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Post by Admin on Feb 26, 2024 5:10:25 GMT
Once the young interloper has been cast off from Jacob's royal garments, Eivor pulls him through to the temple of Anubis. He sees blood and bodies. The walls have pilasters carved with images of Oberon. Between them are Byzantine-style mosaics depicting Eric with a halo ringing his head. Many of the dead are grey guys, just like Random described in his tale of attempting to rescue Brand. The other dead wear what were once white and orange robes, now all stained red. A blood-covered altar is in the centre of the room. The mouth of the cave is dog-shaped, and large carved teeth ring the entrance. To the back of the cave is a steeply sloped tunnel heading down deeper into the hill. It, too, is blood-covered. Either there has been a lot of sacrificing happening in here, or Eivor has been very, very busy with her spear. A few of the white-robed people stand near the mouth of the cave, unsure if they should be attacking or fleeing.
It has been a long time since Eivor and Jacob last met; any changes in appearance over the years?
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Post by Eivor on Feb 26, 2024 10:11:07 GMT
The Eivor Jacob remembers was pale, thin and in constant fear of her father. He would remember her ill-fitting ranger uniform and penchant for wood carving. With her mussed-up hair, blood-smeared face, armour and spear she not only looks older and thicker set but much more world-weary.
"Once the temple is secured, we can talk," she says before addressing the crowd.
"The Dark Priest has gone and the days of blood are over. Remove the dead, bring in the light, make this temple worthy of Anubis rather than a reflection of the former High Priest's bitterness. He has been banished, and another must be chosen to lead us to enlightenment. Anubis tells us that death is not an end to be sought, but a journey to be prepared for. His rites need to be remembered, and observed. The days of the slaughterhouse are over. We must prepare the way for the willing in peace and reverence."
Turning back to Jacob she says. "There are wounded here that need attention, if you have the skill."
She points at the fellow resembling Martin. "This one has information. Please defend him with your life."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2024 12:29:10 GMT
Jacob, for his part, seems unchanging in his strange way, his thin and lined face giving an impression of years that he may not have even had. There is, as there always has been, something closed off in his demeanor and his eyes sweep all around the new space. His longcoat is dripping wet, the water mingling with the pools of blood on the floor. When his gaze settles back on Eivor, there's a sarcastic snap to his voice that is quite familiar.
"Hello, Jacob. How are you, Jacob. Oh me? I'm just..." he lowers his voice to hiss in his cousin's ear, "...currently trying to rewrite the religious practices of a sacrificial cult. Help a girl out, can't you? What in the Abyss, Eivor?"
Jacob looks about at yet another field of bodies, one battlefield tossed somewhere in shadow and time. Argue later, help now, he finally chides himself and pushes back his hood, finally out of the pouring rain for the first time in days. He seeks out the Martin-looking figure Eivor pointed out, inspecting him for injuries and the young man's current state of health.
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Post by Eivor on Feb 26, 2024 13:38:29 GMT
Eivor has always been sparing with words. She isn't goaded into elaborating, yet. There's a time and a place, and the current situation fell into neither category. A tension in her body that indicates a continued level of threat. She kicks one of the grey guys, partly to draw Jacob's attention to them and partly in indicate the most recent thing that's tried to kill her.
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Post by Admin on Feb 28, 2024 4:25:51 GMT
The Martinish man is bandaged and doesn't appear to be about to die of blood loss. Drained and paler than usual - the undersea folk never take to the sun - his skin's blue and green tinges are showing.
Eivor's words still the pilgrims and soldiers.
"The blood has kept us free since time began. The blood protects us on All Hallow's Eve when the moons dance widdershins," one of them says. Seeing that the man looks very much like him is an unpleasant surprise for Jacob.
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Post by Eivor on Feb 28, 2024 9:40:02 GMT
"You know this to be true, or is it what the Dark Priest told you so he could feed his vile rituals?" Eivor replies. "The moons will dance as they please, if is for us to honour Anubis in the way he intended, with peace and reverance."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2024 14:11:45 GMT
Jacob watched the theological debate get into gear, but resolved not to intervene just yet, even (or perhaps especially) with someone who was walking around with his face. Eivor seemed to be doing alright, so long as some of them actually thought of their priest as vile. He pulled Blue Martin out of the pools of blood to try and keep him from just soaking in the gore that lay around, and made a closer examination of the altar - this level of blood sacrifice was usually either mass hysteria or engineered for some purpose. As he looked at the steep tunnel, he examined its relationship to the altar - was this a passageway...or a funnel? He palmed one of his daggers...just in case someone objected to what he was doing or to Eivor's characterizations.
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Post by Admin on Mar 4, 2024 5:14:08 GMT
"The blood has always brought the moons' angels here to protect us from the horrors of Hallowe'en. A dry holiday is a danger to us all," one of them replies to Eivor.
The altar and blood are part of a magical ritual, but why so much blood is needed is unclear. The tunnel is being used as a garbage pit or mass grave, and many dead have been thrown into the darkness to slide down deeper into the hill.
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Post by Eivor on Mar 4, 2024 8:12:45 GMT
"As if the butchery here were not horror enough," Eivor says. "Anubis will protect his own. We have no need of fallen angels on Hallowe'en or any other day."
She turns to Jacob and talks to him quietly. "Do you have any knowledge of magic? I'd dearly like to know what's really been going on here. This is the First Shadow, a place of great significance. Oberon directed me to come here, though he neglected to tell me why."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2024 13:30:44 GMT
Jacob managed to restrain a wince at Eivor's recalling of Oberon's instructions. "Did he at least tell you what you were supposed to do when you got here? Also..." He drops to a whisper for a moment, "...watch how much you're telling the locals they don't need angels. For all you know, that might be what we are."
He looked down into the abattoir below and slowly back up, following the trails of blood back to the altar and the pools of blood in the room, this time letting his mind attune itself to the magic of this strange shadow. What was this ritual supposed to be doing?
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Post by Eivor on Mar 4, 2024 16:56:11 GMT
Eivor snorts. "Of course not. Grandfather liked his little puzzles."
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Post by Admin on Mar 5, 2024 6:02:38 GMT
Jacob knows enough about ritual magic to know that killing on this scale is rare. Some places would sacrifice captured enemy soldiers to appease the gods, but these are giving themselves up by their own free will. The moon talk and holiday business suggest this is done at certain times to appease Anubis. It could be a fishing expedition to kill and kill and kill at random until the right person is sacrificed. The magic being used is beyond him; the kind that is supposedly common in the Corts of Chaos maybe? Or the rumoured skills one would have after intense study of the Pattern. Maybe even the Trump cards could have properties accelerated from this kind of ritual.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2024 13:41:13 GMT
Jacob files the information away for later - this was not the time for academic speculations about the purpose of the magic. He stepped up behind Eivor to support her in confronting the cultists. They couldn't be all that thoughtful. Religions that talked you into walking to your own slaughter did not draw people with deep introspection.
"What do we know of these Hallowe'en Horrors?"
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Post by Eivor on Mar 5, 2024 15:42:48 GMT
"Nothing," Eivor replies, "but we may well find out. The Dark Priest who presided here was none other than Uncle Brand. It seems rumours of his demise were exaggerated."
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2024 19:41:13 GMT
"Our Uncle Brand or someone who looked like him? I've seen at least one blue-tinted version of me in this crowd, never mind Sleeping Beauty, the Martin look-a-like by the altar."
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