Outside 46

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Do they not wish to have a look at the chamber themselves? I'm... Kinda confused how the writing would work with Fayyaad, but the curse only works if it's read aloud. That's why only the priest who tried reading it suffered eyeball melt and incinerated lungs.

If not, off they go. The bikers will be by with the rest of the payment soon. And available for questioning.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"Maybe we should at least check out that chamber. Where'd the recording say it was?" Erasmus gets the strange feeling he should get a look at this.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Oh, right. Forgot about that.

"I'm not sure if that's wise," he says. "The recording said it's just next door, but considering that priest's fate... do we want to risk it?"

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"I don't think it'll be any language I can read, but we should at least see if the necromancer got in there." Erasmus heads to the chamber.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Squeezing through the crack, the adventurous duo find a surprisingly large chamber carved from pure white marble. The corners are rounded, save for the central ornamentation of the room. That's a small pillar of white marble, only about a metre tall, with a black marble sword fused seamlessly into the pillar. Veins of red marble are visible in the sword, from pommel to where the blade meets the pedestal. A soft white glow emanates from the chamber's walls.

Inscribed onto the walls is Celestial script, the letters flowing and graceful; spray painted over the top in dark green are the words DO NOT READ ANYTHING ALOUD- NASTY CURSE, as well as the same message- in the same colour- in Elvish, Swahili and Klingon. The carvings underneath are still legible, if Fayyaad or Erasmus knows the Celestial alphabet- or can speak Demonic, and can figure out the alphabet using the most common letters in Demonic (x, gn and sc).

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"Here's the weapon, right enough," Fayyaad says. "And a helpful warning. Though I can't make heads or tails of the other script, anyway, so I'd be in no danger even without knowing that."

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"What stops somebody from just taking the sword? It's not like it'd be 'ard tew remove." Erasmus pulls out the eye charm and inspects the room for magical effects.

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

It's not actually a sword. It's a statue of a sword. A representation of the Blade of Hope Removed. Hence how it's 'fused seamlessly with the pillar'. Tugging it free won't work, as it's the same piece of stone as the pillar, and the floor, and the walls, and the ceiling.

A simple light spell causes the spell to glow. Something darker and more complex fuels the curse, which has spread from the letters carved into the rock to the warning spray-painted over the top. Fortunately, the curse works only when spoken aloud... And Erasmus might spot a loophole. The reading-tooth they found earlier? Press it to the letters and it would translate the text into Giant and speak it aloud, and doesn't have eyes to melt or lungs to burn.

There's another piece of magic, though, one that is not linked to either. A blood-fuelled enchantment on the stone sword, one linked to directions. It's still strong, but needs fuel to activate, and hasn't activated in a very long time- centuries at least. Spill four drops of blood onto the sword's pommel and a map will appear.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"Don't read anything out loud, the curse spreads to all writing left 'ere for a long enough time. Also, that's not the real sword, but if we put four drops if blood on it, it'll give us a map." Erasmus isn't quite sure he wants to put his blood on a mysterious fake sword.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"I think as a general rule, putting one's blood on simulacra of evil artifacts might not be wise," Fayyaad says. "Also, I'm a tiefling, so I'm not sure how it'd all react together."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

They could always give it two drops each. Or find some other blood from somewhere; the enchantment doesn't specify what type of blood it wants. Just blood, four drops of.

Erasmus' eye can't detect anything other than the blood-map on the sword, so it's highly unlikely it does anything else.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"I think we should destroy this chamber. It's the only way to keep the sword out of the wrong 'ands. I'm sure the pirates 'ave some explosives somewhere." Erasmus looks around at the chamber for weak spots.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad rubs his chin.

"That seems rash. The author of the recordings said he was still researching the magic here. I don't think we should destroy this place until we've had a chance to finish the job. We don't know what damaging or destroying it would do."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The bikers do have explosives. They might even know where, since the president told Dipsnig where the armoury was. Also, the club president made the recordings, and she's not a he.

I would also recommend making sure that they find some way of copying the symbols on the walls before destroying it, otherwise I'll have to come up with some other way of getting people to find the Blade of Hope Removed.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"I think the only job left tew do would be tew photograph the writing and put some blood on the sword." Erasmus searches his harness for a camera. Nope, he left it at home.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

Fayyaad makes a few photographs with his phone. They're not the best quality, but they'll do.

"I have no idea how it'll react with tiefling blood, but then, the same can be said about dragon blood. Let's each give a half."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The good news is, the curse doesn't transfer to the photographs... Though opening the gallery to look at the photographs he's taken will probably be a bad idea whilst he's in the chamber. For that matter, so is sending a text. So don't do that, Fayyaad- unless he sends a joke to his worst enemy and advises said enemy to share the joke immediately.

[Devixer]

Chapel

Well, several hundred miles to the east is the City of Inside. The City of Riverside lies to the south, a similar distance away, and Skyside is just over a hundred miles away to the north. The road Rivet was following lies to the west. There's several small settlements and communities marked on the maps, Chapel being the closest- though there's a few more within easy travel distance. I doubt there's anything Faudre recognises, however.

Haar lays down and lounges, as Faudre tries to study the map. "Spirits take me," she mumbles to herself. "How have we traveled this far, to such a strange land? I'd thought we were near Odrad, but I cannot see it either."

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

Erasmus takes the sword he got from the skeleton and tests the edge with his talon, trying to prick himself on the point. Once he starts bleeding, he drips two drops onto the sword. "Choo next."

Ruined Village

The path Dave leads the small party in is winding and long. Often, he veers away from the main roads to follow barely visible tracks cutting through forests and across hills. As the group approaches their destination, the sky is filled with dark clouds as a storm is brewing. Suddenly, a number of structures become visible across the next hill, a small village, the houses partially ruined and bombed out. Someone has been busy, because a network of trenches have been dug around the village, and dark figures can be seen patrolling them.

[Recaiden]

Sophia doesn't mind the long and rough path, except perhaps for how slow humans are. She spends most of the time invisible and inaudible, appearing to her companions only when they change direction, so they know she didn't get left behind. But perhaps they notice her at other times. The magic is in the eye of the beholder (why bend light when you can bend peoples' perceptions directly?) and heroes tend to be more perceptive than most.
Perhaps they also notice the pair of hounds^* that follow at her heels, cloaked in her invisibility.
But probably not.

Fortifications. Crude, worse than useless. The bandits would not have dug them this way if they knew who was coming. But they declare an obvious intent to hold onto the village. They will not give up easily.
They look to have settled in pretty permanently.
Do we approach directly all the same? Sneak through the patrols? I could capture a guard if we wanted one.

^{*You could mistake one of these tentacled warthog-mantises for a dog. If you saw it briefly, in bad light. They're called that because they're used by Sophia's people to hunt.}

[Murkus]

[The Tower of Batu!]

A certain young faun-like creature with a small set of antlers appears here. He is dressed today in a pseudo-toga and sandals, the toga draped off both shoulders to cover his front and back down to the thigh. This garment does little to cover his sides or hips, leaving a stripe of his body exposed on each side.

Peering up and down at the tower which was indicated and pursing his lips, he gives a knock on the door. He thinks he recalls Batu mentioning that he doesn't live here alone...

[Earl of Purple]

Near Chapel

Odrad is most certainly not on the map, but there's a location marked as 'Ohdam', on the banks of a river not too far away- the river is a tributary of the River Syde, which flows through Riverside. (The river doesn't have an official name, so I'm making it up... But it fits.)

Otherwise, nothing will happen until they actually go to sleep.

[Recaiden]

((Last time we gave the river a name, it was the 'Syde'))

[Tower of Batu!]

The tower is a tremendously large (mostly tall) construction of volcanic stone and polished metal. It splits at the top into five turrets (one of which is an entire other tower of a few stories on its own), and has a giant tree growing in/through-out of it (currently covered in pink star-shaped flowers). The base of the tower is obviously square - just look at it - but the visitor won't be able to find any corners... The place seems brand new, could have been made yesterday.

Probably the door will be answered by the butler (a little kobold in an impeccable suit); I'm sure Batu told people to expect his friend.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pitstop]

Fayyaad will proceed to bleed two drops himself. Let's hope this doesn't turn against them.

[Murkus]

[Tower of Batu]

Div is in awe of the structure. He's been to see Inside only just recently, and he's never seen anything like this. Div jumps a little as the butler opens the door, and offers a shy smile.

"H-Hello! Ah. Does Batu live here? I mean. Surely he does. I would like to see him, please!" The stagling stops, and tries to swallow some of his anxiety. "I met him in the woods the other day, and we thought we'd meet again here."

[Earl of Purple]

Road Pirate Pit Stop

The blood soaks into the stone sword-statue, which begins to emit a thick, black mist shot through with flashes of red, violet and yellow. The mist is heavier than the air around it, and sinks to the floor of the chamber, covering the floor to a depth of twelve centimetres. Against their ankles or feet, things brush past; through boots or thick scales, hard to tell what; through thin trousers, or bare skin, oily fur can be felt, scampering claws and thousands of articulated legs. After half a minute at most the mist settles, and goes still; the flashes stop, and the things moving underneath disappear. The surface flattens and smooths out until it resembles a pool of dark water- or a mirror, reflecting a starless patch of night sky. On the surface of the mist, lines and shapes begin to appear- no names, or cities; nothing built by humans whatsoever, but shockingly accurate to all the Nexus' most recent geographic additions. Visible is the coast of Seaside, the snaking River Syde, the mountain into which MERC is built (or used to be built, if they've moved without my knowledge) and other natural landmarks and features. The badlands where this pit stop is hidden aren't present; their location is concealed by the pedestal and the sword. At the edge of the room, on an isolated, frosty stretch of coast, a strange pyramid rises, with twelve sides to its base. It's the only structure shown, and made more obvious still as the flashes return- a bolt each of red, violet and yellow arc from the base of the pedestal to the pyramid, like weird-coloured lightning travelling slowly enough for the eye to follow.

After that, the mist slowly begins to dissipate, working out from the pedestal and away from the chamber's walls, save only nearest the pyramid, so it is the last of the map to disappear. On the floor, revealed by the mist, are things that weren't there before. Desiccated millipedes, some up to a metre long, curling wildly about distorted rat skeletons, and here and there rough chunks of onyx, obsidian and black jasper. The rat skeletons are twisted, mutant things; some have an extra pair of legs, or multiple tails, or human-like skulls; others have boar-like tusks, horn growths, or rudimentary wings; one, resting near Fayyaad's left foot, has two fanged, humanoid skulls.

[bc56]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"Did choo get that?" Erasmus picks up a mutant rat in curiosity, then straps it onto his harness.

[Recaiden]

[Tower of Batu]

Div is in awe of the structure. He's been to see Inside only just recently, and he's never seen anything like this. Div jumps a little as the butler opens the door, and offers a shy smile.

"H-Hello! Ah. Does Batu live here? I mean. Surely he does. I would like to see him, please!" The stagling stops, and tries to swallow some of his anxiety. "I met him in the woods the other day, and we thought we'd meet again here."

"He does. I'll let him know you've come to call. Please, come in, make yourself comfortable." The butler holds the door for the anxious staglet and then heads up the broad spiral staircase to inform Batu of his visitor.
Inside, the tower is richly (but euclideanly) decorated with fine furniture, bookshelves, a tiny but functional airplane suspended from the rafters, etc. Through the arch that leads to the kitchen Div can hear a voice singing a wordless song in a high bell-like voice.

[Morty]

[Road Pirate Pit Stop]

"I think so," Fayyaad says, thoroughly unnerved by the experience. This job went to odd places fast and deep. What's with all the skeletons and bugs? "I think it's time to go and inform someone about all this."

[Tower of Batu]

Batu's first reaction to hearing who came by to visit him is mild panic. When he's done flailing about, he puts aside the book he was reading and goes to change his clothes. Eventually he heads downstairs, wearing a dark yellow shirt, open brown sweatshirt and pants in the same colour. A bird is perched on his shoulder this time.

[Holy-hunter]

Ruined Village

Arden seemed to enjoy the walk, pondering upon the forest as he treated their journey like a casual leisurely stroll. Often falling behind the rest of the group and slowing their movement as they were forced to wait as he caught up. When they finally arrive at their destination he was eating from a handful of picked berries.

As the others stopped to start discussing plans, Arden continued his relaxed and calm momentum as he carried on making his way to the nearest entrance.