Akirra forces a pained smile and nods. That would please me, is his only reply.
"Surely you cannot fault us for being somewhat... brusque," Kieran says with a smile as he picks up a piece of cheese and takes a sniff. It does indeed smell like cheese, but still, like his companions, he does not partake. "Up until moments ago we had been stumped by an empty room for what felt like veritable years,"[b] he continues with a soft chuckle, which is both sincere and to lighten the mood. [b]"Is it any wonder that we find it difficult to relax with some food and wine?"
"I am, of course, assuming this place can also make wine out of thin air," he adds, both a quip and a question. "Simply scientific curiosity, mind you," he concludes, turning at Tebati and winking.
Akirra has no outward reaction to Kieran's comments.
”I suppose not everything has to be a trap..”
Jacob lifts a grape from the platter. Then sets it back on the table. He bows his head and lowers an open palm as if accepting something. For an instant a flower scented breeze flows across the table towards Jacob.
A moment later he lifts the grape again and eats it.
"The fruit is good at least."
Qhude pauses to silently and contemptuously gaze at an offending berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus Vitis. He doesn't speak, but his body language suggests that he views adding further witchcraft to the already witch-wrought fruit a fallacy of reference.... but he keeps his views confined to mere non-verbal communication upon his superstitious visage.
Finding that the doors to the west led to another familiar, mosaic-tiled, ever-burning torch lined hallway Ansha impatiently approached the door directly across from the one she had opened to leave the tavern.
A large room came into view as she opened the wooden door with a little tentativeness. A fine, white mosaic tile floor, sparkling clean and meticulously dusted, came into view as she took in a well lit library before her, once again well lit by everburning torches scattered around the room.
To Ansha' right, several well maintained wooden bookshelves stood; but at a casual glance the shelves seemed barren of anything, long-since emptied. To her left, the room stretched out to a small group of tables and chairs. Some kind of softly pulsing blue magical circle emblazoned upon the floor contained a small seating area sporting a few comfortable looking armchairs and a warm fireplace. In the respective corners of this end of the room, a large wooden storage chest stood on one side and a well maintained alchemist table of some kind was fixed to the other.
The main sight that dominated Ansha's vision, however, was the construct that stood directly in front of her. Just a shade smaller than an Ogre, the 9 foot tall vaguely humanoid shape was a strange amalgamation of tomes, parchment, scroll and paper; a construct made mostly of books and paper; some of which sported clearly magical runes. The golem made no move to react to Ansha's presence but was clearly aware of her and seemed to ]watch her, although without discernible eyes this was more of a feeling than a confirmed hypothesis.
"Well, hello," the enchantress says, taken aback by the book golem's presence in the room. She makes no move into the room just yet. Instead, she speaks a cantrip's incantation and sweeps the room with magic-detecting sight. Her gaze lingers in particular on the magical circle. "Is that a magic circle of protection...? To protect those on the outside, or the inside...?" she muses.
...clicking his tongue before stalking behind the bar, eyes narrowed for any drawers / cupboards or storage.
At the sound of Ansha's voice, Akirra steps out into the hallway to see who she is talking to. Have you found someone?
"Not... exactly. It's a...book...golem? Some sort of construct made out of paper, books, and parchment. It hasn't moved yet, but I don't know how it'll react if I step into this library it's in," Ansha calls back to Akirra.
Akirra joins Ansha at the door and peers in. He repeats Ansha's greeting and question in Azlanti.
”Library?” Jacob’s ears perk up. “Maybe we can finally get some answers.”
The oracle joins Ansha and the others peering through the doorway.
Qhude finds that while there is ample storage behind the bar, nothing was actually stored there.
The construct did not respond to either Ansha or Akirra's words. It continued to face the gathering delvers without movement or visible motion.
Ansha was certain that the Faint aura emanating from the circle at the far end of the room was an Faint Illusionary aura. However, she was somewhat alarmed to discover a second magical aura that seemed to encompass the whole level explored so far. This second aura was a Strong Abjuration aura and the floor, walls and ceilings of the corridor, tavern and library all oozed with it.
The elf's brows furrow in confusion. "What in the Nine Hells?" she says. "This whole floor is covered in magical auras--ones that weren't here a few minutes ago, when we got down here."
Ansha pauses, then muses: "An illusion--what are they hiding?"
With that, she takes a tentative step into the library, ready to leap back out should the golem make the slightest movement toward her.
Akirra keeps his eyes upon the golem as Ansha steps tentatively into the room.
Qhude continues his resting sneer at his surrounds, looking up from behind the bar to find the others having moved deeper within the complex. He furrows brow and seeks to follow.
"This is just a guess -an educated one, mind you, but still...- but you really do not like being here, do you, Qhude?"
Kieran makes small talk with the Bas'o warrior, or at least he attempts to do so. As the half-elf speaks his characteristic smile is evident on his face, though his silver eyes do hint at himself not feeling entirely at ease either. Not exactly a surprise given their more or less current confinement.
"Not that I blame you all that much really..."
Qhude's grimace intensifies briefly by way of affirming Kieran's query, before the scarred warrior gestures to the walls and roof "We are caged Kieran, in a place where the walls have birthed blades and wax men have tried to end us." taking a deep breath and shaking his head gently "No... I am not at ease..."
Ansha found herself able to enter the room without incident. The golem's body turned to follow her movements but did not seem hostile.
With the golem not offering any hostilities, Ansha takes to exploring the library. Incidentally one of her favorite places in the world to be (alongside bathtubs and bedrooms), the elf gleefully peruses books like a child in a candy store. "Oo, I wonder what this one is about?" she wonders, reading a random, presumably-Aztlant book title.
For the moment, she avoids the glowing circle.
Akirra steps closer to the golem and continues to address it in Azlanti. Do you understand me? I have a question. Do you have a function here?
Ansha's glee is short-lived, as she realizes there don't seem to be any books on the shelves. Her euphoric grin collapses on itself into a sad frown, and she makes her way over to inspect the magic circle after all.
Following after the wake of Ansha and Akirra, Qhude reaches a space where sightline of the written monstrosity becomes clear. He stops and pauses tensely, a growl of misgiving nascent upon his throat... but as there has been no clear sign of aggression from the polysyllabic foe... he instead remains quieted and menacing.
Ansha's excitement upon assuming that some of the shelves she couldn't see from the doorway would be full of books was rendered into bitter disappointment. All of the library's shelves were meticulously well maintained and kept dust free; but not one of them seemed to contain as much as a scrap of parchment.
The book golem stared blankly at Akirra, seemingly aware that it was being addressed but not responding or showing any sign of cognition.
With Ansha roaming the room freely, she made her way over to the glowing magic circle.
You determine that the circle's only function is to literally create a quiet zone within the library, the circle essentially acting as an anchor for a permanent spell effect that prevents any external sound from penetrating the circle as well as muffling any sounds created within the circle.
"Huh," Ansha says, and sticks her head into the circle. She says something, but no one else but her hears it.
After a moment, she leans back out of the circle, and says, smirking, "That could make for a good bit of privacy for a pair of lovebirds."
"Yes," Tebati remarks dryly, "this structure is full of ingenious devices. I'd settle for a clearly marked exit."
Stumped as to how to interact with the golem, Akirra raises his hands in a peaceful manner before indicating that he intends to touch the construct with a single finger. If the golem does not react to his slowly approaching digit, Akirra touches it.
The scarred bas'o remains guarded and tense, but motionless... eyes intensely focused upon the as yet non-hostile abomination of words.
Stumped as to how to interact with the golem, Akirra raises his hands in a peaceful manner before indicating that he intends to touch the construct with a single finger. If the golem does not react to his slowly approaching digit, Akirra touches it.
Akirra touched the construct. It appeared to be utterly disinterested in his actions.
Her curiosity sated for the moment on the magic circle, Ansha walks over to join Akirra and tries to read one of the books, scrolls, and parchments that compose the golem, her eyes still limned in the blue of a magic-detecting cantrip.
Akirra's brow furrowed. He contemplated tugging on one of the books comprising the golem to see if it could be freed from the construct.
Seeing Ansha approach he vocalized his thought. Do we dare try to remove a book from it?
Before attempting, he decided to try asking the golem again . I need a book on local flora and fauna. May I please have it?
Over his shoulder he addresses the others. Perhaps there is something in that chest that might help us sort this out?
I wonder if the library shelves only appear empty, he muses aloud. Would your vision reveal books rendered invisible via some sort of illusion Ansha?
Seeing Ansha approach he vocalized his thought. Do we dare try to remove a book from it?
At Akirra's words Qhude's eyes momentarily flicker from regarding the golem... to regarding the hooked blade atop his guisarme. Flickering suggestions as to how a book might be liberated skip across the Bas'o's mind... but he does not put them to words.
Over his shoulder he addresses the others. Perhaps there is something in that chest that might help us sort this out?
Tebati glances expectantly at Kieran. "Is it safe to open?"
"Hopefully?"
The single word is accompanied by a shrug and a smile at the priestess as the half-elf makes his way to the chest, starting to examine it closely as soon as he gets within reach.
"Qhude, by all means, if anything jumps at me, feel quite free to punch it," Kieran quips as he does so. "Repeatedly."
Jacob joins our former sleeping beauty. ”Akirra, can you make out any titles or fragments in the bookman?”
The Golem was essentially fused together from what looked like hundreds of books, scrolls and parchments. Nothing appeared to be removable and very little script was visible. A few letters here and there, but nothing resembling a complete word, let alone a sentence or book title.
The Golem stared blankly at Akirra, not responding to his request for a book for a moment. But eventually, the construct gestured slowly towards one of the empty shelves on his left.
Inspecting the chest carefully, Kieran is reasonably confident that it is safe to open. It doesn't appear to have a lock mechanism so he is also reasonably sure that it is unlocked.
The elf's gaze follows the golem's gesture, and she moves over to inspect the empty bookcase. "I wonder if it realizes there's nothing here," she mutters to herself.
I'm sorry Jacob, but no I can't make anything out.
When the golem finally moves, Akirra is encouraged a bit. Ok, so it does understand me to some degree. Not overly helpful yet however.
He alternately watches both Kieran and Ansha, keen to see if either makes a discovery.
Hi all,
Unfortunately, my health has not really improved since the last decline and is likely to be a continual difficulty as the condition diagnosed is chronic. Happy to discuss it more but would want it to be in a less public forum via PM or whatnot.
Sorry for taking so long to respond. I was hoping to see enough signs of response to treatment etc. but I can't in good conscience keep expecting people to accommodate weeks and months of me dipping in and out.
So with a heavy heart, am calling time of death on this game. Sincere thanks to all players and sorry once more.