Rinika goes in through the window anyway once the glass is cleared and sniffs around the rooms a bit. She introduces herself to the Oracle as she floats over and slices the rope with a claw to save Jek the trouble, then up to the top of the bookshelves and starts to toss books down. A few seem to disappear into her pockets along the way with a sly look to see if Nik is paying any attention.
"Hi, Rinika here. We took care of the guy that jumped ya. What happened? He say anything about big grand plans we need to further stop or anything like that?"
"Yeah, like book thieving. I called dibs, by the way." Nik adds, pointing a finger of accusation very half-heartedly at Schrodinger's Catgirl.
Nik looks through the covers of the books as quickly as he can manage, hoping (quite unreasonably) for a hint like the stash of books from Jangling Hiter.
The books you find on the shelves aren’t terribly useful, almost to the last each are hand-written rants regarding the superiority of all things of Air, the need for cleansing of the plane of all things not native, and similar topics. It seems Myress’s feelings have been brewing for quite some time, and something finally pushed him over the edge. However you manage to find a lockbox hidden in a rafter, easily opened by Rinika and Nanci.
Deidarth is released and is profusely thankful, ”Oh gods! Thank you! I’ve been up there for days. He took me as I was walking home from the Looking Glass, said I could stop him so he needed to keep me here. All he talked about was cleansing Air of filth like me, but he had to follow the Rule of Three to do it, the only reason I’m alive I think. Look I’m a little short on coin at the moment, but I could uh read your future if I can get home.”
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From a distance outside the kip,
“Graciouswise, inform a djinn if the sequence-killers homestead is also haunterly with child phantasms!”
Xibalba paces straight-backed through the Twilight District street, trying her best to camouflage any hint of concern in her tone. Upon hearing Nik and Rika yell about books, she gains the courage to approach and peer greedily in the window.
“Any Historical Romance?”, her gold cracked arm phasing through the wall insistently.
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After a careful search of the library Xibalba finds a forgotten book that seems to not have a hard cover. Inside are not lines of words on pages but detailed illustrations of scenes and characters with white bubble containing the character's speech.
There's a description on the back, The whole town is whispering about how Catherine Benson lost her virtue, though they can never agree on the details. Was it in the public garden? Or a moving carriage?
Only a truly desperate man would want her now―and that’s exactly what Andrew Davener is. His family’s estate is in disrepair, but Catherine’s sizeable dowry could set it to rights.
After the two wed, Catherine finds herself inexplicably drawn to Andrew. But could falling in love with her husband tear her marriage apart? In this richly detailed romance, duty and passion collide in a slow-burn tale of intertwined fates.
How this strange book found its way into the murderer's collection is anyone's guess.
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Nik gives Xibalba a peery eye when she finds the book.
After he sees the cover, he wrinkles his nose and raises no complaint before he finishes sorting through the horrifyingly boring other books.
Partway through the search, Nik replies to the fortune teller.
"I think we'll take you up on that. Be nice to prepare for a particular thing instead of everything for once."
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Rinika sticks her tongue out at Nik.
She glances over the strange book and whispers to Xibalba, "Let me know when you're done with that."
And to the fortune teller, "Can't say I believe in fortunes much, but sounds fun anyway, sure. Do you know anything about this Malaise that's been spreading? Maybe the guy who took you have anything to do with it?"
She searches around for any other secrets or magic.
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As the conversation so expectedly turns to the books, Jek shudders. It was happening again. His eyes twitch back and forth desperate for something of interest. Sure, they were only talking about the books now, but soon... soon they'd be quietly reading to themselves practically inanimate in the soul-sucking silence. Perhaps the owner had an interesting hobby? Maybe a souvenir or two? Jek gently begins to move the furniture looking for whatever might also be avoiding the books. Perhaps a previous owner lost something that could be considered fun? There must be something...
After a boring time with the boring books, except Xibalba she has a fun romp you don't find anything else hidden.
Taking the oracle home he delivers his an unseen ghostly child's prophecy regarding the Iron Shadow and what lays ahead.
"In a vast, open plain near a very tall and narrow mountain, there is a library filled with mirrors. Within the library is a book which tells of a cure for the disease that you've seen threaten so much."
"Beyond the swirling mists of matter and energy lies a temple with only one priest. This priest holds the secret to curing the ills of not only his own plane, but that which threaten them all, eventually."
"In a jingling, rain swept city, a ruler, no ruler, broods in his citadel of chain. He rejoices in the death of invention, and strives to find the library and the temple to seize the knowledge you seek."
The last your recognize as Jangling Hiter and the citadel of chain you invaded, the ruler must be the kyton Quimath, considering you know that he is investigating something and had material related to the Iron Shadow.
The Ridged Land
The Swirling Realm
The Silver War
The Unclimbable Mountain
"Well, 'The Unclimbable Mountain' sounds very tall, but 'The Ridged Land' sounds narrow. I figure we should check one of those doors for the library place first. On the other hand, maybe we've seen enough books for Jek's next ten lifetimes. Should we go for 'The Swirling Realm' and hope that we can find a priest to help us out?" Nik suggests, taking pity on Jek for once.
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Jek blinks a bit. A library. "And... And there's no other way? Some fortune..." He paces. "We should get it over with." He nods to himself. "I don't want to wake up every morning knowing that's still coming... no... that's no way to live." He furrows his brow with determination. "Let's..." he sighs a defeated sigh "go to the library. He did say it has mirrors. Maybe they'll be fun."
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Xibalba's hands tremble as her hungry eyes wonder over the odd piece of literature. Many of the texts she had consumed in her time were bereft of images. Of course the odd illuminated script or historical book on art would crop up in her library hunts.
But this was unique. The style of imagery was deftly applied, as if by some some long forgotten printing press technique. It conveyed a longing in the characters expression that buoyed the text beyond mere imagination.
Perhaps this is a common mixed medium for literature found on this plane? Seems unlikely...
But the narrations proclamations of an unrequited love triangle makes Xibalba blush a darker blue hue and float above the group in deep thought. She privately wondered if the sequence-killer might not have been entirely dreadful, in an aesthetic way. She decided it was best not to share this line of thought with her companions.
She hums to Rinihka and shows her the treasure.
"Certainsome! Tha has 'dibs'. Cast awareness to the front numerals! There are MORE. Out in the planar multitudes!
......
The djinn could hardly contain her delight at the mention of a library. She could practically smell the paper and ink even here. She flashes Rhinika a big toothed grin, eyebrows raised as if to say, 'Library, right? Right?'
In a flurry of clinking and clanking ankle/wrist bangles, she rushes to Jek's side to comfort his unease.
"Surelywise, this peak hosts a...watering-hole or mayhaps a mixed spirits recipebook? If, not, tha could always wishen for some?"
"Well let's go to that 'Unclimbable Mountain', then." Nik shrugs.
"... Oh yeah, uh- thanks for the reading." Nik adds before leading the way out.
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When the oracle delivers his prophecy, Khikril stiffens - as erratic as the itaraak alchemist can be at times, at his core, he loves the endless wonder of the myriad planes, and the thought of an end to creativity - an end to his inventions! - galvanizes the insane bird-man in a way that few other things do.
As the group leaves the Place of Wind, Khikril walks with renewed purpose, his talons clacking against the stone-like material of the Staircase. Behind him, his lumbering mechanical creation, reunited with its creator somewhere within the city, trudges along, barely keeping pace with the alchemist.
"Well let's go to that 'Unclimbable Mountain', then... Oh yeah, uh- thanks for the reading."
Khikril narrows his eyes at the former Dustman - or at least, does the closest avian approximation, involving a lot of fluttering of his nictitating membranes. "Nikrir'leldro, I fear you fail to appreciate the urgency of this task. If the inhabitants of Gatescape 3 get hold of that book, that priest, this Malaise may bring about the death of creativity - an end to the wonder of the planes." His wings flare in agitation - in his madness, he's somehow latched onto the notion that the 'Malaise' makes its victims into bugs. "We'd all be bugs, Nikrir'leldro! Bugs! Just think of all the grafting I wouldn't get to do if everyone was a bug! A world without the chance to do experimental surgery just isn't worth living in, don't you agree?"
"I- you know what? Yeah, that'd be terrible. Stitching corpses together into new shapes is also that sort of thing, isn't it?" Nik agrees.
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The landing for the Unclimbable Mountain is very small and made of creaking wooden stairs. A human sized basher has to watch their footing approaching the door. The door itself isn’t a door at all, but an open archway.
The Unclimbable Mountain
The opening leads to an arch that stands in the middle of nowhere, as though it was once within a structure but the entire structure disappeared around it. Canny bloods note that the ground is flattened as though trod upon by many feet. Here and there the unusually flat land is dotted with piles of salt.
In the distance you see the mountain, the Spire of the Outlands jutting into the sky, closer than you’ve ever seen it before. It looks as if the land decided to suddenly turn upwards and form a cylindrical spire. Craning your necks upwards you see a torus floating atop the Spire, supposedly Sigil, but no one, god or mortal, has ever climbed the Spire to verify the claim, perhaps the Lady of Pain knows, but no one, god or mortal, would ask her. The knowledgeable of the party can explain that things get Neutralized as they get closer to the Spire. Magic simply stops functioning, bub and other poisons fail to affect people, even the Power’s power is negated the closer you get.
As you orient yourself, Xibalba finds herself forcibly expelled from her lamp and perhaps more distressingly, completely solid. X-302 and Nik’s undead, take one step onto the Outlands and simply collapse, rendered inert. Rinika’s dead spot, perhaps less distressingly, disappears as well as any power she drew from it. Through some testing, you find that you’re able to find enough energy to manifest very minor kinds of magic.
A single oddly shaped building is nearby, its surface gleams like a mirror, reflecting light into your eyes.
"Ugh. I need better transportation for my shamblers." Nik explains as he scratches his cheek and looks up at his huge sized "friend".
"Just wait here, Zombington. Play dead until we come back." he says to the zombified glabrazu.
He the walks carefully up the creaking stairs.
----
Once through the archway, Nik tries to orient himself.
"Huh, maybe Zombington being too big was a good thing after all." he says, noticing how close they are to the spire.
"...Maybe we try the shiny mirror first?"
Jek carefully tippy-hooves up the stairs and follows his friend through the archway. As his hoof crosses the threshold his bags suddenly feel much heavier. "Oh... I guess that's a thing... He carefully begins adjusting his straps before looking forward and seeing the spire. "Nik! It's the thing! From the paintings in the cage!"
"Yup. The thing you see when you look over the one of the edges. I don't recommend looking down from up, though." Nik nods, already moving towards the bright mirror slowly as he readies his crossbow (just in case).
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Rinika stops dead immediately upon crossing the threshold into this new world.
"Something is....AH!"
She searches around patting herself like she's looking for her keys, and is soon staring wide-eyed at her companions. "It's gone! My spot is gone! And..." She tries summoning up shadows and gets only a weak mid-afternoon shade barely more umbral than their current environs.
"Well this is going to be...interesting. Boring, but refreshing." She breathes in deeply. "It's kind of nice being able to take a breath knowing that my lungs aren't going to die half-way through."
You approach the oddly shaped structure, the shape of a lumpy potato cut in half and laid cut side down, but 200 feet long. The surface is covered with mirrors that reflect the light of the Outlands at strange angles. Rounding the side you spy a figure, knees to the ground in repose facing the structure. He is humanoid but his face resembles a dog or a wolf, and is covered in well groomed gray fur. He wears only breeches and is adorned with simple gold jewelry, necklaces and rings. A golden sword lays across his lap.
He turns his head in your direction and opens his eyes. A voice rings in your head, its purity calming to your souls, ”The doors in front of me are barred, would you happen to know a way within?”
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"Maybe digging? Normally I'd just remove the door, but magic isn't so strong here..." Nik offers, looking at his allies for something more hopeful.
Maybe something related to those mirrors? Nik thinks quietly.
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Squeezing through nimbly, Xibalba dusts a seemingly unending supply of sand off of herself.She strains to float managing only an vague lightness to her step.
Earthbound...most unfortunate.
She pulls herself together with a deep breath and then unceremoniously coughs out some sand. She hits the side of her head and knocks more out of her hair and ear, her bangles sounding liek a wind chime.
She strains with all her focus and manages with a severe wigle of her digits to produce prestidigitation magic, stripping the sand off like peeling away a food wrapper all at once.
"Fie! A djinn remembers not sand being so coursely...."
Perhaps I should not have insisted upon the library so vehemently.
She gives a pat to Niks zombies left behind after his command, like one would a dog and stuffs the lamp within her satchel. She pulls tight the drawstring before huddling her large form close to Jek, feeling vulnerable for the first time in a very long time.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"A doggy! This one finds doggies are the very bestsome kind of people-kin!"
She goes to pet it as well, but steals a glance at Rinika and nods at her.
Unless there are cats about...
Upon hearing its serene voice she slaps Nik's back excitedly in rapid succession stage whispering at him.
"Riddles! Tha must rely on wits, not wishes."
She turns and emulates his sitting position, bowing deeply to the canin-humanoid.
"Tha is Xibalba of the lamp! Thum know not the mirror riddles answer, but perhaps a joining of forces coulden not be hurtsome to our chances?"
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Jek helps Xibalba retrieve her lamp and quickly notices her staying unusually close. Feeling somewhat protective he does his best to stay alongside her and cushes down next to her to listen to the 'doggy.'
Jek turns his head slightly as he takes in its strange question. "It's great to meet you! I'm Jek - a free-lance courier, and um... believe it or not knowing how to handle closed doors comes with the job... even barred ones. Now sometimes doors will break with a good enough thwack, but beware! They can try to charge you that. No, a seasoned courier knows to knock first. Have we tried knocking? The next step is usually to see if there's another way around the side. Failing that you knock harder... and harder... and harder until a neighbor notices and is upset enough to agree to hang onto it. It's important that they're upset... don't trust the eager ones, you'll get complaints. Then you write a note about who has it and put it on the door. Are you their neighbor by any chance? Where's the package?"
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The canid grins at Xibalba wolfishly but its tail wiggles excitedly dispelling any notion of ill-intent, he leans closer to the genie lowering his head, the soft fur looking ever more tempting to touch.
The voice rings true though this time spoken out loud and in your native language whichever that may be, ”You can call me Jazriel, or Jaz if you like. It may be a sin to leave the suffix off but small ones I will abide. Careful about knocking too hard on the door, it knocks back. I have no package, I was guided here by divine provenance, for a terrible curse afflicts this place and many others, it destroyed the Rilmani and their city Sum of All, a worse fate than most. I would know why this structure stands but I fear that I will need to not waste any more time here. Do you have a package to deliver here?”
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"Do you have a package to deliver here?”
"Sadly no... we're here on our own jink to spend time with a book. It's not just any book... we saved an oracle who said it could help sort this mess. Hey... do you think someone in there wants a delivery? You know... like they just might open the door for one even if they're not expecting it? They're in a library, and the ones in the cage are always getting crates of new books. Maybe they'd like a new book..." Jek starts digging through his bags and pulls out the Green Marvent's spellbook. "Hmmm... just the one... and no... they probably have all of these..." He stows it away and finishes his search. "Huh... that surprises me a bit." He looks to his friends. "Do any of you have a new book?" Jek glances over to Xibalba with a slightly mischievous grin.
"Think I should take a look for portals?" Nik asks, looking around to try to guess where the mirrors are pointing.
While the light reflected by the mirrors makes interesting patterns that play across the ground, the utter barrenness of the land around dashes any hope of finding something interesting.
Jazriel smiles as Jek explains their purpose looking to the sky he says, "And so my purpose is made clear. Thank you."
He stands up walks over to the door and as expected his own reflection meets his closed fist, after waiting a moment to no response he shrugs and offers a strange prayer, "If the road is easy, the destination is worthless."
He takes up his sword and says, "I may need your help in a moment." He strikes the mirrored door! While the a thin crack develops on the door. Jazriel's reflection strikes him through the mirrored surface cutting a gash on his chest and side.
Jaz lets out a huff of breath and takes up his sword again. The crack on the mirrored surface looks like its getting smaller, slowly.
"Woah woah woah- hold on a second Jazriel. No need for martyrdom today. Thanks for the demonstration of 'knocks back'. I think I saw something when- er- you- er- stabbed you?"
Deja-vu. We really need pronouns for these sorts of things.
I wonder if I should ask how he feels about healing via the blood of baatezu...
Nik tries to wave Jazriel away from a second strike as he approaches to investigate the panel closely (casting Detect Magic just in case).
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"Yeah, right about there." Jek points with his lance. "Oh! Maybe it's a mail slot! They're pretty useful. They may look small, but lots of packages flex just enough to fit." He prods at it with his lance.
Nik detects magic! But it's like nothing he’s ever seen before, it likely qualifies as a new school, what he can tell is that it’s layers upon layers of low powered magic built up over time, but what it specifically does is beyond him.
Jazriel stays his hand letting out a pained breath as the party investigates the panel closer. When Jek pokes it with his lance the panel falls to the ground revealing a small keyhole.
"Huh. I guess you gotta make do when you can't use the good stuff." Nik says, scratching his cheek as he puzzles over the magics.
He seems too busy straining his brain box to ask anyone about actually picking the lock.
Jek peers into the keyhole. "Never been too good with locks..." He backs away and walks beside Rinika. "Then again with friends like you and Nansi..." He smiles. "Care to take a crack at it?"
Xibalba frowns. She briefly considers pulling out a book from her own small library of five books, either genie tax law or her mystery anthology, but relents and pulls forth the recently acquired treasure.sheepishly and after too long a wistful gaze at it, she sighs and turns it over to Jek as if giving away a precious jewel.
"Be cautious! The dib belongedwise to Rhinika. Tha might vex them by donating it."
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Rinika refocuses, having been torn between checking over herself and staring at little nervously at Jazriel. She sees Xibalba's glance and returns a nervous smile.
"This is all a bit disorienting, sorry. We sure about this dog fella?" she asks in front of the dog fella.
"Oh! Nansi! Time to get to work! I bet we can crack this."
If the disorienting nature of the plane is affecting her, it doesn't seem to be negatively. She and Nansi are in rare form, and Rinika seems to be positively brimming with life. "Wooh! If that don't do it, dunno what will."
Nansi raises one of its legs and bobs it up and down after the pair easily pick the strange lock. You hear loud thunk from behind the mirrored doors and it opens revealing the chamber beyond.
The entryway gives way to a staircase leading upward. Mirrors line the walls as you ascend, with reflections becoming more and more distorted. The mirrors distort not only size and shape, but color and detail as well. Species, sex, demeanor, or well-being are not sacred in these reflections and you barely recognize some of them.
Jazriel follows you golden sword gleaming in hand, "False reflections will not tempt me from my mission." One mirror shows him a just a ball of bright sunlight, another a majestic hound, a third depicts him as a loathsome beetlelike fiend, beady eyes staring out from beneath its enameled carapace.
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Jek gives a friendly nod to one of his reflections made entirely of green smoke. "Not bad for a library... then again we haven't gotten to the books yet. Do you suppose these come off the walls?" He looks to see if there's a way to detach a mirror.
"What's tempting about these weirdos." Nik asks while gesturing to a mirror-Nik that's only bones. Then he passes by another mirror and pauses a moment to reflect before continuing.
"Right, well, me neither..."
Rinika floats through, glancing at the reflections with some combination of amusement and revulsion as a vampire Rinika, gnome Rinika, robo-Rinika that Nansi might have been a bit interested in should he have been able to see it, one that was Rinika but standing about 10 inches to the left, Rinika wearing a pretty snazzy cowboy hat, and one mirror that just showed a truly enormous slit eye staring back at her. "Hah! So many alternate worlds, so many possibilities. I'll remember Kaiju me in case we need to call her up in the future. Let's go left!"
You find a hallway with a side door that contains some cleaning supplies, solvents, rags, sponges, buckets, presumably to wipe down the mirrors.
"All this magic and the mirrors still get dirty? Wonder if we'll meet the janitor..." Jek looks to see if the items look recently used.
"As long as the janitor isn't an Unseen Servant we might. Though normally you'd need higher magic than what works here to make such a thing permanent." Nik shrugs.
"Let's go visit that door we skipped back there?" Nik suggests.
Rinika shrugs as well. "Sure, let's check it out."
She waves at a mirror-Rinika that appears to be a human wearing a shirt with a red-masked face on it. Mirror-Rinika waves back.
As Rinika turns from the mirror she see a shape, someone, out of the corner of her eye. Facing the mirror again its the same red masked Rinika with nothing else unusual about it. Perhaps a reflection of a reflection of another party member.
As you enter the abandoned chamber you note that this is a library filled with shelves of thick books. Perhaps in keeping with the theme the majority of the book’s pages are actual mirrors making it difficult to discern the script. A select few of the tomes, however, are printed on paper. All of the books are in a language you do not recognize.
Jazriel comments, ”These appear to be gibberish. I don’t feel that our quarry lies within this chamber.”
To Jek’s chagrin, it could take hours to go through all of the books here.
There someone else in here with us?"
Rinika struggles to conjure up her magic, but with some effort thr shadows begin to form on the pages she examines and sorts them into readable letters. Sort of.
"They're backwards. Hey, hold this up for me, will ya?" She turns to a Rinika with a slightly different fur patern wearing sunglasses and a jeweled tiara in the mirror and holds up the page for her, reading the one held up for her in turn.
"Backwards?" Nik asks. With a shrug he tries to look at the reflection of the words in the mirror. A hale and hearty (instead of bleached and leathery) mirror-Nik matches Nik's movement from within the mirror...
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Xibalba lingers behind, momentarily lost in the illusionary glass and forgetting her depowered state. She marvels at everyone else's reflections, yelping at the Kaiju Kitty before, laughing chagrined.
"A djinn would loven to meet the mind who crafted such wondersome pools."
Her gold nails clack against the mirrors, surprising her briefly as she forgets they could not pass through. As a shapechanger she was used to seeing every variety of herself but there was something keenly resonant with the alternate version.
She sees a crimson red version of herself with black hair speckled with flecks like starlight. She witnesses another version of herself with a monkey wearing a fez on her back, poor but content. Another was completely ifrit, older and way happier than any right to be. She bears a half grin like she knows much more than the "real" Xibalba. She briefly considers smashing it but stops when she sees a reflection of what appears to be a framed painting. This version looks to be a living watercolor version holding a paintbrush but is the same in every other way that mattered to the Djinn.
With a conflicted sigh, she wonders over to Nik.
"Strangest books tha have seen..." She strains focusing her sands to lift the book for Rinika.