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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(contact)" data-source="post: 1597003" data-attributes="member: 41">I don't want a hug anymore, thank you.Coldeven 6, CY 59389—Mom put an ‘e’ in ‘Dad’. Twin suns shine warmly over a pastoral scene in the Blessed Lowlands of Arcadia, each careful not to duplicate the other’s efforts overmuch.  Trees grow in perfectly ordered rows—of uniform height, depth and (most likely) weight, the orchards of Arcadia are both bountiful and predictable.  The seasons are mild, more for appearance’s sake than out of any necessity.  Plants grow when planted, the whole of the place responsive to the imposition of structure by its inhabitants.  In Arcadia, each soul knows its place.The Liberators rest within an orchard, careful not to be seen.  Prisantha and Jespo Crim resume their ongoing game of King and Country, played from memory without a board.  Prisantha wins again, prompting a hiss and a remarkably detailed curse (although not in that order).  Dabus, Heydricus and Gwendolyn brainstorm the most expedient means to find and rescue Lucius.“Or scrape together enough of him to resurrect,” Gwendolyn says.“Ooh, that reminds me,” Jespo Crim whispers to Prisantha.  “Now that Dabus is back with us, I’d like my clone destroyed.  It seems counterproductive.”“There are no clones,” Prisantha says.  “It slipped my mind until it was too late.  We don’t have time to grow new bodies before we begin in Dorraka.”“Just as well,” Jespo sighs.  “Dreadfully grim, not knowing what got you.”-----The second passage through Iggwilv’s maze goes much more quickly than the first.  Nothing has disturbed the bodies, save for the finger-sized scavengers common to any cave at this elevation.  When they arrive at the spherical chamber, the raven-haired woman remains upon her bier, lying as if in state.  There is no evidence of any struggle, save for a slight singing directly beneath where Daoud’s Wondrous Lanthorn used to hang.  The lantern is gone, and so is Lucius.Jespo and Gwendolyn climb over the railing to have a closer look at the room’s finery, followed by a flustered Hastur.  Heydricus leaps over the rail, and moves closer to the woman on the bier.  “Heydricus, that woman is undead!” his sword exclaims.At that moment, her eyes flash open and with the smallest of movements she takes to the air, crossing fifteen feet with a single leap.  By the time she lands in front of the startled Jespo Crim, her sword has snapped from its sheath, and lashed across his neck and chest.“Ah!” Jespo cries.  “I am undone!”But Jespo’s contingency takes effect, and the blow is warded by a stoneskin spell.“Nearly undone,” he clarifies.  Dabus strides forward purposefully and grips the woman’s shield with his right hand.  He pulls it off-line and touches her just above her heart with his left.  Tritherion’s unswerving integrity burns through her breastplate and harms her, pulling the flush from her cheeks and drawing her soft features taut against the bone.  The creature gasps, revealing a mouth filled with sharp fangs.  Heydricus takes her head off in a single stroke.Jespo regards the thin cut running from jaw to opposite shoulder.  “Ah, only partially undone, as it happens.”Dabus absentmindedly closes Jespo’s wound with a touch, and then casts true seeing.  Gwendolyn puts away her spell components, and returns to examining the imperial wealth of Iggwilv.“Let’s bag the loot and go,” Heydricus says, handing Gwen his portable hole.  “Pris—can you find Lucius?”She shakes her head no.  “He is either warded or resisting my scrying attempt.”“Or both,” Gwendolyn snorts.  “Your imp has out-clevered himself again, Heydricus.”“We’ll find him,” Heydricus says.  “If we need to, we can . . . ““You should see this, Heydricus,” Dabus says.  “This bier has a concealed lid.”Heyrdicus and Dabus pull the top of the marble slab away, revealing a hollow interior lined with velvet and silk.  Seven books are positioned reverentially within the space, alongside a tiny brass cage.Prisantha whistles.  Jespo cocks his head, detects magic and whistles.  Gwendolyn quickly follows suit, as does Dabus and Heydricus.  All five Liberators stare into the bier.“Well,” Jespo says.  “Perhaps my mother was wrong about me after all.”“What?” Hastur asks.  “What is it?”“These are . . . potent items, Hastur,” Dabus says.  He gingerly removes one of the books.  “This one seems to be an exercise tutorial—conditioning for combatants?”  Dabus reverently reads from the cover, “Gainful Exercises for The Humble Everyman, pried from the Thews of the Ancients and set forth within by T’tam the Furious, Sacrist of Tovag Baragu.”  “That is a very old book,” Prisantha says.And five of the others are equally ancient.  Pre-dating the Rain of Colorless Fire, these magical tomes detail ascetic practices meant to enhance the growth of body, mind and soul.  The seven adventurers eye the six priceless books greedily, all but Hastur realizing the implications of the equation.Even at a cursory glance, the seventh book stands clearly apart.  While of newer make, it nonetheless carries a spiritual weight that bears an air of unfathomable antiquity.  It is a plain-seeming tome, fairly thin, bound with some sort of reddish pebbled skin stretched tight over an ivory frame.  Gwendolyn rolls the book over in her hands, caressing it and examining it with a curiously bemused look on her face.  Dabus frowns at her, and nudges Heydricus.She regards the cover wistfully, and after a moment, she gasps.  “This is the Demonomicon of Iggwilv!” she says.Dabus frowns.  “Gwendolyn, were you wise you would not open that book.”But she is not, apparently, because she already has.  Or rather, you might say she is less wise for having done so.  “The . . . names . . .” she gasps before slamming the book and her eyes shut at the same time.  “It’s all names!” she mutters.  “Yes, of demons,” Jespo says patronizingly.  “A foul thing to be flipping through, I should think.”“Into the bag,” Heydricus says sternly.  “And put the little bird cage in there, too.  Dabus, can you discern the location of Lucius’ hidden knife?”“He keeps a hidden knife?” Hastur says.</blockquote>

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