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Logging Started: 07/10/2001 at 21:26:13
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Okay, you've got a squad of guards approaching you; you're near the center of
 the city of the dead.  Rimmer had just offered to deal with the guards.  Is
 anyone going to stop him? :)
Jacqueline looks at Beowulf nervously.
Beowulf whispers to Rimmer, "Going to convince them that we're just passing
 through?"
Rimmer nods to Beowulf and heads forward.
Jacqueline tries not to look like she's going to have an ulcer.
Moriya hangs back quietly, watching the proceedings.
As Rimmer walks up, one of the guards, apparently a priest casts some sort of
 spell; nothing horrible happens.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly do I get a bad feeling about this?"
Rimmer says, "Evenin', yer holinesses. Fine day."
Rimmer says, "If any of you gents have detect lie, casting it would save
 trouble and speed our chat."
The priest blinks, then laughs and casts the spell.  He says, "Entrance to the
 City of Burial is forbidden without a pass from the Pharoah or from the Upper
 or Lower King, traveller.  You must leave immediately."
Moriya shuffles his feet slightly and wonders how likely it would be to find a
 pass from the Pharoah suddenly in his pocket.
Probably not very likely.  Going to try to push it anyway?
Rimmer says, "We intend to. We are warriors from afar who fight evil, passing
 through on our journey, with no intent to tarry here. We mean no harm to the
 land of Nithia or her people, and have no wish to disturb the holy dead. We
 want no trouble, and shall leave as quickly as we can."
Moriya OOCly says, "Oops, let Rimmer take the lead."
The priest listens to Rimmer, then converses with the other Priest in Nithian. 
 He nods.  Then the priest says, "Alright.  The power of the Immortals confirms
 your words.  Please be on your way as swiftly as possible."
Rimmer bows. "We shall endeavour to. Good fortune to you, holy ones." He goes
 to rejoin the others.
You pass on through the city without any further trouble, and out into the
 desert beyond it.
Moriya looks over his shoulder. "Not in there, then?"
Beowulf looks at Mitsune. "Was the spikard back there, or are we still
 following it?"
Mitsune says, "Assuming my omnipotent angelic powers haven't failed me, we've
 got to keep going this way."
Jacqueline mutters, "Please tell me it's not in... good."
Beowulf says, "Indeed."
Rimmer says, "I hardly think an evil artifact would be in a tomb city tended by
 paladins."
Beowulf asks, "Depends. Are they good paladins or evil paladins?"
Rimmer looks at Beowulf as if he had asked about the purple spiders who carry
 the sun on their backs.
Ivan says, "There are no evil paladins."
Beowulf asks, "Ah. So what do you call those who fight for the unholy nature of
 evil gods?"
You page, "John? Does Pattern tell me the same thing about the spikard's
 location?" to Akemi.
"Evil bastards." Ivan says.
Rimmer says, "Punk-ass bitches."
Akemi pages, "Pattern is pointing you the same way Mitsune is going." to you.
You page, "Cool." to Akemi.
Beowulf grins. "Ahhhh."
Tharg says, "We usually call them 'soon to be dead at our hands'."
Beowulf grins at Tharg. "Good point."
You cruise on across the desert, kicking up a very nice cloud of dust.
As Engine Speed Camels generate their own dust storm.
John asks, "OOC Do you guys wanna get in the blimp again or stick to the
 camels?"
Jacqueline says, "OOCly votin' for camels"
Moriya OOCly says, "Camels is probably safer."
Beowulf says, "OOC Talking to John about it, dust cloud will probably look more
 natural than flying object, so yes, Jacqui."
You cruise along in your cloud of dust, periodically stopping to let it
 dissipate so you can see further.
Beowulf asks, "OOC If Lara's pulling the flying scout act, how visible would
 she be out of the dust cloud (or on the edge of the dust cloud)?"
Around five or so in the evening, a black monolith rises out of the dust.  It
 reads 'Turn back if you value your souls.'
John says, "OOC Lara can turn invisible. Handy :)"
Rimmer exclaims, "Excellent! First good news all day!"
Beowulf says, "Ah, the first outlying marker."
Moriya says, "Sounds inviting."
Jacqueline cringes.  "All I wanted was that ring...."
When you let the dust settle, you can make out a black speck on the horizon,
 and a series of black obelisks every ten miles or so towards it.
Beowulf says, "OOC At this point, Bey's thinking over any similar places he's
 visited, and where they might start expecting trouble."
John says, "OOC Not likely to be much trouble until you reach the Pyramid
 itself and its grounds, although it's possible there might be some roaming
 undead."
Jacqueline takes a moment to mindshift to Dad.
Anna says, "I suggest we go slower so we can see where we're going."
Beowulf OOCly nods.
Beowulf says, "Right. And since we can see what I'm guessing is our
 destination, they can see *us* if we raise large dust clouds."
Autolyca has left.
Beowulf slows down to the speed where they aren't raising dust clouds or
 standing out unnaturally from the scenery.
You slow down to closer to normal camel speeds.
Rimmer asks, "Right. Last minute check. Everyone know the do's and don't of
 fighting mummies?"
Tharg says, "Burn the mummies and don't let them touch you.  Unless you like
 rotting."
Moriya nods. "Sounds simple enough."
Rimmer says, "Right. HOWEVER, I will point out that many smart mummies are
 aware of the whole burning to bits thing and fireproof themselves, so don't
 count on that route."
Moriya tilts his head. "In which case, cut them up into many small pieces?"
Rimmer says, "Yes, I've found that works well."
Beowulf hmms. "Acid should do well against those bandages, yes?"
Rimmer says, "Well, with many mummies, only a magic weapon or spell will hurt
 them."
Moriya taps the hilt of Withywindle. "I think I have the magic weapon part well
 under control."
Rimmer says, "Good. In a pinch, Anna and Ivan can turn or destroy them, and I
 can turn them into my mindless minions, but keep your blades handy."
Beowulf nods. Ah, just like old times.
Jacqueline grumbles.
Moriya glances at Jacqueline, and draws Baby Ilvig. "Need to borrow this,
 Jacqui?"
Wakaba digs in her purse and extracts a chainsaw.
Beowulf says, "The obelisks seem to be just the usual series of warnings,
 though the last one was a nice twist: 'Well, okay, if you really want to kill
 yourself, be our guests, but don't say you weren't warned when Anubis judges
 you.'"
Wakaba says, "This came in handy the last time I had to face ravening hordes of
 undead."
"I'm sorry, lady, but you're going to have to leave the Pattern Chamber"
Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Interesting equipment, Mother."
Wakaba says, "I got it from an old boyfriend."  She shrugs.
Beowulf nods.
Beowulf starts studying the building on the horizon as they get closer,
 comparing it with other temples/pyramids/etc. that he's encountered in his
 archeological field trips.
Jacqueline accepts Moriya's offer with a silent nod.
Normally, the sun would set as you approach the pyramid.  But since the Hollow
 World sun never actually sets, what does happen is that one of the huge
 floating islands in the sky moves between you and the sun, casting the land
 into darkness as you ride towards the Black Pyramid.  IT's made out of basalt.
 Two faces have a single huge eye etched into them, while the other two sides
 have a stylized dragon etched into them.
Moriya passes Baby Ilvig over.
Rimmer says, "Funny. Nithians usually aren't much into dragons."
Moriya says, "Hm. The undead tend to be stronger during the hours of night.
 Should we camp out until daylight again, or keep going?"
The dragon inlay is filled with some sort of blue stone; it reminds you of a
 blue version of jade.
Mitsune says, "Probably best to camp until morning."
Jacqueline says, "dragons...."
Jacqueline looks at the pyramid curiously.
Beowulf asks, "OOC The dragon designs look much like the ones we saw on the
 staff?"
It hangs out, being Pyramidy.  One side has a small temple complex; stairs lead
 up from inside the temple to a door up one of the two 'dragon' faces.
John says, "OOC They dragon designs look only vaguely like the head of the
 Dragon Staff does."
Beowulf asks, "OOC And does the blue stone remind anyone of anything besides
 blue jade, if they remember back?"
Beowulf asks, "OOC As much as one dragon looks like another, then?"
John says, "OOC It just seems like Blue Jade."
John says, "OOC You'd guess the Dragon Staff and this kind of dragon represent
 different species of Dragon.  Also, the dragon on the Dragon Staff was made
 out of gold."
Jacqueline looks away from the dragons and shakes her head.  "Creepy.  Right,
 so are we stopping or pushing ahead?"
Jacqueline says, "I'm in a hurry, but an ambush would suck."
Seta points to the big eyes.  "Eye of Light and Darkness.  Used to keep evil
 beings away.  Or in this case, keep them from getting out."
Jacqueline says, "from.... getting out.  we're not going there, I hope."
Mitsune circles a bit.  "Yep, the Spikard's in there."
Moriya says, "That's where the spikard seems to be, Jacqui."
Beowulf hmmms. "It's rather unusual for basalt to be found out in the middle of
 the desert, but it otherwise appears to be a fairly normal pyramid. The
 dragons don't remind me of the staff, though; perhaps the ring ended up here
 through some kind of affinity?"
Seta says, "Well, does that staff have any actual connection to this spikard
 besides the same person owning both items originally?"
Jacqueline says, "i'd like to find out."
Beowulf says, "The staff design was similar to the design we guessed was on the
 spikard, from what I remember. Other than that, we don't know."
Beowulf says, "My guess when we saw the temporal playback of the Gaunt Man
 kidnapping Jacqui was that the staff was some way of tapping the power of the
 spikard, but I have no way of knowing if that's at all accurate."
Jacqueline says, "I remember it caving my skull in."
Jacqueline frowns
Beowulf gives Jacqui a hug. "That must have hurt."
Rimmer says, "Having your skull caved in generally does." He studies the
 pyramid like a burglar casing a particularly wealty house.
Moriya says, "I think we should camp out for the night, make sure we're rested
 and prepared. And so that the undead are weaker--at least, so I would expect."
Beowulf nods.
Rimmer says, "Sounds fair."
Lily nods.  "I'll put up an alarm spell near the pyramid entrance, just in case
 anything finds a way to venture out while we're asleep."
Jacqueline nods
You get everything set up to camp for the night.
Jacqueline, being paranoid, stays up later than the rest, partially keeping
 watch, partially practicing with Ilvig, but eventuall calls it a night as well.
Beowulf makes sure folks are keeping a watch in shifts, and also keeps an eye
 out for anyone tampering with said sleep.
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Logging Stopped: 07/10/2001 at 22:44:32
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Logging Started: 07/10/2001 at 23:20:54
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OOC Okay, we're going to skip ahead to when people are asleep, since we can't
 keep Travis up all night :)
The first watch consists of Mitsune, Moriya, Lara, Moonshade, and Thoric
Lara vanishes into the darkness to scout around while Thoric huddles by the
 fire,holding his huge two handed sword like a lifeline.  Moonshade plops down,
 staring off into the night.  Mitsune moves out a ways from the fire and sits
 down, watching another direction.
And Moriya gets freedom of will to decide on what he's doing :)
Moriya moves out some way from the fire as well, in another direction.
After a while, Moriya spots a small group moving across the desert towards the
 pyramid, mostly because two of them are carrying torches.  Looks to be
 half-a-dozen men in bronze breastplates, large helms, and metal skirts,
 accompanied by a man and a woman in white tunics.
You estimate they'll hit the Pyramid in a half-hour or so.
Moriya hurries over to Mitsune. "We've got someone approaching the pyramid."
Mitsune shifts her eyes to those of eagles so she can see further.  "Milenians.
 Mostly warrior types...I think the woman does magic and the man is probably
 some kind of priest."  She frowns.  "Probably just an adventuring party
 wanting to try to loot the place."
Moriya nods. "They just might get the spikard."
Moonshade rises and ambles over to the two of you.  "There something out there
 for me to beat up?"
Moriya says, "We're not sure yet. A small band of people approaching the
 pyramid; we think they may want to loot the pyramid."
Thoric says, "Let them go first; they'll take out some of the traps for us."
Moriya frowns. "We'd really rather not let them get what we're looking for,
 though."
Moonshade stares at them as best she can.  "Bronze?  What sort of losers wear
 bronze when there's better metals?"
Mitsune says, "Well, we could wake everyone up and go confront them."
Moriya says, "We should at least discuss it with them, I think."
Moriya goes to rouse the others and explains to them what's going on.
Rimmer says, "Hmmm. On the one hand, they could clear a way for us. On the
 other hand, they might get all the loot."
Thoric says, "I say to let them fall on all the traps and get all the dying out
 of the way before we go in."
Beowulf nods. "Do they just look like normal adventurers, or some sort of
 religious party, or the like?"
Moriya says, "Or, if they do make it out with all the loot, we could mug them."
 He pauses. "Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but...."
Halav says, "I find it kinda funny that they're showing up at the same time as
 us.  I mean, evil pyramids normally don't get a lot of visitors."
Moriya says, "Mostly warriors, but apparently one mage and one priest with
 them."
They look like six dudes in Bronze Plate and two people in white tunics.
Rimmer asks, "Halav, remember the last Nithia tomb we raided?"
Rimmer asks, "Remember the legions of folks trying to get to it?"
Halav says, "I try not to remember that trip."
Jacqueline frowns.  "Are we sure what we're looking for is in that pyrimid?"
Beowulf asks, "It's interesting, because the seals on the pyramid entrance
 didn't look like they'd ever been tampered with -- perhaps folks kept getting
 trapped in the temple complex next to it?"
Moriya says, "We can try triangulating for the spikard's location."
Mitsune says, "Well, I circled around some, and I still got the impulse to go
 to the Pyramid."
Rimmer says, "I suspect that word somehow got to these people in a similar
 manner, or the pyramid rummbled and flared or something to attract
 attention...."
Moriya says, "Well, if we want to confront them, now is the time to do it."
Jacqueline sighs.
Rimmer says, "Agreed."
Jacqueline says, "alright, let's do this."
Jacqueline takes a moment to minshift to Dad.
Beowulf nods to Mitsune. "Couldn't have been in the temple complex? Right,
 let's have a little chat with them."
Your horde breaks camp and starts across the desert towards the band
 approaching the Pyramid.  As might be expected, they see you coming, given
 there's 24 of you.
Jacqueline blinks and frowns.
They turn and begin running off away from you.
Beowulf asks, "OOC Off towards the temple?"
Moriya OOCly says, "And away from the pyramid?"
John says, "OOC Away from the pyramid too at that angle."
Moriya smiles. "I think that would do it."
Rimmer says, "What incredible cowards."
Halav says, "Well, we do outnumber them 3 to one."
Beowulf hmmms. "Would have liked to know how they decided to come here, but oh
 well."
Rimmer says, "I'm amazed they had enough courage to approach a evil pyramid if
 a band of adventurers sends them running."
Jacqueline mutters, "Got a strange jones for a beer...."
Moriya says, "Perhaps they underestimated how evil this pyramid may be. But a
 group of twenty-four people is a clear and present sign of danger, I'd say."
Mitsune says, "Perhaps they mistook us for a Nithian army patrol or something,
 given we're currently still shifted to look Nithian."
Beowulf chuckles. "Always possible."
Jacqueline says, "i c'nalways just brainpoke one of'em to get some answers"
Rimmer says, "If they're scared of the Nithian army, they've no business going
 into that thing."
You hear screams across the desert, and the pinpoints of light marking that
 group's position goes out.
Rimmer says, "I rest my case."
Moriya blinks. "Well, then."
Moriya says, "Let's make camp again, and hope there aren't any further
 interruptions."
Beowulf says, "Interesting. There's obviously something out there to look out
 for."
Jacqueline says, "that was interestin."
John asks, " OOC going to go back to camping and sleeping then?"
Moriya OOCly says, "I guess so."
Rimmer OOCly says, "Yup."
You head back and get back into your watch positions.
About a half=hour later, those on watch can hear the sound of the tramp of many
 feet in the same direction as the people fled who screamed and lost their
 light ran away.
Moriya sighs. "More trouble."
But whoever they are, you can't see them as they seem to be marching without
 any lights.
Moriya wakes everyone again.
Rimmer grumbles. "Someone cast a light spell."
Beowulf says, "Ah, it appears we're going to have our first visit from the
 dwellers of the night."
Moriya says, "If anyone needs to get a full night's sleep first before going
 on, hop into Uncle Beowulf's bag for fasttimed rest."
Moriya says, "We may want to do that, in fact, and have the whole party awake
 and ready throughout the night."
Various CFRCer magi take advantage of that, as they need a full night of sleep
 before prepping fresh spells.
Beowulf asks, "Anyone with night sight able to get a good look at them?"
Mitsune shapeshifts her eyes and does her best.
She says, "Hmm, looks to be several thousand walking corpses with their hearts
 torn out."
Moriya says, "Several thousand? Grand."
Jacqueline says, "nuts."
Rimmer sighs. "Is that it? Let me see if Rimmer's incandescent Sunburst works
 here."
Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Several thousand? Interesting... I suppose we know
 what happened to those poor fellows."
Rimmer starts incanting.
Mitsune says, "I'm guessing some happy shiny necromancer decided to bring an
 army to secure the area and clear away any rivals."
Moriya says, "Get your fire spells ready."
Rimmer discovers that his incandescent sunburst produces a tiny little glowing
 spark that shines happily then gutters out.
Jacqueline blinks and tests out elemental blade - fire variant
Rimmer says, "Bloody hell."
Elemental Blade Fire seems to work okay.
Jacqueline asks, "okay.  we can make fire.  what now?"
Beowulf looks for a relatively sheltered/safe spot to test out one of his
 explosive airgun paintballs.
Mitsune says, "It looks like they're coming towards the Pyramid and haven't
 noticed us yet; given zombies tend to be pretty stupid..."
Wakaba revs up her chainsaw.
Moriya draws Withywindle.
Rimmer asks, "Hmm. Mitsune, will walls of fire work here?"
Mitsune tries throwing one up.  Nothing happens.
Rimmer says, "I hate this place."
Moriya tries casting a spot of Grease.
Grease seems to work fine.
Jacqueline says nervously, "I hate it when magic gets weak."
Moriya says, "Well, if you can get at least a brief burst of fire, then that
 should light the grease."
Rimmer says, "Well, torches still work, but we're gonna need more grease than
 just a spot."
Moriya nods. "We can get a large slick going in their way, then set it on fire
 once they're on top of it."
Rimmer says, "Sounds like a plan."
Naru nods.  "Place that ahead of our position.  Then our line of fighter types,
 and the mages behind them."
Beowulf asks, "The zombies look like they were sacrificed using a rite that
 gave power to a dark god, which then animated the zombies for the magician. If
 we could affect that spell?"
Rimmer says, "I can. Sadly, I can only affect two hundred at the most."
Moriya says, "There's probably too many for such a thing to be worthwhile."
Wakaba says, "Unfortunately, I didn't rack a big enough dispelling, Beowulf."
Beowulf says, "Hm, pity. Oh, well."
Rimmer says, "Dispels won't work on zombies anyway."
Moriya says, "In the meantime...let's set our little inferno."
Your magi go to work and soon lay down a wide band of grease to be burnt when
 the zombies reach you.
Beowulf says, "And a magical sinkhole probably wouldn't suck up the spell,
 because it's already been cast? Right, let's go for the mouldering inferno."
Moriya says, "While we're facing this horde...be on guard for other angles of
 attack. Someone else may try to slip in some forces."
Gradually, the front of the wave of zombies comes into sight.  They change
 course of march to move towards you, in a long wave of shambling undead, armed
 with long wooden clubs with flint shards in them.
Rimmer says, "How kind of them to bring us more wood."
Various members of your group begin to shell them with arrows.
Beowulf opens up with the airgun, explosive paintballs, as soon as they come
 within range.
This proves to be not tremendously effective, as arrows don't rip them apart
 much.  The explosive paintballs prove rather more effective.
Rimmer cheerfully takes a flask of oil, stuffs a rag in it, lights the rag, and
 hurls it as far back into the ranks as possible.
Beowulf places his shots to spread the fire as widely as possible.
Your mages wait crankily, wishing their fireballs would work.
Moriya holds a torch, patiently waiting to hurl it at the grease slick once
 there are enough of them on top of it.
Beowulf asks, "Mother -- can you conjure barrels of grease fairly quickly, for
 our stronger folks to toss into them, so I can set them on fire?"
Wakaba says, "Ahh, good idea."
She enters the bag and emerges with lots of conjured barrels of grease and
 several catapults.  Naru begins directing grease barrel catapult fire.
Beowulf starts firing into the spots where barrels land, spreading more fire.
The army shambles on, uncaring, as many of its members get set on fire.
The front ranks hit the long line of grease on the ground in front of your line.
Moriya hurls the torch forward.
The big line of grease ignites.  The zombies happily shamble into it, burn up,
 and fall down.
Wakaba directs the mages in operating the catapults so all the melee types can
 fight on the line.
Moriya moves forward to intercept any zombies that made it past the fire.
Beowulf asks, "OOC Does it look like we're doing enough damage to slow 'em
 down, at least?"
John says, "OOC You're smashing a fair chunk of the army to bits, but the
 Zombies don't seem to care what happens to other zombies."
Rimmer halts in barrel throwing, reaches into the portable hole, and pulls out
 a 12-foot long greatsword. He hefts it. "Grow," he says. It grows to 18 feet.
 "Burn." It bursts int flames. "Chop." It flies to the barrier, and starts
 heewing undead in long flaming arcs.
Beowulf asks, "OOC Are we taking 'em down as fast as they're advancing, or does
 it look like they will overwhelm us in spite of the damage we're doing?"
The first wave of zombies burns up.  In the process, they smother a lot of the
 wall of fire.  The second wave burns and finishes off the flames.  The third
 wave rushes forward and meets the line of potent fighting types, who begin
 beating them down, as they don't fight very well.
Jacqui tries firing off a kinetic cannon.  Nothing happens.
Jacqueline looks on the verge of panicking.  "This isn't happening... this
 isn't happening...."
Jacqueline tries a kinetic shotgun.
It doesn't work either.
The zombies by sheer weight of numbers, begin to force you all back, though
 you're mowing the poor things down.
Beowulf switches from the airgun to the whip/jitte, and keeps mowing 'em down.
Shinobu Minor is covered with zombie gore and cheerfully keeps hacking away at
 everything that moves.
Rimmer says, "We need a second wall! Build one behind us, and we'll retreat to
 it."
Jacqueline says, "r-right!"  She goes to assist the other mages in building the
 second line
Your magi nod and begin throwing down another line of grease for you to retreat
 behind.
Beowulf calls to the magi, "Make sure you warn us when we're about to reach the
 second line, so we don't fall in it ourselves."
Rimmer continues pitching barrels into the zombies like a maniacal cross
 betweeen Jose Rodriguez and Donkey Kong.
Moriya blinks. "Someone try flying above them and spraying them down with oil!
 Soak the whole lot of them, then light them on fire!"
Jacqueline takes wing and flies above (though not directly, more like to the
 side), and tries basting the oncoming armies with grease.   She asks Benji to
 try and assist.
Benji helps out Jacqui in laying down grease spells across the zombies.
Rimmer says, "I wonder where the commanders are."
Mitsune and Wakaba join Jacqui in the air.
Thoric says, "Probably entering the Pyramid while we play with their little
 buddies."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly how big is the horde now?"
Beowulf says, "I've been trying to see if I could spot 'em, but no luck so far."
Moriya asks, "Has Lily's alarm spell gone off?"
John says, "OOC You've knocked it down to only about 2,000"
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly as opposed to what previously?"
Lily says, "I'm afraid I'm not likely to hear it in all this noise."
John says, "OOC As oppossed to some 3,500 or so."
Beowulf says, "OOC Half down, half to go."
Moriya curses. "Someone go check if it's been tripped."
Fortunately, the zombies can't fight worth crap, or you'd all be dead by now.
Jacqueline tries casting spark to ignite the zombie hordes
Lily goes to flying cat form and circles round to go investigate the temple
 entrance.
Sparks are enough to light the grease.  More of the army starts to burn.
Moriya says, "Someone go with Lily, just in case."
Jacqueline works on more grease/spark assaults
Beowulf keeps mowing 'em down, holding his place in the line so that the
 zombies don't flank folks.
Naru says, "Well, I would go with Lily if I wasn't fighting for my...Keitaro,
 go help Lily."
Jacqueline looks hesitant, then sees if the other mages are doing fine
Keitaro rises into the sky and flies after Lily.
Rimmer hurls barrels and throws flaming zombies.
Jacqueline says, "OOCly if the mages seem to have things well in hand, I'm
 going to assist lily"
Wakaba and Mitsune are flying around tossing more grease and dropping little
 flamey spells (about all they can manage).  They seem to be fine.
Jacqueline flies off towards Lily.
Moriya continues chainsawing zombies.
Very faintly, you all hear what sounds like bells ringing near the temple
 entrance.
Jacqueline says, "OOCly i think it's time we run."
Moriya says, "Let's head to the entrance! They can't all get into the pyramid,
 and we can block the way. The race is on."
Keitaro screams and falls out of the sky, right into the midst of the zombie
 hordes.
Moriya stares, and cuts his way through to Keitaro.
Jacqueline flies back towards the main group. "THEY'RE HERE!  THEY'RE GETTING
 IN!"
Naru says, "Moriya, you're insane!  If we...SHIT!"  She screams and begins to
 hack her way forward in a frothing fury.
Haruka curses at the top of her lungs and begins trying to plow into the midst
 of the Zombies as well.
Moriya exclaims, "Mitsune! Teleport him out of there!"
All these people lurching forward rips your line open, and now zombies pour
 through to start surrounding some of the rest of your group.
Lily wobbles in the air, and now starts casting a spell.
Rimmer steps forward, one hand raised. "Ye creatures of darkness, know thy
 place! Look upon a Master of the Seven Signs of Nyx, tremble, and obey! By my
 Craefte I do bind thee, and send thee forth to do my bidding! Defend us, and
 bring the fallen one to me, unharmed! BY MY WORD!" The zombies nearest bow,
 and then start driving the other zombies back. The ones around Keitaro form a
 protective circle around him.
Beowulf asks, "OOC All the ones swarming around us are now Rimmer's toys?"
Wakaba begins frenziedly casting a spell.  Shinobu goes to demon form and just
 starts plowing through the horde ahead of her.  Jacqui hovers over Keitaro and
 casts a spell down at him.  Black tendrils erupt from her and grab Keitaro,
 lifting him into the sky.
Jacqueline flies towards the main group, depositing Keitaro
Then Wakaba screams, clutches her chest, and falls into the horde of zombies.
Moriya changes course for Wakaba now.
Rimmer orders his zombies to defend her.
Lian wakes up.
Jacqueline turns, sees Wakaba fall, screams and reaches out with her tendrils
 for Wakaba
Many of the zombies nearest to those who didn't rush forward have now switched
 sides; with their help, it's lot easier to hold a line against the hordes.
Beowulf curses, and tries to cover the group's move towards the temple.
The zombies press through the crowd towards Wakaba.  Jacqui plucks Wakaba out
 of the hordes.
Then Jacqui feels her heart start to flutter wildly.
Jacqueline pulls Wakaba back to the main group.  "Someone! Help her... r...
 no...."  She clutches her chest.
Moriya exclaims, "Don't overuse magic! I think that's how they're targeting
 people!"
Jacqueline's tentacles disappear
Utena leaps and catches Wakaba, then starts jumping head to head across the
 horde of zombies, towards the temple, carrying her.
Beowulf tries to keep the group together in a defendable knot as they press
 towards the temple.
Naru says, "They're targetting people who fly!  They can't see us through the
 zombies!"
Then the heart flutters calm, and Jacqui fails to drop dead or pass out.
Jacqueline flies low back to the main group, looking distinctly shaken
Moriya says, "Head towards the entrance--we haven't got much time."
Jacqueline exclaims, "we... we have to go to the entrace!  They're here!"
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly say, where the hell is lily?"
You press through the horde as best you can.  Zombies mill about you, but with
 Rimmer's Zombie Minions and yoru Mad Warfare Skillz, you're able to defend
 yourselves pretty well.
You don't know where Lily is, now that you think about it.
Rimmer mutters. "Damnnation. I can't do that too many times, and I was saving
 it for a surprise... Yes, for the entrance."
Jacqueline exclaims, "Lily's alone with them!"
Beowulf shouts, "Who's *them*?!?" as they press on.
John says, "Keitaro looks very pale, btw."
Jacqueline exclaims, "Four withered mages!  They're the ones that tossed
 Keitaro away!"
Rimmer says, "With our luck, some of my brethren."
Moriya smiles grimly. "I think I can handle mages."
Beowulf curses. "Damnation!"
Rimmer says, "Let's move."
Beowulf asks, "OOC How far away are they, and how long will it take for us to
 press over to them?"
Mitsune drops, turning into a finch as she flies towards the temple just above
 the zombies.
You page, "If I feel my heart start to go weird, I throw up Pattern defense."
 to Akemi.
John says, "OOC You're guessing it's probably gonna take 20 minutes or so to go
 THROUGH the zombie army to the temple."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly can I grab Moriya and fly over teh zombies?"
Moriya uses a racked teleport to get clear of the zombies.
John asks, "Get clear to where, Moriya?  The entrance to the temple?  Somewhere
 else?"
Moriya OOCly says, "Closer to the entrance."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly okay, after mitsune and moriya bails, that's them two,
 mitsune and lily gone, everyone else still behind, right?"
John says, "OOC At the moment.  "
John asks, "OOC How much closer?  Right at the entrance?  A hundred feet away?"
Moriya OOCly says, "Fifty feet away, or so. Enough to get a good look at the
 surroundings, but close enough to smack some mages quickly."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly are there enough shapeshifters left in the group to
 carry the non-shapeshifters over and to the entrance?"
Akemi pages, "Okay, you see four withered men in white tunics.  Three watch the
 skies; one is about to cut out Lily's heart with a big knife as she lies prone
 on the ground in human form." to you.
John says, "OOC You do not have enough people able to fly to get everyone out
 in one go."
You page, "Moriya beelines for the man about to attack Lily. Throw Withywindle
 if I have to." to Akemi.
You page, "And if I have to throw it, cast Instant Weapon to summon up a sword
 so I can fight my way back to Withywindle." to Akemi.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly hell hell hell, 20 minutes. do they seem to be holding
 their own aganist the hordes?"
You page, "Shout magic negations and such, as well." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "You hurl Withywindle.  IT pierces the chest of the withered man,
 knocking him back and away from Lily.  You snap off an Instant Weapon and arm
 yourself.  Two of the men point at you, and you feel magic coming in.  Going
 to invoke Pattern Defense?" to you.
Rimmer swears. "Too damn slow! That's it. NAIMATH TRANDUIL! HERE, BOY!" Two
 huge bison, glowing with a white radiance, appear. "Mount up, folks, we're
 riding over these fools."
You page, "If the Magic Negations don't break it, then yes." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "Pattern Defense saves you; fortunately, these guys have crappy
 Warfare and can't exploit your degree of distraction." to you.
Beowulf shouts out, "Close up the line after I leave," then uses the racked
 teleport spell in his ring to get himself and Gherman closer to the entrance,
 close to where he guesses Lily fell.
You page, "Heh. Fight my way to Withywindle, grab it, then spank these guys."
 to Akemi.
Thoric leaps up onto one of the Bison.  Several other CFRCers pile on as best
 they can.
------------------------------------------------------------
Logging Stopped: 07/11/2001 at 1:09:08
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************************************************************
Logging Started: 07/11/2001 at 21:02:22
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All of the PCs had skipped ahead, some with people, to confront the leaders of
 the zombies, who are now revealed to be four withered men in white tunics. 
 Two of them have staves, two just have obsidian knives.  One of the obsidian
 knifeweilders is dead on the ground with Withywindle pinning him in place. 
 Moriya, holding an ordinary sword, is charging them.  Lily lies unconscious on
 the ground near the trio.  Beowulf just appeared nearby, with Gherman in tow. 
 Jacqui, still carrying Keitaro, is flying in.  Mitsune is zooming in low. 
 Halav has risen high with his axe and is diving down from above.  Utena is
 charging across the mob, leaping head to head with her mad athletic skillz,
 carrying Wakaba.  And everyone else is trying to shove their way through the
 zombies with the help of zombies seduced to your side by Rimmer.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly can keitaro walk on his own?"
John says, "OOC when you check Keitaro, he seems to be doing the 'I don't have
 a pulse' thing."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly shit.  who's the  'healers' in our group?"
Beowulf says, "OOC Ack. Thank goodness Mystara allows resurrection."
Jacqueline says, "OOCly order benji to work on healing him until i can get
 something better"
John says, "OOC Anna is likely your best healer; she's stuck back in the middle
 of the zombie hordes."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly in the MIDDLE?"
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly not alone, is she?"
John says, "OOC with the people who got left behind."
Beowulf says, "OOC Anna is the main healer for the CFRC; probably Wakaba for
 the Amberites."
Jacqueline says, "OOCly wakaba's down.  anna it is."
John asks, "OOC Going to haul him back to Anna?"
Jacqueline heads off towards Anna, Keitaro in arms, while asking Benji to work
 up whatever quick healing spells he can pull off
You page, "Priority is to get back to Withywindle, as my normal sword probably
 won't do that much against these guys." to Akemi.
Akemi pages, "So pretty much run past them, dodging and fending off attacks,
 get Withywindle, then go for actually attacking them?" to you.
You page, "Yes. Well, perhaps, as I pass by the second one, leave that sword in
 his eye." to Akemi.
Jacqueline . o O (Oh, the irony.)
Beowulf uses the whip to try and disarm the stave-wielders.
Gherman shouts a few magic syllables and glowing darts erupt from his
 fingertips.  They weave around Moriya as Moriya charges past the three
 standing men; each gets hit by one or two of the darts.  Meanwhile, Moriya
 knocks one of the men down when he tries to whack the man in the arm.  He then
 lunges for Withywindle, still stuck in the fourth man.  As he does this,
 Beowulf lashes out with his whip and pulls the two staves away from the
 unfortunate staff holders.  The standing knife weilder points at Gherman and
 shouts magical words.  A necklace Gherman is wearing shatters.  The staff
 wielder who didn't fall begins a spell.  The one with Withywindle in him
 mumbles something.
Akemi pages, "Your brain is being attacked; your barrier is holding for the
 moment, but the attacking mind is pretty strong." to you.
Jacqui, you are most of the way to your friends, but still moving.
You page, "Hold Pattern defense while I rip Withywindle out doing as much
 damage as I can." to Akemi.
You page, "And once I have it, chop that lich's head into giblets. Puree his
 brain." to Akemi.
Beowulf lashes the former staff-wielder that didn't fall down with the whip,
 trying to knock him out.
Moriya takes timeout to chop the fallen withered man to giblets with
 Withywindle.  This goes pretty well.  Meanwhile, Beowulf lashes out at one of
 the withered men and knocks him down with a powerful whip strike, ruining the
 man's spell.  The one on the ground from earlier begins casting a spell.  The
 still surviving knife-weilder begins casting a spell as well.  Across the
 field, Jacqui drops down to hover over the rest of your group, still making
 its way along.  Utena leaps off the heads of the zombies, carrying Wakaba
 under one arm and beginning a Dios Lunge at the standing knife wielder. 
 Finch-Mitsune darts down, turns into Angel-Mitsune, hefts Lily, and rises into
 the air with her.
You page, "Once I'm done, kick this guy's knife at the closer spell-caster, try
 to stab him and ruin his spell." to Akemi.
Jacqueline exclaims, "Anna!  Need healing! Now!"
You page, "Release Pattern defense if/when I feel the pressure on my mind
 decrease." to Akemi.
Anna checks him and winces.
Akemi pages, "Doh.  Sorry, I forgot to mention; pressure ends when you puree
 the guy.  ^^;;;" to you.
You page, "Right." to Akemi.
Anna says, "He's very dead.  But once we get clear of this, I can try to bring
 him back to life."
You page, "In that case, follow up the kicked knife with a gatotsu. :)" to
 Akemi.
Jacqueline turns pale.  "He.... he.... he what?"  She turns, very slowly, with
 dread, towards Shinobu.
Shinobu seems to have not heard yet, as she's fighting eight zombies at once
 right now.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly how far till we get to moriya?"
John says, "OOC Quite a while, as there are many, many zombies to plow through."
Haruka, on the other hand, does notice, and looks very, very pissed.  If Naru
 wasn't already pretty much berserk, she'd probably go berserk.
Gherman casts a spell and fires off a barrage of pebbles at hurricane speeds at
 one of the staff-wielders, punching holes in his flesh.  Meanwhile Beowulf
 pounds the staff-wielder who just sat up and started a spell with his whip,
 ruining the spell. Benji and Jacqui begin casting spells on her long black
 tendrils.  The other staff wielder gets an obsidian knife kicked into his
 chest by Moriya, then as he turns to face Moriya, Moriya gatotsus him.  Utena
 puts her sword through the chest of the knife-wielder, and then Wakaba
 chainsaws the poor fool.  So much for him.  And then a wave of zombies pours
 towards our bold heroes over here.  High in the sky, Mitsune casts a spell
 desperately.
You page, "Chop this guy up too, while fending off zombies." to Akemi.
Beowulf asks, "OOC So both knife-wielders are down, both staff-wielders are
 hurt but still going?"
John says, "OOC It looks like Moriya is probably about to ginsu the one he just
 gatotsued."
Beowulf asks, "OOC And Utena/Wakaba are in position to attack the last
 staff-wielder?"
John says, "OOC Yes, they are."
Jacqueline says, "OOCly right, I guess the back group is still far from the
 undead priest action"
John says, "OOC Yes."
Jacqueline asks, "Mister Rimmer!  If those priests fall, will the zombies stop?"
Rimmer says to Jacqui, "They'll simply roam about killing anything that lives
 once the priests die.  Not much different from now, really."
Jacqueline says, "well, at least they'll scatter."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly does the main group seem to be doing fine without me?"
Ivan says, "They won't scatter so long as they smell us to eat."
Jacqueline taps her ring.  "Uncle mo!  Can you manifest down here?"
Gherman points his staff at the onrushing wave of zombies.  Nothing happens. 
 This fails to please him.  Moriya continues to ginsu up his foe.  Utena moves
 on to ginsu the other priest.  High above, Mitsune is still spell casting. 
 Jacqui finishes making her tendrils flamey.  A staticky giant flaming
 Morgenstern erupts out of Jacqui's ring.  "DJ MOWREPRIWEO IN THE SOPFUDOP!" he
 shouts.
Jacqueline says, "oooooh boy."
And Beowulf begins firing exploding paintballs into the onrushing at him zombie
 hordes.
Jacqueline points at the zombie hordes.  "Mummies.  Fry."
It is at this point, that out in the darkness, you hear the sound of flutes and
 drums and bagpipes playing a rather martial tune, drifting towards you on the
 wind from the east.
Jacqueline says, "what the...."
Anna stuffs Keitaro in Commander Mikhail's magic bag so he won't get dropped by
 accident.
Rimmer pales. "Oh, shit."
Beowulf asks, "OOC East=which direction in regards to us?"
Rimmer says, "We had better move, fast."
You page, "Once I'm finished with this one, cheese-grate the the last remaining
 lich." to Akemi.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly how many seconds to teleport each person over?"
John says, "OOC Past the Pyramid from where you are."
Beowulf OOCly nods.
Rimmer says, "I think it might be Angus and his kinsmen."
Anna groans.  "McBaine."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly actually, if everyone can get in Mikhail's bag, and I
 carry Mikhail over the zombie hordes... will they agree to this?"
John says, "OOC Ahh, good idea, Jacqui."
Rimmer OOCly says, "works."
The remaining beleagured people begin cramming into Mikhail's magic bag.  The
 CFRCers seem quite used to this manuever.
Moriya yells, "Get to the pyramid! Let the newcomers deal with the remaining
 zombies!"
Jacqueline flies everyone over to Moriya's group with Much Haste
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly how's uncle mo doing?"
As they do this, Moriya and Utena finish off the liches.  Beowulf is doing his
 best to hose down the onrushing zombies.
Beowulf says, "OOC How close are we to the temple? I'm guessing Bey knows
 enough useful about Temples/deathtraps that he should go first."
Morgenstern shouts, "I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!"  And then he begins throwing
 fire around like it was going out of style.  Burning zombies fly everywhere.
Rimmer exclaims, "Ixnay on the od-gay!"
Jacqueline asks, "Um.... Just call yourself the Funkmaster of Flames?"
John says, "OOC Utena/Wakaba/Moriya/Gherman/Beowulf can just run for the steps
 into the temple if they like.  IT's only about a hundred feet away."
Jacqueline flies on and prays Morgenstern hears her and doesn't piss off any
 local gods.
Moriya asks, "Aunt Wakaba, can you do something to seal people out of the
 temple once we're in, without trapping us inside if we have to leave quickly?"
Beowulf runs for the temple doors as soon as the group does, keeps trying to
 cover until they start moving.
Wakaba says, "If we can get clear of fighting long enough for me to pop into
 Beo's bag, I can rack a None Shall Pass, and put it over the whole Pyramid."
Beowulf nods. "Right."
You can see an army of zombies in kilts approaching from the east, by the light
 of Morgenstern's fires and the burning army of Zombie Azcans.  Meanwhile, the
 stragglers all finish loading into Mikhail's bag, and Jacqui takes Mikhail
 airborne.
And then a man with spikey blue green hair appears in the air in front of
 Jacqui, hovering and holding the Gaunt Man's Dragon Staff.
He looks strange with tattered nineteenth century formal wear on him, plus the
 staff and the hair.
Beowulf moves back to give Wakaba time to jump in the bag and cast fasttime.
Wakaba pops into Beowulf's bag.
Off to the west, you can hear the beating of many wings now.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly does this guy seem relatively hostile at first glance?"
John says, "OOC He looks pretty pissed, although he hasn't said anything yet."
John says, "OOC And he's got the staff he bashed your head in with."
John says, "OOC The GAUNT MAN bashed your head in with."
Beowulf says, "OOC I was wondering. :)"
Jacqueline slams the brakes and speeds in the opposite direction. 
 "UNCLEMOHELPHELP!"  She starts working with AS MUCH SPEED as she can muster on
 a teleport spell to join Beowulf and the others.
Beowulf fires a knockout paintball at the floating man.
Beowulf asks, "OOC Where is Mitsune at the moment?"
Jacqui backpedals.  Blink, the man is in front of her.  The cane comes down at
 Jacqui's head.  Her nose gets smashed in, and then the top of the cane hooks
 her shirt, ripping it open.  The cane comes around again, sending Jacqui
 tumbling as it whacks the side of her head.  Then Morgenstern screams
 incoherently and zooms right at the man, who turns to face Morgenstern.
Meanwhile, Lily now begins flying down towards Beo/Gherman/Utena/Moriya.  And
 Mitsune arcs down towards Jacqui.
Beowulf says, "OOC Lily recovered? Whew. :)"
John says, "OOC Thanks to Mitsune Shapeshifting magic and having Shapeshifting
 herself."
Moriya tries the Slingshot spell with a club picked up from one of the zombies
 at the floating man when he gets distracted by Morgenstern.
The man grins and zooms towards Morgenstern, staff in hand.  It leaves a
 glowing tracery behind as he waves it about.
The club flies straight and true and bounces off Mr. Floater as if it had never
 been.
Moriya curses.
Jacqui manages to stabilize herself.  Mikhail yells in the bag, "If you can
 fly, get out here!"
Rimmer casts, and zooms out.
Rimmer asks, "What's the problem?"
Jacqueline points an eye towards Mr. Blue Hair
Mikhail points at Mr. Flying with Dragon Staff.
As she's too messed up to talk much
Rimmer says, "Huh."
Morgenstern grabs Mr. Dragon Staff and swallows him.
Rimmer says, "Yikes."
Rimmer, you can now see 20 Blue Dragons flying in from the west.
Rimmer asks, "Let's please all get inside the pyramid?"
Jacqueline makes an effort to get back to the group, trying to ignore the pain
Morgenstern shouts, "I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!  THE WICKED PERISH AT
 MY...SHIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!!"
Beowulf asks, "OOC Has the Bey/Gherman/Moriya/Utena group made it to the temple
 doors?"
Morgenstern begins to bloat and twist and contort.
John says, "OOC Yes, you've been at the doors a while now, Beo."
Wakaba pops out of the bag.  Jacqui zooms down towards the temple.
Rimmer follows Jacqui.
And then Morgenstern begins to twist and distort into a giant ball of fire.
Beowulf groans. "Not again."
Rimmer asks, "The hell? What happened the first time?"
Mitsune grabs the battered Jacqui and helps her fly faster.
And then you all dive down to the entrance.
Moriya exclaims, "Get in! Get in!"
Beowulf says, "Morganstern's gotten messed up before."
You run into the temple.  The ball of fire grows larger and larger, then begins
 to fly upwards.
Rimmer exclaims, "Never trust a talking ring!"
Jacqueline dives in, landing clumsily, clutching her face as it continues to
 bleed badly.  She tries to shift the wounds shut.
Wakaba begins releasing her spell.
Moriya guards Wakaba.
Jacqui manages to shift her wounds shut, and Mitsune starts a healing spell to
 fix Jacqui up more.
And then Wakaba dumps a Super-Economy sized None Shall Pass over the whole
 complex, Pyramid and Temple.
Jacqueline says weakly, "..... ow."
Beowulf asks, "Mother, will the None Shall Pass block out backwash from a flame
 explosion?"
Anna now comes out of the bag and comes over to Jacqui.  She says a short
 prayer and the power of the immortals washes away Jacqui's injuries.
Jacqueline says, "uncle beowulf... I think I could use a little time in the
 bag."
Moriya says, "If you need rest, or have to rerack spells, use the Bag now."
Beowulf turns to Jacqui. "I'm guessing whoever that was is now
 psychic-attacking Morganstern, unfortunately."
Jacqueline frets. She taps her ring.  "Uncle Mo, pull back!"
Beowulf holds the Bag open for anyone who needs fasttime... Did Anna's healing
 completely restore her?
Jacqueline asks, "Uncle Wulf... can Aeris help him cut his link down here?"
Beowulf asks, "OOC Er, restore Jacqui?"
Moriya jumps into the Bag, gets some rest, gets rid of his fire-blasting
 spells, and replaces them with things more useful here.
Anna lays out Keitaro on a handy altar and starts casting Raise Dead.
Beowulf taps the badge. "Aeris? Can you help cut the link whoever that was is
 using to attack Morganstern?"
Aeris says, "I'll do my best."  She pops out a force projection of herself in
 an electrician's outfit, then comes over to Jacqui.  "Manifestation, please."
Jacqueline hands the manifestation to Aeris.  "Aeris... be careful."  She heads
 into the bag to recoup and re-rack
Aeris pops out with the manifestation.
You page, "Two more average healings (1pt), one more AT Field (1pt), one more
 difficult healing (1pt), and two more average teleports (1pt). And rerack any
 spells I've cast." to Akemi.
You page, "Oh, and free-cast an AT field to put on myself before I come back
 out." to Akemi.
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Logging Stopped: 07/11/2001 at 22:49:18
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Logging Started: 07/11/2001 at 23:41:02
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Your wizardly folk go change spells and come out ready to rumble.
Moriya asks Wakaba, "What is the key for the None Shall Pass spell?"
Haruka says to Keitaro, "If I let you die again, your mother will have me
 executed."
Rimmer says, "We'd best hurry. Angus is a potent mage, and blue dragons are bad
 business."
Beowulf nods. "What are the limits on this None Shall Pass, Mother?"
Keitaro says, "I can't just leave everyone!  Part of this expedition was my
 idea!"
Wakaba says, "The key thing is that anything can get out, but if they try to
 get in, they'll find themselves exiting the warded area on the other side.
Moriya OOCly says, "Er...John, I thought the spell allowed certain people in,
 by some pre-set key."
Rimmer says, "Right. That should slow him for a couple minutes."
John says, "OOC Wakaba set it to exclude everyone, so that the key can't be
 hacked, since everyone you want in already is in."
Beowulf says, "How strong an effort would be needed to break through the spell
 into here? If that Dragon Staff lets that fellow tap the power of a Dragon
 Spikard, he'll have quite a bit to play with. "
Moriya OOCly says, "Okay."
Beowulf asks, "Or can it be bypassed by teleporting?"
Wakaba says, "It will block teleporting.  It won't stop trump, unfortunately."
Beowulf nods. "Hopefully he doesn't have a trump for any of us, then."
Moriya says, "Let's go on in, then."
Wakaba says, "Not many people come with more power than me.  If he does have
 more power than me, then he'll crack it like an eggshell, but there's not much
 I can do about that."
Beowulf leads the way through the temple towards the bridge to the pyramid,
 keeping an eye out for the usual temple traps.
Jacqueline asks, "Does anyone know WHO that was?"
The temple itself seems to be devoid of traps.
Jacqueline mutters, "I'm sick of that staff caving in my face...."
Wakaba says, "Not a clue."
Jacqueline frets.  "Considering how powerful he is, maybe it's good Uncle
 Beowulf didn't run into him...."
Moriya shakes his head. "I'd like to have taken care of him before going on,
 but with all the competition arriving...well, maybe they can beat each other
 up some."
You then head up the steps.  The doors of the pyramid are made of bronze; it's
 sealed shut with huge bronze chains; even those of you with no sorcery can
 feel the magic coming off them.
Moriya patternsights the area.
An eye is inlaid on one door, a dragon on the other.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly savoire fare enlighten this any?"
Big Mojo magic on the doors and chains.
Beowulf tries to analyze the doors with his magic analysis device, assuming
 it'll give any more useful information than what Mother and the other mages
 can do.
Moriya says, "Huge amounts of magic, but that was already rather obvious, I
 suppose."
Savoir Faire tells you this is intended to keep people from robbing the place
 normally, though in this case, ti likely helps to keep people IN.
Jacqueline pauses and pales. "Um... could someone with pattern sense please
 check if perhaps the next outsider candidate happens to be in here too?"
Moriya blinks, and walks around a little bit.
Wakaba points at the chains and shouts a word of power none of you are familiar
 with (Those with Magic Negation know this isn't Magic Negate...).  The
 enchantments on the chains wink out.  She shouts it again and the enchantment
 on the doors goes poof.
Beowulf hmms. "Obviously there must be *some* way for things to get in, or the
 spikard wouldn't have ended up here... but let's see if we cna't avoid
 unsealing evil menace..."
Jacqueline pales even further.  "Um... auntie... was that really a good idea?"
Wakaba says, "If the Spikard is inside, it's sort of hard to get inside if we
 can't open the doors, you know."
Rimmer says, "Of course it was. The l3wt's in there."
Jacqueline just shakes her head.  "I have a bad feeling about this..."  She
 takes this moment to do a little mindshifting....
Wakaba continues, "Unless perhaps you've learned how to simply walk through
 walls which have been hardened to block the use of magic to pass them?"
You page, "Can I feel the Herald candidate inside the pyramid, using Pattern?"
 to Akemi.
Beowulf asks, "Was the seal only on the doors and the chains?"
Akemi pages, "Pattern says yes, although it's hard to sense him." to you.
Moriya frowns. "I...think there's an Outsider Herald candidate within."
Wakaba says, "The walls are still sealed.  But now we can actually open the
 doors."
Rimmer says, "Would the trap-checking chap with the whip care to actually open
 the doors? Longer we stand here discussing this, the greater the chance what
 our friends will catch up."
Moriya says, "We'd best get moving, yes. But be very, very careful."
Beowulf nods. "Hopefully it won't be able to get out past us." He checks the
 doors for anything nasty.
Keitaro and Haruka continue arguing.  He basically pulls rank on her, but you
 have the impression that if she could just whack him in the head and take him
 home, she would.
Jacqueline scowls at Moriya's news.  "Well.  Shit."
They don't seem to have bothered trapping the doors after magically sealing
 them.
Jacqueline asks, "guess we'll take care of the candidate and the spikards in
 one big bang, huh?"
Beowulf looks around. "Ready, everyone?" He opens the doors as soon as
 everyone's ready.
Jacqueline says, "ready? as if I got a choice right now."
Jacqueline says, "let's kill shit."
Haruka says, "The sooner the better."
Moriya says, "Or kill them again."
Beowulf asks, "Righto." He leads the way in. Things lit, or are we gonna need
 light/torches?
Jacqueline holds baby Ilvig at the ready, looking more Pissed than scared.
What lies beyond is a twenty foot wide hallway sloping gently upward.  It's
 pitch black, so you need torches.  The walls show the great deads of the Black
 Pharoah.
Jacqueline says, "oh, black pharoh, greeeeeat."
Moriya keeps Patternsight up to study the environs.
John says, "OOC Okay, I need to know who is in front.  There's enough room for
 four people to lead if you want to give them all enough room to fight if
 necessary."
John says, "OOC Commander Mikhail suggests himself, Beowulf, Utena, and Moriya
 in the front.  Moonshade, Thoric, Halav, Haruka in the rear guard."
Commander Mikhail also suggests sending Lara and Ivan to scout ahead as usual.
Beowulf nods in agreement with the scouts.
John says, "OOC so wave 2 is Jacqui, Mitsune, Wakaba, Gherman."
Beowulf says, "OOC Probably Anna and Keitaro in the center, most guarded
 position; Keitaro because he's apparently the most fragile, Anna as the
 healer. :)"
John says, "OOC Okay.  That's enough for me to work from.  Let's strike while
 we still can :)"
Beowulf moves on into the temple. Presumably we've managed to create light by
 now? :)
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly would I, mindshifted to Ota, be able to figure out how
 to work Ilvig into its different forms?"
John says, "OOC Yeah, Like Ota understood shapeshifting weapons :)"
Moriya OOCly says, "Hell, I would have explained it to you while we were in the
 Bag, fasttimed."
John says, "OOC If you mindshifted into say, Bill Vincent, yes."
Jacqueline says, "OOCly okay then, moriya explained it :)"
You page, "The forms: bamboo umbrella, katana, autoloading crossbow, bo staff,
 Leatherman multi-tool, AK-47, adjustable energy rifle, weighted scarf,
 naginata, tanto knife, whip, reinforced fedora" to Rod.
You pass through a series of chambers, past many traps which have been disarmed.
Rather recently, it would appear.
Jacqueline shifts Ilvig to an AK-47
Beowulf hmmms. "Looks like we have a competitor who resealed the entrance
 behind himself."
You page, "The AK-47 form isn't going to work in this shadow." to Rod.
Jacqueline narrows her eyes and shifts Ilvig to crossbow.
Then, after you've been wandering a maze of passages for about a half hour,
 Ivan and Lara come back.  "Well, there's a room ahead which shows Anubis
 judging the dead," he says.  "I think it's a big ass golem.  So be ready for a
 nasty fight."
Moriya says, "Actually, I think Ivan and Lara disarmed the traps ahead of us."
Moriya asks the scouts, "Any signs of others coming in before us?"
Beowulf asks, "Actually, if it's Annubis, wouldn't he be set to protect the
 world from the pharoah? Perhaps if we explain we're here to remove a powerful
 artifact from the Pharoah's power, he would let us through?"
Ivan grins.  "Yes, we did disarm them.  I have to say whoever built this place
 really loved making traps."
Rimmer says, "Or perhaps, being a mindless golem, he would beat our heads in."
Anna says, "If it's a golem, it's probably programmed to kill everything it
 meets."
Beowulf cocks an eyebrow. "I see." He smiles.
Moriya chuckles. "Thank you. You do good work."
Lara says, "He didn't mention the six he set off on himself."
Jacqueline tests out magic with a quick spark
Rimmer asks, "What was the golem made of?"
Moriya asks, "Ah. I trust you are all right, though?"
Lara says, "Looked like stone, but I suspect this is going to be a unique one. 
 I can smell it."
Rimmer says, "Hate to ruin a collector's item, but let's turn this guy into a
 gravel quarry."
Moriya says, "Let me take a look at it before we make a move. I may be able to
 spot different types of power in it."
Gherman checks his remote bakusai-tenketsu, just in case it might be a spell
 that actually works here.
Lara says, "Well, it doesn't seem to care if you just hang out and stare at it
 from the hallway."
Gherman discovers that the spell seems to work, but the walls seem rather
 reinforced, so it only makes some small cracks.
Moriya says, "Show us to the golem, then."
You head off down the hallway.
And soon you come to where you can see into the huge temple of judgement.  The
 ceiling vaults up some sixty feet, and a forty foot Annubis stands holding a
 scales.  The Dark Pharoah sits in one scale; he seems to outweigh the feather
 in the other scale.
Moriya patternsights the area.
The walls show the punishment of the damned and the rewards of the blessed. 
 There's a door on each side.
The entire room radiates goatloads of magic.
Beowulf says, "OOC The Dark Pharoah is the real thing? o.o"
Moriya says, "Very, very much magic, again."
It's a statue of the Dark Pharoah.  Sorry.  ^^;;;
Jacqueline says, "ooooh, man, this is so not cool."
Moriya says, "But no other powers that I could see."
Rimmer says, "Atsa zesty golem."
Jacqueline says, "I shoulda racked a magic sinkhole."
Beowulf asks, "So no Outsider nastiness, eh?"
Jacqueline mutters, "yeah, an'I thought there wasn't any logrus on those jail
 bars..."
Moriya says, "Not here, I don't believe."
Beowulf asks, "Actually, I've got one racked in the ring... Lily, don't you
 have one racked as well, for when we get the spikard and isolate it?"
Moriya says, "But, of course, I could be wrong."
Lily nods.  "Yes, I do.  Of course, keep in mind that if I use it, it will
 block us using magic as well."
Jacqueline says, "good, cool, so you can pop that off and let the swordfolk
 beat the hell outta the fool"
Jacqueline asks, "yeah, I know that.  But if the dude we're facing has a
 stupidly huge amount of magic, we might as well, y'know?"
Beowulf asks, "Jacqui, could you use Benji to analyze the spells here, and see
 what they actually are?"
Moriya says, "Have we got the time to do that? There are others outside."
Jacqueline taps Benji.  "Yo, Benji, sniff around.  What spells we looking at?"
Benji studies the room.
Jacqueline says, "Moriya, do me a favor and bust that dragon staff sucker's ass
 when we get outta this...."
Benji says, "The room explodes every five seconds in huge screaming flames ten
 seconds after the golem starts moving."
Jacqueline says, "oh.  shit."
Moriya says, "Of course, Jacqui. Hm. And the sinkhole seems like a very good
 idea now."
Jacqueline asks, "OOCLy is the golem blocking our way or just something we'll
 pass by?"
John says, "OOC The golem doesn't actually block your way; the doors are off to
 the sides of him."
Gherman says, "Let me try a Greater Dispelling on it first, as that would let
 us use magic afterwards if it works.
Jacqueline says, "sure, fine with me."
Gherman tries Greater Dispelling.
The spell winks out and goes to the heaven for spells.  It is an ex-spell.
Jacqueline asks, "OOCly er, which one? the flames or gherman's attempt?"
John says, "OOC The one he was trying to dispel goes poof."
Rimmer says, "I have a plan to take care of the golem... or at least greatly
 hamper it."
Beowulf asks, "OOC Any magic remaining in room?"
Jacqueline asks, "right. let's beat the shit outta the golem. forward ho, yeah?"
Gherman rolls his eyes at Rimmer and groans. "Whatever you say."
Beowulf asks, "What's this plan?"
Rimmer says, "You fighter types charge it on the count of now."
Moriya asks, "Something besides getting in there and reducing him to a pile of
 dust?"
Beowulf readies the monomolecular whip.
Rimmer takes out a key, and points it at the Golem. "Going down."
Gherman grins. "We'll see.
John says, "OOC The only magic left is Mr. Golem."
Beowulf waits to see the effect of the key on Mr. Golem, then tries to use the
 monomolec whip to cut one of its limbs out from under it before the rest close
 with it.
The floor rips open under the golem, which finds itself dropping into a pit. 
 It is now buried up to its waist in the pit.  Beowulf's whip ends up hitting
 its chest, slicing a nasty cut into it.
Rimmer says, "Now."
Moriya sprints forward, with intent to hack up its arms.
Beowulf says, "OOC Ack... was going to try and get nearest limb after I saw
 what happened to it."
Jacqueline follows a short distance behind, just in case.
Beowulf tries to use the whip to slice off an arm, if he can do so w/o hitting
 those who have closed.
Your fighters swarm forward.  The Golem stares at all of you.  And then you all
 feel a spell hit you.
Jacqueline tries pattern defense
John asks, "OOC Rest of you going to use Pattern Defense who have it?"
Moriya OOCly says, "Yes."
Jacqueline says, "OOCly and if successful try to shoot its eyes out"
Beowulf OOCly yes.
The CFRCers charge onwards.  Many of them seem to have suddenly started
 moving...slowly...
Rimmer says, "Bloody hell. Slow spell."
Rimmer, Gherman, Mitsune, Lily, and those using Pattern Defense fight off the
 slow spell.
But while you're pattern defensing, the Golem them breathes electrical death at
 all of you.
You page, "I have the AT Field up and Patternblade to cut it, too." to Akemi.
Jacqueline casts Wakaba's Pussient Defense
Moriya attempts to move to cut the blasts with Withywindle before it can hit
 the others.
Sadly, Moriya can't move very fast because he's using Pattern Defense to avoid
 being slowed permanently by the spell.
Rimmer somehow vaults OVER the lightning.  Lara and Ivan leap up to the ceiling
 and somehow cling to it, avoidng the electrical zap.  Mikhail screams a lot
 and keeps going.  Moriya is able to save himself with Withywindle and emerges
 unhurt.  Beowulf and Utena do likewise with their spellbreakers.  Jacqui gets
 electrocuted and is stunned.  Mitsune just laughs at the lightning.  Wakaba
 manages to stop herself being zapped with a power word.  Gherman seems to just
 suck up the lightning coming at him.  Seta, already in slow motion now does
 the fall twitching on the ground thing.  Tharg yelps and collapses.  Sal is
 blown off down the hallway out of sight.  Ilyana grunts and starts a spell,
 looking irritated.  Shinobu staggers around from the zap.  Moonshade shouts,
 "I FELT THAT!" and charges at the Golem.  Thoric staggers around, smoking in
 slow motion.  Halav staggers, then charges more, slowly.  Haruka grunts and
 runs forward slowly.
Jacqueline says, "OOCly crap, so much for shooting out its eyes"
Rimmer says, "Okay, now I am annoyed."
Ivan says in slow motion, "I...hate...slow...magic..."
Jacqueline exclaims, "Benji, start working on dispelling!"
Rimmer attempts to flip-vault atop the Golem's head to whale on it.
Moriya presses on toward the golem now.
Rimmer succeeds in doing so and starts pounding on its head.
Beowulf sighs and dumps the magical sinkhole, ready to catch Lara/Ivan if they
 are being held up by spells.
Beowulf begins releasing the Magic Sinkhole.  This will take a while.  Lara and
 Ivan vault down onto Anubis and start hacking and slashing at it.  Rimmer
 continues pounding on it.  Mikhail and Halav begin hacking away in slow
 motion.  Thoric charges forward slowly.  Haruka kicks Seta in the ass to make
 him get up.  The DM suddenly remembers Naru is here, so she charges forward. 
 Keitaro hangs back with Wakaba, Lily, and Mitsune, as their spells won't be
 much use in the Magic Sinkhole Beowulf is dumping.  Moriya, where do you want
 to attack Anubis?  Ilyana casts her spell, which fires arrows of acid at the
 golem.  Jacqui shoots and damages one of its eyes with Ilvig.  Seta and Tharg
 do the twitch on the ground thing.  Anna casts a quick spell of blessing.  You
 hear the sound of grinding stone from the direction you came in.
Moriya attacks the arms.
John asks, "OOC Gonna keep pelting the eyes, Jacqui?"
Jacqueline says, "OOCly yep"
Most of you keep hacking.  Anubis grabs Halav and Naru and begins to SQUEEZE
 them.  Moriya, you will eventually cut through the arm, but it's going to take
 some hacking; this thing is tough, and more importantly, pretty thick.  Beo
 continues releasing the sinkhole.
You start to hear a hissing noise coming from the walls.
Beowulf asks, "OOC Which walls? Left, right, all around?"
Rod pages, "if moonshade's there, her strength with withywindle can probably
 smash through the arm much quicker" to you.
John says, "OOC All the walls."
Rimmer exclaims, "Gas!"
Moriya OOCly says, "Where is Moonshade and what is she doing?"
John says, "OOC Hacking at the Golem, along with anyone else with a weapon."
Moriya OOCly says, "How much stronger than me is Moonshade?"
Rimmer exclaims, "Gherman! The staff! Gust of Wind thayt crap back outta this
 room!"
Gherman is in the middle of summoning his air elementals, who will help keep
 the room free of gas.
John asks, "OOC She's a lot stronger.  I take you 're going to suggest to her
 that she try and free the grabbed folk?"
Moriya hands Moonshade Withywindle. "You're stronger, you use this to free
 them!"
Moonshade grins, then leaps up and starts hacking off fingers to free the
 grabbed people.
Then the Sinkhole descends and starts sucking up magic.
And the elementals start fighting the gas.
Moriya turns. "What's coming from the hallway behind?"
Rimmer says, "Probably a massive rolling bolder."
Jacqueline exclaims, "say what?!"
The grinding noises off down the hallway continue.
Moriya moves to try to see down the hallway.
Moriya exclaims, "Clear away from the entrance!"
Moriya shouts, "I see no boulders coming!"
What Moriya sees is that a stone wall is coming down and sealing off the way
 back.
Moriya says, "It's a stone wall coming down to seal off the way out."
Rimmer says, "That's handy."
Rimmer says, "Now die, you stupid overgrown garden gnome." *poundpoundpound*
Moonshade manages to hack Naru loose.  By this point, Halav has gone limp and
 the golem drops him, then slams Moonshade away from his other hand.
the Golem is looking a lot the worse for wear; big chips of him are coming off
 as people hack at him.
Moriya heads back toward the golem.
Gherman says, "The gas is methane! There's probably something that's going to
 set off a spark once the room is full enough!
Like possibly the sparks that fly as weapons strike the golem's body...
Jacqueline asks, "um.... how'bout pushing the gas into one'a your bags?"
Rimmer says, "Then I suggest we leave skippy here to his pit and run like hell."
Jacqueline says, "well, heck, running's fine too."
You page, "Which direction does the spikard seem to be, using Pattern?" to
 Akemi.
Beowulf asks, "Mitsune, which direction is the spikard in?"
Akemi pages, "Off through the door on the 'hell' side of the room." to you.
Mitsune points at one of the doors.  "That one."  It's on the hell side.
Moriya points toward the Hell side of the room. "In that direction!"
Jacqueline asks, "dammit, it would be.  We runnin?"
Moonshade peels herself off the wall and charges at the golem, still carrying
 Withywindle.  "BASTARD!"
Moriya exclaims, "Moonshade! Not now!"
Jacqueline exclaims, "SIS! WHOA!"
Jacqueline runs towards Moonshade
Beowulf goes quickly over to the Hell door with Ivan and Lara and checks it out
 for problems, then opens it if it's clean.
The door is locked.
Moriya tries to intercept Moonshade.
The golem smacks Moonshade back, then starts trying to clamber out of its hole;
 which is hard with only one hand.
Ivan starts picking the lock on the door.
Jacqueline exclaims, "Sis!  We need this door open, NOW!"
Rimmer attempts to Knock the door.
Moriya says, "We have to get out of here, Moonshade--we leave the golem."
Beowulf exclaims, "Get the knocked-out people gathered up for when we can move!"
Moriya adds, "The sword, if you please."
Jacqueline tries to assist with the evac and otherwise waits in line to get the
 hell out.
she sighs and passes the sword to you.
Moriya says, "Thank you." He takes the sword back, and moves toward the door.
Beowulf gets ready to move as soon as teh door's open.
The ceiling rumbles.
Ivan picks the lock and kicks the door open.  A long hallway lies beyond.
Jacqueline asks, "oh, what NOW?"
It sounds like the ceiling is about to collapse.
Rimmer exclaims, "Right! Move!"
Moriya exclaims, "Get through. Get through, now!"
Jacqueline looks at the open path.  "People, we are LEAVING!"  She runs
Beowulf moves through the door, checking quickly for trap triggers as he goes.
Rimmer takes his own advice and moves.
Everyone hustles forward.
This hallway is only ten feet wide, room for two abreast.  Who's going to take
 point?
Rimmer asks, "Bey and Moriya first, eh?"
Beowulf moves forward to one of the point positions -- Moriya or Utena as teh
 other?
Moriya joins Beowulf.
You press onwards, dodging various fairly well made traps.  But not good enough
 to fool Beowulf.
Beowulf nods, and moves down the hallway, keeping an eye for the usual temple
 hazards.
This goes on for about an hour as you slowly spiral upwards.
Jacqueline tests out magic with elemental blade - ice
The spell fails.  In fact, it quickly becomes apparent that no magic is working
 at all now.
Beowulf asks, "OOC The magical sinkhole?"
Jacqueline blinks
Jacqueline says, "awwwww damn"
Moriya asks, "Does anyone need healing or fasttimed rest?"
Rimmer, and likely the rest of the mages, all look very unhappy.
Could be the Magical Sinkhole.  Could be a naturally occurring effect.
Jacqueline says, "Okay, guys, tell me if I'm assuming wrong here."
Jacqueline says, "if that magic sinkhole keeps on going, it's gonna trash
 auntie wakaba's barrier, isn't it."
Many members of your group, especially Naru, Sal, and Seta, coulduse
 somehealing.
Rimmer says, "I don't think it's the sinkhole."
Beowulf asks, "Mother?"
Moriya says, "Right. Beowulf, magic should work inside the Bag, right? Send
 them in there."
Jacqueline says, "no? Good. last thing we need is more company."
Rimmer says, "More likely, we have walked into an antimagic zone that is part
 of the pyramid's defences."
Beowulf finds a place to stop quickly and put the folks into fasttime healing.
Beowulf opens his bag.  It is just a bag.
Jacqueline says, "oooh, no-magic defense, huh? so that means they're probably
 gonna try to kill us with gas or crush the hallway or something. better than
 getting zapped to death."
Rimmer says, "No magic, if you recall. Your bag will not function here."
Moriya says, "Well. Damn. Is Aeris' manifestation working? Trump may still
 work."
Aeris is silent.  Kafuin is silent.  Morgenstern is silent.
Moriya sighs. "Well, then. Blades and wits are what we've got, then."
Beowulf says, "SOmeone must be molding the shadow to cut off outside influences
 -- Logrus, Patter, or possibly an Immortal."
Mitsune experiments.  "Well, they forgot to turn off shapeshifting at least."
Jacqueline asks, "say, um, can you guys still feel pattern in you?  anyone try
 a patternsight?"
Moriya tries to bring up patternsight.
Patternsight seems to work.
Moriya says, "Patternsight does seem to work."
Jacqueline says, "cool, let's get patched up and move on down."
Rimmer says, "We'll have to win through on steel and knuckles, lads. Let's go
 l3wt."
Beowulf ahhs. "Looks like the powers are still working; it's just molded to cut
 out outside connections."
Ilyana draws a sword.  Tharg sighs and hoists his staff.  Lily turns into a
 furry catwoman.  Keitaro looks REAL unhappy.
Beowulf asks, "If we can take a couple of moments for 'normal' magical healing
 for those who need it worst?"
Moriya says, "I think all magic is gone, Uncle Beowulf."
Beowulf blinks at Lily and can't help smiling a little in appreciation.
Jacqueline asks, "right.  who brought band-aids?"
Lily cocks her head.  "Normal Magical Healing?"
Beowulf says, "As opposed to fasttime healing." He smiles ruefully.
Lily says, "No magic."
Beowulf says, "Right. Let's bandage and move on, then."
You bandage everyone up and continue onwards.
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Logging Stopped: 07/12/2001 at 2:17:56
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