battle at Kassassin two days earlier and who George witnessed the French transport in the Dreadnaught dirigible. George tells the others who it is. With their combined strengths George and Freya managed to break the shackle mount from the wall. They then help move the man out of the hold and over to the Nautalus, with Abby and Lawrence helping to move Orabi.Once her friends were safely near the portal Ruby finally left the hallway and ran to it herself. Before she crossed over she shook her head glumly, "All that treasure..." Ruby is the last to get below the hatch which Nemo shuts behind her. "Dive, Dive" Nemo bellows and the ship begins to move downward. He adds, "Let's put some distance between us and their heavy artillery,"</blockquote>

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