From Sol Invictus

Book02: Rathess Library

< Marku and Zahara Craft | Sol Invictus Logs | Markuran's Tomb >

Summary: Zahara and Cerin go seeking ancient lore, and find it in a library in rathess.

XP:C1, Z1

Tags:
Rathess, Crystal Tech, Solar Circle Sorcery

<Zahara?> "Yes," she says as she steps through the gate, waiting for Cerin to arrive on the other side before continuing, "That would be good. In the future, perhaps we can build some sort of.. paralyzing trap for those who enter without the proper code."

<Zahara?> "I'd like to see who tries to enter our Realm. Honestly, we could just build a very large cage around it." She looks around the broken city, trying to determine the most lucrative building to loot. "That would probably be easiest." She strikes off towards a sealed-looking building that looks like it were a public place rather than a residence.

<Cerin?> "It could always dirvert them toward a large cage somewhere else...but a cage would be simplest, yes". Cerin walks by her side towards the building, definately one of the larger ones in the human octant, an area he has yet to explore much, beyond the laboratory. As they walk they pass by a great many of the towerblocks that served the Rathess dwellers as homes

<Cerin?> "Perhaps a small force of Rannath's men, and some demons would be best suited for the initial guards though"

<Zahara?> "I think diverting them will have to wait until we have more time. There's a war coming, and I have a ton of projects to finish before I get to this one." She comes to a halt in front of the imposing-looking building, "What do you think this was?"

<Cerin?> "If the doors are intact, it likely will be, though that creates its own problems: How to open the doors without destroying them. It would be a shame too damage more of this city. Luckily..I managed to aquire some of these.." he reaches into a pouch on the armour, drawing forth a leather wrap. When he unfolds it, there are a number of lengths of crystal of all different sizes

<Cerin?> "Ssithumi said they were crystal lockpicks...Dragonking criminals used them in the previous age."

<Zahara?> "How interesting. Are they durable?" she picks one up and inspects it curiously, "One would think crystal would just snap off in the locks."

<Cerin?> "IF the locks were normal locks, yes, but you remember the lock on your room when we stayed here after it was just discovered? It relies on precise shapes and pressures of a crystal, not movement of tumblers and other things normal locks do.."

<Cerin?> Several minutes after he starts the lock on the building starts to click and cycle, and he smiles triumphantly

<Zahara?> "You are a demigod." she smiles.

<Cerin?> "And you are a goddess" he smiles as the door swings outward as she pulls, pulling on the other one. A wash of fetid air spills over the pair. Cerin gasps a little as it does.

<Zahara?> "I think we should leave these open.

<Cerin?> He nods. "Definately. This place needs air."

<Zahara?> "Well, let's try the main corridor first. We can come back and try the second level if there's nothing in there."

<Cerin?> "I'm not sure.." his eyes play over the tapestries "They had a magic once" he notes with a touch of sadness. A coridoor stretches in front of them, rooms to either side visible in the faint light his anima castes

<Cerin?> "An office of sorts" he coughs against the dust again, then steps inside "A Dragonking chair in the human octant? Perhaps he was some kind of intermediary..though not too highly placed from the size of this room and the lack of the sun.."

<Cerin?> "What is....Oh. Yes, that is unfortunate.." as he takes in the sight beyond the door

<Cerin?> There is a man, or woman sprawled over the desk, one with a human chair. there are ribs missing at the back, as though their heart has been removed. it seems that in their death, they managed to bleed rather a lot over the papers and books in front of them...

<Zahara?> "It is." she frowns. "Do you think they're still legible?"

<Zahara?> "It's stood up well, aside from the blood, actually." she holds a sheet up to the light, inspecting the few letters that are still visible around the edges of the blood splatter

<Zahara?> "No, but I might be able to flake some of this off... is there another letter opener in here?" she scrapes at it with a long fingernail.

<Zahara?> "Well, a battle ritual, perhaps." She brushes the chair off, then seats herself in it to get a better angle. "I think I can make out a couple of words.. " she wipes the blade of the knife off on the edge of the desk, sending a little shower of flakes to the floor. "See here. Something about.. well this says Dragon. I can't see the next word."

<Zahara?> "Maybe there will be a library up there. That would explain why there are so many small rooms down here..." she says, hopefully.

<Zahara?> "Ooh something must have been blocking them."

<Cerin?> There is a bookcase lying on the floor. there are a lot more beyond it, revealing in the shafts of light coming down from the mostly overgrown ceiling. there seems to be a large hole smashed in the top, shards of glass on the floor.

<Zahara?> "Well, there go my 'walk around Rathess barefoot' aspirations" she says drily. "Now I suppose we'll see how well their paper does with water... the rain has undoubtedly gotten through what's left of the ceiling." She picks her way over the fallen bookcases.

<Zahara?> "Not without some kind of.. sorcery, or charm, I don't think. The technology is alien to me, or I could try to piece the shards together." she moves over to one of the standing shelves, and stands on her tip-toes to see what's on the higher shelves. "Well, this looks interesting."

<Cerin?> "What have you found, love?" pressing up to her back and gently lifting her alittle so she can retrive whatecer it is, easier

<Cerin?> "You feed it some of your essence, if you want to see whats on it"

<Cerin?> "Oh. Not quite what we were hoping for..but.." he smiles

<Zahara?> "Well given the state of the ceiling... I'm surprised anything is still standing." she sighs a little, "I had such high hopes." she cranes her neck to see the top shelves, "Someday I'm going to create a spell that will make me taller."

<Cerin?> "And she says I'm cheating..." he shakes his head slowly then kisses her before gesturing to the shelf. There are several undamaged books on it, as well as another of the crystals.

<Zahara?> "We must get Birds to copy this for us, in case something happens to the original."

<Zahara?> "It is.. and I will be the first in this Age to do so." she declares. "I will need time, though. Time to study this book, and if it is anything like learning the Circle of Sapphire, I will need to go on a quest."

<Zahara?> "I hope not." she frowns. "I rather like being near you." she squeezes his hand. "But now.. let's see what else is here. There may be others, as well."

<Cerin?> "Looters probably. Hunting someone who had turned looter was the reason I came here the first time..its books are likely scattered over Creation by now...you may even have some of them in your own library." he follows her gaze to the charred spot "I wonder what caused that.."

<Cerin?> "As have I...should we take a look, or move on to more fruitful pastures..if what was there is destroyed, to an extent it matters little what it was.."

<Zahara?> "Well, let's gather all that remains, and then move on."

<Cerin?> "There is a chance it was just to cover for a theft my dear. It is beyond my current skill to read any deeper...it was a through job whatever its purpose"

<Zahara?> "Even so! The destruction of any library is worthy of punishment."

<Zahara?> "Lead the way."

<Zahara?> "What's what?" she peeks over the top of the shelf

<Zahara?> "There are several more of these crystals. The top shelves seem to be the most likely to have things on them. Unfortunately, they seem to be the things nobody cared enough to put at eye level."


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Page last modified on February 03, 2009, at 02:21 AM