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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Oct 11, 2020 16:57:51 GMT
Justine stared at it as Ceutinde set it back down. “It was just sitting there, on a stand in the tunnel. That’s a strange place to keep something like that. Maybe they thought a thief might put it on.” She looked between them. “Maybe one of us should put it on and the others can take it off if it’s horrible.”
She shook her head. “The next strange thing we saw was...it was a shadow. It moved without moving and just kept getting closer. So we climbed up this old ladder into another room. Another hidden trapdoor. And another horrible thing behind there. When it touched me it was cold and my arms felt heavy. When we gutted it...the thing collapsed on itself into a pile of innards and fluids.”
“And then Silvia and I separated.”
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Oct 11, 2020 17:08:30 GMT
"Yes, that's when I went back for the necklace. We wanted to make sure we got everything we could out of the experience." She smiled at Justine. "Did you learn enough to help your goals, though?"
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Oct 11, 2020 17:19:55 GMT
“I don’t know.” She pulled out the pages she had torn from the journal of grotesques and laid them on the small table between them. She also dropped the little pouch, carefully overturning it and spilling the contents. She described the weird wardrobe with all the clothing, the man in the cage, the books, the implements, the bones.
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Post by Ceutinde on Oct 11, 2020 17:33:18 GMT
Ceutinde looked through the pages as Justine described it all, her lip curling with disgust. "What sort of twisted experiments were they conducting..." She muttered.
(Medical 70)
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Post by The Forgotten God on Oct 11, 2020 17:42:16 GMT
Ceutinde recognizes the drawings as anatomical features, but outside the fact that genital areas and eyes and noses and ears are included, it isn’t all that different from what a tailor would use to make custom clothing for someone.
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Post by Ceutinde on Oct 11, 2020 18:17:07 GMT
She raised an eyebrow. "These aren't so much medical as they are...sizing charts. But that's..." Her eyes went wide. "Were they skinning these people?"
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Oct 11, 2020 18:19:35 GMT
"Maybe. I thought they must have been cutting up bodies and making creatures from the parts. That's what the thing we fought looked like, to me." Silvia frowned over the drawings. "So maybe they were using the charts to determine which parts would best fit together."
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Post by Ceutinde on Oct 11, 2020 18:43:15 GMT
Ceutinde took a sip of tea in hopes of calming her stomach, which was suddenly churning. She poured a bit more brandy in the cup, after. "Simply vile. I thought the slavers were bad, but this..." She trailed off, leaning back and staring past them. "Silvia, the Magister wasn't at the party on the beach that you recall, was he? I wonder if all this is connected somehow."
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Oct 11, 2020 18:55:49 GMT
"I don't think so," Silvia replied. "If he was, I didn't meet him. The two situations might be connected but we shouldn't assume they are. Slavery is bad enough, like you say, but it's about profit. This is something more. Forbidden knowledge and so forth." She waved a hand as if shaking dirt off her fingers. I have to admit I'm thankful to be heading for Edysse. I won't forgot the sight of that dead thing any time soon."
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Oct 11, 2020 19:09:58 GMT
Justine was quiet, her brow furrowed as they spoke. “That poor man. He was alone and naked and hurt. And we couldnt help him. Maybe he’ll be the next one.” She didn’t cry. She was too upset to cry.
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Post by Ceutinde on Oct 11, 2020 22:45:30 GMT
"Is there any way we can stage a jailbreak before we leave for Edysse?" Ceutinde asked, seeing the pain in Justine. "It seems dangerous to hope, but also terrible to not even consider the possibility."
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Post by Justine-Juliette de Vair on Oct 12, 2020 14:40:59 GMT
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I thought it would be suspicious books, maybe something like the mask...but not anything so similar to the cells and experiments at Lockhart.”
Her voice got quieter. “I think it might be too late for that man.”
As much as she felt pain for all they had seen, she knew they had to press on. She ran her hand over the things from the pouch. One last investiagtion.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Oct 12, 2020 17:10:52 GMT
The pouch has some personal effects: a good timepiece on a chain, an open letter from Edysse congratulating ‘Simon’ on his new appointment as a researcher at the Academy, some coins, and a small silvery key. It could have been the man’s bag before whatever evil befell him.
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Post by Silvia Raizer on Oct 12, 2020 17:16:32 GMT
Silvia frowned, thinking. "I've got magic lockpicks, and I hate to abandon a person in need. But it would certainly be risky. Although...even if we can't save the poor man, could we at least, give him peace?"
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Post by Ceutinde on Oct 12, 2020 17:45:58 GMT
"Assuming they haven't already been tipped off after the first break-in." Ceutinde answered, drumming her fingers on the arm of the couch. "Magic necklaces don't normally walk off on their own, nor do journal pages tear themselves out. I would wager security will be tightened after today, or they could even pull up stakes and find a new venue entirely."
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