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| | We take a moment to get ourselves to right and press on. In little time we reach the far end of the passage.<br><br> | | We take a moment to get ourselves to right and press on. In little time we reach the far end of the passage.<br><br> |
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| − | There is a very large wooden framework and Selene Dashwood hangs from a scaffold nearby. Strips of her skin have been sliced away to be affixed to the framework. She is another portal in the making. That is horrific enough but those with a good eye for geometry will realize that the framework is bigger than her flesh can possibly satisfy for the gate. For those of a forensic mind, they notice that Selene is still in the state she was found in Paris--magically frozen, unmoving and impossibly ''unbleeding''. The implements and tools strewn about are thaumaturgically inimical. Bertie immediately turns Flora's face away from the horrid sight. Beignet begins to run screaming away from the scene but Katherine nimbly catches him. Josephine grimaces but holds her ground and starts looking around for something to get Selene down from her scaffold. <br><br>
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| − | Ezekiel eyes the implements--there are sacrificial daggers and such, just the things needed to make demonic gates. Beignet looks things over as well and comprehension for such a task blossoms inside his head. All it would require would be Beignet's immortal soul and three live magicians.<br><br>
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| − | Katherine and Josephine cut Selene down from her scaffold. Selene is stiff and frozen in that spell cast on her in Paris. We realize we cannot release her from the spell without forcing her body to suffer the extent of her injuries. It's an unexpected bonus from the spell holding her prisoner--so long as it is active, she cannot die of her injuries. Beignet realizes that the poor woman is nude and we find a sheet to wrap her in.<br><br>
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| − | We gently put her to the side and continue through a massive set of double doors into the Castle. The music box is cranked and playing now, and Katherine passes one of the rifles she's been carrying to Flora.<br><br>
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| − | We are in the dungeons beneath the castle. There are cells and in them we find two other poor souls frozen as Selene has been but unlike her, they are as yet unflayed. Astonishingly enough, Beignet recognizes one of them as a member of the London Thaumaturgical Guild. Ezekiel hustles us onward. We cannot dally. The Countess awaits. We must stay focused. <br><br>
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| − | We smell the smoke from the firebombing of the castle. We press on, the Ave Maria from the music box lending us strength.<br><br>
| + | Return to '''''[[Of Boats and Midnight Battles]]''''' | Go forward to '''''The Next Adventure'''''<br> |
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| − | Ezekiel is at the front of our party and he gets to the steps leading upward first. After all, we are at the base of a castle on a cliff. As he climbs, he walks into an extreme cold patch and steps onto an icy stair tread. He manages not to fall but the atmosphere is decidedly colder and quickly becomes punishingly cold. Apparently, Rembecki has put out the fires above with the cold ice.<br><br>
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| − | We trail upward, Ezekiel to the fore and the rest of the party trailing behind on the great spiraling staircase. Our breath hangs in the air. The music box plays and we press on.<br><br>
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| − | We hear a high keening voice in Old High German. Josephine can recognize it as an archaic German tongue calling down the powers of ice and cold. Immediately hail rains down on Ezekiel's head. The music box protects Ezekiel, however, and the hail does no damage. The effort to call down the spell, however, drains its caster. Which would be the Countess herself.<br><br>
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| − | Ezekiel might not be harmed but others still get hit by the hail as well. We all have to watch our step to avoid slipping on the icy steps. The cold and the dark are finally too much for Flora and she starts to panic. Hans grapples her to keep her from running away. They both slip on the icy steps and fall but do not slide far. A few steps at most. <br><br>
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| − | The sight of her friend reduced to panic and shivering is too much for Katherine. Katherine has reached the end of her patience--the Countess is going to die, die, die, and not honorably. Not if Katherine has anything to say about it. <br><br>
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| − | She is not the only one so inscensed. Beignet crawls up the icy steps between the legs of the people ahead of him, armed with is pistol and damned dangerous. He sees a figure further up the stairs. He aims and squeezes off two shots. They hit their target and do some damage but the Countess, of course, is still standing.<br><br>
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| − | Katherine tries to look around Ezekiel. She manages a glimpse of a human shape and shoots in its direction. She whispers an apology to Ezekiel, for the sake of his ears, before she squeezes off the shot. He replies that he does not need to hear in order to stab our adversary. Katherine's shot misses.<br><br>
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| − | ((3:14:45))
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| − | Return to '''''[[Of Boats and Midnight Battles]]''''' | Go forward to '''''[[Domestic Affairs]]'''''<br> | |
| | Return to [[The Dark Corners of the Earth: The Story So Far_... | '''''The Story So Far ...''''']]<br> | | Return to [[The Dark Corners of the Earth: The Story So Far_... | '''''The Story So Far ...''''']]<br> |
| | Return to [[The Dark Corners of the Earth | '''''The Dark Corners of the Earth''''' ]] | | Return to [[The Dark Corners of the Earth | '''''The Dark Corners of the Earth''''' ]] |
