ic From Beneath You It Devours: Are You My Mummy?

[Tiffany Korta]

Generally, Liam and Rosa kept themselves in a relatively harmonious balance and where and when they shifted was an agreed upon decision. But occasionally if one of the got sufficiently riles up they could hijack the body for their own ends, and generally, it was when Rosa thought someone was being an idiot. Now was definitely one of those occasions

 

"How could you be so mind numbingly stupid? The Ancient Egyptian were well renowned for putting all sorts of cursed upon their dead, and you have one that's untouched at that."

 

She turned and started to walk into the hall before turning and glaring at the woman

 

"Well come on let's see if we can stop whatever you hamfistedness you've already caused. And next time get in a proper Occult specialist to make sure these kinds of things are safe!"

[KnightDisciple]

Judex took a breath as the bookshelf finished moving. Part of him was sad they'd not had the time to figure out the mechanism; he took a sort of childish delight in the idea of secret passages, hidden doors, and the like. If a man's life weren't on the line he'd have poked at that shelf for hours. And then he'd have read the books for hours more, even if some of them looked more than a bit dubious in scholarship. Perhaps some were diamonds in the rough.

 

Instead, he moved into the tunnel, pausing to look at the handprint on the wall, his own hand brushing the surface just below it, before turning down to the dark tunnel.

 

"Deeper and deeper into the belly of the whale we go..."

 

He followed behind Lady Horus, doing his best to keep up with the light. 

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

The stairs led to what appeared to be an underground train station.  Complete with laid out train tracks, but there was currently no available train.  There was a cage for keeping people prisoner and various bookshelves with documents from the 1800s and before.  A quick scan of the documents inside this "literal underground railroad told a dark story.  As did the posters all along the walls.  It was a well-known fact that during the Civil War, the Phantom Empire had the unique distinction of being a large Anti-Abolition group within the confines of an otherwise pro Union state.  Apparently, a wealthy Bedlamnite had taken it upon themselves to capture "fugitive slaves" and sneak them further South for a profit.

 

Of course, they hadn't built the tunnels themselves.  No, the writing etched into the wall were runes from a far more Ancient language than Antebellum English.  Anyone who had even dabbled in magic for any length of time would inevitably familiar with the sight of Atlantean or Lemurian runes.  Even if they couldn't translate them.  Aside from the curious case of SLAVE which made no outright attempt to translate them.  But, instead after calling everything Old Believer's propaganda suggested that Red Rat destroy the entire area.  Quickly suggesting possible combinations for homemade explosives.  While clarifying that there was no such thing as the "city of Kitzeh".

 

The trail of blood continued to the edge of station disappearing just before the train tracks.  And stopped right there.  

[Avenger Assembled]

Lady Horus flipped through the books like she was trying to turn them into literal flipbooks, tossing them back on the shelves with deceptive ease. "Set your mind at ease, fair one, about the doings of wizards and mages. They may boast of their arcane puissance," she told Doctor Thorne reassuringly, "but under suitable persuasion, they are exposed as the weak, crawling creatures they truly are." When she was done with the books, a thoroughly disgusted look crossed her face. "Lo, the moral turpitude of this place shocks even one such as I. What a tale these texts tell! This place was a den of slavers and killers, man-stealers who kidnapped freedmen and sold them to their former masters for no reason other than vice. And consider what they must have done," she commented, zipping over to the railroad tracks. "Look, the tracks of the iron horse - with all the marks of age on them! Someone built these tracks when the town above had perhaps fifty score men, just to strike fear into the hearts of others." At the tracks, she stuck her thumb out curiously, like a hitchhiker from a 1930s cartoon. "If there be a ghost train here, I call the first blow." 

[Supercape]

The Red Rat

 

Guns still up, senses still alert, the Rat scanned the area. 

 

"Gosh darn it!" she said in a faux American drawl (she had decided that the Shakespeare lady was not one for profanity, unless - perhaps - profanity of most splendid elocution) "looks like they got away...."

 

She was rather annoyed at herself. And the strange rag tag crew she had jumped in with. If only they had been a few seconds quicker! She had to concede here that SLAVE had a point; this was the trade of human misery. Capitalism with no brakes. She had half a mind to burn the place, but a stronger mind to keep it as a memorial. 

 

She holstered her left gun and touched the blood. The blood had the sticky feel that was neither fresh not old. 

 

"They are half an hour ahead of us...give or take..." she concluded. "The trail is not cold, but not warm either..."

 

 

[Tiffany Korta]

 

It might be a crisis but that didn't stop Rosa being fascinated with the mystical writing, whilst she couldn't read the writing she recognized which languages they were which meant they were, at least in her mind, something to be recorded or studied.

 

"Yes, yes thank you for the platitudes, I am sufficiently calmed by your words!"

 

I think maybe you should pay more attention to what going on. her voice of reason, in this and many cases Liam, reluctantly bought her back to the problem around her.

 

"Ah yes it seems we have a potential trail to follow, is anyone skilled in the art of haematomancy?"

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk paced slowly after the assembled champions, keeping silent and keeping invisible, cautious of strangers in a situation like this. Some could come seeking to aid, but plenty could also be perpetrating these strange goings on. 

 

The blonde woman in a jacket, guns akimbo. The vagrant of a man, this one seemed like a follower of the martyred son. Another man all clad in rags. The man in the coat, this one quieter, more thoughtful than the rest. Stopping to ask before causing damage. But also... becoming a woman? Unusual, although not unheard of. 

 

And of course, the god. Of course there's a god. Charging in, battering down doors which could be simply opened. Refusing to just be silent, for one lingering moment. 

 

But it seemed their intentions were good. Largely. Even if their actions seemed to be ill considered. Osla didn't normally charge in like this until she'd had at least cause to lose her temper. And these costumed men and women were beginning to fray it.

 

"Haematology?" Arrowhawk appeared, seemingly out of thin air, behind the group, arms folded over her chest, head tilted so that most of her face was shrouded in shadow, blue eyes glaring from under her hood. "Have you not considered tracking the blood that was spilled with your five senses afore you resort to a sixth?"

[Tiffany Korta]

Doctor Thorne wasn't even phased by Arrowhawks arrival, as strange voices or apparitions were apparently just normal to her now. She did, however, rankle a little at the suggestion Arrowhawk bought, even if it was an obviously sensible suggestion.

 

"A skilled student of haematomancy would also be able to determine other important information about our quarry." she paused for a moment before adding somewhat reluctantly 

 

"But in there circumstances your analysis might be correct. may i suggest a little haste in such matters?"

[KnightDisciple]

Judex had been crouching on the ground. When Arrowhawk spoke, he most certainly did not jump with a start. He merely repositioned himself in case this was a threat. When it was clear it wasn't, he instead smiled and tipped his odd little hat to her, giving a slight bow.

 

"I am afraid my talents in that area are sorely lacking, Lady Archer. If you find yourself blessed with a bounty of such talent, I will of course follow your lead."