[Charlemagne] Chapter Seven: The Lost City of Cyrenaica III

[Lev Lafayette]

Chapter Seven: The Lost City of Cyrenaica III
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Meditations of Eric

After defeating the wraith of Alexander we followed our way into the next
passageway when ended in an tomb, this one with the warnings of Queen
Zenobia, written in many languages. Rainer showed great disrepect by
urinating on the tomb; but I suppose we were all disrepectful as we sought
to empty it of any valuables. As tomb-robbers we were,  this time we were
attacked by the wraith of Queen Zenobia, but we had learned our lessons of
their weakness to radiant magics and soon afterwards we felled the
tortured soul, recovering a bejewelled crown and a spectre, which Rebekkah
ascertained contained the magic of paralyzing strikes.

>From there we sought to follow another passage southwards, but discovered
a remarkable iron ring in the floor in the passage. Going down we entered
a simple room of old habitation and remarkably a silk hooded robe remained
cast aside. As Rebekkah touched a spirit attempted to possess her, but
Merde negotiated with the spirit. The spirit was named Demetrius, and he
declared that he was a priest of the healing god, Vejovis. He has trapped
here whilst his twin brother, Darius, who now followed the Capricorn,
continued to live. Merde decided that he would wear Demetrius as a guide
to Darius. Further, as Demetrius had no use for his old treasures, that we
would use them to repair an appropriate temple.

Exiting Demetrius chambers, we entered what was his old kitching and
dining rooms; somehow a serpent had snuck in and bit Merde on the foot,
causing poison to course through his body. Fortunately Merde was the
strong sort and resisted the poisons, and Rainer dispatched the beast.
This was little compared to what occured. In the following chamber,
Demetrius mentioned that he did not recognise the two statues that had
been placed at the entrance - it had been many years since he was in
mobile form. Alas for us the statues themselves were mobile and set upon
us with great force. I stayed whilst the others made good their escape,
although both Rainer and Rebekkah were sorely wounded. We tried to hold
fast the door behind us, but the stone monsters continued to press the
issue. Worse still, in the next room there was another one of these fell
beasts, so we had to flee from there as well.

Making our way down the passage, Merde and Rainer both fell into a small
pit, but were helped out by the others. We found ourselves in a massive
temple, dedicated to the pagan gods of Mars, Apollo, and Diana. Demetrius
said this is where he used to give service and that we should be safe
here, as battered at the old temple was. We were approached by a young
red-haired couple with notably pointed ears, who introduced themselves as
Marcus and Stephanie; Rebekkah was of the opinion that they were fey. The
offered healing services, of which their laying on hands was of a very
different style that I am used to. It was more sensual that reverant, and
I thought that perhaps this was the way of the old pagan world. More
worrying however was the overwhelming desire of Rebekkah and Merde to
donate their share of the party funds to the temple refurbishment, a
proposition that Demetrius found agreeable. As they relieved these
characters of their wealth, they made their way to ruins in the temple and
ventured into a small hole. As they left, as passing glance saw a pair of
large fennec foxes watching us. It seemed that we had lost our money to
werefoxes!

No matter, we had to press on. In the main entrance hall, once obviously
the ground level of the pyramid, there was a grand mosiac of the history
of the Cyrenaicans. The last mosiacs showed how they turned from their old
gods to the worship of Capricorn. This was followed by the the Cyrenaicans
adopting a permanent carnivalistic attitude. Following this the meeting of
a golden-haired people, and finally, as a crude painting, the
golden-haired people looting the the Cyrenaican city. I pondered on this
for a while and realised that the people were not actually golden-haired,
but Christian auras. These prophetic pieces troubled me greatly. Were we
the harbringer for a looting that would follow?

With this thought we followed the suggestion of Demetrius to a secret
passage that led further down. Exiting, we found ourselves in a large
Roman city, full of people in carnivale mode. It would seem that we had
found The Lost City, and with that the objects of our quarry. But first,
we must rest!

May, 776AD


-- 
Lev Lafayette, BA (Hons), GradCertTerAdEd (Murdoch), GradCertPM, MBA (Tech
Mngmnt) (Chifley)
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