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 Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:39 pm
Xitha smiled, though her eyes turned flinty.
"Of course. That's what friends are for. Besides, I've been getting out of practice," Xitha said.
Rising from her seat, she went to the sink and filled a dark bowl with water. Returning to the table, she muttered a few words under her breath. Soon, the water in the bowl showed an image of the pagoda's kitchen, showing exactly where each person was situated.
Looking up, she asked Tochi, "Will they be able to enter the pagoda without using the gates?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:45 pm
"With Cole gone they shouldn't have any problems. That's why I will patrol outside. I don't want any blood spilled here." He got up and sheathed his sword. He checked his gear and headed out.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:45 pm
Lux carefully checked the blades strapped along her lower back, then the tops of her boots. She turned her ankle slightly, and the razor-sharp blade instantly pooped out from the heel of her right boot.
Satisfied that all her blades were in place, she watched Xitha's bowl interestedly. She noted that the images showed her fiddling with her blades, then peering into the bowl on the table.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:48 pm
Tochi, wait! Xitha said telepathically. Using this scrying, I can watch any part of the pagoda. This way none of us will be separated, Xitha explained.
She turned to the other two and quickly filled them in on what she had said to Tochi, then turned back to the bowl.
"Gates," she said quite clearly, and the image went from the kitchen to the gates of the pagoda.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:53 pm
Tochi thought for a few seconds. "Can you track Poople by objects of theirs?" He reached in his pocket and pulled out a lock of hair.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:55 pm
((Where's Sasha? All this action is going on right in the middle of breakfast!))
Lux immediately rose, teleported to her room, and retrieved her packs.
Teleporting back to the kitchen, she set her packs on the countertop. One was obviously a sword; this she strapped across her waist. From another she drew a pair of binoculars, and two sets of throwing knives, one for each arm.
She carefully slipped the sheaths over her arms, then flicked her wrists. A blade shot neatly down each arm and into her hand.
From the last pack emerged an unstrung bow and a quiver of arrows. She slung the quiver across her back and strung the bow.
Thus armed, Lux opened the kitchen door that led outdoors and stood in the doorway.
"Warn me when they start showing up," she said. "I'm a good shot; hopefully I can tag a couple from a distance."
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 7:55 pm
"The mirror can monitor only one place in the Pagoda. The shadow clan will attack in many places at once, hoping to catch us off guard."
A change seemed to come over Shinta as he spread out his senses and released his repressed warrior spirit, a part of himself he normally kept hidden around his friends. With muscles tensed, eyes narrowed and hyper-alert, he seemed taller and more threatening than the gentle man most here knew.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:00 pm
"A hair? Perfect; I can track that person easily," Xitha said. "What's more, I'll link the spell on the hair to the scrying bowl, so we can see exactly where he is. If they are immune to magic, then I can set it up so the person I'm tracking will 'glow' to mage-sight."
Xitha took the hair from Tochi and set it carefully on the water, causing a gentle ripple. She muttered an incantation, her hands held above the water. Suddenly, the hair rose from the water, glowing a bright blue. It formed itself into a circle, then settled back on the water's surface. Within the circle, an image began to form.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:00 pm
TOchi focused and held his hand to his third eye chacra. "Too late. They're here." a shadow Walked calmly up to the gate. others came behind it. None entered the grounds.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:03 pm
Sensing their arrival, Shinta stood and teleported to the gate.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:06 pm
Xitha looked out at the gate, her eyes narrowed. She walked out the door Lux was guarding and pointed at the gate.
Lightning flashed, then cracked at the Shadows' feet, narrowly missing Shinta.
Shinta! MOVE! I don't want to hit you!
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:06 pm
Tochi stood and looked to Lux. He walked out the door and to the back.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:10 pm
Lux peered out the door at the Gates. She could see the Shadows clustered at the gate, and she watched with interest as they jumped from the lightning.
She looked at Xitha, then shrugged.
No point in hiding in the kitchen, she thought, and joined Xitha outside.
"Looks like our 'heroes' are jumping the gun. s**t, we could have at least talked strategy," Lux sighed.
Looking at Xitha, she said, "Are we going to let them have all the fun?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:13 pm
Xitha laughed. "Are you kidding me? Let's go," she said as her lightning struck again, this time hitting the frontmost Shadow.
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Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:16 pm
Lux paused a moment and loosed an arrow, which went streaking through the bars of the gate and into the incinerated Shadow.
"Tough day for that guy, eh?" she asked her friend as the two approached.
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