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Under the Hill - Second Circle: Lust


Notus

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Ethic got up as it became obvious that Mr.Taylor was going through another bout of memory loss...

Though Ethic had the feeling that this was a bit more severe than last time... He glanced at the others... then off in the distance... noticing Scott's body still there, sword embedded in the chest...

I should probably go take that, to tie up loose ends... he thought to himself

Could be a battle trophy... that and the fact that God knows what that thing can do... better for me to keep it with me than for some psycho path like that giant rat to scamper along and find it; if in fact it can do some freaky stuff...

deciding that right now retreiving the blade was probably a bit more important to the Group's future safety then explaining everything to Mr.Taylor, He walked over to Scott's cooling corpse on the ground, and pulled the black bladed sword from the Goth's chest, wiping the blood off on the part of Scott's torn shirt that wasn't saturated in the stuff. he looked around the body... Scott had somehow materialized this thing... maybe if he tried it...

Ethic attempted to put his focus into concentrating on collapsing the sword somehow... but try as he might, the thing gave no response... he turned over scott's body, hoping to find a sheath or piece of leather or something to hold this with...

But his search yielded no results that he was looking for. he let the corpse roll back over on it's back, then took off his bag and rumaged through it... finding nothing that would really help right now except a spool of string... he looked to Scott's shirt, and figured out a plan for what he'd do... not like the Goth needed the thing anymore, right?

He took out man without honor and cut off Scotts shirt, revealing the gaping wound to the chest Ethic had inflicted... Ethic backed away from the corpse now, and fashioned the fabric of Scott's shirt into a type of wrapping for the sword, covering it from blade to hilt. he bound the wrapping with some string from the spool he'd pulled from his bag, then returned his knife to it's sheath and stood up, the wrapped length of deadly metal now under one of his arms. he turned back to the group and Mr.Taylor now...

"So," he said

"Looks like bringing me back came at a higher side effect on the memory..." he glanced over at the others in the group

"I'd explain everything to him myself, seeing as how I am partially responsible for this severe bout of memory loss... but I really think that a better and more complete job of it would be done if we all pitched in; i really only have part of the story so far..."

(( disclaimer: the sword does nothing... aside from the unusual coloring of it's blade, it's just an ordinary weapon...))

Edited by Stratos
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Rose slowly opened her eyes. "Ugh I feel like I was hit by a train," she moaned. Attempting to stand up, she stumbled and fell on the person standing nearest to her, which happened to be Byron. "Sorry... I'm sorry," she murmured, straightening herself.

Seeing the body of Scott lying in the middle of the clearing, and Mr. Taylor looking around like he had gone insane, Rose cleared her throat. "What happened?" she rasped, looking confused.

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"What, you really think I look like one of those guys?"



"Caution has never killed anyone. This place isn't familiar to me."


"I'll forgive you this time because you're cute. Soo, what a violent pretty boy like you is looking for in here?"



This question gave Marcus pause. "Power, I suppose, as every man wants. What brings a woman such as yourself here?"


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Marcus

"I live here." she answered. "My job is putting those naked fellas to sleep. But they are boooooring." the woman said, rolling eyes. "They keep hurting themselves every night and don't try to change or fight it, the dumb souls. You humans are way more interesting." she paused and laid a finger on her chin, seeming to be thinking. "You are ambitious and smells of blood. Yeah,you seem nice. Try to get to the top of the garden, if you manage to do so we'll have some fun. If you want power it's the way to go anyway." she waved goodbye and then turned around to go out, looking over her shoulder with a playful smile. "By the way, my name is Lara. Now bye~."

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Quincy

Quincy noticed the staircases rising almost endlessly into the sky. "Hmm, looks like a good vantage point, Maybe I will be able to see them up there, shame I don't have a Sniper Rifle, then I would be able to pick them off from afar. Guess I will have to lie in wait ahead., This seems like a focal point of this place, maybe those I hunt will be drawn to it. Either way, I will await them at the top of here." after his mad ravings the Rat started to climb the stairs, folding his hands together, smiling to himself as he went.

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The one hand artist and his angel reach the bottom of staircase as Ixidor's flesh wound begins to twitch. "Ughhh.." Ixidor felt pain. "What's wrong master?" said the concerned Angel. "It seems you're not fully recovered yet master, let me carry you through out the rest of this journey." as Kayle kneels down and a offers a piggy back ride to the young artist. Ixidor gladly accepts the offer. "Hold on" as the Angel flaps its wings.

The Valkyrie glides through the endless steps while carrying the young artist on its back. Ixidor notice a man with rat tail a few feet infront of their path as his eyes open widely to his surprise.

crap, its the gunslinging ratman from the library.

"Kayle i want you to go faster and whatever happens don't stop." said alarmed artist. The Valkyrie complies to his master's whim without any question as it flies through passing the Ratman with burst of speed, gaining their lead and continues to glide along the steps.

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The Red Moon finally went down the horizon, and light quickly began filling the garden, the golden sun moving up much quicker than it should.

Ellaria slowly calmed herself. Now the crazed wailing of the doomed souls had completely ceased, and she soon realized how childish she had acted. If that Aighan hadn't showed up, her conduct would probably bring a lot of trouble to everyone. "I... I'm sorry everyone." she apologized. "I never meant to be a burden for you, it's just... I'm so lost." she felt terrible, and couldn't retain a rebel tear that ran down her cheek.

Edited by Notus
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The High Keeper looked on as Scott's body lay on the stones, blood pooling under it. in another vision port was the view of Rodrics dead body, on a very similar stone paved ground... Longicus stood beside the High keeper, noticing that the symbol for the Death Arcana had vanished from the High Keeper's wheel...

"This is far more serious than any of us thought." he said simply, walking away from the vision ports

The High Keeper spoke without looking at Longicus

"To think... A keeper has been slain by the hands of an Invoker...."

He then turned to Longings. who stopped striding away and turned to face his superior.

"We underestimated Ethic... he slew Rodric by taking advantage of his own ability... aside from myself, Rodric was the longest standing member of this council... and the most deadly to confront in any situation...hence his position... or former position..."

He turned back to the viewing ports

"Ytilarom has Proven himself to be an Extremely Dangerous Enemy... Not only did he kill Rodric... but he also... took domination of the Arcana of Death."

Longicus's eyes widened in surprise at this

"What... but how is that even possible!? to usurp such a power..."

Lord Waite simply shook his head

"I know not how he did it... only that it has been done by someone... and he is the only plausible culprit..."

And through all of this conversation, Maxwell watched amused in the shadows, hidden from sight. He let out a low chuckle as Lord Waite and Longicus continued speaking about the situation

"Yes, that's right, Ethic... My little Envoker..."

A swiveling office Chair materialized beneath Maxwell, and he sat back, putting his feet up as he continued watching

"that's right... do my dirty work... what I couldn't do all those years ago... you're going to help me greatly, whether you are aware of it or not..."

===================================

===================================

Ethic was about to begin explaining to Mr.Taylor what was going on when Rose came to and got up from the ground. he felt warmth on the back of his neck and turned, gazing into the horizon as the sun rose into the sky quickly. as if some lunatic had stormed into God's personal office and spammed the fast forward button for dawn. he turned back to the group... he didn't know how long the days here lasted, but he didn't want to waste a single second of day light while they had it....

That meant that Rose and Mr.Taylor would have to settle for a gisted version of events

"I'll have to make this quick," He said, eyeing the sun

"Mr.Taylor, the place you are in right now is the Second Circle of the pit of hell, like in Dante's inferno... except this isn't an astral journey... this is a physical one... things here can very badly hurt or even kill someone if they aren't careful... and smart... but Smart isn't always a guarantee against hazards..."

he looked the elderly fellow in the eyes

"I know this all sounds crazy, but you just have to trust for now until you get your full memory about what's happened back."

Next he looked to Rose

"As for what happened while you were out cold, I killed Scott." Ethic pointed to the Goth's corpse on the ground a few meter's away as he spoke.

"He won't be bothering anyone ever again. nor will his Accomplice..." He paused... he trusted these people that he had been traveling with... he wanted to be transparent with them, to tell them everything about what was going on with the situation between him and the Arcana and the Keepers...he knew that most of them probably couldn't see Keepers when they didn't want people to... and felt that maybe this would clear up some things for the next time he was hunted down, so that he wouldn't look like an idiot swinging a knife around or flinging multi-color blast of energy into blank space....

But he knew they didn't have the time. he walked over to a path that looked like it would lead them to the top, like that Guy who had reigned in the Loving Dead Earlier had suggested they head towards... He turned around, looking at the others.

"Sorry that I can't go into anymore detail, Guys, but we should get going while we still have Sunlight..."

Edited by Stratos
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Byron

"Don't worry about it Ethnic, just know we are here for you." he said as he checked his guns ammo count. He filled God's Hand with 6 bullets, and spun the chamber back into place, then twirled it around his finger before putting her back into her holster. "And I do recommend getting a move on, hopefully I won't slow you guys down to much, I am still a bit hurt from earlier. If I do, just leave me behind, I understand." He had a visible limp in his left leg, it would slow him down a fraction, but in a fight dodging would be next to impossible.

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Mr. Taylor looked aghast as the boy explained his story. To start he noticed a young girl waking up, wondering what was happening. Then next this boy, who now claimed they were in hell, had just killed somebody named Scott, which of course led to the agreement of an overly armed man in the background. It was starting to become obvious to him ... he and the girl, along with perhaps the young girl and the other gentleman had been kidnapped by the murderer kid and the super armed guy.

He felt kind of bad for the kid, did he realize who they had just kidnapped? He was Michael god damn Taylor, the Indiana Jones of the real world, and these punks weren't about to take him for a ride. He reached in to his pocket, trying to find something useful and wait hold up... Is that a gun? Did these idiots really forget to disarm their prisoner. Mr. Taylor smirked, and thought about how that would be a mistake that these idiots wouldn't live to regret. He quickly pulled the gun out and aimed it directly at the armed guy's head. "Alright, drop them," he then turned to the kid, "And drop the sword too kid. I don't know who bastards think you are drugging me and all of these helpless victims, but you two picked the wrong archeologist to try and take hostage." Mr. Taylor then turned to Rose, "Don't worry sugar, everything's fine now. These bastards won't get ... whatever the hell they want out of us."

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Rose looked bemused as Mr. Taylor suddenly put Byron and Ethic at gunpoint. "Uh..." she stuttered, unsure of what to do. Then just like that, it came to her. Mr. Taylor couldn't remember anything, but she was sure that he would agree to getting out, which would be by going up. Still facing Ethic and Byron, she gave a wink and shhed very quietly before turning to Ellaria and Enya, taking their hands gently. "Thank you very much Mr. Taylor," she said. "We were brought here for whoever knows what-- but I overheard them talking and the exit is somewhere above us, near the top of the garden." Continuing her frightened act, she added, "Some of there enemies are here, including a ratman! Please, we have to get to the top of the garden and get out of here!" She gently squeezed both girls' hands to let them know to keep silent and go along with the story.

Enya's ice blue eyes glittered. She didn't know what Miss Rose was playing at, but decided to let it go. Smiling happily, she began to hum "Ring Around the Roses" while holding Ace tightly.

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Ethic didn't know what the hell was going on with Mr.Taylor when the elderly fellow whipped out his revolver and ordered from him and Bryon to drop their Weapons... but he wasn't really a big fan of having Hot lead shot at him, and so did as Mr.Taylor demanded, he tossed the wrapped sword under his arm to the ground, then took man without honor out of it's sheath using only two fingers, and let it fall to the ground by his feet. He kicked the kinfe over by the sword to keep Mr.Taylor from getting jumpy. he put his hands up, now un-armed. He could see Lucian looking on behind Mr.Taylor, the former mage was making a sort of motion that suggested he was going to find something to hit Mr.Taylor over the head with to knock him out. Ethic sent a thought message to him, advising not to

Don't do it... He's not all there right now... if we act appropriately, we can keep this thing from escalating... I hope...

Ethic looked to Mr.Taylor... now aware of just how bad his recent memory loss must've been... he didn't seem to recognize anyone...

He spoke in a slow, steady voice, not wanting to make things worse

"Mr.Taylor" He began

"Please, lower the gun, We're all friends here..."

Then he saw Rose wink at him and Byron and begin to go along with some act to convince Mr.Taylor... which he really wasn't happy about because Ethic had the feeling her little act was gonna get him and Byron shot in the faces...but he kept silent... deciding to trust the Young woman

Edited by Stratos
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Byron didn't like having a gun pointed at him, but he didn't want to kill the crazy old coot, He would wait until his attention was on Rose or now Ethic, before he took a shot to disarm him. He was a fast draw, and would be able to do it before he was the wiser. He hastily tucked God's Hand into his Blazer when he bent over to drop The Preacher. He Put his hands on the back of his head and played along for now.

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Mr. Taylor smirked coolly, "Now, kick them both over there," he looked over at the man who appeared to be more strapped than the other, making sure to keep the gun on him "And you ... strip. I don't think I'll be able to do a proper search of you." He then looked over briefly at the little girl, there was something a bit off about her, "But, you can keep your underwear on."

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Ethic did as Mr.Taylor ordered and Kicked Scott's sword along with his own Knife over to him.

He knew that there was nothing he could say to possibly make this situation any better, and resigned himself to keeping his mouth shut for once instead of trying to serve as a damn mediator... though his face lit up a bit in surprise when Mr.Taylor order Byron to strip down to his knickers... it would've been a bit funny...

If he wasn't being held at gunpoint along with the guy ordered to do it.

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"Mr. Taylor!" Rose exclaimed, looking shocked and embarrassed. "We really don't want girls this young to view something like that, do you? If we take them up to the top, the police will be waiting for them. Look," she said desperately, pulling out her cell phone that had no reception, "I'll call them so that they're waiting for us at the top." Muttering quietly to the man, she added, "We don't want blood on our hands either. Look, you take one, and I'll take the other." She grabbed her spear and told the girls, "Take each other's hand and grab onto me. Looking at Mr. Taylor, she pleaded, "Please, let's get them to justice."

She quickly "dialed" her cell phone, and pretended to have a conversation with a 911 operator. When she was done, she added, "Ok, we're all set to move," stopping in horror as Byron flung a gun at him. "No!" she screamed, unsure of what Mr. Taylor would do now.

Edited by Rosesong
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Rose pulled out some sort of strange device. It looked like a phone, but there weren't any wires, how strange was this girl? But, before he could react a bullet quickly knocked the gun out of Mr. Taylor's hands. He smirked again and put his hands to his head. "Well, well, they didn't just send a regular group out to get me." His tone suddenly shifted to a more serious one, "But, if you want to know where I hid the gold, then tough luck lad. Rodriguez has it now and I'm afraid most of it has been sold to the Soviets." He let out a curt laugh. "Sorry to waste your time, but it looks like you kidnapped me and these girls for no reason."

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"But, if you want to know where I hid the gold, then tough luck lad. Rodriguez has it now and I'm afraid most of it has been sold to the Soviets. Sorry to waste your time, but it looks like you kidnapped me and these girls for no reason."

Ethic had a puzzled look on his face as he heard this... things just went from very bad to very weird... that's when Byron spoke up beside him

"Ethic, go get those weapons, then we can talk him down alright?"

he reached down and grabbed Mr.Taylor's gun and the gun Byron had dropped, and put them next to where Scott's sword and his knife lay on the ground. With that done, he looked over to Mr.Taylor

"I'm sorry, Mr.Taylor..." he began

"But who the hell is Rodriguez, what Gold are you talking about..." he paused, considering the last part of Mr.Taylor's statement a few moments ago

"And why the hell would you be dealing with the Soviets?"

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He looked between the two, so they really didn't know. He cursed under his breath, realizing he may have revealed a bit too much. He sighed, he knew he'd have to tell them, since you know he was being held at gun point. "Look, I don't know what you all know about me, but you all know my name so you probably know I'm an archeologist of sorts," he sighed again, this piece of information may lead him to some serious trouble, but he knew if the longer he talked the longer he'd have to think, "But, the truth is that's all just a front. I mean yeah, I'm hired as an archeologist and all, but there are a lot of artifacts on those digs, and some times that stuff just happens to go missing." He let out a little smirk, he hadn't told many people what he did, but when he let it out it was kind of relieving, "And sometimes that stuff winds up in wealthy people's homes from around the world and sometimes there's a few million dollars that just appear in my Swiss back account. But, it's not like I'll be much help to you as a hostage, I mean I can't GET that money unless you take me to a bank."

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Byron looked dumb-founded, he almost dropped God's Hand he was so flabbergasted.....He twirled his gun and put away. "Don't get any Ideas, as you can tell I am a fast draw., I will let you handle this one dear Ethnic."

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Ethic was pretty surprised to hear this from Mr.Taylor... never figured him to be the less than forthright type... especially the way he described it...

"Don't get any Ideas, as you can tell I am a fast draw., I will let you handle this one dear Ethnic."

Ethic nodded... maybe he should try playing along with Mr.Taylor... or maybe that would just cause more issues... he honestly didn't know how to handle this... he sent a message to Lucian

Any ideas about this?

Lucian Answered

Nope... less than you do, I bet...

Ethic decided to try and play along anyway... not like there were any other plans...

"Um... Okay, Mr.Taylor..." he began rockily

"No one here is gonna judge you for uh... what you do with artifacts sometimes... but we won't tell anyone who has hired you about this if you go into full length and explain what happened with you, the Soviets and this Rodriquez man..." Ethic could only hope that this would buy him some time to think of how to resolve this great mess...

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This Ethnic guy wanted him to keep talking and frankly that suited Mr. Taylor just fine, "Look first off please stop calling me Mr. Taylor, I'm only in my 40's for Christ's sakes so just call me Michael. Second off, Rodriguez is a lay low guy, he's from Cuba, a nice middle country, the Europeans and the U.S. don't really like to go there, so after I get the stuff I get it over to him, not many people question extra stops when an archeologist who enjoys a Cuban from time to time stops over in Cuba after a dig, to my colleagues it's just a weird vacation stop. And thirdly, why the Soviets? Well A, since most of the government are buyers I don't really have to worry about them coming to arrest me, or rating to the American government. And not to mention that the Russians have a hard on for Egyptian stuff, which seems to be my hottest seller and what I was currently digging up right now. I mean for Christ's sakes they even mummified Lenin, the bastards love ancient Egypt more than the Egyptians do." Michael explained coolly and calmly, all the while looking around to see the quickest path to bolt if it came down to it. The one guy was a good shot, but they seemed too interested in his story, they weren't normal bandits that's for sure and he was starting to question if they would shoot if he decided to just run.

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"Shit..." Ethic muttered under his breath

This is far worse than I thought... he thinks it's, like, Thirty years ago or something...

He looked at Mr.Taylor, Michael, as he preferred to be called now apparently.

"Well look, Michael..." Ethic began, becoming tired of this whole charade pretty quickly now

"We don't want your gold. we don't want the money in your... Swiss bank account. And we don't really care about the whole... less than internationally legal selling that you do...."

He paused... he really had no idea how to continue this conversation... that's when Lucian spoke up, walking over to the group from where he had been standing

"He's right." he said

"We don't care about any of that now, Michael..." Lucian pointed to the path that Ethic had been about to go down when this mess started

"But what we do care about, is that you do what we hired you for. You do remember our deal, don't you? Because we only made it this morning, and if you forgot this soon..." Ethic looked at Lucian, who didn't return the stare, as he was focused on making eye contact with Michael to make the thing more convincing... he knew that his friend had thought up of something on the fly and was swooping in to put it into place... it seemed to be a pretty well constructed lie, the body language was near perfect... if Ethic didn't have direct knowledge of the fact that no deal had been made, even he would've thought Lucian was telling the truth

in Ethic's mind, he thought to himself

Thank God for Lucian... because just now, I had absolutely nothing...

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