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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 3754079" data-attributes="member: 812">Another Fine Mess: 9"No doubt you've got some clever plan up your sleeve to get us out of this?"Isaac scowled at Nevid. The two men walked side-by-side across a vast dusty plain.  Gentle dunes rose up a few hundred paces away, seeming to get no nearer as they walked. The sun was steadily climbing above the horizon now, and the heat was growing."Or even just a waterskin?"Nevid made no response.They walked on in silence for a while, dust rising in billowy plumes around their feet. Isaac winced as his foot came down on a stone and the resulting unbalance set off needles of pain throughout his injuries. He snarled."Maybe your precious Isabella can help us. Why don't you send her a report, filed and stamped and sealed, detailing all the relevant points. Like how you pulled me out here. So I can die. In the desert. Of thirst. I hear it's just about the most painful way to die there is, you know. Thanks for that. That's what shows you really care."Nevid, at last goaded to reaction, turned to retort angrily, but stopped, mouth open and finger held up, staring at something beyond Isaac's shoulder. His shoulders slumped and he sighed."Hi, Arrafin."*****"We're fine."Nevid had managed to control his terror this time and stared at the flagstones in the bedroom with Elena, Etienne and Arrafin. Isaac still glowered.Arrafin was giddy with success."I did it! Kani taught me. I found you. It worked.""How did -- ? No, that's okay. I see Kani had to do the travelling. Any chance you'll pick that up, too?""No, that's too complicated for me still. But I did the scrying. I found you.""Great."Isaac, passing the marble skull back to Arrafin, lost a bit of his glower as he noticed the expressions on Etienne's and Elena's faces."Are you two okay?"Elena smiled thinly."Fine. When are we leaving this place?""Leaving?"Arrafin's crestfallen reaction made no impact on Elena."But we just got here. I've only learned the one spell. I need to spend more time, I have to copy out the formula and practice.""No.""Elena?""No. We have to go. Soon. Now."Isaac frowned."What's -- ?""There are THINGS in this place. Bad things. I want to go."Etienne stood beside her and nodded."Yes. Go. Soon. Now."The other three looked round at each other, confused by the sudden determination of their friends."What kind of things?""Things that remind me of that little girl in Chimney."Isaac, Arrafin and Nevid all paled. The room lay in dusty silence for heartbeats. Isaac coughed at last."That's a relief. I thought you were going to say things like Collette."They all chuckled a little bit at that. Isaac looked around. Sunlight angled in between the drapes, highlighting the thick cobwebs everywhere."What are they? Ghosts?""Something like that, I guess.""Well, they'll probably stay hidden until nightfall, wouldn't you think?"Etienne nodded."Well, I would. But I think she'd disagree with you."Isaac turned to find a green-eyed Shaeric woman right behind him. He leapt back with a surprised cry, knocking over a sidetable. The woman stared at him for a second, then turned to study Arrafin. The Naridic girl crept backwards to the wall, trying very hard to smile in a friendly sort of fashion. And failing."Hi. I'm. I'm Arrafin.""Me name is Kaley. Are ye here ta take me away?"Her soft, singsong accent somehow made her less frightening. Arrafin got her smile going finally."No. I don't think so."The Shaeric woman rotated smoothly in place, and noticed Nevid. She immediately drifted towards him.Nevid held his hands up."No. No. I don't. Wait."He closed his eyes as she approached. Her strange means of locomotion had not been lost on Nevid, and he fully expected to feel an eldritch chill as her insubstantial fingers passed right through him. Instead, warm hands clasped his."I like ye, lad."Elena managed a grin."Great. You can have him. Cheap."Nevid went very still as the woman pushed forward and sighed against him."I like ye. Ye'll help me.""Oh, no."Isaac stepped forward."Uh. Miss. Miss Kaley. Maybe you can help us. Can you tell us what's going on in this place?"She turned and stared at him, her emerald eyes wide.And kept staring.And kept staring.Isaac coughed."Uh. Miss?"She smiled and turned back to Nevid."Nay. I like this one, sir."Isaac found a cigar end and shoved it in his mouth, chewing furiously. Arrafin edged forward."Kaley, you said you wanted us to help you? Help you do what? Do you want to leave this place?""Oh, aye. Aye, I'd love ta go wid ye all. Would ye no take me? Take me out of this place? Take -- ?"The Shaeric woman's face suddenly distorted as she shrieked, her mouth opening in an impossible gaping circle, and then she plunged straight down through the floor, leaving no mark on the flagstones whatsoever.Kani stood in the doorway."Madame Yuek will see you now."Arrafin pointed at the floor."What was that?""A ghost. This castle is greatly haunted.""Oh. Uh, why does, uh, Madame Yuek live in a haunted castle?""She likes the attention."*****Everyone's eyes were nearly as wide as Arrafin's as they followed Kani through the crumbling halls of the ancient castle. Every corner seemed to hide some scrabbling figure, every half-open door hid some terrible scene that their imaginations told them was repeated day after day."Don't ghosts, you know, sleep during the day?"Kani laughed her mad giggle."Technically, most of these are not ghosts. They are spirits."Elena tried to keep the conversation going. Anything was better than listening to those chittering voices everywhere."The difference being?""A ghost is a human soul that is unable or unwilling to cross the Buried Sea and be consumed. A spirit is a denizen of the Dream Worlds who is able to maintain its identity here in the Living World. These spirits are called the Tuthean Tarn. They are found throughout the islands of Shaer.""I'm a little hazy on my Dream Worlds.""Perhaps you can ask Madame Yuek about it."Arrafin jumped into the discussion."Is she well-informed on this sort of thing? She's a very skilled sorcerer, right? She's. Who is she?""She is my mistress. She is eternal. There are no secrets she does not possess."Kani gestured to the decrepit iron doors at the end of the hallway."And she awaits."Isaac winced against his injuries."Arrafin, if you get us killed by yet another cranky Lohanese bitch, I'm going to be very annoyed."*****The doors opened, iron hinges squealing, to reveal a great vaulted chamber that stretched away a hundred paces to a tall dias lit by high windows on all sides. The floor of the hall lay strewn with broken benches and scraps of masonry fallen from the ceiling more than a stone's cast overhead.Pigeons rustled and murmured to each other on all sides. A gallery encircled three sides of the room, giving the space the air of a theatre or a great king's throne room.And indeed a great throne stood upon the dias at the far end of the hall. The five friends made their cautious way down a wide aisle towards the throne.To either side of the throne Kani's hulking guards stood. With them, also one on each side, stood other figures, nearly as large but with a strangely feminine build to their massive bodies. They were dressed in thick black leather drawn taut over their muscles. Strange stitchery wound all over their bodies.But the figure seated on the throne drew all attention towards her.At first Arrafin thought it was some kind of doll, a giant porcelain doll. The skin was as white as any marble, the pouting red lips painted on. The black black eyes stared liquid but still, without blinking. The perfect face held still in utter rigidity, not swaying or moving in the slightest.Arrafin stared. It was beautiful.It was hard to make out what was person (or doll) and what was throne. The figure's robe was so ornate and massive that it spilled over the arms of the immense seat and flowed down the steps of the dias. Above the head, an immensely elaborate structure of black twists and gold bands rose several feet high.There was no sign of life or movement in the figure.Kani stepped forward and knelt. She spoke in some language none of the others understood.And the thing on the throne smiled.Etienne's jaw dropped."Wow."All five of them stared as the strange being rose up, still smiling. That perfect face now animated with friendly pleasure stunned them all.Arrafin realised the woman, or whatever it was, was quite tall. If she stood next to it, her nose would be just above its shoulder.It came down the first step of the dias."Welcome. I am Madame Yuek."Elena composed herself enough to nudge Arrafin. Her friend turned to her, startled and annoyed but Elena gestured with her hand at Arrafin's shoulder bag. The Naridic girl understood and nodded. She reached into the bag.Inside her bag Arrafin carried a marble skull that had proven an ability to detect undead creatures. She managed to point it at Madame Yuek without removing it from the bag and concentrated for a second.Elena watched with alarm as Arrafin fainted and collapsed next to her, and knelt immediately to help her friend. The little owl flapped about her head. As Arrafin stirred and blinked, the Saijadani woman looked up to find Madame Yuek staring. Elena managed somehow to smile."So. You're not. Exactly. What you'd call. You know. Alive. Quite."The woman laughed."Oh no. I've been dead a very long time. You would call me a vampire."Elena, her mouth still hanging open, managed to look over at Isaac. He leaned over to whisper to her."Still better than Collette."</blockquote>

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