2017-10-23: Sacred Halls of Learning (and Ghosts)
- Log: Sacred Halls of Learning (and Ghosts)
- Cast: Sephilia Lampbright, Riesenlied, Ethius Hesiod, Jacqueline Barber, Asteroid the Kid
- Where: Great Krosian Plains
- Date: 10-23-2017
- Summary: Sephilia delves into the Haunted Library in search of more interesting books. She brings more smart people along this time!
==========================<* Great Krosian Plains *>========================== The bulk of the countryside around the capital city of Krosse consists of rolling, grassy fields, a stark contrast from the arid desert sands to the north. Every year, however, the desertification spreads, and more and more life is swallowed up by the sands. As travellers near the capital, the grasslands transition into cultivated fields. The yields from Krosse's farmlands have given the kingdom the nickname of the breadbasket of Ignas, and the majority of its trade centres around grains, fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. While its might pales in comparison to its larger neighbours, Krosse maintains a significant standing army to help deal with monsters and green-eyed neighbours who might seek to seize that bounty for themselves. These soldiers are kept active by frequent patrols and maneuvers throughout the Plains and major roadways; as a result, travel in the kingdom is safer than nearly anywhere else on the continent.
DG: A party led by Sephilia Lampbright is now entering Haunted Library. DG: Party formation is now over. An Entry Challenge will now be drawn and displayed to the party.
================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================ ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card? *>============================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------------------------- The front desk of the library is long since ruined, but a ghostly version remains. The spectral attendant behind the desk, dressed in formal uniform centuries out of date, still remembers their duty, however, and requests to see your library cards before permitting you entry. A barrier of force coruscating with sinister spectral energies blocks your way until you can convince the attendant that you belong... =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia has been to the haunted library once already, and returned with some rare books--but she knows deep down that there must be more that she doesn't know, and in a lot of ways that's because she doesn't know what to look out for.
So she's gathered many of the smartest people she knows, and Ethius, for a further delve into the haunted halls of the spooky library. But first...
"What do you mean, you need to see our library cards? I didn't need a library card the last time I was here! The place is falling apart, don't you--ugh, how would we even GET a library card for your stupid library today?!"
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
A REAL CONVERSATION, HOURS AGO:
"A h-haunted library? I'm-- I'm not so sure..." Riesenlied murmurs as she places her hand to her cheek, fidgeting. Her horns are positively wiggling.
Mikaia whimpers as she says, "H-haunted? I hate ghooosts...!"
"It's okay... we don't have to go there..."
"Does Riesemama hate ghosts too...?" Mikaia stares with unintentionally soul-rending eyes.
NOW:
"... I'm okay, I'm okay ..." Riesenlied whispers to herself, as she drapes her cloak around herself closer.
Well, the last time she went to a haunted place, she got so spooked out she started being able to hear Ragnell where there was once naught, so... what could be the worst thing that could happen?
"... but I do hear... something..." she mumbles, holding her hands to her temples for a moment. "What are you all... saying?" There's a sharp, little gasp as she winces and holds onto her temple, and she concentrates as she gathers her thoughts and places them into focus on the gem fixed onto her necklet, shimmering with an ebb of colours as she attunes to the emotions around.
"I can see it... an image of the cards from the patrons..."
Without opening her eyes, she slips out a piece of paper and begins to -- sketch a rough layout for the card as it appears in her mind. "Something like this... can we do something to imitate it?"
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card?. DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card?.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is about, much to the chagrin of at least one - and possibly more.
After what he pulled on that Ghost Ship, people should probably be dubious about letting Ethius near anything specifically haunted, but so far... he doesn't seem to be showing the same signs as with the Ghost Ship. He's not as forward about coming. He just happens along.
The other alarmist behaviors are yet to be given the litmus test.
A ways off, as Sephilia and some others wrestle with a matter of library card permissions, Ethius gets out that little lens of his. Symbological spell, small jolt of electricity, lens to the eye, done. He tries to take note of any devices and mechanisms present, if they may yet be connected to something.
If there's a link between a presence at the desk and... something he can't quite make out, in thin air. A barrier, maybe? He lowers the lens from his face. He takes a look over to where Sephilia and Riesenlied beg and complain and try to come up with a fake-looking card.
Ethius then goes through one of his favorite tactics anyway, as brazen as it is generally reliable - trying to help himself inside through the obvious front entrance while the rest work away at it, before the attendant can notice. Maybe once inside, he could find a library card or two to bring out...?
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card?.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
There were many things one could say to earn Jacqueline's attention immediately, and telling her you intended to go to a place with rare, old books was one of them. That it was Sephilia asking her only served to give her even more reason to go there.
Well, that was fine, too. She needed to steel herself for whatever (well-intentioned) spookiness the Seraph Mirielle was preparing for her and her friends. And besides, she'd gone into what was supposedly a Ghost Ship and came out fine, with no ghosts to speak of. Maybe this was the same?
It certainly was an impressive place, looking at it, but they don't get far. In fact, they get stopped at the front desk, the attendant seeming to insist on barring their entry without a library card.
Jacqueline glances toward Riesenlied for a moment. Imitating it was a possibility...
"Hmm..." Jacqueline rummages through her bags, eventually pulling out...
A business card??
"Will this suffice?" She asks, showing it to the attendant. It has her credentials on it, and it was a card...
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
A REAL CONVERSATION SORT OF
"RARE BOOKS!?" Asteroid screams at the top of her lungs. "I'M COMING TOO!"
Asteroid is definitely one of the smartest people Sephilia knows...especially if you ask Asteroid! But the truth is, despite her exuberant beginning, Asteroid is actually kind of depressed again. Very depressed actually.
She keeps looking at her Rigdobrite medium, in fact, and is uncharacteristically quiet upon entering the library. She says, "Riesemama," She doesn't consider Riese a mama (at least not yet) but she's heard it going around and it's hilarious. "If I try to squash somebody into pulp with Rigdobrite because I thought they hurt me but they were actually innocent all along, does that make me a bad person? Like if they even went and bought me a cake? Am I bad?"
She nonchalantly offers a November City Library Card.
"Hypothetically speaking." She adds.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card?.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"That reminds me," Sephy says, glancing to Asteroid, "I should ask you about Rigdobrite sometime. I got this Medium and everything..."
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card?.
================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================ ===========================<* CHALLENGE - Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card? *>============================ |Type: Entry |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 1 | ---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >---------------------------------------------- The front desk of the library is long since ruined, but a ghostly version remains. The spectral attendant behind the desk, dressed in formal uniform centuries out of date, still remembers their duty, however, and requests to see your library cards before permitting you entry. A barrier of force coruscating with sinister spectral energies blocks your way until you can convince the attendant that you belong... =Dungeon Conditions: Bad Luck=================================================
===========================================<* Haunted Library - Round 1 *>=========================================== =============================< Results - Did You Remember To Bring Your Library Card? >============================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 0 --(5)--> 5 Pass Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ------------------------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------------------------ Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 0 --(20)--> 20 Pass Conditions: Bad Luck(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==================================================< Dream Chasers >==================================================
DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Through clever fakery and deception, the group manages to convince the spectral attendant that they have the right to be here in the library. The wall of force dissipates and the group passes, with Sephy protesting that Ethius doesn't have his card to no avail.
She had to try.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has drawn a new Challenge.
=================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================== ============================================<* CHALLENGE - Riddling Ghost *>============================================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- A cackling spirit appears amidst the seemingly endless shelves and challenges you to a game of riddles. If you can correctly answer enough of the spirit's difficult riddles, the spirit promises to guide you to a valuable treasure hidden among the stacks; if you fail it will follow you and hurl insults and ridicule your inferior intellect until it gets bored. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Treasure========================================
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, Riddling Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is a bit ahead of the group. One of his classic bad habits, but in his case for the gambit to work, he did need to get as far ahead as he can so that any sentry or other sensory mechanism doesn't notice the transgression. He crouches down near one of the shelves in wait. If he has a reaction to Sephilia pointing out his dastardly cheating ways, it doesn't really show on his face.
A shelf tilts. A brightly-colored book falls, bouncing off a stool and at the floor near Ethius' foot. He looks up, extending his left hand in a ready position for any manner of Symbological spell.
"Don't you recognize meeee?" Comes a shrill voice. Ethius doesn't budge.
"So, so long ago, all the little lies your parents have told. The one teensy, tiny trait they would say to you ad nauseum as they gave you this book..."
Ethius remains quiet. The book flips itself up a stool, and hops onto the top of a low library shelf so its cover comes front and center.
As the rest come in, most of them can see it - hey, it's a very popular Filgaian children's book! One that just about any of them have read. (Sephilia has an excuse for not knowing.)
The cover flies open, and from the waist up, the grinning sight of a ghostly jester. Ethius continues to stare.
"They said you're smart! If nothing else! Smart, smart, smart, 'till it smarts. Smart at heart? Smart is my art! Smart like a dart! So prove your part by being smart... or I shall taunt you, stuck like a wart! We'll never part! My insults, you will continue to cart!"
Ethius continues to stare blankly as he begins rattling off any number of childhood riddles and mysteries. These all have roots in their childhoods (or, in the case of one extraordinary individual, a bit earlier in their long life). They might already intristically know a few of the answers.
...Those who aren't born of Filgaia might have to guess. Ethius doesn't seem to be playing ball at all, as he tries to walk away outright (again).
Maybe he's just not smart? That could be it.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Riddling Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Rigdobrite is the best," Asteroid says confidently. "But I guess I don't know if he likes me anymore? I mean, this guy--uh..." She looks back to Riesenlied though and quiets down rather than spouting much. Instead she tries to ignore the book shrilling at her. She isn't interested in riddles. She wants knowledge! But unfortunately, it's really annoying.
Like really truly annoying.
She grits her teeth eventually with a match in her hand.
"The answer is arson!!" She shouts.
It probably isn't 'arson'.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Riddling Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia, on hearing the riddles being posed, pulls out her Dad's journal, flipping the pages rapidly till she finds what she's looking for. "My Dad taught me a whole bunch about riddles," she says proudly. "This sort of thing happens a lot, you see! Anyway, I'm ready--go ahead and give me my riddle," she tells the ghostly jester.
"This old one runs forever, but never moves at all. He has not lungs or throat, but still a roaring call!"
Sephilia taps her nose, glancing at her Dad's journal, then brightens. "A waterfall!" she declares confidently.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Dad's Journal toward her party's challenge, Riddling Ghost.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riese's cheeks turn just a little red as she stammers, "W-why are you calling me..." she rather clearly looks embarrassed, but she also rather likes Mikaia saying it... not that she wants to be teased about it!
"Um--"
She wasn't quite sure where Asteroid's question was coming from, but it sounded specific enough that it sounded lika real incident. "I'd certainly feel bad and try to make amends, if it were me...?" She pauses, as she glances aside. "... 'am I bad' is a bit of a... dead end question, I find."
The Tear starts to shimmer again as they proceed forward and find Ethius to have encountered a particularly peculiar riddling ghost, the Metal Demon's eyes a bit wide.
Witness ye: All ravens are black.
Yet, this apple I hold is green.
Does it not follow that this green and therefore not black thing is an apple,
and hence, not a raven?
"... strange. I did not expect to hear a Fereshte riddle this far away, so much later, but..." Riesenlied sighs very gently.
"... indeed, the observance that the apple is green supports the notion that all ravens are black." She squints an eye as she picks at her hair. "A non-raven object of whichever colour confirms that all ravens are black, for it reduces the probability of all yet unobserved objects as ravens, thereby reducing the probability that they are counterexamples to said generalisation."
A pause.
"... I do miss Elder Farhad's lectures," she murmurs gently.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
With a smile, Jacqueline leaves a business card on the front desk. Who knows, maybe someone would see it and want to come by the Carakin? Or maybe she'd just attract ghosts to them...well, either way!
She continues onward, only to be faced with...a cackling spectre. It's a familiar one.
"I never really liked your book, admittedly. Your face always used to frighten me when I was a child..." Jacqueline comments, folding her arms in front of her. So, this little incident was bringing back memories...
"But still, if you want me to answer..." Jacqueline listens and frowns.
'You're trapped in a room with only a mirror and a table. How do you escape?'
"...This is an old bit of wordplay. You look into the mirror and see what you saw...so you take the saw, and cut the table in half. You put the two halves together to make a whole, so you can just climb out of the hole to escape." She explains.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Riddling Ghost.
=================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================== ============================================<* CHALLENGE - Riddling Ghost *>============================================ |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 2 | -----------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------- A cackling spirit appears amidst the seemingly endless shelves and challenges you to a game of riddles. If you can correctly answer enough of the spirit's difficult riddles, the spirit promises to guide you to a valuable treasure hidden among the stacks; if you fail it will follow you and hurl insults and ridicule your inferior intellect until it gets bored. =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify, Treasure========================================
============================================<* Haunted Library - Round 2 *>============================================= ==============================================< Results - Riddling Ghost >============================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Dad's Journal 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 5 --(10)--> 15 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 5 --(5)--> 10 Pass Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse -------------------------------------------------------< Party >-------------------------------------------------------- Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 20 --(25)--> 45 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ===================================================< Dream Chasers >====================================================
DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Those who are willing to play along find it simple! Many of the readers who were delighted by the book know the answers by heart, and the ghastly jester figure claps, claps, and claps for those that do. "So smart! So very smart! And now, we..."
Asteroid threatens arson. "What?! No, no, no, brute! Why not follow the others in suit?!" Oh my Rigdobrite is he going to rhyme complaints at them-- "Had I the foot, you'd get the boot!" Yes, yes he is.
Ethius turns back to look at the crowd having themselves a time. His eyes, very briefly, fall upon Sephilia.
This is interrupted by the spectre deciding to slap their book in his face, eliciting a comical (if sort of scary, given the environs) reaction in which his hands pry at the book as it slaps him several times with the pages.
"But you! You did not play! What lessons did your family fail to relay?! I curse you to read! Read, as though you were very much in need!"
Ethius is cursed to have something resembling a childhood now, apparently, for the length of a bedtime story. Pity him, as the spectre continues to hurl rhyming japes at Asteroid.
It'll be a memorable bedtime story for someone else, years down the line.
Maybe with a completely different book.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Mind the Papercuts *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A swirl of papers lying on the floor are stirred into a vortex of spectral energy, coalescing before you into several vaguely humanoid forms. They don't seem friendly to intruders in the library, and in eerie silence they move to attack! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
With the spectre's jeering still echoing, the party moves on. As they walk through the corridors of library, they will note that the floors are starting to be covered in loose paper. The result of a particularly poor-mannered library-goer, or something else?
Perhaps...
Perhaps it's a trap.
This truth becomes apparent as the papers rise from the floor and begin to swirl around before rising up and shooting towards the ground. They begin to rise up once more, papers converging into several figures, each resembling a knight from a storybook. Each paper knight wields paper weapons, but they seem no less dangerous for that.
One of them rushes at Jacqueline, blade swinging for her head. Her knife is quickly drawn and she raises it up to parry the paper knight's swing, but she seems reluctant to strike back.
"I'd really rather not make a mess here..." Jacqueline mutters, pushing the weapon back.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mind the Papercuts.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Don't worry," says Sephy, pulling Chauncey from her satchel and growing him to his big size...or...is he maybe even a bit bigger than he used to be? "Chauncey an' I will teach these guys not to mess with..."
SHe pulls a folding chair from the backpack she now rides in and passes it forward to Chauncey, who swings it in a massive arc. "THE FOXINGTON FOLDING CHAIR! GET 'EM, BUDDY!"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Folding Chair toward her party's challenge, Mind the Papercuts.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Jay's fears are realistic, in regards to at least one of them. One Ethius Hesiod, who seems to think very little about burning away some inconveniences, or otherwise irrevocably damaging others, for sake of whatever his ultimate aims may be.
...Oh, never mind, he's still struggling with that book being pressed up to his face as the spectre gingerly reads him passages. Though he is now blindly weaving about papergeists, it's kind of nice. Maybe even enviable. He gets to experience this again for the first time, like (most) the rest of them did growing up. It really is a special book!
It's so influential that some of them reflect puzzles and tricks in ruins to this very day!
His education is so important to attend to that they might just give him the benefit of the doubt and leave him be while he's ~learning~.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Mind the Papercuts.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out a relieved sigh as she beams up and expresses, "Well! If the ghosts in this place are going to be gentlemen of trivial pursuits such as that, perhaps it won't be so scary after all!"
The night's still young, Riesenlied...
Such as it that when she turns the corner, her eyes widen as the paper-clad spectral figures attack them! "A-aah!"
She flails just a little as she ducks a strike from a nearby axeman, with a stammering grump. "J-just when I... ohh!"
She decides to channel her frustrations by concentrating upon her form, holding her hands to the Tear as she washes the area with an emanation of photonic energies that not only invigorates her allies, but decidedly turns the pages around.
Turn the... page around... because they're undead...
Oh, nevermind.
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Mind the Papercuts.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"I'm calling you Riesemama because the orphans call you Riesemama and I like them." Asteroid says. "They're the future of soccer."
Asteroid seems comfortable with getting insulted at constantly. Well, not comfortable, exactly, accustomed. Yes, that's better. She bares her teeth in annoyance but doesn't actually try to commit arson.
Instead she continues walking. "The thing is, I do feel guilty, but I don't feel good, ugghhh--and I don't really want to make it better, I mean, it's his fault for looking like that, really. Well, okay, it's not his fault, but he already depressed me, I don't need to feel more shitty."
She frowns, "Besides, I totally got stabbed! I'm serious here! Right in the shoulder. I actually bleed from the shoulder--"
And suddenly, they ARE attacked by paper.
Asteroid blinks as the papers coalesce into humanoid forms. She looks down at her match, she looks at their opponents. She lights the match on her tongue and flicks it at them.
"To be honest, using mama at the end of someone's name is kinda infantile, but I think i'm gonna stick with it, Riesemama, for now."
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Mind the Papercuts.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Mind the Papercuts *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A swirl of papers lying on the floor are stirred into a vortex of spectral energy, coalescing before you into several vaguely humanoid forms. They don't seem friendly to intruders in the library, and in eerie silence they move to attack! =Dungeon Conditions: Fright===================================================
=======================<* Haunted Library - Round 3 *>======================== =======================< Results - Mind the Papercuts >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Folding Chair 2 Combat Effects: Stalwart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 10 --(5)--> 15 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 10 --(5)--> 15 Pass Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 45 --(20)--> 65 Pass Conditions: Fright(2) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has passed this challenge! The party gained 20 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
The paper knights seem to carry the skill and experience of the literary figures they're formed after. Jacqueline refuses to fight back, though...both because she doesn't want to make a mess, and both because she really doesn't want to hurt a book.
Sephilia doesn't have any such qualms, though. As skilled and dangerous as they are, they're still just paper. The Foxington Folding Chair just smashes right through them. They reform immediately after...only to get the chair once more.
And then Riesenlied invokes her aura. Something about it gives the paper knights pause...just long enough for Asteroid to flick a match at them. There's a ghostly shriek as the paper knights disperse and fly away in hopes of avoiding the terrible flame.
And what of Ethius during all this? Well...no library guardian would be so rude as to interrupt story time!
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Spectral Librarian *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A stern-looking spectre appears before you, raising its finger against its lips to shush you. Apparently your efforts to be quiet are insufficient for the ghost, as its expression becomes enraged rather quickly and it begins to hurl balls of ectoplasmic energy at you! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out a little cough as she stammers, "W-well, if you'd like..." and tries to not show like she likes it, but the horns wiggling up and down as if they have a o/~ note flying out of them certainly can't lie.
"... I think it's all right to feel that way. Such thing are not mutually exclusive at times," Riesenlied offers, with what little she knows of the context. "... it might be crass to say, but such guilt was important back when I was more in tune with what my brethren desired."
She pauses. "What you feel guilty about doing... it isn't something you should ignore."
She's about to speak further, before a spectre rises straight out of the floor with a grumpy look on her face.
You've just aggroed the very iconic image of the stern librarian, complete with icecream cone hair, neon red plastic glasses in a star shape, and power pads out to here!!
"... I--I'm sorry ...!" Riesenlied finds herself cowed all of a sudden.
That apparently isn't sufficient, because she literally hucks a spectral book that launches Riesenlied across and into a corner marked 'PENALTY'. "Uu..."
DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Claw toward her party's challenge, Spectral Librarian.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius continues to walk nonchalantly (...in comparison to some moments ago) alongside the lot. The storytime on his part is all-encompassing. The ghostly jester is doing his damndest to keep a captive audience with every turn of the page that slaps at his face.
"Sorry, sorry, I apologize, just reading an old favorite to the girls and guy." The spectre chortles. Surely this will get him off the hook.
DG: Ethius Hesiod has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward his party's challenge, Spectral Librarian.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia and Chauncey already have the Foxington Folding Chair out...but what's this--Chauncey's passing it back to Sephy? Can it be...they're going to do this the old fashioned way?
"No, YOU shush!" Sephy hollers at the librarian, and then, "Chauncey! LORDLY LARIAT!"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spectral Librarian.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"Heehee o/~" Asteroid dquips back. She can't help it. Riese is adorables. But she does look down when Riesenlied tries to give some good advice and she looks down. "...Yeah, probably..." She admits. She's not happy about it, but this is more than she'd usually give out, so ... victory?
Nevertheless--a librarian! And it's making Riesenlied apologize! NO! MAKING RIESE-MAMA APOLOGIZE! She shows off her fangs again, particularly when Riesenlied is thrown across the room.
"YEAH!!!" Asteroid shouts after Sephilia, flicking the librarian off with two middle fingers (not one!) and then shouting, "RIP THE SYSTEM!"
She ducks under ECTOPLASM and counteracts with METEORS and HEALING BUFFS for, well, mostly Riesenlied and Jacqueline.
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spectral Librarian.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline follows the others, looking just a little cut up from the fight before. It was a knife against a sword, after all! Fortunately, it's nothing that won't heal with time.
As they progress, though, they're soon faced with another of the library's ghostly residents - a librarian, who does not appear to be too pleased with their noise level.
Jacqueline lets out a gasp of surprise as Riesenlied is smacking into a corner. She wouldn't hurt a book, but a rather rude librarian? Jacqueline could do that. She wasn't going to let her hurt a friend of hers!
She draws out a Crest, launching a burst of sorcerous energy at the ghostly librarian as a counter-attack.
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Combat Basic Action toward her party's challenge, Spectral Librarian.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= =====================<* CHALLENGE - Spectral Librarian *>===================== |Type: Exploration |Dungeon Ability: Combat |Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A stern-looking spectre appears before you, raising its finger against its lips to shush you. Apparently your efforts to be quiet are insufficient for the ghost, as its expression becomes enraged rather quickly and it begins to hurl balls of ectoplasmic energy at you! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
=======================<* Haunted Library - Round 4 *>======================== =======================< Results - Spectral Librarian >======================= Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 15 --(10)--> 25 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 20 --(5)--> 25 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 20 --(10)--> 30 Fail Fight 0 Combat Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 15 --(5)--> 20 Pass Dragon's Claw 1 Combat Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 65 --(25)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Fright(1)|Treasure(1) Effects: Cleanse ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has passed this challenge! The party gained 25 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied's dizzy state is almost enough for her to miss out on the stern Librarian pushing her glasses up, an ominous glint reflected upon it as she thrusts her palm out and employs the 'NO FIGHTING' sign in a perfect parry! A clash of chair and sign, eternally retold! She whirls around and back-heel kicks a meteor in the face as well, strangely shoving it against a comically oversized 'foreign objects only 'bin.
What a staunch defender of order!
Fortunately, that's when the spectre pops up, distracting her as she lectures, "You know that storytime must be constricted to the lecture rooms--"
And then Jacqueline sends her flying across the room with a burst of sorcerous energy. Whammo!
"... librarians are scary ..." is Riesenlied's conclusion.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has drawn a new Challenge.
================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - The Endless Stairs *>=========================================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------
The stairway up to the library tower is ahead. It stretches on seemingly
endlessly, doubtless due to some otherworldly weirdness. You'll have to
climb, and climb, and climb to the top. Some parts of the stairway have
collapsed - you'll need to leap across, or carefully edge your way up.
No one said this would be easy.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia comes to the moment she's been dreading. "Oh. Uh..."
"I hope you like stairs and stuff and jumping, cause..."
She sighs expansively and starts trudging.
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Endless Stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline returns the Crest to its pouch and moves on quietly to find...
Stairs. Lots, and lots of stairs. Jacqueline frowns slightly. A part of her hopes there's something interesting at the top. With a nod she begins to follow after Sephilia, though she does pause for a moment to draw out a bottle of pale-green liquid. She takes a dose and then begins to move upward at a quicker pace, occasionally drawing out a Crest to create an earth pillar to bridge the broken stairs.
Hopefully ghostly weirdness wouldn't confound her strategy!
DG: Jacqueline Barber has used her Tool Invigoration Elixir toward her party's challenge, The Endless Stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied lets out an uncomfortable little cough from her brief bout with the system...
Dewey's Decimal System truly did a number on her.
"... m-mm," Riesenlied looks a bit contrite as she watches the librarian fly off, then tilts her head to Asteroid to say, "I'll be happy to discuss it further with you later, okay? Just know I'm happy to listen to anything you want to say."
With that, she finds the stairs and... stares up. Stairs up?
Her wings stretch rather painfully, where they creak from how tattered and withered they've become. There's an almost more skeletal appearance to them now where they used to be vibrant and full of feathers.
"... I'll try ..." she rises up into the air to try to pull herself up, hanging onto the side of the stairs once in a while.
DG: Riesenlied has contributed a Agility Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Endless Stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
At last, the spectre turns the final page, pats Ethius in the shoulder in a most demeaning way, and speaks.
"You don't know what you've missed! The words, the ways they twist. It's quite the list."
Ethius is quiet. He looks like he might need time to get things together as he just stares blankly at-- well, no, if he's staring blankly, then maybe he's perfectly okay. This is Ethius.
The spectre disappears into the book, and closes. It is left in Ethius' hand.
GET EQUIPPED WITH: Retroactive Childhood Cultural Touchstone
...
He casts a few glances to either side, as though curious as to whether any of them have... noticed he was missing? Was he missing? His mind dances with a number of clever riddles and ideas, but before him are stairs.
The other hand wraps around the harness of a sack, and goes through the usual Symbology-based chanting moments to channel heat to go through it as he walks up the stairs. For the parts with the gaps or the weak floors, that's what the hot air is for - hovering across dangerous spots.
As he passes by Sephilia, she might notice something most interesting in his possession. That... that looks like another Stone Medium for Rigdobrite.
Did he get chosen by them too?! The mean man who tried to take her journal!
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Hot Air Sack toward his party's challenge, The Endless Stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid taps Riesenlied on the shoulder as they come upon the stairs.
"Hey. Hey. Hey." She says. "Hey. If we step on a crack, we break Riese-mama's back. But I have an idea here, okay?" She draws her portal pistols out and says, "See, I can be a good kid, like, by like--not forcing you to go up death stairs, dig?"
She pops off a couple portals and winks. "Totally cheating." She bounces into one and hops out the other and waves back down to the others.
"And we can literally keep doing this forever. FOREVER!"
She laughs maniacally. "The books will be ours!!!"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has used her Tool Portal Pistols toward her party's challenge, The Endless Stairs.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Unless Ethius decides to take them for himself. Ethius likes trying to take books from people." Sephy isn't bitter.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid says, "Maybe he should restrain himself!!!"
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephilia glares at Ethius. "Maybe he should be restrained."
================================================<* Haunted Library *>================================================
========================================<* CHALLENGE - The Endless Stairs *>=========================================
|Type: Climax |Dungeon Ability: Agility |Challenge Rating: 2 |
---------------------------------------------< Challenge Information: >----------------------------------------------
The stairway up to the library tower is ahead. It stretches on seemingly
endlessly, doubtless due to some otherworldly weirdness. You'll have to
climb, and climb, and climb to the top. Some parts of the stairway have
collapsed - you'll need to leap across, or carefully edge your way up.
No one said this would be easy.
=Dungeon Conditions: Exhaust==================================================
===========================================<* Haunted Library - Round 5 *>=========================================== ==========================================< Results - The Endless Stairs >=========================================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sephilia Lampbright 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethius Hesiod 25 --(5)--> 30 Pass Hot Air Sack 2 Agility Effects: Resilient --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jacqueline Barber 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Invigoration Elixir 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asteroid the Kid 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Portal Pistols 2 Agility Effects: Stalwart --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Riesenlied 20 --(15)--> 35 Fail Rush 0 Agility Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------< Party >------------------------------------------------------ Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 90 --(0)--> 90 Pass Conditions: Exhaust(1) Effects: Resilient(1) ==================================================< Dream Chasers >==================================================
DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has passed this challenge! The party gained 0 exploration! If anyone needs to use party management commands, do so now. Otherwise, the next round's GM may begin the next round with +dungeon/draw.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
In the end, the group makes it to the top of the stairs, only to pass through an arched doorway that reveals...
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied stammers, "C-can we please stop fighting? At least until this Dig is o--o--waaah!" And there she goes. Riesemama might break her back...
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Nah Asteroid totally does launch a portal back down to try and catch Riesenlied because, well, pretending someone is your mom when you have a totally living one you hate means making some sacrifices.
And besides, maybe Riesenlied will feed him to the Quarter Knights if he's a total jerk about it. Though the commentary about him stealing books lights up a small little light bulb amongst a crowd of darkened light bulbs.
DG: Riesenlied has drawn a new Challenge.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Grand Master *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A ghostly man in fine robes sits, looking bored, at a table. Behind him is a door. Lying in front of him is a key, and a chess board. He looks up at you as you enter, smiling a sinister smile. If you wish to earn the key to the door behind me, you must first defeat me at a game of chess, he says in a sepulchral voice. He's had decades or centuries to study the game...dare you face the Grand Master? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Well!
Riesenlied's certainly thoroughly tested how well she can fly at this point, which is to say: not very, and it's fortunate that she goes in through the orange portal and out the blue portal and--
Speedy thing in, speedy thing out...
--whomph! Collapses against the side of the pillar. "Thank you, Asteroid..."
Up at the top of the tower, however, there's a grand room upon which an archaic-looking man in regal regalia seats, upon a well-lacquered table with a fine marble chess set with fine ivory and ebony chess pieces.
"Welcome! You've done well to make it this far, but if you desire the secrets of this library... then it is a game of chess that you must best me at!"
Riesenlied pauses, as she glances across the group. "I don't know how to play chess..." A pause, as the Tear starts to shimmer. Though... with the Tear, perhaps we can play as a team...?
Assuming there are no objections, it would seem like the best plan in mind, so... Riesenlied seats herself down and bows. "Ah, I shall be your opponent, then." Her wings, not that the Grandmaster has noticed, has... largely become more skeletal.
The rest of the team has assembled nearby... in front of a Pinion-trapped portal of light that's reflecting the image of the chessboard through the Dragon's Tear, with Riese's thoughts networked towards the rest of the party.
I'm in your hands, then, everyone.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
"Don't worry, this guy's not so tough. Besides, I got my Dad's journal. Did you know that a lot of old ruins and dungeons have chess puzzles in them? It's true! Dad took lots of notes and I've been studying them an' I learned to play when I was like, seven.
FLASHBACK
"I MOVE THE HORSEY GUY AND TAKE YOUR BROKEN HAT GUY!" cries little Sephy, knocking the bishop off the board with her knight in an illegal move. George Lampbright, her father, is...stunned. "That was a really good play," he admits, "and I don't know how I'm going to be able to come back from that one."
END FLASHBACK
"I wasn't very good at first," Sephilia adds, tapping her nose, "but I know how all the pieces move now and everything!"
DG: Sephilia Lampbright has used her Tool Dad's Journal toward her party's challenge, The Grand Master.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"R-Riese, are you alright...?" Jacqueline asks, concerned. Fortunately she's better than she could've been, considering the situation, so she follows her into the final chamber where the regal man awaits, sitting in front of a chessboard.
"Oh, chess...? I suppose that is fitting, in a way." Jacqueline comments, then glances toward Riesenlied.
"Really, you don't know how to play chess? I should teach you sometime, I think you might enjoy it." She's a little surprised. That seemed like the sort of game that would be right up her alley!
Her eyes flit toward the skeletal wings for a moment with a slight frown, but she nods as Riesenlied's voice enters her mind.
'It's okay, don't worry. Now then...do you know how the pieces move?'
...Uh-oh, it looks like Jacqueline's about to go into tutorial mode...
DG: Jacqueline Barber has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Grand Master.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
"The Tear? What's the Tear?" Asteroid asks out loud. Meanwhile in her head she's thinking I wonder if Shane is into people calling him senpai...? I could do that, I bet, and maybe I could leave some room to rocket him off to space too but uggh he's going to want to stay here with Granny and--wait a minute. Asteroid then pauses and then wiggles a finger into one of her craters. She looks back to Riesenlied. Is she reading my mind?
Asteroid's eyes widen and she screams and slams her hands against her ears and starts slamming her rock-head into the ground.
Maybe ... maybe this will distract the other player?
"Get out get out! Oh my god what's wrong with you??? You didn't hear anything got it got it got it?????"
DG: Asteroid the Kid has contributed a Wits Basic Action toward her party's challenge, The Grand Master.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius is remarkably silent about the accuasations about stealing journals. Come to think of it, someone here recently made off with a haul of books from the Ghost Ship... just as Ethius decided to do what he did. Would that haul be safe from him?
Ethius' eyes fall upon Sephilia again at the mention of chess puzzles. What's so interesting about that? Beyond it being true? He could acknowledge it without staring at her, at least, as word comes from Jacqueline about familiarity with the concept.
A voice comes inside his head. The voice of a troubled woman whom has endured much hardship and heartbreak - a span of which that exceeds their lifetimes and expectancies several generations over - as she dares to stand as the only potential equal of the Grand Master of chess before them.
His eyes visibly widen as the echo of Riese's voice comes in his head. His right hand clutches against his skull. Is he in pain? No, he shouldn't be, Riese is probably polite enough not to speak into the mind at volumes that would rupture eardrums. She is a considerate person.
His gaze goes over to Asteroid's panic. Her slamming of her head. This is--
From underneath his poncho he withdraws something very interesting...
TIN ARMOR HAT
The very thing that Asteroid gave him some time ago following their chat, as he immediately takes off towards her with the same urgency Jay has witnessed him have in matters of... not many things.
He moves to try and fit the weird, crinkly thing around her rock head and guide her away (with some urgency - he doesn't seem to be finding the sensation pleasant either).
Curious.
At least with Jay and Sephilia at the helm, it should all work out--
Wait, Ethius is getting out the lens again. What is he looking for? What connections, how, why--
DG: Ethius Hesiod has used his Tool Spectral Lens toward his party's challenge, The Grand Master. DG: Riesenlied has used her Tool Dragon's Tear toward her party's challenge, The Grand Master.
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= ======================<* CHALLENGE - The Grand Master *>====================== |Type: Final |Dungeon Ability: Wits |Challenge Rating: 3 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- A ghostly man in fine robes sits, looking bored, at a table. Behind him is a door. Lying in front of him is a key, and a chess board. He looks up at you as you enter, smiling a sinister smile. If you wish to earn the key to the door behind me, you must first defeat me at a game of chess, he says in a sepulchral voice. He's had decades or centuries to study the game...dare you face the Grand Master? =Dungeon Conditions: Stupify==================================================
=======================<* Haunted Library - Round 6 *>======================== ========================< Results - The Grand Master >======================== Player Exhaustion Pass/Fail ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sephilia Lampbright 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Dad's Journal 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ethius Hesiod 30 --(5)--> 35 Pass Spectral Lens 2 Wits Effects: Enlighten ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacqueline Barber 35 --(5)--> 40 Pass Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asteroid the Kid 35 --(5)--> 40 Fail Investigate 0 Wits Effects: BASIC ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Riesenlied 35 --(5)--> 40 Fail Dragon's Tear 1 Wits Effects: Cleanse ----------------------------------< Party >----------------------------------- Leader: Sephilia Lampbright 90 --(30)--> 120 Pass Conditions: Stupify(2) Effects: Cleanse|Enlighten(1) ==============================< Dream Chasers >===============================
DG: You have overcome the dungeon's trials! This run is a success! DG: The party led by Sephilia Lampbright has successfully explored Haunted Library!
============================<* Haunted Library *>============================= ==================<* CHALLENGE - A Grimoire Most Magical *>=================== |Type: Discovery |Dungeon Ability: Conclusion|Challenge Rating: 1 | --------------------------< Challenge Information: >-------------------------- As you defeat the final guardian of the library, the door behind swings open, leading to a small chamber. Inside, carefully stored for preservation, is a pristine tome: a grimoire of Symbology magics, many of which have fallen out of general knowledge. This work will be very valuable to scholars or collectors, but of course there's also the option of using it yourselves to learn the techniques within. Either way, it is a very valuable discovery! =Dungeon Conditions: Treasure=================================================
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
It doesn't take long for Sephilia and Jacqueline to educate Riesenlied about the pieces and how they move. Pawns... that's a bit of a demeaning name for them, is it not? Even if they are loyal soldiers...
Inadvertently, Riesenlied is already trying to shift the image of an army away to something a bit more delightful, while kind of forgetting her thoughts are transmittable right now...
... Riese, why are there a row of eight cuccos on the side of your board?
I-- I did try to warn you, Asteroid -- I didn't want to do this without everyone's consent... ohh, it's too late now! The cuccos are starting to break formation in her panic. Oh no!
Fortunately, Asteroid gets foil wrapped around her head thanks to Ethius' quick thinking, which grants her blissful silence. Wow, tinfoil hats really do work! Maybe chemical trails dispersed by invisible Solarian flights are also a real thing?
Makes you think...
... no it doesn't.
A FEW MINUTES LATER
"... and with this move-- my Cucco becomes... a Cucco Queen! Cuccomate!" Riesenlied triumphantly declares, as she swaps a pawn for a queen.
...
Riese, did you learn anything about chess at all?? Well, thanks to Jacqueline and Sephilia's guidance, she's all but won this game, at least.
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid shrieks, "Privacy violation! PRIVACY VIOLATION!!" It is unlikely that Asteroid really knew what was going on there. She definitely is not the sort of person who likes hearing voices that aren't her own in her head unless it's, like, a Guardian or something. That's the exception!! They're a higher level than mamas!
Luckily Ethius manages to slide on a tin foil hat onto her and she calms down quickly, dissolving into quiet sobs rather than screams and eventually deep breathes, curled up in a ball. She's sometimes just like a wild animal, but not a wild Animal. That's something else.
"...Thanks," She tells Ethius, lying there. Maybe Asteroid will LET him take books now.
A SPOOKY LIBRARY TURNABOUT!!
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied looks contrite as she focuses just a bit more and has the Pinions slide back onto her wings unpleasantly, with a hiss and a creak. "... I'm sorry," she expresses as she holds her hand out to pat Asteroid gently. "I do respect everyone's privacy, and I wouldn't do it without telling you..."
Maybe she really does need to refine her control and finesse over it. She's been called to various places before in a trance... not this time, but the voices of the dead were particularly strong.
She peers towards the innermost sanctum and gazes upon the tome. "This is... Symbology, is it not?" There's a lightly disappointed look on her face. "I suppose I wouldn't be able to make use of this, even if I studied it... but, perhaps Mister Ethius could make use of it, given it is his specialty?"
She glances back towards the man for a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy shrugs. "It's not magic I can use, either. My magic comes from Althena's Blessing. So if one of us can use it, they can have it. If not, Ethius can have it, I guess.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Going by body language, Ethius isn't looking that much more composed. One hand is firmly placed upon Asteroid's head as she struggles to regain her composure, but he gently releases hold of the, um, protective helmet. He remains knelt by her side for some time.
"...The arrangement is..." There's delays to his words. His tone wavers.
This is unlike him.
"...The arrangement is... acceptable." He seems to struggle to put the words together succinctly, to communicate the acceptance of it. "It is appreciatable. Acceptable. It is appreciated."
He... even accidentally blends words.
Jay might have to be the one to take it in hand - he doesn't seem like he wants to leave Asteroid's side for the moment.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline can't help but be concerned about Asteroid, but Ethius and Riesenlied seem to be on it. Instead, she moves in to study the book they'd found.
"Oh, wow...this is fascinating! I wonder how much of what this book holds is still common knowledge...?" She comments, curious. She didn't know too much about Symbology, admittedly, but the Symbols in the book looked old and complex.
Riesenlied mentions Ethius and Jacqueline nods.
She's about to open her mouth to say something when she spots Ethius, still kneeling by Asteroid's side. Quietly Jacqueline removes the book from its pedestal and carries it under one arm.
"I'd like to let Miss Sienna take a look at it sometime too, if that's alright...this might be quite helpful to her studies." She comments.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
"The arrangement... is... appreciated." He means acceptable. "Acceptable." Yes, Ethius, the narration already corrected you there. That means Sienna's going to get a look at it too - it's rare for Ethius to really share his thoughts and findings on much, isn't it?
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied winces very softly as she looks to Ethius, expressing, "... are you all right, Mister Ethius? I really did not mean to..." She puts a hand to her forehead for a moment, before murmuring, "I'll be more careful about how I reach out. It is still a learning experience for me as well..."
She looks a bit guilty as she looks towards the other shelves for a moment. A magic library, huh? If only there was a book on empathic senses... does such a thing even exist?
<Pose Tracker> Asteroid the Kid has posed.
Asteroid is embarrassed. Sometimes Asteroid acts before she thinks and sometimes she thinks she's okay with something and she isn't. Nevertheless, she does manage to tell Riesenlied SOMETHING. "It's alright." She tells her. "I know you don't mean harm. You never do." She runs her hands along the sides of her eyes as if massaging eye strain.
She feels guilty again, because she was feeling pretty bitchy about him. Riese said she should do something if she feels bad. Ughh.
"I'm sorry I suggested tying you up." She says. "...And for being such a fuckup." She does not have high self esteem despite how she acts. Well, that's hardly unique to her. "I don't know what I'm doing that pisses you off."
She looks back to Jay as she starts gushing over the book. She smiles briefly.
"I wonder if it's the same Sienna I fleeced for orphan money." She adds quietly.
<Pose Tracker> Sephilia Lampbright has posed.
Sephy scowls. "Well, I'm NOT sorry for saying it. He's acting nice right now but he did try to steal my journal from me. Because I knew you," she adds to Riesenlied. "So I'm not buying that he's really actually a nice person. No matter if he's helping my friends or not." She stomps away to sulk.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline...isn't sure what to make of Ethius's unusual response. This really wasn't like him. What happened? Had Riesenlied's magic - whatever it was - affected him just that harshly? She was experiencing no negative effects herself.
Jacqueline frowns slightly, but nods.
"Thank you. I'm sure she'll appreciate it, too." She's about to say more, but Sephilia starts to stomp off in a sulk.
"Ah, Sephilia-!" Jacqueline says, reaching out to her free hand, then sighs. Even if they had handled most of the Haunted Library's threats no problem, she didn't like the idea of letting her run off on her own.
"I'm sorry, I should probably go after her..." She says. "But thank you for your help, everyone."
With that, she starts to hurry after Sephilia.
<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.
Riesenlied nods gently towards Asteroid, though it doesn't seem to completely make her feel better -- one can mean no harm and still cause it, after all. Sephilia's comment surprises her, though. "I suppose that was before it all went down, wasn't it...?"
She bobs her head as she places her hand to her cheek. "... I'm the one at fault for being suspicious, I suppose..." Riese, Ethius has you beat on being dodgy by more than a whole mile, I'm pretty sure.
Riese nods to Jacqueline as she hurries after her, as she expresses, "I need to... sit down for a bit... channeling all of that is very exhausting..." and she does just that, with a huff.
<Pose Tracker> Ethius Hesiod has posed.
Ethius stands up. The quarterstaff's end slams into the floor with that thundering 'crack' noise. For those who have never heard him do it, this is something that startles most to silence. (That there aren't librarians shooting up to 'shh' him is probably a sign that even they - spirits bound by the culture of the library - do not dare intrude.)
"Enough." He speaks in that chillingly neutral tone again, re-focusing that intense glare of his upon the lot of them - to the apologies, to the jeers, to all the little happy smiles of a job well done.
...
"...Miss Sephilia. Miss Asteroid. Miss Jacqueline. Miss Riesenlied." By saying the names, he re-focuses himself back towards the speaking tone in which they are acclimated. The neutrality, the 'he says the words he means exactly as the words imply, without further inflection or emotion' thing.
"Your cooperation is appreciated. The matter is..."
He loses it again.
"Settled," the word trails off awkwardly.
Another awkward pause.
"Let us take our leave." With that, he turns away - once again, the stranger of a man seeming to shut himself off as soon as a crack might seem to appear in the psyche when emotions are laid bare around him. Defenses of his character, mentions of his previous transgressions (perceived or real), heartfelt apologies in moments of incredible emotional weakness.
All of it, he seems intent to shed and keep at distance.
Even the spectre of the children's book in his possession considers fleeing the book entirely.