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Post by Admin on Jun 22, 2014 0:34:00 GMT
[Invisibility would fail when you cast the second spell, but you can travel using Gaseous Form.]
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Post by kooshster on Jun 22, 2014 1:41:35 GMT
"I think the element of surprise would be helpful, but I don't want to be trapped on the other side of a locked door if there's danger there," Psychlis explains. "If I shout, I hope you'll break down the door."
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Post by henwen88 on Jun 22, 2014 22:40:08 GMT
"No problem," Leath says. "If you let us know you've run into trouble, I'll break the door down and we'll storm in."
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Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2014 0:52:18 GMT
Jiao loads breaching rounds into his shotgun. "Waiting on you, Psychlis," he says, awaiting the wizard to transform and travel through the door.
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Post by kooshster on Jun 23, 2014 2:11:04 GMT
Psychlis steels himself and casts Gaseous Form, transmuting himself into a cloud before slipping through the keyhole into the next room. He immediately reconstitutes himself into the most unobtrusive spot possible.
[perception check]
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Post by jon on Jun 23, 2014 7:53:10 GMT
[Sorry was out of town for the weekend]
Hans prepares a spell to communicate silently with Psychlis. "Do you see anything in there?" he thinks directing the words to Psychlis' mind.
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Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2014 9:24:39 GMT
[Perception roll: 4]
The room is dark, but Psychlis can see a few things in the low light. He doesn't see or hear anything or anyone else, but he does realize something about the door. There's bolt on the door (able to be opened from his side), and a bar of wood propped against the door, which can easily be moved. Opening the door to let his comrades in would be easy, and he does not see any traps on it. Whoever locked the door apparently did so in a hurry.
He can easily tell the room is cavernous, and there's a faint aura of magic still in the room. He'd have to try to examine the room closer, or try to mentally isolate the type of spell energy.
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Post by kooshster on Jun 23, 2014 13:04:46 GMT
Psychlis doesn't like the look of this door. It's far too easy. He casts Detect Magic to see if there are any sort of magical traps that might have escaped his earlier look-over.
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Post by Admin on Jun 23, 2014 22:27:33 GMT
Psychlis detects three distinct auras in the room. One is a faded aura of divine conjuration magic, similar to the spheres from before. It is faded, meaning that perhaps the sphere was once in the area, but is no longer. The second one is more recent one, a powerful transmutation aura. Lastly, there's an ambient aura of necromancy emanating from a now faded ritual circle by a defiled grave now filled by a pile of bones. Psychlis imagines the cultist could've easily defiled all the graves in the catacombs to make his bone pile, before reanimating his skeletal minions.
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Post by kooshster on Jun 24, 2014 1:35:00 GMT
There doesn't seem to be anything for it. Psychlis unhinges the door to let the others in.
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Post by Admin on Jun 25, 2014 0:26:43 GMT
Jiao walks inside and begins surveying the room. He begins to toss sunrods around the room, brightly illuminating everything within.
[Perception roll: 11]
He notes the pile of exhumed bones, and a desecrated grave nearby. "These will have to be reconsecrated," he notes.
He notes a ladder on the wall, and traces it upwards. "That should lead to Hagia Sophia," he notes.
What draws his attention, though, is a section of wall that's been smashed away by something massive, perhaps the ogre from before. There's ruts in the floor, as if something massive was stored nearby and recently dragged away. There's part of a shipping crate hear, pried off but with familiar characters: "Made in Newton."
"Psychlis," Jiao recalls. "Remember how Ewing was smuggling weapons here? Looks like they might've used this room for a supply cache. Whatever they stored here, it was big."
Psychlis, Leath, and Hans recall something from Newton. There was a massive alchemical weapon, likely full of poisonous gas and explosives, made by Ewing and smuggled into Byzantium. The destruction that it could reek would be catastrophic. And now, the Signed had it.
Behind them, Julio walks into the chamber and stares at a corner with faded chalk etching.
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Post by jon on Jun 25, 2014 11:07:37 GMT
"We should follow this trail and find out where the weapon is headed. I'll cover the rear." Hans suggests with an air of duty.
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Post by Admin on Jun 25, 2014 21:08:03 GMT
Julio walks around the room, and examines the whole in the wall. "This room is where I first came to Byzantium. It's where I first met Gaius and Cesare as well," he says. "I woke up here after being betrayed by some I had trusted in politics. I once considered being a priest, but it is ironic fate has sent me back into that role after this empire forgot the Olympians."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Jiao asks, his gun ready. "What's going on here?"
"My name is not Julio, as you may know me better as Julius Caesar," he says. "The sphere brought me here, along with Cesare and Gaius, plucking us from another timeline."
"Wait, what?" Jiao asks.
"It was a world largely without magic, as far as I know. But the others said they came from further along in the future," Julio explains. "Cesare claimed to be a Roman from over a thousand years in the future, with his father being a Catholic Pope named Rodrigo Borgia. From what I understand, he is a bastard literally and figuratively."
Erik walks through the door, anger on his face. "Julio, if you are spouting insanities, I typically would not care," the Varangian mutters. "But my oath is to protect the Emperor. Tell me everything you know about this chamber, Gaius and Cesare, or I will cut you and your heretics down now."
"Very well," Julio says. "From my own research, calling Gaius a beast is an insult to beasts. You may know him better as Gaius Julius Caesar August Germanicus, or Caligula."
"So why are you all here?" Jiao asks. "Something to do with Yog Sothoth?"
"The cultists of Hastur, the Signed, found the sphere in the vaults, and tried to call forth a Roman named Caesar to lead them. They did not know what magic they meddled with, and called forth three," Julio says. "They held us captive while they explained their insane plans to us. I prayed to Jupiter for salvation, and to my surprise, I managed to call a spell. Cesare managed to slip away with a strange sphere in the chaos, I escaped into the streets, but Gaius took control of the cult."
"Erik, does any of this make sense?" Jiao asks.
"Gaius appeared in Byzantium as if out of thin air," Erik says. "As well as Julio and Cesare."
"Cesare had knowledge of firearms in his period, and began hiring Italian mercenaries to use them. Gaius, however, began a reign of terror, bent on causing enough destruction to call Hastur to Byzantium," Julio says.
"Perhaps the sphere allowed him knowledge of Newton? That's how he knew where he could procure weapons," Jiao says. "But if Cesare was smuggling guns, it would've been impossible for the weapon to get to Byzantium without him knowing!"
"Aye," Julio says. "I believe Gaius and Cesare are conspiring with each other. The cultists could not have acquired firearms without Cesare knowing. I imagine Cesare thinks he can control Gaius, perhaps using him to cause enough chaos to seize power. I've seen and used such tricks before, in a previous life."
"Do you have a word of proof to back up your statements?" Erik asks. "I want a good reason to separate Cesare's head from his body, but I need evidence for the Emperor to make that decision."
"Cesare always kept a sphere on him. You should find that. It has a strong aura of conjuration magic," Julio says.
Shouting can be heard echoing from above. "Cesare says the Emperor's where he wants him! The Varangian and outsiders must die!" a voice says. "Remember, shoot the tanks on the wizard's back if you can!"
Just then, something tumbles down to the ground from the ladder. It is a small spherical object with a lit fuse.
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Post by kooshster on Jun 26, 2014 13:59:46 GMT
Psychlis dashes forward and stamps down on the fuse, quickly extinguishing it. "Would you shut up up there?!" he shouts. "We're trying to untie this damned Gordian Knot!"
He shrugs off the tanks, knowing that they're a giant target at this point. He points to one of them. "Erik, can you track where our enemies are based on that voice? If you toss it up the ladder in that direction, I can use a flame spell to hit it and explode. The fireball should do considerable damage to our enemies while getting the drop on them."
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Post by Admin on Jun 26, 2014 23:46:54 GMT
"Up that blasted ladder!" Erik shouts. "Cover us. We should fall back and seek cover. If they follow us into the tunnels, my Varangians will show them how we fight."
Another bomb comes tumbling down from the opening in the ceiling. This one detonates before it hits the ground enveloping part of the room in smoke, just as a spell illuminates a nearby tunnel. Six of Cesare's mercenaries, all with muskets aimed, lay prone on the ground near the ladder. Beside them, a pair of pikemen on the gunners' left and right sides cover them.
The party can either run, or get ready for combat.
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